X-Rated Erotic Horror Film Marks Relaunch of Agent Provocateur Lingerie Site

Agent Provocateur, has completely revamped their website. It is not the most difficult thing to draw attention to, when you have the opportunity to legitimately show your product on scantily clad young models, but gent Provocateur do it with class and attitude in every area. They are leaders when it comes to innovating with video online, and are no newbies to video on their site. This time however they have the luxury of the web catching up with their ideas. The new x-rated style site delivers an emersive video experience. The erotic and dark theme has a combined look and feel of vintage horror and cult erotic movies - See end of this post for video. Sexy full screen action which also features an equally kitsch soundtrack.

The interactive video invites visitors to create their own path through the erotic story, and eventually decide the fate of the stories ‘Young Virgin’ protagonist. The main print campaign image also contains a hidden secret mystery to be solved. After a well made and evocative brand building experience there is a stylish online store to capitalise on all the visitors the site will have provoked.

The leading luxury lingerie brand is clearly investing heavily in online, and the site reflects and increased focus on the web, aimed at capitalising on the huge success of online sales through their site.




This campaign image contains a hidden message. Solve it to win the competition.

New Sprite Ad & Old West Ad

A couple of ads that I found while browsing recently and wanted to consign to memory. I love the music in the Old Lady - West ad. I do not know who is the artist, so if anyone knows who it is please tell me if you know. How weird it that ad? I can't think of a less appealing character to promote smoking, which actually makes the ad all the more interesting! It really feels like an old Diesel spot.


West_Old Lady commercial from Stefan_K on Vimeo.

As for this Sprite advert, I really like it's simplicity and way that it delivers its surprise.


De lejos están todas buenas from Matias Tripailao on Vimeo.

My Friend The Next Victim Of A Serial Killer?

This shocking discovery of a serial killer in London seems to have every one living in fear. None more that one of my colleagues, Kimm Kroll who shares the same name as one of the names written on the killers apparent targets list found at the scene of one of the crimes. It is such a distinctive name, I just hope it is not actually my friend!! I hope that the catch this killer soon.

More information on the killings can be read here.

BBC April Fools Ad For iPlayer

Really nice advert for the iPlayer online service from the BBc that allows viewers to watch BBC programmes online upto one week after they were broadcast on TV. 'Making the unmissable, unmissable'.



From IF!

Valentino Spring Summer 2008 Campaign - No Faces

I really like the idea of Valentino's latest campaign, his last for the company before his retirement. Rebelling against the saturation of top models and celebrity endorsements, the model's faces in the campaign are all obscured by their hair, or accessories. Will surely be discussed amongst the fashion press, and creates an image that makes you do a double take, without compromising on the traditional 'fashion' image.

More here...

Psycological Warfare and Sexual Propanda

I saw this very interesting documentary last week on psycological warfare in the Second World War. Charting the reciprocal steps that both sides took in an attempt to out do the other, in order to undermine confidence and seed doubts in the minds of their opponents soldiers.

Both sides used combinations of propaganda that combined erotic images mixed with moral sapping messages about death or ones that cast doubt over the loyalty of wives and girlfriends left back home. The results were haunting and powerful examples of a new type of communication material. Due to thier pornogrpahic nature soldiers would keep the images, and pass them around, despite their darkly masked messages, and became one of the first examples of 'viral communication'. The British used similar propaganda techniques with their own soldiers for spreading information, claiming it to be more effective than the BBC at getting a message across.

Entire departments were set up to investigate and develop pornographic propaganda, and as the war progressed, it is clear to see the evolution from hand painted pictures to more explicit photographs, and ever more disturbing and dark messages.

The British set up a fake German radio station that titilated the German soldiers. It became an institution to which they would tune in religiously, hooked on it's upreviously unseen explicit content. The British would then slip in doubt enducing and depressing news, such as recalling all of the dead families killed in the most recent bombing raids on Berlin.

