The MTV Gyration

I really like these ads by Grey, Düsseldorf for MTV reminding the kids of today to wear condoms. I'm honestly surprised the whole 'sex is no accident' concept hasn't been used before. I think these ads really fit in with MTV's image, and they work really well. And although in two out of the three ads the guy doesn't actually have his penis out and so there's no need for a condom, I do quite like these ads. They're funny, fresh and simple.  

Laden with Regret

These ads have an excellent conception. So simple but a really brilliant idea from McCann Erickson, Canada for Precision Laser tattoo removal. The imagery says everything it needs to, and it's immediately obvious what is being advertised. My only qualm is that who would get a tattoo of Bin Laden? The other two work perfectly, but this one seems a little too far-fetched for me. But hey, I suppose if you did get a Bin Laden tattoo, you'd definitely want it removed. Quickly.

Rubble Trouble

This Ambient ad from Bohan, Nashville on behalf of The United Methodist Church to help raise awareness of the state Haiti is still in is absolutely brilliant. A lovely, thought-evoking and attention-grabbing idea to get the message out that Haiti is still trying to recover even after a year has passed. A genuinely impressive and simple concept which I admire. Great stuff.

Ride the Pine

'Ladies. Buy Femfresh and your vagina will smell like a new car. All the men will want to take it for a ride!'
I'm surprised they didn't run with copy like that. I don't think this ad is amazingly clever, and nor do I think it's that good. It's a terrible idea for a feminine hygiene product from The Raft, Wiltshire who also came up with this piece of crap. This was obviously created by men, and will certainly not sell the product.

For more Female Anatomy ads:

XXXmas

Bloody Advertising

Brand Disaster

Now these ads will most certainly shock you just as much as they did me. They are awful. 'Bastards' you may think. 'Absolutely wankers' others may say. But here's the thing. I feel deeply sorry for the brand Fatboy Lamps. And here's why. These ads were created by Students. Not Fatboy Lamps. But now people like me are posting these spec ads on blogs around the world, and most won't even mention they were created by Students. This brand will be tarnished, and will now be acknowledged as the bastards who took the piss out of the Tsunami. I can't see Fatboy recovering from this very well at all. Bloody Students.

Break Open Your Spirit

I love this concept. It's funny, fresh and smart. A floor plan is an odd way to advertise, but it has a clear message and is engaging. Ignoring the slightly homophobic reference, I like these ads by Agência3, Rio de Janeiro for Brazilian spirit Cachaça Magnífica. I'm not too keen on the copy though. There's way too many words than there needs to be. Something like 'Strong when you need to be' or anything more succinct. Still I do like this campaign overall. It's an amusing and different idea.

Flies and Shine

At first I thought this ad was brilliant. Letting the art direction speak for itself, and subtly using a well known British saying, I thought British agency The Raft were extremely clever. Then I actually used my brain. "No you can't" it told me. And even if you could, you wouldn't want to. They are selling benefits of a product that don't even exist, and nobody wants. People will look at this ad, think 'that's quite funny', and then move on. Hats off to the person who sold this idea to Pledge, but this ad won't sell their product. The humour is typically British, but this is the only thing I like about this ad. This conception just wasn't thought through enough, which is a shame.

Got a feel for the Ambience? Pt 8

Here it is. Fret no longer. It's back.

The first ad is a delightfully simple idea from Smart who have done some great ambient marketing over the years. This was created by BBDO Düsseldorf and it demonstrates Smart Fortwo's 'smallest turning circle' exceptionally well through such a clever use of an everyday product. Although I have reservations as to how many people will notice it.

This next idea comes all the way from Japan for the Kagatani Knife and was created by Grey, Tokyo. The idea is so simple, and although lift ambient ads have been done to death, this stands out because of its simplicity. Although if people are in the lift it would somewhat spoil the concept. Still an excellent idea though.

