The end of VIBE

I guess in some ways I'm part of the problem. I haven't bought Vibe magazine for years now. Sadly it will be no more. I have enjoyed the covers over the years. Even the years I didn't buy the mag. I remember great articles and even better photography. I want nothing else to die this month! This is the most dying ass month ever! Good bye June 2009!

*UPDATE*
Statements from Vibe's editor, and a staff memo from the CEO. From editor Danyel Smith:

On behalf the VIBE CONTENT staff (the best in this business), it is with great sadness, and with heads held high, that we leave the building today. We were assigning and editing a Michael Jackson tribute issue when we got the news. It's a tragic week in overall, but as the doors of VIBE Media Group close, on the eve of the magazine's sixteenth anniversary, it's a sad day for music, for hip hop in particular, and for the millions of readers and users who have loved and who continue to love the VIBE brand. We thank you, we have served you with joy, pride and excellence, and we will miss you.

Danyel Smith
the former Chief Content Officer VIBE Media Group
& Editor in Chief, VIBE

**UPDATE**

Quincy Jones announces plans to buy it back

By Adrienne Samuels Gibbs
EbonyJet.com
(June 30, 2009) Vibe magazine founder Quincy Jones is distraught over the news that the famous hip-hop publication shuttered its doors today. Though no longer the owner, he did not anticipate this sudden demise, and he says he's going to bring it back to life � albeit in a slightly different way.

More at Target Market News

Cotton Commercial:Jazmine Sullivan

I'm really digging this music integrated campaign. Jazmine is a lovely talent and sweet young lady so befitting for... a... fabric? Yes perfect for a fabric. She's a tad more hardy than linen and less course than leather. So cotton, maybe not the pima variety, but the egyptian blend of cotton. Jazmine's voice can be as everyday and warmly familiar as well worn jeans or as crisp as a freshly pressed custom tailored button down oxford. I'm wearing cotton for the rest of the summer now that I've seen this spot. Well I was probably gonna do that anyways but this is a stylish good look.


See more here & download this song for free also.

E-Trade: Babies

These spots always make me laugh for some reason. A-cute infant-itis (har har) I guess. I was a little bothered with the baby referring to the adult African American woman as "babe" at the onset of the spot, but perhaps I'm overly sensitive or underly sexism averse. But what really gets me is the white male always in control of every iota of the happenings in this commercial. White male dominance and obsessive control seeps out of every second of video. The brilliant Mellody Hobson is the president of Ariel Investments, LLC, a Chicago investment firm managing over $3 billion in assets. She is also the Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees of Ariel Mutual Funds. Hobson is a regular contributor on financial issues to ABC's Good Morning America. Maybe the Art Director wanted to illustrate the toddler's knowledge and de facto ease of use of E-Trade. But I think we got that point along time ago. I could go on but, perhaps I doth protest too much.



cred:
Grey NY

Return of the Crack: Colt 45 now available in Malted Meth!!!

There's a new Colt 45 can design and advertising. The corner store mainstay is changing it's spots. It seems to be selling (read dealing) itself to a different crowd (if you know what I mean). Is there a new slogan too? "Colt 45 not just for blacks anymore!" It looks like they are servin' the brothers up some old school Billy D. ish. So maybe instead of calling it crack I should call it canned meth, eh?

More on this "beverage" here.

If this movie happens, I'm there.

That's all I'm saying. Black people like their male comedians in wigs panning the opposite sex. (See Tyler Perry)

Confession: I Really dig Billy Mays

Dude is louder than a bomb! He's a pit-bull with a script! He's got that 1920's carnie swag. He sounds like he's hawking impossible to win boardwalk games, "THREE TOSSES FOR-A-DOLLAR... AND THAT'S NOT ALL YA GET... !" And it works. I know somebody may want to take away my black card. Note to white friends: Black people have cards that we arbitrarily take away from each other for the smallest of offenses. Like; wearing loafers, working in advertising or liking Billy Mays. But I don't give a damn, I'm putting it all out there. Billy was the shizz-tick. I tivo his reality show. I watch his commercials leaning forward and never turn the volume down. Billy sells shit. He doesn't go for the pretty sh*t either, no overly produced spots with actual soundtracks and scores and sh*t. He gets real gutter with it. "Hi, I'm Billy Mays and I'm selling the hell out of these here nut sweat pads... !" And the real f•cked up part is; I'm buying it! I need those irrelevant ass nut sweat pads! Billy gets to the heart of what advertising is all about and then clogs all it's arteries with as much sweet sticky chunky product huckstering as it can stand. Then he actually clocks the dollars he makes or doesn't make. With a $10,000 budget and a two minute commercial dude can outsell most big shops second for second, dollar for dollar.

