Cool Marketing Thoughts

Unicef Canada came up with these ads to increase awareness amongst adults. The first one says “For 85 million girls, missing out on an education is real. Last year, we sent 7 million girls to their first day of school. Help us help the rest.”

The second one says: “For 300.000 children, fighting in armed conflict is very real. Each year, we liberate thousands of kids. Help us help the rest.”

And the last one says: “For 2 million children each year, working in the sex trade is a reality. We have saved thousands of kids from the world’s streets. Help us help the rest.”

I like the approach here, although the criminals themselves won’t really change their behavior, because they wouldn’t even care about the ads. The important part is that awareness grows, and that the rest of the ’sane’ world is prepared to take action when it’s needed. Every child deserves a care-free childhood. It’s a right that’s been taken away from too many children already.

Large images on Flickr | via Houtlust

The first time I saw this ad was in the train station in Brussels when I was on my way to London for the Windows Live Road Show. I felt bad for not having taken a camera with me. Yesterday I noticed the ad in the train station in Lier, where I pass daily, so I went back there to take the picture. I find the ad really touching. There’s so much a child’s drawing says that words can’t express. I feel sad every time I see the ad. Really, I can’t help it.

Copy: “She’s 8. Her parents have died from AIDS. But the worst is yet to come”

(top right: “For all the children, together against AIDS”)
(drawing: “mommy, daddy, me”)

Being a woman means you’ll get a lot of attention if you dress up sexy. Using a sexy picture with a black cocktail dress for a push-up bra can have serious consequences, or as Steve from AdRants says it: “Excuse me while I run to the store and buy a Chantelle Push-Up bra for my girlfriend. Actually, scratch that. She doesn’t need any pushing up. Far from it. I’ll just go get the little black cocktail dress. Wait, wasn’t this an ad for a push up bra? So confusing. Oh well, Chantelle’s loss.”

Chantelle ad via AdArena

I had a few Wonderbra ads with some humor in them left to blog, but come to think of it, perhaps these ladies are just wearing black cocktail dresses :) I really like the way the ad shows the world from the perspective of the woman. Looks like you’re making the world stop turning wherever you appear. So much for being unnoticed, and all of this just because of a sweet sexy black mini-dress.

I’ve put the large images on my Flickr ‘Ads’ set, so I could serve a better quality. I’m going to do that more often when I have the originals of the ads.

Here’s a campaign with really strong images. It’s for BaF, the nationwide information and coordination centre of non governmental rape crisis centres in Germany. BaF is a non profit union which has grown out of the Bundesvernet-zungsstelle autonomer Frauennotrufe. This organisation had worked as a model project for 3 years. BaF is financed by the Federal Ministry of Family, Seniors, Women and Youth and by the membership subscriptions of the rape crisis centres which are organised in the BaF and certainly arranges qualified advice, support and encouragement for women who have suffered or are suffering from sexualised violence, for their families, for confidants as well as for professional supporters. [taken from the BaF site]

Visit BaF, (it’s in French, German, English and Spanish) | Thanks, Ben

These ads for Stella Artois, probably the best beer from a keg here in Belgium, are pretty keen. At first I wasn’t sure it was about the beer, but then I saw the tagline and because it said ‘Reassuringly Expensive’ I figured it out. The originals must have been really big, because the brand or its bottles are so well-hidden in the scenery that it’s almost impossible to recognize them. You’ve got to look really close for the details and only then you’ll see what it’s all about. I like the way them make the golden liquid seem so precious, the way they’ve set up really typical business situations. You can almost start to think of an entire story about the bottles if your imagination is strong enough. Pretty weird they don’t use the brand name nor the logo to make it a bit more easy for the viewers, but it’s really nicely done.

Cynical note: the copy ‘Reassuringly Expensive’ tastes rather bitter in Belgium, because recently Interbrew (the company behind Stella Artois) raised the price of a pint again. (I think it’s the second time they’ve done that within a year) so people started to boycott all of Interbrew’s products. This is a tagline they won’t deploy in Flander’s Fields, that’s for sure. Nevertheless, the beer is unique and well worth the extra cents. Really, where I live almost every pub switched to some sort of Heineken-alike water/beer and when I go out I really look for the brand signs of Stella Artois. Too bad that pubs that still serve it are either wrinklesaur pubs with 60+ people who still bet on pigeons or football fanclub meeting spots :(

Nice photoshopping for these three ads by Chicago-based Bagby and Company for Sony’s noise cancelling headphones. If the product is as good as the ads, the world may come to an end and you won’t even notice it if you have your eyes closed. The people wearing headphones are looking so at ease. I like the way the recognizable environment is pictured. Sometimes I feel like that on the train to work. Some people really should pay more attention to the noise pollution they’re causing. Withdrawing into your musical cave might be an answer, too bad it doesn’t put an end to the behaviour of the unbehaving humans around you.

Copy: “Yadda. Yadda. Nada. The Sony MDR-NC50 noise cancelling headphones dramatically reduces unwanted sounds so you can travel to your quiet place. Sony.com/headphones.”

Art Director: Yosoh | via AdsOfTheWorld