creative advertising from tokyo

This is an advertising method I came across that is from Tokyo, Japan.  If you can't tell from the picture, the clothing store has put clothes up on the mirror so that a shopper can simply walk up and get an idea for how the clothes would look on them. 
I have never seen this done before and I thought it was very clever.  As someone who shops a bit, I can attest to the fact that sometimes people are hesitant to spend time in a store because they are unsure how anything will look on them, and don't want to waste time and energy trying things on if they aren't sure they'll look good.
I could definitely see myself using this feature at stores if they utilized it...it would let me know if I liked the outfits enough to try them on.  Mannequins are generally what are used to showcase what an outfit will look like...they are the "dominant code."  However I think this method might has that method beat.  Not only can a shopper see what the outfit would look like, but he/she could see what it would look like on them.  This could possibly be an emerging code in shopping display and advertisement.  I hope to see this kind of clever and functional advertising in the United States soon.  I think it would make shopping more fun and enjoyable than I already find it.

shopping bag ad

I have discussed a lot of print ads from magazines and I have discussed a few commercials, but not too many ads that are in other places.  These shopping bag ads are brilliant.  I love the unexpected and quirky nature of them.  The sophistication of their simplicity blended with the creativity of the concept makes for an intriguing effect. 
Putting an ad on a shopping bag in the first place is smart because a shopper will carry it around as long as they are shopping, allowing a lot of different audiences to see it.  It moves, whereas a billboard can't.  A drawback though, is that eventually the shopper will take the bag home and either throw it away or shove it in the back of their closet, never to be seen again.  A billboard is stationary, but at least it is durable.
Given that the ad will probably only be seen in a small window of time, it does a great job of demanding attention right away.  The stark contrast of the black and white is already eye-catching.  Then once your eye is attracted, it notices that there's something strange about the image, and it takes a second or two to figure it out.  The handle is the jump rope....cool!  It's clever, it's quirky, and it will put a smile on  the face of whoever sees it.  There is the simple brand on the bottom reading, "YKM" which is easy enough for the consumer to remember it.  They will remember seeing the clever ad, and hopefully go to YKM the next time they need athletic gear.

knife ad

I like this advertisement because it reminds me that simplicity can be good.  It also reminds me of a chapter I read in "Hey Whipple, Squeeze This," where the author talks about writing down all of the benefits and characteristics of the product, and making a list.  Once you have the list, pick some characteristic to focus on, and come up with another list, full of different ways to say it.  In this case, the characteristic of the knife being advertised is obviously the strength/sharpness of the knife.  Rather than telling the audience that the knife is sharp, this advertiser simply showed them. 

Having said that I like the simplicity, I actually think it would have been stronger if they had left out "stronger than you think."  I don't think that text was necessary.  Obviously the knife is stronger than the user thought, because they cut right through the wooden cutting board.  An ad's text should compliment an image, or make it better, or make it make sense when it wouldn't make sense otherwise.  This text is just redundant and fails to tell the audience anything new. 

Wash Your Balls!! Axe commercial

I saw a short version of this commercial on television a couple of weeks ago and then I never saw it again.  I'm pretty sure it was banned for obvious reasons.  I remember being surprised it was aired in the first place.  While I think it's absolutely hilarious, it probably does push the boundaries a little too far for general audience viewing.  Axe has the right idea though.  This commercial appeals to a generation that is unabashed by sexual innuendo.  We are the "that's what she said" generation, after all.  No one wants to see a boring commercial.  We love controversy, and even if you were offended by this commercial, you would probably still rather watch it than a Bob Rohrman commercial.  I know I would.  Advertising is all about getting the attention of viewers, readers, etc., and this commercial does just that.  Shock value is just one method of attention-grabbing and when done well it can be advertising gold.  This commercial though, as I said, probably went a little too far with the shock value and crossed the line into a bit vulgar.  Vulgarity has its place in our culture and it's in TV and movies intended for mature audiences only.  Having a commercial that flirts with that line between edgy and vulgar on the air where anyone can see it is probably not a good idea.

I love it when ads use a negative situation to advertise their product.  It's such a backwards way of promoting something.  Directly this ad is saying, use our headphones and you'll die because you won't hear the waterfall you're about fly off of.  Obviously Bose doesn't literally want people to die becasue they won't hear something dangerous coming.  However, the point of the ad is to demonstrate in an unexpected way that these are great noise-cancelling headphones.  It would be obvious, boring and expected to show someone wearing the headphones and smiling serenely while an obnoxious person is trying to talk to them, or if they were in a crowded, noisy waiting room.  Bose is giving the audience a break from the expected, and letting them enjoy the ad rather than just seeing it.  As I said, I just really enjoy ads when they come up with an outside-of-the-box way to demonstrate the benefits of a product.  This ad is actually showcasing the main benefit of the product as a bad thing--a dangerous thing even.  It's a more intelligent way to approach showcasing a benefit and I appreciate it because most ads are not so considerate to the bored audience that is the American consumer.

Artengo Tennis Shoes

This ad reminds me of a reading we did in class about coming up with clever concepts for ads.  The example was Kentucky Bourbon.  They decided the main selling point would be that aged whiskey is the best, and this particular brand is very very aged or slow.  So rather than just saying, this bourbon is slow, the author tried to think of other things that are slow and turn the concept into something clever and interesting.  The same sort of thing is going on in this ad.  The main selling point of the shoe is its shock absorbency.  So the author probably thought, "okay, when is it important to have shock absorbency...what else is shock absorbent?"  Packaging for expensive, fragile things has to absorb all kinds of shock in order to protect its contents.  So the advertiser cleverly placed the shoes around the Ming vase in place of traditional packaging to send a message to the consumer that these shoes will protect your joints the way packaging protects expensive vases.  I like this ad because I like when ads are sort of unexpected and put objects together that seem very strange and contradictory and make them make sense.

Personalized M&Ms

I really enjoy ads that take something ordinary and position it in a way that is unique and interesting.  This ad for personalized M&M's does just that.  There's subtle symbolism in the ad as well as a clever visual image.  You can send a message literally using a keyboard, and now you can send a message just as literally with M&M's.  It's not particularly deep symbolism, but it's still there.  The ad doesn't necessarily make me want to buy personalized M&M's, but I think it's clever.  So in some regards this isn't a particularly effective ad because it doesn't make me want to buy the product.  I like it when ads are sort of unexpected, and I think this ad is unexpected in a great way.