Afri-Cola “Lust”, dir. Charles Wilp, 1968

[via Lonely Sandwich]

Google Chrome, Japan by Google on YouTube [via AdWeek].

Strikes me as pitching somewhere between the understatement of Common Craft (who have been commissioned by Google in the past) …

Twitter in Plain English by leelefever on Vimeo.

… and the advertising/ embellishment, for example, of 3′s Ridiculously Easy Email by glue London (you can read a discussion of this spot at ViralBlog):

3′s Ridiculously Easy Email by tookie084 on YouTube.

I met a London-based Creative Director not that long ago who said the ‘instructional video’ would replace ‘advertising’.

Now that seems like too narrow a view for me.

All the spots featured here are for tech clients, explaining either new technology or unfamiliar interface.

But beyond that, there’s clearly an ‘advertising’ way to do the instructional.

And further beyond – there’s a question:

How many websites, browsers or mobile phones needed this kind of instructional video 3 years ago? 5 years ago?

What’s changed?

“Flight of the Conchords rip-off” were his words.

You can be the judge of that:

Pot Noodle Advert – Moussaka Rap by R3SPAWNS on YouTube.

Pot Noodle advert – Doner Kebab version by IverHealth on YouTube.

Do we have another Booshgate on our hands? A theft of honey monstrosity?

Facebook Fans have been up in arms. Perhaps you, like Lauren, “just thought it was me thinking it until others agreed!”

Is it now fair game to rip-off the style of popular comedians, entertainers, celebrities?

Don’t those same celebs rip-off consumer culture and sponsorships?

Wasn’t it simpler when famos would prance around like a**holes – “against type”?

The Observer Sport Monthly reminded me of this “endorsement” gem:

Chicken Tonight Commercial (Ian Wright) by mrsimonukalt on YouTube.

Even the 21st century has its “against type” celebrity endorsements.

For anyone who hasn’t seen it – here’s Iggy “Lust for Life” Pop getting wired on respectably-priced insurance.

Swiftcover Iggy Pop Commercial by phatfubble on YouTube.

[Iggy, incidentally, couldn't hold a Swiftcover insurance policy on account of his being a musician. But don't let that prejudice your answer to the next question.]

So which is worse -

Embracing the hand that feeds you

Or waiting until it bites your style?

Previous ad controversy:

- The Mighty Boosh vs. Sugar Puffs – Crimp Off

- Fauxbama campaigns turn racist

- Tropicana packaging: Is it all over Arnell?

- “Adverts make things look bigger” scandal

P vs McDonald’s by NeRdArMyViDeOs on YouTube.

Mr. Williams doesn’t need a sponsored viral to be “internet famous”. Although he will “try anything to get McDonald’s to open early”.

Over 1min and 18 seconds he goes through every trick in the book:

- Sing a jingle

- Sing a jingle

- Sing a jingle

- Sing a jingle

And he even dances.

But when it comes to jingles and dances, what’s Pharrell got on Sammy Stephens?

Flea Market Montgomery – Long Version by teedadawg on YouTube.

OK OK OK. So Sammy was “internet famous” in 2007 and times have moved on.

Practioners of the “jingle and dance” are more professional now.

They get up at 6am to perform choreographed routines – and that’s before their authentic carb breakfast of Parisian French fries.

Stephens was a mere amateur:

“I didn’t write it,” he said. “I just felt it.”

But there is hope for the plucky amateur. His name is Howard Brown.

Original Howard of Halifax advert by gazhack on YouTube.

The UK’s golden boy of “jingle and dance” enjoyed a hugely repetitive 6-year “jingle and dance” career after turning pro in 2002.

So when you get that urge to “jingle and dance” because you “just feel it”, make sure there’s a camera in the crowd and give it all your heart.

Dreams really can come true.

Puma Lift by Droga5 on Vimeo.

I didn’t expect to include ads in this series. But I didn’t see this spot coming.

Droga5 and Puma have used projection mapping to spectacular effect for their ‘Light Injected Footwear’ – the print work is striking too.

