Justin Timberlake Takes to the Drink and to Directing

Justin Timberlake is now in the advertising and the tequila business. Not in the sense that he’s liquored up whilst starring in ads. Rather JT has launched ‘901 Tequila‘ -- apparently the smoothest tequila ever (a contradiction in terms!?) -- and has also directed the adverts for the brand which will air in the States in the coming months.

The first of the ads entitled ‘Let them Eat Cake’ features an attractive, confident, articulate woman, spouting lines such as: “A great empire, like a great cake, is most easily diminished at the edges”, whilst her gentleman friend sips tequila on the rocks.

Yes behind every great woman is a man drinking tequila.

The next in the series are called ‘Improved By Use‘ and ‘Risk and Peril‘ and feature a cocky man making the thinking man’s choice to have the ‘uncommonly smooth’ 901 tequila and a severe looking woman brandishing a riding crop whilst two men sit tied up in the corner. Just a normal Saturday night with tequila by anyone’s standards.

Did anyone else notice that none of the leads in the ads actually drink the tequila? Strange.

The ads will run online and on US TV and will be complemented by a series of print ads. Watch out for a digital campaign using Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

If you’re interested in the ads (or in Justin), you can watch the making of them here.

Parasailing Donkey – Promo Stunt or Blatant Cruelty?

We all come up with some pretty ‘out there’ ideas from time to time but usually such crazy plans are vetoed by colleagues upon first review before they ever see the light of day! One of the most bizarre promotional stunts I’ve seen in a while took place last week. A parasailing company in the Russian resort of Golubitskaya parasailed a donkey to promote their service. Immediately you’d think…that must be fake. Nobody would harness up and donkey and send them up, up and away over the sea…would they!?

Well apparently this particular Russian outfit did.

Reports state the donkey was put in a harness and catapulted into the air! Braying loudly (wouldn’t you!) the donkey was towed above a boat for about half an hour with onlooking children crying on the beach at the scene. The donkey is said to have landed awkwardly on the sand and was dragged across the beach before being removed from the harness and comforted by locals.

Police have now launched an animal cruelty investigation into the incident. Check out the video footage here:

As in the recent ‘Dr Pepper Facebook Porn‘ debacle, marketers often walk the line between what will grab attention and get people talking and what is socially acceptable. This stunt leapfrogs any imaginable line of reason, moving into the realms of the unbelievable. Animal cruelty will never help to sell a product or service. I mean really…how many people sitting on that beach were likely to go…’huh…parasailing…well if a donkey can do it, be in distress and get dragged along the sand just show me where I sign up’!?

Queen Advert Banned for Scaring Commuters

Watch this and imagine seeing it on the luas on the way to work….

In London this digital display advert, promoting the “Bloody Mary: Killer Queen Exhibit” at the London Dungeon, has been pulled from tube stations for scaring the bejesus out of commuters.

A spokesman for the London Dungeon told Newslite.tv that they are “amazed by the ASA’s decision, adding, “Indeed, we worked closely with all the necessary bodies to ensure our Bloody Mary advertising met all the required criteria. Undoubtedly the sight of a regal monarch morphing into a monstrous figure is an arresting one and was intended to grab attention. However, we are totally confounded by this decision.”

It’s not going to give you nightmares but if I was leaning against a wall, totally focused on my morning coffee, I might end up snorting Americano out my nose at that one.

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Will Your Undies Withstand the Next Curry?

I came across these great adverts by Australian underwear brand, Bonds, today – they’re part of the company’s “Say no to Dodgy Undies” campaign which was run in Australia a few months ago.

Not just an ad campaign, the creative was launched off the back of a survey of 1100 Australian men to find out their underwear habits. The results were a little unnerving and will make me look twice at Aussie guys from now on…

• Half of the men surveyed said they sometimes wore the same pair of underpants for two or three days in a row
• Half of the men described their undergarment collection as not being “up to scratch” – purchasing undies was low on their list of priorities and they would rather purchase burgers and beers
• 25% revealed that they left the purchasing of underpants to their partner
• 70% of the men stated that they had worn women’s underwear

Survey’s are a permanent fixture in the PR toolkit – done well a survey can grab the attention of journalists and consumers and add weight to your key messages. In this case Bonds used the survey as the foundation for their creative concepts – encouraging men to ditch their dodgy underwear. Adverts were placed in sports sections and supplements of newspapers, in addition to the early news section of the papers to ensure a broad reach.

They also ran eye-catching commercial features to out forward the survey results in an entertaining way and deliver another opportunity to reach the target audience:

A simple concept executed well. No word yet on whether Aussie men have developed ‘undie pride’ or if they’re still just turning them inside out. Groan.

PepsiCo Sponsored Blog Fizzes up in their Face

Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Just as advertising and corporate sponsorship keeps many print publications on our shelves, so too it keeps the wheels of the internet turning. More and more websites are integrating advertising platforms and negotiating sponsorship deals with big brands to ensure they’ve the cash to keep their online show on the road. However it’s often a fine line between making your website attractive to potential advertisers and maintaining the integrity of the site to ensure that you don’t alienate your website visitors.

One such website that has crossed that line is ScienceBlogs – one of the largest online communities dedicated to science.

This week ScienceBlogs got in to bed with PepsiCo, launching a PepsiCo ‘sponsored blog’ – Food Frontiers. However after just two days up and running, the blog was pulled. The result negative PR for PepsiCo and ScienceBlogs unleashing the wrath of their online community. So what was the problem? Continue reading »