Royally Obsessed

The world has gone crazy for the Royal Wedding tomorrow, and it appears not only do we have to put up with shitty merchandising that has taken over our high streets, but we have to put up with half-arsed attempts to jump on the Royal Wedding bandwagon such as these. I hope you despise them all just as much as me.

First off, T-Mobile and Saatchi & Saatchi London have decided to finally go down a different route with their advertising with a spot that involves public dancing. Oh wait.

Next up is an absolutely pointless ad from Papa John's, which quite frankly makes their product look disgusting, (and Prince William retarded) and is a prime example of a brand trying to align themselves with a big event with no relevance whatsoever. This is a royal f**k up.

This is next ad attempts to create some sort of relevance, but the link is so tedious it's almost embarrassing. It comes from Post-It and was created by OgilvyAction, London. Business Director at OgilvyAction states "it made absolute sense to develop a tactical campaign that would reinforce the ubiquitous nature of the product and teasingly link them to the Royal wedding." Sure.

Now I'm a man who loves a good pun, but this is simply overkill from easyJet. Created by Publicis London, this ad is set to run in papers only today and tomorrow. It's an ok idea but that's it.

Staying on the pun-front, these Kodak ads are again really trying too hard to jump on the already over-crowded bandwagon. These were again created by OgilvyAction, London.

This again is a brand struggling to associate themselves with the Wedding. How Green & Black's are going to benefit from the association I have no idea, but they have linked their product quite well. So hats off to them. There's no real message here though...

Lastly this TV spot (part of a £1.8m nationwide campaign) is for Freeview HD and was created by 18 Feet & Rising. The ad is trying to get people to switch to Freeview to watch the wedding in HD, and uses Corgis, the breed associate with ol' Queenie. Forgive me, but I actually think it's a nice ad.

Super Broadband

This is a wonderfully simple ad by Israeli agency Grey, Tel Aviv. It's for Bezeq, Israel's national telecomms provider for their fast movie download speeds. I would have loved to see more of executions to create a great series but apart from that, this is an excellent piece of advertising. Although I can't help thinking it looks as though Lois has just arrived home early from work and caught ol' Clarkey in bed with someone. Probably Wonder Woman. Whore.

Writing Wrong

I usually love long copy ads, but agency self-promos and agency ads usually disappoint. This ad was created by Leeds agency, Propaganda and is obviously advertising for a copywriter, and I don't like it one bit. All they've done is force famous pieces of copy into the ad. Or at least that's what I first thought. Then I took a step back for a second. This agency are advertising for a writer. Maybe they have created a poorly written ad intentionally to encourage writers to think 'I can do better than this' or 'I can deliver lines like those used.' Perhaps they have crafted an awful ad on purpose? But surely if it was intentionally crap, they'd have riddled it with grammar and spelling errors, or perhaps they would have challenged people to write better than this. It's either a brilliantly subtle ad, or they really do need a new writer. Let's hope they get one, huh?

For Previous Agency ads:

Agenc  Self-P omo No-no

Stumbling Blocks

Now I really like these ads. I think the concept is excellent, and it's a very clever idea, but I just can't help thinking that they've got the target audience completely wrong. This is a family game. What kid is going to look at this ad and then think, "this looks fun, I'm going to convince my mum to buy it"? Alternatively, what parent is going to look at this ad and think, "my kid will love this"? Only the weird ones in my opinion. Colombian agency Ogilvy & Mather, Bogotá have created a funny and entertaining series of ads here, but they are way off the mark with their target audience.

Straight to the Pint

Too simple? I usually hate, nay, despise ads that are too simple for their own good, but this stripped down print, bereft of anything resembling a logo or copy, is excellent. We all know who it's by, and it acts as a gentle reminder to drink Guinness without the need for an actual concept. Now who wants to go to the pub? (See, it works.)

Can't See the Wood for the Tweets

These ads really make me want to go to America's National Parks, so in my opinion they work. They really give you that feeling of adventure, and although they are jumping on the anti-Social media bandwagon, they are inspiring ads, and some of the copy from the University of Texas advertising school really is excellent. I'm not usually a big fan of vintage-style images, but I think these really are a great set of ads, and I absolutely adore the concept of escaping from technology.

For Other brands Jumping on the Social Media Bandwagon:
News Status Update
Folkin' Social Media
Social Net Wok
Social Drinking

Think Responsibly

I quite like the copy on these ads, but in my opinion the art direction and the concept really lets it down. Corona are attempting to discourage people from drinking their product. It just doesn't make much sense. Don't get me wrong, these are amusing ads, and I would totally understand it if it was for drink-driving or something similar. I'd also understand if perhaps they had the message of 'quality over quantity', but they don't. These ads by JWT, Madrid are neither clear nor compelling, and they just haven't been thought through properly, which is a real shame.

Agenc Self-P omo No-No

Pure genius here from Y&R, Kiev. Absolute genius. You need their letters to complete the word. You need Y&R to restore the meaning. Utterly brilliant. Astounding. Ground-breaking stuff. Right? NO.
These ads are complete bollocks. They think they're clever, but they simply aren't. It's boring. It says nothing about them, other than they're lazy and think they're amazing. Does anyone else get the impression they struggled for a third idea and so just threw in Energy for good measure? This is one the worst agency self-promo ads I've seen. It's an average attempt at an attempt to come across as anything other than average. These ads make me ang  .

Looping Good

I was going to save this ambient for the next ambient ads feature but thought it deserved its own post. This is such a simple idea, and after already featuring a Hot Wheels ambient and their recent ambient from Mexico I figured I'd include this one because I think it's just as good, if not better. This was created by Colombian agency Bogotá and is just awesome. Although, I'm sure there's a way to keep the hole in the middle as an actual hole and still make it structural sound. Still this is really great stuff.

World Piece

I absolutely adore these ads from Pizza & Love who recently produced these amusing ads. These ads were created by Contrapunto, Barcelona, and the art direction really is stunning. For those of you who don't know, Pizza & Love are an actual Pizza place who are very environmentally-conscious. I think these ads are brilliant and promote a great message in saving the Amazon and the Arctic. I can understand how they would be confusing though. There's several messages in these ads. I mean is it for Pizza? Or Global-Warming? Or being Environmentally Friendly? It's seems all three, but it doesn't take anything away from the fact that these are very good ads. And I know I've mentioned it before, but I just think the logo is exceptional.