Style your garage

On even the most tastefully appointed of houses, garage doors tend to be drab and monochrome eyesores, designed apparently without even the smallest nod to aesthetics. A German company aims to change all that, however, with large-scale posters that transform the doors through highly realistic 3D images.

Style-your-garage.com's photo tarpaulins are available with a variety of motifs and images that are sure to cause neighbours, friends and passers-by to stop and stare. A photographic version of trompe l'oeil, some are designed to give the impression that unusual contents can be found in the garage, such as an airplane, race car or monster-sized kitty. Others aim to provide a glimpse of the world beyond the garage door, such as a Tuscan landscape or what seems to be the home's very own golf course. Another series, meanwhile, aims to give the garage door itself another look altogether, such as through a rustic wooden appearance. Consumers can also upload the digital image of their choice and have it turned into a customised photo tarpaulin. In fact, Style-your-garage.com invites consumers to submit ideas for new designs as well, and promises a share of the profits if their idea gets accepted. The company's posters are designed primarily for up-and-over garage doors but can be adapted for sectional or wing doors as well. Crafted from material similar to that used for truck tarpaulins, they are rip-proof, weather-proof and even come with a fire safety certificate. Special promotional pricing through the end of this month is EUR 169 for all but the customised styles.

Coming soon from Munich-based Style-your-garage.com are Style-your-window.com and Style-your-door.com. One—or two, or three—to get in on early...?

Website: www.style-your-garage.com

HP TouchSmart::: interactive billboard mexico city

Adidas:::Urban Art Guide

BRAND OWNER:Adidas Group

CATEGORY:Accessories/ Clothing/ Footwear

REGION:Germany

DATE:May 2009 - Dec 2008

MEDIA CHANNEL

Adidas has a strong association with street art and graffiti, with the brand having been inspired by the New York hip-hop and graffiti subculture in the 1980s. It wanted to pay homage to this heritage with a smartphone application.

Adidas came up with the Adidas Urban Art Guide to Berlin – an iPhone travel guide that lists Berlin’s best graffiti. Users download the application for free or visitwww.urbanartguide.de. The guide gives them access to a Google map of Berlin that is marked out with the locations of street art. The map can be navigated by a number of ways. Users can either “find artworks nearby”, take a tour of the city with “Tour Guide” or browse the cities art in a “gallery”. Users can click on each marked location to view images as well as information about the piece, the artist and further references. The application allows for users to comment and rate the art as well as upload their own pictures of the art which updates on the map.

Berlin is currently the only city on the Urban Art Guide's map, but plans are underway to develop similar guides for other cities

McDonald's:::Tourists are lovin’ it…

McDonald's Piccadilly Circus

BRAND OWNER:McDonald's Corporation

CATEGORY:Food

REGION:UK

DATE:Apr 2009 - Dec 2008

Piccadilly Circus is London's equivalent of Times Square - right at the heart of the city and filled with brands digital billboards, each clamouring for attention. Some 1.1 million Londoners and tourists pass through each week. McDonald’s tends to have a presence there, but wanted to create a more interactive experience and encourage people to specifically photograph the brand’s ad and then share the photographs.
McDonald's therefore launched an interactive sign where passers-by can interact with images displayed on McDonald's giant LED screen, and visitors can take an interactive role at one of London's most photographed locations. 

A series of images ranging from hats to speech bubbles, to idea clouds are shown on the giant LED screen billboard. People in Piccadilly circus can then position themselves to make it look as though they are wearing a hat, saying something or having an idea. People are then encouraged to post up their photos to Flickr or Facebook

McDonald's has long been the friend of weary tourists whose enthusiasm for the local cuisine has been exhausted by one dietary novelty too many...
But now that relationship has gone one step further, with the launch of a new 'interactive' billboard in London's Piccadilly Circus. The giant LED sign displays a rolling selection of images which invite camera-happy tourists to strike a pose with the props on screen.

Some of these have a British theme - an open umbrella and a city gent's bowler hat - while others are just about inviting participation - a birthday cake with candles you can pretend to blow out, a hammer that seems to beat you over the head, a strongman barbell you can hold triumphantly aloft.

The YouTube clip above shows the idea in action and the magnetic appeal it has to tourists... how many go on to eat a McDonald's burger after painstakingly lining up their shot has not yet been established but we're SO tempted to send someone down there to follow that up!  Participants can also upload their snaps to a dedicated Flickr group, set up to corrall all those happy memories into one big experience-extending gallery and ensure that the event remains public long after the holidaymakers go back home.

