HE-WOMAN, SHE-MAN?

Red Cell, Milan did this print campaign for Antonia, "A Women's Only" Boutique! Man what it feels to be a woman. ;)

Done to DeAtH!

One more of those black remains black, white remains white, colors that stay the same...I'm so bored of these kind of ads. Isn't really time we found a new way to deliver the message. These are so done to death, it ain't funny at all. Damn!

The Cancer Stick!

For ages, advertising has tried to convince mankind about the ill effects of smoking. Here is yet another campaign that tries to do it in another way. The headline here reads something to the effect of "Smoking is equally disgusting". I don't know the agency that did this campaign. Does it put you off or do you think it works. I'm quite confused myself.

O R I G I N A L I T Y ? ?

A few days back, I remember posting some corporate identity for a divorce lawyer. And recently I found this. Now does that mean this is a copy. What if I found this earlier and that one later. Or is it only about which was done earlier. Or is originality an irrelevant word in the advertising dictionary. A visit to coloribus.com will help one unearth hundreds of such examples. I don't believe that it always has to be about a copy. It could be plain lateral thiking. Bu then, how does one bell the cat? ;)

CPAA Bell 2 Hell

Network Advertising is the agency behind this Guerilla Idea that tells people to stop ringing the bell to hell. A bell that helps them light up a cancer stick that is pretty popular across stores in many parts of India. Neat Idea.

Wish You Were Here!

Wish you were here? It’s the slogan for a new computer game from Playstation II called “GETAWAY2/Black Monday” . For promoting this game in New Zealand, crime scene installations were set up in three cities. Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. Radio ads and editorials on city channels gave clues to the whereabouts of the scenes.

Listeners who cracked the clues and were able to find the locations, were rewarded with a brand new PS2 console and a copy of the game. We so often talk of effective and hard hitting advertising. This one definetely shocked the daylights out of me. Superb work! VIA

JWT - WTF?

Advertising is supposed to be simple, effective and easy to understand by almost everybody who is a part of the target audience, right? Wrong! Look at this ad by JWT for its self promotion. Does anybody get it. If yes how easily. And all said and done, do you think it is a great ad? I don't. Anybody disagree?

The Abbys '06 are here!

It's time for the 39th Abby Awards (Organised by the Advertising Club of Bombay) and this ad for the festival is simply stunning. It gives me the kind of feeling that says, damn! I want one of those. Very very inspirational. Super Work. Anybody know the agencybehind this beauty?

Poker Stories!

I don't know if this campaign for ultimatepoker.com is motivation enough to try my hand at poker but it definetely does grab my attention. Extremely eye catching art direction from the team at FCB, London. Photoshop can definetely create magic!

Campaign Brief Creative Rankings 2006

Campaign Brief, one of the world's leading advertising magazines has just released its list of top twenty five agencies in Asia, top ten agency networks in the world, the top ten agencies in India and the top ten creative individuals in India. The lists are as below:

Top Twenty Five Hottest Agencies In Asia::

1. Ogilvy & Mather, Singapore
2. BBDO, Singapore
3. Dentsu Inc., Tokyo
4. BBDO, Bangkok
5. TBWA, Singapore
6. Saatchi & Saatchi, Bangkok
7. TBWA, Tokyo 8 Leo Burnett, Singapore
9. Euro RSCG Flagship, Bangkok
10. Creative Juice\G1, Bangkok
11. Ogilvy & Mather, Bangkok
12. Saatchi & Saatchi, Singapore
13. JWT, Bangkok
14. FCB, Singapore
15. McCann-Erickson, Singapore
16. Naga DDB, Kuala Lumpur
17. JWT, Malaysia
18. Ogilvy & Mather, Malaysia
19. Leo Burnett, Bangkok
20. Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai
21. M&C Saatchi, Singapore
22. BBDO/Guerrero Ortega, Manila
23. Leo Burnett, Mumbai
24. Ogilvy & Mather, Hong Kong
25. JWT, Singapore

What is not surprising is the fact that 9 agencies from the above list are from Singapore. They are probably the very best in the world today. Amazing levels of hard-work, talent and great ideas.

India does figure twice in that list. Ogilvy, Mumbai at 20 and Leo Burnett, Mumbai at 23.

When it comes to the top 20 creative individuals in Asia, unfortunately we did not have a name! Stunning isn't it. I guess the creative guys from Singapore, Thailand and HK really must have all those positions filled. Tough fight.

Top Ten Hottest Creative Individuals in India::

1. Kalpesh Patankar: McCann-Erickson, Mumbai
2. Manish Bhatt: McCann-Erickson, Mumbai, Raghu Bhat: McCann-Erickson, Mumbai (Shared)
4. Puneet Kapoor: McCann-Erickson, Mumbai
5. Mahesh Parab: Ambience Publicis, Mumbai
6. Rahul Mathew: McCann-Erickson, Mumbai
7. Amit Nandwani: David, New Delhi
8. Syed Mohd. Talha Nazim: Leo Burnett, Mumbai
9. Ayon Sarkar: Leo Burnett, Mumbai
10. Santosh Padhi: Leo Burnett, Mumbai
11. Charles Victor: JWT, Chennai;
12. Joono Simon: JWT, Chennai;
13. Rohit Devgun: David, New Delhi
14. Shruti Nayak: O&M, Mumbai
15. Vinod Lai Heera Eshwer: ex-Saatchi & Saatchi, Bangalore

What is notable is the fact that Abhijit Avasthi of O&M, Mumbai, has dropped down from fourth position in 2004 to rank 16 this year! He shares that rank with new entrant Jignesh Maniar from O&M, Mumbai.

A big hat-tip to all you guru's out there! Thank you for the inspiration!

