Johnnie Walker helps paralyzed athlete walk

If only it were that easy.  Johnnie Walker does make you do some incredible stuff, but to play the hand of god is something out of its grasp.  Marc Herremans, a Belgian triathlete paralyzed from the chest down is featured in the inspiring video below.  In an out of body experience, Marc stands up and looks himself in the eyes and says "When reality changes, your dreams don't have to".  Quite an inspiring spot, and a rather clever approach to use Johnnie Walkers "Keep Walking" campaign as their main idea.

Well played!  Now let's hear what you had to say!

~Until Next Time~

WIM

Doritos Tablet

Spoofs, parodies and knock-off ads are incredibly amusing for me because you usually see some well-deserved wit thrown back and forth between brands. The following ad isn't a favorite of mine but I am posting it because it made a valiant attempt at taking down the innovative honchos over at Apple. Check it out below!

So... as you can see, Doritos is on the brink of revolutionizing the snack food industry with its new tablet Dorito... A revolutionary product that's better than its previous chip - keep your tastebuds peeled for this brand!

'til next time!'

-APL

PETA's 'Everyday Dogs'

PETA is known for producing rather extreme ads, and personally their "Everyday Dogs" ad crosses the line.  According to PETA, every time you don't adopt a dog from a shelter you kill one.  That is a rather extreme point of view.  Why don't we blame the people who owned these dogs and caused them to go to shelters?  Obviously people don't want to kill dogs but they also don't always want to adopt from a shelter.  Every time you don't adopt a kid, does that mean you kill one of them too?  No.  Anyways, as you can tell from the rather freakish photo above, this spot features dogs in body bags.  Let me know what you thought!

~Until Next Time~

WIM

The Beauty of BMW

I wish to share the following work of art from the people over at BMW because they really know how to push the line with their branding efforts. The video showcases an experiment they conducted in order to play with the power of flash projection to etch a temporary brand message into their consumers' mindsets. Check it out below!

I think it's a great step forward in the realm of advertising, I guess it's not revolutionary in the sense the subliminal messages have been around for awhile but the concept is new and hopefully we see more projects like this one.

'til next time!'

-APL

p.s. keep your fingers crossed so the weather behaves in london and dc in order for someone to get home this Christmas!

Whatever motivates you

I know all of us have some sort of "thing" that gets us motivated to go to the gym and workout.  Well Crunch thinks you should be motivated by the grim reaper chasing you down unless of course you motivate yourself to go to the gym and ward him off!  The spot below features just that.  As you will soon see, the grim reaper is chasing this poor old man on a treadmill, but from the looks of it I don't think he will catch him seeing that they are on two different treadmills haha.  Anyways, is this a good way to motivate people to exercise especially with the new year right around the corner and people looking to make classic new years resolutions as "I promise I will go to the gym more".  Would love to hear your thoughts!  Enjoy!

~Until Next Time~

WIM

This is the stomach of an under-indulger

So I planned on writing this post from London BUT due to the apparent snow storm over there my flight got canceled on Saturday.  Fortunately I got it rebooked for this Tuesday, so fingers crossed that I can leave!!  Looking forward to the holidays though!!

Moving on though, today I bring to you Pepto's latest spot titled "Tummy Time".  I've always found it rather impressive for companies to be able to advertise products such as this in a way that makes it entertaining but still get's the point across.  I'm a huge fan of Pepto though, you won't see me buying any Tums!  Anyways, this spot features Ken Jeong who we featured back in October in a spot featuring Derrick Rose.  He does a far better job in this than he did in the shoe commercial, and most importantly I don't find him annoying at all haha.  Anyhow, take a moment and watch the spot and let me know what you thought!

~Until Next Time~

WIM

The racist cupcakes

Ok seriously...let's all grow up.  It's almost 2011 and here I am featuring a spot from Duncan Hines where some people have deemed it to be "racist".  Just because someone who happens to be white is putting chocolate icing on their cupcakes doesn't make this spot racist.  Would it have been seen more positively if it was a black woman?  The sad truth is, probably.  Sorry I forgot the fact that the cupcakes are also beatboxing.  CLEARLY that must be another reason this spot is getting so much heat.  Maybe they should have included a few with vanilla to try calm things down.  With all this bad publicity, Duncan Hines had to resort to pulling this ad off their YouTube page but luckily I got The WIM another copy of it.  Anyways, I would love to hear your thoughts on this touchy subject.  Personally, I'm sick and tired of all this racial sensitivity.  As my old organizational behavior professor Michael Kull once said:

 "Don't take it personally"

~Until Next Time~

WIM

Who has the upper hand—you or your hangover?

