Author: AdweekMedia

Ah, Disney theme-park purists. They’re the folks who get their mouse ears in a twist whenever anything changes or updates. Imagine what they’ve had to say about a 200-foot-long ad for Tron: Legacy wrapped on the monorail at Disney World. "What’s next, billboards on Cinderella’s Castle?" asks a blogger. The offending monorail, with a painted-on motorcycle and a yellow trail of light extending the length of the train, is part of the marketing for the Disney holiday sci-fi action remake and has reminded some park visitors of a bus wrap. Just one question: Does nobody recall that Walt Disney developed theme parks for the primary purpose of promoting his movies? Such short memories. Meanwhile, Six Flags parks are putting their digital out-of-home ads on steroids, adding TV screens at rides and other spots and digital menu boards at the busiest restaurants. Along with the recently opened Jumbotron Network, that makes for 100 million annual impressions, says the company. That’s a lot of Coke ads. So, don’t go If you’re expecting a getting-away-from-it-all experience. Apparently there’s only so much fantasy you’re allowed.

—Posted by T.L. Stanley

OK, ladies. Summer is coming, and it’s time to get those legs silky smooth before going sunbathing. Thank goodness for Nair, or so we would hope after watching this new commercial, from parent company Church & Dwight, for its hair removal product. The spot, by agency The Joey Company, shows women then and now relying on Nair to show off their legs. "For years, Nair freed women to move like never before," the female voiceover says, as a group of dancers groove to the beat with perfect symmetry and choreography. The ad promotes a handful of Nair products, including the new Shower Power Max product, which has a "fresh lavender scent" and purportedly "stays on in the shower." Okie dokie. We’re off to see if we can pull off some of those dance moves. (Oops, gotta shave first.)

—Posted by Elaine Wong

Chances are you’ve seen the lengths to which the human race is capable of going with a Lego brick. If not, here’s a primer. Among the objects people have managed to render in Lego are the Titanic, Mount Rushmore, the Airbus A380, the Cathedral of Berlin and the entire city of Venice. Legoland, Calif., features an Obama inauguration in Lego, complete with a crowd in front of the Capitol. A vineyard in Surrey, England, contains an entire Lego house—human scale. And a 98-foot, 4-inch tower of Lego raised in Munich last year took the Guinness record for tallest freestanding Lego structure.

  Lots of people love their brands, but you just don’t see people devoting their lives to stuff like mouthwash or potato chips the way people do with Lego. Now, thanks to Jonathan Bender, we know what makes them tick. Bender’s just-released book, Lego: A Love Story, probes deep into the arcana of plastic bricks—also known as the domain of AFOL (the Adult Fans of Lego)—to explain why some people give over their basements to their Lego creations and what it takes to be chosen as a Master Builder for the Lego company (hint: you’d better know how to make more than a ski hut).

  Bender’s first-person account makes for good reading, but what bears mentioning in all this is that a planet’s worth of Lego nuts have furnished the Lego Corporation—which started out in Denmark as a wooden-toy maker in 1934—with the best marketing on earth: the kind customers do for you, for free.



—Posted by Robert Klara

Wouldn’t a Tony Stark cologne smell like some combination of Robert Downey Jr., wads of cash and a soldering iron? Fans can find out as Only The Brave: Iron Man Limited Edition debuts this month in department stores and boutiques via a deal between Marvel Entertainment and Diesel. The partners are supporting the licensed product launch with a dedicated website, downloadable video games and online contests. Packaging will probably stand out in the sedate fragrance aisle—it’s a bright-red clenched fist, made to look like Stark’s costumed, crime-fighting alter ego. (Diesel says it smells like "lemon blossom, mandarin and coriander leaves, a heart of labdanum, black rose and lavender, with a dry down of amber, tolu wood and ebony wood." Um, yeah.) The cologne is just one of a cavalcade of product tie-ins with Iron Man 2, opening May 7, expected to be a box-office monster on the scale of The Dark Knight. Audi, which has five cars placed in the action flick, recently launched its Iron Man 2 R8 Spyder sports-car commercial, and Burger King rolls out its Whiplash Whopper in a few days. Those join the Invincible Orange Slurpee already available at 7-Eleven, themed Dr Pepper cans and the Stark Motor Racing Team from promo partner Royal Purple motor oil. Stark may be the thinking man’s superhero, but his franchise is turning out to be the marketing maven’s holy grail.

