Truth in Advertising #5

Nothing is more effective at gaining 100 percent participation than a free lunch.

Walmart Scraps the Hyphen

Retail giant, Walmart, is changing its logo and signage. Walmart is ditching its hyphen and all caps letters for a 'friendlier' looking logo with a large sunburst. Can't say I'm a huge fan of the new logo, but I wasn't really a fan of the old one either.

The old logo had a bit of a blocky, discount store look to it, but that's what Walmart is, isn't it? This new logo seems to be trying a little to hard and clearly coming out at a time when Walmart is trying to change its image. I'll admit, I actually don't mind the sunburst (gasps ensue...) but I am definitely not a fan of that font. Something about those lower case a's is bugging me. What do you think? Is it an improvement?

Check out the history of the Walmart logo here.

U.S. Cellular Wants To Believe In Something Better

San Francisco agency Publicis & Hal Riney has just launched a new campaign for U.S. Cellular. The new tagline is "Believe in something better" from the old "We connect with you." The campaign goes for a soft, emotional feel, quite different from other mobile phone company advertising.

Here are a couple of the new spots:

Summer Fun (and Food)

Every other Friday in the summer, the agency has a summer picnic. Have a brat, burger or chicken and bring a dish to pass. We all sit around chatting in the warm weather and stuffing ourselves with sides and salads and far too many desserts. As a baker, I love the cookouts and am generally responsible for one of those many desserts. It's a great time to chat with coworkers and add some new recipes to your repertoire, even if it leaves you in a food coma for the rest of the afternoon—or like today, buzzing from Jeff's delicious, but potent rum cake. Yum.

SOYJOY Spots Are SoJoy...ful

To break up the tedious string of posts about the Saatchi/JCPenney scandal, I thought I'd put up a couple refreshing spots for SOYJOY. (These aren't new; they've been running for a couple months, at least.) I love the illustration styles and the whimsy about them. And I love the tagline: Fortified with optimism. Nothing like a breath of fresh air. Ahh.

My favorite:

Award Show Reality Check

To continue my string of posts on this Cannes/JCPenney issue (which I apparently can't get enough of) this blog post might shed some light on how the spot came to Cannes. Was it unapproved "pork"? Or produced by Epoch just for giggles?

Another Fake JCPenney Spot

AdFreak alerted me to Epoch films having more than one fake JCPenney spot. While this one didn't win anything at Cannes. It's still an interesting, if a little dark, spot. Check it out!



This spot is also disappearing from YouTube, so if you can't see it in the post view it here.

Fake Ad, Real Award?

The ad world is chattering away about the JCPenney "Speed Dressing" win at Cannes last week. The chatter isn't just about how this amusing spot won a Bronze Lion, but that the spot itself is a fake. JCPenney says it had nothing to do with it and is up in arms about the spot ruining the company's wholesome image. The spot was not entered by JCPenney or its ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi, but by Epoch Films in New York. JCPenney is currently trying to get the spot pulled from the internet, where it's flourished since its Cannes win.

The nagging question in my mind is, how did it win? I'm not expert on Cannes by any means, but awards generally require the work submitted to be legit and something that's actually run in the media. Cannes rules don't appear to be any different.

The whole debacle is pretty amusing to me (although I wouldn't want to be working JCPenney PR or on that account at Saatchi right now). JCPenney thinks the spot ruins their brand and image. Others argue all this press is nothing but good for the company and the spot will help them with a younger, more hip audience. You be the judge. Check out the spot below. Does it help or hurt?



This spot has been disappearing on YouTube. If you can't view it here, try this link.

This Will Be A Different Kind of Election

And not just because of our candidates. I just learned that Obama and McCain (well, designated people who work for them) will be participating in an online Twitter debate moderated by Time Magazine's blogger and sponsored by Personal Democracy Forum 2008 (PdF 2008). I think we're just seeing the beginning. This should be an interesting couple of months.

Is Mitsubishi Driving Its Entire Brand @Earth?

Check this out: Mitsubishi is apparently launching a new global tagline this summer. No, it doesn't have anything to do with being fuel efficient or environmentally conscious. The new tagline? Drive@earth.

And the logo (pictured) doesn't get much better. The blogger over at autoblog hits the nail on the head: It "looks like an intern tacked [the tagline] below the logo in Microsoft Word ten minutes ago... ." Nice.

Kinda seems like they're sending the kamikaze straight for their brand.