Shirt Removal Made Easy

In support of their recent tagline, “Sprint Ahead” the telecom company has released a series of instructional viral videos produced by the Jun Group about saving time. Three videos are currently up on YouTube. One shows you how to take your shirt off in a hurry (see above). You can see all the videos (how to get ketchup out of a bottle; open a bottle with another bottle; soothe a baby) on the companion website - Sprint Waitless.

There’s nothing actually wrong with Sprint trying to show younger consumers that using their service will save them time. Wait. How does Sprint save you time? Ah… and there’s the rub. If you only see the YouTube end of this campaign, you will receive no actual information. It looks like Sprint just spent a lot of money in an attempt to try and be cool. After digging around on the site we see that Sprint is offering unlimited calling beginning at 7pm rather than 9 pm. Right. We get it. You don’t have to wait to chat with your pals. The copy on the site adds to the confusion - “turn tedious tasks into fleeting moments…” Whoa. What does that have to do with bumping up the time our unlimited calling starts? This whole “Waitless” campaign should be reflecting Sprint’s effective, quick, robust service and lack of dropped calls rather than two more hours of free chatting.

Ray Ban’s first viral spot was genius. They’re goals were clearly to increase brand awareness among a younger set of consumers that resulted in hundreds of spoof videos. They weren’t trying to push a specific message or service. Even if Sprint’s videos catch on with YouTube viewers, we’re wondering how many of the viewers will: a) go to the micro site and b) actually understand that Sprint is offering two more free hours of calling and c) create spoofs that are have anything to do with the service being offered.

Seems like a rickety campaign to us.

What The… Skateboarding Cows In China?

Adpulp had us looking at the McJobs ads today created by TBWA/Chiat Day. He only had one thing to say, “Manage Early, Manage Often.” Succinct. Perfect. We’re going to follow-up with these other print ads TBWA/Chiat Day created for China. We applaud McDonald’s for tackling the issue of being an American company in an increasingly un-friendly American world. We also understand that many Chinese citizens would want to be assured that their beef is coming from the motherland (freshness, national pride, etc.), what we don’t get it is why this cow is riding a skateboard and wearing a diamond encrusted chain. Um… the cow is fresh. Right. The cow is young. Right, but like… let’s forget that promoting its youth is just a little creepy though you can bet Chinese schools girls are feeling mega-sympathy pains right now. But, erm… this little cow is so Americanized it’s insane, which defeats the point of the campaign. Sigh.

What The…? Playskool Shows How Not To Innovate

Adweek has a piece up about a partnership between Hasbro’s Playskool and the digital entertainment company Creative Labs. They’re launching a new MP3 player targeted at the parents of infants from birth to 3, which will hit store shelves Sept. 1.

“The insight for the Playskool ‘Made for Me’ line is about delivering a unique system of toys and gear that resonate with new parents,” says Nancy Kufferman, Playskool’s senior brand manager. “These parents are primarily Gen X and Y and technology is typically a big part of their world. They not only embrace new technology, but they seek out ways to maximize its potential into their everyday lives.”

Okay. At this point in the story, we’re skeptical, but still open to the idea. Then we read that the MP3 player is

Why Do You Hate The Gap?

Annie Leibovitz is all over advertising these days. First the Louis Vuitton ads featuring Mikhail Gorbachev and now, the latest campaign for The Gap. She’s done some work with them before, but considering the company’s sluggish sales, they should consider mixing up the creative talent. The work by Laird + Partners features black-and-white Leibovitz photos of celebrities, both world-famous and relatively obscure, showing off the company’s fall line in a print campaign called, “Classics Redefined.”

“You could take something as simple as a sweater vest, but when you see it on John Mayer it’s fresh and new,” said Trey Laird, president and ecd of the New York independent agency.