The bearded one is the master. One.

Because you're not worth it: L'Oreal found guilty of racism

by James Quilter , Brand Republic 25-Jun-09, 09:40

LONDON - Cosmetics giant L'Oreal, which was last year accused of whitening Beyonce Knowles' skin in an ad, has been found guilty of racial discrimination by a French court over its all-white recruitment policy for its shampoo sales teams.

La Cour de Cassation, the French supreme court, heard that in 2000, Garnier, L'Oreal's beauty division, was looking to recruit a sales team for the Fructis Style haircare range.

When the brief went out, one of the requisites was that staff should be "BBR", an acronym for the colours of the French flag and widely used to signify someone who is white and of French descent. It also wanted the women sized between 8 and 12.

The case was brought by anti-racist group SOS Racisme after it was discovered that only 4.65% of sales staff hired were black, Asian or Arab despite those groups covering 38.7% of potential candidates.

L'Oreal and recruitment consultancy Adecco, which handled the recruitment drive, has been fined £25,500 each and ordered to pay the same amount again to SOS Racisme.

L'Oreal expressed "disappointment" over the verdict while Adecco insisted the company had been looking for candidates who "could express themselves in French." Adecco also said the brief to hire BBR candidates was a personal initiative rather than company policy.

The case is the latest embarrassment for L'Oreal over its attitude towards race. Last year it came under scrutiny over allegations it had whitened Beyonce Knowles' skin in an ad, a claim it was forced to deny.

While in India, actress and L'Oreal brand ambassador Aishwarya Rai, who starred in 'Bride and Prejudice', refused a request from the manufacturer to appear in a campaign for a skin whitening cream.

The L'Oreal discrimination case ends as another featuring fashion retailer Abercrombie & Fitch is about to start. A former employee with a prosthetic arm who claims she was forced to work in the storeroom because she did not fit in with the company's "looks policy" is taking the store to an employment tribunal.

Law student Riam Dean is seeking £25,000 in compensation. She said Abercrombie's policy made her question her "worth as a human being".

However the store claimed Dean's problems stemmed from anxiety issues rather than Abercrombie's personnel policy.

Copied & Pasted from here.

International Society For Human Rights: Mugabe, Kim Jong Il, Ahmadinedschad

cred:
Scholz & Friends, Berlin, Germany
Chief Creative Officer: Martin Pross
Creative Director: Matthias Spaetgens/Michael Winterhagen
Copywriter: Stephan Schaefer
Advertiser’s Supervisor: Martin Lessenthin
Account Manager: Joris Jonker
Art Buyer: Kirsten Rendtel
Art Director: Marc Ebenwaldner
Photographer: Hans Starck
Graphic: Dominika Dobrzalski/Heidrun Kleingries/Lisa-Marie Schroeder
Postproduction: Appel Grafik

Love you Michael. (Did anyone notice I changed the name of this post)

As I watch the media fumble in their half-hearted attempt to eulogize and harshly criticize Michael Jackson, it brought to mind the fact that they don't understand how much we love him. Not loved, past tense, but love him. Not loved him when he was 11 years old and remarkably cute. Not just when he was making us drop whatever we were doing and run to the television for a few moments of physical & spiritual melded elation.


We didn't discover he was amazing at Motown's 25th. We grew up with him. He grew into us. His music was one of the first gifts I gave to my child, because it was seminal and germane. It could in an easily palatable form impart to a small child in an aural transmission black experience and expression in ways I could never. She sings to this day. He was our brother who did what we all did in some fashion, dance, sing, show-off & show-out. He just did it a little better and somehow we were never jealous. We always felt he was doing it for us, to make us proud.