The images employed all sorts of sophisticated tricks, such as holding the image up to the light revealed a new darker message. In strict stiff upper lip seriousness, one British artist was asked to doctor an image of Hitler, to make him appear as if he were holding his penis. No doubt such an image would have appeared in everyones inboxes. What is funny is to think that such an image was commisioned as a military tactic - does this department still exist and are they responsible for the many videos of Bush and Bin Ladden that flood the web today? Much of the activity is likely a precursor to advertising strategies and certainly adhears to the old adage that sex sells!

Much of the documentary seems to have been based on, or at least included much of the content featured in this site. Well worth checking out!

Burger King - Eat Like A Snake

Following on from the Diesel viral campaign for Freezy Sneakers, here is another example of how odd videos can be remarkably addictive and how strangeness has a very important part in advertising online. Here a man slithers across a Burger King restaurant floor and swallows hole someone elses burger, as if he were a snake. I am not sure what is more odd. The snake-like way he swallows the burger, or the repulsive thoughts of actually getting down and lying on the floor of a fast food restaurant!

Human After All - Diesel Fall Winter 07 Campaign

It commonly felt that we are moving towards a future where technology rules the day and will make everones lives perfect, and there is an increasing fascination with technology and predicting how it will change our lives for the better. The current Diesel campaign takes a wry look at this imagined future and suggests otherwise...maybe the technology will be better (or not as the case maybe), but where there are humans involved, there will always be room for error...as the strapline states, we are only 'Human Afterall'. Be it human error or emotional, the future is a place where man is still man, and technology will take second place to the human condition.

Where there's transport, there are sure to be breakdowns. Kids that break your clone's capsule, rather than just the window that usually gets smashed. Do you really think that assembling your teleport cabnet from Ikea in 100 years time is going to be any easier than the KLIMPT desk you struggled with last year? See below some images from the campaign, that I am glad to have participated in the creation of.

See here some images from the campaign, and read on for more about the viral videos of the campaign.









The campaign is also being taken online with a series of viral videos that show that our relationship with technology may not be that different - with the guy who has to stumble out of his future home pod to go to the pharmacy for condoms and falls fail to his crashed voice recognition security door, leaving his hot date waiting inside. Another illustrates the possible dangers when using what will be no doubt the latest iPhone in the year 2050.

Teleporter


Voice Recognition


Space Dinner



This season has had a distinctly futuristic tone to it - with a spectacular holographic fashion show (watch it here), and the introduction of Diesel's Sister Yes shades that have integrated camera, phone, GPS maps, video playback...oh and can see into the future??? I kid you not...check out the shades here.

The Shades With Integrated Phone & Personal Assistant




The Holographic Show

Exercise Video's For Dogs

Yes there is hope for dogs with weight problems and eating disorders. Entering an new realm in the world of exercise videos, Mariko Takahashi's workout should leave your pooch in perfect shape. This deliciously surreal clip is actually a short film to promote Panasonic during the 2004 Olympics, and was one of ten short movies in the Capture The Motion series . Made by Japanese designer, commercials and short film director Nagi Noda this film will freak you out. This is one of my favorite shorts, I can't imagine how Nagi came up with the concept, that comes across in such a positive way, yet on another level does seem to allude to more serious issues about our obsession with exercise and it would also not really surprise me to hear that there really were dog exercise video's on the market either!

Online Advertising Investment Increases By 41%

The BBC reports today that while advertising spend in 2006 suffered as a whole, investment in online advertising over the same period increased by 41%.

TV advertising itself experienced a 4.7% fall in spending to £3.9bn.

The report added that online advertising actually grabbed a record market share of 12.4% in the second half of 2006, as expenditure topped £1.098bn.

UK's online ad market share is almost double the global average of 5.8%, the report added.

Recruitment spent the most on web advertising - increasing expenditure by 2.7% - followed by finance and technology.

Read more here.

Audi TT Viral Video by Universal Everything

This is a really beautiful animation created by Univeral Everything for Audi Australia to announce the launch of the new Audi TT. It is wonderful in the fact that it does not actually show the car itself, but through the abstract and fresh modern elements the video really conveys the sleek and aerodynamic car design and leaves people wanting to actually see the car. The particles were actually generated by a specially created softwear to dynamically recreate a simulation of a wind tunnel. I am not sure that it lives upto its viral name, but it is certainly a stunning piece. The animation is too long in my opinion with the final part dragging on. The particles may have been better off forming the famous rings that make up the Audi logo. Check out more work by Univeral Everything here.

