Beware of Lack of Dog

December 18th, 2009

“Beware of Dog” signs are common security measures, often used even in the absence of a real dog to deter burglars and trespassers on private real estate. The SPCA wanted to remind people that dogs are ideal for home safety as well as excellent pets, and deployed this poster campaign in an attempt to raise shelter adoption rates.

Comical “warning” signs telling homeowners to beware of kitchen utensils, sandals, and cleaning products reminded them that nothing could protect their homes as well as a guard dog, while the humor used to deliver the message was non-threatening enough that homeowners would not feel negatively toward the SPCA for suggesting that their homes were “missing” something.

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Bowling Ball Surprise

December 17th, 2009

Elmex, makers of anti-cavity toothpaste (and bus tickets!), wanted to reach its target audience through a new, unconventional advertising route. Bus tickets are well known for having holes, sure, but what else could they compare to a cavity-plagued tooth without completely grossing out their prospects?

Enter the bowling ball. Israel’s largest bowling alley chain has branches in all the country’s major cities, and bowling is a hugely popular sport there. To grab the attention of bowlers, Elmex added 140 “rigged” balls to the mix: instead of the traditional three holes, these balls had three circular stickers made to look like holes, with dentist-friendly ad copy inside reading “Helps prevent cavities” accompanied by a picture of an Elmex tube. Bowlers couldn’t help but notice and laugh at the unique promotion, and the campaign is still going strong one year later.

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The Unquiet Shave

December 11th, 2009

We’ve seen something similar to this guerrilla marketing campaign in Australia, where billboards all over Sydney received promotional vampire-bite-mark stickers to publicize the popular book series Twilight. In New York, Gillette used the poster-perfect faces of male models as its advertising canvas, “decorating” their bare jawlines with bloody tissues so it appeared that they had cut themselves shaving. To ensure the staying power of the ads, the razor company made sure to obtain permission from the other advertisers–retail stores, apparel brands, television channels–and even managed to reduce their own costs through savvy marketing agreements - a funny and smart promotion all around.

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Recipe for Disaster

December 8th, 2009

Forma Total Gym wanted to let everyone know that by joining and working on their physical fitness, they could shape their bodies into something attractive. This poster was probably not the right way to go about sending that message. The “skin” section is made of modeling clay, hypothetically allowing enterprising would-be bodybuilders to draw in a six-pack or some sort of abdominal definition. Anyone familiar with, for example, office supply stores where pens and paper pads are left out is familiar with what actually happens when passersby are encouraged to alter a display. Even if one of the gym employees drew a six-pack on this guy before hanging the ad, it would be erased and covered in obscenities in no time…that is, unless they put it under glass. And then what would be the point of the clay?

Oh well, at least Forma Total Gym has an extremely high opinion of their fellow man. Keep up the optimism, guys!

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Stealth Crossdressing

December 3rd, 2009

Because of lingering social taboos, it remains difficult to promote a retail website aimed at male cross-dressers through traditional channels. Fortunately, guerrilla marketing is not hampered by such matters, and xdress.com devised a clever promotional sticker that could be deployed everywhere public bathrooms are found. Shaped like a skirt, the decal features the site’s URL and nothing more–placed on the “man” on the bathroom door, it says everything it needs to say. Visitors to the bathroom crack a smile even if they aren’t in the market for women’s apparel, and men who are can visit the site when they next browse the web.

The iconic male figure on restroom doors gets a makeover, xdress gets publicity and customers, cross-dressers learn about a convenient and discreet resource for man-sized ladies’ fashions. Everyone wins!

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Drooling Wall

December 1st, 2009

Pets and body fluids are two themes almost guaranteed to make audiences laugh. Combining them, as the German dog food company Royal Canin did in this alleyway, is a surefire success. One side of the alley was covered with a poster depicting a giant dog’s head, tongue lolling and “drool” appearing to run into the alleyway via a simple tube set up behind the advertisement. On the other side, a different poster displayed a large paper bag of the apparently drool-inducing dog food.

The promotion is not only funny, but effectively placed–in a pedestrian alley, a lot of people are likely to walk their dogs through the ads, cementing the relationship between Royal Canin and their own pet beyond the generic dog on the wall. Even the pet owner who has left his dog at home has time to study the ad for however long he likes without worrying about cars coming up behind him. Of course, the dog is the real winner here–the new food will be music to his mouth.

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