People from the top .. the latest Trend in Advertising

I noticed that there have been a surge of ad's coming out that are all about shooting a huge number of people from the top to form a certain image related to the brand. That concept was quite cool when it first came out, but now it's just starting to grow out of porportion. I'll examine a total number of three spots which use the exact same idea.

The first spot is by CocaCola
Watch it here : (sign up required at Ihaveanidea)


TITLE: Pour
AGENCY: MacLarenMcCann Toronto
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Andy Manson/Kerry Reynolds
ART DIRECTOR: Rob Kingston
COPYWRITER: Wade Hesson
AGENCY PRODUCER: Franca Piacente
PRODUCTION COMPANY:
DIRECTOR: Steve Chase

It's a good spot, nothing special though considering the idea has been done by also:

Carlton Beer
Big AD

Those two spots offer the exact same idea of drinking the product / pouring it.

However I think this spot by :

Talk Talk from the Uk
Talk Talk TV spot

It takes the whole concept of people shot from above and delivers it in a multitude of visually interesting fashions.

Watch me Change!!!

Who said stripping isn't mainstream? This latest Viral from the GAP is cashing on just that. They established a website called WatchmeChange Where you get to create a "virtual" you. VideoGame fans will find this type of customization highly familiar and enjoyable. After you establish your virtual self, you get to dress up in GAP branded clothing ... and then after your all done you get to see yourself dance and strip it all off. The viral aspect of this whole website is the fact you can share your stripping antics with your friends or loved ones.

Our CK literally in the middle of the street

Browsing Adrants I saw this ! "...for two days, models and celebrities will live, party and kanoodle in front of onlookers. It's all to promote Calvin Klein's CK One fragrance...."

wow. look how far advertising has come.

Delete!

Browsing Polkadot Holes I came across this interesting work of art by Christoph Steinbrener & Rainer Dempf. "...They covered all the advertising, signs, slogans and company names with yellow in a Swiss Street for an art piece called Delete! This must of taken massive co-ordination, sadly of course there is little possibility of an advertiser ever being able to do this but it is interesting art and the mock up of New York Times Square is crazy - that would be amazing (remember nothing is impossible). In art there are many ideas for potential media routes for advertisers. It makes people stop and think and anything that does that is on to a winner. Doesn't this piece of art make you realise how dull life would be without outdoor advertising?..."

The retail alphabet game

I came across this when i was browsing Seths's blog, and sometimes it just baffles your mind.

What is life? a Brooks Viral

Euronews: A Brand case study

I wake up every morning around 6 a.m , my morning routine consists of showering,praying,eating breakfast and following the latest news. All that has to be done in an hour and a half so I can leave at 7:30 and arrive at work at quarter to 9. When you have all that to deal with, you need to make the most out of your time and be extremely efficient. There's two ways I follow the news: The TorontoStar newspaper for local and Canadian affairs and watching Euronews on TV for an international roundup of the latest news. Euronews? yes, I live in North America and watch Euronews. EuroNews is Europe's news channel covering world news in a choice of seven languages. EuroNews broadcasts simultaneously in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. Why did I choose to watch Euronews when I have around ten other news channels to follow from the local Toronto CablePulse 24, the national CBC, the US CNN and the fair and balanced Fox news? One word "Branding." It is such a pleasure to watch Euronews. Yes sometimes they focus on issues that may not affect me directly, but they stay true to what news is supposed to be about ... news.

The layout on the screen is as simple as can be and straight to the point. A slight blue bar with the stations name on it is located on the upper right hand corner of the screen. On the upper left hand is the current time in three major cities and that is it! you won't find any other clutter graphics or fancy 3d gimmicks lying around. Just the logo in a small nice bar, timezones and news.

The format of the programming of the channel is consistent throughout the whole day. The channel is a news channel, so you know that every 15 min you'll be getting the exact same thing which is only news. Other channels have various clutter programs that occupy different timeslots throughout the day, while the news is only at 6 or 9 or another scarce time. In Euronews i know that when I tune in at 6:45 I can expect the latest headlines in brief for about a minute, followed by a more indepth look at those headlines, then sports highlights in brief and weather conditions in major international cities and finally a segment either called "No Comment" or "Comment". No Comment is just footage with no commentary, which is neat because you get to just witness events as they happened. and Comment offers a brief Voiceover with user comments on the bottom portion of the screen. Come 7am and its the same thing all over again with any changes in the headlines that may have occured in the past 15 min.



When they goto a commercial break (they have one commercial in every 15 min segment) they announce briefly with a screen that the following is a commercial and when the commercial ends they flash that screen again. And even the commercials that air on Euronews seem to be of high standards. Unlike other channels which allow commercials regardless of standards, if stations like that accept anything (Abflex, Stairmaster, Extra-Ladder ... and many other bogus dodgy commercials) what does that tell me about there integrity or standards? Look at what Euronews has to say about there Standards and Ethics of conduct Here. I tried to find a similar stance at stations like CNN or CBC and CP24 ... they were non-existant.

With Euronews, they sold me a guaranteed brand experience. Aside from the unbiased news coverage though it is brief but very informative and other cultural or commercial programmes that enrich and widen awareness. Euronews acts as a virtual seminar on peoples' success in administration, innovation, and health. With Euronews I know what I'll be getting whenever I tune in. Not only that, but I also am getting news the way it was meant to be, without clutter and simply only about the news. Organisation does wonders for brand experience, It made me favour Euronews out of 10 other news channels with so much Hype surrounding them. So yes, now I'm watching international news from a european channel and no one but the north american channels are to blame.