Martini & Rossi is partnering with the Andy Warhol Foundation for four print ads featuring illustrations created by the late pop artist. They will revive ads created by Andy Warhol for Martini & Rossi. "Warhol's take on taste" will run later this month in lifestyle magazines in six markets in Major cities accross the country.
Martini & Rossi tapped Warhol to create this print campaign that ran in the U.S. from 1956 to 1963. The hope is that the revived ads will bring back the iconic vermouth-based martini. Martini & Rossi plans to feature six new twists on the drink in restaurants, bars and clubs in the designated markets.

What do you think of reviving a campaign as opposed to creating a new idea? I guess it can't hurt to go with something that's tried and true.

Thanks to Adfreak, I just learned that The Local Government Association, which represents councils across Britain, has a new campaign to raise public awareness of the different kinds of services the town halls provide. They are producing posters, like the one above, that show some of the problems that the towns have to take care of.

According to the LGA, "the campaign is meant to highlight the essential work done by workers such as street cleaners and restaurant inspectors."

One of the posters shows a man out at what appears to be a nice dinner and the slogan reads, "My council makes sure this romantic meal won't give us the trots."

This worthy these posters sully the image of life in modern Britain. Others think it may be breaching some type of advertising rules of decency.

I think it's unnecessary to advertise a service that you are required to provide. It's not like people will increase the amount of taxes they pay just because they know you're doing your job. Sounds like money wasted on an ad campaign to me. Although, I must admit there something comforting in knowing my dinner won't give me the trots.

There is something to be said about identifying your strong suit and honing that ability. So, there is definitely something to be said about Miami based Turkel, an agency specializing in travel and tourism marketing.

AgencySpy got an email that Turkel is the genius behind the the Miami Expressions advertising (see above) that had me all aflutter. There website is just as bad ass. That Bruce Turkel seems to have a real winning strategy. This is the agency to work with on all tourism marketing needs. They could definitely give Saatchi some advice on the "I Love NY" campaign.

I saw the most impressive print ad in New York Mag last night. It's an advertisement for the Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau. They enlisted a local Miami muralist, Daniel Fila, to paint a mural that highlights the excitement that Miami has to offer and as a couple walks past they begin to step into the mural. The advertisement is part of their Miami Expressions campaign.

The idea is to promote the creative, artistic side of Miami. And they really hit the nail on the head. The mural is beautiful and interesting. And, it was such a brilliant ad that I had to visit the website set up for the campaign, just to see what else was there. The website is just as cool. There this interactive intro to the other artists being promoted on the site. And of course the mural painted for the ad is there. You should check it out and share your thoughts...

I was shopping online for my dad's traditional father's day tie when I got to thinking of how little attention marketers pay to the opportunity of advertising to consumers using the father's day holiday as their theme. Until haacked pointed me in the direction of this clever, very funny, memorable print ad for Durex.

Now that is how it's done. Simple, smart and biting. They completely cut down the competitor with a smile and a wink. This is the kind of ad that will persuade consumers when they are making that last minute purchase. It speaks to the heart of what the product does and how effective it is. Way more convincing than that whole pig thing Trojan is doing.

I laughed so hard I almost peed (almost).

I was handed this little set of playing cards as I strolled through midtown today. Apparently, I'm supposed to be inspired to watch Recount after opening the little package (which came with a nasty-looking piece of gum that smelled like Play-Doh).

What the hell am I supposed to do with these cards — add them to my collection of Chips trading cards? Hell no! They'd totally devalue my Ponch. Officer John Baker was/is my hero.

"Starring Kevin Spacey, Bob Balaban, Ed Begley, Jr., Laura Dern, John Hurt, Denis Leary, Bruce McGill, and Tom Wilkinson, Recount brings viewers behind the scenes at the controversial Florida recount. This illuminating, hugely entertaining film pulls back the veil on the headlines to explore the human drama surrounding the most controversial presidential election in U.S. history."

I'm sure it will be both fair and balanced.

Nielsen Business Media is laying off between 40-50 staffers, reports PaidContent and Folio. The layoffs hit the editorial departments of Adweek, Brandweek, Mediaweek, Editor & Publisher and the Hollywood Reporter. Nielsen reported overall revenues of $4.7 billion in 2007, an increase of about seven percent over the previous year. The company’s total debt, however, was $8.25 billion on December 31, with cash balances of $399 million. This also comes after Adweek has scaled back on issues.

Creativity is a good trade journal, but the magazine is "evolving" by upping its profile to full on proper ass magazine. Key changes will include more content sans more advertising; heavier quality paper stock complete with perfect binding that will help the journo transition from a folded up monthly that ends up in the recycling bin to a beautiful print product you keep on the shelf. The first issue, to be released in May, will feature the winners of this year's Creativity Awards. Judges are currently judging on the 2008 crop of entrants. You can see last year's winners here. You can also reserve your complimentary issue, here.

Virgin Mobile Canada's new print ad featuring Eliot Mess. That was fast.

Nielsen, the monopolistic TV rating agency of choice, has decided to rebrand itself. The sheriff wants you to know that not only do they do TV ratings, but they do it all - web, print, you name it and they count the eyeballs. As Jossip points out, sometimes they do it a little poorly, but what are you gonna do about it? Hunh, tough guy?

The company plans on doing a little print, a little online, radio and mobile, newsstands and mailings to get the good word out. Nielsen will also be the sole advertiser for a special issue of The New York Times sports magazine, Play, which will be dedicated to the 2008 Olympic Games according to AdWeak. The total media spend for all this rebranding was not released, but consider that a centerfold insert of 8 pages, 4/4, at 50lb weight will run you a cool $507,660 (pre-haggling) in the regular NYT's mag.
Play boasts of having 6 million Sunday print/online New York Times readers who have a median HHI of $96,662. They obviously picked a good issue to buy into. We might even thumb through that one and the last time we ran was in a high school lacrosse game. Varsity, bitches. Varsity.

Hey! They're also Nielsen. With all that data they own, they must be certain that Play is the best buy in town. Hey everybody! Go buy into Play right now. Nielsen couldn't possibly be shaky on how many people actually read the magazine and absorb the ads. Not. Possible.