2007 Adland Roundup - A look back at the year in advertising

Hello boys and girls of Adland! Yes, it's that time of year again when we do the Adland roundup and list the year's best and worst ads. My, my, I can't believe time flies when you're having fun - can you believe we've been doing this since 2003. Nostalgics may start their tour of previous years Round Ups here: 2003 part 1 and 2003 part 2. 2004 Adland news roundup, the ads and bestest and mostest, 2005's ads, newsy bits and bestest and mostest, and Adland roundup 2006 top ads part 1, part 2, viral, bad ads, fun and more, bestest and mostest and of course a look back at the ad news of 2006. Now let's get into the fun! 2007 seemed to be a year of medicore or average ads overall. There were some quite good ads, of course, with the usual sprinkling in of shocking and ready for bannage. We saw some bizarre furries themed work from FFL for Orangina. Last years big bringing back the dead trend continued as CP+B brought back a super creepy Orville Redenbacher. Uncle Ben was brought out of retirement, in April there was news about bringing back Bartles & Jaymes characters, and in the UK they trotted out Comedian Bob Monkhouse, but at least it was for a good cause. And we said goodbye to Alan Maxwell Pottasch and Jack Zander .
 

Of course there were the gorillas, apes and monkeys to be seen in Adland - and this year there was no shortage of them including the PG Tips Monkey returning, the Rolling Rock Beer Ape campaign, Gainomax Bananageddon and Cadbury's drumming gorilla from Fallon in London to name a few. Wonderbra's spoof of the Cadbury's gorilla even included a primate - granted she was in a bikini and it wasn't very good. Thankfully, CareerBuilder.com said goodbye to their chimps. And sadly, Choromatsu, the Sony Walkman monkey, died. With the launch of the Simpsons Movie, there were some interesting tie-ins, including Burger King's Homer and Krusty spots. There was also the great Kwik-E-Mart and 7-Eleven store mash-up and the hugely successful Simpsons Avatar viral. In other animated cartoon news, Paddington gave up Marmalade Sandwiches for Marmite. There were the Cavemen from ads who got their own sitcom. And Unilever got a lashing with the Axe/Dove mashup. And it seemed Dexter's viral campaign proved to be one of the most memorable of 2007. There was an old lady doing a mashup for Mountain Dew, dead Easter bunnies, bizarre furries pr0n for Orangina, Whopper Freakouts, crazy wet suit ads, Tom Ford doing what Tom Ford does best (that's being outrageous, if you weren't sure) in a print ad for his own cologne, and a very cool and unusual media idea by Sweet Koo Strawberry Jam.

Both Volkswagen and Guinness seemed to be into using hands in their spots. There were pharama spoofs a-plenty such as Ford's Boredom Hurts, Microsoft Windows Vista Clearification ad campaign, Kia Rondo's Rondoism ads, and Sprint's Connectile Dysfunction. There were the over-hyped ads as usual, this time for Sony Bravia Play Doh and Guinness' Tipping Point. The New York Observer asked Why Have Admen Lost Their Mojo? and the 4As created guidelines for pitches and reviews, which had been brewing for a while. About time something came to fruition.
Banned, Pulled, Whisky Tango Foxtrot?
We remember the chaos that ensued from Adult Swim's ATHF LED billboards in Boston, MA. Seriously, you Bostonites need to chill the hell out. There was the captivity 'abduction, torture and death' posters that caused an outrage because presumably it looked like a real woman inside the poster site. We had an update on the ad ban in São Paulo and suddenly the city bloomed again, without ugly billboards. L'Oréal was found guilty of racism and fined and jailed. There was theDolce & Gabbana knife ad that got axed by the ASA. We saw agencies like Ogilvy JHB create fake "Idol" and get caught by blogger. - Bo-yah! Don't mess with the bloggers, ya hear? Again, another Lindex "We love boobs" campaign gets 'banned'. For certain, a tired and true way of getting bland advertising noticed. There was clamouring over VW's "jumper" ad which they had to pull. How sad!
 

