A million flashes of light

Here's the "Bright Siren" music video for Japanese band androp:

250 Canon 60D DSLRs flashes were programmed to create this flashing light show.  Nice moment in the video is halfway when they do a bullet-time-esque 360-view of the band. 

The happiest box of all

Here's a commercial from the UK for McDonald's:

Larger-than-life McDonald's happy meal boxes were set up in several locations.  From shooting jets of water to mechanical robo-happy meals, each replica of the McDonald's kid's meal had a fun little surprise. 

Great stuff from Google

This first Google spot has so many things I like.  1)  Anthropomorphized things.  2)  Miniaturized things. 

This tiny little bakery finds itself sandwiched in between two mega shoplexes, with none of the heavy foot traffic heading over in its direction.  So the bakery whips out its laptop and starts a Google AdWords Express campaign, and pretty soon people searching on their Android-powered smart phones are visiting this lovely little organic, anthromorphosized bakery.  Google saves the day!  

This second spot is an Email Intervention: 

I have often wanted to this in real life.  I am very much a drinker of the Gmail kool-aid, and I don't understand why people hesitate to switch over.  I hear your arguments of how you value your "data" and the old argument of ...'well, my people know this as my email address, I don't want to switch now.'   Stuff and nonsense.  Changing over to a hep email address will communicate how you're "with it" instead of clinging onto that @DinosaurDomain.com email address, exposing how out of touch you are to modern technology.  As far as your precious data is concerned, #GetOverIt. 

The Email Intervention video has an associated website, which gives the step-by-step process of how to send the Gmail Intervention video to people in your Gmail contact list who have no idea about the joys of Conversation View, Priority Inbox, Gmail Keyboard shortcuts [just keep hitting "J" -- Woohoo!  You've read all the important messages in your inbox]

That's one way to brush your teeth

Here's an intricate piece of machinery from Colgate Austria:

All that WD-40 just to brush your teeth!

Social experimentation

Here are a few "social experimentation" videos.

The first video shows the streaming video of Honest City for Honest Tea.  Pop-up stands were set up in several US cities on an extremely hot July summer day.  

The stands featured the product on sale for $1 with no one attending it, and sometimes there was just a bowl on the table to collect the money.  According to the website, people were pretty honest, where Chicago was the most honest at 99% and New York was the least honest at 86%.  But overall these are really high percentages, which is probably due to the fact that people are just jaded to this type of experimentation and assume they're being filmed.  Didn't Dante say that in Clerks?  The internet response rate was at 90% saying they would leave a dollar, compared to the 94% total city honesty score.

The second one is for Coke in Lima, Peru:

In a crowded area in Lima, a Coca-Cola representative "dropped" his wallet.  His wallet had his identification with a nearby address and $100 in cash.  The question is, if you found a wallet on the street with a little bit of dough in it, would you return it to its rightful owner?  Turns out Purvians were pretty honest and 70% involved in the experiment did return the wallet!  This video shows the passers-by discovering the wallet on the street and returning it to the address.  When they get to the door, they get a happy little SURPRISE!  

The last video is for Global Angels:

The video follows a really clumsy guy who keeps dropping his groceries, and the people who unhesitatingly stop to help him pick up his oranges.  After assisting this guy, he hands over a card which reads, "Everyone helps someone nearby - Not everyone helps someone far away" and the back reads: "Send your help.  Together we can end poverty.  Step up, be an angel." 

One man's quest for better tasting pork wrapped in gold

Here are some videos for Chipotle Mexican Grill.  

The first one tells the story of Steve Ells,' CEO, quest for better tasting pork in Chipotle's carnitas: 

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This video has a great lo-fi papercraft aesthetic, showcasing the Food With Integrity program where Chipotle tries to locate sustainable farmers.  And the little piggies in this video are just adorable. 

There are also hilarious Amy Sedaris videos for Chiptole:

Sony Tablet Rube Goldberging

Here is the second and third episode of the Rube Goldberg videos for Sony's tablet.  These videos are certainly getting better and are a step up from the slower introductory video.  