Sharing dance and impressing family is an ancient Black tradition. That was part of his magic, he gave back to us whatever bits of magic he found in us. He gave back Black love, Black dance, Black song and Black spirit. This is not a suggestion that all things culturally "Black or African American" are better than anyone else's rituals. Although they are very popular and define a lot of the worlds culture, they are merely different expressions of various amalgamated forms. Even Black love is merely a different expression of a universal energy. Black love often feels more expressive and more open. That's what we saw in Michael's dance and in his song, it was always for us.


I believe that same "Black" love expression will be on full display at the BET awards. I honestly can't stomach another media hatchet job of this man's life. I think that if only a tiny bit of the indebtedness owed to MJ shimmers through we are in for a banger! Although the some of the praise may go over the top or feel a little put on, there are so may who's careers would have no basis or backing except for the talents, tenacity and celestial timing that still is and will forever be; Michael Joe Jackson.

I finally understand what it means when people say, "Long Live The KING!" R.I.P. M.J.

I honestly can't speak on it yet. I'll let my peeps from around the nets help me understand my vacuum, my personal abatement of pain. (so I'll keep updating this one post to help me understand my/our loss)

"The deepest sound is silence."
-365 Tao

"It's like I'm sad but also hearing all of his music makes me happy and think of my childhood...but there are things all of us can take away as we celebrate(and unfortunately criticize) the life of Micheal Jackson...I think the most important thing would be to never be afraid of experimenting or doing something so radically different from the norm in your career that you create and define your own genre...that fearlessness is what separates the exceptional from the excellent...

The world has one less star today which means we all must burn brighter for him..."
- Kwesi Amuti

"My heart is hurting"
-Andrea

"It's time to turn down the chatter and turn up the music"
-LA Reid

"My thoughts are completely scattered. Some of which I was able to purge on Twitter last night with the rest of my family. But honestly, at a mere 24 hours in, I cannot fathom what tomorrow will look like. I feel like whatever was left of my childhood was obliterated"
-NovaMatic (SoulBounce)

"The loss of a true artist. A natural talent. A true beacon of creativity. A door opener. A changer of status quo. We lost Michael Jackson at 2pm today to a cardiac arrest at the young age of 50. I want to write something profound. I want to touch on his personal impact on my life. But...I can't explain it. I can't describe how he shaped my creativity. How he gave me confidence. Or how his music was my childhood. I'm literally still in shock. To think that he will never make another song and that I will never get to see him perform live...kinda kills me inside. When I heard he died today, I started shaking. I shed a tear. Friends called and texted me to see if I was ok. It was and is like loosing a family member. Someone I truly grew up with. A constant in my life. And it makes me sad. I even tried to celebrate his life infront of the Apollo Theater, surrounded by a crowd dancing, singing and jiving...and I felt nothing but sorrow.

This...is a hard one."
-Shaun (Prostituted Thoughts)

"I remember Michael Jackson for the internalized racism that he seemed to increasingly display, and for how the incredible light in his young eyes gradually faded as he grew older, perhaps in part as a result of that burden.

I remember him more, though, for so much amazing music, and for what was even more amazing to me, the many ways that he made his body move."
–macon d (stuff white people do)

"Michael Jackson music sales are going through the roof. Somewhere Jacko is hollering, “Oh, now you muthafuckas wanna buy my shit? Where were y’all when I released Invincible?”
HighJive

"I want to pour out a little Pepsi on the sidewalk [(c) Questlove] and add my voice to the millions across the globe who are giving their testimonials as to why MJ was the Greatest that Ever Lived.

Except, each time I try ... I start to sing instead. I can't help it."
Harlem (SoulBounce)

"Yesterday, where I reside at least, was a beautiful, sunny day. Not too hot and slightly breezy. Yet for whatever reason, yesterday seemed off to me. If pressed, I can't explain why. It was like walking onto a movie set where all the elements are in place, yet a soulful element is missing. The reason for the vacuous element was answered once I returned home midday."
Ill Mami (SoulBounce)

Mike had a multitude of detractors, but their voices get drowned out in the roar of his legions of fans. whatever clever off-color jokes you have, i'd rather not hear them. thanks... i was not Micheal Jackson's #1 fan, but i was a fan. sure, he made me shake my head sometimes, but he also made me laugh, dance and cry. though he was long past his prime, i had hoped we would have more time with him. he is often imitated by popular musicians today, and probably will be for years to come.
Rest In Peace...
-samax

