advertising – Page 2 – FreeAssociates

Scrapheap Symphony from Brother

I think the ending is just a little anti-climactic, but the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, so to speak. Take a look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d837riy56Ug&feature=player_embedded

Networking: Good? Bad? Ugly?

Our business has almost always come through referrals. I’ve done some direct selling, but usually designer/client relationships are built on something else: a seed of trust. When trust exists, people are willing to recommend you. We’ve been lucky to get recommended often.

Knowing that, it’s interesting that I discovered the concept of networking groups only recently. My brother’s wonderful girlfriend who’s an attorney suggested Provisors. Shortly afterward, a truly talented Santa Monica florist, Mark Herrier of Fleurs du Jour, called me up and invited me to Westside Referrals Network. They’re very different groups, but both are intriguing.

So I’d like to know what you think about networking groups — in general or specifically. If you can post a comment, I’d really love to hear about your experiences, get your advice about whether they work and find out which ones you might have tried. I’m sure others would be curious as well.

As John McWade says, “Let’s talk.”

Collaborating with Green Hasson Janks

The Los Angeles accounting firm of Green Hasson Janks is all about collaboration. It’s the core of their brand identity and it’s deeply ingrained in their DNA.

To communicate this idea to the business community and help raise awareness of the half-century-old firm, we’ve created a series of ads that are running in the Los Angeles Business Journal. This one is on the front cover of the list of top law firms in the city. It’s read by lawyers, and kept for reference by lots of other businesses as well.

Inside, directly opposite the start of the list, you’ll find a related smaller ad that gives a little more detail and directs the reader to the firm’s website for the full story using a QR code.

It’s on newsstands now. Watch for more of these over the next several months.

[Note: here’s a link to a more recent post with another example of the campaign.]

Latest cosmetic breakthrough!

How do they do it? The secrets of the supermodels — revealed by director Jesse Rosten.

[vimeo http://vimeo.com/34813864]

Benetton’s remarkable new campaign

If it’s true, as Seth Godin says, that you’re either remarkable or invisible, then Benetton may have redefined “remarkable”. Their new UNHATE campaign features world leaders kissing — and I think it’s awesome. The cringe factor, the humor, the humanity, the irreverence, all combine to make the ads simply unforgettable.

For years, Benetton has been a brand that makes waves, that challenges our assumptions and our prejudices. It’s what I love about them. But whether or not we love them or hate them, we sure do know who they are. They stand for something — in this case, for world peace and better communication between humans. Not a bad thing.

As branding mavens, we should all pay attention to this one idea: remarkable or invisible. Those are your choices. When in doubt, take a risk. It’s far less risky than doing what’s safe and expected.

Click the image, or here to see all the ads.

Affordable homes deserve great campaigns, too

We love when our work opens up opportunities for real change in the real world. That’s why affordable housing is such fun, and so rewarding. Especially when our client shares our vision of wanting to create a great experience for their customer. So, when Aldersgate Investments was looking for an agency to handle their new affordable community Vista Urbana in Riverpark — the master-planned community in Oxnard, California — we jumped at the chance to help them make it a success.

We’re contending with a tight timeframe and the tight budgets that are typical of the affordable segment of the market. Which makes it all the more important that our branding and our campaign are powerful and memorable.

Our job is to create some excitement around the six assemblies where the public will learn more about the development, and how they can own their own home for less than they’re paying in rent.

So far, we’ve developed the brand identity, and we’ll also be handling the advertising, press releases, presentation and collateral material, signage and sales office graphics. Stay tuned!

Shakespeare meets Mudmen

I don’t imagine that the Bard of Avon ever saw a Papua New Guinea Asaro Mudman. But that hasn’t stopped director Darryl Hovis and costume designer Shannon Kennedy from turning the fairies of A Midsummer Night’s Dream into denizens of that Southwest Pacific island forest.

Samohi Theatre presents A Midsummer Night's Dream

Tickets for the December presentation of A Midsummer Night's Dream at Santa Monica High School are available at samohitheatre.org. Photo by Jialiang Gao for peace-on-earth.org

This December, Santa Monica High School will stage the Elizabethan comedy in its Humanities Center Theatre. We created the campaign for the production (pro bono, of course). Designed to show off this fresh take on a beloved classic, our hope is that the image will entice local theater-lovers to want to experience Midsummer again in a whole new way.

Intrigued? You can buy tickets and see it yourself! It runs Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays from December 2 through December 11. (And, oh yeah, my son Gabe plays Demetrius.)

Embrace Life

A friend sent me this magnificent TV spot this afternoon. What a wonderful, inspiring piece of creative content Daniel Cox, Sarah Alexander and Neal Hopkins created.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-8PBx7isoM]

Stalking Caribou into dangerous territory

I recently saw this little blurb in Ad Age:

Caribou Coffee bows first national TV effort
Caribou Coffee, the country’s second-largest coffee chain behind Starbucks, today will launch its first national TV ad campaign. The creative by Colle & McVoy seeks to poke fun at Starbucks loyalists by portraying them as marionettes.

As a Starbucks, Peets, Coffee Bean and even local café customer, this made me bristle. And I bet it’ll do that to other coffee lovers, too.

Caribou is not Apple, and Starbucks is not Microsoft. I’ve been to several Caribou Coffee stores, and they’re nothing to bellow about. They’re fine. Pleasant. But they don’t inspire, they aren’t highly innovative, and their coffee isn’t in a class by itself. So slamming people for buying coffee in a place that is innovative, that works hard to keep its experience fresh and relevant, and that transformed an entire industry, seems questionable.
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A world made of people: The new Prius spot

The sheer wonderfulness of the world created for the new Prius “Harmony” commercial is astonishing. With television advertisers fighting an uphill battle for our attention as we TiVo past their expensive promotions, its things like this that will stop viewers in their tracks. How can you not slow to do see what’s going on here and try to figure out how it was done?

This video answers that question — at least a little. (It’s available in a larger size than will fit in this post, too.)

Only problem: I’m already getting a little sick of the song from watching this….

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/v/-_M-WaCg27k&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x3a3a3a&color2=0x999999&border=1]

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