Two Letters Shy of Extinction

Please forgive my ranting..




Now that Facebook is the new face of the social media scene, Myspace is reinventing their look.
Mike Macadaan (MySpace VP of User Experience) explains the philosophy behind it, “MySpace is a platform for people to be whatever they want, so we’ve decided to give them the space to do it.” The logo is simply "my" in Helvetica with a large bracket where artists will fill the "space" with personalized artwork.

(Sorry! All I have are screenshots)


Has Gap's new logo fail taught you nothing? People aren't ready to grasp new logos; especially when the company has been the breakthrough social interaction site of our time!
I'm not a fan of the logo. I suppose the interchanging art that would accompany the void is kinda cool, but again I feel like that is such a trendy thing to do now a days.
I'm sure if Tom still owned the rights to Myspace, it would not be undergoing such an unnecessary face lift. They would be happy with the revolution that they had started and not try to keep up with the Jones.

Puppy Love

(My ads for the week were done by Jung von Matt/Neckar Advertising Agency, Stuttgart, Germany.)

This is a campaign produced for the international lifestyle, Deutsch magazine. The images used really sparked a questioning of German taboos and where the line between attention grabbing and immorality lies.
The campaign shows scenes that "could" be understood as a German Shepherd 'loving his owner'. The quality and style of the shots are as you would see in any Glamor or Vogue magazine. The ads were meant to be as eye catching and disruptive as possible.

The actual magazine, from what I have read about it, is quite far from how the ad actually portrays the "international lifestyle". The layout is super classy! They are riding on pure shock factor here. According to the Jung von Matt agency, "the images seem to be inspired by the photographs of Helmut Newton, taken in 1984. The German Shepherd dog is a symbol of Germany's culture"(10 ad and marketing journal).


(Did i mention that the campaign was produced and executed by females.)

There are advertisements that are created with the aim of arousing controversy. We all know what they say, negative publicity counts for something too; at least your name is getting out there! This ad was most definitely a product of this sort of state of mind.



Link Here

The Kitchen Sink

Hey! It's a link

The Mono agency (based out of Minneapolis) converted the Ghirardelli Square fountain into a giant sink complete with giant teacup, plate a sponge and even bubbles! Participants of the chocolate festival, were free to take the soap bubbles from the display. Each bubble taken, meant that Mrs. Meyer's donated $2 to the San Francisco Clean City Coalition, "a non-profit dedicated to cleaning, greening and beautifying the City of San Francisco". The display raised over $3,000 over a 2 day period.
I think this is a great, playful ambient ad! I feel like this is something I would produce. Nothing draws people in like disproportionate, out of place items. I also think it greatly benefits any event activity such as this one, to have kids interested and getting involved. Every parent (or otherwise) realizes that a young child kind of has a lot of say in household decisions. I guess what I'm trying to say is it was a good plan to have the event be a family one.
On the whole, I guess the concept is basic, but very playful and interactive. Participation is required for a stunt like this though. People who didn't pick up the balloons probably had little idea of what was really going on outside of the sign's description.

This Airline Hasn't Got It

Check This Out

Above is a link to a TV spot created by RKCR/Y&R, USA for Virgin Atlantic Air.
The production of this advertisement is quite good. Playing with scale and color really gives this brand the sexy attitude that they should shoot for. I truly never thought there would be such a seductive ad for an airline. This reminds me of Mary Wells Lawrence strip ad for Braniff Airways slightly.



However, this ad had a concept behind it. I seem to be failing to see the concept in the Virgin Atlantic ad. Don't get me wrong, it is a beautiful, seductive piece, but there is no real concept behind it other than "we're fun and sexy."
I also don't really think that that little line at the end is necessary. Stick to the attitude you've got. Don't try and throw me in for a joke after you've told me 'you've got it' unlike your competitors. I feel like I've been fooled by this new tag line. I feel as if it was just an excuse to execute a super visually cool ad.