Inside That Ad

What’s the verdict on the Empower Network? I put together the video above to try to start a conversation about the network, is it just another online marketing scam or is it a legitimate online business opportunity? I want a constructive debate in the comment section below this post. The reason, I am considering posting some of Inside That Ad’s articles after joining the Empower Network. If I joined, I’d probably sign up for the $100 product right off the bat. A friend of mine told me that staying on the $25 level would be profitable, what do you guys think? Is it a scam or a legitimate online business opportunity? Anyway,…

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Last Thursday, June 21, Inside That Ad’s business cards arrived in the mail. Please admire my friends’ photography skills displayed above. At first glance I liked them but then I noticed that the logo sat on its own layer on top of the black background of the card. I know, you can’t tell from the picture but the imperfection is there. A few details on how I created the cards: The design I did myself using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. I used a template provided by moo.com to know exactly how and where to place the content for rounded corner business cards.  I uploaded the design to moo.com and ordered…

SapientNitro has taken it upon itself to create an infographic to represent each of five days, Monday through Friday, in Cannes capturing all the goings on at Cannes Lions. Below is Monday’s infographic which takes a lok at the history of Cannes Lions, seminar keywords that popped, a summary of the number of entrants and panels, the weather and other local demographics, influencial Cannes Twitter account (ahem, @adrants is on the list), top Foursquare check ins (Gutter Bar and Carlton Bar, of course), popular Instagram pictures, social buzz topics, popular Pinterest pins and, of course, the awards. Check it out. Read more at: http://www.adrants.com/2012/06/cannes-lions-monday-captured-infographic.php

From Brussels-based Pride/TBWA comes a new hidden-camera style spot that compares feeding your toddler regular cereal to child abuse. No, seriously, it does. What initially appears to be a PSA for fighting infant obesity is actually a commercial for Olvarit, a toddler-targeted Belgian cereal that comes in flavors like “Banana Stars,” “Honey Rings,” and “Choco Balls.” Ha! “Choco Balls,” you guys! The spot features two things that moms tend to share like crazy over social media and epically long email chains: Candid reactions and babies being adorable. In fact, add some sort of flash mob dancing around to the Mama Mia soundtrack/Michael Buble, and this may be the greatest mommy viral video…

Last month, we showcased a short PSA titled “We’re Better Together,” an effort from two young creatives at WPP-owned Latino-focused shop Wing Advertising. Created as part of a film competition for “Circulo Creativo Latino de Estados Unidos,” an organization that encourages Latino-American creatives to have each other’s backs in the cutthroat world of marketing, the winning spot won Said Fayad and Marc Duran an all-expenses paid trip to Cannes this year. But, just because Fayad and Duran were given the unique opportunity to rub shoulders with the advertising elite doesn’t mean Wing was about to let this be a vacation for the two young creatives. In fact, Fayad and Duran…

Not since they sold Gregor the Russian billionaire’s tiny giraffes has DirecTV had a TV spot spin off amusingly into a random and goofy online campaign. This time, Phil Shifley, the alias of the guy who faked his own death and attended his own funeral in the amusing DirecTV campaign from Grey, has popped up on Facebook. That’s the extent of his known whereabouts—for now. DirecTV is challenging you to find him, and “win bragging rights.” That’s not a great prize, but you can also just friend Phil and rap with him. He’s quite chatty, and needs all sorts of advice for a “friend” who needs facial work and tips…

Well, this was somewhat interesting. If we can go all the way back to a few weeks ago, our scribe Bob Marshall, in one of his weekly, epic The Pitch recaps, recapped the battle between NYC-based shop Conversation and Charlotte, NC-based BooneOakley for PopChips. Well, let’s fast-forward to recent times and tell you that we were pitched the opportunity to see what happened after the fact with this one particular episode. According to the folks at Conversation, “the ‘Year of Pop’ website actually happened , and while we aren’t pursuing “The Greatest Viral Video Ever” we are still integrating user content in our campaign for [PopChips].” Great, but while we expecting something more matter of fact…

Sure, we will have our own reporters at Cannes, and since yours truly will try to avoid that mess back here in NYC, let us tell you about something called “Agency Peephole” from Draftfcb San Francisco. We don’t know whether to be interested, flattered, or pissed the fuck off, but what is this, some preemptive strike? Alright, we’ll catch our breath, calm down and let you know that this is an app that lets you shake, swipe, flip, smack and rub down your iPhone to access Instagram photos tagged #agencypeephole from the event. FYI, this comes to us from Draft’s San Francisco office as well as UDC Interactive, but don’t…

To celebrate WWDC 2012 that took place on Monday I wanted to share this vintage video of an iPhone mod-ing to vintage Apple rainbow colors. As most of you know, the WWDC is Apple’s developer conference where they sometimes introduce new products but mostly update current ones. The iPhone mod, in the video above – really an aluminium back plate – will bring those memories rushing back to those of you who consider yourselves true “Cult of Mac” members. I realize that that this post doesn’t discuss an ad, but it does discuss the logo and the brand itself – it is advertising. Enjoy! -A.B.