Adland Roundup 2003 (part 2)

More of the Adland Roundup for 2003. Enjoy.

Good ads gone bad

As most of us know, a great concept can end up being horrid after rounds of changes, too many cooks in the proverbial kitchen, and the slow erosion of the elements that made it great. This category gives props to the ads that ended up terrible or watered down, but most likely started out as a strong concept.

• Mercedes Benz- Beast by Merkley Newan Harty & Partners had potential. Starts off strong, but the end is full of holes and things that just don't fit.
  
• Subway "Good so you don't have to be" campaign by Fallon. Cookies, Doctor, Judge, and Cupid. These are all a part of a strong concept, which just seems to go wrong near the end of the spots. They try too hard to be "edgy." Instead of characters that act like jackasses after eating Subway, there could have been something better to chose from. Or are people who eat at Subway just jerks?

Ads that shouldn't have been banned

People with too much time on their hands tend to feel like it's their duty to complain about things. Some of the times they actually do have a point. But a good part of the time, their complaints are inane and pretty much waste the time of the ASA and other ad standards groups. Sometimes it seems that these groups kowtow to the masses, even if a small number of complaints are made.

• Barnardo's ad campaign by BBH, London is just brilliant. Hard hitting and impactful work for the non-profit.
  
• Levis Born Again by Brandhouse Arnold, Melbourne, Australia, got banned in New Zealand because of it parodied a baptizing. Please.
  
• South African ad for the Amy Biehl Foundation to promote the importance of education, by Saatchi & Saatchi. After the original ad got banned, they created a response ad which is brilliant. These ads posted at adgrunt kevinkevin 's homepage.
  
• Euro Takes the Dollar- cheeky ad banned in Moscow.
  
• Claymore posted up the much-chatted about Wrigley's Xcite Dog Breath spot by AMVBBDO, London, UK. It broke the record for most Independent Television Commission complaints of a TV commercial in the UK - nearly 700 and counting.
  
• Durex Roger More poster by McCann Erickson, Manchester, UK.

Ads that should have been banned

Amazing what gets past the eyes of the complaining masses. Sometimes an ad will slip past that has questionable or offensive material.

• Sloggi goes one pole too far. And instead of creating a hype around their product, they turn off their target with ads of women and stripper poles.
  
• WE, a Swedish company, got some trouble for the way they advertise their underwear. While the men's packaging shows a overweight hairy man, the woman's packaging shows a girl's bottom still red after being freshly spanked. The CEO for WE, defends the image with "we're a skater brand, the idea was that the girl might have fallen off a skateboard." Oh Please! How stupid do they think the public is? This ad was not banned only pulled.

Most bizarre ad

General weirdness running amok in adland.

• Quiznos - suckling on Wolves.
  
• Buddah endorses sex pills.
  
• Six Feet Under posters .

Most Innovative ad

New stuff taking the biz in wonderful directions.

• Blood ad for Acclaim Entertainment new video game, "Gladiator: Sword of Vengeance.
  
• Homing pigeons to promote Tennis game.
  
• Honda - Cog It used the viral potential and made an extra long, extra gorgeous cinema ad, which was seen by a lot more eyeballs than they bought at the movies. Clever!

Silliest innovation

New ideas that are strange and make us laugh.

• PregVerts- If you're pregnant, what can you do with your protruding bump? Use it as a table? Sure, but why not make some cash and use it as advertising space?

Viral ads/adgames

Some of the best of this newish ad media.

• Har Mar SuperStar - Vladivar Vodka virals itself with the help of Citigate SMARTS, UK found by Claymore.
  
• Honda - Cog
  
• PUMA spoof ads
  
• Absolut Vodka - Mulit by TBWA/Chiat/Day, NY, US
  
• Gucci's hairy ad by in house CD Tom Ford.
  
• Trojan Games posted by dabitch.
  
• Caffeinegoddess found this VW Bollocks ad created by BMP DDP, London to run as a TV spot, but because of the use of language, it instead was run as a viral ad instead.

Most overrated ad

The ads that got great press coverage, even though it really wasn't all that great.

• Miller Light - Catfight.
  
• Dodge Durango- Poster, aka Bathroom Humor by BBDO Detroit. Oh yeah, that size joke is so fresh. Not.

Most underrated ad

Some amazing ads slip under the radar.

• VW bubble teaser and the bubble post teaser by Arnold Worldwide, Boston.
  
• Robblink posted up Ikea's Moo Cow Milker by Crispin Porter & Bogusky, which continues the campaign that "Lamp" was a part of in 2002.
  
