VERY sucessful campaign by Mac

There aren't too many ad campaigns out there that can match the quality and positive reception that Mac commercials have had for the past 5 or so years. They have made owning a Mac cool, and branded PC's as faulty and lame. When Vista started having problems, they immediately jumped all over it. Microsoft attempted to counter their ads, but they just came off as 'me too!' and failed miserably. The iPod commercials/campaign have also been incredibly popular. So much so that the actual product (mp3 player) is known better as an iPod.

The style of both is very simple. Both feature white (Mac) or neon coloured (iPod) solid backgrounds with solid dark figures in the foreground. Although this technique has been done to death before and since, it is for good reason.

If only Mac laptops didn't cost twice the amount of a similarly featured HP notebook.

AIDS (tagline) "Makes us all equal"

This ad definitely speaks to me, and I think is a great example of seeing O'Gorman's class concepts in the real world. Recognizing how the Kickstart techniques are used in "real life" has been a great experience.

I just came across this ad and think its amazing. We have a play on words, metaphor, storytelling, as well as graphic content that really hits home. Essentially, anyone and everyone is affected by AIDS, even badass superheroes like Wonder Woman.

A Commercial by the REAL Bernardi

This is a commercial that I made for ENGL/DAC 202 a couple years ago. The class was about the same size as this one, in groups of 3 we made three videos over the term. This was the second one; we were asked to make a 30 second clip for the UW store, without using sound and incorporating the BookStore logo in some way. It was a competition between all groups, and ours won (the prize? It was streamed on TVs around campus and a $20 gift card at the UW Store!!)

Because we couldn't use sound, we wanted something very visually stimulating so we decided on making a stop-motion technique. That 10 seconds of me getting dressed took almost 2 hours of standing still, and almost 2500 photos. It really gave me appreciation for movies like Team America and other examples of the kind. This was my favourite course of taken at UW, and I wish I had the oppurtunity to take more.

A Commercial by (another) Bernardi

This was a commercial my older brother (currently in advertising as art director at agency in Montreal) made while in graduate school in Atlanta.

It was made by him and a friend. I couldn't find a direct link to the video, but if you click 'Create your day' and then 'View full day' his commercial will play. I thought the commercial was awesome, but obviously I'm pretty unbiased. I think it does a good job at using white space as everything on screen (background, shirt) are white, and objects are always bold coloured and so the actions shown stand out more.

while we're plugging people/things (eh Stephanie),, his website is http://www.andrewbernardi.com/

FLATPAK

What does this post have to do with our class or blog....nothing I can immediately think of....maybe the growing popularity of the environmentalist movement advertisers have thrust open western society, making things like FLATPAK a fad? Possibly, with the economic downturn, FLATPAK is the simplistic way of the future?! I don't know, I don't care....I think FLATPAK is fucking cool.

Check out their website. http://www.flatpakhouse.com/ If you are into interactive graphic design/website design, this baby is snazzy. If you like what you see, click http://www.flickr.com/photos/flatpakhouse/ for more.

PS - Did I just say snazzy?

Speaking of Commercials...

Have any of you seen this commercial?! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6tlzQyjyao

I love it! It's been stuck in my head all week. I find myself singing "Boomdiadah" "Boomdiadah" "Boomdiadah" in the shower, doing my homework, cooking dinner, brushing my teeth....Would this classify as an ad that gets you thinking after the fact...not necessarily cropping out/zooming in on an object and asking the reader to connect the dots...but something that leaves you wanting more...a catchy jingle or that crap-tastic zune ad...I wished we looked at more Barq's type ads in class. There's a lot to be said in terms of "creative" advertising for commercials....boomdiadah, boomdiadah, boomdiadah....

ZUNE AD - Another Microsoft Failure

What are they thinking down at Microsoft. COMPLETELY retarded. I don't know why they keep trying to be something they are not.....Microsoft is not COOL. I find this ad completely disgusting...I can't figure out what category it fits into...metaphor for "releasing your creativity." Ew...I'm cringing thinking about the "release."

I HATE THIS AD. PROCEED WITH CAUTION.
http://adsoftheworld.com/blog/ivan/2008/nov/20/zune_wtf