Monday, March 08, 2010
how to get a skater's attention



Skate brand Performa installed rating labels next to popular skate obstacles, rating their difficulty.

This campaign gets to where their audience lives, and then proves that the brand thinks just like them. Genius. From @Khuda1.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:51 AM   0 comments



Friday, February 26, 2010
don't be that dude at the gym.



Adidas gets to the bottom of gym culture with a series of videos about how to dress at the gym. Awesomely perfect.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:44 AM   0 comments



Wednesday, February 17, 2010
ridiculous figure skating costumes



Are you disgusted at the ridiculousness of the figure skating costumes the "athletes" at the winter olympics are sporting? Do you wish that there were a little more Lady Gaga brought to the mix?

Well, then you'll love this collection of the top ten worst figure skating costumes. (Please, let's create a parody video of ice dancing ridiculousness...) Thanks, Kevin!

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:54 AM   0 comments



Tuesday, February 16, 2010
do not mess with the bears in alaska



You may wonder what it is that makes this stadium video intro for the Alaska Nanooks so unbelievably awesome.

No need to wonder...it's the power of the bear. Only Chuck Norris can stop them now.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:33 AM   0 comments



Wednesday, February 10, 2010
google now mapping mountains



You probably already know that Google tricks out cars to capture images for their street view pics across the world. But now there's street view for Canada’s Whistler Blackcomb ski resort. (Just in time for the Olympics.)

How'd they do that? They tricked out a snowmobile.

Find even more pics and behind the scenes fun at the Google Street View blog.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:37 AM   0 comments



Tuesday, February 09, 2010
winter olympic fun with samsung



Samsung just released a series of videos celebrating winter sports in a more fun way than the typical figure skating or half pipe riding.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:03 AM   0 comments



Wednesday, January 20, 2010
superbowl play by play for the ad industry




Adland, the definitive source for everything Superbowl ad related, has a rundown of the spots scheduled to run in the upcoming "big game."

Impress your jock friends with an uncanny ability to predict what spots will air in what quarter. They'll be amazed, and forgive you for going to the bathroom during the game instead of the commercial breaks.

She's also archived 37 years of Superbowl spots, should you want to prepare for the game with some historical research.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:55 AM   0 comments



Friday, January 15, 2010
how puma does a stage show



Fans of choreography, set design and awesome stage direction will wet their pants over this new piece from Puma.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:01 AM   0 comments



Thursday, December 10, 2009
how to put your team in the world cup



People love tweeting about sports. Home runs, touchdowns, bad calls, rants and raves about their favorite teams, everyone knows it's more fun to watch the game with Twitter by your side than it is with just the TV alone.

Sony Ericsson saw this as an opportunity, and created the Twitter Cup. It's a World Cup soccer tournament of tweets. If you like a particular team, you tweet their name with the appropriate hashtag (ie: #twc England), and the team with the most tweets wins the World Cup. (The Twitter one, at least.)

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:15 AM   2 comments



Thursday, November 19, 2009
senior citizen butts = the new hot



To call attention to the upcoming Master Tennis event happening at Intercasino, Isobel created some ads that explore what a master tennis player might look like...today. Hot.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:07 AM   1 comments



Thursday, November 12, 2009
how to make football cool



Great design has made just about everything it touches spectacular. So why do we have to watch NFL games with players wearing poorly designed helmets that look all 1989?

Designer Ken Carbone explores what awesome design might mean for the hottest brands in the NFL. What are we waiting for??

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:29 AM   3 comments



Monday, October 19, 2009
nike's english tunnel ride



Nike builds a masterpiece BMX dreamland inside a tunnel in England. They hold an event, and then gave it to the BMX/skater community. Everyone rides, everyone wins. Smart. From JKretch.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:54 AM   0 comments



Thursday, October 08, 2009
ridiculous school mascots



Mental Floss has a collection of the craziest school mascots. Somebody needs to release these as a line of t-shirts. One of my favorites: the Laurel Hill Hoboes. (Which, shouldn't it be "hobos"??)