From the opening sequence with the colorful marbles falling in coordinated beauty, the tablet has moved away from creepy, disingenuous love and instead asks the more inviting question, "Wanna go?"  This Rube Goldberg machine is certainly more interesting with xylophone marble effects and a lazer light show.  I'm not entirely sure what is happening in the middle, compressed air, perhaps?  But this sequence doesn't slow down the momentum like the first installment of the Sony Rube Goldbergs, mostly because I was sitting there pondering on what was happening in the video.

The third video is my favorite one so far:

This one is more colorful, fun and dynamic where this installation illustrates the tablet's multi-media capabilities with movies, gaming and e-reading.  I liked the use of cd cases for dominoes.    

Beastie Boys fun

Here is the second video directed by Spike Jonze for the single "Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win," featuring special guest star Santigold:

Ha... did you check out the plastic bling on Santegold's fingers?   

Spike Jonze has done an amazing job in the 'Continuingly Ill Adventures of the Beastie Boys' in this video with the action figure replicas of the king Ad-Rock, MCA and Mike D.  All the little touches are great, with sticks and strings visible in the shot, guiding these Beastie dolls and props around the miniature sets.

Action figures are perfect for the storyline of this video.  It would be too grotesque to have an actual human burnt alive, but the action in the story makes perfect sense in how children play, and adds a layer of nostalgia to the video.  I love it when hands move the figures into place!  

This eleven-minute video keeps the story moving along with a nice pace, with Yeti attacks, jetpacks and underwater submarine explorations, and the "Don't Play No Game That I Can't Win" is a far more entertaining video than the "Fight For Your Right (Revisted)," which is a shame since it was an star-studded vid.  Despite having all these stars, and with a cameo of the Beasties at the end, the story felt kind of ridiculously LONG, where some of the narrative felt largely unnecessary, as if they were creating scenarios so another celebrity could have their moment in the video. 

And here's one more video for Beastie Boys fun:

Sesame Street breaks it down on Vimeo.

Iron Kore coupons are not for the weak

Here is a promotion for Iron Kore Performance Training in Toronto, Canada:

Concrete slabs were used as coupons to attract people who were serious about their workouts.  

The brick reads: 

Present this coupon for:

One free month package

Iron Kore Performance Training

Coke billboard sucks air pollution

This billboard for Coca Cola in the Philippines was made with fukien tea plants, which absorb air pollution:

Each fukien tea plant can absorb 13 pounds of carbon dioxide.  As if this billboard couldn't get any greener, both literally and eco-literally, the plants were placed in special recycled Coke bottles, using a drip irrigation system so plants would grow sideways. 

The rise and fall of Esteban Ortega

Here is a great film created for Doritos:

The film tells the life of Esteban Ortega, champion chip flicker, as he ascends into greatness with his flicking abilities, winning the woman, fame and fortune.  [Did you check out his wheels!]  Then his downward fall when his crown is usurped by an up-and-coming clip flicker.  As ridiculous as this premise is, as any good story does, this film never fails to suspend our disbelief.  We are immersed in Esteban's world where people really do kill birds with a flick of a Doritos chip.

But the associated Dip Desperado app created for the campaign is a bit of a let down:

The graphics in this Doritos mobile app pales in comparison with the stunning film.  Which may explain why most branded apps fail. 

Papercraft popup posters

To promote the indie London band Dry the River's new album, they created these outdoor papercraft posters:

Using Google Sketch, they mapped out 3D versions of the album cover.   The papercraft horses took 35 hours to make, and here is the making of video, which showcases the time-lapse construction, scored by Dry the River's single "No Rest."

Here is Dry the River's actual video for "No Rest."  If anyone knows, what exactly is going on this video, can you let me know.  Is this some kind of band hazing ceremony? 

