A Creative Review: Breaking Bad
Welcome back to A Creative Review with James Cooper. Today Coop lays down some sage advice for entertainment marketers.
Obviously everyone in the creative community is a complete Breaking Bad fanatic. Although, I was once in a meeting where one person said they didn’t like it, and then a few more people joined them, it was almost as if once someone had broken cover they felt free to admit this heresy.
The temptation for marketers for do something showy and complex when they have a hit show must be pretty strong. A lot of entertainment companies are guilty of overly elaborate stunts to promote movies that really didn’t need that much promotion. All those ARG games for the Batman movies left me very cold - everyone was already going to see your movie. Chill.
Photo credit: ADstruc
So, when I see a well timed and simple ad like this. I make a little mental note to say, ‘Good job, you managed not to screw it up.’ It’s amazing how you can already see billboards for movies that come out in January or bus shelters for Games of Thrones. No one else needs to see GoT. Save your money.
And you know what? Good job on also not making the ads more creative than the show. When you have a creative product as good as Breaking Bad you don’t need to dress it up - just a simple timely reminder should do the trick!
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That’s all folks! Want to get involved? Send us shots of the best [or worst] outdoor advertising you’ve seen, and we’ll choose one every week. Just email coop@adstruc.com.
A Creative Review: Wodka
Welcome back to A Creative Review with James Cooper. Today Coop gets zetetic about a recent ad for Wodka.
The job of any billboard - of any ad - is to get noticed. And these days, to get talked about.
This piece for Wodka, the Polish word for vodka, is doing a pretty good job on both accounts. It went up around the time we were all bricking it about Kim Jong whatshisname sending over a nuke. Nukes are pretty serious business. This client has their product looking like a nuke. That’s pretty out there.
Photo credit: ADstruc
When you also take the fact that they are using an actual picture of the Korean leader, I’m assuming his agent didn’t sign a release for that, you have something pretty remarkable. Throw in a cat and well, you’ve got your (nuclear) bases covered.
On the Wodka site you can create your own billboard. So if you think you could do better go for it. These guys certainly are!
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That’s all folks! Want to get involved? Send us shots of the best [or worst] outdoor advertising you’ve seen, and we’ll choose one every week. Just email coop@adstruc.com.
A Creative Review: Draw Something 2
Welcome back to A Creative Review with James Cooper. Today Coop’s all about Zynga’s wild posting campaign for Draw Something 2.
I’ve said before that I believe outdoor can be an interactive medium. People talk about digital being the way forward for everything, but what I think we really mean by this is interactive. Digital just makes it easier to interact. But if you are smart and have some balls, you can invite your audience to interact with you in a more public and permanent way.
When I worked with Sony Ericsson, I did a lot of photo upload sites. And our client would always ask us about the potential for user abuse. It was the first question: ‘What do we do about naked pictures’? Well, of course, it’s easy enough to employ moderators, and most folks will act like grown ups. But, there is still some primeval urge by men - I’m assuming it’s men! - to upload pictures of their naughty bits and draw pictures of them too.
Photo credit: ADstruc
The why of that I will leave for the more Freudian of you, but my reaction is the same now as it was back then in early Internet days: at least these people are interacting with your brand. They have at least read your message. That’s more valuable than a simple dismissal. And if you think about it, drawing genitalia on something makes it more likely that the next person who walks by will take notice.
So props to Draw Something 2 and Zynga - an Internet era company if ever there was one - for using outdoor as a medium, but staying true to the ideals of web company that values interaction over inaction.
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That’s all folks! Want to get involved? Send us shots of the best [or worst] outdoor advertising you’ve seen, and we’ll choose one every week. Just email coop@adstruc.com.
A Creative Review: The Original Hipster
Welcome back to A Creative Review with James Cooper. Today Coop is befuddled by a new campaign from the Catholic Diocese.
