Caffeinated posts from a copywriter/adgrunt. I write about advertising, design, astronomy, cooking, and pretty much anything else that strikes my fancy, including random bits of reference info for work purposes. You may also know me as 'that other gal' who helps run Adland. | make contact | RSS Feed | ATOM

Thursday, November 17, 2005
[ :: adgruntie :: Hey Coke, penguins aren't Arctic! ]

+ Brand Republic reports that Coca Cola is adding penguins to their holiday ads, which usually include Santa and polar bears. I'm going to be nit-picky here and just remind folks that penguins live at the South Pole, which Santa and polar bears reside at the opposite North Pole. Just a small thing really. ;) The spot is called "Arctic beach party" where the bears are woken by partying penguins. The ads have a new tagline: "Give. Live. Love Coke".

The more amusing bit from the article is here:

Katie Bayne, senior vice-president of Coca-Cola Brands, Coca-Cola North America, said: "Coca-Cola holiday packaging and commercials have become a tradition that families anticipate each year."

Really? Which families are that? Pretty sad families if you ask me. Talk about puffery...sheesh!
Monday, November 14, 2005
[ :: adgruntie :: Celebs and Walmart ]

+ Walmart's holiday campaign features celebs at home. Are consumers actually going to believe that someone as rich and famous as Beyonce or Garth Brooks actually shops at Walmart? This falls into the same category as people believing that all those celebs used in adverts for hair coloring products found at your local drug store actually color their hair themselves. Please. As if they aren't paying top dollar to have their hair done at the most exclusive of places.
There is a right time to use celebs, and I think by using them in situations like this and for products like this, it's just one more example of advertising talking down to consumers or under estimating their intelligence.
Friday, November 11, 2005
[ :: adgruntie :: Amp'd wants you to try not to die ]

+ Last night I saw one of the spots promoting Amp'd Mobile. Strange concept. I'm half surprised that it actually got produced to be honest. The ads come from TAXI in New York. Apparently the idea behind the concept is that Amp'd won't be available until sometime next year and they want people to hold off on phone service renewals until that time. Seems to be asking a bit much though for a service that no one knows much about. The NYTimes wrote up a piece on Wednesday about the campaign.

Playing on the death-defying theme, the Amp'd Mobile ads depict people engaging in risky behavior like skydiving or standing outside during a tornado.

The ads will run in magazines and on cable channels like Blender, FHM, Comedy Central, MTV, ESPN and Spike that typically attract a younger audience.

The guerrilla marketing portion of Taxi's campaign has plans for chalk art drawings of gaping holes on sidewalks in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles adorned with the "Try not to die" slogan.

If the campaign seems morbid, the agency is not worried. "It's going to polarize a few people who don't like it, but I think that's the point," said Paul Lavoie, chairman and chief creative officer at Taxi.

Granted it is a bit of a teaser campaign as the real ad push won't begin until December or later. I'll be curious to see where they go from here though when the campaign really begings. "Now that you're not dead, buy our phone service". ;)