BMW seeks opinionated porsche drivers.

With the luxury car market facing declining sales, it has become more important than ever to attract new buyers rather than just up-selling existing drivers. Unfortunately, BMW's competitors in this price bracket ­ like Porsche ­ tend to have fiercely loyal customers. Previous attempts to contact these conquest prospects had achieved dismal response rates. Subvert the traditional car launch process and ask prospects to review the car ahead of journalists. They sent Porsche drivers a mysterious package containing an mp3 player. There was no branding on the pack - the only clue was the German postmark. The mp3 message (in authentic German accent) spoke to people individually by name and invited them on a top-secret sneak preview test drive. Respondents were chauffeured one by one to a private airport, where they unveiled the new BMW X6 and recorded their comments on camera. They filmed each person with a dashboard camera as they put the X6 through its paces on the runway, and then edited the footage so that each driver had their own personal review on DVD. The most satisfying result was capturing Porsche drivers on camera raving about BMW. But the results also stacked up from a numbers point of view. A staggering 72% of these completely cold prospects said YES to a test drive. This was the most overwhelming response BMW has ever had in New Zealand. So overwhelming, in fact, that they had to stop mailing when they were only halfway through the list.

Nice shirt there, ya shill

In times of economic turbulence, one must think of new and creative ways to make a buck. This guy has found one.

Pitching it to the client would be an interesting experience.

Apples on apples

I say apple you think what? Fruit? An entire system of computing that mercilessly mocks non-apple aficionados? What if we put both together?

An owner of a Fuji apple orchard printed up custom stickers of iPods and the Apple logo. He put the stickers on his Fuji apples while they were still young and on the trees. A month later after the apples had matured, he removed the stickers.

As you can see the lack of sun reaching the apple cause them to keep the stickers original design.

Clean, safe, environmentally-friendly, green, eco, whatever the hell it's called. It's brilliant.

Now what to put on those watermelons next year?

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But then how will I get to do my newspaper wraps?

It's looking like there's going to be more room to maneuver on the streets of our fair city. Newspaper boxes seem to be going the way of the buffalo.

For all those of you of a digital bent, this does not signify the imminent demise of print. It's a re-alignment of priorities. That and the damn things are always in the way.

Oh and there's going to be some new super-boxes coming soon, thanks to Astral Media.

HSBC "Origamy"

A marketing stunt for HSBC Bank in Australia wasn't only cute but also gave people more information about the various banking services. They basically printed 5 original Origami instructions on the back of ATM receipts, something their customers may keep and talk about to their friends.

Christmas Card Making Machine.

The “Christmas Card Making Machine” is an over-sized Christmas card display in the London agency’s front window. The card houses two large screens showing a scrolling chain of 12 characters. When passers-bys stand in the footprints outside the window, the installation captures their image and embeds their face on a character, which then joins the chain. The ever-growing chain can be viewed at www.christmascardmakingmachine.com, where users can also create their own Christmas cards.

Hmmm. Where to put this under the tree...

Print may be on the way out, but hey, at least it's going out in style. Haute style.

Presenting the Visionaire Goyard Trunk. The $150,000 US way to store your collection of those unbelievably cool design/art/culture/style/marketing magazines. Go ahead, spoil yourself. You deserve it.

Ever wanted to meet an underwear model?

Well now you can! But only if you live in Switzerland. Damn Swiss and their marketing ploys. And watches. And chocolate.

Enviro Friendly Tie fighter

I though this was cool, it's all made from starbucks junk. If you are spending $5 each on coffee purchases, you may as well build a Tie fighter.

http://www.wired.com/culture/design/magazine/16-11/pl_create

Apply Here - World's first napkin book.

In German Advertising there is a lack of talented young copywriters. BBDO took up the challenge and started to recruit literature students as junior copywriters. The objective was to get job applications from an exciting, new source of talent. On the one hand the creative execution should come across as a spontaneous drawing on a napkin, done by somebody bored while he or she was having lunch at the cafeteria. While on the other hand, the self-drawn illustrations, with the handwritten typopgraphy, should show how much effort was put in producing this special medium for recruiting new Junior Copywriters at BBDO. In order to reach the literature students, they decided to scribble their message on a napkin. “The world’s first napkin book” was created. The students picked it up in the campus cafeteria along with their lunch. The napkin book celebrates love of the written word and how one can make it their profession. BBDO Düsseldorf received over a hundred job applications from interested, young literature students. This was 15 times greater than the previous months’ total applications. The agency was introduced to fresh talent who, without this promotion, never would have considered working in advertising.

Print? Dead.

Why is it that print is being called dead. Again. And again. Is it really going to go the way of the Dodo? Will all those millions in the world who don't know what a blog is much less read one miss ink on paper? That is of course assuming that they all have access to the net. In the jungle. Or the desert. Or their electricity-free village.

Once again the grave is being dug, the flowers are being ordered and the death notice is being set in type...I wonder which newspaper will print the notice that print is dead?

MacDonald's & Coke - "Escalator & Stairs"

Regular Cola was advertiser to people using stairs and Coke Light to those who chose the escalator.

Consumed from the New York Times

"Consumed," appears weekly in The New York Times Magazine, looks at consumer behavior from a dual business/anthropology point of view.

Each column discusses a new product and/or consumer trend. Everything in Consumed already has some kind of recognition with some group of consumers; Rob Walker's column attempts to understand what consumers are responding to in that product, which can be anything from a trademark to design to a pricing structure.

Rob Walker is the author - here's his site with the archives.

Activi-tea

Here's a very unique promotion for a high-end teashop in Europe. Imagine doing the die-cutting?

Does Suicide Sell?

The new campaign for Pepsi Max is certainly asking that question. BBDO in Dusseldorf is running an ad for the latest carbonated syrup combination and it's generating a lot of commentary. So, is it spot on the brief or does it mock a very painful thing?

here

here

Credit cards - the next medium for art?

100 cards, 100 designers.

Given that more and more companies and organizations are bringing out their own affinity cards, having something in your wallet that is more art than commerce would be a nice feeling.

Imagine having a card done by Banksy, or Dali or Monet. No more maple leaves or hinterland who's who on my card please.