  

Cutting out skin cancer with sunblock

Here's another bus shelter for the SunSmart Cancer Council of Western Australia:

 

This outdoor ad reads:  

Cutting your skin exposure is easier than cutting out skin cancer

Free 30+ sunscreen

There is nothing healthy about a tan

Protect yourself 5 ways from skin cancer

VitaminWater charging stations

Waiting certain has gotten easier with technology like smartphones to keep us occupied.  But it does put a strain on our gadget's battery life.  Here is a bus shelter created for VitaminWater: 

Bus shelters were set up in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Boston with USB-compatible chargers where people waiting could charge their devices.  The VitaminWater ad reads: Alternative energy source. 

Parmesan pencils

These Parmesan pencils were created for the Deli Garage range of cheeses where the "lead" contained the flavors of chili, pesto and truffle:

The package included a pencil sharpener/cheese grater.  It also included a scale on the back showing how much cheese was required for each dish and how many calories were in each portion. 

Vivident's unexpected turn

Here's an oddvertisement for Vivident gum in Italy:

Oddvertising can sometimes come off as lame.  This Italian commercial kind of works for me.   

Marionettes are great. 

Animated tattoo

Here's an "animated tattoo" for Ballantine blended scotch whiskey.  This Marco fellow volunteered to have a QR inked on his chest live-streamed on Facebook where viewers influenced the tattoo: 

QR codes are tricky and there are considerations to be made in terms of execution.  [Isn't that right, Jet Blue?]  I'm not super into QR codes because I am of the lazy sort.  I don't want to whip out my phone for something that once scanned may be a total disappointment.  This is really cool, and may be a potential conversation starter if Marco continues to walk around the city topless, exposing his tattoo forever.  

The animation is only so-so, but they were the first, so I give them kudos for that, and there may be more QR tattoos in the future.   

[Don't worry you can always cover it up].  

[Um, why do you have a tattoo of a black box?  Long story... ]

Tattoo ettiquette

World Cup insert

Here's an insert from Finland in promotion of the World Cup from Welho HD broadcasting service:

 

The front of the ad had copy saying "As close to the World Cup as you can get in Finland" and the backside of the insert was printed to look like a soccer ball.  Readers were instructed to crumple up the ad into a ball and play table soccer. 

Green panadas

Well, these pandas are not literally green, but they are certainly eco-conscious.  This was an out-of-home stunt done in Hungary for the World Wildlife Fund:

To get Hungarians to donate to the WWF using the smallest amount of paper, ONE leaflet was created and distributed in a shopping center.  Two volunteers dressed as pandas stood at the upper and lower end of an escalator.  Printed collateral is usually susceptible to people tossing it out as soon as people get their hands on it, so with this stunt Panda1 distributed this flier to someone going up the escalator.  Waiting at the top of the escalator was Panda2 who recycled the leaflet for the next person going down the escalator. 

Listen to your bananas

Here is an ambient ad from New Zealand for fair trade All Good Bananas:

Using the "Audio Spotlight," they were able to communicate to one shopper in a crowded supermarket with a narrow high-frequency beam of sound that was transmitted over a floor sticker instructing shoppers to "listen to your conscious."  When someone would stand over the sticker they would hear a private message:

"Hi you can hear me, can't you?  

You're the only one.  

Look around.  No one else can.  See?  

You know who I am?  I'm that inner voice.  I want to talk to you about something.  

Fair trade.  Look at them all.  Those bananas in front of you.  

Which should you buy?  I know.  And you do too.  

They're All Good bananas.  They're the only fair trade ones.  

So you now know which ones to choose.  Make a good choice."

Stickers around town

Here is an OOH campaign for the Artis, Royal Amsterdam Zoo:

Artis babyboom on Vimeo.

Billboards and bus shelters were created with removable stickers of baby animals.  Passersby were encouraged to remove the stickers and affix them around town with copy stating:

(this is the one for the baby elephant)

"Expected in Artis: baby elephant (true size)

Babyboom in the city.  Help us spread the good news by putting these stickers all over town. 

off to Artis!"

Unexpected presents

On Christmas Eve, the passengers of the Spanair flight traveling from Barcelona to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria were set to arrive close to midnight, so the airline did something a little special for them:

 

As passengers waited for their luggage to appear, they found presents coming down the carousel, personalized for each traveler. 

