In the past 5 years the Dutch bicycle scene has undergone a small revolution. Where a bicycle used to simply be a means of transportation, today it is a fashion item. Especially the fixed gear bicycle (or ‘fixie’) is beyond hip (Vans, tattoos, Chrome courier bag, rolled up trousers, funny hairdo, etc.). Ironically, the fixie lifestyle that comes with the single gear bicycle was imported from the US, a country where only the coolest couriers dare to defy the NYC traffic. The first brand to copy American styled bicycles and that started the revolution, was Johnny Loco. It was created in 2005 by advertising agency New Message. In the beginning the bikes were made in China and fell apart within no time, but nowadays they’re pretty reliable. And since no bicycle brand does fashionable advertising, Johnny Loco is the one eyed king in the land of the blind. We don’t mean that in a derogative way; we very much like the ads. We also came across another poster with former Elite “model of the year” Barbara Egeler. It is probably no coincidence that Loco means stupid in Spanish… Which reminds us; the ads are a more classy version of the “Be Stupid” campaign by Diesel that was banned in several countries, because it supposedly provoked ‘stupid’ behaviour. The photos were made by René Kramers.

In one shot: Arthur Mebius is a modern photographer who hasn’t lost the craftsmanship of an analogue photographer. We’re not sure whether a ‘portfolio iPad’ means he saved his portfolio in the iPad dimensions or whether he actually distributes free iPads with his portfolio on it. In the latter case he must be doing well, cause that is quite an expensive promotion. Then again, busy photographers don’t have to advertise their portfolio. So maybe he just has an iPad friendly portfolio. We guess there’s only one way to find out… The attractive image was created by New Message.

This one is a classic – that is, we’ve seen it before in different settings. But still, it taps in nicely into that funny Dutch tradition of the grey bearded bishop, riding his white horse on the roof tops to have his helpers – the black Piets – throw presents through the chimneys. This weekend he’ll be extremely busy, since on the 5th of December it is Sinterklaasavond (Sinterklaas Eve). That is, officially, since most people will be celebrating his birthday tonight or tomorrow night. Anyway, this (MVA) ‘makelaar’ (real estate agent) confirms his image; he’s like a car salesman, making the impossible sell. After all, Sinterklaas only visits us two weeks a year – according to the tradition he hangs out in Spain the rest of the year. Why buy a house? Nevertheless, it will make a beautiful full page newspaper ad. Created by New Message.

The cheapest tickets, that’s all that matters. Budget Air makes its outdoor posters as small as possible to be able to offer the cheapest tickets – which makes the Mupi lightning visible. We ourselves never use Budget Air, since they never end high enough in our Google search, so maybe next time they should spend some money on Google Adwords. Nice ad anyway. Created by New Message.

New Message came up with this idea – hidden letters, visibale on an airport scanner in a briefcase – to help Shield Security find new security employees at Schiphol; “Wanted: experienced security personnel”. Quite an expensive way of advertising it seems; every single message will cost Shield Security a flight ticket. But since the conversion rate will be a lot higher than when you shoot with hail through mass media, it might turn out cheaper in the end. Trojan-horsevertising is not new. We guess the first agency to use it, was TBWA\Neboko with its ‘Quit&Join’ campaign in 2006. It hired professional window cleaners to clean the windows of the biggest agencies in town, while wearing t-shirts showing the different vacancies. In 2008 agency 2010 found a new DTP colleague by delivering a free Abode CS4 (misspelled on purpose) software package – with the vacancy hidden inside – at the doorstep of the best Amsterdam agencies. Another agency – of which we don’t know the name – paid agencies €1 and communicated in the transfer subject that it was looking for a financial colleague with ‘eye for detail’. So Trojan-horsevertising is not completely new, but it is always impactful, effective and a good way to generate PR.

This t-shirt says “Haha, I am flying for 51 Euro to Barcelona”. And on the back: “And back again”. As you might know by now, we love uncomplicated advertising that communicates a clear message. And that is exactly what this guerilla campaign by New Message does. Budget Air simply distributed these t-shirts among  its customers and they did the rest when wearing it on their flight. The brand thus uses its brand ambassadors to spread the word (offline!). Very smart. We do wonder however, how many tourists will actually wear a t-shirt like this. It is not something that makes your fellow passengers smile at you – especially the ones that start with: “you fools!”. But, then again, the kind of folk that loves to go for the cheap kill, just might be happy to gloat over it in public. New Message lives up to its name again; not your standard advertising.