This makes me pine for my old Bloomingdale Pirates gym shorts. (Because there were probably loads of pirates that settled in the land-locked suburbs of Chicago.) From Coudal.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:35 AM   0 comments



Monday, October 05, 2009
football first.



This new series of ads for CBS College Football are pretty awesome. So awesome, that you know they'll be hanging in dorm room, basement and living room walls across the football land.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:41 AM   0 comments



Thursday, September 24, 2009
mother nature takes on serena williams

video

Tampax has brought on Serena Williams as a spokesperson in a campaign that kicks off in October. They don't blame her recent outburst on PMS, but they do bring on Mother Nature as a formidable challenger. (And Mother Nature has way more sass than you likely imagined.)

Ads hit in a couple of weeks, but in the meantime you can enjoy the Mother Nature vs. Serena clip above. Cute.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:15 AM   0 comments



Friday, September 11, 2009
nike suggests you stop watching silly videos



Nike does a cute piece to promote their upcoming 10K race for NikePlus users. (Not that there's anything wrong with cats on a treadmill.) From Hal Thomas.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:05 AM   0 comments



Thursday, July 30, 2009
how to get the girl



Or not. Time to turn off the computer and go play sports outside.

Nice work by DDB in Vancouver.

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posted by Ben Kunz @ 7:49 AM   0 comments



Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Nike releases your inner boarder












Ryan, Darryl and skate freaks in the Plaid Flex, this clip’s for you. There’s a new hi-def digital short film called Debacle that Nike is letting you download for about a week more. It does a lot of cool things. Nice angles and shots, good flow to the skating and some impossible-looking tricks, worth checking out.

While some of those stunts are sick and well beyond my short-lived skate career of two weeks after a nice faceplant, I couldn’t help but think Spike Jonez nailed some of this stuff in more stunning fashion for Lakai. Or that Jackass is the danger these riders want to be.

There are only a few brief moments throughout where spills happen. In some cases, fake confrontations with people seem forced. When Jackass takes someone on, it feels real.

The other thing that undermined it for me was the standard disclaimer at the end: “Don’t try this at home” and “No property was harmed, skate responsibily.” It feels so disingenous. Nike’s about pushing yourself, no matter the sport, right? One thing I never felt they were about was being subversive.

No matter how much some of this felt “not” dangerous, I got this vibe from the riders that they could care less about where they were skating and if they trashed something. At the risk of sounding like Patrick Swayze in Point Break, living for the moment is one thing, but this seemed to go against any skate responsible ethics.

I don’t think you can depict some of the damage shown in this clip and then imply “We didn’t mean it—oh by the way, skate safe.” Maybe it’s the expectation of having seen so many skate vids where faceplants are the norm and not the exception that I kept waiting for some of these incredible stunts to end that way. Few did, but I imagine they really did—they were just edited out.

Why? I get that you’re after the perfect ride, unattainable is it may be. This is where it felt like a commercial because every ride seemed perfect, and only a few spills added in later to “keep it real.”

So I’m not sure how I feel about it because i think they opened the door to another issue with regard to the negative side of sport. Great footage and amazing skillz on display here, no doubt, but it’s hard to ignore that other issue. Nike though usually does, except when they flip the negative around and become apologists for controversial athletes like Bode Miller or Kobe Bryant.

The issue becomes simply: Do you embrace the negative side in some of your messaging and do you do it for all sports? Maybe they’re testing the waters here by aligning with a sport that while mainstream, is still on the outs with church elders.

Still, I can see Nike Hooligans—a series on futbol fanatics who go too far. Nike Hoops—The real story about recruiting practices in college and high school.

Where do you draw the line?

(Via Cool Hunting.)

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posted by mtlb @ 4:56 AM   0 comments



Friday, June 19, 2009
cities pitch for the olympics



News from the Herd has a good review of all of the pitch videos from cities who would like to host the Olympics. Kind of cool to see someone other than agencies pitching for a change.

