“The brief was to produce a retail-driven campaign for the Polo range that ‘moved metal’ and built the brand – basically to advertise a good price without detracting from the emotional aspects of brand equity. We also know that in this tough economic climate, creativity cuts through and gets results,” says Ogilvy Cape Town Managing Director, Gavin Levinsohn, on the campaign his agency created for Volkswagen Polo. The campaign comprises of two 25-second TV commercials, two print ads, online, e-mailers and dealer advertising.
Thirteen floors of support for Lions Super 14 rugby team
Auto & General Insurance has wrapped its thirteen-floor head quarters in Richmond, Johannesburg with a 1862.22m² graphical tribute to the Lions Super 14 rugby team. Printing the massive sticker took 84 straight hours on Media Foundry’s HP Scitex Exel 1500 printer and, applying it to the surface of the building took two weeks. A crew of four people, three in the gondola and one at street level, were involved in the installation, meticulously applying the sticker using squeegies while suspended at heights of up to 45 metres off the ground.
A (counter) counterfeit campaign
With times as tough as they are and counterfeiting spiralling out of control, below-the-line specialist agency, Mick&Nick spotted an opportunity to tap into an urban truth and drive a powerful value message from Look&Listen.
Empty DVD covers were handed out to motorists at intersections notorious for their pirate DVD activity.
Creative Director: Nick Liatos
Phil Collins and the candy selling Gorilla
The rather conservative image of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk chocolate in South Africa is getting an update with this ad featuring a neck-clicking, drum-playing primate (the campaign ran in the UK during 2007 and later made it to New Zealand, Australia and Canada).
Says Cadbury Group Marketing Director Geoff Whyte: “Rather than telling people that eating Dairy Milk chocolate is a moment of joy we are using our new campaign to share a moment of joy with them.”
The new commercial is set to the classic Phil Collins number ‘In the air tonight’ and the Gorilla lets rip on the track’s famous drum solo.
Post updated April 17, 2009
Egyptian mummies in the Cairo Museum: 24. Egyptian mummies in the British Museum: 300.
Where did the content go?
MarkLives received a cease and desist letter from AETN, parent company of The History Channel, demanding we remove advertising material for The History Channel from this site. For the record, the campaign in question was submitted by Multichoice agency Ogilvy Johannesburg, along with the information in the copy still below to MarkLives.com who published it in good faith.
The AETN letter read in part; “AETN is the owner of numerous trademarks associated with its History network, including the world famous marks THE HISTORY CHANNEL and the H logo (which are the subject of numerous trademark registrations worldwide).
Neither the use and display of AETN’s trademarks nor the purported advertisements themselves were authorized by AETN. As such, your display and hosting of this unauthorized content violates our rights under relevant law and constitutes, among other things, trademark infringement, dilution and tarnishment of our brands and marks, misrepresentation, interference with contract, and unfair business practices.
We therefore demand that you immediate cease and desist from all use and display of AETN’s trademarks, and take all necessary action to remove, delete, and disable the identified content from your website.”
It seems we were not the only site targeted by AETNs lawyers. Adsoftheworld.com removed the material from their site on the same day MarkLives.com received the threat of legal action.
MarkLives.com showcases great South African design. We believe in fair use. We believe in creative freedom and that governments and corporations have erred in insisting in ever tightening copyright laws. It stifles creativity and innovation rather than promoting it. Some laws are needed but we have allowed ourselves to be boxed in by greed and short-sightedness. Everything has to be inspired by something and piracy to our minds should be the primary concern of these laws rather than the diminishment of fair use.
Today corporations think they control calendar years – think 2010 – or letters of the alphabet. It has gone too far.
For the record we believe corporate lawyers are increasingly a threat to freedom of speech and therefore to constitutional democracy. They no longer have to win cases, only draw it out until under funded media independents go broke, as have been explained to me by one such lawyer trying to close down another unrelated article (in the end they failed).
Normally we would stand firm against such editorial interference. However, in an email to AETS, Ogilvy Johannesburg and MarkLives.com, Graham Pfuhl, Marketing and Sales Director at Multichoice, stated that the campaign in question was in fact rejected by Multichoice, and confirmed “no History Channel ads can be published without the prior authorization of AETN.”
Would an ad agency really go ahead and produce a campaign without some sort of authorisation? The point remains unclear as no official correspondence was received from Ogilvy Johannesburg at the time of publication.
While awaiting feedback from Ogilvy, we do believe everybody has a right to put their case after all, and having informed AETN of this fact, they sent us another note stating “We do not understand why, now that you have actual knowledge that this content was unauthorized, you continue to post it and to point to Ogilvy as the source, and this notwithstanding Ogilvy’s clarifications to you and apologies to AETN [Ogilvy has not yet publicly responded, only Multichoice has – ed]. We are sure that you realize that your continued actions subject you to liability regardless of who provided you the content or the circumstances of that delivery.”