"I hope that the media avoids the victim-blaming once the cause of death is made public (though I don't have much hope in that, since there's already speculation of drug abuse, followed by the, "well he didn't take very good care of himself" crap--oh you think? Too bad we were all too busy finger-pointing and making a spectacle of his freakishness to step in and offer help. This society is plagued with a desire to see the greats fall, to illustrate that they're human too, and in that we are all guilty because we "other" them, ostracize them for their abuses and mental issues, and then are shocked when they tragically die. I'm fucking sick of this. We're all human, but rather than help each other we blame them and cause more damage and say it's all their fault anyway for being addicts or being crazy or being fat or having identity issues or whatever else we can point and laugh at, and then marveling when they're dead).

It simply cannot be ignored that Michael Jackson brought joy to millions of people around the world. He was an entertainer, and he was a great one. His influence in pop music is still evident in the genre. No other artist has compared to his success thus far. And to say that I am anything less than devastated by his death would be an understatement.
-Filthy Grandeur

BET Awards 2009: Jamie Foxx

I wish I knew who did the crushing artwork for this campaign. For years they have been stepping up their game, at least in the graphics department and this year is no exception in that trend. I've scoured the internegs looking for the guilty design shop. But they must be in hiding. The curvilinear figures along with the bright and blended mottled watercolor motif bring a welcome freshness to the BET imagery.


cred:
I gotta know...
**UPDATE**
The Design work is done by the BET inhouse design department (You guys are k-k-killing it!)

Tyler Perry: I Can Do Bad All By Myself Poster (First Look)

Nokia: Album Covers

Boy, would I like to re-do this. With perhaps a few more familiar album covers. I loved it when Erykah Badu did something similar.

NIKE: PAPER BATTLEFIELD

cred:
Advertising Agency: McCANN WORLDGROUP Causeway Bay, HONG KONG
Executive Creative Director: Spencer Wong
Creative Director: Nick Lim/Terry Tsang/Chris Fong
Copywriter: Terry Tsang/Wong Wai
Account Manager: Yen Lee/Penelope Yau/Calton Chu
Art Director: Cherry Yiu/Nicky Sun

The ADCOLOR® Awards: I Love You Man

Have you nominated someone yet??



Hurry on over to AdColor.org (Tyff'll love you for it!)



cred:
The ADCOLOR Industry Coalition
Tiffany R. Warren - Omnicom Group
Michelle Newson - Onederland Events LLC
&
Toni Thompson - McCann NY Archie Bell - Arnold Worldwide Kenji Summers - GroupM Victor Velez - Arnold Worldwide Johnny Nguyen - McCann NY Mikal Cook - McCann NY Beny Ashburn - McCann NY Eric Tao - McCann NY AGENCY - McCANN NY: Groups CDs: Sallie Mars Art Director: John Nguyen Copywriter: Mikal Cook Producer: Beny Ashburn, Co-Produced by Eric Tao Production Assistant: Chandler Simms Business Manager: Ken Krausgill PRODUCTION - PICTURE PARK: Director: Benny Boom Executive Producer: Mark Hankey Line Producer: Roger Ubina POST FACILITY: Post: Jon Grover (editor), Cut & Run Mixed: Steve Rosen, Sonic Union Transfer: Lex, Nice Shoes Graphics: Charlex & Gary Mack, NBA Music: Akintayo Adewole of Akande Music + Publishing LLC

Ya boy is back, the bounce is back, the booze is back

Why does anyone think this 70's icon (Lady Sings the Blues, Mahogany), 80's comeback (Star Wars VI: Return of the Jedi)and 90's cameo appearance star (In living Color) should be in these ads again? Who's the intended audience for malt liquor these days? I cast no aspersion on Billy D. William. I love him. This man had (I hate you use this word) s-s-swagger (there, got it out) before we knew what it was and his picture should appear in the wikipedia posting of the aforementioned term ( I use the term 'term' loosely). But I remember there was some outrage for years when he first got his first contract or paycheck for... I mean, decided to endorse this smooth tasting soul drain-o libation. I'm happy one of my favorite actors is getting a little kick-back, but at what cost? I've seen the ravages of alcohol on many communities and the low cost high proof brands are the worst. But I guess it still 'goes down smoooth' for some marketers and with a slogan like 'it works every time' you just have to give a go one more time. Maybe it will be successful but, "success is nnnnothing without someone you love to share it with!!"




