. . . And who doesn't love a good poop joke?

First this:

All Bran - Construction Worker"

Now this:



OK, admittedly I love the spot. Hilarious. Not sure where this print is coming from. Seems a little much. Not sure why. Maybe it's the giant puckered asshole. Maybe not.

What makes one more execution worse than another? Also, if you look closely, it looks like the door is to an elephant pen at a zoo. There's already bits of dried pachyderm dung scattered about.

What do you think?

(Shout out to Ben Salas/Will Thomsen/Jimi Turek for "Moves Food Along.")

15 Inches of Fame, or My First Ad

It's been over six month now since I left school and jumped into adlandia, and just now am I starting to see the fruits of my labor (or my loins or whatever). While I was at Wieden I mostly worked on two campaigns, one for Starbucks Via which was just announced yesterday. The other was for a new set of Tazo Tea products that debuted a week or two ago. It wasn't my campaign, but I ended up writing some OOH, print, in-store and doing some interactive.

Budgets ended up getting cut, and I left Wieden so I didn't think much of it. That is, until I was walking past a Starbucks the other day and caught glimpse of a sign. It wasn't something I wrote, but still it was like, "Hey, that my first campaign."


Then, Tuesday morning I was in Target, walking out past the in-store Starbucks, when I noticed another sign. This time it was one of the lines I wrote (albeit a slightly bastardized version).


(Sorry, no zoom on iPhone. It says, "Let one of these be your to-do-list.")

I always thought the first time you see one of your ads run would be a transcendental experience. Suddenly your catapulted into the upper eschelons of communicative arts and stardom. You've created a piece of propaganda seen by millions (or maybe just thousands).

Maybe it had something to do with the fact it was a 18x24 poster behind the counter of an in-Target Starbucks or or the fact the budget for the campaign got gutted to encompass only in-store signage or the fact that I'm so distanced from Starbucks at this point, but I just sort of felt apathetic.

I think one thing I realized was that I make advertising. There are millions upon millions of ads and images and message out there. Mine was just another piece out there. No more or less special than any other piece, just because I made it.

Overall, it was good positive though. It put things into perspective, for at least a moment. All I am is a poster hanging in Starbucks. Tomorrow I may be more. But it's good to remember who we are, what we do and to be humble about both.

I got sort of scared

Just saw this over on scaryideas. From Y&R Singapore:


Really weak art direction, but the idea is nice. Clean, simple, funny. I like.

Getting Off

Agency: Draft FCB, Malaysia
CD: Yap Pow Hoong
AD/CW: Reza Adullah

Brilliant or amateur?

This campaign utilizes a nice visual solution that translates across languages and cultures. It dramatizes the benefit of Off quickly and succinctly. Or does it?

What do you think? Are these ads saying that Off will prevent mosquitoes or simply delay them? Does it matter or does the perceived message differ from the actual message?

Also, is using a maze really that fresh and new? And are these two separate ads or really the same ad twice?

To weigh in for a second, I like these ads. They're smart and instantly communicate that Off protects one from mosquitoes. It's not an issue to me that the messages are a bit off (no pun intended, seriously) from one another. I do however think that this is simply a one-off ad. There's no new material creatively from one ad to the other. I suppose what I do like most is the instant hit. Despite being an insect repellent ad with no specific tone visually, the use of the maze with the mosquito hovering outside gives it a fun feel, like they're letting the audience in on a joke. I also love the use of the radial shape of the maze almost as a force field around the subject. Overall, smart but perhaps need further exploration to campaign it out. What are your thoughts?