 

If you have any bit of competitive spirit inside of you, you know that as human beings we keep track of everything...especially those competitions between friends.  For instance, I'm about 10 and 0 against my friend Thorsten in darts.  Granted he has improved, he still can't beat me haha.  Anyways, I bring to you the Life Scorecard from Puma.  Essentially, it is a running scoreboard at your finger tips.  So, next time your friend claims he beat you last week in pool, just bring up the scorecard and lay down the facts right there.  It literally can be about anything, even between you and your hangover.  Interested in learning more about it?  Check out LifeScoreBoard.com  and begin playing instantly!  In the meantime, let me know about some of the "friendly" competition you and your friends have, or even some creative challenges someone could do!

~Until Next Time~

WIM

Trencasting 2011

Given it's Friday, I thought I would give you guys some interesting things to talk about over the weekend with anyone who will listen to your Nostradamus-like predictions. Should make for some scintillating convos - hope you enjoy the video below brought to you by JWTIntelligence Unit.

Maybe you'll notice some of these while you do some Christmas shopping, or not. Either way have a great weekend everyone!

'til next time!'

-APL

The Magic of Google

I know this ad has been making the rounds like crazy the past three days but it isn't official til theWIM showcases it... (err... so we hope!)

Regardless of the aforementioned, the following is a really awesome ad created by Weiden+Kennedy Tokyo office for Google. You'll be amazed by how ingenious and clever this ad is and surely feel the desire to purchase a screen projecter ASAP. Check it out below!

As you can imagine, the idea behind this ad is really remarkable. I imagine thousands of Japanese youth takign advantage of the lower cost of technology to play around with the concept and coming up with some really inspiring projects!

Keep your eye out because theWIM will be on the lookout!

'til next time!'

-APL

Imagine getting paid $1.5m just to smile for an ad

Well apparently that's all Julia Roberts had to do for this ad for Lavazza Coffee (Sorry she also winked at the end).  Well what do you expect her to say?  She probably doesn't even speak Italian! haha...how could she?  The spot features Paolo Bonolis and Luca Laurenti, and the smile of the lovely Julia Roberts.  The smile doesn't just get featured just like that though, it's ONLY when she takes a sip of Lavazza's A Modo Mio coffee...talk about pressure.  If it was only so easy to make that kind of money with a smile!  Anyways, if you speak Italian, you will have a much better time seeing that you understand what's happening.  If you don't speak Italian, just focus on the "smile" and everything will be ok.  Enjoy!

~Until Next Time~

WIM

The Cup Size Choir

A play off APL's Victoria's Secret post, here is a spot for lingerie maker La Senza.  They took a slightly different approach by having girls lie on a piano made of pillows and sing the specific note according to their bra size.  Now I don't have much of a musical background to know if they did a good job of staying on key, but from what it seems, they hit all the right notes, or are just enjoying themselves a little too much...haha.   You could easily use this same commercial for an entirely different product segment, but that's a different story.  Now, this is nice and all but I prefer the action packed performance from Victoria's Secret.  Then again, they probably have much more money to produce something extravagant seeing that they hired Michael Bay to do the directing.  Anyways, which one did you like best?  Let me know!

~Until Next Time~

WIM

When Good Directors Go Bad

I know, I know. The following post isn't necesarily bad but I guess its Michael Bay being a bad boy this holiday season. Let's see what his wife has to say about the special effects on this one. (does he have a wife?)

The point being, when you mix one of the most recognized lingerie brands in the world with its even more popular "Angels" and ask a prominent director to direct a series of holiday ads, you get the following, check it out below!

Not sure where I stand on this commercial, it's not very distinctive other than the transitions and special effects so I give it a 6 on creativity and a 7 on directorial merits. That's just me, I am sure a lot of you will love it, so feel free to leave your objections below.

'til next time!'

-APL

Best. Morning. Ever.

You know that feeling when you finally get to open your Christmas presents? Yeah, best. feeling. ever!  Here's yet another spot in Targets Christmas campaign.  Target has produced a handful of commercials this holiday season and this is one of my favorites.  I think it has something to do with the song choice as well, any idea what it is?  Watching this gets me excited for opening my presentssss but the tradition in my family is that we open them on Christmas eve and not on Christmas day.  What do you guys usually do?  Anyways, seeing that I'm in the Christmas spirit, I'm interested in knowing about some of your Christmas traditions!  I look forward to hearing about them, so remember to leave me a comment!

~Until Next Time~

WIM

My favorite actor? Kevin Bacon obviously.

