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Australia Relieved as Theft of 33-Foot Mango Turns Out to Be a Marketing Stunt

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 03/04/2014 - 19:25

There's something about roadside advertising, from Hasslehoff cutouts to giant headphones, that turns drunk morons into thieves. But every now and again, someone pulls off a heist that's so fantastic, it can only be a hoax. Thus was the case with the stolen giant mango at the center of Australia's "MangoGate." The 33-foot-tall mango was built 12 years ago at a cost of $90,000 to celebrate the city of Bowen's self-designation as the mango capital of Australia.

Home-Improvement Chain Makes Delightful Billboards by Fixing Up Small Parts of Buildings

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 03/04/2014 - 18:28

Here's some more great out-of-home work. German home-improvement chain OBI is advertising its renovation products by actually renovating homes. Well, parts of them. Ad agency Jung von Matt/Elbe measured out billboard-sized sections of run-down buildings and fixed them up—creating visually delightful billboards that really show the difference between before and after on an improvement project.

Mullen Adds MD to Its Los Angeles Office

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 03/04/2014 - 18:26

Automotive account leader Cameron McNaughton has been named managing director of the Los Angeles office of Mullen—a key hub for the agency's Acura account. McNaughton most recently was president at Hudson Rouge, a New York-based shop that WPP Group set up in December 2011 to handle Ford Motor’s Lincoln brand. McNaughton left last June and Mark LaNeve, the global chief operating officer of WPP's Team Detroit, asborbed the president's responsibilities. McNaughton's position at Mullen is new.

Ad of the Day: Why Chobani Got Real on the Most Fake Night of the Year

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 03/04/2014 - 17:51

Pitching the virtues of "real" is an intriguing marketing choice on Oscar night, the fantasy industry's biggest Botoxed evening of the year. Then again, contrast is the underlying theme of of Chobani's new ad from Droga5, promoting Simply 100, the Greek yogurt's entry into the light-yogurt segment. The Greek yogurt industry leader, which claims to be the only producer with all-natural ingredients, is a latecomer to low-calorie yogurt offerings, which are the fastest-growing dairy category.

Pizza Hut's Swipe-to-Order Table: Cool and Useful, or Gross and Inefficient?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 03/04/2014 - 16:51

If you've ever thought to yourself, "Man, choosing toppings for my pizza by talking to a waiter is so tedious and annoying—I sure wish I could smash my grimy hands all over this table to accomplish this insufferable task," well, you're in luck. Pizza Hut and Chaotic Moon Studios have teamed up to create a concept table that cuts out the terribly social process of customizing a pizza via your piehole. Instead, it allows you to design a masterpiece like you're a pizza Jedi or Tom Cruise in Minority Report.

Kids Dream of Being Racecar Drivers as Ogilvy Fine-Tunes Its Repositioning of Nascar

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 03/04/2014 - 14:08

IDEA: Astronaut? Firefighter? Movie star? All fine professions. But it's the dream of being a racecar driver that gets kids' pulses racing in many homes across America. A new 60-second Nascar ad from Ogilvy shows the sport's youngest fans talking about what they want to be when they grow up—and they end up describing their Nascar heroes pretty well. It's a fun and different way to leverage one of the sport's great assets—the star power of its drivers—while touching on the truth of how people become fans in the first place.

Is Diet Coke Dabbling in Drug References in Its Ads?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 03/04/2014 - 13:28

What has Diet Coke been snorting? In the way the tagline, "You're on," and logo are positioned, the brand's new ads seem to refer to drug use—appearing to spell out the phrase "You're on coke." The campaign, by Droga5 in New York, has been building considerable, um, buzz in the media and from consumers flocking to social media with mocking comments.

Google Turns Andrew Stanton's TED Talk Into an Inspiring Oscars Ad

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 03/03/2014 - 20:50

Those who stayed up to the (figuratively) bitter end of Sunday's Academy Awards telecast were treated to one of the strongest ads of the night—this one-minute spot from Google celebrating storytelling. The spot was all about young filmmakers learning the craft, but it was narrated by a master of the form—Pixar's Andrew Stanton, who knows a little something about stories, having written all three Toy Story movies, as well as Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, WALL-E and John Carter.