I like Tokyo's pitch best, because they promise to create magical flying ribbons and use comic book characters. Always a win.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:15 AM   0 comments



Tuesday, April 21, 2009
once again, the guys in finance get the girl.



People that work in finance can type numbers really, really fast with one hand using the number keypad. Sure, that's handy when you're doing accounting audits, but it's extra handy when you need to type the code that unlocks the last level of the new Puma interactive piece.

Puma Lift promotes the fact that their shoes are super light. You can compare them on a scale with a bunch of items. You've seen this concept done before, a thousand times maybe, but the production on this version is impressive and smooth. Maybe that's why you'll keep playing and weighing. Or maybe your fingers are fast enough to get the girl to undress. Only one way to find out. From Adverblog.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:41 AM   0 comments



Wednesday, February 25, 2009
someone who would enjoy a michael phelps endorsement



Check out the stickers that have made their way through the streets of Calgary. It's a Michael Phelps endorsement...without the official endorsement, for a hemp shop. Great idea.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:39 AM   0 comments



Friday, February 06, 2009
how special olympics measures up



A new campaign for the 2009 Special Olympics World Winter Games hopes to change the perception of the Special Olympics. The print campaign compares the Olympic finish line, ice rink and slalom course to the Special Olympic versions. Nice work.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 6:51 AM   0 comments



Monday, February 02, 2009
alternatives to the superbowl logo



Now that it's all over, do you remember what the SuperBowl logo looked like? The NY Times explores some alternatives to Superbowl logo design. From John Nack.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:08 AM   0 comments



Friday, January 30, 2009
friday flakes superbowl episode



Here's a special SuperBowl episode of Friday Flakes! Today's Friday Flakes is hosted by Justus, RJ and Darryl.

In this week's episode, we talk about:
+ A photoshoot at Plaid, for a profile at ConnCreatives
+ Plaid's snowday, earlier in the week
+ Sara defies death by eating peanut butter crackers

We chat about the "big game" coming up this weekend:
+ Who would win, if the game were based on brand essence?
+ How ridiculous of a team the Cardinals are, based on branding
+ Which ads we're stoked to see

We talk about how to watch the Superbowl:
+ With Twitter hashtags on Adrants
+ With your Twitter friends
+ Or with 3D glasses

Happy Superbowl from FridayFlakes!

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 11:37 AM   4 comments



Tuesday, January 27, 2009
watch the superbowl with your social media friends



Because your friends are all about the game. And your extended family is just annoying. And you want to talk about the ads. And comment. And see what other people like you are saying.

Not to worry...during the Superbowl, turn on your Twitter machine of choice and add the hashtag #superads09 to the end of any superbowl ad related tweet.

Then turn to the handy Adrants Twitter channel and see what all of your cool friends are saying. Details here. Start now.

(Or, if you're one of those people that's all "they don't make Superbowl spots like they used to,", then go check out the AdLand archive of every superbowl spot. Ever.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:00 AM   0 comments



Monday, January 19, 2009
every super bowl commercial that you'd ever want to watch, throughout time



Once the Miracle on the Hudson and Obamamania news settles down, we'll be focusing our attention on important things. Like SuperBowl* commercials.

If you'd like to do a little advance homework on the subject, you may wish to check out Adland - who's serving up every single SuperBowl commercial throughout the entire history of SuperBowls. That's like going back to the 1600's or something. This is so much fun that you could easily spend the rest of your day checking out retro-awesomeness.

*And when we say "SuperBowl", we really mean "big game."

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:37 AM   0 comments



Tuesday, December 23, 2008
the history of asics told in paper



Here's a stunningly produced history of Asics/Onitsuka Tiger. You should use this as an excuse to go buy yourself a new pair of sneakers in honor of this wonderous production. C'mon. I'll join you.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:37 AM   1 comments



Thursday, December 18, 2008
women run for man in axe



At a recent women only road race (?) Axe pulled a pretty awesome stunt. They had a dude with an Axe t-shirt spray himself with the magic Axe sauce, and started running just ahead of the pack.