BLYK - Advertisers To Subsidise Free Mobile Phone Service

An industry of intense competition and innovation, the mobile market is going to get it's next interesting model. Free mobile phone calls.

While some talk plans have the possibility to supplement the plan with free calls, Blyk a pan-European free mobile operator is launching the first totally free mobile talk plan in the UK market in mid-2007, with other markets to follow. The service is aimed specifically for young people and is funded by advertising.

BLYK will buy traffic from the major mobile phone carriers and give it for free to it's users, but they will have to read and also respond to a certain amount of advertising.

The service will no doubt allow advertisers very targeted opportunities and initially the service will be perceived as very popular with the young market it is aimed at. However with mobile calls and services coming down in price and with VOIP coming more and more to mobiles the appeal of free calls may not be so attractive. Especially considering the invasive nature of mobile marketing and the effort users will no doubt have to go to to respond and acknowledge the ads. Advertisers are gettting more and more savy to users following up on their ads and will no doubt expect the platform to encourage people to enguage with the advertising. I can imagine teenagers reluctantly clicking rapidly through their inbox of 20 ads, not taking the time to take not of any of the messages. I hope that BLYK have some new innovative ideas for less intrusive advertising for this platform to ensure their success. This model reminds me a lot of the free ISP's of the late 90's - rapid changes int he mobile industry could just make this new service obsolete very quickly.

Source: Springwise
Read more: BLYK

Sell Side Advertising - New models for online advertising

John Battelle of Searchblog poses an interesting new model for online advertising, where site publishers could select the ads that they want to serve on their site, picking the most relevant ads, and ones that with a Cost Per Click payment would generate them the most money.

This kind of model is more relevant to bloggers, than big commercial sites. This is interesting territory that is ripe for development - major publishers and media have relationships with advertisers and enguage in a complex relationship. Bloggers will no doubt want more control over the ads that they serve and the power to negotiate and leverage their sites more effectively.

The model presented means a lot more work on behalf of the publisher, who actively has to select the ads, would have to monitor their performance etc etc. I am not sure just how much time most bloggers would have to do this. The payments would all need to be managed by a single ad supplier, as it would be too much to open a dialogue with too many advertisers.

I think that allowing publishers to select appropriate ads for their site, combined with software algorythmns will ultimately provide the advertiser with more relevant placement.

Read the article here...

The Branded Male - Help Write This New Book

Mark Tungate is researching a new book called THE BRANDED MALE, which will explore the changing habits of male consumers, as well as analyzing the ways marketers target men. As Mark researches and writes the book he is using his blog to share his ideas and allow people to comment, suggest ideas and offer insites into the subject. The most incicive comments will find their way into the book. A nice way to become a part of a book, without having to write a book yourself.

Read his progress and add your own comments here

I already submitted my comments:

I think you could dedicate an entire chapter to the 'let's add another blade' phenomena of marketing to men. The epitome of male product marketing, razor and shaving products, have struggled to reinvent themselves and have taken an increasingly predictable approach to differentiation. Simply adding a new blade. I thought that two blades as opposed to one made a real difference, but I struggle to feel the improvement that my 5 blade razor should be delivering. The question your book could ask is just how many blades will I be shaving with in 5 years time?

Did you ever see this quite impressive web site marketing for Philips? Harnessing cutting edge video and with it's ironic and provocative humor to create a viral effect, this is a memorable example of male marketing to the young and internet savy male.

I have had the pleasure to work with Mark, collaborating with him in the creation of FIFTY, for which Mark was the writer, and I can assure you it is worth your while contacting Mark as he is a really talented and nice guy!

Honda's Ethical F1 Team Sponsorship

Social awareness and ethical marketing arrives at one of the biggest marketing and advertising arenas - Formula One.

Normally sporting hundred of corporate logos from sponsors keen to be seen associated with the high octain sport, this years Honda F1 car it will have only an image of the world wrapping around it's high tech body. Reflecting the general trend in eco awareness and ethical issues, Honda's campaign is probably the biggest to tackle the issue of global warming.

