They went and did it.

Ikea changed its overall font. After 50 years of Futura, they've gone over to the dark side and have begun using Verdana. The typography fanboys and girls are most upset.

Terminix "Roach"

All it takes is a small crack for a cockroach to enter your home.

Standard Bank "Home improvement envelope"

With a limited budget, Standard Bank requested a direct mail piece that would communicate the benefits of Access Bond to its current clients with existing home loans. Acces Bond gives clients access to the equity available in their bond. The money can then be tranferred into an Access Living card and used for a range of things, from home improvements to holidays. Using a simple envelope they conveyed the benefits of Access Bond to the recipient quickly and easily by using beuatiful illustration. As soon as the envelope is opened an additional room/level is added to the roof of house demonstrating the benefit of Access Bond in an immediate and visual way. Clients who received the mail were engeged and the unusual design on the envelope encouraged them to open the communication.

Lübbe & Co "Paper handkerchief book"

Bastei-Lübbe Verlag is the largest publisher of sappy romance novels in the German-speaking countries. One of its most prominent authors is best-selling American author Sasha Lord. Due to her enthralling romantic adventure novels, Sasha Lord has become one of the most successful international best-selling authors of her genre. “Across a Wild Sea”, yet another promising title from the Bastei-Lübbe publishing house, came out at the beginning of 2009. To promote the title, their customer wanted to have an extraordinary campaign that would do justice to the love story and significantly increase the number of pre-release orders. The number of people who read sentimental literature is very large – as is the number of titles competing for space on the market. In spite of this, Sasha Lord has over the course of the years written her way into readers’ hearts and defended her title as a best-selling author. Her readership and their expectations of her are enormous. So the most obvious thing to do was give readers what they want: emotions. With this promotional concept, they want to let the target audience know without a doubt that this title is best-selling author Sasha Lord’s most emotional work yet. The way that an excerpt of the material was presented was a good clue as to the tear-filled content of the novel: the first chapters of the tear-jerking book were printed as an exclusive preview on paper handkerchiefs. At first the weight and look of the excerpt makes it seem just like the real version of the book. Upon opening the hardcover however, the reader realises that a box of tissues is hidden inside the book. The pages of this box have the first chapter of the novel printed on them. This “pocket-handkerchief book” in a tissue box was sent to 200 publisher’s dealers and about 300 loyal readers. The response of regular readers addressed before publication was gigantic. 70% ordered the book directly from the publisher even before the official sales launch. The eye-catching advertising campaign caused sales to reach the level forecast for the whole month of January in just the first week! Bronze Cannes Lions Direct Winner.

Sexy Clube "The Don't Get Caught Mirror"

Sexy Clube, one of Brazil's top adult entertainment websites, wanted customers to renew their annual subscription. They developed a rearview mirror that fits the computer monitors and delivered it to their customers at home. This solved a major issue in their lives: to get gaught when watching adult content. Sexy Clube's contact center received hundreds of emails with compliments and thankful messages. Besides that, many blogs mentioned this as an innovative way of reaching adult content consumers. The number of resubscribers raised 23% compared to the same month of the year before.

Grey "Lite"

Grey Amsterdam has launched a new service, Grey Lite, to support clients through a tough financial year, with the help of the world’s smallest website. The Grey Lite service offers ‘small jobs, small prices’ to clients who are looking for extra-fast, extra-value services with the built-in high quality standards they have come to expect from Grey Amsterdam. To reflect the philosophy that good things can come in small packages, the service is launched with a website www.greylite.nl so small you need a magnifying glass to view it. The supporting direct mail campaign involves a brochure no bigger than a postage stamp - and the essential accompanying magnifying glass.

Victoria Bug Zoo.

The Victoria Bug Zoo is all about experiencing the world of insects and spiders. This TSA, made from a plastic sheet with hundreds of small magnifying lenses, allowed passersby to see through a bug’s eyes.

Neotel "The physical e-mail"

Using standard envelope direct mailing, they needed to interest a potential consumer base of 1,000 small to medium enterprises in a new and faster internet offering from Neotel. But how do you effectively sell new technology using good old standard postage? Instead of looking at flat mailing as a restrictive medium, they decided to take advantage of the medium's primary shortcoming - it takes days to reach its target audience. So that became the idea: Let's create an e-mail that takes days to arrive so as to illustrate just how slow their competitors are. Then sell Neotel as the faster solution.

Wordsworth Books "3D flyer"

Get consumers to walk into Wordsworth Bookstores and not their biggest competitor located in the same shopping mall. Using augmented reality technology, they illustrated how Wordsworth books bring stores to life. After entering a partnership with the iMac store, opposite their client's store in the mall, they handed out flyers to consumers, wich were "torn out pages" from Wordsworth books, that when held up to the Macs' webcams became animated. 3-Dimensional depictions of the words. Consumers loved how the page came to life, Wordsworth Books reported increased traffic in their stores for the duration of the promotion.