The Top Fifteen Hottest Networks in Asia::

1. Ogilvy & Mather
2. TBWA
3. BBDO
4. Saatchi & Saatchi
5. Leo Burnett
6. JWT
7. Dentsu
8. McCann-Erickson
9. Euro RSCG
10. Foot Cone & Bending (FCB)
11. DDB
12. Young & Rubicam
13. Lowe Worldwide
14. Publicis
15. M&C Saatchi

Ogilvy & Mather, Singapore has also been chosen as the Regional Agency of the Year. Looks like they really know their creative output! Great stuff!

India's Hottest Top Twenty Agencies::

1. Ogilvy & Mather, Mumbai
2. Leo Burnett, Mumbai
3. Ambience Publicis, Mumbai
4. McCann-Erickson, Mumbai
5. Saatchi & Saatchi, Mumbai
6. Ogilvy & Mather, New Delhi
7. David, Mumbai
8. Lowe Worldwide, Mumbai
9. JWT, Chennai
10. JWT, Mumbai
11. Saatchi & Saatchi, Bangalore
12. Saatchi & Saatchi, New Delhi
13. Ogilvy & Mather, Bangalore
14. Mudra DDB Communications, Mumbai
15. David, New Delhi
16. McCann-Erickson, New Delhi
17. Adfactors Advertising, Mumbai
18. Contract Advertising, Mumbai
19. Lowe, Chennai
20. Quadrant Communications, Mumbai

12 out of the above 20 agencies are from Mumbai. Not a surprise at all. Just 4 from Delhi which is quite a surprise. And 2 from Bangalore and 2 from Chennai.

For those of you curious as to how these ranking are done, Campaign Brief ranks agencies on the basis of awards won at the 4 big international shows: D&AD, Cannes, One Show and Clio and AdFest and Asian Ad Awards. India was included in the ranking from 2002. VIA

Advertising that's as dead as a DOG!

Clemenger BBDO, Adelaide, Australia did this ad for its self promotion. Something that really shocked me when I first saw it. It's really hard to understand how one could do this! Really unethical and purely unthoughtful. Sad.

It's Flexible!

Students from the Miami Ad School are the creative brains behind this brilliant out-of-home effort for Dr.Best. Extremely easy to understand and very very effective in conveying the message to the TG. Lovely! via

dung beetles!

This ad for a washing solution or spray that keeps your socks clean and fresh was quite cool. I don't know the agency that did this but I kind of like the idea. Pretty fresh. The only worry was if everybody from the TG knew what dung beetles were all about. Because they form the core idea.

R E C Y C L E - E L C Y C E R

Nice public service campaign for 'The Phillipine Inquirer'. I like the visual treatment given to this print campaign. It makes me want to take a second look at it for some reason. Nice work. via

NO ADVERTISING!

Very interesting campaign for a movie television channel named Digital Plus. It's for a special session on TV where the movies where played without any ads in between (continous telecast). Good idea!

Climbing Shoes by Woodland

Lowe, Delhi comes up with this campaign for Woodland Climbing Shoes. That's the first time I've heard of a category called 'Climbing Shoes'!!. The team behind the effort include Priti Nair, Mohit Arora, Kailash Saraban, Rohit Sahu and Monish Gupta. My only crib with this idea is if everybody will get it. And even if they will, what's one good reason why I need to buy a pair of these shoes?

Kukdoo Koo, Koooooo!

It's bird flu season across the globe and looks like the perfect time for damage control. But I think the effort is pretty lame though! This ad done by Triton (I think) is the effort done. Not too great for me, what do you think?

Father's Day Effect

Father's Day and Lowe shows us its brilliance by doing yet another Axe number. This one is a little old but still is nice to share! ;)

Jazz up your life!

BBDO Portugal is the agency behind this campaign for Publico, a company that publishes books. This campaign is for their collection of books on Jazz.

Bucovina for Bucovina

Yet another ad that I don't entirely get. This one is from Romania. It is for a mineral water brand called BUCOVINA but I'm clueless about what its trying to tell me. All I know is that it has something to do with a beggar or homeless person and a painting on a wall. Please explain...anybody!

AID for AIDS!

Remember Adgeek a.k.a Johan H Ohlson, the 28 year old art director from Budapest, Hungary. Well, the dude is back with a series of new ads and this is one I liked from the new lot. This current set mainly features spec work but definetely worth a look at. Hey Johan, keep up the effort pal. ;)

More Money Transfers

Just discovered yet another ad that uses currency notes to depict the concept of money transfer. This one though is an idea that was executed across various pages in a magazine. My only feeling is that somebody out there needs to try a money transfer ad sans the currency note. The fact that the most interesting thing about an ad is how far away from the original product or service can you take it away from...is something that hasn't come alive in this category. It's time somebody tried something new, isn't it?

I really really like this ad for Bifacid (an antacid) done by Saatchi & Saatchi. Amazingly simple idea that definetely makes you fall in love with it immediately. Great stuff! VIA

Now You See It, Now You Dont!

Some pretty erotic art-direction and stunning hidden messages in this campaign for Pias Music Company by Ogilvy & Mather. I saw the drum-kit but the guitar was a little more difficult to spot. Did you see both of them or did you have the same problem??

No Clue Whatsoeva!

This campaign for a German Newspaper called Frankfurter Allgemeine left me completely puzzled about its message or the idea behind the campaign. Can anybody help in explainin what the campaign is trying to show or say? Danke!

Advertising is Art!

Breathtaking Art in this campaign for Club Med done by Publicis Conseil. I can't even try and imagine the kind of hard work and the hours and hours of system work that must have gone into a campaign like this. Brilliant Art. Stunning Visuals. And a Great idea.