Campaigns

Via adsoftheworld

Advertising Agency: Publicis Conceil, Paris, France
Chief Creative Officer: Olivier Altmann
Copywriter: Thierry Lebec
Art Director: Bénédicte Potel

Lord help us, it's like the Wii but only holier. A new (faux) ad for some organization called Mass We Pray lets loose with some family fun in the name of crucifix-wielding, pew-sitting, rollicking good time. It's for a game called Dante's Inferno, but can't we just go back to Scrabble?

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Method brand cleaners might stare at you as you stroll through target, but at least they don't reside in your bath, waiting for you to sexily step in the shower (whilst nude), only to behave like a semi-drunk man who likes watching ladies in the shower. Also known as everyone.

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We're forgetting some, but this should keep you busy for awhile.

"Take it to the next level — Director's Cut"

"My better is better than your better"

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While NYC's Coalition of Reason campaign launched only last month, UK non-believers have been disseminating their message since at least January. A consortium of Atheist groups across the Atlantic has launched the final phase of its "Atheist Bus" effort--a billboard campaign that coincides with the UN's Universal Children's Day.

"Atheist Bus" kicked off early this year with the typically polite, slightly agnostic "There's Probably No God" campaign that was seen on several UK buses. Meanwhile, the billboards, which are found in London, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, complement a fundraising effort to lobby for the phasing out of state-funded "faith schools".

The campaign message? Kids should have the freedom to grow up and decide for themselves what they believe in. Richard Dawkins, author of The God Delusion and co-sponsor of the campaign, tells Brand Republic: "Nobody would seriously describe a tiny child as a 'Marxist child' or an 'Anarchist child' or a 'Post-modernist child'. Yet children are routinely labeled with the religion of their parents. We need to encourage people to think carefully before labeling any child too young to know their own opinions and our adverts will help to do that."

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So for awhile there was this thing in Seattle where a soup company, Ivar's Seafood & Chowder, revealed in a news story accompanying the image above, that in the 1950s the restaurant's founder anchored billboards in the Puget Sound — as in under water — thinking that before long everyone would be traveling by submarine. Natch, advertising under water made perfect sense. Ads ran next to stories about the unwatering, as did a TV campaign. Earlier this month the story was revealed to be a fake, which happened to work: sales of clam chowder soared from 19,000 cups to 83,000 cups for September 2009 compared to that time last year.

To fully sell the story, documents "from the state's Department of Fisheries and a Ballard diving service — supposedly found in the archives of the legendary Seattle seafood restaurateur?" revealed info about the billboards.

A local historian authenticated the billboards, too, sealing the deal for many. Why not believe the story? Exactly.

Tie in the fact that the founder, Ivar Haglund (who died 24 years ago), was at times called "one of the greatest self-promoters in city history," according to the Times — and the audacity of such a campaign becomes nothing more than a great story. Did we mention that Ivar's modified its prices to match those from the 50s during the campaign?

The Times were a bit miffed by the whole thing, noting "the story had legs because of well, how to put it? How about like this: People you wouldn't expect to lie, did." And oh gosh, more people bought chowder. They lay out the entire story, including how the noted historian was convinced to play along and where clues were hidden revealing the truth. It's all a bit of fun, and successful fun at that. Though it begs the question: where is the line for deceptive advertising drawn? The agency "responsible", Heckler Associates, probably doesn't mind.

Denver Egotist via Seattle Times

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Goodby's unveiled the next phase of its ongoing HP campaign, this time pitting its celeb spokespeople against the elements by having them scale Mt. Kilimanjaro to bring awareness of the global clean water crisis.

Starting January 7, folks like actress Jessica Biel, music acts Kenna and Lupe Fiasco as well as Jacque Cousteau's granddaughter Alexandra will leave the comforts of a soundstage, green screen, etc. to scale the 19,340 ft. free-standing wonder and let fans basically track their ascent via the campaign's online hub.

The climbers will of course be equipped with HP notebooks (and hopefully a sherpa or two) and will blog, Tweet and post photos which are altitude tagged so you know exactly where they're posting from. The website is already live and is literally 16,709,709 pixels high to match Kilimanjaro. Since there's 49 days left until the climb, you can occupy yourself by exploring a virtual Kilimanjaro, reading bios of the climbers and about the cause, sending water, sponsoring a foot of the climb and watching web films (here and here) starring some of the participants.

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Urgent Content is an agency (of sorts) founded by two former CurrentTV guys, Brandon Gross and Henry Goldman, whose hybrid advertising-production company put together one of the better product-demonstration ads we've seen this year. Maybe the task was simple (selling the Flip Mino hand held tiny video camera), maybe the idea is basic. It's probably not going to win awards — but it tells the viewer exactly why the Flip is a great product.

And it is. I've used one for the last 18 months. Both the standard and HD platforms are worth the money, and beat out the Vado in terms of ease-of-use. So if you're in the market for a tiny video camera, be sure to watch the ad below — as soon as the client approves the work and unlocks it (this is not the ad we want you to see, though it gets the point across). Until then, hope to see it on your TV, where it has already aired, but for some reason they can't let us have it. Those AgencySpy kids will rip you apart, what with their words and all.

Bird Design and Media Storm collaborated.

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180LA launched a new holiday spot for Boost Mobile and its push-to-talk Motorola Debut i856 phone called "Cutbacks," which proves that even fabled characters like jolly ol' St. Nick aren't immune to economic despair. Rudolph, Blitzen and the gang have been replaced by a bunch of mules, the elves aren't technically elves and the machinery is shoddy all because Santa can't keep up with his cell phone bills. Roaming charges after all can be a bitch.

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AdFreak points us to a movement to end extreme poverty and hunger, which may lead to the end of terrorism. Sound complicated? Watch this 5-minute video and try not to be convinced that this is the kind of thing we should all aspire to.

Click here for more information about Nuru International.

The End (Jake's Story) from Nuru International on Vimeo.

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