(Coworker David claims it doesn't work. He's tried Axe several times, and the girls in the office still think he's gross.)

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:45 AM   2 comments



Monday, November 03, 2008
the future of tv is here



Too bad it's being wasted on sports. Ben at Thought Gadgets posts about how NBC TV has changed the football viewing experience online.

You can choose camera angles, submit questions to reporters on the sidelines and otherwise interact with the program. That's awesomeness beyond awesome.

Why can't we watch the Colbert Report or the Sarah Connor Chronicles in this way?? My day will come, and it will be glorious. You'll see.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:28 AM   2 comments




people don't like peyton manning



I don't follow many team sports, but apparently there's some famous guy Peyton Manning. And some people want to kick his ass. MasterCard says "let's give this poor lad a wheelbarrow of money, and see if he can act in a commercial."

The result is cute - but I enjoy the behind the scenes footage even more. It's always a blast to watch a shoot. Even if it has to do with sports.

They've also created a fun campaign site, to accompany the effort - where you can send a personal message to your friends from the Peyton dude.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:43 AM   0 comments



Monday, September 01, 2008
nike human race: the day after



Yesterday, NikePlus put together a pretty spectacular international event. The Human Race. It's reportedly the largest race in history, and inspired more people to run a 10K race together than ever before.

Here's why this was an awesome brand event:

+ Nike has influenced thousands - maybe hundreds of thousands of runners to run a race for the first time. That's something that many beginners never achieve. Runners will always remember their first race, and now these runners will associate their first with Nike. That's a lifetime brand memory.

+ They tied in charities. Most community races benefit charities, so it's awesome that they incorporated that element here too. Raises awareness, raises money, and everyone wins.

+ They did great promotion, education and inspiration prior to the event. An excellent job promoting the event on their brand properties. They provided training for those that have never run this distance before. And they inspired people to try.

+ When participants completed the race, they received a free training workout download. Nice touch - while promoting Nike audio products at the same time.

Here's some things that Nike should consider for future events:

+ Distribute race numbers to those running the race. Over a million runners. That means that the majority of them weren't running in some of the official race cities. This was a race run in the suburbs, in the country, and small towns across the globe. Many runners collect the race numbers for every race they enter - so it's a cool brand opportunity. I ran the race in the burbs, and saw several other runners who I assumed might be running the same race...but there was no way to know. (Not only that - but you'd be collecting your fans mailing addresses at the same time.)

+ Allow more social networking. Let runners meet with people in their own communities and run the race together. Give them the tool to let them connect.

+ Work the PR angle more aggressively. This was a massive event. Granted, the news was busy with the RNC and hurricane coverage, but this should have been on every news station's sportscast, and the winners should be handled by PR agents just like olympic stars.

+ Create more features with the run results. It's just data - so why not let the users view it in more ways? Let them view by town, by state, by age, and other criteria. This is the value of an interactive race - so why not leverage it to the full extent possible?

Did you run the race? How was your experience? What would you have done differently, from a branding perspective?

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:16 AM   6 comments



Friday, August 22, 2008
when brands talk to their fans, it's like heaven.



Video game dude Levinator25 discovered a glitch in the Tiger Woods golf game that lets Tiger's character walk on water within the game. Levinator25 posted video of the glitch on YouTube and the glitch becomes something all fans of the game can enjoy.

EA Sports responds, with their own video (above), proving that Tiger can indeed walk on water. Awesome marketing response.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:28 AM   1 comments



Monday, August 18, 2008
yesterday's olympic stadiums



Wondering what the Bird's Nest or the Watercube will become in a few years? Here's a rundown of what's happened to some of the great Olympic stadiums of yesteryear, from Mental Floss.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:02 AM   0 comments



Wednesday, August 13, 2008
if this featured girls and boobs, people would be in an uproar.



Guess the swimmer guys' abs. Is this the kind of Olympic content that NBC can be proud of? Wasn't it enough that Matt Lauer and his silly sidekick blabbered all over the opening ceremony?