Sometimes you see something and you say to yourself ‘I don’t get that’. Other times you see something and you say, ‘I see what they were trying to do here, but it missed the mark by a little bit’ - that’s curse of being a Creative Director. You never switch off. And then there are times when you just completely have no idea what’s going on. Case in point - The Original Hipster.
A. What? B. Hold on, what? C. Oh, I think I get it…wait….no I don’t.
Photo credit: ADstruc
I literally have no idea what’s going on here. And that’s not because I’m English, and therefore am a heathen, or that I’m one of these people that is a hipster but furiously denies it. For the record, I think I’m a semi-hipster. ( I don’t have any tattoos, wear skinny jeans, or ride a fixie - but I do live in Brooklyn and do artsy fartsy stuff every now and then).
Of course, it could be that this poster is so random that it just makes you stop and think about its true meaning. The true meaning of the poster - and of life. And if that is the case, then it’s a work of divine inspiration.
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That’s all folks! Want to get involved? Send us shots of the best [or worst] outdoor advertising you’ve seen, and we’ll choose one every week. Just email coop@adstruc.com.
A Creative Review: Daft Punk
Welcome back to A Creative Review with James Cooper. Today Coop delves into Daft Punk.
There was a time when agencies believed in ‘matching luggage’, or leveraging the same idea, art, and copy across all media. Back then - this is probably the late 90’s - all media meant TV, outdoor, print, and some banners. 360 marketing was the big thing. Every agency wanted to prove that it had the capabilities to produce a coherent message across different shapes and format. And it was a good idea.
But, without today’s more reliable analytics & targeting, you couldn’t guarantee or track if a consumer who saw your TV spot had also seen your banner, and so the message was often repeated until it got really boring. Eventually, the idea of matching luggage became shorthand for a lack of creativity.
Photo credit: ADstruc
That’s why this Daft Punk billboard is great. The simplicity demonstrates confidence - confidence that its audience already knows what it’s talking about: Daft Punk’s upcoming album Random Access Memories. Further, while it matches the other media in play: wild posters in SoHo, Vice’s Creators Project videos, viral clips from Coachella, etc, it’s not repetitive. It’s light on messaging and big on impact.
Engaging an audience doesn’t require matching luggage, rather a talented storyteller.
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That’s all folks! Want to get involved? Send us shots of the best [or worst] outdoor advertising you’ve seen, and we’ll choose one every week. Just email coop@adstruc.com.
A Creative Review: Louis C.K.
Welcome back to A Creative Review with James Cooper. Today Coop digs into a billboard for Louis C.K.
Wouldn’t it be great to be in a position where you could say, ‘You know what, I don’t need this whole billboard. Let’s just use the bottom 20%’? This particular example breaks all the rules for normal outdoor. We are always told six words or less, big striking image and use the real estate.
Photo credit: ADstruc
But Louis C.K. is a guy who breaks the rules. I am a huge proponent of brands (and Mr C.K. is now most definitely a brand) staying true to themselves, no matter what media they are in. Every time you interact with the brand it should feel consistent. Especially these days where there are myriad ways to connect with a brand.
So this slightly unusual billboard - in a way that you can’t quite put your finger on - feels spot on. I’m even prepared to forgive the art director for the crime against punctuation and typography where the period after the K and the colon collide.
Colon Collide. That’s going to be the name of my new band.
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That’s all folks! Want to get involved? Send us shots of the best [or worst] outdoor advertising you’ve seen, and we’ll choose one every week. Just email coop@adstruc.com.
A Creative Review: Sign Painters Documentary Trailer
Welcome back to A Creative Review with James Cooper. This week’s post is a departure from the norm, and comes to us via former summer intern Regy Perlera.
I have two lasting memories from my art school days. When I was about 10, my teacher told us that we were going to have double art (that’s English speak for an extended art lesson). I must have said ‘yes!’ or something similar, because she replied with ‘I don’t know why you’re so happy, your art is lousy.’
Later when I was 14, I got really into graffiti and was doing a lot of lettering in my art classes. I went to a fairly stiff school where art was basically oil painting. So when I said I wanted to pass my exams doing graffiti, well you can imagine how that went.
