5 Blogs Before Lunch

Dior Homme Sport Ad or SNL Spoof?

My apologies to the folks at Dior and for those fans of cologne ads, but I've never been a fan. And, this ad featuring Jude Law does nothing for me but make me wonder, is this real or a Saturday Night Live spoof?

George Clooney for Martini

Bacardi Mojito

I bet I'm not the only one that finds this jingle mesmerizing. Go on, just try not to move to to the beat--do the Mojito.

Billy Dee Does Tee-Vee for AT&T (Tee)

Will Ferrel Does Apple, Bud and Gap Ads

Dinah Shore Told Us To See The USA in Our Chevrolet

Even though most of us were not around when this type of advertising was the norm, it is nice to look back at messages and techniques that worked in eras gone by. The Dinah Shore Chevrolet jingle was legendary, and stayed in the public's mind for decades. Maybe looking back at this classic will ignite your creative juices...

Gaming Site "Gnuf" Rolls The Dice With A Viral Campaign

In a launch promotion, a Malta-based online gaming site is rolling two enormous steel dice down a mountain slope and taking bets on the result as part of a viral campaign to attract business.

The campaign, called "The world's greatest dice roll", is sponsored by online gaming site Gnuf.com and is being seeded to audiences in the UK, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Australia and New Zealand.

Gnuf.com will use a helicopter designed for extreme conditions, to air-lift the half-ton dice, over a steep snow-packed slope in the mountains outside Nuuk, Greenland. Users can view the film of the dice on their journey down the mountain and place a bet on the result at Gnuf.com/diceroll, which will be revealed on October 23.

Goran Marklund, the helicopter pilot, said to Brand Republic: "Conditions in Greenland's mountains can be dicey. We could only count on one chance. But we got up over the ridge and managed to make the drop."

Gnuf.com offers poker, casino games, qualifiers, promotions and special events.

What's Old Is New Again: Ecology, Love and Healthy Eatin'

Social impact issues like ecology, love, and healthy eating were key constructs back in the 60's and 70's and were reflected in corporate messaging. Now, after the excesses of the 80's and 90's they are returning to our social consciousness. And once again, marketing is reflecting society's interests. To end the week, I thought I'd post a few messages that were as relevant 40 years ago as they are today. For all you marketing execs out there, ponder these messages this weekend.

Power to the people, Baby.

Coke taught the world to sing in 1971:

Mikey liked it, even though it was good for him in 1972:

Ronald McDonald had an environmental conscience in 1976:

Barack Obama's Advertising Message of Hope

Obama's Iowa Campaign Ad:

HP To Target The REAL Decision-Makers For Back-To-School: Kids

Last year, Hewlett-Packard targeted parents with their back-to-school campaigns. This year, they are taking aim at both parents AND kids--after all, aren't they the one's who most often drive purchase decisions?

From Adweek:

"They are to large degree the decision makers," said David Roman, vice president of worldwide marketing communications at HP's personal systems group, of the teens targeted. "We wanted to speak in an engaging way to parents and kids."

"The 'Society for Parental Mind Control'" push, created by Interpublic Group's McCann Erickson in San Francisco, centers around teens' desire to make their parents do what they want. It uses several viral elements to encourage teens to spread the message. At the center of the effort is a brand site that allows visitors to send "mind control" messages to their parents with specific products like a laptop or desktop.

Ads are scheduled to run on social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, Bebo and Flip. Direct response TV ads and a Sunday supplement are also part of the mix. Traditional TV advertising will be decreased in order to make room for the online spend.