Two Elephants, One Trunk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A2y_LEbdEVE

Please take a moment to bask in the sheer awesomeness of this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xc0CB6URrV0

Why stop now? They didn't.

Via 2Spare.com:

(This ad is 100% real, from 1979. Scary, no?)

(Wha?)

(Wawaweewaa.)

(I love this. I wish I made it.)

Something to freak out about

A big hats off to Crispin Porter + Bogusky who, according to AdAge, logged the best ad recall rate since IAG began tracking the metric six years ago with their Whopper Freakout spots.

Undoubtedly, you've seen them on TV, but it's very worth visiting WhopperFreakout.com to see the full footage if you haven't yet. To me it doesn't work all that well in a 30-second format, but in the 8-minute extended version you can witness the true brilliance of the concept.

On the other hand, perhaps the concept seems so smart simply because the execution ended up so perfectly. In that sense, they were very lucky to get the reactions that they did. It's really not the most original idea--in fact, they've used a very similar device for their most recent Coke Zero campaign--but it is pulled off flawlessly. Some of things that patrons say in the video are 100% gold.

For all the disdain that has been slinged CP+B's way over the past few years, they still do absolutely stellar work. In fact, I think they've gotten over a low and are making their way back up.

That's all I've got.

Be happy you live in the 21st Century . . . or don't, depending on your point of view.

Continuing with my previous theme of wholly un-PC ads from the adverts of yesteryear, here's a new batch via Oddee:








Wow.

El toro sangrado

Something I just saw and dug:


If you've ever been to the Spanish countryside you've seen these guys everywhere. They're really quite striking against the landscape.

Back in 1956 the Spanish sherry company Osborne commissioned an advertising agency to develop outdoor promotions for their Veterano brand of brandy. Artist Manuel Prieto sketched the silhouette bull design on a scrap of paper, and soon the 14-meter cut-outs were being erected all along highways across the country--first as wood and then later metal. Eventually over 500 stood as giant sentinels from Cádiz to Barcelona.

After a crackdown on roadside advertising because of a law passed in 1988, Osborne shrewdly decided to simply remove all text from their billboards, leaving the pure black bulls standing amidst vast fields of wheat and sunflowers all over the countryside. They had already been widely popular from their creation, and since their repainting they've become even more--the most recognizable symbol of the Spanish nation. The design is an iconic point of pride for Spaniards and also appears on just about every tourist souvenir you can imagine.

So that's the story behind it all. I thought the graffiti was a pretty interesting commentary too (anti-bullfighting? anti-adveritising? anarchist? art?). And hey, you just learned something.

Dom Draper would be proud

Check this old ad for American Airlines from 1965.


The headlines: "People keep stealing our stewardesses."

And the body copy reads: "Within two years, most of our stewardesses will leave us for other men. This isn't surprising. A girl who can smile for 5 1/2 hours is hard to find. Not to mention a wife who can remember what 124 people want for dinner. (And tell you all about meteorology and jets, if that's what you're looking for in a woman.) But these are not the things that brought on our problem. It's the kind of girl we hire. Being beautiful isn't just enough. (We don't mean it isn't important. We just mean it isn't enough.) So if there's one thing we look for, it's girls who like people. And you can't do that and then tell them not to like people too much. All you can do is put a new wing on your stewardess college to keep up with the demand."

Ohhhh, those silly '60s . . .