Advertisements as art. It doesn't happen too often but there is a trend and Levi's is right up at the top of the pile. Their "Pioneers" campaign caught my eye last September, and though the ads stuck around for a few weeks, they seem to have disappeared off the map and then Levi's goes and re-ignites it with the Levi's Pioneer Sessions.
The clothing manufacturer brought in some super talented artists to record some covers and they're giving the music away. For free. Yup you read right. Free. And they're not slumming it either. This isn't a list of a bunch of unknown artists but rather a collection of some greats including Nas, The Shins, The Killers and The Swell Season. They seem to be releasing a new song every week and the slow roll out is bound to rub a few the wrong way but it's free music so I'm sure you can handle it. You can download the goodness Levi's Pioneer Sessions.
Since it doesn't look like H.R. Giger's "Dune" designs will ever see the light of day (I find it increasingly difficult to believe the new version of "Dune" in the works will be any good and even bother going down the "dark" road), I find it endlessly amusing that the Japanese jumped on this bandwagon decades ago.
Via a new discovery (a great little site called Pink Tentacle), I give you a Pioneer ad from 1985 featuring the aforementioned creature.
So that may be exaggerating just slightly but you know what? It's been a kickass week.
It started off quietly enough but everything changed yesterday when I had the great pleasure of meeting up with a film writer who was in town for a set visit. I've always loved living in this city but with all the filming going on around town, I'm getting the opportunity to meet fans and writers that I generally wouldn't have the chance to meet. Jen and I had a nice lunch over which we talked about movies. Lots of movies. It was heavenly.
Then today I see this Tweet from my buddy Jason and I go hunting. Turns out my little quote will be appearing all over Canadian newspapers and magazines this weekend. It's my first bonafide quote and I have to admit it's pretty exciting!
Here's a picture of the item in the Georgia Straight:
If you happen to be in Canada and spot the ad, snap a picture and let me know. I'd love to see them!
Very rarely do I hear an ad on the radio that makes me search out the TV spots but that's exactly what's happened with this most recent Nation Wide Campaign from Burger King.
It's called Whopper Freakout and it's a viral marketing campaign put together by Crispin Porter + Bogusky. Essentially, they removed the Whopper from the menu of a Minneapolis Burger King for one day and taped the entire thing. It sounds much more fun than what it really is, for the most part the reactions are not all that funny but there are a few good ones. In keeping with the viral nature of the videos, all the clips are available to embed and for the sake of it, I'll add the "Documentary" clip below because it has some of the better reactions.
What I've found really funny is the take offs on the clips, particularly this one which had me laughing pretty hysterically. Warning: This clip is probably NSFW. There's a fair bit of swearing involved...right off the top.
Looks like the campaign is successful; they've got people talking about Burger King and riffing on the commercials.
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