Long story short, I have always been into lettering, the doodling of, the painting of - anything I can get really. Is it art? Hells yeah. Just look at someone like Jenny Holzer of Ed Ruscha, or way back Toulouse Lautrec. And are those guys in this amazing film about sign painting artists? Double Hells yeah!
I can’t wait to see this film in its entirety. I know I go on about how digital and outdoor is a great space to play in, but sometimes there is nothing better than a beautifully painted outdoor piece.
For more info, check out the official Sign Painters website.
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That’s all folks! Want to get involved? Send us shots of the best [or worst] outdoor advertising you’ve seen, and we’ll choose one every week. Just email coop@adstruc.com.
A Creative Review: The Walking Dead
Welcome back to A Creative Review with James Cooper. Today Coop casts his eye at an indoor installation for Season 3 of The Walking Dead.
Digit-al Marketing
One could make argument that its ‘easy’ to do great ads for a show like the Walking Dead. Certainly as a creative, if you get that brief you’ve got to be pretty happy. But it’s not always the case that great work is produced. Sometimes people get lazy, they think they have such a great product that they actually don’t need to do anything with their advertising (ahem….Apple). So whoever got this particular piece through - well done!
Photo credit: hart_andrew via instagram
Ok, it looks gross and is a spectacle you can’t ignore - that’s your basic housekeeping - but the fact that it countdowns the days to the show with each finger coming off, that’s what really makes it cool. I always like to stress the difference between digital work and interactive work - they are not the same. This is a great interactive piece with nary a pixel in sight.
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That’s all folks! Want to get involved? Send us shots of the best [or worst] outdoor advertising you’ve seen, and we’ll choose one every week. Just email coop@adstruc.com.
A Creative Review: Manhattan Mini Storage
Welcome back to A Creative Review with James Cooper. Today Coop digs into Manhattan Mini Storage’s NYC-centric outdoor campaign.
Play to the Location
As a non-native New Yorker there is something I have always liked about the Manhattan Mini Storage work. A good outdoor campaign plays to the location, and too few billboards do that these days. Perhaps that’s cost, but it’s probably more like laziness.
Photo credit: ADstruc
For years now this work has had a consistent tone of voice - which is also increasingly rare. They are confident, they know who they are talking too, and are not afraid to poke fun at people. Like New Yorkers I guess. As someone who couldn’t care less about religion - I’m not even bothered enough to say that I’m an atheist - but is mildly obsessed with sneakers, this particular execution hits home.
My one gripe with this billboard is that there is a little too much going on. If they want to talk about price or a free move option, then I think they should run individual executions highlighting those offers. It will be a little harder to write a funny line about it, but hey, that’s where us writers earn our coin.
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That’s all folks! Want to get involved? Send us the best or worst billboards you’ve seen and we’ll choose one every week. Just email coop@adstruc.com.
A Creative Review: Clorox’s Bleachable Moments
Welcome back to A Creative Review with James Cooper. Today Coop’s all about Clorox’s interactive billboard.
What Happens in Vegas…
Judging by most of the gas on Twitter, CES seemed like a pretty yucky affair. What with the booth babes and let’s just say a ‘less then stellar’ keynote, perhaps the opportunity to cleanse onself is a pretty good one. This interactive billboard from Clorox lets you do that for all to see.
Photo credit: Daily DOOH
This is not a new idea - Method did a very successful site where you could wash your hands of something you regretted - but it is a cute use of technology and placement. I do like it when brands like Clorox try things like this, as we used to be told that there was no place for packaged goods in the digital space: Go to a website for a bleach? Why would I do that?
This campaign joins the Domestos Flush Tracker, a site in the UK that tracks your - well, you get the idea - as a good example of a fun way to get people talking about your brand.
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That’s all folks! Want to get involved? Send us the best or worst billboards you’ve seen and we’ll choose one every week. Just email coop@adstruc.com.
