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Archive for October, 2006

Honda Defence

31 Oct 2006

Again lovely artistic artwork, this time for Honda’s helmets. The style refers to ancient Japanese drawings from the age of Samurai, and the ads seem to be drawn on parchment sheets. The mixture of technology, old martial art techniques versus modern defence items, has been carefully chosen to illustrate the copy that has been written vertically (top-down) in the upper-right corners.

Helmet Ken

Copy:
“There is no guardian angel in Japanese culture. There’s no need.”
“Helmet Ken, Japanese for Sword”
“Centuries-old technology”

Helmet Ken

Copy:
“The best defence is a good defence.”
“Helmet Kiba, Japanese for feline tooth”
“Centuries-old technology”

Helmet Ken

Copy:
“It’s harder to save your honour than your life.”
“Helmet Kame, Japanese for Tortoise”
“Centuries-old technology”

Agency: JWT, Barcelona, Spain
Art director: Michele Salati
Copywriter: Javier Valero
Illustrator: Pedro Espinosa

 

Absolut Illusions

29 Oct 2006

These ads for Absolut were made for an exhibition in London. From July 21st to August 25th, at the oxo Tower Wharf on the South Bank, images like these were up for display at the Absolut Amaze show. I wonder if there are any other posters announcing this event, because they sure look trippy. I wish I had gone to check it out… if only I had known in time.

Absolut Amaze 1

Absolut Amaze 2

Absolut Amaze 3

 

Bishop’s Finger

29 Oct 2006

These ads for Bishop’s Finger, the Kentish strong ale, can be found on their website. I like the ‘Dark Ages’ atmosphere these images remind me of. It feels like this ale was around already from the times of knights and castles, served in most inn’s in between barfights and drank amongst light women of pleasure. It might be that old as well, becaused Bishop’s Finger is one of the oldest british brewers. Nice style of drawing/painting.

Ad 1

Ad 2

Ad 3

Ad 4

Ad 5

Ad 6

Ad 7

Check the adverts on the Bishop’s Finger site | via 10ad

 

Hot Coffee

28 Oct 2006

For Douwe Egberts, a brand of coffee, Pink Eye designed a tasteful and innovative packaging for a marketing stunt that specifically targeted a student audience. Strong plastic covers could be placed over the cups so the coffee stayed warm and dampy and could be taken along without being spilled. Quite an in interesting idea and really popular with the students.

Red Cup
 

Virtual Goodness

27 Oct 2006

Marketers at Procter & Gamble are testing a revolutionary marketing tool that, through the power of computer-generation, is saving them years of traditional research. The reactions, behaviour and experiences of consumers are being played out for them to see thanks to "the Cave" – a walk-in three dimensional room that projects the visitor into a virtual world.

Given P&G’s clients comprise A-list supermarkets like Tesco, J.Sainsbury Asda and Boots, the cave is able to recreate, in every detail, the interior of these high street stores, The FT reported.

Cave visitors can walk through and explore the aisles, ‘picking’ products that catch their eye, or turning them round to read labels or sell by dates before they proceed to checkout to ‘buy.’

As consumers explore their familiar shopping worlds, albeit virtual, watchful marketers at P&G are tweaking the store layouts, displays, product design and overall packaging.

Interesting as that sounds, P&G is once again giving it’s own interpretation on the theme that has been proven to be succesful for other web services. Just like the launch of Tremor, their own word of mouth network, The Cave is very similar to what is now going on in Second Life. It’s the idea that counts, but rather than following the other brands into the Second Life saga and creating the experience on location, P&G fights swims against the stream and chooses to create it’s own virtual world, of which they’ll have full control.

“In three months we have done work that would previously have taken us two years,” Gianni Ciserani, P&G’s general manager for UK& Ireland said in an interview with The Financial Times.

He added that before the virtual cave, the company would need to persuade one of their retail clients to overturn one of their stores for a pilot – an experiment that means time and money for both parties. (read more via CustomerWorld)

That said, the industry in Second Life is booming as never before. Three months prior to the targeted date, Second Life welcomed it’s 1.000.000th visitor. With all these new people streaming in to share the experience, it still requires quite some pc-savvyness to move around and explore what Second Life has to offer.

Very often, newbies find themselves lost in a place with no directions and they don’t know where to go to participate in social events or gatherings. That’s why an online travel agency sees its business booming by offering guided tours to new citizens of the virtual life.

Synthravels is based in Milan, Italy. The concept of Synthravels is by Mario Gerosa and by Matteo Esposito of Imille. Mario Gerosa is a journalist who has a long experience in travel. He has worked for many years as senior editor of Condé Nast Traveller Italy and for the most renowned travel magazines. He is a member of the GIST, the association of the Italian Travel Journalists, and of the OMNSH, a French association of video games researchers, and he has been organizing in-world meetings with famous Second Life residents for a project of the Indiana University. In July 2006 he launched the project for the preservation of Virtual Architectural Heritage.