Nearly everyone said "what the hell?" when Dove's new pro-age campaign for real beauty was banned because of nudity. Hahn beer ad was considered too boob-a-licious - what a surprise. Possibly hoping to mimic the chatter level of Lee & Dan's Kia Cat ad, Dodge Dutch Nitro Dog went a similar route, but the got ad pulled by Chrysler Group USA. Makes you wonder where the approvals came from. Luvs' got into trouble with some fans for using a Beatles song. We saw bad billboards and a very Dumb ad ban of the week for Corona. We couldn't understand the logic of McDonalds "alien" ad banned while Nando's stripper ad was OK, Heat Magazine and Renault couldn't escape bannage either, and perhaps the saddest ban of all was also the Saddest Logo Change of 2007 - The castrated Lion "ad omnia paratus". We saw illegal ads on money revisited, Virgin get sued for using CC licensed Flickr photo in ad campaign without a model release, and to top it off, China Bans Bra, Underwear, Sex Toy Ads. Kate Moss was in trouble again , this time for her lashes. Spirit Airlines "MILF" campaign went awry, although we all think that's what they wanted all along. Yup, this year Fark applied for a trademark on NSFW, T-Mobile / Deutsche Telekom sued Telia Sonera over the color Magenta, Supermodel sues Leo Burnett for injuries on the set of their Super Bowl ad. You know, having a crazy set with flashing lights and no rehearsal sounds like a really bad idea. Ms. Britney banned bad billboard ads that used her bald head, Hardees/Carl's Jr. "Flat Buns" ad caused a ruckus and was edited. Something we thought we'd never see, Lowe Australia was caught plagarising a quantum mechanics lecture and then, of course, there was the drama at Dentsu.
 

Get yer media on. It seemed the newest trend was Smellvertising. The question was posed What does KFC smell like? The answer? Fatty fried shit, that's what. Hollywood also took a dip into the Smellvertising kiddy pool too with an ad for Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium which let readers smell cake. We wonder what Marie Antoinette would do with this. ;) Adcreep reared it's head yet again on parked bicycles, airline trays, suitcases, on mail in exchange for free stamps, on the back of envelopes, Internet calls, Facebook, and the one that takes the cake, piped into your head - yes, the creepy A&E billboard that makes you hear voices! Mailboxes got a makeover and turned into R2-D2 in the USA. Crayon and Coca Cola launched a campaign using Second Life. We were witness to the double page spread phenomenon. and ended up in a year where every billboard knows your name...or so it seemed.
 

Media itself became dangerous as hacking web banner networks sent banner ads from hated to feared. Crop circles were so 2006, but Sara Lee did it anyway. The Discovery Channel hung out a climber - for seven days, Saatchi did some ambient work for Reynolds Wrap Aluminum foil using shop gates, nothing could beat this banner placement, and we actually saw a TBWA London sought free ideas for Sony, with no benefit for the creator - except bragging rights. More rappers got into the creative ad game. And of course there the slew of Super Bowl ads created by Joe Public. Katelyn Crabb won Chevy's Super Bowl ad competition with this spot. Oh and there was also this Music Medley. Not to be outdone, Doritos got in the user-generated content trend with Accident and Checkout making it to the small screen. Tidbits from Adland We learned How To Hire An Ad Agency, watched Grey go green even though they call themselves grey. And GSD&M became GSD&M Idea City. We're still not sure why. We revisited phallic logo's, watched Barclays go from Eagle to Shield, and chucked at the road-kill peyote pachyderm. There were those who wanted to break up with advertising and an update on the consumer wanting a divorce.
 

We chuckled at Impetuous Man is Penn Jillette and old ads directing us to Go Gay this Spring!, while rolling our eyes at Truth in advertising, part 100. There were the ten biggest cocks in advertising, Burn Back for ihaveanidea.org's Portfolio Night World Tour - Make the Logo Bigger, and the celebration for typegeeks everywhere when Helvetica turned 50 years old! So scary it was funny, we came across the headline EMV widget, an infomercial from a parallel universe for Steampunk Rayguns - yes, really!, 15 Unfortunately Placed Ads , a widget where you could create your own WIRED cover, the silly Design Rap, and someone's list of The Hottest Ad Girls Ever. Headlines didn't mean what they were supposed to - DOH! - and DIRT sells homes, apparently. We got a laugh from stock photos for a change, learned how to use (and not use) the Verizon Wireless Test Man, My ass opens at six am billboard, wondered how soft are Cordarounds '007 Jackets?, applauded A Few Good Creative Men, took the Right Brain v Left Brain test, and explored the revolving door. We found out if you love Copperplate Gothic Bold, laughed at Autobullshitastic!, acknowledged that people are taking things too literally, found a neato vector graphics online tool, experimented with the The Periodic Table of Marketing Elements, watched Dabitch Sydsvenskan's billboard (oops!), read about greatest copy shot ever written and got freaked out by the Tickle Me Elmo T.M.X. eXtra special edition, which also answered a lot of questions. The One Show's Paul Rand Tribute Film reminded us why we loved what we do and the 2007 Hatch awards reminded us why focus groups suck. There was much love for Grey NYC's homage to Sinhead: Nothing compares to you-ouu-huuu buu-huu and we all enjoyed the Documentary from 1974: Adland by TVTV. All the world watched the what it was like in the glory days of Madison Ave via Mad Men, we learned some new terms in the ad dictionary, listened to greats like Trevor Beattie and Shelly Lazarus of Ogilvy & Mather talk about the biz. And yes, there were the award shows including the BTAA, Golden Egg. Dubai advertising award ADC, 2007 Corbis Creativity for Social Justice Award, One Show Design Awards , Emmy Award Commercial Nominees, EAR Awards , International ANDY Awards, One Club Hall Of Fame 2007, LIAA 2007 Grand Prize Winners and 2007 LIAA Silver TV/Cinema Winners among many others.
 

