From Sakiko Seki:

This is a first 4 version of a TV ad of a loan company “Aiful.”
This ad was really popular because they used acute little chiwawa and chiwawa became a popular pet in Japan.
Also, a gap of Japanese traditional strict father being attracted by a cute chiwawa was funny for a lot of people.
From the third ad, because the ad was popular enough, the ad company created the story without words.
However, it is really easy to understand the message of “think before acting.”
The first two ad’s message was “need money? use Aiful.”
It is interesting that they changed the theme for the customers who are trying to use loan.

DQ

From Mackenzie Pulliam:

 

I thought that these two commercials were really funny because who would have thought that ice cream treats could be advertised in a sexual way. Using sex and humor is what keeps your attention. Giving the soft serve and waffle bowl personalities and having them be in a relationship is clever! I think that using humor is a great way to keep people’s attention, especially when the first thing people want to do is change the channel when a commercial comes on. These ads bring you in and keep your attention because you want to know what the final outcome is. Dairy queen has done a few ads where humor was incorporated such as the brownie batter blizzard. It seems like getting the shock factor and humor incorporated makes people stick around to watch the whole ad and has Dairy Queen apart from other ice cream/dessert shops where they just explain the ice cream! Although slightly odd to see the waffle bowl sexily spraying whip cream on himself for the soft serve or someones tongue being ripped off, it is still funny and makes me want to go get a waffle bowl sundae or blizzard from Dairy Queen! 

Alex wants to know!

From Alex Orr:
I have been obsessed with Weiden and Kennedy ever since I had the opportunity to job shadow one of their assistant creative directors on the Nike account during spring break. This visit made me choose advertising as a career because of the workplace environment and creativity. I know that W+K just had a post but I thought that there in-house ad school was something that was pretty interesting. The W+K12 school is very competitive, which is representative of the workforce in general. It is a pretty special opportunity because it’s a school where you get to work with an industry leader and create stuff on real accounts. You produce spots that will be used publicly in an environment that is educational. I have been thinking about this subject of where to apply after school quite a lot lately, even though I am only finishing my sophomore year. W+K is my dream job and I know that it is one of the best and hires the best. This keeps me motivated to produce quality work. Also they get to bring their dogs into work with them and that is pretty cool.

So my questions are:
What is your dream job in advertising (if that is your area)?
What is it about advertising that you like most?
Are you thinking about what agencies you would like to apply to?

Priceless

From Keiichi Hashimoto

 

 

 

These two are TV advertisements of Mastercard. The above is made for U.S.A market. And the bottom one is for Japanese Market. As these two ads show, they are good exmaple that one client uses the same theme and key phrase in the different country. I think this is very interesting because usually tastes of advertisements should be different from country to country to be fit for their own culture. So we can see that the main theme and key phrase used in these ads, ‘priceless’, is very strong as the catch copy. 

 

OK..they gave out the glasses…the ape attacked a lady..

From Elizabeth Heidner

“BokitoViewer”

http://www.ibelieveinadv.com/commons/bokitoviewer.jpg

http://www.scaryideas.com/print/7624/

http://www.ibelieveinadv.com/2008/05/fbto-health-insurance-bokitoviewer/

 

An health insurance company in Holland called “FBTO” provided special glasses toview the Gorilla Bikito at the Rotterdam Zoo. The gorilla attacked a woman on May 18th, who held eye contact with the gorilla, something that aggravates the animals to attack. The glasses FBTO gave out for free are called “BokitoViewers,” they have eyes printed on them that look away from the gorilla, with small holes so that the visitors can look directly at the gorilla safely.

 

I really like the idea of the glasses because the idea is unique, funny to look at, and a creative solution. On top of subtly, but brilliantly, advertising the idea that FBTO offers “simple solutions.” This type of guerilla advertising is what originally got me interested. I wish more agencies would do things like this to catch the attention of consumers!

 

(The Agency was DDB of Amsterdam.)

 

Maybe you like them a little, Sho?

From Sho Ito:

 

http://www.ibelieveinadv.com/2007/06/dhl-airmail/

 

This set of print ads for DHL caught my attention when I first saw.  OK, I don’t like DHL.  They lost my baggeges and misdelivered mails, and I would not use them unless there’s no choice.  But I have to say these are just great ads.  Paper planes deliver airmails!  I particullary like the third one with lots of mechanics staring at a paper plane and taking pictures.  It’s got a nice sense of humor and beautiful visual execution.  They don’t really tell about DHL’s service or benefits, though the ads have “remember when you were a kid” type of message, which would make a good impression on current or potential customers.  I’m not sure where these ads were placed, but I bet DHL put them in airports across the world.

 

The (Microsoft) Office

From Megumi Fukaya

 

This Ad is microsoft office 2007. This cm is a little scaring for me, because everyone doesn’t notice fire and they are just concentrating a screen. I think this cm tries to tell how amazing a microsoft office is. Fire is very scaring and dangerous for us. We can notice fire soon when fire gets close to us. However they didn’t notice, even though fire is getting close and water is coming down them. In addition, a rescue party was concentrating a screen, too.