Here's how this likely happened: A bunch of corporate types got in a beige colored conference room at NBC and said "we need to do one of those viral things."

Here's the thing, NBC: Regardless of what you're doing online - it still has to be on-point with your brand.

There's no problem with a 'guess the guy's abs' contest. And for that matter, no problem with a 'guess the girl's boobs contest. But neither seem appropriate for the NBC brand, nor reflect how they're promoting or claiming to cover the Olympics. Bad brand decision.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:32 AM   0 comments



Friday, August 08, 2008
feel the burn of advertising



To promote their coverage of the Tour De France, SBS setup their own cyclist to pedal power the animated billboard every day for 21 days, from 8am to 4pm. Really cool.

I wonder if the media buyer stood out next to the rider coaching him. Faster! We need more turns on the board!

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:26 AM   0 comments



Tuesday, July 22, 2008
read the internet while at the sports stadium



If sports stadiums had LCD screens and the internet in every chair, then I'd go to games every weekend. Popular Science has a feature on a new field for the Oakland A's that might feature such devices.

I wonder how on earth these would survive beer spills, vomit comets, and team rage abuse. But then again, maybe in Los Angeles, people are polite and laid back at their sports games. And wash their hands before fingering public touch screen devices. The more I think of it, the more I like the idea of staying home. Safely in front of a computer screen.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 3:10 AM   3 comments



Tuesday, July 08, 2008
your next presentation could be delivered on the golf course. literally.



Check out this grassy art at Wimbledon. Artists Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey projected black and white negatives onto the grass for 12 hours a day, in a dark room. They've manipulated the light sensitivity of grass to produce grass art. Or ads. Or stuff printed on grass.

So awesome! Hello country clubs? Landscape designers? Green architects? So many possibilities. Wondering if we climb up onto our roofs and project images into our lawn at night....hmmm.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:39 AM   0 comments



Monday, June 30, 2008
people really like this baseball thing



I'm not one to care much about team sports, but even I had to admire this spectacular work for Nuveen Investments, celebrating some team in baseball called "the Cubs."

AdFreak has wallpaper size images of the entire series. So go get your baseball freak on.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:07 AM   0 comments



Monday, June 09, 2008
nike: the wrong time to sell



This weekend, I reached a milestone on the NikePlus system. 500 miles. This means that I've been using their system for 500 miles. Telling my friends about their product for 500 miles. Convincing my friends to join the system for 500 miles. For 500 miles, I've been a NikePlus brand advocate.

How does Nike celebrate this momentous occasion? With a coupon for "free shipping" on a Nike 500 mile club t-shirt. A $28 t-shirt. I've been your advocate for 500 miles, and I'm repaid with a marketing offer? Pffffffft.

I accept (and embrace) marketing on the home page, when I use the product. But product marketing used as an award feels wrong here. Why not give 500 mile users a keychain? A bracelet? Or GIVE them a $28 t-shirt? That's a bunch of t-shirts that will elicit additional conversation about the product. Or, don't give anything but the virtual trophy and badge for their profiles. (Which would have been just enough.)

Brian Morrisey points out a bunch of other problems with NikePlus. You can't export your data. (Data portability is the future.) You can't find and connect with friends (outside of challenges). He's right. Worse, the system is filled with minor (but super annoying, over time) software bugs. They've added cute features like silly avatars (no thanks), but ignore software bugs that plague their most avid users.

For the brands that believe Nike beat them to market...here's your chance. Create a product that connects your users. And is social in the way that social tools have become central to our lives (like Twitter & Facebook). Maybe even integrate with them. And update your software. Fix your bugs. If you're going to play web 2.0, learn from the best. Continually improve, like the best Google products, or any 37Signals products.

NikePlus: I love you. You've inspired me to run, and made me love the Nike brand more than I ever did before. But icky marketing and software bugs eat away at brand love bite by byte.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:26 AM   5 comments



Tuesday, June 03, 2008
webster bank: let's complicate things



I happened into a local branch of Webster Bank the other day (yeah, to transact with a human!) and had to laugh at the promotion that I saw.

