Lingerie in the UAE!

Lingerie brands in some gulf countries are not allowed to show their products!! So, most lingerie ads are blacked out using markers! Here's a press ad that shows you how 'wonderbra' takes advantage of this.

World Cup in The Age!

A really nice press campaign to promote the World Cup. This campaign was done by an agency called Samuelson Talbot in Melbourne, Australia. Team:: Damien Kelly (Copywriter) >> Dave Oke (Art Director) >> Photographer (Jesper Nielsen)

BBC does an Ariel!

This campaign for the BBC reminded me of this one done for Ariel in India by Saatchi & Saatchi. I also get the feeling that the frames used in the BBC campaign are not as dramatic as they could have been. I guess the choice of available images could have been the problem here. Good effort though!

HSBC LBA - Cannes 2006!

A Silver Winner from Cannes 2006. JWT, Argentina is the agency behind this press campaign for HSBC LBA Insurance.

VISA Ski Cannes Winner!

Get Protection!

Agency: DM9 Jayme Syfu

Campaign for a lingerie & sex toys store

Agency: Saatchi, Switzerland >> Creatives: L. Crudgington, J. Freuler, F. Bry >> Photographer: L. Di Orio

PS: Did they actually shoot ths stuff?? The photoshop is rather weak!

British Council - Learn English!

Dalbir Singh, the creative director from Ogilvy, Budapest ent in this campaign for The British Council. After watching this campaign, I somehow couldn't help feeling that these ads were making the main message of learning english becoming frivolous.

These ads do not make me think that the message is a serious one! May be it is just me or is that a feeling you get too? See more of Dalbir's and Ogilvy, Budapest work here, here and here.

The ghosts at Cannes!

I found this really nice guest article at agencyfaqs.

Thought I should share it here. Hope you enjoy it too!

Where are all these ads from India that have been shortlisted or won Gold at Cannes?

Have you seen them?

No? Neither have I.Oh, the ad ran you say?

Sometimes an ad may have run in one medium on a very limited scale and it doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not a scam ad.

Even if an ad legitimately runs on TV, if it is aired once on some obscure channel at midnight with a 0.000314 rating, what would you call this TV commercial?

In the process, a small client doing outstanding work suffers as his legitimate work, too, is seen as a ghost ad.

But you just can’t go wrong with the big global brands.

Ghost ads range from obvious fakes never approved by clients to ads that technically qualify because they ran once, sometimes at the agency’s expense, simply to be eligible for ad show Truchos (as the Spanish call them) or “fantasmas” (as the Brazilians refer to them). They serve as an outlet for frustrated creatives subjugated by the bean counters posing these days as advertising professionals.

You sat for a zillion hours in mind-numbing meetings all through the year, you wrote headlines dictated by the client's wife’s third cousin, you increased the size of the logo by 5000%, you tossed screaming starbursts around your layouts like confetti.

So they throw a bone. Cook up a ghost ad for Cannes. (A business that generates millions of dollars in profits. More than the billings of a mid-size agency.)

I would even go so far as to say it is okay to indulge in this huge self-congratulatory exercise, but please spare us all the interviews galore in the media.

Nobody is perfect. Let him cast the first stone he who has not sinned. There are shades of grey and all that.

However, don’t delude yourself into believing you are doing truly outstanding work. As the Bard said, “To thine own self be true.”

When the Roman Empire was in its decline, power-crazed senators had gladiators fight at the Coliseum to distract the people from the ills that plagued the government.

Cannes is advertising’s Coliseum. All of us need to be like Spartacus, who famously led a slave revolt and refused to fight for the powers that be.

Or we can go about our old ways and, like the gladiators, say, “Ave Caesar, Morituri Te Salutant (Ave Caesar, Those About To Die Salute You).”

(The writer is a creative director with an agency called The Flea in Mumbai, India. You can write to him at sshibad@fleaglobal.com)

Bucktown Attitude!

Thanks to Vince Soliven for sending these ads done for Bucktown Fitness in Chicago. According to him, this is a "No Bullshit" type of gym....sort of the Anti-Crunch Gym type of place where people go to workout, and just that. I like the attitude these ads portray!

INOVA Torch!

This campaign for INOVA by Ogilvy & Mather, Thailand was a press winner at Cannes. I find it a wee bit bizzare but it does grab my attention due to that. I wonder what were the other frames they thought of before settling on these!

Nike Wins At Cannes '06

A Wilkinson Shave!

Yes, this campaign by JWT, Paris won a Silver Lion in the Outdoor Category. I like the fact that these ads look funny and also deliver the message of how precise the razor is. I wonder if anybody wants to co-ordinate their facial hair with their clothes though!

Cannes Young Creatives '06

The four ads above are from Argentina (Bronze), Poland (Gold), New Zealand (Silver) and Finland (Bronze) respectively. They are all winners of the Cannes Young Creatives Contest. The brief this year was to create a print advertisement to motivate the public to support the ICRC or the National Red Cross and Red Crescent Society either through donations or volunteer service.

I personally like the ad from Argentina that won a Bronze. I think most will prefer another one! Overall I feel that this years 'Young Gun' Winners are a drop from the regular high standards from the years before.

Amnesty International

Energizer Fatso!

This poster for Energizer done by Naga DDB, Malaysia was the winner of a Merit Award at the One Show. I really like it because it delivers the message and is funny at the same time. Notice the interesting use of a fat kid!

Sharp Clothing from Texwood!

Merit Award: P.O.P. and In-Store - Campaign >> Art Director: Shannon Tham, Gary Tranter >> Copywriter: Matt Cullen >> Creative Director: Gary Tranter, Matt Cullen >> Illustrator: Terry Batty (Centro) >> Photographer: Wing Shya >> Client: Texwood Ltd >> Agency: Ogilvy & Mather Asia Pacific / David , Hong Kong / Hong Kong

Spaghetti Western Style!

Agency: Unknown. Winner at the Epica Awards in 2004.