Rolling Rock's Latest Move--Moonvertising

Rolling Rock's newest TV campaign is about their quest to laser beam the Rolling Rock logo onto the moon. Watch two of the spots here:






Apparently, some people are gullible enough to believe moonvertising is real. Someone asked the question at Yahoo! Answers, and there's a post about it on About.com.

While the concept is definitely attention-getting, I wouldn't ever think that something like this was more than a spoof. However, I didn't realize that Coca-Cola had this same idea for moonvertising in 1999--and might have actually gone through with it, if the FAA hadn't stopped them in their laser tracks. For more information about Rolling Rock's attempt at moonvertising, amnesiablog.com has a nice comprehensive post with more details.

I thought it might be interesting to note Rolling Rock has had other fun marketing ideas to promote their product. They can be seen on the faux blog on Rolling Rock's Web site.
(NOTE: You must be of legal age to consume the link here. Please enjoy it responsibly.)


Attention gullible readers: It's safe to bet Ron Stablehorn is a fictional character.

Turn out your lights tonight!

In 11 hours people around the world will turn out their lights and any other electronic devices between 8 and 9 p.m. local time in an effort to make a statement about global climate change. The movement, called Earth Hour, started in Sydney last year as a way to inspire people to take action on climate change. 2.2 million people in Sydney turned out their lights for one hour last year making a 10.2% reduction in energy usage—the equivilent of taking 48,616 cars off the road for a year. Now that the movement has gone worldwide, let's see what a difference we can make this year.

Information and marketing about Earth Hour has been popping up all over the place this year between Facebook and Hollywood stars jumping on board. Even Google's homepage is black today in support of Earth Hour, so turn out your lights tonight at 8pm!

Applebee's updates its logo

Last October, Applebee's started a new campaign with the Wanda Sykes talking apple. I noticed the commercials, but wasn't overly impressed. Then, about a month ago, I realized Applebee's was morphing its old logo into a new one at the end of the spots. Had this been going the whole duration of this campaign? I have no idea—maybe one of you out there can enlighten me. I thought the morphing logo was a nice way to introduce a brand redesign, even with my slow realization of it.


That isn't the point of this post, however. I more or less wanted to comment on the new logo vs. the old logo. The old logo had its problems, it was a clunky and I never liked that storybookish font, but the mark and font had equity in them and the logo was distinctive. That awful font made Applebee's, Appleebee's. Unfortunately, in this launch campaign, that I've read was intended to set Applebee's apart from its Friday's and Chili's competitors, Applebee's chose a pretty blah new logo. I'm the queen of keeping it clean, but the new logo is such a disconnect from the old one it's doesn't say Applebee's to me.

First off the new font is nice and I like it in general, just not for this. After such a distictive font holding their brand for so long, the new one just doesn't feel like Applebee's. It seems more corporate, which I don't think is what they were going for. I like the swooping A, but that's about the only defining feature. Add that to the terrible type treatment of the tag and you have two vastly different serifs battling it out with the tag overpowering the restaurant name. The tag's thick rounded type seems an attempt to make the overall logo friendlier, but it's ugly just plain doesn't fit.

The apple, without that lighter offset outline, would be a nice improvement over the less stylized one of the past, but with that outline it just reminds me of clip art and 1980's illustration. It feels as trendy as the comeback of 80's leggings.

I love Applebee's, just not this new logo. And no doubt Applebee's was due for a brand redesign, but this execution missed the mark.

Mmmm, I could really go for an Oriental Chicken Salad right now... Anyone free for lunch?

Truth in Advertising #43

Work for paying clients has a tendency of getting in the way of fun pro bono work.

Alternative Energy Marketing on the Rise

As the world is getting more and more conscious of global warming and the need for alternative energy, the idea of being 'green' is gaining increasing popularity and marketers are taking notice. Companies in all industries are trying to promote themselves as green and no one has done a better job than GE. I simply love the Ecomagination campaign they've been running since last year, starting with "Catch the Wind." Just last night I saw a new spot in the campaign and thought I should blog about them and give kudos to both GE and BBDO New York for some remarkably fun and 'green' spots. Check them out!