—Posted by T.L. Stanley

It’s already been used as an ode to partying, and responsibly taking a cab with your sloshed friends, in a Heineken commercial. Now, the old-school rap classic "Just a Friend" gets an Earth Day makeover from its creator, DJ Biz Markie, and a bunch of lip-synching, enviro-friendly folks (and one cat!). The effort comes from Repower America, a non-profit group that lobbies for clean-energy legislation. The reworking might be a little strained, but its heart sure is in the right place. Come on, everybody, sing along! "Cuz we need clean energy/Cuz we need clean energy."

—Posted by T.L. Stanley

Actor Dennis Haysbert has one of the best voices in the business—an attribute that hasn’t escaped the attention of Allstate. For a few years, the insurer has tapped Haysbert’s sonorous vocal stylings for its TV ads, which depict the actor as the voice of reason in an uncertain world. This month, for the first time, Haysbert is also delivering those lines—at least the tagline—in Spanish. According to an Allstate rep, the use of a mainstream, non-Spanish-speaking actor for ads en español is highly unusual. In fact, the company’s PR department has been trying to find other instances as it mulls making a "first in the industry" claim. In previous ads, Allstate has used a "voice of God" Spanish announcer as a voiceover, but the rep said Haysbert tracked much better with Spanish-speaking consumers even if his command of the language is a bit shaky. Said the rep, a native Spanish speaker: "You can hear his accent."

—Posted by Todd Wasserman

In January, Kimberly-Clark’s Cottonelle launched a contest asking consumers whether toilet paper should roll over or under. Well, the debate was settled by Oscar time, with people in the national poll choosing "over." Now, the brand is back with the next step in the campaign to keep the conversation going. It’s promising a "recall" of any bath tissue that doesn’t roll over. The campaign, created by JWT London (but running in the U.S. and Canada), includes TV and outdoor ads that show the company "recalling any toilet paper which doesn’t roll over." Cottonelle brand manager John Stanwood says: "We wanted to counter the theory that all toilet paper is the same and come up with an idea that was eye-catching, compelling and light-hearted." This, of course, doesn’t mean that retailers are pulling any TP that mysteriously rolls "under" from their shelves. That would be silly.

—Posted by Elaine Wong

Why are tech firms bent on convincing us they’re not all that, you know, tech? For instance, you might think that a Google ad for a software product like its Chrome browser would be futuristic, but the brand and agency BBH have gone the other way: Like last year’s introductory ad for Chrome, the new executions forgo shots of computer guts for whimsical, Rube Goldberg-esque visions of copper plumbing and hammers, an image that recalls Weetabix’s depiction of a Google search. The new ads hype Chrome features like Twitter integration and the ability to turn images into slideshows, all with cutesy, low-tech illustrations that give the impression that Google staffers are giddy Oompa-Loompas rather than hard-nosed engineers, a trick Dell deployed last year with negligible success. Of course, Apple has been more successful with the approach with its "Get a Mac" ads, which literally humanized its product (and that of PC makers.) Maybe chips and ethernet cables just aren’t that visually exciting, even if Popular Science argues that the Internet actually resembles something that is thrilling to some: a Tootsie Roll pop.

—Posted by Todd Wasserman

There’s nothing wrong with peanuts and Cracker Jacks, but how about something a little different at the ballpark? Your choices, in that case, would be nachos or pretzels, both swimming in that gummy "cheese." The Food Network has heard the call for more elegant eats at stadiums and airports and has struck a multiyear deal with hospitality/food service provider Delaware North Companies to create menu, restaurant and retail concepts at places like the New Meadowlands in New Jersey, Los Angeles International Airport, the Kennedy Space Center, Yosemite National Park and the Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Hotshot chefs who’ve become famous on the Food Network have already cracked the entertainment venue market as restauranteurs, but this deal is for the flagship brand, which gives it even broader exposure to diverse crowds. Expect to see its dishes popping up at Major League Baseball games this season. Seventh-inning stretch flambe! The two companies are already partnering on an Asian restaurant chain called Skewers, with Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto, set to launch in 20 major U.S. airports. Not sure what that’ll do to the traffic at Chick-fil-A, but maybe there’s room for both?

—Posted by T.L. Stanley

Eek, don’t drink the milk! (OK, sorry. We overreacted.) But you can’t blame us after watching this spot, created pro bono by Merkley + Partners for the Ad Council and its partners (i.e., The Coalition to End Childhood Lead Poisoning, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development). The organizations this week launched an ad campaign to raise awareness of lead poisoning. One spot (yes, the one that had us all worked up) opens with what appears to yummy, delicious, refreshing cold milk pouring into a baby’s bottle, as a soft, nursery/crib chime plays in the background. But the surprise comes when the camera zooms upward to reveal the real source. "Lead paint poisoning affects over 1 million children today," the voiceover says matter of factly. If your house was built before 1978, we urge you to get it checked out!

