What does public transportation and a one legged man have to do with GM’s reinvention?

So we all knew that GM was going to have to put out some kind of advertising to address their recent bankruptcy filing but I expected more than the stock video rip-o-matic we got. The voice over is what I expected but let’s take a minute and examine some of the imagery they have chosen represent their reinvention.

:15 – A Subway. So cheap public transportation is the plan to reinvent GM’s cars?

:16 – One legged man running. One of the most amazing people I have know in my life was a physically challenged athlete who shot archery with one arm. He was a real inspiration and those athletes deserve more than becoming the standby heavy handed visual for determination.

:25 – Injured hockey player. Not only is a disturbing visual but if you have ever watched any amount of hockey you know you will only see a player in this position after they have been hit by a puck or stick in the face.

:29 – Pittsburgh Steeler’s quarterback Ben Rothlisberger. I am a die-hard, bleed black and gold Steelers fan and this doesn’t make any sense to me. Ben is hardly the sports figure I would pick to represent reinvention.

:30 – A shredded American flag. There is no context as why the flag is so damaged or if it was from a storm or war. Like the hockey player player I don’t understand what such a dark image has to do with their reinvention.

:40 – Overused ‘green’ imagery. Can someone please find a way to show ‘green’ technology without the windmills and the solar panels?

Am I alone on this? Am I missing something here besides the heavy handed use of tired stereotypes? Let’s hope their business plan has more innovation and vision than their advertising.

Great outdoor campaign for Lost Children

I don’t see really great outdoor campaigns that often but this one got my attention. It is running right now in Melbourne for the Australian Childhood Foundation for their ongoing campaign Stop Child Abuse Now. They used a child size mannequins to represent children suffering neglect and then a billposter was pasted over the top of the figure so only the feet and legs could be seen. It is simple, it is attention getting and it’s a powerful visual that gets the message across in a way you will remember.

Tag line envy for Hulu.com campaign

Hulu.com started their foray into advertising with a really strong debut commercial with Alex Balwin during the Superbowl which many people don’t know that Hulu didn’t pay for their ad time in the Superbowl. It was part of a deal they had with the networks where they would get some free advertisement during a certain time, Hulu was able to capitalize on mediocre ad sales for the big game and so they could pick the Superbowl. From that starting point they went on to feature Family Guy creator Seth Macfarlane. After the strength of the first two the third one with Eliza Dushku felt like her new show – flat and not engaging. They have thankfully rebounded from that with one of my favorite comics Dennis Leary doing the oration style that he does best. The twist of having the celebrities double as aliens with TV as their plot to take over the world is funny, sarcastic and creates a visual that would stop a rampant TiVo fast forward. But the smartest part of the concept is that it is all based in the shared American experience of having an adult tell you that “TV will rot your brain” so everyone can relate and connect with the ads. For me the best part is the tag line of “An evil plot to destroy the world. Enjoy”. It is that funny and slightly irreverent line we have all had in our pitch that all the creatives want but never makes it to the client because it gets killed by the account guy the night before the presentation. So seeing something like that in the finished ad gives me tag line envy.

AT&T finds good fit with TOM’S shoes

I had been aware of TOMS Shoes for a while as I had seen them in store and magazine but never really got what they were doing until last year when I met their founder Blake Mycoskie at the AdAge IDEA Conference. Blake created TOIMS with the simple premise that for every pair you purchase TOMS will give a pair of shoes to a child in need using the purchasing power of individuals to benefit the greater good. Blake was nice enough to give me a pair of their shoes, which I love, and I have continued to support them since.

Today I took advantage of a hot and lazy Sunday to catch up on my bulging TiVo list and as I was buzzing through the a commercial break I saw Blake’s face flash across the screen. I went back to see that he was featured in the latest AT&T wireless commercial. The commercial is simple and straight forward enough as a brief overview of what he is doing and why he needs AT&T to be able to do it. I love seeing such a huge global brand spending some of their sizable marketing dollars to do more than just get their brand message out there and support a great company and cause like TOM’s. I applaud the creative team that took the advertising in this direction and the clients who signed off on it. TOM’s is a great cause so head over to their site and grab a pair today.

BMW creates strong concept integration with their new 300 horsepower paintbrush

BWM has just release what I think is the most interesting and aggressive integrated advertising campaign I have seen in a long time. In the interest of full disclosure I will sat that it was created by two of my old creative partners in crime who also left for greener pastures at GSD&M in Austin. The campaigned started with and is centered around their latest TV commercial for the BMW Z4 where artist Robin Rhode uses the roadster as a 306hp paintbrush to create a huge work of art.

