Cool Marketing Thoughts

These are hard times for parents. In a world where perverts sneak around to ‘play’ with children and put the dvd for sale on the internet, you have to be damn clever to explain to your kids that an old man with a beard has been watching their moves all year and that he’s going to be in the house on Christmas. Sure, he’s going to leave presents, but in exchange for what? With all those clever kids and the way they master tools as webcams and other digital toys, you’ll be lucky to come home and don’t find the entire place torn apart because the kids were looking for the cameras that allowed Santa to spy on them. This minor issue aside, Santa Clause, est. 1931 by the Coca-Cola Company, is celebrating his 75th birthday. No other icon of advertising and marketing has ever been around that long. It’s the most successful marketing stunt ever. Coca-Cola introduced it’s first Santa in 1931, in a series of ads in The Saturday Evening Post, Ladies Home Journal, National Geographic, and other US publications. The original Santa was created by Swedish-American artist Haddon Sundblom and was the basis for Santa Claus as we know him today. A cultural icon that penetrated deep into the lives of millions and millions of citizens, making Jesus come in on a second place and causing an entire industry to boom every year again. On a side note, Christmas is starting more early every year. I noticed some shops putting up the theme decoration already two weeks ago, somewhere halfway November. Pretty impressive. I bet we’ll celebrate Easter in February soon.

Can somebody tell me what ever happened to Spriteboy?

More images on Flickr
More info at Coca-Cola

via Advertising is good for you | AdFreak

It’s been a while since I had the chance to go back to the French mountains and plow the tail of my Burton FreeRide through some fresh white powder. Thinking about it makes me dream already from that thrill you get when you head for the edge and kick off into the air. Nothing but the sound of wind for a few seconds and a wonderful feeling inside of me. Damn. I should really try to go boarding again. Why am I telling you all this? It’s because of the installation Roberto sent me which is featured below. This is why marketing does work. If there’s anything a decent promotional installation should do, it must be inviting people to dream and make them feel like they want what they see. In this case I felt a personal connection. I started to dream. I want to go to the place where this is possible. I desire. And that’s what it’s all about. Desire. Wanting. Dreaming. This is, to me, a perfect example of how it should be done.

What I also like, but isn’t shown that good on the pics, is the fact they’ve placed some images next to the installation where the landscape is pictured upside down. The way you (the boarder) see it when you go for some nifty trick. It’s in the details, really.

Copy on the board: “Trentino. Land of the Snowboarder”

Client: Regione Trentino Alto Adige
Agency: JWT Italy, Milan
Executive Creative Director: Pietro Maestri
Creative Directors: Flavio Mainoli / Paolo Cesano
Art Directors: Fabrizio Pozza / Marco Vigano
Account: Francesco Mirolo

Thanks, Roberto