Corporate design that's more art than ad.

In plowing through hundreds of portfolios recently on Behance, the web's awesome crowdsourced network of designers, artists, and other creative types, I discovered the work of Spanish artist Marta Cerda Alimbau. Alimbau has created designs for international brands including Ray Ban, Nike, Coca Cola, Beautiful Decay, Kleenex, and more.

A note to the artist: Your work, dear Marta, is sick.

Calvin Klein's raciest ad yet ires Aussies.

The other night at Marianne Williamson's weekly lecture (yes, this cynical atheist went to hear a woman who talks about miracles and God speak--what of it??), Williamson took time to bring attention to the above billboard--the raciest ad yet from a brand that has built its name on racy ads. Calvin Klein has long sold everything from jeans to perfume to tighty whities with the attitude that sex sells. And sell, despite many controversies over the year, it has. The controversy has even become a marketing tool in itself--recently played up by the brand with a billboard on Sunset Blvd. that showed nothing but a scannable code, through which the user could see the ad's naughty bits from home--implying that the image was too risque even for the Sunset Strip.

Which brings us to the recent hype about this now-censored billboard in Australia--the nation (slash continent)'s Advertising Standards Bureau has decided that model Lara Stone looks like she may be getting raped by three handsome, if expressionless young men and has demanded the billboard come down.

Do I buy it? No, not so much. To me, it looks like her blank stare matches the gentelmen's perfectly and they're all tangled up in a consensual orgy of equal disinterest.

Perhaps, however, I'm being callous and insensitive and should be more of a stodgy feminist about all this.

What are your thoughts?

[via AOL News via Marianne Williamson]

Laundry! blurs the lines between art and ad.

In a world that is looking more and more like a giant billboard for advertising messages, we prefer at least when the advertising is artfully executed. If you're going to sell us widgets, sell them to us with an ad that we want to frame after, a video that we want to share with friends, a campaign that inspires our creativity, not just our wallets.

Working with brands to do just that is Laundry! Helmed by artists and Creative Directors Tony Liu and PJ Richardson, Laundry! gets its kicks by 'making it right and making it rad.' Never has a more respectable company motto been spoken. The studio has worked on the animation and illustration in music videos for the likes of Kanye West, The Strokes, and Duffie, commercials for brands including VEVO, Doublemint, Honda, and SONY, and has created graphics for Mountain Dew, The Cool Kids, Nike and others.

Check out the music vid for artist Uffie (watch for the incredible design and animation created by Laundry!)...

[This post originally appeared on http://curated.culturejam.com.]

Genius viral campaign from the Swedes. [Marketing that moves me]

There is not too much I can say about this campaign beside wow.

Watch it, be patient through the 100 seconds of intro, and see what I mean. And see if you can't spot your fave blogger's cameo in the spot (I mean, I'm your fave, right? Right?!).

Why is this campaign successful?

1. It's beautifully and artfully shot.
2. It's viral. It is easy to create. Easy to share.
3. The human ego.

Genius.

If Christopher Guest asks me, I'll participate in the census.

And if I'm the only person who thinks this is genius, I'll take the census for the fools who don't too.

[via Five Blogs Before Lunch]

Marketing that moves me: seatbelt ad brings me to tears.

I've had the great pleasure and daunting task today of combing through hundreds of marketing blogs for work. And thereby I bring you the second moving ad of the day. This one brought me to tears. Well, almost. More like the well up right before the tears. But without the actual tears. Cause I'm not a complete sap--just slightly, well, overemotional.

This ad is beautiful, touching, and makes me want to take a drive just as an excuse to buckle my seat belt.

[via Adverblog]

Marketing that moves me: Skittles ad makes me fear for child safety.

I'm not sure if this ad amuses me or creeps me out...like a lot.

Either way--I want to taste the rainbow. I want a Skittle tree.

[via I Believe in Adv]

Cindy McCain joins the fight for gay marriage...

...conveniently after the '08 elections, yes. But though some will give her crap for this, I salute her. I also think she looks sort of hot...for an older chick, that is.

[via Mediabistro]

Design Dish: Video killed the print ad. Dior goes viral with Marion Cotillard.

A few years back, Nicole Kidman starred in a dramatic short film that passed as Chanel No. 5's TV ad campaign. Pop star Britney Spears is hocking Candies' ugly mules on the side now. And Beyonce sang about upgrading to Direct TV service in a recent ad. These days, celebs are taking money for pretty much any and all endorsements. And brands are getting savvier with their ad dollars, employing big names to sell their stuff and taking their campaigns to the web where consumers can spread their gospel for them.

Dior is the latest brand to channel major Hollywood star power to move large leather bags. And the star is Marion Cotillard, the young actress who's been winning hearts and Oscars in Tinseltown lately. Cotillard is not a new ambassador for Dior. She has already appeared in shorts on ladydior.com, with an upcoming installment directed by David Lynch, and in print ads. But now the brand will take it next level with the making of a music video. Franz Ferdinand penned the music and lyrics, giving the project music cred.

