The M&Ms Campaign spearheaded by BBDO continues to impress. The latest iteration I particularly like are the celebrity print ads. Bobby Flay, Indiana Jones, Kyle Busch. I hope they continue because it can become the next big iconic print campaign, like the milk mustache or Absolut Vodka.

A good sign is the latest iteration by Latinworks, Austin TX (good friends of mine Manny Flores, Alex Ruelas are the founders) featuring Wilmer Valderrama and discussed in the NYT. Ok, I wish it was someone with a bit more street cred like Carlos Santana but hey, it’s gotta start somewhere.

All of this is exciting, of course, because we were there at the beginning. We created becomeanmm with BBDO back in early 2007 and users started creating their own celebrity M&Ms, like The Donald to the left. Awesome.

so today explosions and boobs guy and i were talking about awesome commercials that happened to become hilarious viral hits on youtube, milkandcookies, ebaumsworld, etc. examples include wet pets, the hawaii chair, the bizarre sharper image beamz system, and of course the unintentionally filthy mr. bucket theme song (which i won’t link because you might think i’m some sort of monster).

somewhere along the way, i got to see an excellent cadbury (like the buck buck chocolate cadbury) ad featuring a gorilla playing drums.

seriously. a gorilla playing drums, advertising chocolate in theory, but really building a brand presence. it’s a great ad, i’m surprised i hadn’t seen it sooner.

but what i find most intriguing about it, is that they have a page of remixes. remixes! of the gorilla playing drums! for chocolate! the internet is AWESOME.

and then i find myself thinking “why didn’t i think of that?”

check the original ad below:

Breaking news, moms don’t want advertisers to market to their children.

really, i could get behind more ads if they had a jaunty personality like sammy stephens and an awesome song to go with it.

this is totally for nick. totally.

edit: oh man, even better? pet shop remix!

So, after writing a somewhat incendiary post a few months back, I was berated by a colleague (well, berated is kind of harsh – let’s say ‘grilled’) to find an example where traditional media had influenced me into a purchase.

After a minute, i conceded the point. I had likely been inspired to plunk down a serious amount of hard currency on a new LCD TV because of the Sharp Aquos campaign that ran in print and on TV last fall starring David Ortiz. You see, I’m a Red Sox fan, seeing that big beautiful man sliding face first into second in slow motion just got my gears turning. Suddenly, the future seemed clear: I’d buy a new TV, the Sox would make and win the ALCS, then the World Series, and I’d get to watch every moment of it in sparkling HD.

And you know what? All of that did come true. Everything Sharp promised in their ads came to pass.

Except, of course, that I did my consumer due diligence and bought a Sony Bravia instead (bouncing ball influence notwithstanding). So yes, advertising convinced me to buy something I probably didn’t need, luring me with the promise of an ideal future. But it didn’t dupe me into buying an inferior product.

Michel Gondry is one of my favorite directors, made Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (loved it, genius) and Science of Sleep (liked it, very sweet) and, most recently, and a movie I just watch on PPV last night, Be Kind Rewind (rough start, a bit sentimental). The story of Be Kind Rewind, for those who aren’t familiar with it, is about a flailing local video rental shop where all the tapes have been erased and in order to keep making money Jack Black and Mos Def remake all the movies. Their remakes are of course more interesting and popular than the originals and they save the store from closing its doors.

Okay, decent premise, and the movie was okay but all I really wanted to do was see the movies that Jack Black and Mos Def had made. Remakes of Ghostbusters, Lion King, Men in Black. Where are these movies? Of course I was hoping they would be on the website but instead there was a too-cool-for-school site about erasing the internet. Hrmpf. I then went on YouTube and found a branded site built so that everyone else can make and post their own remade films. Yikes. I don’t want to watch some idiots’ remake of No Country for Old Men, I really just want to see Jack Black doing Bill Murray.

This made me think about film marketing. Why wouldn’t Michel Gondry post all the remade films online before Be Kind Rewind was even released? It would have created significant buzz. I would have sent a Ghostbusters film with Jack and Mos to all my friends asking if this was for real. It would have made me want to see the film. He should have taken a lesson from The Blair Witch Project and Cloverfield and used the web to do all the marketing be pre-releasing all remakes, ahead of time, untethered. It certainly would have done more than $4MM on opening weekend (and $12MM overall). And, more importantly, I wouldn’t have to wait for the DVD.

So I am flipping through Food & Wine magazine this morning and I happen on a page that looks like wallpaper, literally. It’s got a thin texture and an old-school European hotel type design. It looks like this:

I looked on the prior page and on the next page and there didn’t seem to be any connection between this piece of wallpaper and those pages. Then I looked closer and discovered a tiny brand mark for St. Germain, a new imported liquor brand made from elderflower blossoms. Nice. This is what print advertising should do. Make you interact with it. Make you try to figure it out. What the F is this? Hmmm. It’s interesting. What is it for? Oh, I see, cool. Something surprising. It works. Print ads can work. I then went to the web, looked at their website, remembered some in-store POS I saw. Brand identification cemented. Bravo.

I mentioned this to my lovely wife Caroline and she told me that there was actually an insert attached to the front of that print ad (on the left). I was slightly disappointed – because I think a hard to figure out print ad is singularly bold – until she fished the postcard out of the trash and gave it to me. It was an old school postcard that looked like it was from 100 years ago with a provocative photo on the front and overall it was “aged.” Nice.

This is my new favorite booze brand. I’m not sure how it tastes. Next time I’m at Milk & Honey I’ll give it a go.