This hard headed stance once it was clear that MarkLives.com had no malicious intent in publishing the images (they might be uninformed of this point in South African law) and that we needed some time to allow all the affected parties to respond should weigh heavily on AETN. The profound disrespect shown for proper journalistic practise in a country whose democracy is only 15 years old and where good media practice should be encouraged tells us much of the limiting stands corporations often seek out.
In the end MarkLives decided to remove the content in question though the ads can still be viewed elsewhere on the Web (mostly on Russian language sites it seems). Meanwhile the debate the ads sparked on other advertising sites, particularly Adsoftheworld and mostly around the perceived anti-American stance the ads take and from which we guess The History Channel wanted to disassociate itself has been cut short, brutally and effectively.
Herman Manson
Editor – MarkLives.com
George Orwell once observed that: “History is written by the winners.” This thought proves only too true when looking at little known facts of history, when compared to more well-known facts, especially in the realms of conflict, conquest and civilization. Every story has two sides. In keeping with the History Channel’s slogan of “Know the story” Ogilvy Johannesburg created a campaign that showed well-known historical facts alongside lesser-known facts that are in direct relation.
The campaign was featured in national newspapers and magazines and in-store at outlets selling DStv, the satellite network that broadcasts the History Channel in South Africa.
Art Director: Mike Martin, Kamohelo Chakela
Copywriter: Alison Hingle
Creative Director: Mike Martin, Jonathan Beggs
Executive Creative Director: Gerry Human, Fran Luckin
Model Maker: Greg
Photographer: Stock, David Prior
Retoucher: Grant Moore
Account Manager: Sharleen James
Client Representative: Lafedi Maja, Graham Pfuhl
Behind the trillion dollar billboard
Conceptualised and created by TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris, these billboards and posters for The Zimbabwean newspaper were made entirely of worthless Zimbabwean bank notes. The billboard is made up of trillions and trillions and trillions worth of Zim dollar notes, which worked out to be cheaper than using paper.
The campaign was designed to raise awareness regarding the plight of The Zimbabwean newspaper. The newspaper, the brainchild of journalists driven into exile, is committed to providing independent and fair comment on Zimbabwe to Zimbabweans, and has had a ‘luxury’ import duty of over 55% added to it by the current Zimbabwean government, thus making it unaffordable to the average Zimbabwean citizen.
Art Directors: Shelley Smoler, Nadja Lossgott
Copywriter: Raphael Basckin
Creative Directors: Nicholas Hulle
Executive Creative Director: Damon Stapleton
Why the Digital Going is Good in Bad Times!
The forthcoming Net Prophet event (May 14th) will be available free of charge to delegates registering online. The event aims to change the way consumers and professionals alike view the Internet business opportunities currently available to them.
One high profile speaker at this year’s event is well known and respected owner of World Wide Worx, Arthur Goldstuck, whose keynote address entitled ‘Why the Digital Going is Good in Bad Times’ is already generating much discussion among Internet business networks. Other Net Prophets speaking at the event include Herman Heunis, CEO of Mixit, social media specialist, Mike Stopforth, Hannes van Rensburg, founding member of Fundamo, Dave Duarte of Huddleminds and Peter Flynn, MD of White Wall Web to name but a few.
The event is free to attend but delegates must register online at www.netprophet.org.za to secure their seats.
New competition for ad agencies aim to demystify mobile ad jargon
Vodacom Mobile Media has launched the Vodacom Mobile Advertising (MAD) Challenge, specifically designed to educate, inform and entertain advertising and media agencies about the power of mobile advertising through interaction with mobile platforms and services.
“The very pace at which the mobile arena has grown is its undoing. It has simply developed too quickly, leaving us unsure of what cellphones can offer not only in terms of personal use, but particularly as a marketing medium,” says Rick Joubert, head of Vodacom Mobile Advertising. “The vast majority of advertising and media agencies know the facts and figures about the rise and rise of the mobile market. And they have a basic understanding of the marketing opportunities. But they will never understand the real power of the medium that lies in their target market’s hands until they experience it for themselves. The MAD Challenge will allow them to do just that.”
Participants register to play and over the campaign period take part in a series of missions that simultaneously educate them about the various mobile advertising propositions offered by Vodacom and at the same time demystify the jargon.
Players compete for a range of exciting prizes worth more than R500 000, including iPhones, idyllic holidays in Mauritius and Zanzibar as well as mobile media spend.
For more information, and to register to participate, go to the website www.madchallenge.net, the mobisite www.vodacom.me/mad or simply SMS MAD to 33998 (R1.50 per SMS).
Minimalism can never be true to itself.
MarkLives has been featuring the work of Alistair Palmer over the last week and a half. His work revolves around design and art. Alistair believes that minimalism can never be true to itself. There will always be more to subtract.
Jesus vs. Pope? Animated battle over condom a pop culture hit
The Pope says condoms are bad. Patrick Boivin thinks this is what Jesus would do…
Via Patrick Boivin