Let's think of Mr. Williams as he is today, an artist and a gentleman.




"I call my paintings 'Abstract Reality'. Sometimes I refer to them as 'Impressions/Expression'. It's the best way I can explain them." Come in and view our different gallery rooms.




Thanks HighJive for reminding me and asking the question, "Why does he look like he did in the eighties in those ads?"

Subway: Eaten Word (City Symphony)

Global Hue steps up to the plate and chomps down on a "tuscan chicken melt" for Subway. The spot doesn't continue the "$5 dollar foot-long" mantra that has been droning on for what seems longer than the recession and slightly more debilitating. Instead they try an "Eat Fresh" approach by losing the chanting and bring on the rapping (read spoken word). The spot starts off with a rushed bit of a concept where the city stops and a jazz combo slides in when someone pulls out and prepares to eat a sub. Did you catch that? I watched it over and over again to get that point. I've been there before where you have an idea and it gets brushed aside either in editing, scripting or by the client. So the spot rushes into it's quirky parts with the humorous spoken word ode de sandwiches. The cast goes beatnik delivering staccato lines like, "Sweet peppers the best, whaaaat, makes me flex my chest..." *pectoral flexing ensues*. All in all the spot makes you take note while taking you away from the five dollar singing but does it make you want to buy a sandwich or put you in the mind of Subway? I think it does. It also makes me feel like this is a premium sandwich and not available for five bones per foot. The agency succeeds at changing the pace and making me a little hungry, so I can say we have been, well served.


cred:
GlobalHue

Hospital A.C. Camargo: Cigarette, Ashtray

“Cigarettes. Just looking at them makes you sick.”





cred:
Advertising Agency: JWT, Brazil
Creative Directors: Mario D’andrea, Roberto Fernandez
Copywriter: Christian Fontana
Art Director / Illustrator: Pedro Izique

Do brands matter in a recession?

Ije Nwokorie, Senior Strategist at Wolff Olins in the UK discusses the importance of brands in recession.

Fine Artist, Illustrator: Dawn Okoro

Born in Houston, Texas, Dawn Okoro holds a Bachelor's degree from the University of Texas at Austin and a Juris Doctor from Thurgood Marshall School of Law. Her artwork incorporates photography, collage, and ideas from popular culture.
Okoro's work was most recently on exhibit at the 2009 Texas Biennial.






See more Dawn here.

DAN FUNDERBURGH: FAESTHETIC/SCION SHOW

www.danfunderburgh.com

Obama for D&G

You've seen their ads, the highly charged and curious group photographs that suggest a gang rape or gay orgy. On his recent trip overseas, President Obama was photographed outside the home of the Ambassador to France. I like that we have a leader who isn't afraid to sit on some steps, ("disgracing the office," many will say) but I could not resist childishly converting the scene.

[Politics aside, I bet even kansmen find this dude cool]

Found this while shopping for Jetpacks!
This entire post was done by "Where's My Jetpack".

Culture Advertising Design: 2006 Portfolio

"Step Inside Design" Magazine article about Culture Advertising design

Kaya FM 95.9: Fist

16 June 1976 marks the day South African school children from Soweto stood up in protest against the Bantu education act. Due to this event, June 16th is now celebrated as South Africa's youth day, which commemorates the bravery and the death of many South African children including Hector Pieterson. The raised fist, to this day has been a symbol of Power "Amandla."

Copy: 16 June 1976. Tune in.



cred:
The Firehouse, Johannesburg, South Africa
Executive Creative Director: Steven Richards
Creative Director: Rowan John
Art Director: Ryan Liedeman
Copywriter: Tamara Kotelo
Model Maker: Ryan Liedeman
Photographer: Vanessa Grobler

Alex Brian: Fire

Fire from alex brian on Vimeo.

