Pringle Of Scotland Shrigley Commercial

Superbly written, excellent voiceover. It's to the point in the best way, about the product and what makes it special, but very well crafted and very enjoyable. Some great advertising at last to celebrate on a Friday. Hats off to all involved. Makes your typical ad agency offerings look ponderous and formulaic.

VIA THE ESCAPE POD

How To Report The News

More observational brilliance from Mr Charlie Brooker. If you've not clocked this yet, feast your eyes on a classic piece of Newswipe satire. Disturbingly accurate, we'll never be able to watch the news in the same way again.

The Original iPad

So the snazzy new iPad is unveiled amongst much fanfare. It's seems that Mr Jobs and Co haven't realised that someone already invented the iPad four years ago...



VIA THE EXCELLENT CHUCKLER

J&B

Back in '87 rare scotch brand J&B were looking for some new advertising. A campaign that was "fresher, younger & more alive" than their old stuff. So they approached the small Manhattan agency Grace & Rothschild.

The agency's initial proposal went down like a lead balloon, nearly losing them the account. But they got a stay of execution, 3 weeks to come up with something better. And they did. Roy Grace & Diane Rothschild went back to the drawing board and knocked heads until they came up with a simple idea. A series of visual puns employing the J&B name. They ran with it, creating over a dozen sayings and ways to illustrate them.

It's a great campaign, a simple idea, really well executed and art-directed that put's J&B at the centre of the messaging. They stand up well on their own and work as a set, OK maybe one or two aren't quite as good as the rest. But over a dozen executions that's good going in our book. And the client was hooked, the readers loved them and the campaign was a success.
Oh and we can't forget about this bad boy, best christmas print ad ever?

Barclaycard Rollercoaster

Entertaining new telly ad for Alton Towers, sorry Barclaycard.

They've clearly spent shedloads of cash making this pretty piece. It's really well shot, well cast, tightly edited with a great soundtrack, sexy post etc, etc.

And sitting in a rollercoaster is obviously a much better way to get about the place with a credit card in your hand than, say, on crutches like that bloke from last year's Visa ad did.

However, whilst I'm sure most people who see it will enjoy this feelgood visual spectacular, I've got a nagging feeling that the message and focus of the "contactless payment card" [i.e. the thing that's supposed to be being advertised] won't really register with viewers.

I must have seen this ad's separated-at-birth predecessor, "Waterslide", at least a dozen times and not realised that there was anything special or different about the credit card that was in the hand of the bloke in the flume.

Same with this execution - I think there's so much going on that you don't really pay attention to the voiceover and if you blink you'll miss beardy bloke swiping for his brekky in a nanosecond.

Interesting [and ever so slightly naughty] that there are no smallprint legals flagging interest rates on this ad. Does this mean that, for some poor buggers, the rollercoaster will end being a metaphor for a spiralling into deep and uncontrollable debt rather than as "a great metaphor for how Barclaycard makes payment so simple for our customers" as the company paying for this commercial would like us to believe?

Schweet

I admit it. Sell! Sell! is a flawed company. There's no denying it anymore. We are institutionally addicted to sweets. Haribo in particular. The milk bottle Haribo especially. But any kind of sweets really. We love them. There I said it. I feel better.

So it was with the delirious glee of a true addict that we opened this package from the lovely folks at Vivio in Poland, sent as a thank-you for the Bullshit Free Zone Posters that we posted them. It's filled with a smashing mix of weird and wonderful Polish sweets.

Much appreciated fine Vivio folks, we're already enjoying them. Ta.

If anyone else ever fancies sending us any kind of sweets or confectionary item as bribe, inducement, or just for the sheer pleasure of giving, please feel free.

Crap Corporation

This promo video for Pulp - a healthy eatery in the States, created by Dark Igloo - takes a modern day twist on some classically cheesy old school food ads, under the guise of the fictitious 'Crap Corporation'.
The video has some pretty funny copy and nice little touches here and there. Looks like it was a lot of fun to make too.
Via Kitsune Noir.