Where set design, installation and architecture converge with live visuals, we’re getting to glimpse the future. It’s increasingly spatial.

CAD render showing the beam traffic and early set design [image via 'boards].

Production designer James Chinlund explains some of the thinking in interview:

“We felt like it was important that it feel at all times like these people were doing this themselves, in their own space. When you watched it that you felt like you were seeing a performance that was happening in real time.

We thought of them as a team of young artists making a piece with almost no money, you should be able to feel the “edges”. The projections weren’t mapped perfectly, there were shadows and spill-off.”

It pays off. The piece feels like a performance and that, for me, makes the creative ambition all the more impressive.

Flight of the Conchords – Carol Brown, Dir. Michel Gondry on YouTube.

That’s not to talk down the projection mapping in composed pieces. Michael Naimark’s installations were groundbreaking and Michel Gondry keeps using the technique with aplomb.

Since Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground (White Stripes) he’s taken it into TV.

But how far can you take projection mapping in a club performance?

I hope to find out tonight when Etienne de Crécy and Parisian crew Exyzt bring their Cube to matter (London).

Etienne de Crécy Live 2007 by Clement bournat on Vimeo.

The 3x3x3 cube puts different demands on a VJ crew – but this crew has architects, not to mention scaffolding.

Managed to snag free tix for tonight and will report back from the field…

More on Projection Mapping:

- AntiVJ: Exyzt Installation Ripped off by The Killers.

- Memo.tv: Projection mapping with VDMX.

Previous How to VJ:

- #8 Interaction: keeping interface simple

- #7 No laptops: 8-bit VJing

- #6 Pixel-per-pixel: a history

Duet Ice Cream: Obama by Ravoshod (Russia) via Ads of the World.

Click the image if you want to see this larger. But I hope you get the picture.

This ad is rolling around in a whole new nadir. Low low low.

Can’t believe ice cream has got so tasteless these days. Fat kids and the freshly-dumped will have even more to cry about. How cruel.

Previously:

- Pepsi steal Obama’s logo. Or vice-versa?

Macleans – Be Ready by M&C Saatchi/ David LaChapelle on YouTube.

Damn sure M&C Saatchi paid David LaChapelle in real 2009 money.

Which might not be worth so much now, things being relative. But they can’t be so relative the man came cheap.

He made Rize a few years ago, after all:

Rize Movie Trailer by digim on YouTube.

Pause those dancing clowns now. Really. We’ve got a question to answer.

How did that Macleans ad get made? How did it walk backwards out the stairs of a London agency?

I’m not sure. But I tripped over this article on French advertising in the New York Times:

“Long on sensuality, style and poetry, [French commercials] are notably lean on facts and nearly allergic to the rough-and-tumble of commerce…

“We stress sex and wit in our ads because that’s our culture,” Mr. [Stéphane] Martin [director of the French union for television advertisements], said. “Advertising is about presenting an idealized view of its audience. And this is who we would like to think we are.””

Chanel Egoïste – Montre-toi égoïste! (1990) by Jean-Paul Goude on YouTube.

French advertising had its golden era in the 1980s – coinciding with the cinéma du look (“the image is the message”) and the arrival of directors like Luc Besson and Jean-Paul Goude.

It wasn’t until 1968 that French TV aired commercial spots in the first place. And you could argue that French culture has never embraced the creative sale.

So maybe we don’t need a time machine. Donnez-moi un teleporter!

If you can afford LaChapelle you can expense that too, right?

Who wrote the book on jungle survival and is it a website yet?

This could be the deepest recession in 70 years. I’m 26. I’ve worked in advertising for 17 months.

Nothing was clear when I entered the jungle. Tribalism ruled. Now everyone’s desperate for daylight.

Machete by Jules Suzdaltsev on Vimeo.

Those with the new weapons vaunt them. Those with the old craft and guile still hack so precisely.

But when the machete lies still, what sounds does the jungle make? How does it feel? Light slats through the canopy and life teems between your toes.

Vong Phaophanit, “What Falls to the Ground But Can’t Be Eaten”, Tate Britain.

