It's been a while since I blogged but things have been taking up my time...mostly work and getting to know the ins and outs of the two digital accounts I work on.
To keep things relevant, here's a great example of some rich media ads I saw recently for Net-A-Porter. Instantly linking to the sophistication of the brand, the creative is simple and rather poetic...or at least it appears that way when the designer names are so beautifully displayed, and then jumbled up again, then almost rearranged into a wonderful form of order by n-a-p. The expansion on the ad is not too intrusive, and shouldn't be at all if the targeting is right.
On this occassion the targeting was perfect, as I received the ads whilst on a London information site, looking at spa listings. Too bad the site doesn't sell men's though!
I've hardly ever seen Google advertise, except via the occasional YouTube preview vid. Mostly they work by WOM and the fact that people, generally, love Google. Hey, I do too, that shit works. But whilst reading an article on the Telegraph site, I saw an MPU ad for Google Chrome. I was actually using Google Chrome at the time (still getting used to it vs. Firefox)
After seeing Almodovar's new flick last week, Broken Embraces (Los Abrazos Rotos), I was keen to read a few reviews and see which critics agreed with me on my opinion of the movie (I absolutely loved it, btw)... I stumbled upon Time Out's review and found some wonderful advertising for a new movie called '500 Days of Summer'. Awesome targeting and truly engaging creative, this ad take over was impressive stuff. With the two protagonists bordering TO's review content it was hard to not take notice, combine that with an MPU playing the trailer, a leaderboard AND skyscraper... I'm SOLD.
I'll be honest and say I know little about who made this ad and where/when it aired, but I had to post it as it's just ridiculous. An ad for an airline (and quite a cool airline at that) that feels more like an ad for George clothing at ASDA. Plus the Robbie Williams soundtrack? Srsly?
Actually quite funny, so perhaps that was the point. Does it make me wanna fly Korean Air? Maybe. Only to party with these CRAZY cats! It's no Virgin Atlantic though.
Yet again, the boys over at VM have produced a stunning new ad. Also, I saw this whilst watching The X Factor online via the ITV Player, which is just perfect targeting.
Looking over at some of my older posts, it seems I've mostly used this space to note down advertising and uses of media that impress me and make me think about a given brand in a new and interesting way. Well, in order to keep things in balance, I thought it was about time I blogged about something I actually don't like. Blackberry's most recent ad does a good job of almost destroying a brand I find great affinity with. I've had a BB for a while now and though I love the iPhone's sleek design and functionality, my BB has served me well and I just love how easy it is to use and how well it performs as a phone, on top of everything else it does so well.
Their most recent ad with U2 playing a relatively nondescript song from their probably weak new album is old, uninspiring and it's unclear as to what connection the brand has with the band, or music in general. The key problems are:
- Apple linked up with U2 a few years back for a big iPod campaign, notably for the launch of iPod video function on the Classic. Check it here. A solid campaign, that also used some of new-U2's great songs like 'Vertigo' as a backdrop for the famous silhouette's dancing against solid block colours.
- Sony Ericsson have worked on their media messaging for years now and successfully moved into the 'music' space in the world of mobile phones, being seen as the go-to brand for the ultimate portable music player/phone Their whole image is 'I love music, I love my Sony Ericsson', often replacing 'love' with their logo. Perfect.
- The creative in the ad is just bad. Shot badly, with weak audio, and almost just a very weak version of what Apple did years ago.
With the iPhone arguably the most direct competition for Blackberry, it seems odd that they would make such a succession of terrible mistakes with this recent campaign. In such a competitive market, you'd think their creative agency would look to what key competitors are actually doing at the moment, and what they've done in the past.
There, I did it. My next post will probably (read: definitely) be about something I've seen that I really like.
