AddThis Social Bookmark Button

Categories

Blog powered by TypePad

17 September 2008

Future vintage treasure

Thank you, Nesquik, for ensuring that another generation will know the simple pleasure of growing up using branded drinking glasses.

Quik_glasses_2

Ntn64793641_2 Going unused somewhere in my mother's house is a complete collection of these. I'd ask her for them but I think the paint used on these glasses was found to have something questionable in it. Not that it had any ill effects on my brothers and me.

There's also one of these in my mother's basement:

Ronaldmcdonalddoll

It was creepy even when it was new.

01 September 2008

A playful approach to job searching

Anpecvs

Anpeoffers

Anpepeople

Advertising Agency: TBWA\CORPORATE, Boulogne Billancourt, France

Source: Ads of the World

01 April 2008

The most popular inducements used by credit card companies to sign up college students

According to a survey of college students conducted by the Public Interest Research Group, here are the most popular "free gifts" used to entice college students to sign up for credit cards.

Credit_card_chart

Source: The Consumerist

15 May 2007

Apparently, no one is taking the freebie sports bottles being given away every day at American trade shows.

Whenever I'm brainstorming premium ideas with a client, someone invariably suggests giving away sports bottles emblazoned with the client's logo. I'm always against this idea. My reasoning has been that no one wants them and no one uses them; I always assumed Americans prefer the convenience of simply buying another plastic bottle of water when they need another drink rather than going through the hassle of rinsing and refilling a reusable bottle.

Sadly, I was right.

This photo shows 2.5 million plastic bottles, the same number used in the U.S. EVERY HOUR.

25_million_plastic_bottles

Source: BoingBoing

_________________________________

In another albeit less shocking example of waste, Consumerist reports that grocery store delivery service FreshDirect has a habit of wasting cardboard, as in the case of this pound of butter FreshDirect packed and mailed in this absurdly large box.

Little_butter_big_boxjpg

14 May 2007

Celebrating 70 Spam-tastic Years

Spam canned meat is celebrating its 70th anniversary this year. It seems to be doing a pretty good job of marketing it, too.

Spam has branded the anniversary and given it its own logo; released three limited edition 70th anniversary tins; and created a T-shirt that costs only $3 plus UPCs from three tins of the stuff. (I imagine encouraging product trial is an important part of Spam's marketing strategy.)

70th_anniversary_of_spam_logo Spam_can_1

Spam_can_2 Spam_can_3

The canned meat brand has wisely also redone the Spam website in a way that promotes the product while also giving a rather endearingly self-effacing nod to the jokes that Spam often inspires.

Order_tshirt

31 January 2007

Another reason to buy a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

Kkdoughnuts_1 Krispy Kreme stock started tanking about 5 minutes after one of their doughnut shops opened within a half hour's drive from my house. Not long thereafter, all the Krispy Kremes in Massachusetts closed.

I mourn the loss still.

For all you lucky dogs who can still get a Krispy Kreme doughnut without having to cross state lines, the chain is going to make your life even sweeter: for every dozen Krispy Kremes you buy between now and Valentine's Day (14 February), you get a dozen free Valentine cards, each containing a coupon for one free doughnut.

I'm so jealous.

Source: 5 Blogs Before Lunch

19 January 2007

This is supposed to make a kid NOT afraid of the dentist?

Colgate sent dentists these masks as part of a promotion for Colgate Smiles kids' toothbrushes. The masks were meant to reinforce the advertising campaign aimed at kids and their parents and themed, "No need to be afraid of the dentist -- with Colgate Smiles kids' toothbrushes."

1472

It's a great idea for adults and kids above a certain age. For young kids, however...Just think back to how some kids react to a guy in a Santa suit.


Source: Scary Ideas

19 December 2006

The HP website is featuring a nice little promotion for the holidays: a downloadable and printable Christmas tree.

Just visit the HP website, download the PDFs, print 'em out and, voila, you've got a great Christmas tree for your office.

Tree_resized

There are no coupons or offers associated with this Christmas tree. No mention of HP products and services. One can't think of any direct way that this Christmas tree will impact HP sales.

It's just a simple (and inexpensive!) holiday promotion. Just a nice thing HP did for visitors to its site. Just for the fun of it.

Any business that might arise from this promotion is just gravy

That's what makes this tree so charming and irresistable.

07 December 2006

How often have those of us in advertising heard a client say, 'If I could just get people to try my product, they'd become loyal customers?'

Blockbuster has come up with a simple way to get their primary competitor's customers to try Blockbuster's service.

According to The Consumerist, Blockbuster is trying to woo movie rental customers away from Netflix by offering a free online rental for every Netflix envelope one brings into a Blockbuster store.Manglednetflixjp

The simple ideas are always the best. And for some reason, the hardest to come up with.

17 November 2006

Jack in the Box is Giving Away Free Snowmen With Frozen Treats

If fast food companies give anything away for free, it's usually kid's meal toys or free food. So you have to be impressed with Jack in the Box's ingenuity this holiday season: to celebrate the holidays and promote its Pumpkin Pie Shake and Egg Nog Shake, Jack in the Box is giving away a snowman antenna ball free with purchase.

Jackxmasantennaball_1

This promotion should do very nicely for Jack in the Box -- provided consumers don't look for the nutritional facts on the shakes. Here they are, courtesy of Fast Food News:

Shakes_1_1

Yikes!