Ray Ban’s previous ad campaigns have been sans any color and they are still very upbeat on the same marketing strategy. Ray Ban has launched five new print ads for this season which have been created by CUTWATER. It is an advertisement agency (it claims itself as a full-service agency though) based in San Francisco and also responsible for the tag line “Never Hide.” These ads are giving a complex to my Play Circuit theme and now I have to consider changing the theme which can accommodate hardcore black & white ads without disturbing the sanctity of colors.

I am starting a new series on Play Circuit where I will post those print ads which can also be used as cool wallpapers on your desktop. This particular ad has been created by Saatchi & Saatchi Vietnam for Western Union. The image is quite panoramic which doesn’t allow you to get any sense that there are actually two cities captured in the scene : Shanghai & Chicago.

Advertising Agency: SAATCHI & SAATCHI VIETNAM, Ho Chi Minh City
Executive Creative Director: Steve Hough
Creative Director: Sumesh Peringeth
Copywriter: Steve Hough
Art Director: Sumesh Peringeth, Huy Nguyen
Photographer: Photolibrary, Corbis, Teo Studio
Illustrator: Nguyen Le

I do watch quite a lot of ads and all kinds of them, some are straightforward, some are witty, some are horny and then there are also some which are quite simple in their message but extraordinary in design. This print campaign called Mermaid created by the Forte Identity Design, Singapore for the Seafood International Market and Restaurant is just the kind of ad I mentioned in the end. The message the advertiser has communicated is that they carry the widest range of live seafood without any kind of gimmickry. The mermaid in the picture looks gorgeous (that’s because I am partial towards Asian chicks) and I would have quite possibly missed the name of the advertiser had their big logo not interfered. Overall a nice work, we still appreciate simplicity while beauty goes without saying.

Unilever had started the year 2008 with an all new campaign to market its hair care brand Sunsilk all around the world. The Sunsilk brand is known as Seda in Latin American markets and to promote it JWT Sao Paulo created three new TV commercials with a same theme: a bad hair day for a woman is a bad day for everyone.

I must admit that I liked all of their adverts and they seem truly in line with the Unilever’s world wide campaign called Life can’t wait. The Unilever guys have also created a website to market it on web and you can take a look here. Their earlier online campaign called Sunsilk Gang of Girls was quite successful in Indian markets.The success of viral video posted on youtube must have further resurrected the confidence of Unilever on social media and Web 2.0. Other than Madonna, Shakira and Marilyn Monroe, local celebrities are also being used by Unilever to get better attention in local TV advertising. Miss Universe 2000 Priyanka Chopra is marketing Sunsilk in India while Mexican actress Jacqueline Bracamontes van-Hoorde is taking care of Seda in Mexico while we have Shakira doing publicity in rest of the Latin American countries.

Watch the latest three ads here:

Creatives:
Mario D’Andrea (Executive Creative Director)
Roberto Fernandez (Creative Director)
Mario D’Andrea (Creative Director)
Rinaldo Ferrarezzi (Art Director)
Andréa Siqueira (Copywriter)
Anna Bohm (Agency Producer)

Director(s): Felipe Figueiredo
Production Company: Cine

The idea of manipulating the unconscious or conscious fears of human to persuade them to buy the products is not new. And we see quite a lot of advertisers do that time and time again. I do believe its high time that advertisers and ad agencies realize that its enough and we do something innovative to sell products. The latest print ad for Gillette Fusion made by BBDO Düsseldorf, Germany is precisely based on the point I made. Its called Gillette Fusion:No Fusion,No Kiss. The images remind me of my grandpa’s era and they might appear appealing but I doubt that for how long. The use of women to sell some ultra male thing is another reason I dislike this one. But anyhow see the ads here.

Credits:
Creative Director: Stefan Vonderstein
Art-Director: Olaf Reys, Jorg Tavidde
Copywriter: Anno Thenenbach, Alex Busch
Photo: Frank Schemmann, Stefan Kranefeld