I noticed this “ad” while coming up the escalator at Jing’an Temple station on the Shanghai metro the other day. See it there? On the ceiling. That’s the logo for Shanghai’s 2010 Expo. If you visit Shanghai these days you can’t miss this logo or the ubiquitous Expo mascot, Haibao. Both of them are everywhere—in parks, lining the streets, hotel lobbies, restaurants, taxicabs. You’d think it would be easy to find places to put your ads when you essentially have free reign to put them anywhere in the city, which is why I was surprised to see this placement. A bit hard to notice, much less read.
It also reminded me of something I’ve thought about before: the potential for anamorphic ads. Anamorphosis is “a distorted projection or perspective requiring the viewer to…occupy a specific vantage point to reconstitute the image,” and the technique has been used to create anamorphic art since the Renaissance. It’s still used today, in some pretty fascinating ways:
I’ve owned a Flip Video camera since July. I enjoy the product, so when I heard about the Cisco-owned product’s consumer ad campaign, I was especially interested. But when the ads started showing up on TV, I was immediately disappointed. The campaign is built around what Cisco is calling “flipable moments,” which apparently include a dog almost barking “I love you,” two young children having a screaming contest, or a woman doing a handstand on the beach.
For starters, it meant asking Facebook fans to contribute “flipable moments,” which Lipe defines as everyday spontaneous events shot on a Flip Video camera.
“We believe the effort of this campaign will help the brand become one of those devices you can’t leave your home without,” Lipe says. “If people leave home with their phone, email device and Flip, it’s a great day.”
So what is a flipable moment? The through-line for most of these is that they appear to have been captured on impulse. The people depicted in these 15-second ads have fun—they enjoy the little things in life, and now they’re able to capture them on video and share with friends and family. What a great concept for a brand to own! …a brand other than Flip Video.
Cool idea, but I was a bit disappointed they couldn’t get Tom Hanks to come recreate his famous rendition of “Heart & Soul” (sorry for the terrible video quality on that link).
An article on Mashable asks “isn’t [this] the definition of a perfect brand campaign?” because of the subtle placement of the VW logo and viral success of the videos. But should success be defined by
One of my favorite blogs to check regularly is The Ad Contrarian (thanks for pointing it out, Ewan). As suggested by the name, posts on the blog regularly take a devil’s advocate point of view on popular trends, like Twitter, or the web in general. I’m not sure how I missed it for so long, but I just recently came across a series of posts targeting one of TAC’s favorite gripes: branding.
Before I go further, let me say that part of the reason I enjoy the blog is because I respect the point of view of its author (Bob Hoffman of Hoffman/Lewis). In fact, I often agree with him. While I understand his frustration over “branding”—I’m easily annoyed by misuse and overuse of both the word and the concepts behind it—I did think these posts took aim at a bit too big of a target. As one commenter put it, he may be throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
Anyway, here’s a summary of one of TAC’s posts and my response. You can follow the links below to see a few more of his posts, and you’ll see I’ve commented on those as well. It’s worth reading everyone else’s comments, too (many enthusiastically agree with Bob’s point of view). Would be curious to hear your stance, as well.
I’m guessing nothing all that positive, given his reaction to some market research in the first season of Mad Men. As recounted in the online Episode Guide, “Greta hands the report to Don who promptly files it into the trashcan.”
Picked up some flowers the other night from a place called Affluent Flowers. I should first mention that the lady who helped me there was polite and helpful, and the flowers I purchased were very nice and well-priced.
That said…
While I didn’t go there specifically so that I could write this post, I was thinking about their name even before I walked into the store.
You didn’t call this place ‘Affluent Flowers’ because everything here costs a lot, did you?
No, the woman behind the counter assured me that the name “Affluent” had been chosen primarily because it starts with “A.” The owner is hoping that as a result, his store will show up near the beginning of alphabetical listings. I’m sure the question’s been asked before, but is this still a relevant concern in most industries these days? I’d argue that it’s not. I found the flower shop by using Google Maps; I just wanted something that was on my way. For flower shops—and maybe most single-location retail stores—listing yourself in map-integrated online directories is probably more critical than choosing a name that starts near the beginning of the alphabet.
You can always count on the checkers at Cold Storage to 3x bag any raw meat and generally use as many plastic bags as possible. #Singapore Saturday 04 February
"P&G perfected the modern art of branding with Crisco" NPR: Who Killed Lard?-More at http://t.co/uY4c7sBP Saturday 04 February
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