New Ad Campaigns

Thursday, September 23, 2010

New Ad Campaigns

From Amy:

Don't hassel the Hoff. Baby carrots: the "it" snack. Kindle vs. iPad. Let's launch!

The Aruba Tourism Authority is launching a global brand campaign Sept. 27 that brings back its former tagline, "One Happy Island." This tagline even appears on license plates, so you can be sitting at a red light and be reminded of how good life is. I recently went to Aruba and can attest that everyone was happy... especially me. "Aruba Uncovered" consists of TV, print and outdoor ads. Gone is comedian Lewis Black as spokesman, replaced by Ian Wright, host of the travel/adventure television series, "Globe Trekker." Wright visits the island and interacts with local Arubans in an unscripted format to highlight the island's offerings. Why is everyone happy, wonders Wright in "Anthem." Snorkeling, dancing and fishing cover it. Watch it here. Wright learns about Papiamento, Aruba's local language, while fishing. There is no word for work-related stress. See it here. Being a weatherman in Aruba is easy work. The weather stays the same year-around. Watch "Weatherman" here. Wright is convinced there's a bubble of happiness surrounding Aruba in "Force Field." He takes a group of tourists out boating to verify his theory. Sadly for him, everyone remains happy. See it here. The final ad watches Wright taking Tumba dance lessons. He needs to work on his flexibility. Watch it here. Deutsch New York created the campaign.

You don't often see a company tackle the behemoth Apple in advertising. Amazon.com changed all that with a TV spot that pits its e-reader Kindle against Apple's iPad. The ad takes place poolside at a luxury hotel. A man is having trouble reading off his iPad due to the sun's glare. A woman next to him reads effortlessly and glare-free from her Kindle. She takes an additional jab at Apple when she tells the man she spent more money on her sunglasses than her Kindle, which cost $139. Let's face it: Apple brand loyalists have no problem dropping big bucks on the latest first generation Apple product, despite kinks. See the ad here, created in-house and produced by Eyeball.

Nowadays, an innocent click on a search result can lead to catastrophe. PCs need protection from David Hasselhoff and Dolph Lundgren. What? Hasn't the Hoff suffered enough, having been voted off "Dancing with the Stars" last night? His latest role is cybercriminal in a series of hysterical, yet informative, online videos for Norton Internet Security 2011. "Every click matters" in Norton's "Allow vs. Deny" campaign. Hasselhoff and Lundgren are thieves paired with an oscillating fan and unicorn, harmless objects posing as a person's online bank account and computer password. Visitors to the site have the option to allow or deny Hoff and Lundgren access. Hasselhoff dislikes oscillating fans because they muss his hair. If allowed access to the fan, Hoff destroys it by shaking his wet hair, causing the fan to spark. See it here. If you deny Hoff access, however, the fan morphs into a yummy pretzel. Once Hoff grabs the pretzel, the fan appears and severs his fingers, causing Hoff to run away screaming. Watch it here. Lundgren's videos are equally great, if not better. He's ready to kick ass and take names. His opponent is a unicorn that thinks about rainbows. If allowed access, Lundgren makes "unicorn on the cob." See it here. When denied, Lundgren pulls out his gun, only to be felled by unicorn dust that makes his head explode. Watch it here. Leo Burnett created the campaign.

Baby carrots are healthy, tasty and going mainstream. The latest effort from Bolthouse Farms to position baby carrots as a snack to eat like junk food is Xtreme Xrunch Kart, a free game for the iPhone and iPod Touch. You need strong jaw muscles for this game. Crunching baby carrots into your device's microphone helps players activate speed bursts, hit ramps and stick radical aerial tricks. Players maneuver the obstacle course from a rocket-powered shopping cart by tilting the phone to avoid potholes, explosions and pterodactyls. See a preview here. The game, created by Crispin Porter + Bogusky, launched Monday and can be found in the App Store.

GE launched "Road Trip," a TV spot promoting its electric car charger, Wattstation. A group of friends hop into an electric car and take a road trip with ease, plugging their car into a Wattstaion at each stopover. "While the world's been waiting on the electric car, maybe the whole time, the electric car has been waiting for this," says a voiceover. Watch the ad here, created by BBDO New York and edited by Crew Cuts.

Google and YouTube are taking to the streets of Manhattan this week, targeting world leaders attending the UN General Assembly to support the Born HIV Free campaign and the Global Fund, a financier of programs to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Twenty street teams are placed at specific Manhattan intersections, holding signs designed to look like road signs that spell out HIV facts and urge global leaders to free future generations from HIV by 2015. A sign at 1st Ave & 43rd St -- United Nations Headquarters - reads: "In just 1 year, almost 43 hundred thousand children in developing countries are born with HIV. We can free future generations from HIV by 2015. Make an impact on the UN Summit." See signs here, here and here, created by Johannes Leonardo.

Nokia set a Guinness World Record for smallest stop-motion animation character in a film with "Dot," a 97-second film shot on the new Nokia N8. Using the smartphone's 12-megapixel photography capabilities, "Dot" stars a 9mm girl who awakens from a nap to find her world unraveling. Literally. She avoids destruction by running over coins and pins, taking a ride from a bee over a city of keys and pencils, only to be dropped in a flowery patch with the world still unraveling. She grabs two needles to take on her attacker. She successfully knits a blanket and goes back to sleep. See the ad here, created by Wieden + Kennedy London and produced by Aardman Animations.

John Smith's ale launched "Dog Show," the third TV spot in its "No Nonsense" campaign. The ad follows "Diner" and "Antique," seen here and here. Comedian Peter Kay brings his dog Tonto to perform in a dog show. After watching a well-groomed poodle maneuver the obstacle course, Tonto takes center stage. Tonto takes off and leaves the arena, only to reappear holding his master's newspaper in his mouth. The crowd goes wild. "Oh, that's years of training right here," says voiceover Peter Purves, a veteran Crufts Dog Show presenter. See the ad here, created by TBWA/London and directed by Danny Kleinman.

Random iPhone App of Advertising Week: Deutsch New York launched a free Advertising Week iPhone App, just in time for next week's events. Users can find out speaker information, event locations and real-time updates on speaker changes. There's also a customizable schedule for users to slate the events they'd like to attend; directions to said events are then available through Google Maps. Download the app from the App Store.