[ paul isakson ]

the beauty of simplicity

"A good advertisement is one which sells the product without drawing attention to itself." - David Ogilvy

Perfectly put. Leland said it quite well too. The more I see these ads, the more I like them. They don't try to make the product cool. They just allow the product to show itself off.

My question is, do they even need to advertise the iPhone? Will these ads help sell more than if they didn't advertise them? For some reason, I feel like this is one product that would do just fine without the ads. I don't know. I'm sure these are certainly helping drive some conversations that wouldn't have otherwise happened, but I just don't feel like they would have trouble selling them without the TV spots.

Random question... how many hand models did they look through and what were the criteria for choosing?

a little humor: flight of the conchords

If you haven't been watching Flight of the Conchords, well, give it a go. You just might like it.

arcade fire + lcd soundsystem @ red rocks

That's right. Arcade Fire AND LCD Soundsystem. Two great bands at one legendary venue. Tickets went on sale this past weekend. Don't miss it. Get your tickets here.

yielding is for quitters

Adrants points out a new BMW viral site promoting their BMW Performance Driving School. Brandweek gives a little more detail on the total campaign. I like it, but like another person said, I wish they would've given me something more - something I could actually do/play/participate in other than scrolling over the people on the main page and then watching videos on the pay-off page.

Essentially, this is an interactive commercial followed up by an online DVD. A good step, but it falls short of what it could've been. Without thinking too hard about it, the easy next step would've been to let me virtually race the BMW of my choice around the track once or twice. Maybe even send an email out to my friends with my time and challenge them to beat it. Make it difficult to get a good time and pay it off with a line or two about how the school could improve my performance.

Another good option would've been to let people sign-up through the site to have a local dealer call or email them to schedule a test drive for the BMW of their choice. Seems like there would be a lot of people who might be interested in BMW from this and could be in the market for one, but for one reason or another, unable or unwilling to go to this school. Getting them to a local dealer for a test drive is a lot more feasible and by getting the person to sign up for one right after they're inspired from the site should increase the numbers of people doing it vs. leaving it up to them to go do on their own in the near future.

Then again, maybe GSD&M tried for something like this and all they could get through was this part. Who knows. It's easy to pick something apart after the fact without knowing anything about what all went into the process of creating it.

Overall, I like the approach of focusing on the driver and their passion for driving. Focusing on things BMW does to make driving a better experience for them. And, this shows off the performance of BMW without all the usual stuff you get from car manufacturers about horsepower, stopping power, acceleration, handling, etc. Which is also what I liked about The Hire series.

As a side note, watching the instructors videos is a bit entertaining. Seeing them push the cars to their limits while talking like they're on a Sunday cruise is kind of funny.

i'm feelin' hot, hot, hot!

Yep. That's what temperature my car was reading when I got in it to go grab a sandwich for a late lunch at 2:30 PM today. OUCH.

carl's jr. does something good

Phoood.com writes a favorable review on the Carl's Jr. Double Six Dollar Burger - 1520 calories of 100-percent pure Angus beef goodness. Carl's Jr. takes notice and puts a quote on their drink cups. Phoood.com is thankful and gets a nice bump in traffic. The consumer does something good for the brand. The brand returns the favor. Nice work Carl's Jr.

[ via Promotions Online ]

video killed the classified star

O.K., that's probably an overstatement. Craigslist most likely isn't going to die from this. But it is an interesting idea. Springwise has a feature on a new site called Real People Real Stuff that combines the idea of Craigslist and YouTube. Essentially it lets people make their own video commercial for the items they're trying to sell. Read more about it on the Springwise article, or just go check it out.

a site with c-class

I like it. A simple, engaging way to explain some of the benefits and features of the car. Nice work Agency Republic & Mercedes U.K.

daft punk + marker + hands + video camera = interesting

simply put

Saatchi's 'Ketchup' ad that was part of a Grand Prix-winning trio for P&G's Ultra Tide Stain Remover at Cannes 2007.

A quote from IAF 2007 Jury President Bob Scarpelli, chairman-chief creative officer, DDB Worldwide, who asked this year's Press jury to create a show that would inspire young creatives to find ways to reinvent an old media.

"We wanted to send a message that you don't need technology. What you always need is a simple idea based on a simple insight communicated in simple ways on a simple piece of paper."

While I'm personally not that big of a fan of most award shows/awards in general, I thought this was a good quote. Specifically the bit in bold.

[ Source: AdAge.com ]