Augmented Reality
They then took that TV commercial and turned it into another impressive example of augmented reality. As with other examples of the technology, you print out a marker, show it to your webcam and then you can make your own “Expression of Joy” painting. This augmented reality execution has a few more bells and whistles than what I have seen before as you can first use it to check out the car by twisting and turning the marker to get the whole picture. When you are done with that you can put it down on your desktop, size the car so it fits your desktop and then take control of the car to create your own work of art. Once you are happy with the result you can save it to YouTube or Facebook. There is one increibly big drawback here which is that the only way to make it work is to download a 20MB software install that only works on PC’s. I don’t know if there is a Mac version in the works but the logic in this decision eludes me as every other version of this technology I have seen works on both platforms.

iPhone Application
The final part of the interactive extension of the TV commercial came with the launch of the Z4 iPhone application which is the more robust offering of the two. The application is broken into a game, photo gallery and a section where you can read about the making of the commercial The game allows you to customize your Z4 before you enter the game by choosing the type of roof, color and rims. Once you had pimped your ride to you liking you can take it for a spin in an experience similar to the one in the one in augmented reality but with the steering being done using the iPhone’s accelerometer. When you are finished if you have created something you really like you can save it to the Camera Roll in the iPhone’s photo albums to be viewed or sent around later. I was surprised to see that the save photos had no BMW or Z4 branding on them which I understand from a pure artist sense but it felt like a missed branding opportunity.

So while the limiting technical requirements of the augmented reality execution are very disappointing, when you look at the campaign as a whole it is an impressive display of how one idea can be brought to life through multiple channels and multiple interactive incarnations with each one staying strong enough to stand on it’s own. It is this type of integrated concepting that I wish I would see a lot more and continue to wt for more agencies to wake up and start actually working this way. I continue to deeply believe that there remains vast amounts of untapped potential that could be realized by more of this type of thinking where you start with a strong media agnostic concept and then work it out from there into the various channels so each one of them can take advantage of their respective medium.

Bon Apetite energizes print ads with digital extension

I love to cook and I always seem to have subscriptions to various cooking magazines but I rarely get anything out of them that makes it worth the time or money to get them. A few months back Bon Appetit underwent what I think is the most impressive publication re-design I have ever seen. The re-designed and modernized everything about the magazine bringing in interesting content, great recipes and some of the best food photography I have ever seen.

This months issue brought something else interesting with their new Snap It promotion they are doing with AT&T. In an effort to get people to notice the advertising in their magazine they are trying something new by bringing mobile into the equation. To enter their sweepstakes you have to take a photo of one of 34 ads and email or text it in to them to be entered. This actually gets people to seek out the advertising in the magazine and spend more time with it than they normally would. It is also easier with fewer steps than if you saw a promotion in the magazine,got out your computer, went to their web site and filled out the form to enter. I like seeing different mediums converging like this to create something new and strengthen each other. i am just surprised it took this long to start to happen.

Acura uses speed to create a TiVo buster

I was watching TV tonight and the new commercials for the 2009 Acura TL caught my attention through the fast forward playback on my DVR. It got my attention because I though it was a really interest approach to creating an effective TiVo buster because the ad is a one shot all done in slow motion so when it is fast forwarded you see the whole commercial full speed.

Like the product they are advertising, Crispin’s Microsoft ad crashes

I know I am in the minority in my option that Crispin Porter didn’t hang the moon when it comes to advertising. I think that for they either really hit a home run or they really miss and their usually isn’t much in the middle. A few months back everyone waited with baited breath for their new Nike work and that gave way to waiting for their new $300 million dollar work for Microsoft. Could they one up Apple and Chiat/Day? All those question were answered when it landed last week and it got my friends talking. It got us talking about what the hell were they thinking and how much we admire the salesmanship of Cripsin to be able to get work that mediocre and expensive past a client. I just don’t understand the strategy in creating advertising that doesn’t talk about the product or fix their image problem. Help me here – am I missing something or is it really this pointless?

Go Tiny or Go Home

EA Games has created a new advertising installation for their upcoming Will Wright Game called Spore. The game is a simulation where you start with tiny single-cell organisms and work to design and create life with ever more complexity. To promote the game they installed a billboard in San Francisco’s Union Square that is the equivalent of the advertising single celled organism at 14″ by 6″ . The only way to see it is with a telescope and luckily they installed one aimed directly at it so anyone passing by can see it.

Dr. Pepper challenges Mr. Brownstone

Many have tried, but nobody has been able to find a way to get the decade-in-the-works Guns N’ Roses album “Chinese Democracy” from the hands of lone remaining original member Axl Rose. Now, Dr Pepper thinks it’s up to the challenge. The soft drink company says it will give a free can of Dr Pepper to “everyone in America” if the album arrives anytime during the calendar year 2008.