I assume this was created by a banker. Because only a banker would devise a multi-level consumer promotion with so many numbers that it requires a brochure, and a full page of marketing text to explain. Not the small print - I accept that lawyers will always get their 352 words in. This is the promotion itself.

The photo above is an attempt from a local branch to "clarify" what wasn't clear in the brochure. I'm still not clear. But it has something to do with the Yankees and The Red Sox, and the bank taking your money. The rest is really confusing.

Keep it simple. If you can't explain it to your mom in two or three sentences, then simplify.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:55 AM   6 comments




vintage skateboard stickers for your briefcase



Someday there will be a massive museum erected to showcase the culture and history of skateboarding. For now, there's Retro Skate Stickers. A super sweet collection of vintage skateboard stickers. I was totally stoked to see my buddy Per Welinder represented (above). Awesome. Found on Hip.Young.Thing.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:42 AM   1 comments



Friday, April 18, 2008
unexpected licensing that makes sense



Two licensing deals this week caught our attention, and are great examples of brands coming together to produce greatness.

Levis is partnering with snowboard apparel company 686. Snowboard culture and 686 brand awareness bring much needed cool factor to Levis. 686 gets a unique product line, and credit for helping to reinvent Levis in a new category. Win-win.

Burton is partnering with Playboy. They've done this before, just not at this level. Their new fall line has some pretty sexy boards that are sure to get attention. And melt snow. Burton makes Playboy relevant, in a world where magazines no longer matter. Playboy bunnies look super hot on boards. Win-win, again.

What brand could you partner with, to create unexpected success?

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:28 AM   0 comments



Thursday, April 17, 2008
giant shoes bring together east coast and west coast. all is well.



Part art project, part street-team, part promotional stunt. This Adidas promo rocks. (Stupid Flash site won't let you link directly. Click on "superstar.")

Two giant (no really - GIANT) adidas shoes get painted by street artists. One on the west coast (the left shoe), one on the east coast (the right shoe). They meet in Venice Beach, and live happily ever after.

Only one thing leaves me uncomfortable. Why does the east coast shoe have to travel to California? Was the left shoe too lazy to meet halfway? Couldn't the giant shoe meet-up take place in Chicago? Over deep-dish pizza?

From mmcgreevy, via Twitter.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:38 AM   0 comments



Monday, April 07, 2008
rick astley to play for the ny mets



This is the very last day to rickroll (explained here) the NY Mets. The Gothamist reports that thousands of people have already written in the famous song on a promotion's entry form to vote for the 8th inning sing-a-long song. You should too. Voting ends at noon today, so hurry it up. Click here for pics of Mets players doing coke with strippers.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:06 AM   0 comments



Tuesday, February 12, 2008
what they should be teaching your kids on the soccer field this spring.



When you're on the community field at the beginning of soccer season, watching your little spawn run around cones and play a game of soccer where "both teams win", remember this clip. And show it to your kid to inspire her. Soccer could actually be fun.

From Thought Gadgets, via Make the Logo Bigger.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:24 AM   6 comments



Tuesday, February 05, 2008
tooth type. the next big thing.



While flipping through the new issue of Future Snowboarding, I found a really cool idea. A feature piece on snowboard star Bryan Fox, featuring the killer portrait featured above.

You've seen diamond and gold fronts on rap stars; and writing on, or customizing your body is far from new. But hand lettering on teeth is cool. Haven't seen a lot of that.

How could you make this cooler? How about a video, with the entire message written on different mouths? Just an idea.

(Awesome photo by Brian Craighill)

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:24 AM   4 comments



Friday, January 11, 2008
burton: sabotage stupidity



Burton.com has a really fun promotion going on.

There are still four resorts in North America that don't allow snowboarding. Burton's giving $5K to the person or crew that submits the best video of their experience snowboarding at one of these resorts. They'll give away a total of $20K.

