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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Monuments to Insanity

November 24th, 2009

Frosty Fruits, in their “Prevent Summer Madness” campaign, erected temporary “monuments” to acts of heat-induced stupidity in Melbourne’s public spaces, complete with commemorative plaques detailing the idiocy being perpetrated by the statues. Presumably, if Dave here had been eating a Frosty Fruits bar, he would have at least covered up with a beach towel instead of exposing innocent passersby to his hideous, skimpy apparel choices.

Apparently, in real life, these “statues” soon acquired protective fences covered in advertising posters for Frosty Fruits. Perhaps the ad executives who set up the campaign in the first place were the subjects of the next series of statues…

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Upside Down Gap

November 19th, 2009

The Gap, purveyors of “classic” apparel, wanted to promote an attractive new customer loyalty program, which would automatically reimburse customers if the items they purchased later went on sale. The tag line for this program was “shopping turned on its head.” At a store in Vancouver, the slogan was put into practice literally–they not only turned the posters and mannequins in the store’s windows upside down, but the cars and planters on the street as well. Even the Gap’s logo was reversed on the store’s shopping bags! I’m quite impressed with the Gap for devising this promotion–it’s a great way to lure people into the store, while the loyalty program is a great way to get them to come back again.

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Divorce Elevator

November 17th, 2009

This simple but hilarious promotion for a divorce lawyer was installed on the elevator of the law firm’s building. The photograph of a “normal,” happy couple just after their wedding was placed on elevator doors, but on two separate decals. When the doors opened, the couple appeared to split apart. For the benefit of the elevator passengers whose marriages were in a similar condition, a personalized plaque appeared inside the doors, directing them to the divorce attorney’s office on the second floor.

This promo could really only work in that office building, but it’s the sort of humorous advertisement that might spread through word of mouth and attract more customers to that particular lawyer.

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Fun With Recycling

November 12th, 2009

Volkswagen’s “Fun Theory” campaign turned recycling into an arcade game for a day, drawing almost a hundred players in a few hours to a plastic bottle redemption bank rebuilt for competitive gameplay. Users were not concerned with sustainability in their everyday lives–for comparison, the closest “normal” bottle-redemption station was only used twice during those hours–but by turning conservation into recreation, Volkswagen influenced them to change their behavior.

The resulting video spread all over the internet, getting the auto brand heaps of publicity and gaining favor with eco-friendly consumers for promoting recycling.

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Burritos in the News

November 10th, 2009

McDonalds turned ordinary newspaper advertising into an amusing guerrilla promotion by wrapping copies of the Toronto Sun in promotional tissue resembling its breakfast burrito wrappers. Newspaper readers and everyone else who saw the fake burritos being delivered in the morning were reminded how hungry they were, while the McDonalds franchise restaurants that saturate Toronto like every other North American city beckoned invitingly, the only places serving hearty burritos no matter how early the hour.

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Weight Loss Made Easy

November 5th, 2009

Weight Watchers certainly makes dieting look easy–just organize a bunch of your friends to pull the extra flesh off your sides and you’ll be a size 4 in no time! The worldwide weight-loss franchise sustains itself through members’ per-meeting fees, and the more members recommend it to their friends, the more hefty registration fees can be collected. This poster reinforces that message: friends don’t let friends not join Weight Watchers!. The before / after transformation of so many weight loss ads is missing only one factor, says the diet giant–you.

It’s a good thing that they kept the promotional fat lady off their branded food and dietary supplement lines, though they could probably extend the promotion by showing her skinny incarnation in a custom Weight Watchers apron on the packaging. No promotional chocolate bars, though…

[via ibelieveinadvertising]

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Death By Dropped Calls

November 3rd, 2009

This hilarious promotion for cell phone network Amp’d Mobile in Canada poked fun at the interpersonal drama often caused by dropped calls. Who hasn’t blamed some missed connection on faulty cell service, claiming “My phone died!” even when it wasn’t true?

I remember seeing Amp’d Mobile ads on posters covering construction fences in New York several years ago, and they weren’t nearly as memorable or funny. The guerrilla approach–putting these promotional paintings on the sidewalk, rather than walls already saturated with ads–makes all the difference.

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