Whoa. Has The Gap and Trey Laird learned nothing? The retailer has been using celebrities (Claire Danes, Audrey Hepburn, Sarah Jessica Parker, et al.) for AGES to push their products and it hasn’t helped one bit. Whoever is in charge over there obviously has zero idea what the real problem is with The Gap. Hello - market research anyone? However, consumers know. The blog, The Consumerist, asked their readers - “Why Do You Hate The Gap?” The answers are illuminating. Here are some highlights:

What The…? New Social Networking Site A Cool World

Meet AcoolWorld - “the network for power people and strategic connections.” Yeah, yeah… Didn’t someone already do this with the newly owned Weinstein property A Small World? In any case, AcoolWorld’s website is offering elitist slogans along with a picture of Penelope Cruz on its homepage and boasting of being 7,000 members strong. Wait - is Cruz a member? If so, we want in. However, a turn off comes as you flip through the rickety explanation pageswhere you run smack into a full screen Red Bull ad. WHAT? WTF? Red Bull, is not - we repeat - is not right for this site. Yes, maybe they paid you AcoolWorld and yes, maybe hedge fund guys are taking their bumps with a shot of Red Bull, but branding is essential for a new social networking site that is pimping high class. Why isn’t Pravda or a zillion other luxury good makers shilling on the site?

Anyway, AcoolWorld’s mission statement says it strives to connect billionaires with “experiences” and to help these people determine the difference between psuedo-luxury and real luxury. So again - does Red Bull really make sense? We think not. What is interesting is that the definition and access to luxury has trickled down to the middle class. Kids are ordering Cristal in da clubs and $450 sneakers fly off the shelves at Alife to struggling musicians across New York City. When everyone is saving their dollars for “high-value” goods, luxury becomes an idea for the masses. It behooves luxury brands to investigate how they can differentiate between the college student who saved up for the real deal Prada bag and those who can simply afford it. Is it added service? Is it a secret line of goods? Hmmm….

Back to AcoolWorld - the site suffers beneath seriously weak architecture and poor functionality, too. We just don’t get it - is it like Wallpaper magazine meets The Robb Report magazine? Is it a competitor to A Small World? Maybe we’re just not rich enough to understand.

What The…? Ray-Ban Viral Vid And A Bad Tagline

We just saw the new viral ad for Ray Ban. If you recall, the first viral effort was called “Catch” and featured Ben “Benzo” Kaller and his chubby side kick catching sunglasses with their faces. We loved that one and it deserved to rack up 2.7 million views and to bring home a Lion for its originality. Wow. It was really good, right?

The new vid is called, “Bobbing For Glasses.” Both spots came out of Omnicom’s Cutwater along with the tagline, “Never Hide.” Yes, the spot has racked up around 13,000 views in one day, but keep in mind that everyone that subscribes to Benzo’s channel gets a notice he’s posted something new. So look long on this one to see whether they can accumulate real numbers. Alas, like all sequels (save the Empire Strikes Back), it’s disappointing. A poster on YouTube sums it up nicely: “ok we got it… reverse not reverse fcp glasses trick… whatever….. where’s the kickass creativity from the 2 first vid ?? c’mon guys you can do so much better”

The video is cute and all, but… meh. Also, we’d like to note that the tagline, “Never Hide” for a sunglass company is so just baffling. Chuck McBride, ECD of Cutwater said: “It can’t be a fashion brand, but it is fashionable, so what is it? People like them at the comfort level. They’re what they wear when they are most themselves. That’s how we came up with “Never Hide.” These glasses don’t mask who you are, they’re a window to who you are. For the short while, ”Never Hide” is one of the best branding ideas I’ve had. Everyone gets the double entendre.”

This guy is smoking some heavy ganja. While it is true that the tagline can encompass whatever you want (which might not be the best thing - Nike’s “Just Do It” it’s not) that double entendre is so not clear. To prove it, we stood next to one of the ads today and asked some people what they thought.

