This takes targeted advertising to a whole new level. The Aid to Children and Adolescents at Risk (ANAR) Foundation in Spain have created an innovative ad campaign which speaks directly to children in at-risk situations. Adults that walk past the outdoor poster will see a basic child abuse prevention message with an unharmed child on it. Children who view the ad will see a child with a bruised face, along with the message, “If somebody hurts you, phone us and we’ll help you” This is using technology at it’s best. I’m completely in awe. The ad uses lenticular printing technology which allows two different images to be shown on the same poster – what you see depends on your height (they based it on the average height for a child and an adult) Watch the video of how it works below. (via inhabitors)
These ads for American Garden Microwave Popcorn had me laughing out loud. All my friends know I’m a little obsessed by the idea of Sharktopus (just the idea of it, not actually the movie – if you meet me, ask me about Sharktopus 2, his brother Bob). Made by Y&R Dubai for the UAE market. I wish they showed them here. If you have the same strange sense of humor as I do there are other videos below. (via bestadsontv)
Clever print ads for Guitar Player Magazine showing that “Nothing goes right when music goes wrong” – simple, humorous, and elitist in exactly the right way for their audience. From Leo Burnett Tailor Made, Brazil (via bestadsontv.com – one of my favorite resources sites)
LG placed some TV screens in a men’s bathroom in Amsterdam to demonstrate how lifelike the image on their new monitors is- and well, watch the video. below to see the results. It’s advertising and social psycho-physical experiment all in one. Clever (and funny)
Young & Rubicon, NZ came up with a clever way to draw attention to Metservice’s real-time weather reports. They constructed a billboard that looks like a browser window and is meant to be viewed online. You can’t get much more real-time than that. I love the combined use of a billboard and online advertising and the very simple point being made – that’s clever (via StopPress)
In a moment of genius (and I’m guessing a lot of people agreeing) the Belgian Post Office have released chocolate stamps for Easter. Yes, when you lick them they taste of chocolate. Perfect PR – clever thinking Belgium! Please don’t follow it with mussels and beer though – as much as I adore them I’m not sure it will have the same effect.
Do yourself a favor and spend 1.28 of your life watching this video – and then ask yourself how you can apply this to your life. You may not be able to write everyone’s name on what you produce (especially if it’s a service) but you can show people how important they are and treat each person as important enough to have a model of car named after them (after all they are). A new model. For Opel from Gitam BBDO, Tel-Aviv (via best ads)
So clever. Designed by Leo Rosa Borges for the The Jam Jar – a do-it-yourself painting studio with a mission to bring art to the community. Playing on the illogical fear of the blank page these posters are creative, fun and memorable. You may recognize Leo’s name from the Ikea Flat Pack design I wrote about last week. Yes I’m quite a fan. Via Behance
We had an art teacher at school that would make us draw a scribble across a new blank page and then erase it. It then wasn’t perfect and therefore less intimidating.
The Guardian US has launched its first US advertising campaign, with striking graphic illustrations from Noma Bar. The VoiceYourView outdoor ad campaign simply shows both sides of a core political debate in the US – individual freedom versus government regulation. Such complicated issues made so simple graphically…. beautiful. Does your have different sides to what they do? How could you represent that visually? – This makes me want to play with some ideas. From Creative Review (where they have more images and information) via notcot.
If you are in NYC from now until March 3rd you may want to visit Bryant Park and have your photo taken in a life-sized snow globe thanks to CitiBank. There are 16 cameras in an arc that records and captures movements—creating a composite stop-motion video. (see video below for how they do it). I was once accused of living in a snow-globe – I smiled and said thank you. (via design taxi)
I feel like I’m always writing things like ‘so simple, so clever’ but sometimes it’s the best way to describe things, and the cleverest are often so simple that you don’t know how you didn’t think of it all along. I love this idea from designer Jung von Matt for Ricola – it shows perfectly the effect that the product has on your throat. (Found here)
Very clever campaign from Ogilvy for Expedia.co.uk using Luggage tags. These simple, throwaway graphics tags are a great way to represent travel. (via design taxi – they have more examples too). What are the things in your industry that are instantly recognizable? How do you use them to your advantage?
Many newspapers published this photo over the weekend – they all wondered how the Toyota Yaris got on this balcony in Kiev. Instead of wondering how and making it a mystery they should have been writing about clever PR. This made me smile- sometimes it’s all about positioning.
Sometimes you can find that visual way of representing your product that it doesn’t need many words. Keep it light people, keep it light. Via Ads of the World.
When you see a clever idea, ask yourself "how does this apply to what I'm doing?" You will be amazed what you can learn from seemingly unrelated ideas.
Aileen is a graphic designer turned cynical motivational speaker who is obsessed with clever ideas and the creative process. She is a published author, columnist, award-winning speaker and English. She helps businesses create, develop and launch ideas to help marketing, culture, customer service and profits.