This week we read on Adrants about an iPod app made for Hardee’s, an American fast food chain that makes – among other things – supersized, cholesterol building French Dip Thickburgers. The app, called Parisian Pick Up, allows you to pick-up girls and Hardee’s burgers – both meat, right? Adrants’ Steve Hall writes: “users can select their favorite French mouth image, select a message, and then hold the screen over their mouths to deliver it with a swarthy French accent or in perfect French with subtitles”. Great app, you would say. But the idea is not new, unfortunately. It’s practically identical to Vanabbetotvessem’s Lovelips app, we wrote about two months ago. And a remarkable detail – that more or less rules out the coincidence  of two great minds thinking alike – is that 72andSunny, the agency responsible for the Hardee’s app, has an office in Amsterdam. Opening up an office in Amsterdam for ‘inspiration’, now all of a sudden renders a whole new connotation.

How to make teenagers wear a condom? A difficult one. Or maybe not. SOA-AIDS (‘STD-AIDS’), an organization that wants to prevent the bad juices from flowing too freely, asked Vanabbetotvessem to create a campaign that playfully explains the importance of using a condom. These posters were the result. They convey tips about how to go about when the C-word comes into play. From left to right: “Start about a condom before your trousers come off”, “Women appreciate it when you start about the condoms”, and “A self assured woman starts about condoms herself”. O.k. nothing spectacular here. What is really special about this campaign is the way the outdoor posters were created. Forget Mac, forget Adobe, it was all made by hand. Why, we asked Vanabbetotvessem. “We like the touch of human imperfection. When you see the outdoor posters from close by, you actually sense that it’s made by hand”. Vanabbetotvessem also designed a booklet with more tips and a condom packaging – with the same visual identity, so that it will nicely add up to the rest of the campaign. Here you can watch the making of the posters – it’s good to see that some agencies still make advertising with love.

This cloying sweet commercial was made by 72andSunny for Bugaboo, the Dutch stroller brand, to promote its partnership with RED, which implicates that it will contribute 1% of its revenues to support AIDS programs in Africa. Apart from donating money, Bugaboo also designed a special RED-collection – available in different colors. The theme of the commercial is ‘Go and good things happen’. As said, a little too sweet to our taste – especially that song ‘Made up love song number 43’ by Guillemots! But since we’re not pregnant and saturated with hormones that make us extremely sensitive for the vulnerable on this earth, we shouldn’t judge the saccharine level of the commercial. In fact, 72andSunny has used the exact right tone of voice. And by hitting the sweet spot Bugaboo will surely sell a lot more strollers. That’s very smart marketing.

Bystanders always judge the advertising scene as being so vein; there’s an award for every fart being aired. Here’s another one; Advertising Age’s ‘Small agency of the year’! We have to admit that AdAge’s goal is noble: “to help uncover some of the great but not enormous agencies that too rarely get recognition, and to celebrate some of their best work, which rarely seems to make it through the big awards-show machinery”. Amsterdam based THEY became ‘international’ (= outside the US) agency of the year. The jury said that THEY “has both the small-shop creative dexterity that can transform unlikely media into ad canvas and the brand-steward chops to win big pieces of global business”. The ‘Small agency campaign of the year’ went to LA/Amsterdam-based 72andSunny for its ‘Next Level’ campaign for Nike – a fast-paced two minute commercial directed by Guy Richie, shot from the athlete’s first-person view. We wonder whether this award show is the answer to the problem at hand. If Charles Leadbeater is right in predicting that boulders will become pebbles over the next decades – meaning that the amount of small agencies will increase strongly at the expense of the big ones – the better solution is to make the international awards shows cheaper and thus more accessible. Then every fart, regardless the size of its agency, has the same chance to get awarded.

A few weeks ago we wrote about Nalden that went on an Air Max 1 journey for Nike. Here’s yet another campaign with Nike playing the leading role. The dedicated website is initiated by Foot Locker and made by AKQA Amsterdam/London. Just as in the Air Max 1 journey, you see quasi-nonchalant video’s with hipsters wearing brand new Nike Air Max and being really cool. We’re getting the impression that Air Max is getting a little overexposed here. And it wouldn’t surprise us if that will shorten its ‘hipness-lifecycle’. Anyway, the consumer can download the different video’s and mix them, just as one of the ‘freaks’ (as Foot Locker calls them) is doing with his Nike’s. Actually, we really like that guy customizing his Nike’s! Why not make a complete campaign out of that?! Design your own Nike’s and if you win, your design will get taken into production! How’s that for user generated content!

Update: October 6th, 2009: Today we were told that it was 72andSunny who worked with Nike and Foot Locker on the campaign strategy and produced the films – “Revolution of You”. AKQA’s role was to bring it to life online with the “mash it up” competition.

A year ago we wrote about Vanabbetotvessem’s commercial for SoaAids about Frank(enstein) & Sally needing an STD test. Apart from the wonderful execution, we really liked the metaphor of Frank being built up out of different body parts: “But this could be anyone’s…penis”. Always use a condom, until you’ve done an STD test was the message. This commercial is very similar, though it uses a different insight. Apparently guys are afraid to do the STD test, because of horror stories about devices that have to enter your…well, you know. But nowadays ‘pissing in a pot’ is often sufficient – to Frank’s great relieve.