Oasis have never been a popular band in the US, maybe because of the arrogance of the Gallagher brothers and perhaps also because no one could understand what they were saying in interviews. Their last album was, however a fine return to form and fairly well received by both the public and critics.  More interestingly for me, the album promotion, orchestrated by BBH New York, just won the Grandy (top award in the Andy Advertising Awards) in New York on Wednesday. The idea was basically to teach street buskers in New York to perform songs from the album prior to the release and then have them go out and perform in the Subway. Full film here.  Bits of You Tubery on it here.  What a lovely creative leap.

I’ve always had a good feeling about Jet Blue - another favorite challenger brand. Unlike POM, their advertising is executed with class and wit and their latest campaign couldn’t be more perfectly suited to the current business climate. This nice little micro site gets you into the story.  It makes a nice change to see a brand grasp the nettle of the economic environment with a healthy dose of irony, rather than scramble to run ever more depressing price/value claims. Well done JWT New York for a lovely campaign and to George, as usual acerbic brilliance for the link.

I love it when small companies take on the big boys.  I especially love it when their product is superior to the big boys and customers recognize that.  POM Wonderful is a good example. Their first big ad campaign included excellent outdoor/print executions with headlines like “Cheat Death” and “Life Support” - it was simple, clean and single-minded  - and all created in-house!

On a recent trip to San Francisco, I noticed POM’s more recent campaign was everywhere. It still plays off the idea that the brand is “the anti-oxidant super-power” but executionally it has lost everything the first campaign had.  The new stuff is badly written, messily laid out and has completely left the engaging wit of the previous campaign behind.

From the brilliant “Cheat Death” to “I’m off to Save Prostates” - what a disappointment!  I just hope they didn’t move the work from in-house to an agency.  When they were scrappy and hungry, they did much better work.

Every day, these days, we are bombarded with bad news articles concerning the decline of the printed press industry. Today is no exception as it marks the final day of circulation for Denver’s own Rocky Mountain News whose print presses finally go silent after nearly 150 years of continuous publication. Amid this barrage of bad news a gleaming beacon of positivity appears to be flourishing. Draft Magazine celebrates beer’s role as a timeless, democratic american social glue – less dedicated foodie magazine, more beer lovers lifestyle magazine. Launched in 2006 the title boasts strong advertising revenue, an enviable 200,000 paid subscription base and an additional 70,000 newstand circulation. It is even doing the unimaginable – considering increasing its yearly output from six issues to ten. It would appear in these purse string tightening days that the old marketing adage of standing for something deeply, to an audience that cares, holds unassailable consumer sway. So before you blindly attempt to court consumer favor with your next marketing campaign… step back and ask yourself this simple, but time critical question. Who (think the 1 not the many) will truly respect a simple, more personally relevant message about my brand and reciprocate that considered thought with growing loyalty… back to basics anyone!

Most articles about Jobs today are probably about Apple stock, but I thought it would be more interesting to take a look at an ad campaign for Tourism Queensland.  Perfectly capturing the hunker-down mood of the day, Tourism Queensland created a job posting for arguably the best job in the world.  In brief: move to Hamilton Island by the Great Barrier Reef, live in a beautifully appointed house with a pool for 6 months, and periodically send blog posts of what’s going on in that part of the world…oh yes, and get paid $150,000 for it (Aussie $$, but still….).  What started as a gimmick to promote the Whitsunday Islands has turned into an internet phenomenon, with over 200,000 applicants for the job and a website that has buckled under the huge traffic of desperate recession refugees.  How brilliant is that… don’t just show people snorkeling on the Great Barrier Reef and lounging on the beach, but create that fragment of an idea in people’s heads that they could escape there…and get paid for it.  Genius.

In its latest installment of viral goodness, Burger King offers you ‘Flame’, the IT-fragrence of 2008 and perfect holiday gift for the spicy-hot-man-who-has-everything on your holiday list. Check it out at the brilliantly named website: firemeetsdesire.com.   

Reported to make your man smell like “the scent of seduction with a hint of flame-broiled meat.”…..mmmmmm, sexy.

It is a bargain at its $3.99 price point and available at Ricky NYC or online. 

Happy Holidays!

The success and ubiquity of the Wassup campaign for Budweiser 8 years ago means that you can probably close your eyes and picture those guys watching the game and having a Bud - they are permanently linked to the brand. This makes "Wassup '08" quite a powerful proposition - even though it is using comedy to make a political point and "does not reflect the opinion of Anheuser-Busch", it is still drawing on that goodwill. The original Bud spot was inspired by a short film created by Charles Stone (the first guy on the couch who answers the phone), so was originally an unbranded piece of film.  Obviously through the Bud campaign, it became commercialized and essentially owned by the Budweiser brand.  With this new spot, the whole piece has tried to reassert that commercial independence and attempted to throw off the brand association and make a political point. However, it really hasn't - the link to Bud will still be the main reference point to this piece and the brand association will still be there despite the disclaimers. Testament to the power of brands and a definite link back to Budweiser (good or bad) depending on how you intend to vote in 7 days.  2 million views on You Tube already. Thanks to Amelia for posting this one.