Inventive stuff from Leo Burnett! 

Flickr group 

Disneyland :::A platform for children's dreams

BRAND OWNER:Disney
CATEGORY:Sport/Leisure
REGION:France
DATE:Apr 2007 - Jul 2007

Disney is famed for creating magical experiences for children, and wanted to do something special to celebrate the 15th anniversary of Disneyland in Paris in 2007. The 15th Anniversary Celebration was a year-long event held at the holiday resort.
Disney wanted to drive children to go to the amusement park and celebrate the landmark date. Disneyland wanted to create a platform where children could express their dreams and so commissioned a huge billboard featuring several Disney characters along with 2 LED screens; a long one across the top and a smaller, shield-shaped one in the centre.

The long screen at the top carried the message ‘dream like you have never dreamed before’ and the shield-shaped one carried the number 15.
A message to the side of the billboard read: “You too can send use your dreams via disneylandparis.com”. Visitors to www.disneylandparis.com could upload their photo along with a one-sentence dream.
Then the children’s dreams along with their faces were posted to the billboard. The child’s face would appear in the central shield and their dream would be posted to the long screen at the top of the billboard.

Substral Fertilizer: Tree

Advertising Agency: Bark Copenhagen, Denmark

Sony Ericsson:::15 seconds of fame

BRAND OWNER:Sony Ericsson
CATEGORY:Telecoms/ Mobile
REGION:Netherlands
DATE:Nov 2008

For the launch of its C905 model, which boasts an 8.1 mega pixel camera, Sony Ericsson transformed a bus shelter at Rembrandtplein in Amsterdam into a photo studio.
The aim of this campaign was to demonstrate the camera’s capabilities, with a special focus on how the mobile imaging of this model is as good as any digital camera.

To illustrate this, the panel was fitted with a touchscreen, which passers-by could interact with. The panel was fitted with a C905 camera, and people could pose for a photo in the bus shelter and then have their image transferred to a large 87m2 screen opposite.

The campaign took seconds but gave everyone who wanted it their 15 seconds of fame.

Jeep Mexico:::The Exits campaign

Jeep has been presented as the best off road option in Mexico with a set of three roadside billboards designed at BBDO Mexico.
The agency had the challenge of strengthening the Jeep brand among their target, showing the essence of the brand, highlighting its unique capacity and performance off-road, with a ridiculously low budget.
They placed three affordable billboards out of town on Mexico’s busiest highway over the summer, integrating them to the highway by using colors and typography resembling official signage.
The billboards point to non-existent roads to Acapulco, Puerto Escondido and Eterna Juventud (Fountain of Youth) but include the small print - “Solo Para Jeep”, “Just For Jeep”.

Amtrak:::Less hassle with Amtrak

BRAND OWNER:Amtrak
CATEGORY :Travel/Airlines
REGION :USA
DATE :2008

Unlike Europe and Asia, Rail travel in the US is not a dominant mode of transportation. In fact, over 98% of all US consumers are aware of national railway company Amtrak, but only 4% choose rail on any given year. Amtrak needed to change perceptions and get people to travel by rail instead of car or plane.

The rise in fuel prices in 2008 and subsequent financial toll it took on airlines and car travel created a perfect environment for Amtrak to change perceptions, targeting consumers at frustrating moments in their travels.

Amtrak targeted passengers at airports in the terminals, the baggage claim areas and the highway just outside the airports as well as taxi tops.

Amtrak could not purchase signage inside the gate area, so it ambushed it by gaining exclusive access through log-in wi-fi screens at regional airports and in CNN’s airport feed in 40+ airports to keep Amtrak in mind when passengers were delayed.

Amtrak also targeted petrol stations along the east coast of the USA, with a geo-targeted media buy in more than 1,500 gas stations – all two miles from the interstate, or 5 miles from an Amtrak station.

While consumers shelled out $4 a gallon for gas, they were reminded of Amtrak by ads on gas toppers and nozzle pumps.

Amtrak also sponsored local TV and radio live-read of traffic and weather report as well as search. As a result the number of people riding the train rose by 11.1%, with revenues rising by 14.2%. 27% of first time customers stated they would not have taken Amtrak had they not seen or heard the advertising.