This is one of my all time favorite visual pieces. It's intriguingly emotive and intensely searing. It's a complete dialogue written in flame. The director understands how to lure the most base human emotions of fear and desire. Then he completely arrest your conscious thinking and in exchange offers a primitive visceral experience. The images may enter your ocular cavity but they egress somewhere nearer your soul.

Last one... I hope.

Evian: Baby

There aren't too many bad baby commercials out there and like the rest I find this one adorable.

Unlike this self esteem killer below;

Warning: You cannot unwatch this, so glimpse lightly.

Digits: Engineer, Dodgeball, Clone

"A middle school program opening minds to math and science. Figure this. Image that."

cred:
Arnold
Chief Creative Officer: Pete Favat
Associate Creative Directors: James Adamé, Lisa Taylor
Art Director: Jess Ruggieri
Copywriters: Lisa Taylor, Henry Jones
Production Manager: Jim Spadafora
Art Producers: James Adamé, Jess Ruggieri
Account Service: Ryan Traeger, Genevieve Dean, Sean Young
Photographer: Jorg Meyer
Illustrator: Nate Williams (Magnet Reps)

wondercafe.ca / The United Church of Canada: Joints

cred:
Smith Roberts Creative Communications
Creative Directors: Malcolm Roberts, Brian Smith
Art Directors: Jenny Luong, Greg Kouts
Copywriters: Brian Smith, Matt Hubbard
Photographer: Philip Rostron

Garfield: Cannes Doesn't Matter Anymore (Have they ever mattered to African American Agencies?)

... and Neither Do the TV Ads It Celebrates, Believes Chaos Scenario Author

By Bob Garfield
Published: June 15, 2009

They should give Crispin Porter & Bogusky every statue on Monday and send everybody to the airport. Gold. Silver. Titanium. Plutonium. Whatever.

Because first of all, apart from Burger King, the advertising year was a black hole worldwide. Besides, at this stage of Cannes' history, what's the point?


BURGER KING: Fast-food 'virgins' in far-flung international locations get their first taste of Whoppers and McDonald's Big Macs.

The International Advertising Festival is convening in the midst of, well, chaos: not merely recession but the growing irrelevance of all the flashy mini-cinema long featured there. Which is why everybody present will mouth the same pieties: "It's not about film or print or outdoor. It's about the idea. It's about solving communications problems and building brands and building customer relationships by any and all means." That sort of rhetoric.
Why not? It's all absolutely true. Then, having recited the new catechism, off they will head to screen TV commercials, or to a yacht party, the Majestic patio, Colombe d'or or the beach.

Because that's what Cannes is about ... as is every other ad festival, more or less. It's simply just not all that entertaining to sit through four-minute promo videos about a website or experiential-marketing event. And it's sure harder, under those circumstances, to suspend disbelief and imagine yourself an artist vs. someone who sells deodorant and cellphones and deathburgers for a living.

But if it really is all about the work, we suggest traveling with plenty of seratonin inhibiteurs du recaptage. It is a disaster.


ad cred:
Lowe’s ‘Welcome Snoop’ campaign has won a Gold Lion in the Promotions category and a Silver Lion in the Direct category at the 2008 Cannes Festival.

Or, it is a disaster if the annual labors of Leo Burnett Co. to find the 50 Lion front-runners, based on other awards shows and industry buzz, are any indication -- and they always are. Year in and year out, the Burnett Cannes Predictions Reel has been an uncanny harbinger of things to come. We ourselves have used it to predict, with consistent accuracy, the category Golds and Grand Prix itself. This year it presages mostly shame and disbelief. (read the rest of the article here.)


Playstation - 2000
Source : Cannes Gold Lion!
Agency : TBWA Paris

Do African American Agencies even submit to the Cannes Festival? Why not? Does anyone know of any ethnic shop winners?

Jeloid's photostream

More here.

Target: Black Eyed Peas

Target continues its partnership with music acts to cross promote hard goods and pushy mushy music. I've never been much of a fan of the Black Eyed Peas but maybe given the wrong club in the wrong part of town with just precisely the right blend Long Island Iced tea and thirst, I could probably really "Get it stated." But I digress. The commercial presents nothing new in concept with the people dressed like the backdrop and then beginning to move and dance around.
My best guess is that it's one of those commercials that remind you that Target exist and the new BEP's album is there... that it does.
cred:
Peterson Milla Hooks Agency

Banksy vs. Bristol Museum

I'm buying my plane ticket today... I will be at Heathrow Airport Monday!

