This picture was sent to us by one of our avid commenters known as ‘Bernbach’. He wrote to us: “I always wonder what this Amsterdam police sign means. Are they trying to sell us deodorant?”. It made us think of DNAge, a Nivea skin care product that supposedly prevents your skin from getting older. Though this spray doesn’t protect your skin; it says it’s way more effective; it protects the whole neighborhood. From getting older? How? We don’t really know, but in any case it doesn’t smell as good as most deodorants. That guy (or girl?) is clearly not happy with it.
Archive for the ‘Print’ Category
Police sells DNA deodorant…or something
Thursday, September 2nd, 2010Not enough eyes at the Uitmarkt
Monday, August 30th, 2010
There’s so much to see a the Uitmarkt that you might need a few extra sets of eyes. That’s what this poster communicates quite literally. It was created by Studio Jona (photographed by Arjan Benning) for the Amsterdam Uitburo. The Uitmarkt, which was held last weekend, is a market that shows what the new cultural season has to offer. Artists publicly give a free sneak peek into their acts to get the cultural audience excited and make it run to the box offices. Because there’s so much to see Delft/Amsterdam based agency Fabrique – together with Q42 – created the ‘Uit app’, an app that displays the full Uitmarkt program. The app is navigable by artist, genre, time, and place. After the Uitmarkt the app is still useful for showing – and updating – the ‘Uit’ agenda.
Spectacular for Adidas F50 Adizero
Thursday, August 19th, 2010
Quite spectacular this outdoor ad for the Adidas F50 Adizero. Not only did Adidas change the tram stop benches, the real boots were also incorporated in the outdoor furniture. Created by 180, TBWA\BEC and JC Decaux.
In the land of the blind, Johnny Loco is king
Wednesday, August 18th, 2010
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.
Grolsch launches refreshing beer magazine
Tuesday, August 10th, 2010
Already for quite a few years Grolsch claims to be the beer brand for original individuals – which makes it beloved in the advertising scene, for that matter. Quite a unique positioning, since most of the other big beer brands make their advertising for Joe Sixpack – or at least they create very similar advertising. So Grolsch easily stands out as the sophisticated brand for unique individuals. That’s what made the brand decide to come up with an unorthodox piece of advertising; the sponsored magazine, titled Eigen.Zinnig. This translates more or less into original, authentic. It was created by G+J Publishers and freelance editor-in-chief Rob van Bracht. With its 148 pages and thorough articles, the magazine luxuriously feels more like a glossy (costs: €5) than a sponsored magazine. Together with the magazine Grolsch launched a commercial – created by DDB Amsterdam – that toasts “op” originality in different ways. Though the content and pay-off (“As authentic as Grolsch”) match well with the magazine, we were really surprised that the magazine title Eigen.Zinnig is never being used. In other words, there’s no obvious link between the commercial and the magazine. And that lack of synergy, automatically means a waste of money. In any case, it’s very refreshing – or eigenzinnig, if you will – to see a different kind of beer ad for once.
Ben is stuck
Wednesday, August 4th, 2010
Though these two (“Trees and Bo”) seem to be stuck in this banner, “they’re not stuck with Ben”. Because Ben doesn’t do year-contracts. Ben is the mobile phone provider (the name translates: Am – as in ‘I am’) made famous by KesselsKramer in 1999 with a very distinctive campaign; “Ik ben Ben”. After killing the brand in 2003, to become T-Mobile, it was reintroduced in 2008. To never change a winning team, KesselsKramer was awarded the account for a second time. But unfortunately since the relaunch we haven’t seen – or at least can’t remember having seen – any memorable work. And though this might be judged as a great ad by the average consumer, we of course remember the best banner ad (if not ad campaign) of 2009 for Belgium bank Axion, created by Boondoggle. A very similar idea – though better – that won a ton of international awards – among which 5 (!) golden Lions in Cannes this year. Our conclusion: Ben Was.
KesselsKramer publishes book about tattoos
Monday, August 2nd, 2010
Though Zack McDonald recently left KesselsKramer and moved to Sid Lee, he wanted to share his last KK project with us. Together with Christian Bunyan, designer Angela Lidderdale, and Happy Pets, he created INK. The book is about tattoos and people’s often unusual motivations for getting them. The tattoo stories are quite diverse and well written, featuring drug-fuelled trips to Thailand, Scottish teenagers running amuck, and the world’s most precise tattoo artist. Each story has inspired a special one-off illustration by Swiss designers HappyPets. INK appears in a limited and numbered edition of 250 – you can order the book here.
Cheese spread for real men with chainsaws
Friday, July 30th, 2010
Since it is the silly season – or ‘cucumber time’ if you will – we thought it would be appropriate to show some silly advertising. We drove by this ad quite a few times, before we understood it. “Cheese for real men”, is what it says. We did connect the header to the chainsaw and the black background, but couldn’t figure out, what the ‘Eru’ cheese spread had to do with it. Only when taking a closer look, we understood that this cheese spread is “extra ripened and with strong taste”. This would mean that normal Eru is for women and…uhm…well you know…men who don’t use chainsaws. We know we shouldn’t take it all too literal, but if you talk about superficial advertising, this one is a winner! And, in any case, real men eat real cheese, full stop.
Win two ecstasy trips to Ibiza with 538
Tuesday, July 27th, 2010
One of the biggest radio channels in the Netherlands, Radio 538, advertises its Ibiza promotion with two ecstasy pills in the colours of its visual identity; “Listen and win a trip for 2 to Ibiza”. You would almost forget that ecstasy is considered a hard drug – even in the Netherlands. Maybe they should have added a legal disclaimer, saying; “we recommend you to first try one E, to see how it lands, and only then move to the next one”. In any case, an effective ad that will attract the exact right audience for a trip to Ibiza. It also says you should check the 538 website for more info. We did, but couldn’t more info – it probably didn’t fit on the information overloaded website anymore. Anyway, the ad was made by bsur.
Doom & Dickson created (mad)men
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
For those of you who don’t know Doom & Dickson, it’s good to know they are fictional characters. That is, except for their photos, of course – we don’t know who these sophisticated (mad)men were in real life. Anyway, since D&D’s building is being painted, the agency thought, why not create a big outdoor ad. And the message from ‘Jack Doom’ (the one with the glasses we presume) pretty much speaks for itself.
