THESCRAPBOOK

Wow. This is exactly how NOT to do it. Garnier has taken the embarrassment stakes in advertising to a whole new level. Memphis Bleek, by the way, has taken hip hop to an even more disgusting level. In contrast to the more subtle moves that Chris Brown and Wrigley’s made, this new “music video” (sorry, but it’s an advert through and through) for Garnier Fructis has really riled me.

I thought that the worst thing was in fact that it was getting so many plaudits from the YouTube community… what’s even worse is that now I’m actually suspicious of them; they’re probably planted comments:

“ahh, id put this on my ipod, and upload the video–this video is freakn amazing! [sic]”

“Awesome!!!! 5 stars! This is the most creative ad I’ve ever seen. The song is something I’d buy for my iPod. Te video is great. I want some Garnier. [sic]“

I think the agency involved should be shot. I wonder if it was Translation Advertising… Memphis Bleek is on Rock-A-Fella after all. How funny if that were the case…

As ThreeBillion says, “Fructis? Fructdat.”

Thanks Ruby.

Here’s some much better music and marketing - N.E.R.D, Julian Casablancas and Santogold.

Slow posting this one!
My good friend Amar pointed ‘Made in Queens’ out to me yonks ago and it looks most excellent! The picture above says it all really - NY kids strapping speakers to BMXs - ingenious.

Read more over at the daily read - Creative Review blog.

The new Beijing Olympic Pictograms reminded me that there’s a load of really really nice images over at the Otl Aicher pool on flickr. Otl pictograms from the 72 munich olympics are the ones above obviously…

Fitzrovia, where else, is the site of Monocle’s first newsagent sponsorship deal. The new-look Charlotte Street News bears the magazine’s livery inside and out: a signature awning protects browsers from the vagaries of the UK weather, and slick Monocle-black strips divide the shelves of titles within - making for a smarter way to consume printed matter. (their words, not mine. Can you tell?)

Axel Peemoeller’s design and graphics site is crazy, but the application of visual dimensions painting in a practical way is rather a genius move. What’s the name of the artist that developed this perspective art originally? Anyone know?

More images of the car park here

I’m sure that there’ll be less articles on TheScrapBook about new clothes and things, and perhaps more about the effects of the credit crunch on marketing and design, as time goes on. Here’s my first!

Contagious has an interesting article about recession marketing that mentions Nike’s new Zoom Victory shoe. Not only is this a great technological innovation in the construction of the shoe, but it’s a way for their business to retain some money otherwise spent in production.

Fast Company magazine examines the emerging innovations related to the Olympics, and mentions particularly the Nike Zoom Victory. By dispensing with the elements previously needed to hold a sneaker together (stitching, material) in favour of a ‘flywire’ suspension bridge design with merely a coating of fabric, the shoes weigh in at less than a chocolate bar. What’s more, because the design is so pared down, the Nike team can use rapid prototyping to design and manufacture unique versions in a fraction of the time that it would take to knock up a regular sneaker.

What this means is that the Zoom Victory’s cheaper production process could enable Nike to shift some of its manufacturing out of China and back to its home in the United States, thus creating jobs in an otherwise exhausted marketplace.

Any business opportunity for a client that not only cuts costs, but potentially earns them an income and revenue stream is surely onto a winner.

For more on Credit Crunch marketing, check out Contagious’ other article on how consumers might act in a recession and what the opportunity is for us - most notably, apparently, for packaging designers!

R&B singer Chris Brown has a top 10 hit out at the moment called “Forever”. The chorus has the line “Double your pleasure/double your fun” - sound familiar?

“Forever” is an extended version of a new Doublemint jingle written by Chris Brown and scheduled to begin airing next month in 30-second spots for Wrigley’s green-packaged chewing gum. Turns out that Chris Brown is hired by ad agency Translation Advertising to update the images of three of Wrigley’s best-known brands. It’s a product placement scheme, and all the artists are looking at sampling sounds from previous Wrigley’s advertising jingles.

I thought this was nothing new, but the Wall Street Journal and PSFK both seem surprised enough to deem it newsworthy. Maybe the only surprise is that someone’s releasing Chris Brown singles… or more seriously that whilst Busta Rhymes’ hit “Pass the Courvoisier” was an unashamed nod towards a brand, this time round it’s actually been paid for in advance by Wrigley’s to promote Double Mint. More on “Push the Courvoisier” here. DJ Premier, Nas, KRS-One and Kanye’s hit “Classic” was commonly accepted as a clear push for Nike (the song’s an homage to the Air Force One shoe). And what about the deal between Bacardi and Groove Armada?

The most interesting thing about this appears to be that Jay Z is behind it all (surprise surprise!) as he’s a partner in Translation Advertising - read the New York Times article for more!

Read At Work:

Dont Click It

Two great websites that deserve to be here on TheScrapBook. Play with them yourself to appreciate what they’re all about!

Clever data capture opportunity from Absolut, following on from the infomercial we showed last week.

The copy says:

• Press 1 to begin the registration process to become a groupie
• Press 2 to join Kanye’s absolutely fabulous entourage
• Press 3 for the absolute summertime cocktail
• Press 4 for the BeKanye tablet, which “unleashes the superstar within” and “turns you into Kanye West for a few hours or the rest of your life” (more at www.bekanyenow.com)
• Press 5 to be directly connected to Kanye West’s cell phone

Each option asks you to put in your phone number, but to what extent will people be irritated by this coming from a brand, Absolut? I think not too much, given the type of brand that it is. It’s more akin to Groove Armada and Bacardi’s relationship in my opinion - alcohol is a social lubricant, viral ads are conversation starters, and Kanye West is a party animal. Sounds good in my experience!

Have we posted this before? Can’t remember! Click the images to view the film

It’s in the same vein as Designer Slash Model