I like this ad. I don't love it, but I like it. It's for BioLink shampoo and attempts to demonstrate their 'smooth and intense hydration effects' which, to be fair to BBDO Philippines, it does very well. You know exactly what the ad is saying and like the ad above, the product's benefit is displayed very clearly.

This next ambient in my opinion is excellent. You may think no one will notice these because they are high up, but they are all cleverly placed next to clocks and signs within Italian train stations that they are guaranteed to grab people's attention. It's a devilishly simple concept but it works excellently and again, like all great ambient ads, the product's USP remains the focus. This was crafted by DDB Milan and is for the excellently-named Super Attak Flex Gel.

Last, but certainly not least, this is one of my favourite ambient ads I've seen for a long time, and for a great cause. This ambient ad is for the Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada and is encouraging people to get checked out for colorectal cancer, and making them aware of the issue. Such an excellent and attention-grabbing concept created by Ogilvy, Montreal. I adore this idea and hope you do to. Asstounding stuff.

For previous parts:

Got a feel for the Ambience? Pt 1

Got a feel for the Ambience? Pt 2

Got a feel for the Ambience? Pt 3

Got a feel for the Ambience? Pt 4

Got a feel for the Ambience? Pt 5

Got a feel for the Ambience? Pt 6

Got a feel for the Ambience? Pt 7

Unhealthy Relationship

Continuing the theme of great copywriting, these ads are for the catchily-titled Gelomyrtol, which helps fight sinusitis. I've always loved the concept of using copy that has two meanings in ads, and this is a fine example. The tagline of 'Break up with Sinusitis' draws the copy and the images together really nicely. The ads were crafted by MILK, Vilnius in Lithuania, and the campaign is simple yet memorable, very clever and it catches your attention right away. Lovely work.

Re:Cycling

I was blown away by how excellent the copy on these ads are, along with such beautiful art direction. I'd never heard of Halcyon Bikes before these, but these ads make me want to visit, and actually make me really like and admire the brand. They were created by BOHAN, Nashville from the U.S and they are simply stunning. Every single piece of copy is just as excellent as the next, a feat we see rarely in a series of ads. Succinct, superb, classy and overall an outstanding campaign.

Milk's Favourite Cookie

These ads are for Oreo cookies and were crafted by Egyptian agency Pixonal. They recently changed their tag line from 'America's favourite cookie' to 'Milk's favourite cookie', which in my opinion is much better, and these are the first ads to display the new copy. I love these ads. They are simple, clean and subtle, and although some inevitably work better than others, I adore the whole series.

You'll Have a Nazi Crash

Crap ad of the week goes to this piece of atrocity. If you drink and drive then you are Hitler. Sure. Great concept. Why not do some other ads and include other evil bastards? Might as well. This ad is just simply laughable. No one will take this seriously. It was created by the aptly-named Advertisers Without Borders from Argentina and is just a lame attempt at a shocking ad. To be honest, I am shocked. Shocked at how f**king awful this is.

For other ads featuring Evil Dictators:

Shine Fürher

Hats off to Hut-Weber

USSR you kidding me?

The Mow Must Go On

What a great pair of ads. The squirrel one is such a simple and amusing conception and I think these ads work extremely well. They demonstrate the product's key selling point with a light-hearted and actually pretty damn funny approach. I really do like the squirrel execution. It's an excellent idea and it makes me smile every time I look at it. The ads are for Viking lawnmowers and were created by Publicis, Paris. I love them.

House-Warming

The art direction of these ads is superb. They have a very warm feeling to them which is excellent for the brand. Very rarely do you get an ad that is just nice to look at. It's a simple and wonderfully executed pair of ads, so much so I'm unsure as to whether the 'Winter Ready' tag is even needed because the image is so strong. These ads were created by Publicis, Romania and I have to congratulate them. The concept isn't ground-breaking nor is it revolutionary, but these are really well crafted and just lovely looking ads. As simple as that.

