Australian Ad Campaign Tells You Suncream Won’t Prevent Pregnancy – Duh

Here’s an eye-catching, if not slightly odd advert for Australian Surfers Sunblock. I’m liking it though…

Here’s the rest of the campaign creative which will run on posters near surf beaches, on postcards and in surfing magazines.

Advergaming – Mini Maps Allows You to Drive on Any Street in the World

I just came across this great Facebook application for Mini via Adverblog. An ‘advergame’, the branded application using Google Maps technology to allow the user to select a location anywhere in the World and drive a customised Mini around. You can invite friends to race against you and post updates to your Facebook wall. Pretty slick.

It was launched by Mini France -- here’s a video which showcases what the app can do but I’d suggest just go ahead and play the game though! Try taking a drive over Sydney Harbour bridge or doing some wheelies by the Eiffel Tower!

Portal to the Real Universe – There’s an App for That [Video]

These days there’s pretty much an app for everything. Well now there’s an app that’s creates a “portal to the real universe”, allowing you to see ‘invisible space’ and the ‘vastness of the Universe’ at your fingertips. Yup…the ‘Invisible Universe App’ is impressive!

Joshua Peek, an astronomer and Hubble Fellow at Columbia who works on research for NASA,  collaborated on this new Android app which allows the ‘Average Joe’ to see the universe in a new way through their smartphone, even if they can’t see the stars in their city.

Check out the video and see why I now want a ‘productivity hat’!

Old Spice Seems to Have Lost its Swagger in New Ad Campaign

Old Spice is rolling out a new ad campaign -- ‘Smell Better Than Yourself’ -  that will apparently feature multiple characters, none of which is the ‘Old Spice Guy’ otherwise known as Isaiah Mustafa. The ad features a guy dressed as a sea captain who states: “I’m not a well-decorated sea captain who battles monsters on a large nautical vessel but thanks to Old Spice, I smell like I am.” 

Yes ladies, if you thought the traditional Old Spice scent was rank, “Red Zone Swagger” from Old Spice will make your man smell like squid.

Is anyone else tiring of these adverts? The brand seems to have missed the fact that the actor, Mustafa, became as synonymous with the campaign as the brand did and is now central to making this concept work in the minds of consumers. All future campaigns will be benchmarked against the successful ‘The Man Your Man Could Smell Like‘ campaign and just won’t measure up (IMHO!).

Banking Made Easy from National Irish Bank with Smartphone App

Tonight I attended the launch of the National Irish Bank smartphone app…a laidback affair featuring a comedy set from Colm O’Regan which was great for a Thursday evening when neurons are firing that bit slower!

I got an app demo with a difference from Liam Curran, Project Manager at Danske Bank and Jesper Nielen, Head of Business Development and Deputy CEO at National Irish Bank. You could tell that the company is really proud of this app…one NIB staff member referred to it as ‘feckin deadly’!

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