Allan Gray: Patience (Quilted billboard)

Allan Gray is one of South Africa's leading long term investment firms King James Cape Town brief was to illustrate their philosophy by creating an entirely quilted billboard. Which of itself is truly demonstrative of patience, perseverance and cheap labor.




cred:
King James Advertising Cape Town
Client: Tracey Hirst
Agency: King James Cape Town
Executive Creative Director: Alistair King
Art Director: Karin Barry-McCormack
Copywriter: Paige Nick

Earth Wind and Fire Panasonic Boombox commercial

I saw this "classic" Earth Wind & Fire commercial over at Where's My Jetpack blog. It was so timely because I had just been thinking how cool it would be to hear EWF's music in a new ad. So the KMBA research department (Google) was commissioned to locate more of EWF advertising ventures and in doing so found this. An agency called Earth Wind and Fire in Maylasia. Along with a EWF facebook page but not much else.

Does anyone know of more EWF music used in advertising?

Enfants-Soldats.com: Child Soldiers

cred:

JWT, Paris

Executive Creative Director: Ghislain de Villoutreys

& Olivier Courtemanche

Copywriter: Neil Ward-Baskin

Art Director: Ahmed EL Zoghlami

Breaking Links: The weekend linkin'

• Kobe and LeBron; The re-mix bay-bay. Clank
• Is ethnic Identity still relevant in advertising? You be the grudge.
• The 80's music reclamation project has begun: Hear hear.
• A big bad beautiful bounty of bodacious bikes! Yikes!

Gatorade: John Wooden

Looooove it.



Cred:
Jimmy'nem

TBWA\Chiat\Day, Los Angeles, USA
Worldwide Creative Director: Lee Clow
Executive Creative Director: Rob Schwartz
Group Creative Director / Copywriter: Jimmy Smith
Associate Creative Director / Art Director: Jayanta Jenkins
Senior Producer: Lisa Effress
Group Planning Director: Scott MacMaster
Production Company: Pony Show Entertainment
Director: Spike Lee
Editorial Company: Venice Beach editorial
Executive Producer: Hunter Conner
Senior Editor: Rick Shambaugh
Assistant Editor: Daniel Reitzenstein
Post-Production: Belief Design
Music: Original score by Mark Batson

Ashley & Martin: The Lovers

cred:
BBAM, Perth, Australia
Creative Director / Art Director / Illustrator: Damon Pattinson
Copywriter: Dean Graham

Forget the recession and go lease a Bentley

On the one hand, it's great to see a commercial that embraces hip-hop culture without sanitizing the language. And I think Raekwon lays down a pretty great track here for Carlyle Motor Club, a luxury leasing dealership in Beverly Hills. But if your credit's in the toilet and you're struggling to survive the recession in California, I'm not sure you should turn to a Wu-Tang alumnus for lifestyle advice.

—Posted by David Griner (@ adfreak)


Absolutely no credit check!!! HaaAAaaaa- HaaaAAAaaa ('them N's got dumb style')

Faux Nike??: Air Yeezy

Air Yeezy Spec: (Extended Version) from Samtubia Edwards on Vimeo.

Samtubia Edwards kicks some of that ol' robotic futuristic sheezy to space your brain out like Stanley Kubrick's 2010. The video waxes all kinds of weird like fanboy sneaker porn that sorta forgets to do the money shot. But considering this is not a real commercial and home-made effort... it's not a bad shot.




cred:
"The Traveler" Inspired by The Air Yeezy's
Starring:Samgoma Edwards
Music: Kanye West " Flashing Lights"
Dir:Samtubia Edwards

Seen & heard at Soul Bounce.

Design Inspiration: Supercinq

Logo and some of the record sleeves we’ve made for the VP Records’s new label 17 North Parade. These are reissues of classic reggae oldies.




cred:
Supercinq

Design Inspiration: Peter Becker

Peter Becker is from Germany, but he works in a small agency in Luxembourg as an Art Director. That is good enough for me to make it into the list. After all his designs are gorgeous.

Chicago-Lake Liquors rhymes with Embargo Fake N...