When I was a kid, there was a great campaign in the UK to prevent youngsters getting into smoking.  Not quite as hard hitting as Crispin's Truth Campaign, but i still remember it.  It featured a hilarious cartoon villain called Nick O'Teen, who was always trying to get kids hooked on cigarettes, only to be thwarted by Superman - nice cross promotion by DC Comics. Check out the spots and listen for the completely incongruous English accents of the kids - hilarious.

In light of new legislation in California to force fast food restaurants to post calorie counts on their menus, I'd love it if there was a similar anti-fat cartoon character on our screens to rival the evil Nick O'Teen.  I am fascinated by the ethical debate around fast food and obesity.  Whereas Big Tobacco can easily be held accountable for the willful marketing of a known addictive and harmful product, can fast food companies really be judged by the same criteria? I think not. Legal cases founded on the alleged "addictive nature of fast food" seem to be clutching at straws.  But then again, they probably said that about ciggies in the 50s….

I check out Amelia's blog every now and then and back in May, she had a simple maxim for a good viral campaign: "just produce good content and human beings are inclined to enjoy sharing".  

Diesel's latest viral campaign is sure to get a lot of attention and probably sharing too. Not because it is good content, but simply because it is porn with a dose of humor. The viral has been made to celebrate Diesel's "Dirty 30" year anniversary (30 = XXX).  Diesel's always been known for rather peculiar advertising (remember the "Global Warming Ready" print campaign) - that's designed to poke fun at serious issues in an ironic way. While I haven't always liked them, Diesel campaigns have always stopped me, which  is a good thing in the typically crap world of meaningless fashion ads.  Plus, the last pair of jeans I bought was Diesel (cue hipsters rejecting the brand en masse).

The SFW XXX viral for Diesel was produced by Viral Factory who were the smart people behind the great Cloverfield film promos last summer.  A Viral Factory spokesman said: "Our brief was to remind consumers that Diesel is a brand not to be taken for granted, and that they should continue to expect the unexpected."  Is this good content or porn dressed up as somehow brand relevant?  

Ok, now I get it. 

At first, I admit it, I was one of those left lost and confused with the Seinfeld/Gates spot.  I felt I was left without message, without call to action, without purpose. 

But now, with the new I’m a PC work, I totally get it. (View the new spot here)

And may I just say – Bravo.

After years of allowing Mac to abuse the image of PC users like the too-cool-for-school playground bully that it is, this new campaign is taking back the power for those of us who don’t need our laptops to tell us how cool we are. 

And, in this day and age… rightly so.  Geeks are chic, smart is in, nerds have all the power, we all wish we were Bill Gates…or at least Tina Fey.  Take that, aging hipster with the Vans and the faux vintage organic cotton tee!

And not just a parade of geeks are standing up and proudly proclaiming themselves PCs, average guys, artists, blue color workers, sports stars, aid workers, teachers, Hollywood starlets, and even hipsters with Vans and faux vintage organic cotton tees.  PC users no longer have to hide in shame and sheepishly give all the cool credit to the all mighty Apple.

So now, seeing where this all was heading, the fun-ification of Bill Gates by Jerry Seinfeld makes perfect sense.  By, highlighting the Chic in Geek Chic, Bill himself becomes the new stereotype for the PC, aspirational, successful, smart, cool in his own way.  But beyond that, PCs don’t discriminate like Mac.  You don’t have to be the 'cool design guy' or Bill Gates to be one of us, you can be Eva Langoria or a fisherman in Alaska.  We take all kinds.

Solidarity comrades!

So the new Microsoft campaign launched a couple weeks ago and the blogs have been busy with dissections of the work.  Comments are mainly critical. In general people don't get it, mainly because they are waiting for the campaign to give them some sort of rational message at the end and there isn't one. I've only seen long versions of both spots, here and here on You Tube, so I'm not sure how these are working in 30: format on real TV, but I think they're funny. If we think that all the best advertising leaves us with a positive and memorable association with the brand, this does make me feel quite a bit better about Microsoft.  No, it doesn't tell me anything rational or specific about PCs, Windows, Vista or whatever, but it does entertain me with funny little films that highlight Seinfeld's great comedy timing. If the objective was to make Microsoft look a bit more human, it's working for me, even if it isn't working for Steve Jobs.

Speaking of the MTV VMA’s, every year, this one never ceases to amaze me because it is such a real life example of irony.  The VMA’s were designed to make fun of other awards programs, by fixing, staging and lip-synching the entire event.  Every aspect of the program is executed with the producer’s tongue firmly inserted in their cheeks. 

And yet, somehow, they have achieved a weird form of legitimacy, becoming coveted awards that signal success, comeback and industry recognition. 

I suppose this is a new media trend where the parody becomes the paradigm.  Look at the Daily Show, something like a quarter of those under 30 use the Daily Show as their primary news source.

Are there other examples of this sort of reversal from spoof to legitimacy?