Here's a song for the little guy

Pause, a home entertainment store in Sweden, wanted to showcase their expertise in creating customized sound systems for any environment.  Competing against larger retail stores with more ad spend, Pause decided to something on a global scale that would demonstrate their skill:

The CEO swallowed the GutPod, a pill-sized wireless sound system, turning his stomach into a jukebox during a press event.  The media received invitations with candy replicas of the GutPod.

 

During the event people could visit the website and submit songs and they would to hear coming out of the CEO's stomach. 

They call 'em fingers but I've never seen 'em fing

This spot is from France for the Samsung Galaxy Sil:

This simple type of finger dancing or finger tutting reminds me of Modern Civilization at points.  They recruited LA's JayFunk to for this French ad. 

How much water you really need

Here is an OOH campaign for Denver Water to raise awareness for water conservation:

There were several large-sized objects placed around Denver with copy that says "How much water you give your lawn."  These larger versions were placed next to "normal-sized" ones that reads "How much it really needs."

The campaign included billboards:

Robotic burgers

This commercial for Carls Jr. (or Hardee's -- depending on the region) features a robot coming home from a hard day [... of being a a robot?] who is looking forward to a hand-breaded chicken sandwich:

Oh silly robot.... robots do not have mouth holes to enjoy fast food.  The robot is sexy and reminds me of other cool robot things:

Here is the Behind the Scenes video for Robot video:

Splitscreen: A love story

This short film, shot entirely on a Nokia N8, was the winner of the Nokia Shorts competition:

Splitscreen: A Love Story on Vimeo.

A split screen was used to show two narratives of two individuals with different yet similar lives, and the journey towards the moment they finally meet.

It's pretty amazing and is reminiscent of Michel Gondry's "Sugar Water" for Cibo Matto sans the time forward/backwards element.

Here's the Making Of video for Splitscreen: A Love Story

Splitscreen: A Making Of - Part 1 on Vimeo.

Google SLAM dunk

Here are some spots from the Google Demo slam series, testing Google products in interesting ways:

Chubby Bunny:

These kids have taken the Chubby Bunny game onto another level as they test their marshmellow-stuffed mouths using the Google mobile search app to see if each participant is enunciating Chubby Bunny well enough.

Extra Spicy:

Using Google Translate, these girls phone order two sides of batsmati rice, fish curry and six samosas.  In Hindi.  

Realtime Karaoke:

These rockers use Google search's realtime Twitter search feed to create an impromtu song around the search term "babe."

Route 66:

Using Google Street View, these virtual roadtrippers project their journey along historic route 66.  Some nice touches include the crew actually stopping at a street-view red light and pulling over for burgers.

Rushmore:

Using Google Goggles, they use the image search app to determine if Google's technology could recognize a humanized mini-replica of Mount Rushmore.

There are more Slam tests on Google's YouTube page.

Summer time is for funner time

For Target's "Summer is Funner" campaign, there were a couple of installations placed in the US, including a gigantic sprinkler in Houston, Texas:

And a gigantic sandbox in Grant Park, Chicago:

These videos include time-lapse construction and when completed these summer-time exhibits look like so much fun, so much fun that it makes me forget that they use the word 'funner' in a campaign.  It's getting pretty summery-hot over here, so actually seeing close ups of people splashing in the sprinklers would have been nice.

TOMS human piano

Oh good, it's not another flash mob.  Sometimes it's okay to just be a commercial, especially when the concept is as playful as this:

The trouble with some of these flash mobs is the dance sequences do not have a natural link to the product.  This TOMS spot has their shoes as the central focus as dancers kick with their piano pants leggings.  The fact it isn't entirely a flash-mob is good, because flash mobs need to stop.

Oh, that's how you make an Ikea!

Who knew it was this simple?

To promote a new Ikea store in Germany, they created this poster reminiscent of their Ikea furniture assembly instructions.  One nice touch: an Ikea store opening requires a bottle of champagne.