Yesterday, Donovan and I were scouring the ‘net trying to find all of the new Dark Knight posters and videos that leaked out on Friday. Sadly, we only found a couple of posters, not the promised December trailer for the flick. I did, however, just stumble upon the Gotham Times, an oddly complete newspaper complete with an Opinion Section, varies news stories about how the city is going to hell, and lots of lovely ads filled with stock photography — one of which I think I’ve actually used before. Some light reading for you this weekend.

Also try The Ha Ha Ha Times. Thanks to Chris for pointing that one out.

–nv–

I ran across this ad today on msn.com and it made me laugh a bit. Sorry about the poor
resolution on the files, but you can clearly see that by applying a simple cream you can go from grandma of
three, to a vibrant middle aged woman.

So being a grandma of three I did the opposite of what I usually do, I went to the site. There again was another example of the amazing results on the header, but when you look under the photo it says simulated imagery. dermitage.com

I am curious about your thoughts on this. Should stuff like this be ok, since consumers should be able to make their own decisions. Or is this deceiving the general public with made up photos ( horrible ones ). I personally feel that if it is something that goes on or in your body that there should be some sort of guidelines on the photos used.

It doesn’t look like this has been given much attention on many design blogs, but it’s something I’ve been absolutely fascinated with over the past few weeks. Sao Paulo, one of the largest cities in the world, has banned outdoor advertising…and therefore design. There have been a couple great articles written on the subject, one of which is over at WorldChanging. And a friend recently sent me a video that takes a more in depth look at some of the events leading up to the ban, as well as some of the aftermath and how advertising companies and the businesses they work for are combating the ban.

One of the articles does mention 70% of people (S√£o Paulo residents) approve. The other 30% must be the 20,000 people that lost their jobs as a result. I can’t help but love the thought of a city of that proportion without all the mindless clutter. Billboards have been so exhausted lately, deep down you have to question their relevance and effectiveness they have. I think I’ve shut them off in my head completely. But as far as a directional/informational tool…some sort of outdoor signage is almost essential for a businesses success. People have to be able to find you right?

It should be interesting to see how the creative problem solvers in those S√£o Paulo shops will use their newfound fresh open palette of a city and dream up some truly unique and probably more effective advertising alternatives. One article stated that businesses, now with lack of outdoor signage, have resorted to painting their entire building their signature color. Ie: man giving directions “BP is the second bright green building on the left”. If all jump on the bandwagon, that will be one colorful, not to mention confusing city. And if they took down all the structures that housed the billboards, it could be one beautiful, visual-pollution-free city.

Here’s a tasty link full of visual goodness (If you come across any more, please post them). Here are a few other articles I found on the subject. Read up, it’s really intriguing. @designverb IHT

I sure as hell do. Warner Brothers and 42 Entertainment (purportedly) have kicked off the world’s next major viral marketing campaign for The Dark Knight, the sequel to Batman Begins. And so far, what I am seeing rocks my face off.

(more…)

I hate oil companies. They are manipulating oil prices and getting filthy rich because you and I have no choice but to pay the high prices that they set. That’s not the point of this post however (we have already had that economic debate before anyway). This post is about a marketing question. Specifically, what would it take for a person like me, who hates the oil industry, to change my mind? Could a corporate film do the trick?

(more…)