Rally's's incredible human truth

I'm not sure if Rally's was ever in the southern states, but I remember it being a fairly strong fast food contender in Kentucky.
Gotta Eat! was their tagline.  What else needs to be said?  It's fast food.  It's not a reward for good behavior.  It's a quick relief of hunger and childhood junk food addiction.  You have to get the grease into your system to get it out of your system (does that make any sense?).  But the point is, they owned that phrase.  They bombarded every tv channel with very quick spots showing people stuff their faces in the spicy chicken sandwich and concluded with the announcer reminding us, "Gotta eat!"

It was only 99¢ too.  I miss that place.

skittles riddles

Problem statement: too many factory defects.  Flavors with the wrong color shell.
Solution: mystery flavors!!

It hadn't struck me until recently why they do this in the candy industry.  It's a pretty brilliant solution to the problem of wasting defects.

The only problem is people like me who absolutely hate certain flavors.  Color means everything to me.  In Jolly Ranchers, pink and green are "overheated blender" and "copper", respectively.  Red and blue are
"roll that shit around the inside of my cheeks so that the juices ooze at a more savory rate".  And purple is just purple.  The colors mean everything.  If some fuck were to hand me a blue that tasted like pink, I would lick it into a shank and stab said fuck.

Brand Personality

Maria's guest lecture was very informative.  It was cold, refreshing splash of advertising theory that has laid dormant in my head for 2 semesters.  One of the things she told us, "develop a brand personality."  It should be distinct and recognizable from across the room.

It struck me that my Arby's campaign has ZERO brand personality.  Was Arby's really to be the spokesperson for the imaginary plight of "first world hunger" when they currently partner with an organization called "No Kid Hungry"?  I spent the whole time crafting punchlines that poked fun at our overpriveleged stomachs when all that does in the end is advertise for the category leader, McDonalds. 

When it comes down to it, Arby's is below the threshold of awareness because they've always lacked personality.  I've got 3 weeks left and am just now understanding such a critical factor.  It's back to the Creative Brief, the adjectives, brainstorming mode...

In the meanwhile, I've always admired Blue Bell's off-beat personality for their boxed ice cream: slightly creepy, yet nostalgic target consumer-y faces
You never miss them in the ice cream aisle.

:D

Wii would like to play (-_-) (-_-)

With the upcoming launch of Wii U, I was reminded of the original Wii launch campaign.  It was such a simple idea, associating "we" with "wii".  But it captured the Nintendo playful brand personality, and more importantly it communicated the Wii's universal appeal.  If what appeared to be the Japanese Nintendo execs want to come to YOUR house to play their system, it's gotta be fun right?

Huh, whaddiya know?  It was an 'Effie Award' winner made by the Leo Burnett agency: http://wii.ign.com/articles/879/879595p1.html

NBA on TNT - "Forever"

This is the coolest thing I've ever seen.

It photoshops (or rather video shops) current players into old footage, and vice versa. The action is edited seamlessly.  Kobe passes to Stockton, Blake Griffin is blocked by Ewing.  Rose m**fucking fistbumps MJ!!!!  I'm still in jitters each time I rewatch it.

If I figure out how to do this type of editing, I'm gonna simulate Roger Federer vs. himself.  Current 30 year old Federer vs. prime 2006 Federer or vs. his younger, more reckless pre-2003 self.  Imagine all the hypothetical matchups that could be simulated.  

AdultFriendFinder banner ad

so a friend of a friend sent this to me..

oh, the punnery!  As if somebody actually comped up an idea from the first round of roughs, heh

:D

Mad Men 'takeover'

This week's Newsweek was Mad Men themed, with ads briefed to be done how Don Draper would have done it. Mad props to the PR director of Mad Men for doing this.  It reminds me of the 2005 Target takeover of The New Yorker, except more interpretive.  It's interesting to see that Tide decided to pay homage to psychadelic colors and shapes whereas Allstate replicated the color sketch look of WWII print ads.  Dunkin' Donuts was beautiful, in terms of layout and font; Spam was awesomely ridiculous.

see the gallery: http://www.fastcocreate.com/1680224/see-newsweeks-mad-men-themed-retro-ads

:D

DirecTV finally does it right!

This spot combines non-sequitor logic and Charlie Sheen to sell satellite tv service.  Ok, maybe the commercial wasn't that great, but the look in C. Sheen's eye as he brandishes the crossbow is priceless. 

:D

This is food porn

Fuck you Golden Corral.  I now want you.  But it's not because you blew my mind away with an incredibly deep human truth.  You used the cheapest, two-bit whore in food advertising. 

Double-consciousness

Double-consciousness: "a sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others, of measuring one's soul by the tape of a world that looks on in amused contempt and pity." 
              -- Dubois

Arby's

As a pretend creative consultant working on a campaign for Arby's, I did some research on some of their previous work.  


The Mona Greasa: here
Professional YouTuber made video: Do you like Arby's


Not too shabby, Arby's.  However, they never aired the second one, which is unfortunate.  It summed up the Arby's experience perfectly. 


Sidenote: their online menu is making me go blind.

interactive floor advertising

I've seen these at malls, but those are usually infested with little kids.  (and it's usually the sweeping leaves kind - _ - )


I can see a lot of cool things coming from this technology.  Life-sized board games, wac-a-mole, pair-matching, sudoku, etc.  

Ctrl+F

The world doesn't need better organization, just better searching

Grocery stores could take a page from the public library's book and install some sort of catalog search station.

Malls have already started doing this