An Advertological Note

When I first saw the Diamond Shreddies commercial (above) back in 2008, I thought it was ingenious and hilarious and definitely memorable - three aspects of advertising I find imperative. Interestingly enough, this campaign won the 2008 Grand Clio Award for Integrated Campaign. Then I watched Rory Sutherland's TED talk about advertising (below), wherein he explained that this campaign was created by Hunter Somerville (an intern at the time) for Ogilvy and Mather Canada.

As he explains in the video, this is the perfect case of "creating intangible added value without changing the product in the slightest. [...] All it requires is photons, neutrons, and a great idea." I completely agree - what an inventive idea and so simple, too!

However I cannot bore you with my appraisal of advertising ingenuity and will continue on with the complainathon.

Recently, Cottonelle released a very similar ad campaign (below) called the Roll Poll, in which they ask everyday people to contact them (internet, text message etc...) and tell them which way they roll their toilet paper - over or under? They are renewing the brand without changing a thing about it - another great idea with less cost. Now, I can't seem to put my finger on whether or not I like this campaign - and it very well could have to do with my being faithful to the original Diamond Shreddies, but I can't seem to make up my mind. Is is funny and a good debate or is it illegitimate and silly?

Great minds think alike?

Song of the day: Alizee - Limelight

Snowpocalypse?

Last week we (the north-eastern part of the us of a) endured what some called "Snowpocalypse" - Ok, there was a lot of snow and the roads were impossible to drive on and we were basically trapped for about 36 hours, but it wasn't quite to the point where we needed to run to Costco for provisions or anything. The next day was sunny and bright and the snow was perfectly untouched and deserved a photoshoot - and this is the result (to be divvied into a couple posts).

Happy Chinese New Year!

(Andy Warhol's I Love You Heart - c. 1984)

ok fiiine, Happy Valentine's Day...

I'd like to share with you all the magic of the We Are The World 25 for Haiti video, performed by so many powerful voices. Celine Dion sets me free - her voice is like two unicorns prancing in a prairie full of rainbows. Not as magical, however, is the when the video switches to auto-tune and rap. I understand the need to re-vamp and modernize the song, but I just had to giggle when Lil' Wayne, Akon, T-Pain (and his backpack), LL Cool J, Snoop D-oh-double-G, Will.I.Am etc... vocoded their voices, rapping the pain away. I also want to point out the presence of Enrique, which rocked my time socks right off. I feel like these philanthropic charity songs where so many celebrities sing are very competitive - each singer is alloted only about one line of the song, so they really want to strut their stuff to make it the best, most powerful part. This is obviously logical, but I think its great at the same time because all of the best vocals are combined to make one damn impressive song. A.K.A. Way to belt it out, Miley. P.S. Adam Levine = GOD slash I want him to be my Valentine.

F A H A D

Fahad Asvt.

Photog extraordinaire, blogger, and debonaire.

We had so much fun at this photo shoot in Montreal - it started out as a brainstorming session to figure out what concept would work best amongst his other portraits on his new blog, Mr. Black's Diary. We figured he was going for a vintage look with an edge so when Ms. Joane suggested a murder mystery, we were all on board. However, murder mystery quickly turned into model-distracted-and-getting-ready-to-go-out, so we all went with the flow (and this is what came of it).

P.S. I still don't quite know what I love so much about the blurry color one, but it just works for me.

Song of the day: Max Cooper - Symphonica

WOWZA

I love it! Catchy, colorful and overall amazing. It's like M.I.A. + Andy Warhol + Jean-Michel Basquiat + Keith Haring + something I can't quite put my finger on but the sped up dancing at 3:12 reminds me of it. 'Nuff said.

J O Y

Ode To JOY

Oh, Joy

You are the real mccoy

And now you're employ[ed]

So you can enjoy

Like Helen of Troy

So many more toy[s]

(It's hard to avoi[d]

rhyming with "boy")

Seriously though,

there's so much snow

and I love you mo'

than each flake combined, yo!

You're the best,

the most beautiful,

the funniest, too

so happy birthday today

straight from me, right to you

Song of the day: The Beatles - Birthday

Icon

I love Rihanna. Or, I love her stylists I guess... Although I bet her personal style is as sick as whoever styles her music videos. These are a couple photos (via Daily Mail) from her upcoming video for "Rude Boy". It's colorful, it's out-there, it's Keith Haring inspired? It definitely plays along with my recent post about Tribalations, too! I love those shapes - they seem to play and blend seamlessly with the form of her body. I love so many of the visual concepts of Rihanna's music videos, and I'm sure I'll like this one too. Retro-80s-modern-flare. I'm a fan.

Song of the day: Das Racist - Combination Pizza Hut and Taco Bell (funny)