Awesome idea. Sure, everyone's jumping on the user-generated bandwagon, but this contest has some originality to it. It reignites the rebel brand image of snowboarding, and positions Burton as a leader in the movement.

I know just the person at our agency who could make this happen....hmmmm. Originally noticed on the Denver Egotist.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:47 AM   4 comments



Thursday, January 03, 2008
nike plus just totally gets it



Hopefully you've heard about NikePlus. An awesome use of technology coupled with a social site, to inspire runners, and build brand loyalty. Quite a few of us at Plaid are users. (Any other agencies interested in a virtual challenge??)

Make the Logo Bigger Bill just discovered a really fun spot promoting the system. It's funny. And effective. And it's showing the benefit of the product. Not product as in shoes or apparel, but as in the NikePlus system.

The spot speaks to and inspires an audience that aren't hardcore runners. Encouraging them to give it a shot, and use NikePlus to make it more enjoyable. That's smart - they're attempting to grow and inspire a new audience, rather than just focus on converting New Balance users.

What could you do to help potential users of your brand?

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:49 AM   1 comments



Thursday, December 20, 2007
lots of fun data for your powerpoint



Yesterday, the geeks at PEW released a new study titled Teens and Social Media. Stuff like:
  • 64% of online teenagers ages 12 to 17 engaging in at least one type of content creation;
  • Some 35% of all teen girls blog;
  • 20% of boys blog;
  • 54% of wired girls post photos online compared with 40% of online boys;
  • Teen boys are nearly twice as likely as online girls (19% vs. 10%) to have posted a video online.
Awesome. Can't wait to see these facts crammed into bullets in a PPT presentation. Found it first at Mashable.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:11 AM   1 comments




the puma robot cares about you



Puma has brought a non-stop working robot out of the factory to deliver holiday greetings and stuff. He'll even needlepoint you a custom message to send to your friends. So special. From Make the Logo Bigger.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:46 AM   0 comments




a love letter to the new 30 second spot



Check out this beautiful piece for Converse. A love letter to basketball.

Not knowing anything about team sports, I immediately thought it was a piece for Dwayne Wayne. But it turns out that Dwyane Wade is a different person entirely. But now I know better. And I love basketball just a little more, now. Thanks Converse.

As Bill has accurately pointed out, 2:31 is the new 30 seconds. Awesome. Found on Beyond Madison Avenue.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:30 AM   0 comments



Wednesday, November 28, 2007
2010 olympic mascots: totally hot



The 2010 Olympic mascots are out, and they totally rock. More reason for the 2012 Olympic logo to run away and hide.

Everything about the Vancouver mascots is sweet. Their announcement website is awesome. They appeal to multiple audiences. They cross international/cultural lines really well. They're going to work beautifully with product and licensing.

You can even find out which mascot is most like you, by taking the quiz. (Apparently I'm Miga - which I totally disagree with. I so want to be Quatchi.)

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:50 AM   2 comments



Monday, November 19, 2007
move, or get fat.



Just in time for the onslaught of eating holidays. Our office will be filled with deliciousness over the coming weeks, and I could definitely use this little reminder. Work is for the German Olympic Sport Federation.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:04 AM   0 comments



Thursday, November 01, 2007
nike launches something else for me to love



I still wear Asics or Mizunos, but I'm a much bigger fan of Nike than I used to be. Their virtual half marathon was fun on Oct 21 - can't wait to get my tee and Tiffany keychain. 2296 runners (of 3410 registractions) ran 13.1 all over the country - many for the very first time. And my finisher icon is much more fun than seeing my name in the paper in tiny print.



And now Nike has launched Gone Running. Where I can quickly see the temp and weather in my area, get a suggestion of some cool new Nike gear that I need, be inspired, and hear that "Someone who is busier than you is running right now." Dang.

And they have a new blog. Love it.

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posted by Giuli @ 9:17 AM   1 comments



Tuesday, October 23, 2007
coffee. everywhere you need it.



