David&Goliath

David&Goliath, L.A.

As far as viral videos goes, this one is not my favorite. Other viral videos that I've seen are catchy, and showcase someone doing something cool, such as the Guitar Hero bike riding spot done by Droga5. this video seems to portray this brand and it's patrons as reckless and immature. Though their target market of teens and skater-type people may find this amusing, the population at large may not react this way, especially if this is their first impression of the brand in general. Also, the comments say that the roaches were plastic, but if they weren't, then they can't say that animals weren't hurt during the production of this spot.

StrawberryFrog

StrawberryFrog, New York

At first glance, this app sort of freaked me out; life-sized fetal development images seems a bit much for me, but maybe that's because I can't even think of having a baby right now. Feelings about the application aside, I feel like the development of this app, it's features, and how they're promoting it says a lot of about where we are now, technology-wise. This application was developed by Pampers, is being promoted for Apple's new product, and can be used in conjunction with Facebook. It just goes to show that the world is really all bout staying connected via the internet now, especially when friends can view the growth of your baby on Facebook.

72 and Sunny

72 and Sunny, L.A.

The cool thing about this spot is that 72 and Sunny found a way to promote basically every TV show on the Discovery Channel without resorting to the typical "Tune in at 7/ 8 Central" message. Instead, they were able to leave viewers with a higher sense of self, a "Yeah, I'm proud to be alive and love that there are so many things wonderful to live for" feeling. Two birds with one stone: accomplish the task of promoting a Cable TV station while being able to appeal to virtually every type of audience member.

Mother

Mother, London

Most of the time when I see nudity in an ad, it's done so distastefully, i.e. bottled water ad with Jennifer Aniston posing topless; nothing was revealed, but still. It's bottled water, so really? Anyway, here I feel like this is a celebration of the inner athele, and humans' natural ability. I was shocked at first because people being naked for Powerade is no different than Jennifer Aniston being naked for bottled water, but I don't know, I guess this grew on me. The term "Innergear" tied it all together and made it about more than just being nude.

Droga5

Droga5, New York

This spot for Rhapsody was a little disappointing compared to Droga's other work. Using celebrities here was relevant, but I feel like they didn't to anything with it; Jay-Z got a nice check for making a "music video". When I saw this, I immediately compared it to Jay-Z's commercial for HP Personal:

There was more interaction and it felt more personal. More than Jay-Z's image was borrowed, making this commercial feel more genuine. I did, however, like Droga's work for Guitar Hero (the bike), and their Tap Project, the Rhapsody spot just didn't meet the bar set by their other work.

Taxi

Taxi, Toronto

The cool thing about this billboard is that it went through phases; as time went on, the billboard was essentially pushed over to look like the block of "cheese" was getting smaller and smaller because it was being grated. It's refreshing to see the medium of billboards used in a creative way. I can just imagine driving by this billboard many time expecting it to be the same, then being pleasantly surprised by the clever use of a billboard. Once again, it's nice to see agencies advertise "boring" products in a creative way.

Cramer-Krasselt

Cramer-Krasselt, Milwaukee

Yet another product that seems boring to advertise. Here, Cramer-Krasselt took kitchen supplies and made them fun yet informative. The use of arrows to label the points of interest in the product seems like an overused idea, but I feel like here it was necessary; Pyrex wanted to showcase why their new products are more useful and revolutionary, so with a print ad, there aren't too, too many ways to get this done. Sure Cramer could have been more creative on that front, but I think that the overall feel of the ad made up for it.