Save Our Seas "Warning"

100 million sharks are slaughtered by humans every year. By comparison, only 4 humans are attacked. This begs the question: Who is the real predator? They devised a warning sign for their client. It was stuck on the Two Oceans Aquarium shark tank and warned of the predators byond this point. However, it was printed "backwards" so that the warning was actually for the sharks. An overwhelming response from international and local visitors to date with international rollout planned.

Romani "Ecological Business Card"

Design a business card for an environmental consultant. Business cards are usually made of paper. But using paper, even recycled, is not good for the environment. To avoid this issue, the solution was to not print any card at all, but to create a rubber stamp and then "recycle" anything that is at hand (carton paper, cigarette packs, napkins, and other wastes) into business cards. The new "business card" communicates clearly what this proffesional offers: clever new ways of recycling, saving money and protecting the environment. More than a card it's a piece of communication.

Memac Ogilvy "Recession business cards"

With growing economic concerns and shrinking marketing budgets, they needed to tell clients and prospective clients that in spite of - indeed because of the recession, we are more relevant to them now. What they needed was a simple, cheap and effective way to do this. They created undersized business cards with appealing designs and thought provoking lines to drive potential clients to ogilvyonrecession.com; a website offering smart strategies to deal with downturn. The responses were overwhelming. Aside from being an engaging icebreaker with their desired audience - they had produced an insightful, relevant and targeted campaign, by saving rather than spending.

Action Medeor e.V. "Truck"

The goal was to develop a truck design that picks up the idea of the current campaign "Help in a package". The simulated three-dimensional graphic suggests that there is still room for your help. The truck drive 100.000 km (62.000 Miles) a year, most of it on highways. So the view of the simulated 3-D graphic is perfect for the situation. The truck is on the road since january 2009. Since then it had great exposure in national and local press.

Tüm Abbruch demolition company "Push Puppet"

The task was to create a direct mailing for the demolition company Tüm Abbruch to drive awareness and generate new business contacts. They created a "push puppet" building that dramatized Tüm Abbruch's core business in a very immediate, playful and memorable way. Due to long planning times in this sector they had to find an approach that "cut through" and guaranteed high recall rates. The results were outstanding. Overall 13,5% of the recipients responded via mail or direct phone calls. Most of them wanted an additional piece for their colleagues. New business targets were fully met.

Vodafone/Earth Hour "Fluorescent freecard"

Switch off the light one more time on March 28th between 20:30 and 21:30! Let this be your vote against global warming.

Vaude Outdoor Equipment "Extreme conditions"

Vaude. Equipment for extreme conditions.

Index Livingmall "Model Room Bags"

The Agust '08 catalogue for Index Livingmall, the furniture store, is introducing the index condo set. Instead of the typical catalogue, it's designed like a shopping bag. The different bag sizes represent the room spaces. With these "bags" the consumer can see the furniture and decor items fit in the condo space printed inside. The detachable items gives the consumer the experience of designing their own space. No doubt will these catalogue bags be the hottest items for Index.

Cadbury’s Creme Egg Twisted.

CMW unveils its new ‘Goo on the Loose’ campaign for the Creme Egg Twisted bar – the chaotic brother to the Cadbury Creme Egg. Activity begins with a direct mail ‘security strongbox’ sent to hardcore ‘Goo’ fans – who talk about the brand on social networking sites. The strongbox carries Twisted bars, however the recipient will spot an empty wrapper amongst the bars and a hole in the bottom where one has escaped. The recipient is then challenged to become an agent of the CIA (Cadbury’s Intelligence Agency) and track down the escaped bars. Online advertising of the Twisted bar creating mayhem will also direct potential agents to the site. Have a look: www.cremeeggtwisted.com

National Geographic "Jail set"

To promote a shock documentary series on day-to-day life in one of America's worst prisons. More than 30.000 place settings depicting a picture of a disgusting prison meal tray were distributed at lunchtime in Paris eateries and brasseries (restaurants). This ambient promotional campaign for the show generated far more attention than the press and poster campaign that was launched concurrently. The outcome? The chain achieved its highest viewing figures since its foundation in 2001. Many articles were written mentioning the operation in the French daily press and in French magazines.

Pantene OE

Media establishments received a variety of information on Pantene's latest products and most recent events in a branded envelope. The string that seals the envelope appears to be coming from the woman's hair on the flap. To seal or unseal it means putting pressure on the string effectively dramatizing strong hair.