Finally online bookings saw a 300% increase while cost per click decreased almost 50% and cost per booking dropped 88%

Cruise Line::: Gets Into the Digital Fish Business

Possibly the cheapest ad ever made

Proof that a cheapie can be a goodie.

Obviously there's no way of telling whether this is a real campaign or just some random idea that an art student smoked up one night together with his giant bong [the lack of egotistical branding makes us wonder], but a good idea all the same.

Competition... India style

creative vehicle designs

Fitness First’s Weighty Advertising Campaign

and simple advertising campaign by Dutch agency N=5 for Fitness First. (Though you have to wonder - how much reality is too much reality?)

Mini-series drives airlines alliance

BRAND: Star Alliance
BRAND OWNER: Star Alliance
CATEGORY: Travel/Airlines
REGION: Multi-local
DATE:Oct 2008

Star Alliance, the international airline network aimed at frequent international travellers, wanted to increase awareness among its target audience and so created a series of short documentaries with businessmen in mind to drive traffic to their website.
The series, called “A Meeting of Minds”, produced with CNBC International, saw entrepreneurs interviewing global business leaders on the art of improving business, especially in emerging markets, and breaking into international markets.
The films were uploaded to staralliance.com and were available in nine different languages.
To complement the campaign, Star Alliance also developed an international business etiquette guide to acknowledge the importance of different cultures when doing business around the world, produced in association with international magazine, Monocle.
As well as the mini-series Star Alliance placed a number of advertisements on targeted news, business ad travel websites directing visitors to a video landing page at www.staralliance.com, and ads ran in Star Alliance’s 21 member carriers’ in-flight magazines, on entertainment channels and in posters at London’s Heathrow and Paris’s Charles de Gaulle airports.

Puma dials up the football

BRAND:Puma
BRAND OWNER:Puma
CATEGORY:Accessories/ Clothing/ Footwear
REGION:European
DATE:May 2008 - Jun 2008
MEDIA AGENCY:ZenithOptimedia

The European Championships in Austria and Switzerland set a particular challenge for Puma. Budgets were significantly down on the World Cup of 2006 while rivals such as Nike and Adidas were expected to keep their spend high.The brand knew that watching big football games was about community – the reason why fans watch matches in groups be it at home, bars, cafes and pubs. The challenge for Puma would be to enhance this sense of togetherness.Together Everywhere was all about achieving this. Consumers would be able to sign up to a mobile message that highlighted their patriotism, put them in touch with Puma stars and also enabled them to talk to their own community.Consumers who signed via to the mobile WAP portal would be able to hear a relevant celebration football chant every time their team scored. When the goal hits the back of the net, the ringtone would be heard and consumers would hear a pre-recorded message from a Puma player before being put into a conference call with the people they had registered on the WAP portal. After the call fans were encouraged to upload images of their celebrations to to pumafootball.com.The aim was to associated Puma with that moment of joy and bring the good news to fans who were unable to watch the match at a time when no other brand would be part of their lives.
The activity was promoted via SMS, online ads and via pumafootball.com as well as via press and outdoor.

Richo: Times Square Adopts 'Windvertising'

March 10, 2009
-By Katy Bachman,

MediweekIn the next few weeks, Japanese copy and photo manufacturer Ricoh will launch a Times Square spectacular powered by wind at 42nd and 7th Ave. The sign, using wind turbine technology developed by WePOWER, will be powered by 16 wind turbines and 64 solar panels, saving 18 tons of carbon per year and about $12,000 to $15,000 a month in electricity.Ricoh isn't the only advertiser to seek an eco-solution in outdoor's most iconic locale. On New Year's Eve, Coca-Cola Co. launched its new digital billboard at 47th and Broadway powered by wind, offsetting the release of 1,866 metric tons of carbon dioxide a year.WePOWER, which calls its eco-outdoor ad solution, "windvertising," expects to work directly with advertisers on about 25 custom applications of its technology this year, expanding its footprint in 2010. The company is also in discussions with outdoor media companies about applying its technology in other locations. In addition to the sign itself, windvertising could also be applied to the turbine's air foil blades to reflect an image, creating a moving image. "I always tell people to think of Windvertising as a flipbook that you played with as a child," said Marvin Winkler, CEO of WePOWER.According to Winkler, if the nation's 500,000 billboards were to adopt Windvertising, the billboards, spinning at 10 mph would generate 16.8 billion kWh of electricity. They could power approximately 1.5 million homes and would reduce about 5.3 million tons of CO2 being emitted into the air.