Guerilla Communication just completed a tasty promotion for Coffees of Hawaii. In an effort to target athletes, their families and friends, they set up a floating espresso bar on the IronMan swimming course. People could swim up to the bar (during training week) and sample the deliciousness. While being informed that you could get Coffee of Hawaii brought to you wherever you live - whenever you want, thanks to the world wide webs. Mmmmmmm.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 8:15 AM   0 comments



Friday, October 05, 2007
snowboard art makes its way to canvas



Looks like Burton is doing something pretty cool - sponsoring an art show of artists who have done board graphics. Couldn't find any details about the show itself - but if you know more, please fill in the blanks in comments. Also check out Matt Moore's work. Really nice illustrator.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:29 AM   0 comments



Thursday, September 06, 2007
new meadowlands stadium to entertain from the parking lot



Everyone knows that I don't get too excited about team sports like football. Or their stadiums. But here's a stadium that I'd love to see. The new Meadowlands stadium will be made of a kabillion panels that can change colors. Oh, the possibilities.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:34 AM   1 comments



Friday, August 31, 2007
nike: doing cool branding again.



Some of the latest Nike stuff has been really cool. This "Gone Running" sign was a promo giveaway - but they also had giant versions for window displays in their stores. Nice stuff.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:53 AM   0 comments




honda sports ads not what you'd expect



This series of ads from Honda rocks. I can imagine they they'd jump out of the publications that they're featured in - which are typically filled with "dude shots" of ATV's and motorcycles getting air. Nice work.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:46 AM   0 comments



Thursday, August 09, 2007
cool helmet ad



Great ad for helmets. Nuff said.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:13 AM   0 comments



Wednesday, July 25, 2007
ecommerce meets myspace



Skate shoe maker Lakai Limited's commerce page looks just like a MySpace page. While some are definitely annoyed by everything MySpace, I think this is a pretty cool idea. Keep in mind that as a skate culture brand, Lakai will need to continually reinvent themselves online, so it's not like this design concept needs to live for five years.

The other thing to consider is that the nostalgia curve shortens dramatically with youth culture. A 20 year old skater who gave up on MySpace three years ago, will look at this design as funny or "nostalgic." Yet familiar. Something to consider for youth marketing brands.

I would have made profile pages for each of the sponsored riders too, but otherwise love this concept. Thanks Casey!

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 6:58 AM   0 comments



Wednesday, July 18, 2007
I heart nike+



and now I love it a little bit more.

Received a personal invitation recently to run in a sold out half marathon for women in San Francisco. There are cool prizes just for finishing. Money goes to charity. And I don't even have go to California.

Instead, I'll log 13.1 miles wherever I want, at any time on Oct 21, with my nike+ ipod nah-no. (which is how the cool people pronounce it) Mizuno wearer that I am, I'm even thinking about buying my first pair of nikes.

How cool is a virtual half marathon, run by thousands of women all over the country on the same day. And that they spotted me as a woman who logs long distances in my account, who might be up for a half. And the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is benefiting too. Everybody wins.

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posted by Giuli @ 9:24 PM   2 comments




NXTube gets plaid



Couldn't ignore this one, since I work at an agency named Plaid. Adland points to NXTube.com, a new site produced for Titleist.

I love the 'anti-design' theme.

Clearly this is proof that the plaid trend is hot like Paris Hilton. Or maybe just proof that tacky pants rock the golf course. You decide.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:08 AM   0 comments



Friday, July 06, 2007
cool spot for nike. finally.



It's been a while since I've seen a super cool spot for Nike. . Back in the old days, they owned this game. But this new spot rocks. Makes me want to play soccer. And I can't tell a soccer ball from a volley ball. From AdFreak.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:18 AM   2 comments



Tuesday, June 26, 2007
let the better looking person inside you out



Wonderous series of ads for a gym in Brazil. Copy reads: Give your slender body a chance to get rid of you.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:25 AM   0 comments



Thursday, June 07, 2007
surf sister school ad



Sweet ad for Surf Sister.

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posted by darryl ohrt @ 7:44 AM   1 comments







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