The Sound of Violence

This an excellent conception for KAFA, a Middle Eastern organisation that attempts to eradicate gender-based violence and exploitation of women and children. The art direction is absolutely fantastic and it really drives the message home making the injuries resemble sound waves. The ads were created by Y&R, Dubai and are so simple yet shocking, an excellent combination. In my opinion I would have perhaps made the injuries more scar-like so that they match the copy, but apart from this I love them. It's always a shame when a serious issue's cause is hampered by poor advertising, but this certainly isn't the case here. Great stuff.

For other ads for the protection of women:

Sexual Assault Victims

Bird on a Wire

Wide Scream

So first things first, I hate the typeface and the art direction of these ads. Despise them in fact. But I adore the copy. It's amusing and subtly tells you exactly what these ads are about and I think this type of subject area requires humour and a light-hearted approach. The ads are for Canadian Porn channel, Amour and were created by Cossette West, Vancouver. The copy is really great and it makes these poorly-designed ads actually rather good.

Previous Porn-based Ads:

Popcornography

XXXmas 

Please Enter Your Pin

Are they serious?
Now today is International Women's Day and I was planning on making a comment about how these ads are for you ladies out there etc etc. But can you imagine my horror when I discovered these ads were placed inside magazines aimed at the Gay French Gentleman? Which, in my opinion, probably makes these even worse. The product is Try intimate lubricant and these ads were created by JWT, Paris. I don't know what else to say really. It certainly grabs everyone's attention once they realise what the ads are saying, if nothing else. And although I'm no Gay French Gentleman, I just don't see these ads encouraging people to purchase this product.

For more Sexually Inappropriate ads try:

Bloody Advertising

Sex Sells If You Can Keep It Up

Behind Bars and Clubs

Driving the Message Home

I was going to include this in part 8 of the hotly-awaited 'Got a Feel for the Ambience' but I like this so much I thought it deserved its own post (pun not intended).
I am a complete sucker for hard-hitting and shocking concepts for public service ads and this one is right up there. The text translates simply as 'Don't text and drive'. It was created by Publicis, Guayaquil in Ecuador and is brilliant. I have doubts as to whether this ad was actually an outdoor ad or whether it has been photoshopped on to the lamp post, but either way it's an excellent concept and it does exactly what it's supposed to; forcefully hammering its message home. It's an intense yet effortless ad, that conveys everything it needs to with pure simplicity and astounding execution. 

Previous Hard-hitting Public Service and Charity Ads:

Bloody Good Work

Public Service Ads: Drink-Driving

St John's Drive The Message Home

Sexual Assault Victims

Pedestrian Coffin

Breath of Fresh Air

That Sinking Feeling

Thin Measures

Don't Forget About Alzheimer's

A Peeling Design

Sometimes an ad is so delightfully crafted you don't care about the message or the brand. You just want to admire it. This is one those ads unfortunately for WMF. No one will remember their brand name and they'll only remember the beautiful art direction. Sorry guys. These fine ads were created by KNSK, Hamburg and you have to take your hats off to them because they are stunning. I really do like the copy too. Using the words "the art" really suits these ads. Although on the carrot ad, I'm pretty sure this peeler does NOT save time. Look how thin it is. Apart from this, I love them and I hope you love them just as much.  

Soup-er Ad

Before I start, I would like to apologise for the title of this post. I am truly sorry.
These were created by Publicis, Ecuador for Maggi Soup and I absolutely love the art direction. They create a gloomy, cold and dark feel and force you to imagine having the warm soup. It's a great idea, and I think the copy isn't half bad too. However, the tagline 'true magic happens in the kitchen' is very contradictory. The main copy is suggesting that the soup warms you up whilst at work and makes you feel comfortable and right at home. However, the tagline suggests that this can only happen in the kitchen. This is how I read it anyway. You may read it differently. Despite this, I love these ads and the feeling they create, and it's great that the product is offered as the solution.