I’ve never understood the debate – and the tribalism. This is a weird juncture in the history of advertising. That much was clear from the fringe.

At the same time that everyone talks about interaction and experience, tribes can barely look each other in the eye. So completely they miss those slats of light. They’d barely notice the weather.

Saxso Funny by rafaelci9 on YouTube.

The choice of machete is a pointless debate. You could hack all day – online, in print, on TV, even on the radio. You’re still hacking.

I don’t think we’ll be Amazon-deep in the jungle forever.

But we could build something while we’re there. Sit down and interact. Put the machetes away, switch the laptops off. Imagine the clearing we want then make it together.

Creativity sees connections where they didn’t previously exist.

The Yellow Treehouse Restaurant, Auckland, New Zealand.

(What’s the connection with advertising? Take a look at their website.)

It’s obviously a tasty bit of work, whatever the weather. And the KitKat is a structurally sound snack.

But how long does an Oreo stay good once it’s touched the floor? It feels like a pretty sturdy biscuit. Though I wouldn’t fancy it under a winter boot. Bad news for 6emeia’s mural and any 30ft-tall painted snackers.

These are all hazards of the ambient trade. Passers by will sit on your work. Stand on it. Maybe – in the absolute worse case scenario – take a good long look at it.

But you can beat nature at it’s own game.

The Glue Society saw the future of their outdoor ice cream. It was summer, it was Sydney, and it was a sticky mess of syrup goop. So they melted the van.

Makes me wonder what became of that Havaiana tree…

It bloomed in South African spring. Must be summer there now. I hope it still looks so fresh and radiant.

Previous ambient:

- Balloon graffiti from D.BILLY

- Cuprocking from UPROCK

- Cleanvertising from São Paulo via San Francisco and back to London

Crispin Porter + Bogusky‘s latest work for Burger King is Fire Meets Desire. It flips the truth that burgers make you stink by peddling a seductive new fragrance.

“The Whopper sandwich is America’s favorite burger. Flame by BK captures the essence of that love and gives it to you. Behold the scent of seduction, with a hint of flame-broiled meat.”

This website takes that truth out for a walk, a spot of dinner and a greasy finger by the fire. Hit the interactive Flame spray and you disperse the sappy clichés of romanticism, obliterating and channel-surfing with one click.

You can buy the fragrance from Ricky’s. Or eBay. Needless to say.

And what hasn’t been said about the previous campaign?

Whopper Virgins took Z-Boy director Stacy Peralta to Thailand, Romania and Greenland in search of “the hamburger illiterate” for a culturally blind test (see YouTube commentary below).

If we are staring into an abyss the good news is it appears to be bottomless.

Ferocious right on-ers have bashed the campaign’s off-ness, fans have whooped, fence-sitters (like this one?) have done what they always do best. The people have spoken. To one another. Just Google Whopper Virgins and take a straw poll.

If Fire Meets Desire takes a bite out of Lynx/ Axe’s global campaigns, then Whopper Virgins has a deep swig of the Pepsi Challenge. In both bursts of advertising cannibalism, the taste is ironic.

But first thing’s first. These campaigns are exceptional – in advertising terms. They’ve taken the bench and given it a mark. No doubt. Why did that bother me?

These Burger King campaigns reminded of something pretty rare: a great article on Adbusters. From Hipster: The Dead End of Western Civilization…

“Lovers of apathy and irony, hipsters are connected through a global network of blogs and shops that push forth a global vision of fashion-informed aesthetics. Loosely associated with some form of creative output, they attend art parties, take lo-fi pictures with analog cameras, ride their bikes to night clubs and sweat it up at nouveau disco-coke parties.”

Is this the 2.0 advertising creative par excellence?

Or did the creatives at Crispin Porter + Bogusky get at an uglier brand truth with Whopper Virgins?

“If you don’t have shit, you don’t know one shit from another.”

With that statement, even a hipster could be proud or some shit.

More burger related:

- Delete 10 Facebook friends and get a free Whopper

- Facebook deletes Burger King application

- Nike Air Big Max