What a great campaign to kick off the school year!

“Get Ready. We’re Recruiting.”  This was the message during a recent graduate recruitment in South Africa.

Every year Allan Gray hosts a graduate recruitment campaign on campuses around South Africa.

This year, the school handed out flyers which doubled as ties that the students could actually wear. All the relevant information regarding the recruitment drive was printed on the reverse of the tie, including the website for Allan Gray, information on an upcoming presentation for the potential graduate students and some general information on what exactly the school was thinking of.

I often see billboard after billboard and brochure after brochure of schools looking for students, but have never seen or received anything as creative as this.

What do you think?  Effective?  Did the school do a good job targeting the right age group?

Source: Ads of the World

Does everyone remember this interactive, cellulite bursting campaign from Nivea?

This fabulously designed attention grabbing reduce the bumps campaign can only be followed by something bigger and better.  And that is exactly what Nivea tried to do with their most recent piece of the “Good-Bye Cellulite” campaign.

This time the brand used a so called ‘cellulite’ sofa to promote the campaign during French fashion week.

During fashion week, Nivea was already involved with the promotion of a line of swimwear for Shay Todd and used the opportunity to cross-promote and ‘demonstrate’ their Goodbye Cellulite cream, due to the obvious link with swim wear, a recent Trendhunter article explained.

The article continued to point out that this couch is a really visual way to highlight the supposed “before and after” effects of the cream, and they have even annotated the sofa as such.

What do you think of the Goodbye Cellulite campaign? Is the use of bubble wrap and couches a good way to get the message across?

Source: Trendhunter

Pruhealth, a UK health insurance provider, in a recent promotion turned London bus stops into fruit dispensers.

A piece of fruit is delivered via the actual ad to those waiting for their bus each minute while stock lasts.

“With this example of experiential marketing, the bus stops have been converted to clear plastic hoppers which display and vend oranges. The instruction is “help yourself”. The converted bus stops were already causing a stir in time for the morning rush, with a gaggle of participants waiting for the oranges to fall,” said a recent Trendhunter article.

With much, if not all, of the fruit gone by the ad does make sure to clarify that the fruit is fresh daily.

So where does the connection to Pruhealth come in? Each piece of fruit is labeled with the brand and a link to a microsite containing a DIY health check.

The brand already has a tie-in with a major UK supermarket to offer its customers loyalty points when purchasing fresh fruit and vegetables, the article concludes.

What do you think?  Is this an effective marketing technique?  Does it grab the attention of consumers?  Does it fit will with the Pruhealth message?

Source: Trendhunter

I absolutely love this campaign!

And I love the fact that this advertising makes a product that isn’t always fun, glamorous or even easy to sell entertaining!

In the popular culture world of hardwood floors and ceramic tiles, the“Fun on the Floor” advertising campaign is trying to make carpet fun again.

“A collective of carpet manufacturers, distributors and retailers have joined forces to promote the benefit of carpet through Fun on the Floor, an integrated marketing campaign developed to enhance the UK’s interest in carpet,” said a recent Trendhunter article.

The Fun on the Floor House acts as a showroom of contemporary carpet design, through a uniquely designed rooms featuring carpet in ways you’ve never seen before. The showroom is in London.

What do you think of this campaign?  Give you a new perception of carpet?  What other campaigns have you seen that are effective for products that aren’t always glamorous to sell?

I know this is supposed to be all about outrageous, creative and attention grabbing advertising, but I have sound some of the most creative wedding dresses in the last weeks that I thought I should share!  As someone planning a wedding, weddings, parties, dresses and vows seem to be on my mind quite a bit lately; so welcome to my world

These creative works of art are actually marketing for the designers and artists who created them, so I guess it goes along with our advertising and marketing theme!

1. It’s all about the rubber.

British artist Susie MacMurray designed this wedding gown from 1,400 inverted rubber gloves.  The dress will become to be displayed in New York’s Museum of Art and Design’s new exhibition called “Second Lives: Remixing the Ordinary” in September 2008. The exhibit is about wedding gowns, but it showcases the work of over 50 artists who highlight how recycled, discarded, mass-produced objects can be works of art.

In this case, it turned out to be one heck of a wedding gown!

2. A little less class and a lot more pop.

BubbleBodyWear takes the hard to resist product and created one classy and sassy bubble wrap wedding gown with this one!

3. Always use protection!

To promote AIDS awareness day, a New York City designer created this wedding gown made of 12,500 condoms a few years ago.

What do you think of these off the wall wedding gowns?

Are they attention grabbers?  Are they good publicity for the designers?

Source: Trendhunter/Spacedin

Normally when we talk about subway advertising campaigns, it either has to do with a foot long sandwich (just kidding).

In all seriousness when I normally find outrageously creative subway advertising, it is actually designed on the outside of the actual subway bus, advertising on the shelters you wait in for the next train to come or super creative advertising in the subway such as on the handles, the windows, the ceilings, pretty much anywhere!

This campaign, however, uses the subway in a whole different “fashion.”

The following series of ads are for the new Fall 2008 ad campaign for Alberta Ferretti. Ferretti is a world renown Italian designer and dressmaker.

The ads show the four models, Anna Maria Jagodzinska, Magdalena Frackowiak, Siri Tollerod, and Viktoriya Sasonkina, hanging out in a virtually empty subway train, looking tired and bored but of course fabulous.

The campaign was brilliantly photographed by renowned fashion photographer Steven Meisel.

What do you think of the campaign?  Does the diva on the subway grab your attention?