 Monday.  You know what that means right?  It means a fresh start to all things new.  For me at least, it means another week at finding myself a permanent job.  I've been on so many interviews by this point that I could call myself a professional interviewer.  At least those skills have improved!  Don't get me wrong, internships are nice, but something permanent would put the mind at ease.  Fingers crossed!  I had a pretty productive weekend.  I ran in the Santa Shuffle 5K and actually placed 2nd in my age group!  Apparently I would have gotten an award, but I left too early to find out!  All is good though because the people at Potomac River Running told me they would send me the award.  Besides that, I took this weekend as an opportunity to get most of my Christmas shopping done.  A few more gifts here and there and I should be done.

Anyways that's enough about me!  Today I bring to you a commercial for Logitech/Google TV.  The spot features Kevin Bacon, I mean, just one die hard Kevin Bacon fan.  The first time I saw this was over the weekend, and instantly found it hilarious.  I like the play on using the Logitech keyboard with the Google TV set up.  I didn't realize you could just do instant searches like that and have items on the web just pop up, for instance a video on Kevin Bacon.  Anyhow, check it out, and let me know what you thought!  Enjoy!

~Until Next Time~

WIM

Bad morning? Get free coffee for the rest of the year.

Happy Friday everyone!!  Before I begin I wanted to bring your attention to The WIMs new banner!  We thought we would jump into the holiday spirit and customize the look of it a little!  What do you think of it?!  With the cold weather slowly approaching, and the constant reminder that snow is just around the corner, I thought I would provide you with a post from Statoil.  This could possibly be one of my favorite commercials I have seen.  I think it's a few years old but it certainly delivers.  Without revealing too much information, I am sure all of us know the feeling of waking up and going outside and discovering not only is your car covered in snow/ice, you have to put on your gloves and take out the little snow brush and scrape it all off so that you can actually drive safely!  I rarely look forward to doing this, well maybe the first time because you are sort of excited because it's snowing, but it certainly gets old fast.  Without further adieu, here is a spot for Statoil that will leave you with a bit of a laugh to send you off on your weekend.  Look out for more great posts next week, and as always remember to leave us your comments! 

~Until Next Time~

WIM

Boomshakalaka!

Goodmorning to you all!! It's finally Friday and I think we are all looking forward to Christmas shopping and festivities to commence this weekend. In Mexico, we celebrate the run-up to Christmas by organizing "posadas" at friends and family's homes. I'm not so big on the whole "posada" tradition but I do have friends who attend at least 15 of these get-togethers, sometimes making it to 2-3 per evening. Crazy!

I want to end the week with a post that takes us back to my childhood as an avid Super Nintendo gamer, this time around its for Xbox and it features Dwight Howard breaking out the "BoomShakalaka!!" for NBA Jam on the streets of New York. Check it out below!

Great guerilla campaign that connects a key player in the game with a very engaged crowd. I'm glad to see this trend spreading into other industries and as always a high energy and interest from the crowds.

Have a great weekend everyone!

'til next time!'

-APL

TRON: Livecycle

In collaboration with Diet Coke, the to-be released film TRON, has created something truly mesmerizing that is sure to electrify the app and gaming worlds by storm. The initiative is bold, they're placing all the chips on the table but that's why I like it. It's a step forward for the industry and hopefully it plays out the way its creators intended, only time will tell... Check it out below!

As you can see, the game's playing field is endless and the integration seems seamless enough. The question is, did they execute it according to plan or will users suffer a huge let down?

Either way, I'm really glad to see this level of gaming and collaboration brought to stage. I think brands are pushing their limits and somewhere one of those is going to astound us all very soon. Stay tuned!

'til next time!'

-APL

The Feel

I am a huge fan of the microbreweries that are popping-up suddenly, not because of my unquenchable thirst for booze but moreso because I am a huge admirer of those who hone their craft carefully. Thus, my appreciation for microbrewers and the great production work done by those who make them the stuff of legends... Hence, exhibit A below!

Some say hops, some say chill factor, some say blah... I say the feel. Gotta love that line, it's all about the craft not the production and for me, that's more than enough.

'til next time!'

-APL

What if your Facebook became a book?

The ever so popular social networking platform we all know as Facebook, is now actually a book.  Bouygues Telecom wanted to come up with a unique idea to launch their Facebook platform.  That's where DDB Paris stepped in.  DDB Paris decided to create "1,000 physical books made from people's own Facebook pages"(AF).  After watching the video, it certainly appears like it took a lot of time.  To be honest though, I don't really find it that cool though.  You created something that I could easily access online as well, big deal.  I would have liked to have seen some sort of emotional attachment to the piece which would make the book worth having, otherwise I don't really see this as that big of a success besides the fact they probably killed a few hundred trees in the process.  Smooth!  Anyways, that's enough from me, and now I want to hear from you.  Drop me some comments below!  Enjoy!

When Facebook becomes a book from Siavosh Zabeti on Vimeo.

~Until Next Time~

WIM