Giant Balloons Company

Here’s an ingenious idea. Now that the internet is available almost anywhere, people are able to do “instant research” to learn about anything on their smart devices. For a fictional project, Miami Ad School students Max Pilwat, Keri Tan and Ferdi Rodriguez developed subway campaign that allows people to grab the first ten pages of a book while riding the subway using near field communications. Once finished they will be informed of the closest libraries so they could finish their story.

The campaign is admirable in the sense that it’s aim is to get people to the library but what’s to stop the person from simply downloading the book from Amazon or somewhere else on the internet once they leave the subway instead of going to the library.

In any event, getting people to read is the key whether they do it with a book from the library or on their digital device.

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Web designer Frank Jonen, who did web design work for Fitness SF, claims he wasn’t paid properly so he hijacked his client’s site replacing it with a damning message telling Fitness SF customers the company doesn’t pay its bills.

This might be the perfect example as to why no brand should completely hand the keys to its website over to a third party without retaining at least enough control to access the site and correct situations like this. Alas, not everyone knows how to manage a website. And besides, if Fitness SF hasn’t paid its bill then this is probably what they deserve. We just hope Jonen requested payment several times through normal channels before resorting to this method.

Below is the full text of the website message.

Dear Fitness SF customer,

Fitness SF preferred to ignore our invoices instead of paying them. As a result this website is no longer operational.

We regret any inconvenience this may cause for you as a customer of Fitness SF, however it is a necessary measure in getting what is rightfully ours.

Half a year’s worth of work, including gallery featured logo renderings with over 1,300 views a piece.

While some of that got replaced in an attempt to cover up our work, other parts, like the base design (CSS) of the site were still used, illegally as they’ve not been paid for.

Normally there is no question of paying one’s dues. It is simply a matter of morals. Having morals and acting upon them or not having any and just betraying the people that got you started. Sadly we’ve come to know what Fitness SF stands for, or you wouldn’t be reading this.

Your word on their Facebook accounts will go a long way. We’re a small company in the heart of Europe, which is probably why Fitness SF believes they can sit this out till we perish. Can you support a company that acts like this?

Do you hear the people sing, who will not be paid again…

I am also writing this on the behalf of the tens of thousands of freelancers and small businesses out there facing larger corporations who can afford to starve them out. In the movie / visual effects business this is already prevalent. Large studios awarding work to smaller studios or freelancers in the hope they won’t stand up to them when it comes to loads and loads of unpaid work.

What Fitness SF is trying here is exactly the same ploy. Give a barren advance, rake up a huge bill and ignore every invoice. Rush fees, heavy overtime and weekend work are expected to be free.

You don’t get to sleep for days on end, but you do get to wait on your money forever.

It’s people like this who cause company after company to go bankrupt.

An injury to one is an injury to all of us. We need to make a stand against crooks like this. If you’d like to join us in this fight, cancel your gym memberships, post on their Facebook pages, Tweet about it or even pass this on to a journalist. Fitness SF used the press once before to paint themselves as a savior.

It’s time the truth got out on what they really are. Doesn’t it makes you wonder what really drives their publicized “commitment” to the LGBT community? Can somebody who thrives on betrayal in one side of their business be honest in another side?

I hope you are with us. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Frank Jonen
owner frankjonen.com • vfx & imagineering

What would you do if you a man walked into a convenience store wearing a ski mask? While you’d probably do your best not to jump to conclusions, likely you’d still be scared shitless.

Or you’d realize you were in a Volkswagen Convertible Beetle Convertible commercial touting the fact that every day, including freezing cold days, are top down days, hence the ski masks. Nice work, Deutsch LA.

Email marketing is always changing. While overall read rates declined in Q4 2012, some marketers defied the odds with responsible, well-planned email sending strategies. However, as the top email marketers continue to test and optimize, new subscriber behaviors are changing the rules of the game.

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Here’s one of the more unique methods a musician can use to call attention to his band. Percussionist Jorge Perez, member of the musical group Patax, can be seen in this video having his way, musically speaking, with four woman who have offered up their thong-clad asses for Jorge to, well, slap as he sees fit.

Once again, Greece chocolate brand Lacta, which has become known as a symbol of “the sweetness of love” is out with another stellar piece of content marketing. This time it’s a full blown movie that tells the story of three couples who meet, face challenges and, in the end, find happiness. Or so we hope. The full length movie won’t be released until Valentine’s Day.

Over the years, Lacta has aligned itself with love telling story after story of people finding each other and falling in love. Now that might sound cheesy but it’s not. The campaign, created by OgilvyOne Athens is meticulously created and guess what, it works.

The campaign’s most recent work, a film called Love in the End, pulled in some impressive numbers.

– 17% of the Greek internet population viewed the original short.
– When broadcast on TV, the short garnered 18% viewership.
– A video posted by one of the characters received 300,000 views.
– The film’s song climbed to the number two slot on the Greek iTunes chart.
– Lacta is the number one Facebook fan page in Greece.

Did it sell any chocolate? In the end we will find out but we can tell you that a past campaign in Q1 of 2011 increased sales 9% amidst an 8% category drop.

Remember all the uproar last year surrounding the exposure of Jennifer Love Hewitt’s cavernous cleavage in ads for Lifetime’s The Client List? Well, that will pale in comparison to the promotion the network is out with for the sophomore season of the series in which Hewitt “services” customers at a massage parlor called The Rub.

In the promotion, the curvaceous Hewitt can be seen seductively displaying her smoking hotness while wearing not much more than her underwear.

Remember all the uproar last year surrounding the exposure of Jennifer Love Hewitt’s cavernous cleavage in ads for Lifetime’s The Client List? Well, that will pale in comparison to the promotion the network is out with for the sophomore season of the series in which Hewitt “services” customers at a massage parlor called The Rub.

In the promotion, the curvaceous Hewitt can be seen seductively displaying her smoking hotness while wearing not much more than her underwear.

If you are a brand or an agency that wants to be a part of what’s become the biggest marketing event of the year, SXSW, then we can help you do just that. A couple years ago it became clear SXSW had shifted from a geek-focused event to a marketer-focused event. And that shift will continue again this year as brands and agencies realize the event provides the perfect combination of B2B and B2C customer connection and publicity.

Adrants will be at the center of the action during SXSW reporting daily on marketing innovation, brand activity, news announcements, product launches, what’s discussed in the sessions and learnings from keynote presentations. Get your brand in front of the marketing community with this content marketing opportunity. Specifics include but are not limited to:

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Remember Bugles? Bugles is that weird, odd shaped snack from General Mills that’s been around since 1966. The snack you used to stick on your fingers like a thimble or nails.

Toronto-based Cossette created a campaign to revitalize the nostalgic brand and make it fun and top of mind again. Playing off this insight it was a novelty snack for many kids, the concept was to advertise Bugles as a game, rather than a snack. And so the snack has become The Game That You Can Eat!

Six quirky web videos take a look at the snack and just how much fin it can be.