After a quick registration procedure, you’re invited to list the parts of Second Life you wish to explore and one or two dates/time settings that best suit your schedule. Synthravels then promises to contact you and arrange the guided tour of your choice.

Apart from travelers, the organisation is also looking for guides, so if any of you know some nice spots and cares to make some money touring around newbies, sign up at Synthravels. Your digital red umbrella is waiting for you. So are the tourists.

If you think the story ends here, no, we’re not even getting started.

Dutch politicians Arda Gerkens (SP), Zsolt Szabó (VVD) and CDA-candidate Ad Koppejan (CDA) are following the footsteps of the American presidential candidate Mark Warner – who got interviewed in Second Life by Cory Doctorow from BoingBoing – and are trying to run a part of their campaign in Second Life.

In the next couple of weeks they’ll teleport theirselves to places which are frequented often by Dutch people, according to EPN’s director Tom van der Maas. On these hotspots, they’ll be flyering digital campaign brochures in the hopes to win the hearts of the geeks and somewhat more regular Second Life citizens.

Politics is one thing, you can also decide to move your social benefit organization to the world of Second Life. Why shouldn’t you? After all, Second Life has its own U.S. $64 Million annual economy, an independent media, its own currency, and a thriving virtual real estate market that allows you to purchase land and structures. It is reported that over 3,000 entrepreneurs are making more than U.S. $20,000 a year, selling not just real estate, but coding and distributing everything from clothes to body parts for your avatar in Second Life.

Social projects have found their way into the virtual game, like the American Cancer Society who has raised over $40,000 this past spring by conducting a virtual walkathon in Second Life, just by strawling around and making people aware of the organisation, asking them for donations.

To get a bit of an introduction, have a look at this short YouTube snippet of a visit to Better World Island, where you will find Camp Darfur and other social benefit organizations. These organizations are interacting with online visitors to provide education, raise money and offering an alternative way for people to learn about their efforts, all online.

Susan Tenby, the Online Community Manager at Tech Soup, has taken the lead in involving her organization and in forming an ongoing non-profit discussion group on Second Life. She is currently in discussions on an effort to setup a free nonprofit office complex, and is developing a directory and Frequently Asked Questions for nonprofit newcomers in Second Life. (read)

That’s quite a remarkable twist, but not at all unexpected. Where people flock together, a social feeling always occurs, and online communities are very well known for their cooperation to benefits and social events.

Posted earlier on i-wisdom

 

The Faded Shirts Sequel

27 Oct 2006

In a recent post about these faded t-shirts that were sent in for nominations at the Golden Drum Awards shortlist, I ranted about the fact that the images didn’t had a decent product branding and that it was a missed opportunity to expose the brands to a large audience. Arno sent me these pictures of the same t-shirts, but then in a regular ad context. Apparently the other images I saw in the Golden Drum archive and blogged in the previous post were taken at the agency itself and only served to illustrate instead of being used as ‘real’ ads. Nice to know. Good thing is that I was right about the brand. It was P&G’s Ariel.

Pink Hot Chili Peppers

Grey Sabbath

Light Purple

Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi (Budapest)
Advertiser: Procter & Gamble for Ariel
Creative Director: János Debreceni
Art Director: Sándor Haszon
Copywriter: László Nagy

 

Martial Arts

25 Oct 2006

Hugo sent me this direct mail and guerrilla campaign made for National Geographic Channel in Lisbon. To promote a series of documentaries about the surprising Martial Arts, a press kit constituted by a brick, a black belt and a leaflet was sent to the press and media buyers with information about the series and the program schedule. The press kit challenges whoever opens it to try and break the brick, making that person feel like a true Martial Art Master.
For the consumer, several Street Campaigns were made:

  • Promoters were placed on strategic spots in the city of Lisbon. Each team of promoters was constituted by two fighters who trained with each other and by a third who distributed the flyers explaining the reason for that make-believe combat.
    The flyers also guided the people to the on-line quiz made by the Martial Arts Week sponsor, the Wilkinson brand.
  • About 150 black belts and flyers were placed in different supports throughout the city of Lisbon.
National Geographic 1

National Geographic 2

National Geographic 3

Brand: National Geographic Channel (NGC)
Title: Be a Master In Martial Arts
Agency: Torke Stunt | Torke Blog
Creative Director: André Rabanea
Art director: João Pereira
Copywriter: Gustavo Blanco

 
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Posted in General

 

Second Life Tour

25 Oct 2006

I’ve been collecting some news items about Second Life to use them in a presentation, and I figured I might as well line them up here too because it’s an attempt to capture the situation as it is today. I realize that this post will only be a snapshot of the moment, but I needed a list of ‘things that happened’ in Second Life for myself so I’d no longer have to remember them by heart. It’s also becoming quite impossible to refer to all the known cases of companies that have started something in the virtual world because it’s growing out of its proportions. So, here goes the run-down of the remarkable things that happened:

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