Good use of the subway?

Is it an appropriate fit for Ferretti’s amazing work?

Source: Trendhunter

I don’t think I have really done anything on either of my blogs about the Olympics over the last weeks, and really probably should of, because as you know they were extravagant, remarkable and simply amazing.

So I guess a brief recap on how huge and fabulous and overwhelming they were is better than nothing!

With all of the numbers finally in, it is fact that the Beijing Olympic 2008 Games are the most-watched event in US TV history, ever. Historically, Olympic games hosted in North American time zones usually lead the way in viewers, so in mroe ways than one this is an amazing accomplishment of the Chinese Olympics.

Nielsen Media Research has verified that 211 million viewers tuned in to China’s Olympics on NBC Universal’s broadcast network and cable channels through 16 days of coverage. This beats the previous record-holder, the 1996 Atlanta Games, by 2 million, said an article from Trendhunter last week.

I had heard on a news broadcast a couple weeks ago that hundreds of thousands of people across the world were downloading videos of the Olympics and watching online, so it is also very important to note that in our world today of declining TV ratings and competing Internet feeds, NBC boasted 11% higher ratings (averaging 27.7 million viewers per night) than its coverage of the Athens Games in 2004.

I would be curious to see if there was an increase in viewership in a certain timezone or country.  Has anyone seen any numbers like this?

What do you think the increase in viewership resulted from?

Was it the fact that host country has the largest population in the world, so everyone in China tuned in?  Was it newsworthy athletes like Shawn Johnson and Micheal Phelps?

What are your thoughts?

Did you watch?  On TV? Online?  Both?

Source: Trendhunter 

I read about this all over MSNBC last week and I didn’t really think anything of it; but apparently it has caused quite the gossip and discussion having Jessica Simpson be the spokeswoman for a beer called Stampeded Light Plus.

Jessica is already known as a singer, a dancer, an actress (those Daisy Dukes meant something!), Proactiv spokesperson, designer, entrepreneur, and now this! According to a recent Trendhunter article, “Simpson is part of Stampede Brewing Co. Inc.’s “Drink Smart Campaign”, aimed at health conscious Americans.  Stampede Light Beer is, according to the company’s website, made from mountain spring water, German Hops, and malted barley… grown in the USA.  It is also “infused” with Vitamin B and other natural antioxidants.”

The article continued, Stampede’s maker, health and fitness expert, Lawrence Schwartz says that he wanted a beer marketed for those who care about themselves, “like us” (meaning people like Jessica Simpson and all other humans who make fitness a priority in their lives).

So, what are your thoughts?

What do you think of the beer first off?  Ever heard of it?  Ever had it?

And then what are your thoughts on Jessica Simpson as the spokeswoman?  Good fit?  Will it help sell the beer?

I am personally impartial on the whole thing…I’m not one who purchases products based on the spokesperson and nothing about the ad actually jumps out and grabs me.  I’m curious what others think!

Source: Trendhunter

I thought it was just Corona and Bud Light Lime in the world of flovored beer, but apparently I was all wrong! 

In a recent article by Trendhunter, the article showcases 10 outrageously flavored beer.  Read the full article here!

Some of my favorites discussed in the article are below.  Well, I am not sure if you can call them favorites, because I’m not sure I would even have the guts to taste them!

1.  Banana

British company, Wells has a banana bread flavored beer out that is dark amber red in color and apparently has a honey sweet taste.  And now, that I have move passed the idea of outrageously flavored beer, such as banana bread, I am of course drawn to the packaging.  What do you think of the label?  Would you try the beer?

2. Pizza

Mama Mia’s Pizza Beer is claiming their product to be “the world’s first culinary beer.”  Not only is this beer supposed to have delicious flavor for drinking, but it’s also supposed to be great for cooking. This is one I can’t even imagine the taste of!  You? What do you think of the labeling for the Mama Mia’s beer?

These are just two of my favorites. Make sure you check out the rest at Trendhunter!

Do you think these are high selling products for the companies?  Would you taste them?

Ikea is an innovative company with innovative products.  So, how does their advertising measure up?

Ikea has countless creative advertising techniques and overly unique promotions.  Let’s take a few days and view a variety of their campaigns; some new…some old!

Beginning with a play on one of the most recognizable campaigns in the word!

1. Absolut-ly Fabulous

Ikea takes advantage of the infamous Absolut ad campaign, and actually placed furniture and created a 3D billboard mocking the set up of a New York apartment on this billboard in Soho.

Source: Marketallica

My personal favorite is next and sorry about all of the photos, but Ikea takes it above and beyond with the endless possibilities of this campaign!

2. A little fabric goes a long way

Ikea recently took on a mission of covering the streets with fabric. To promote the company and their products, Ikea used:

Bus wraps,

The interior of buses,

Benches,

Parking Meters,

And even bicycle seats.

Source: Marketallica

3. Happy Birthday!
“To celebrate its’ 40th anniversary, the IKEA in Stockholm decorated its’ store like a birthday cake. IKEAs are still few and far between in the US but are very popular in Europe as the brand has been around since 1943. Instead of creating a whole anniversary campaign, IKEA used what they already had, their store, to promote the celebration,” Amy Gifford’s past article on Inventor Spot explained.

Source: Marketallica
What do you think of Ikea’s advertising techniques?  Which one of the above three is the most effective in getting Ikea’s message across?

If you have seen other Ikea ads that are effective, creative and innovative, please share!

Source: Amy Gifford/InventorSpot