The video will go public on January 14th. Watch for it floating around Cyberspace somewhere.

[via WWD]

Le Tigre plays on words but will Tiger sell you tee shirts?

Le Tigre, the brand better known for its stitched logo than its actual product, has launched a new campaign. It references today's most scandalous star athlete, encourages a focus back on to the sport of golf, and even includes a charity angle.

But do we really need Tiger Woods right now, Le Tigre? And is it possible to 'get back on course' and away from Tiger's recent scandal when you're calling attention to him in the very same ad? And, greatest on the irony scale, does a charity that aims to 'promote character development and life-enhancing values' really need to associate itself with golf's biggest, ahem, player?

I would like to officially cast my vote on Le Tigre's new ads (because I know they were waiting on my input): FAIL.

[Via WWD]

The first thing that I DON'T hate about Ed Hardy.

I hate Ed Hardy. In the entire city of Los Angeles, there is little that offends me more than the sight of an illustrated lion bedazzled with more rhinestones than God meant to be created [ever], let alone affixed to one shirt.

But I have to admit...and it pains me...that I don't completely hate the new Ed Hardy ad campaign. Perhaps it's just because I know it's shot by the masterful David LaChapelle, but it seems [almost] not that awful. Not that I'll be sporting the staple rhinestone-emblazoned trucker hat any time soon.

[Source: WWD Memo Pad]

Dos Equis: beermaster and spiritual advisor.

He has his very own academy.

At last count, he has 44,522 fans on Facebook.

He is The most Interesting Man in the World (the italics are intentional and effective), according to Dos Equis' ad men, and he's got one of the best ad campaigns I've seen in a while.

Driving through Los Angeles this week, I spotted a recent Dos Equis billboard. 'You only live once. Make sure it's enough,' The most Interesting Man forewarns us. And because this elusive figure in recent commercial fiction has been built up as a worldly and wise man, I take heed.

Since passing the billboard, the larger-than-life ad at the corner of Santa Monica and Virgil, I have indeed begun to question the extent to which I'm living my life. The office has begun to feel slightly like a prison--the sound of tapping on keyboards an increasingly dismal symbol of my worklife. The confines of my studio apartment seem to be growing smaller--the musical loop from the ice cream truck outside, louder every day.

I consider the options. I think of donning a smoking jacket, surrounding myself with beautiful women, and taking up cigars and beers. But I really dislike beer and quickly abandon that idea. I contemplate new careers--floral design?--but the Los Angeles community colleges are slashing budgets and I can't seem to find any interesting summer courses. I debate a trip. The Grand Canyon sounds nice, but my budget won't get me much farther than Palm Springs at present.

And so, with only the vague instruction of a completely fictitious character [and absolutely no ideas of my own], I begin a misguided journey toward a life of fulfillment...

NYTimes.com sells its soul. Apple buys it.

Did anyone catch the amazingly cool interactive ad that flew across The New York Times online today? With 2 fixed positions in prime position on the homepage, 1 billion apps zoomed from one leaderboard ad unit into another skyscraper to the right (forgive me if my ad unit lingo is off) to promote the iPhone 3G's 1 billion apps.

Notice how the apps even even across the Times logo itself. Now, how much did that cost?


While this is yet another unsettling sign of publishers' shifting standards (heck, my own company practically invented 'innovative' ad units) due to the economy, I must give kudos to Apple on an amazing ad. I, for one, refreshed the page multiple times just to see the ad again. Apple should be charging the Times.

The NY Times. Arrogant and bullyish, but not invincible.

It's not kind to feel joy at the suffering of others. But sometimes, just sometimes, it's ok to smirk a little at the misfortune of others, no?? Especially if they're bullies?

It turns out that the NY Times, who just recently took stabs at the LA Times in a public ad campaign (as reported by LA Observed), is not doing so hot themselves.

From this morning's WWD Memo Pad (yes, a fashion trade is my morning news source--what of it?)...

TIMES RAISES FUNDS: The New York Times Co. has entered into a sale-leaseback transaction with W.P. Carey & Co. LLC for $225 million for part of the space the Times Co. owns in its headquarters building on Eighth Avenue, including 21 floors, or 750,000 rentable square feet. The money will be used to pay long-term debt and a portion will be used to fund a redemption payment of its 4.5 percent notes due in 2010. The company also recently borrowed $250 million from Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim Helú and is trying to sell its stake in the Boston Red Sox. The lease term is 15 years, with an option for the company to repurchase the condominium interest for $250 million during the 10th year of the lease. The rental payment will be $24 million, or $32 a square foot, for the first year and increase in the coming years. — A.W.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen. Stand proud, LA Times. We are not alone!

[WWD Memo Pad: Times Raises Funds]
[LA Observed: NYT hits 'em while they're down]