—Posted by Elaine Wong

Do I need to find my Burt? Apparently so, says an online promotion for Burt’s Bees and an event that’ll be happening in Times Square on Thursday, which is Earth Day. I don’t know about the rest of you, but even as a fan of the products (the Super Shiny lip gloss is fantastic!), I’ve never given much thought to the guy himself. That would be Burt Shavitz, a Maine-based beekeeper and co-founder of the nature-loving company. But I’m considering Burtifying myself via webcam on the FindYourBurt.com site, which involves getting a bushy beard, mutton chops and a goofy hat. Why not? It’ll also tell me how Earth-friendly I am (so I can be closer to Burt-ness). While I’m there, I’ll see factoids like this: "The Burt’s Bees manufacturing facility has zero landfill waste." If you’re out and about in midtown on Earth Day, you can see the marketer’s philosophy at work. Five bearded Burt look-alikes will be pedaling human-powered bike blenders and making smoothies entirely out of Burt’s Bees beauty product ingredients (stuff like milk, honey, mango, yogurt, banana and pomegranate). There will be other sampling, like zero-waste "Burt Kits," giveaways and a free yoga class in Central Park, all via the marketer’s new agency, Baldwin& of Durham, N.C. So, go ahead and Burtify. You can always beautify later.

—Posted by T.L. Stanley

It was bound to happen sooner or later. Now that the green movement has woven its organic fibers into most everything we eat, wear and scrub the floor with, isn’t it about time we can ride it down the street, too? A fledgling company in Amherst, Mass., called Sylvan Cycles has quietly begun to sell what has to be the greenest of all green things: bicycles made out of wood. But they’re hardly the rickety contraptions that might come to mind. Few consumers realize that wood has a higher tensile strength-to-weight ratio than steel. "In terms of pure material properties, wood is actually a high-performance material," says Sylvan co-founder and inventor John Fabel. "It works well structurally, and it has a tremendous ride quality." It’s also sustainably sourced—and it shur is purty. Now, instead of stashing your ugly-ass bike in the garage, you can leave it in the living room to show off when company comes over. Only thing is, the price might make you bark. Complete bikes start at $4,900. At least you won’t need gas money.

—Posted by Robert Klara

PepsiCo’s Mountain Dew has released three new consumer-generated flavors—Distortion, Typhoon and White Out—though only one will survive. The product introductions comprise stage two of a year-long, social-media-backed crowdsourcing effort, in which the beverage brand asked fans what they were looking for from their favorite drink. TV and online ads breaking this week ask consumers to narrow the three down to one. (Sorry, America.) In the ad shown here, a shirtless beach dude guzzles some Typhoon and orange-and-red tidal waves and a typhoon-like-swirl build in the ocean. See the other two spots at Dewmocracy.com. In the White Out ad, a woman being pursued by ninjas is able to escape by blending into a wall, thanks to the beverage or her awesome camouflage skills. The chosen flavor will join last year’s winner, Mountain Dew Voltage, on shelves on Labor Day.

—Posted by Elaine Wong

Fans of David Lynch know the man likes his coffee. His affinity for the drink pops up in his work from time to time. In particular, special agent Dale Cooper, the protagonist of the early ’90s TV series Twin Peaks, was known to enjoy a good cup of joe. And who can forget the scene in Mulholland Drive in which a creepy mafioso spits out an espresso, to the horror of others gathered in a conference room, when it doesn’t meet his exacting standards? If that kind of behavior makes sense to you, you might be ready for David Lynch Signature Cup, a new brew from the oddball/genius director, available over at his Web site. There’s no advertising at the moment, but if that comes to pass, Lynch might consider tapping one of Cooper’s classic lines: "Harry, I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Every day, once a day, give yourself a present. Don’t plan it. Don’t wait for it. Just let it happen. It could be a new shirt at the men’s store, a catnap in your office chair, or two cups of good, hot black coffee." (Via PSFK.)

—Posted by Todd Wasserman

Any event that has a Meatwad tent has got to be a rager. (Coachella didn’t have one of those!) It’s springtime, so the touring entertainment season has started, and Cartoon Network is on the road with the Adult Swim Block Party and Ragbag of Jollification. (That really is a word, by the way, defined in Monty Python-esque terms as "a boisterous celebration; a merry festivity.") Since I don’t live anywhere near Athens, Ga., Austin, Texas, Lawrence, Kan., West Lafayette, Ind., or a handful of other small towns, I won’t be listening to the live music, winning Aqua Teen Hunger Force swag or playing carnival-themed games. Sometime life’s just not fair. But anyway, this tour is all about the college kids—guys, mostly, who make Adult Swim one of the highest-rated blocks of programming on late-night TV. Capcom and T-Mobile, smartly getting in front of that elusive demo, are sponsoring. Video game marketer Capcom is setting up new releases like Super Street Fighter and Dead Rising 2 at kiosks in the aforementioned Meatwad tent. T-Mobile will show off its new touch-screen smartphone with access to Adult Swim content. The fun continues through the end of the month. And the fanboys rejoice.