Flickr Is Going To Cost Virgin Mobile Millions Of Dollars

Host, an Australian advertising agency, has gotten itself into quite the pickle. The small shop set out to highlight Virgin Mobile’s text services by using images from Flickr under the Creative Commons license for billboards, newspaper ads and a web site. Host remembered to include the photographers’ URLs and all looked well. Most people were pleased by their 15 minutes of fame. However, Host failed to realize that the license covers the photographer’s copyright, but not necessarily the people in the pictures, which means that a bunch of people are pissed off. Especially since they feel as though Virgin Mobile is insulting them with the copy. With taglines like, “People who talk in lifts have bad breath,” you can’t really blame them.

Yeah… we get it. Text instead, but that tagline is out of place if you ask us. What are you going to do - text the person next to you in the lift, so as not to smell their garlic breath? Or, is it supposed to be that you have bad breath, so you should text in the elevator rather than make a call? Hmmm…. What? Meanwhile, they even used an image of the underage (ah crap! That’s gonna hurt in the lawsuit) Alice Chang who is not at all happy about it.

So, while we’re sure that Host thought they were being clever by roping in real people, dudes… you can’t just forget about legality and consumer feelings. It’s gone way beyond Australia and all over the internet. Brace yourselves for a big fat lawsuit.

More: Home Depot Is In A Ghetto Hot Mess

Or, Who Is The Next Big Thing?

What The…? It’s A Hot Mess.

People have been making some nasty noise about an upcoming BET series called “Hot Ghetto Mess” based on the website of the same name. As such, advertisers like Home Depot and State Farm Insurance have pulled their advertisements. Question: just what were these two brands doing getting on board in the first place? Now, they’re going to suffer from articles that are appearing in Reuters to Newsweek. Serves them right.

“Hot Mess” is a compilation of viewer-submitted home videos and BET-produced man-on-the-street segments that exhibit blacks in unflattering situations that are well, deemed ghetto. Um, yeah and the “Mess” logo is an animated blackface character depicted with a red slash through the image. Hello? We want names! Really… who bought time on this show for Home Depot? Did ya’ really think that was a good idea? Did anyone use Google to see how many blogs are having heart attacks over this? Even if BET is saying it’s a commentary on American black culture and hopefully, a starting point for discussion, no media buyer should have bought that sauce.

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Dumb Post Of The Day: AdFreak And The iPhone

Adfreak, which normally we kind of (kind of!) like has a post today complaining that there aren’t any good iPhone games. True, most are bad, but a few are alright. Come on ‘Freak. You just need to dig a little harder before posting such a long winded slam. You’re a journalist! Here’s a good one: iWhack. It’s the concept that’s geeeeenius as it plays on the Apple lovers adoration for the brand. In iWhack you get to “hammer” for the success of the iPhone by whacking Steve Balmer (Microsoft CEO and iPhone critic) every time he pops up on the screen. Okay, maybe you’re not going to want to play it for eons like Age Of Oblivion or some other RPG, but it’s the perfect game for iPhone devotees. Proof: Google currently is showing over 40,000 search results for iWhack. The game was created by mobile content community MyNuMo who also nicely capatialized on the Paris Hilton debacle.

Alright AdFreak. Go freak out on it. The kids seem to love it.

More: Dumb post from yesterday, AdWeek Needs To Get It Together
Or, a dumb company: You Have To See It To Believe It

Dumb Post Of The Day: AdWeek Needs To Get It Together

Honestly, we’re on fire today. We’re just beating everybody up. It’s the heat. Today, we’re going after a piece featured on AdWeek titled “Most Consumers Use Mobile Phones For Calls, Text.” This is such old news. The Mobile Marketing Association has been releasing studies that this exact same thing for the past two years. If you’re on the mobile side of the business and you didn’t already know this, we suggest you walk into your boss’ office and fire yourself. And! If AdWeek is supposed to be the go-to publication for ad folks, then this kind of half-assed reporting is just deplorable. Give us real info! Real news that we can use!

What’s even funnier is that the last line of the Adweek piece reads: “The survey of 1,717 adults and teens was conducted April 9-20.”

Hi! AdWeek? It’s July lovelies. July.

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