Honda appears to be reinvesting it's traditional marketing dollars back into it's own F1 project - sponsoring their own car, not with their own branding, but with an eco awareness campaign. Their desire is to raise awareness of global warming and at the same time capitalise on the interest generated and raise awareness of their own efforts aimed at developing more eco friendly technology.

The car itself is quite stunning, with its large and totally un-Formual 1 livery, and is guaranteed to generate reaction and hence should fulfil Honda's objectives. Visitors to the MyEarthDream.com URL, the only text to apear on the car, are encouraged to make a pledge to help stop global warming and donate to a charity set up by Honda to support eco causes. Visitors that pledge will be rewarded by having their name printed onto one of the actual F1 race cars.

No doubt what Honda may miss out on in sponsorship invvestment they should recoup in PR. That said, I am sure that there will be many sponsors who while not featured on the car itself, will captialise from association with the car.

The site is very simple and well designed. View it here.

Putting Content In The Hands Of The Viewer

The BBC reports of two interesting announcements today.

Viacom, owner of many TV shows including MTV's Pimp My Ride will allow web users to embed clips of their shows into their own web sites. Previously sites such as YouTube have been requested to remove such content, but in a change of strategy, Viacom wants to encourage users to embed cips into their sites, and eventually reduce the reliance on YouTube as a means to view clips.

Making content available and as easy to share as possible will start to exploit the public word of mouth as a media, rather than relying on more traditional means of distributing content.
More

Vodaphone has also just announced a service to allow people to update and manage their YouTube accounts via their moble phones. I predict a strong increase in video blogging and that in the not too distant future that it will be standard practice to document and share video and images taken on mobile devices, and share them via services as Youtube and Flickr.
More

Girls In Underwear, With Panda Heads On

NOTHING CAN EVER BE THE SAME AGAIN!!!
Maybe hyperbowl, (maybe not!!)...I let you decide!
A maid comes in the room and starts taking pictures of the three - The girls in panda suits, the guy dressed as a pink dinosaur. Mayhem ensues.

The people posting...and there were tons went crazy! A digital orgasm.

The models took their own images...and I think they are amazing!

Just look at the guys images on Flickr - tell me if they arn't better than Terry Richardson!

I love it.

See ALL the images here!
But tune in and follow the insanity here!

Joost - Will this revolutionise TV?

Stay tuned. This just might be the NEXT thing. From the founders of SKYPE, this new project Joost (previously code named THE VENICE PROJECT aims to revolutionise television (and the way we consume TV content), in the same way as Skype revolutionised the way we make phone calls.

It delivers FREE content in broadcast quality. I have heard from beta testers that there is no lag or buffering!!

Sign up to be a beta tester here.

Will Global Warming Be So Bad?

Diesel have just posted a new video on YouTube and their own website Diesel.com, that introduces their new provocative Global Warming Ready advertising campaign. Diesel asks...'Is Global Warming such a bad thing?' Leaving the viewer to decide, they claim to be ready just in case. So after the Stern report, here is Diesel's report into the effects of Global Warming...the findings -sunglasses recommended for the warmer times ahead! If it is going to happen, you may as well look stylish.

Diesel - Global Warming Ready - New Campaign

Diesel's latest advertising campaign is timely to say the least. The campaign depicts a drastically changed world, altered by the effects of Global Warming. Taking on a long time serious issue, but one that has in recent months become a very 'hot' topic (no pun intended!).

The striking and sophisticated images are set in various locations around the world, each having succomb to the effects of Global Warming; From New York sky scrapers emerge from the ocean, with flood waters upto the 50th floor to more subtle interpretations, such as tropical parrots taking the place of pigeons as the native bird in Venice's fames St Marco's Square. In all of the images, shot by fashion bad boy Terry Richardson, the people (dressed in Diesel naturally), seem unperturbed by the new environment, and in most cases are enjoying the new warm conditions. When you first see the images they seem quite normal beautiful fashion images, but it is only on the second look that they reveal their true story. Considering that we are bombarded with tabliod style news with it's hyperbowl horror story approach, this is an interesting and more thought provoking way of bringing attention to the issue.

The campaign can be seen online at Diesel.com