Strong Copy Builds Brands

German website Pundo3000.com carefully compares the glam-tastic photo packaging of 100 different food products to the actual contents.

Fascinating stuff. Out of the 100 studies, maybe ONE real product looks like the photo. Even more fascinating: people actually eat the things pictured. Yikes.

Advertising Vs Reality - A Product Comparison Project | Funtasticus.com

Not drooling. Honest.

Apple - iPhone - TV Ads

This weekend's checklist: Bushel basket of nacho chips? Check. Wheelbarrow of guacamole? Check. Tray of raw veggies no one will eat? Check.

And now for the guide to the main event! Via AdForum, the rundown of all the Superbowl ads you'll see: Superbowl Ad Roundup

Once you're recovered from your buffalo-wings hangover (or even while you are still acquiring it), discuss endlessly at SUPERadfreak.com, set up by Ad Freak just for this glorious occasion: Blogging the 2007 Super Bowl Ads

And if that doesn't transport you to an ecstatic wonderland, then I just don't know you anymore.

I agree. Weird and strangely... something.

Via advertising for peanuts:Mentos Mystery

Our noble profession as we'd like to see it, at bountiful fake-ad gallery BrandSpankin:
Giving brands the spankin' they deserve

Via CNN.com : Ads spur eating disorders, premature drinking, docs say

So you're shopping at Banana Republic, minding your own business, and suddenly WHAM! Narcolepsy! In mid-kiss no less.

Via BrockLi on Flickr: Screenshot of a Banana Republic ad

Usually see this ad while I'm working out at the gym, and while I still love my now-seemingly-gigantic 40 iPod, I can really feel the Shuffle for long distance runs. I'm a sucker for cute gadgets (the bad joke line starts here).

Via TUAW :: Apple posts new iPod shuffle ad - The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW)

Well, maybe to appreciate this commercial you have to be a parent of little girls who just NEVER stop talking, but man, I never get tired of this one: change the color... legs...worms... bugs... his head is so tiny...! My daughters were just like this. I bet we played out this scene a hundred times a week in our own Montana way.

Who would you give a Volvo to?

My beloved adfreaks post this entry with a kickin' pic of our fave brand icons come to life: adfreak: Advertising Week: the Cliffs Notes version

http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/6269917

Gah! Just when you snag a shred of legitimacy as a member of the advertising community, the flacks kill ya. I hate to begin to mention that tasteless "WTC collector coin" (which if you haven't seen it means you have a life and don't watch much wee-hours television), but this is too much: WTC - World Trade Center

Good news is, I had the joy of experiencing airline flights this weekend to the East coast, and I still say, just as I did the very first time I went to New York, that I am deeply impressed by the number of things that go RIGHT every day. Forget the media, forget religion. The truth is, people are mostly good.

Fly to NY, Boston or Providence several dozen times as I have, and you will see what I mean.

Snowmen are sacrified for cold Coke: Coke Happiness Factory Has a Dark Side via adfreak.

I am an agent of the devil when it comes to jigsaw puzzles, but I'm not sure I want this one, especially after a few Red Bulls: Red Bull Puzzle.

VW rips off Mini Cooper? Who Said No One is Paying Attention to Advertising?

'Nuf said. No copy needed on these ads for window cleaner: ICU

Consumer-generated content a bit of a gamble: Practicing What We Preach Turns Ugly.

And finally, in honor of the day, a little something from the BS Observer: The Declaration of Independence Redux

So sick and twisted, I can watch it over and over, but I will never drink Folgers. Never! Via adfreak: Insanity and death never smelled so good.

Via Gawker, we see that product placement makes the leap from film to books.

Be a man? Vegans and the health conscious take exception to this Burger King commercial that questions the manhood of those who don't accept the greasy carnivore challenge of fast food. Note the subtle anti-feminist charge, too. Wow, 3 birds with one stone:

640x480 version

Adfreak passes along the study that shows almost all ads for sunscreen appear in women's mags & media. That's true, and the study is also right that women know more about sun protection than men (for instance, that the jumbo 108-oz. tube of generic brand isn't necessarily a bargain, because you can't count on it to be effective after the first season, so about 96 ounces go to waste). They know this because those ads (and articles) appear in women's magazines. I'll buy that.

What I'm not buying is that this indicates that men are oblivious and stupid and not worth the waste of ad dollars.

FACT: It's really just that women are often the ones who buy sunscreen, not just for themselves but for their men, too. Advertising is aimed at the primary buyer. When it comes to sunscreen, that's women.

But men certainly do understand the need for it (including my husband, a former ocean lifeguard and lifelong outdoor athlete).

So is the problem that men are not seeing enough sunscreen ads? Advertising researchers call this an "untapped" market. Could be. In approaching an "untapped" market, however, let's all remember that men aren't just one gelatinous lump, all receptive to the same message. Their motivators run the gamut of health, vanity, desire to be the family protector, or desire to continue on a 12-day backcountry excursion without wimping out because of sunburn.

So to the presumption, do men just not "get" it? No, I think any man who's ever had a lobster burn knows enough to wear sunscreen. And any father whose child has ever been sunburned becomes as much of a nag as mom (maybe more, because he'll also get crap from the mom if the sunburn occurred on his watch).

It's worth noting for the sake of message development, that for women, the point of sunscreen is (mostly) to avoid the effects of aging. For men, the point of sunscreen is to avoid the painful burn. And for both, it's clear that whatever your underlying motivation, you need to do this to ward off skin cancers.

Right on! The Man-As-Idiot premise should never have survived beyond one campaign. Here are a number of other brainless concepts that truly annoy, via Commercials I Hate:

The List of Advertising Offenses

The Montana Meth Project ad campaign has gotten nationwide attention for its horrific imagery and effectiveness. The campaign continues:

Montana Meth prevention ads

Maybe they won't see the light of day, but certainly they'll bask for a while in that eerie middle-of-the-night glow of ad geeks viewing these online:

Mash-up TV spots killed by Dr Pepper:
Music-heavy commercials cost $5 million to produce

CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- Cadbury Schweppes spent $5 million producing a Dr Pepper TV campaign that now won't see the light of day.

The marketer has quietly canned an elaborate "mash-up" campaign from famed director Kinka Usher that mixes music from Kiss, Will Smith, EMP and Cyndi Lauper, and ordered up new creative to be produced before the crucial Memorial Day kickoff to soft-drink season. The company attributed the switch to a new strategy.

'Different strategies'

"From last year into this year we had some different strategies that changed," a spokesman said. Now, Y&R, San Francisco, is moving forward on a new campaign concept.

The shelved spots were from the WPP Group agency's New York office, which hired music licensing firm Thwak, New York, to mix tunes together to accompany morphing visuals. The effort's aim was to play up the notion that Dr Pepper has 23 flavors that make up its unique taste and used the tagline "There's more to it." One executive close to the marketer said Cadbury had spent up to $5 million in production costs for the effort, much of it in securing rights for the music. Thwak, Usher Films and Y&R all referred calls to Cadbury.

Full article at AdAge.com (register free to view): See the mash-up TV spots killed by Dr Pepper