BMW Gets Creative

BMW has done some interesting advertising in the most recent issue of Paste Magazine, a publication that reveals the latest pulse in music, film and culture. In addition to printing a faux cover for the April issue, they've added tidbits of information corresponding to the publication's page numbers, e.g., Page 32: 32 inches of rear legroom in the all-new coupe (click on image for a larger view). Fun.

YouTube Awards

The winners for the second annual YouTube awards have been announced. Yes, the YouTube awards. They range from best music video, to best instructional video to best short film. The winner of best music video was touting them as the next Emmy's or Oscar's. We'll see. Check out a couple of the winners below.

Best Music Video


Best Comedy


Best Political Video


Best Instructional Video

It's Official

Second Life is now officially the Most Over-Hyped Emerging Media Trend according to Adage. All I can say is—no kidding.

I never bought into the idea that suddenly everyone was going to get avatars and interact over the internet more than in person—it feels like such an unsociable way to socialize. The whole concept of Second Life seemed more niche than mass-market from the get go, but marketers were jumping on the bandwagon left and right. Of course people will want to shop for their TV in the virtual Circuit City rather than the real one. What? Sorry, not me. Is it a cool new concept to have a virtual store? Yes. Would I as a consumer ever use it? No. I was beginning to think maybe I just wasn't that cool, but I'm relieved to see that I wasn't so out of touch after all. I have no interest in a second life, this one is just fine.

Creative Coffee

Sometimes you find great creativity in the most unexpected places—like this Vancouver cafe that makes their coffee a little prettier than the rest. Take a look!

3.14

Happy Pi Day! Let's celebrate with some pie!

As I've stated before we use any excuse to celebrate with food. So why not Pi Day? Thanks Jeff, for bringing in the yummy pies!

Truth in Advertising #55

The odds a creative forgets to dress up on client-in-house days are roughly 5:1.

Movie and a Makeover for Men?

Last night I turned on the tv to find myself in the middle of the Thomas Crown Affair on the Spike Network (tv's male answer to WE). It had been awhile since I'd seen the movie and who doesn't like to rewatch that business man in a bowler hat scene? I left it on Spike.

Coming back from the first commercial break, I was slightly taken aback by an attractive male host explaining the subtle differences in tuxedos on the mannequins next to him. It appeared to be a sort of male version of Movie and a Makeover. I mean, I guess the topic was appropriate given Piece Brosnan and his Thomas Crown character, but are guys really going to watch this? The Thomas Crown Affair—probably, the lessons on tuxedo dressing—I'm going to guess not. Any guys out there reading this, feel free to correct me. The show just seemed to be missing the mark. As much as I want a guy who can dress well, tuxedo and all, I think they might have done better focusing on some of Crown's cool stunts—like that winged glider thing they ride in.
Well if I'm wrong and there are many men out there dying to learn the finer points on tuxedo dressing, here are a few things I remember:
There are different kinds of lapels, velvet can be cool—ooh...
Skip the cummerbund and go for the vest (a cummerbund screams rental)
Tuxedos have no belt loops (hello suspenders!)
If you skip the bowtie, regular ties have varying widths—and something about pairing the width with your face shape?
Dress scarves are not for warmth

Don't you feel smarter? Tune in next week for some Clint Eastwood and lessons on Scotch...

Firebrand Closing

When Megan and I first launched our blog last December, one of my very first posts was praising a new company call Firebrand that consisted of a website and TV program using exclusively good commercials as content. Brillant spots, like the IKEA Lamp commercial, were quickly and easily accessible. While I think Firebrand's attempt at a TV show on the ION network was a bit of a stretch, the website was a fantastic source for good ads. Sadly, I learned today that Firebrand closed it's doors on Wednesday after only six months. Too bad, I'll miss it.

Spring Sprouts

We finally have a glimpse of brown grass outside while inside my clover is sprouting. Yay!

Truth in Advertising #12

Just when you think you've got some solid concepts, your creative director throws a wrench into things.

(But that's the CD's job, isn't it?)

Real Women for Real Ads

Consumer-generated advertising always catches my interest because I like to compare the work that's been created to that which I've done or concepts I might have come up with had I been given the same project.

Dove recently asked consumers to submit commercial entries for their Dove Cream Oil Body Wash Ad Contest. Viewers on Oscars night were able to vote on the finalists. The winner was this Speedy Spa spot:



Of the five finalists, the winning spot was not my favorite. Click here to see the other finalists.

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