• Goodby Silverstein & Partners pulled off another beautiful ad for the Milk Board's "Got Milk?" Campaign with Birthday.
  
• Moderinsta did a wonderful spot for the Hummer H2- Box Car Race. Even if you don't like the Hummers, it's hard not to like this ad.

Best new tagline

New taglines that have the potential to become classics.

• General Electric - "Imagination at work". Although their old tagline "We bring good things to life" would have also worked in their attempt to broaden people's perceptions to include jet engines, MRIs and wind power.
  
• XBOX - "It's good to play together".
  
• Miller Lite - "Good Call."

Worst new tagline

These brands should have stuck with their old taglines if they couldn't have thought of something better

• Sears - "Good life. Great price."
  
• Pepsi - "It's the cola"
  
• McDonalds - "I'm lovin' it"
  
• KFC - "You've gotta KFC what's cookin' "
  
• Timex - "Life is Ticking"

Best "Switch" parody of the year

Apple parodies and spoofs have become the rage lately.

• Homestar Switch. Because we do love Homestar and we can't explain why. Meanwhile, the best Ipod spoof is Steve Ballmers Ipod.

Best of Badland

Paying homage one of the nicest forms of flattery.

• Mama Mia that’s a spicy rip-off is the best rip-off ever. Swedish ad copied the Bernbach ad.
  
• Snuggle gets sexy- pay "homage to the surreal "Share the Fantasy" campaign for Chanel No. 5 and the arty, black-and-white campaigns for myriad Calvin Klein scents."

Worst of Badland

Stealing ideas. Taking concepts straight from the rags, trade press, and award books.

• EricR pointed out that BuyMusic ripped off Apple- twice!
  
• Grey Auckland's campaign for No Bugs insect spray wasn't only copying an old Gary Larson joke, but it appears that this Grand Prix Outdoor winner at Cannes also knock off of a Peugeot ad 5 years earlier by Duval Guillaume, Bruessel.
  
• Ads that fell in the gutter.
  
• Flirt, squirt, and sex sells?

Most popular adland links out of the year

We love links, some links were loved more than others.

• Helvetica vs Arial (the Kung fu fighting game) What a brilliant way to get rid of font-frustrations!
  
• Jen's VeryBigBlog, her bright site is worth another look.
  
• Meanwhile Niel French's portfolio and Japander.com are the top rated links.

Best new adgrunt of the year

Just what it says above.

adlove - Your posting load of quality articles, especially during the middle of the night due to your connection, wins you best new adgrunt of 2003, and extra super adgrunt juice.

The score as it stands right now when this article is posted.

Top Read of 2003

1. viewed 97933 times flirt, squirt and sex sells?
2. viewed 38134 times Gucci's hairy ad
3. viewed 26951 times CBS -Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2003 Print Ad
4. viewed 25438 times Trojan Games: Masters of the precision vault
5. viewed 23911 times A Wrench in the Cog
6. viewed 16514 times British Honda Accord Spot
7. viewed16291 times Sloggi has gone one pole too far.
8. viewed 15092 times Don't jump - revisited
9. viewed 14324 times Nokia Says Nope, That Kitty Bashing Spot Ain't Ours
10. viewed 13825 times Puma - H-Street/Jamaica (2003) Print Ad (US)

Top Commented during 2003
1. 32 comments flirt, squirt and sex sells?
2. 28 comments British Honda Accord Spot
3. 27 comments Gucci's hairy ad
4. 22 comments Sassoon files suit against P&G
5. 16 comments Miller Lite - Maxim Lite (2003) Print Ad (US)
5. 16 comments Britney all day and all of the night.
5. 16 comments Revolve - the New Testament as teen mag.
6. 15 comments Bush in 30 seconds
7. 14 comments lobsters pale by comparison.
8. 13 comments Heidi looks like a stripper?
8. 13 comments Who the *expletive deleted* is Ted?
9. 12 comments Truth Flies and advertising.
9. 12 comments UPDATED - Molson Canadian gets in touch with its f...
9. 12 comments x-tra read all about the x-fever
9. 12 comments Puma - H-Street/Jamaica (2003) Print Ad (US)
9. 12 comments "Rebirth" Playstation poster Grand Prix winner
10. 11 comments Nokia Says Nope, That Kitty Bashing Spot Ain't Ours
10. 11 comments Adman proposes via a full page ad

Can't get enough of those numbers? Check the Adland year Roundup of the best and worst rated ads.
Rating is on, all adgrunts can rock the vote by giving 5's to the best commercials and 1's to those that really are painfully bad.

Back to part 1