Since 2003 Burger King has been fighting its way back from the dead with a consistent flow of marketing ideas. The Whopper Freakout is the latest. Rather than tell us how great the Whopper is, the King’s ad agency (CP+B) pulled the burger off a store’s menu and let the hidden cameras show the rest. The resulting footage has fed a television advertising campaign and viral video that attracts audiences rather than repelling them.

As an advertiser, it’s vitally important to place new technologies into a proper context; keeping a connection with the things people valued in the past.

Marshall Mcluhan said, “We look at the present through a rear-view mirror. We march backwards into the future.”

What can you say? It’s a cultural phenomenon.

It’s always a good idea to take your brain for a spin. Check out this nifty game, LaunchBall, created by the thoughtful folks at Preloaded in the UK. This hugely addictive game was created to support the Science Museum’s Launchpad gallery. Enjoy.

Nicolai Fuglsig is up to his old trick of creating epic commercials with his latest effort for Guiness. If you ever wondered what might happen in a remote village when a game of dominoes escalates into something much more… here’s your answer. You’ll never get tired of watching this masterfully crafted ad.

Fun Facts:
Shot in an Argentinian mountainside village it took a week to film, with some of the sequences reshot up to 15 times
10,000 books were used
Fuglsig described this project as “the biggest challenge of my career to date”
Setting the dominoes on the table at the start of the commercial took a team of three experts two days, but it took just 14 seconds to topple.

Paul Rand was one of the creative giants of 20th century. His ability to elegantly simplify corporate identities provided a cornerstone for brands such as IBM, Ford, ABC and many others. The video (above) was created for Paul’s One Club Hall of Fame induction.

(credits: Produced for Imaginary Forces by Cara McKenney and executive produced by Maribeth Phillips. Additional I.F. credits go to designer/animators Joey Salim, Jeremy Cox and Liz Centolella and animators Andrew Chung, Sean Eno and Chase Massingill. It was edited by I.F.’s Corey Weisz, with sound design by Derek Lee)

photo credit: iirraa

As consumers embrace the multiplying multitude of media options, some big budget advertisers and their ad agencies are hiring Hollywood directors to get their message seen/heard/felt. The New York Times wrote about the trend in this article.

You can view some of the results on YouTube:
Wes Anderson for American Express- My Card
Wes Anderson for American Express- Roddick vs Pong
Michael Mann for Nike- Leave Nothing
Errol Morris For Miller High Life- Alternative Fuel

Which are you? Take this simple spinning dancer test to find out which side of your brain is dominant.

Here’s an interesting article about how the running shoe company that has led the advertising pack through traditional media channels for decades is breaking away with huge brand building ideas.

Google Maps Street View provides us all with one more place to be. Right now we’re in our office (above) generating brand building ideas for our clients.