Hitting the G spot
January 13, 2009
Switching on the electrolyte
Gatorade, the Pepsi owned energy drink, is having a major overhaul – taking its increasingly retro packaging up a notch with bold new colours and simple hard hitting statements. It’s out with the ‘Gatorade – Thirst Quencher’ tag line and in with ‘Gatorade G’. US rapper Lil’ Wayne (who had the biggest selling album of 2008 at 2.88M copies) is stepping in, not to contribute music, but to work as a voice-over artist. Read more
Ring of fear
December 10, 2008
The ‘Saved by Zero’ jingle from a recent Toyota commercial (from the original song by 80s new wave act The Fixx) has been remixed into a horror video. Bizarrely the original ad, which was lambasted by viewers due to its repetitive nature, has taken on a whole life of its own, making it a far bigger campaign than Toyota could have imagined. As displayed on American Idol so often, a bad performance often garners more attention than a good one.
The Holly and The TV
December 1, 2008
Saturdays alright for fighting
British soap Hollyoaks – which won six awards at this year’s British Soap Awards – is to utilise its 3M strong audience as a marketing platform for both an upcoming girl band and the pop aspirations of its own cast.
Girl band The Saturdays are guest staring in an episode of Late Night Hollyoaks in November. The band appears competing against a band made up of characters in the show. Read more
Crystal clear
December 1, 2008
Here is Toshiba’s rather brilliant time sculpture ad (and also an interesting making of) used to promote its LCD TVs. The ad – created by Grey London and director Mitch Stratton – uses over 200 of those overly complex Matrix style ‘bullet time’ cameras to capture the unique revolving imagery. The commercial is sound-tracked by the excellent Crystal Castles, and here, as ever, it’s the music that gives the whole £3M concept its edge.
Let’s get ready to mumble
December 1, 2008
Ozzy Osbourne and his unintelligible mumblings help to promote Samsung’s new Propel phone, highlighting its text-messaging capabilities. “Make yourself heard” states the ad as Ozzy’s black varnished fingertips tap out instructions to everyone he meets on its full qwerty keyboard. However, I’ve seen Ozzy’s shaky hands and I’m not convinced it would actually read any different to be honest.
Tween takeover
October 29, 2008
They’re all in this together
There was a time when children were to be seen and not heard. Well, they’re making up for that lost volume now:
• ITV is to roll out a selection of licensing deals in association with its newly-launched musical drama, Britannia High – which features original music composed by some of the biggest names in pop including Gary Barlow, Guy Chambers, Steve Mac, and Mark Owen. Read more
The back of beyond
October 29, 2008
Australian duo take control
Pop duo The Veronicas have launched a web series exclusively via their Yahoo! Music web channel. The weekly series charts the twin sisters’ journey to stardom in the US as they promote their album, Hook Me Up. Read more
Luxury album liner
October 29, 2008
Josh Groban on the high seas
Josh Groban is teaming up with Carnival Corporation’s Princess Cruises to screen his Awake Live DVD on ship. The singer’s image will be projected onto 17 of the company’s cruise ships while the DVD of his concert is given an onboard broadcast. The cruise line has previously shown concerts in the past from artists such as Beyoncé, Diana Krall, and Tina Turner. Read more
Live unbuttoned
September 3, 2008
Forever in blue jeans
“Everyone has something to reveal. They just need to be unbuttoned,” states Levi’s. Levi’s Live Unbuttoned campaign – its first integrated global campaign and the biggest marketing programme ever undertaken by the brand – aims to encapsulate the “unrestrained, free-spirited and self-expressive attitude” of its iconic jeans.
The campaign kick-started with a number of viral elements Read more
The music evolution
September 3, 2008
Find your rubber soul
Trojan Condoms Evolve campaign – aiming to build awareness amongst Americans about the need to wear a condom – is making its move on music.
The campaign has so far featured TV spots with non-condom users depicted as ‘un-evolved’ pigs. In addition to the commercials, Trojan has sponsored two tours, taking an interactive bus across America to the Vans Warped Tour and to political conventions. Read more