Take a trip to Badland
P. Diddy vs. Maxell
You know what they say about big hands....?
iBrush toothbrush with tunes homages Apple 1984
Deja vu - cleavage trick coincidence or recycled?
The double page spread phenomenon.
Typographic hugs, times two.
Trendspotting - getting undressed-dressed is getting tedious
More human balls in Badland
Doodle-dee vs doodle-six, local logo confusion
Should Paramount get pissed? Top Gun vs Top Gun.
HDI vs IAMS - Beware of the dogs
Adidas vs. Johnnie Walker
Apple 'hello' iPhone ad a rip-off?
Ads with bugs are bugging me
If babies sells stuff, crying babies must sell twice as much.
Fishing People
Have you seen this shaggy dog before ?
Juicy Fruit v Charal
Argentina Telecom vs. Diet Pepsi Max
Stride vs. Stride
Dogs & bones or Nestle vs. Reparen
15 Unfortunately Placed Ads - Or, Carrots and Bent Over Women
Cartoon characters have great hair - times two.
Some badlanders are more primitive than others.
Badland special - Hair scarves get in my hair.
Greeks as Brazilians
Directions
Phil'er Up - It's a long drive to badland.
Flags of the players
Clash of the Commercials I - Lather. Rinse. Annihilate.
Music on the construction site
Christina follows in Giselas footsteps as Suspect dresses her in lace tattoo
Matchbox ads larger than life - times two.
Condoms and tyres
Wonderbra spoofs Cadbury's gorilla
Cars under street lamps
eBay vs. Sony
Clash of the Commercials II - Mother Truckers - Special Badland Edition
The Guardians colourful campaign by W+K, UK, previously Olvietti ads?
The current Domino trend in advertising.
Brawndo the Thirst Mutilator vs Funny or Die video
Polarbröd logo & trademark hijacked by pirates in Asia
Get out of advertising! Where do you get inspired?
A double barreled Badlander.

Link Lusts of 2007:
Link Lust: Feel like making link
Link Lust: Link makes the world go round
Link Lust: Linking you - a-haaa...
Link Lust: Link Will Lead You Back
Link Lust: Link on the rocks
Link Lust: Lonesome Link
Link Lust: Baby I Link Your Way
Link Lust: Shower Me With Your Link
Link Lust: I will always link you.
Link Lust: Keep On Linkin' Me
Link Lust: I Don't Know Why I Link You
Link Lust: Let Link Lead The Way
Link Lust: Link, Schmink, money schmoney.
Link Lust: Link In The Nick Of Time
Link Lust: Why can't we link together...
Link Lust: I Said I Linked You But I Lied
Link Lust: Could You Be Linked?
Link Lust: I don't know why but I link.
Link Lust: I Don't Know How To Link You
Link Lust: Must be the season of Dabitch
Link Lust: Link to Hate You
Link Lust: Link Me For A Reason
Link Lust: Let Your Link Flow
Link Lust: Funkier than a mosquito's linker.
Link Lust: Link In The Nick Of Time
Link Lust: The greatest link.
Link Lust: The man who linked the world.
Link Lust: Gimme Link.
Link Lust: My name is Michael Link
Link Lust: Linking Rain Cherry Chocolate Rain **breathe
Link Lust: Linking around the world's smallest xmas tree.
Link Lust: Been around the world and I, I, I I can't find my linky

Related Posts:
2007 Adland Roundup - The Ads - Part 1
2007 Adland Roundup - The Ads - Part 2
2007 Adland Roundup - The Ads - Part 3
2007 Adland Roundup - The Ads - Part 4