—Posted by T.L. Stanley

If I wanted to look like Bozo, I would’ve shopped for hair dye in the "clown colors" section of my local CVS. But I don’t, so I didn’t. Instead, I bought the color I always buy: Clairol’s Nice ‘N Easy in light golden brown. Problem was, it turned my hair red. It’s a (mercifully) correctable issue that I hoped to fix with two more doses of Clairol (cost: about $16). But in separately mixing up both those packages—same color, identical product—I noticed they looked vastly different. One was reddish, while the other was dark as chocolate. Thankfully, the combo of the two gave me something closer to my own color and further from a fright wig, but I figured a call to Clairol’s consumer hotline was in order. What gives? Why the inconsistency? Why should I buy this brand again when it’s let me down? What I got was a pseudo-lesson in oxidation that went something like this: "When the air hits it, sometimes the color changes, blah, blah, blah." Thank you, Bill Nye. And that was it. No concession. No attempt to keep me as a loyal customer. Not even a believable apology. If someone as—how shall I put this?—persistent as I am can’t get a marketer to cough up some meaningful customer service, what chance does the rest of the brand-buying public have? It’s maddening, I say! My tip: Don’t bother ringing up 1-800-Clairol, because those "Satisfaction guaranteed" and "Money back" claims are as fake as my new shade. I could’ve spent that time studying Revlon and L’Oréal products, but I’ll do exactly that for the impending brand switch. Hanging up now, Clairol!

—Posted by T.L. Stanley

Since when do humans personify other humans’ food cravings? They do in this spot from Allen & Gerritsen for the Ninety Nine Restaurants chain. It shows a fisherman who shows up in a family’s kitchen "representing one man’s craving for panko-crusted haddock" and a cowboy who represents "fire-grilled sirloin." The effort promotes the chain’s new, nine-item "Crave-worthy classics" menu. The ads, now airing on American Idol and Dancing With the Stars, remind consumers in "a fun way that we serve bold creative dishes that are real-size entrees for just $9.99," vp of marketing Brad Schiff says in a statement. Social media, online and radio ads fire up the cravings. Let’s hope the hungry don’t reach out and grab their waiter with a fork the next time they order.

—Posted by Elaine Wong

It’s not bad enough that fast food is blamed for everything from obesity to heart disease and hypertension. Now we find out it might be messing with our minds as well. New research from scientists in Canada suggests that people who are shown fast-food logos become increasingly impatient and are less inclined to save money, preferring immediate gratification over greater future return. The Toronto University study (PDF link here) looked at the behavior of 57 volunteers, some of whom were shown logos from fast-food chains like McDonald’s and KFC. In one test, the speed at which participants read a passage was measured before and after looking at the logos, with readers speeding up after an eyeful of the Golden Arches. Another experiment asked participants if they wanted a small amount of cash immediately or a larger sum in a week’s time. Those who saw the logos opted for the smaller amount served up immediately. If the mere sight of a logo creates such results, I’m not sure I even want to know what effect all those new espresso-based drinks at McDonald’s are having on customer behavior.

—Posted by Noreen O’Leary

Procter & Gamble’s Bounty is embarking on a clean sweep of America’s classrooms. The paper-products brand kicks off a trailblazer effort this Tuesday to get volunteers to scrub U.S. schools clean—top to bottom, Bounty-style. "Make a Clean Difference," as the campaign is called, begins with an event in Washington, D.C., featuring celebrities like Mary J. Blige, Russell Simmons and Gabrielle Union. Though some might say you’d need more than spray bottle, a Swiffer stick and paper towels to clean up America’s schools, we’re glad to see that someone is doing finally something about it.

—Posted by Elaine Wong

Last August, BrandFreak’s T.L. Stanley called the Shake Weight infomercial "the most unintentionally obscene product demo ever" and speculated that "plenty of non-females with no interest in toning their triceps are ogling this clip." Now, Saturday Night Live has also taken note of the, uh, unintended implications of the ad. A fake informercial that aired on last week’s show advertises a DVD of the Shake Weight spot for men’s private viewing. Personally, I don’t understand what everyone’s talking about. This looks like a fine way to tone the arms, and it probably does a good job on the hands, too.

—Posted by Todd Wasserman