And I like a contrast of this cm. One is quietness which people who can’t move because of impression of microsoft. The other is bustle of fire. And music is slow and calm. I think this contrast should exaggerate how new and amazing microsoft is. 

 

W+K

From Lisa Feldhusen:

 

If you didn’t check out Wieden & Kennedy’s website for our first idea book assignment, then you should. I’ve spent a few hours on the website viewing their creative work, and I still feel like I’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg. This Portland-based advertising agency won Advertising Age’s Global Agency of the Year award for 2008 and has offices in Singapore, London, New York, Amsterdam and Delhi.  It’s crazy to think that Dan Wieden graduated from UO’s School of Journalism and Communication and now runs an internationally recognized ad agency with clients such as Nike, Target, Visa, Heineken, and ESPN. Their website reminds me of a sci-fi game because of its galaxy-inspired format, and it can be tricky to navigate sometimes, but the great thing is that they showcase their entire campaign for the product. For example you can watch Nike ads and also see the print version and other mediums they used for their campaign.

 

Here’s the website link:  If you didn’t check out Wieden & Kennedy’s website for our first idea book assignment, then you should. I’ve spent a few hours on the website viewing their creative work, and I still feel like I’ve only seen the tip of the iceberg. This Portland-based advertising agency won Advertising Age’s Global Agency of the Year award for 2008 and has offices in Singapore, London, New York, Amsterdam and Delhi.  It’s crazy to think that Dan Wieden graduated from UO’s School of Journalism and Communication and now runs an internationally recognized ad agency with clients such as Nike, Target, Visa, Heineken, and ESPN. Their website reminds me of a sci-fi game because of its galaxy-inspired format, and it can be tricky to navigate sometimes but the great thing is that they showcase their entire campaign for the product. For example you can watch Nike ads and also see the print version and other mediums they used for their campaign.

 

Here’s the website link:  http://www.wk.com. You may find ideas to help with the portfolio assignment.

 

I discovered that Dan Wieden is a board member and supporter of the American Indian College Fund, and his agency has done some work for their foundation that is very inspiring. The ads tell a story about life on reservations, and it is one of the few campaigns that I’ve seen that focuses on values. It’s very moving to see what ads can be like if they are based on a values instead of the  benefits and attributes of supporting/using a brand. Wieden & Kennedy also created an impressive tagline: educating the mind and spirit. It’s simple, wholesome and effective in my opinion.

 

Here are my favorite ads for broadcast and print mediums:

 

http://www.wk.com/#/works/211/

http://www.wk.com/#/works/212/

http://www.wk.com/#/works/398/

http://www.wk.com/#/works/210/  - this ad uses a Native American parable to illustrate their point – a technique we discussed in class. 

Maybe some of you will be working for this agency someday!!

 

Using Humor and Ambiguity Works!

From Kimberly Federics:

I came across these Bloom Grocery ads while surfing the web. The website that I originally found these advertisements from completely slips my mind. They had a lot of good ads, but the Bloom campaign was in my opinion by far the best. I think these advertisements are really funny. They do a great job of using humor to capture their audience. The campaign is called “Shop Happy.” I think the creators did an excellent job exploring this theme, and convey this message really well.  Each actor’s sad story has a humorous and happy solution. Hopefully, none of us have experienced any of the actor’s problems. However, all of us can relate to the character’s sad situations. All of us at one time or another had a bad day. The message is clear. Has something horrible happened to you? Here’s a simple solution. Go shop at Bloom. Their friendly staff and great deals will make you forget all of your troubles. Through being cheesy and stating their objective obviously the advertisers have created a funny advertisement. The campaign, is successful at capturing their audience’s attention. I especially like how they used the environment to create a more dramatic situation, rather than just having the actors speak. The character seems to be gliding through the store depressed everything is dark and nothing could ever help them. Then out of nowhere here comes the Bloom employee, our hero. The character is thus transformed into being a happy carefree person once again. The filming is a clever way to emphasis the story. I also think the creators did a good job giving audience members a chance to share an emotional connection with the brand. Through a funny, yet sad advertisement they create an emotion for their audience. The viewer is immediately taken in by the statement the actor makes, and wants to find out more about the situation. I think it’s a really successful campaign. 

 

 

(it was really hard for me to choose. I think they are all really funny, so I thought I would send you all my favorites. If you don’t feel like looking through them you can just post the first two.)

 

 

Spice up your life!

From Sam Johnson:

Firstly, this ad is hilarious. I selected this ad because I often time change that station during advertisements, but this one keeps me tuned in. The amusing nature of this ad prompted me to post it. In the past, the traditional sporty body wash by old spice was targeted towards middle-younger age men. Old spice was creative when constructing an advertising approach for their new ‘hair and body wash’ product. The advertisement incorporates a wide range of strangely funny men, thus it appears Old Spice’s campaign is targeted towards ALL ages of men. This was cleverly done in the ad.

I find this commercial to be absolutely hilarious while also being highly effective in getting the message across. In fact, I bought myself some old spice body/hair wash soon after watching the ad.

What are your thoughts?