RSS
 

Archive for February, 2007

Le Bureau

27 Feb 2007

Looks like our French neighbors have adapted Ricky Gervais’ concept and they started making ‘Le Bureau’ last year. The setting is Villepinte, a business park in the northeast suburbs of Paris. The series stars François Berléand as Gilles Triquet, France’s version of David Brent. Another notable actor, Jérémie Elkaïm, also stars in the series playing the French version of Tim Canterbury. Filming with the French cast was completed in early February; the series began airing on May 25. A second season is already in the works and the writer-director duo of Nicholas and Bruno say at least one show will focus on a French perennial: strikes.

Rest of the episodes I found: Read the rest of this entry »

 
1 Comment

Posted in Geek, Humor, Video

 

Fanta Tow Truck

27 Feb 2007

From the looks of the licence plate, this is a Belgian campaign, but I haven’t heard from it (yet). It’s definitely not the first time a tow truck is used to grab the attention of the city traffic. We’ve seen it before in the guerrilla for the Gröna Lund amusement park near Stockholm, the so-called Bumper Car Guerrilla. One of the flaws of human nature is the fact that we are attracted to danger and disaster. If something happened on the freeway, everybody drives slower to see the remains of the accident. The disaster tourist in each of us makes us look back and wonder. It’s probably that glimp of Thanatos every one of us is carrying. It’s also why a tow truck with a mashed car, or crashed cars in general always attract our attention. The licence plate reads FAN 001, which kinda tells you already that it’s a marketing stunt, in case you were still wondering.

Fanta Tow Truck

Remotely related is this campaign for Monster Jam, where a squashed car has been put in a random parking lot somewhere. Definitely worth a closer look for the passers-by. You can almost smell the gasoline.

Monster Jam 1

Monster Jam 2

Any pointers to the credits for both campaigns are welcome.

 

Suicide Ikea

27 Feb 2007

I got an email with a load of Russian ads in it, and one of the weirdest in the series was without any doubt the one pictured below. This must be some sort of mock-up by a twisted mind because I have my reasonable doubts about the fact IKEA would ever approve this sort of advertising. Too bad my Russian is still what it used to be: totally worthless, so I have no clue at all of what’s written in the text boxes. If anyone can fill in with a translation, please do. The rest of us can wonder about this in silence.

IKEA Suicide
 

Sweet Scorpion Poison

27 Feb 2007

To promote the book “O Doce Veneno do Escorpião” (The Sweet Scorpion Poison) written by Bruna Surfistinha, a brazilian ex-prostitute, where she tells her experience in the prostitution world, edited by Editorial Presença, the agency Torke Stunt created this campaign which was structured in 3 actions:

  • Polaroids- Polaroids picturing Bruna Surfistinha’s sexy image were placed in different spaces, from ATM machines, phone booths, benches, parks, public transports, etc… On the polaroids was written:” Want toknow more about me? go to www.presenca.pt xxx”
  • Napkins- napkins simulating a lipstick mark were placed in shopping centres, public toilets, pubs and sex-shops. On the napkin was a book’s excerpt: ” I have seen and done everything. There’s no fantasy that can scare me. www.presenca.pt
  • Fire extinguisher – Next to fire extinguishers in public places and bookshops, stickers were placed with the text “Extinguish the fire after reading The Sweet Scorpion Poison. www.presenca.pt
    Agency Torke Stunt

It’s not a world shocking campaign, agreed, but the old saying: ’sex sells’ is very on its place here. I bet the pictures were gone in no time, and maybe those napkins as well. I like the part of the fire extinguishers though. Very tongue-in-cheek.

Bruna 1

Bruna 2

Bruna 3

Bruna 4

Bruna 5

Big pictures for more details: here, here and here.

Agency: Torke Stunt
Thanks, Hugo

 

Ultimate How Much Are You Worth

26 Feb 2007

Yawn. Another tool to help you measure how much you’re worth. It’s a mix of the domain name analyzer, a domain traffic tool, a domain whois tool, a domain history, a domain popularity, domain appraisal (site value report), a link value appraisal (link value report), pagerank check, an inbound links count, an indexed pages check and more.

It basically pings a lot of services you already knew of, but now in one time. The only thing I find useful about it is that it gives you a sort of overview about the backlinks you have.

dnscoop logo

The tool is definitely made to make money, because the links to Google’s AdSense and TextLinkAds that are given after the analysis are referrer links. First they measure how much you’re worth, then they tell you how much you can make, and then they offer you to sign up. Clever.

Via: Seth Godin

Other tools previously featured on Marketing Thoughts:

 
 

Drugs Are Bad, Mmmkay

26 Feb 2007

But no, seriously. The short pleasure you might have from popping a pill or doing a doobie can have consequences you aren’t aware of. Maybe not this time, and maybe not for you (you think), but not everyone is the same and some people don’t have the same control you have. These ads for a national public awareness campaign in Australia try to point out the dangers of various drugs or mind expanding substances, and they do so pretty well.

Drugs Are Bad 1

Copy:
Speed. You don’t know who made it or what’s in it.

Speed is made from a combination of dangerous chemicals, usually in dirty backyard labs. The drug that’s created in the process can have a disastrous effect on the human body, and there’s no simple way of knowing what’s in it or what it’ll do to you. For more information call 1800 250 015 or visit http://drugs.health.gov.au

Speed. You don’t know what it’ll do to you.

Drugs Are Bad 2

Copy:
Marijuana. It can mess up your head. And your life.

Marijuana affects different people in different ways. And no one can predict what it will do to you. Psychological problems -sometimes small, sometimes major and long term- are just one possibility. For more information call 1800 250 015 or visit http://drugs.health.gov.au

Marijuana. You don’t know what it’ll do to you.

Drugs Are Bad 3

Copy:
Some cold hard facts about taking ecstasy.

When it happens, thermal melt-down isn’t pretty. Your body literally begins to cook from the inside. Muscles turn to liquid. Organs such as kidneys and the liver collapse. It’s just one of the possible consequences of taking ecstasy and related drugs. If they can get you to hospital soon enough, doctors may be able to save your life. Maybe. For more information call 1800 250 015 or visit http://drugs.health.gov.au

Ecstasy. You don’t know what it’ll do to you.

 

International Shutdown Day 2007

26 Feb 2007

On March 24th it’s international Shutdown Day. It’s not related to the Live Earth event, but it’s also an initiative with a ‘community’ background. Basically it’s to see what would happen if as many people as possible would turn off their computers for just one day. The idea behind the experiment is to find out how many people can go without a computer for one whole day, and what will happen if we all participate.

Shutdown Day 2007

Here’s a funny clip to support this project, which highlights alternative uses for laptops. Do not try this with your corporate equipment.

Links:

 

Mars Billboards

26 Feb 2007

From billboard to billboard, from town over town and everybody is trying to get down… The song keeps going around in my mind, but slightly modified from the original. Anyways, I got this ad in my mailbox when I was in Seattle, but I didn’t have the credits that go with it. Luckily there’s Adverbox, who points it out and so we can blog it too. This goodie is from down under, the land of Kiwi to be more precise. Adorable.

Mars

Agency: Colenso BBDO, New Zealand
Creative Director: Richard Maddocks
Creatives: Lisa Fedyszyn, Jonathan Mcmahon
Photographer: Stephen Roke
Retouchers: Tristan Dunk, Michael Currie
Account Director: Katrina Ingham
Account Manager: Lucy Pilkington
Producer: Jo McMillan