This is some...

I oughta...

Motherf-f-f....

I can't do this alone.

Millie Jackson, can you NSFW me please...



Ah, Such eloquence.

But seriously this is just co-opted blackface. I could go on for days, months, 400 years even, about why this is wrong. Simply stated; it is the minstrelization of caricatures that wrongly represent African Americans. A less than flattering imitation of an already too often accepted demoralized view of Black people in America. And that is just where the problem begins.

As for the creative merits of this campaign (this site is about advertising and creativity after all); There is none. This is the quintessential lazy day at the office. This is when dumb jokes go wild. Or when under-active imaginations fixate on poorly developed ideas (I'm using the word "idea" very lightly here), these ideas give you an insight of prejudiced tenants we all harbor. That is something we humans still deal with, so it is to be expected, but then we must rise above the mire. We all must employ our "better angels" or at the very least a smidge of common sense and reject these mutterings. Instead the agency decided to share their basest impulses with the world at large. Well, this is what you get when that happens.

(in)cred(ulous):

brew Minneapolis

The Coil Review: Relaunch!

The Coil Review Re Launch from Tricia (T. Mezz) Messeroux on Vimeo.

This is fun. Very prosumerish, but hella cute to watch if your into nutural hair texture and locks.

Seen at The Pangaea's Garden Project (what up Vinny!)

Super Icing: Total Reggae

Here is some great looking design. These are so simple yet so inspired. When a design is well conceived it has the "legs" or the ability to readily expand across many applications. All music deserves great looking design.


cred:
www.supercinq.net

Photographer, Fine Artist: Shinichi Maruyama

Kusho. means "writting in the sky" in japanese, the name Shinichi Maruyama gives to these pictures... He send water and ink in the sky and shoot the moment they come together... amazing...



www.shinichimaruyama.com

AdColor: 2009 Awards Commercial

Sallie Mars, senior VP-director of creative services and director of diversity at McCann Erickson and chair of the AdColor branding and collateral committee, introduced three spots for the AdColor Awards produced by McCann, New York, and directed by music video and film director Benny Boom. The spots show AdColor winners so enamored with their night of recognition that it eclipses everything else in life, from honeymoons to children's achievements.



Motion picture like credts:
Toni Thompson - McCann NY
Archie Bell - Arnold Worldwide
Kenji Summers - GroupM
Victor Velez - Arnold Worldwide
Johnny Nguyen - McCann NY
Mikal Cook - McCann NY
Beny Ashburn - McCann NY
Eric Tao - McCann NY

AGENCY - McCANN NY:
Groups CDs: Sallie Mars
Art Director: John Nguyen
Copywriter: Mikal Cook
Producer: Beny Ashburn, Co-Produced by Eric Tao
Production Assistant: Chandler Simms
Business Manager: Ken Krausgill

PRODUCTION - PICTURE PARK:
Director: Benny Boom
Executive Producer: Mark Hankey
Line Producer: Roger Ubina

POST FACILITY:
Post: Jon Grover (editor), Cut & Run
Mixed: Steve Rosen, Sonic Union
Transfer: Lex, Nice Shoes
Graphics: Charlex & Gary Mack, NBA
Music: Akintayo Adewole of Akande Music + Publishing LLC

Food Lion: Cheddar, Cart

cred:
Ames Scullin O’Haire, USA
Creative Director: Ben Lee
Copywriter: Ben Lee
Art Director: Ryan Mikesell
Agency Producer: Sandy Tyler
Editorial Company: Jam Edit, Atlanta, CA
Editor: Eddie Kesler
Post Production Company: CO3, Los Angeles
Colorist: Shane Harris
Audio Post Company: Acoustech, Atlanta, GA
Production Company: Backyard Productions, Venice, CA
Director: Done Rase
DP: Kevin Emmons

Design Inspiration: Karcarah

More here @ flickr

Sounds Set 09

This event is over, we all missed it. Well, not everyone, but that's not why it's here. It's here because I always try and extol the virtues of inexpensive ad making. Here they probably used Adobe CS3,not four because people have been a little reluctant to upgrade in this economy, but C$4 is incredible, so get it if you can. Anywax, they used Adobe products or something very much like it to create an entire spot and it aint half bad. I really like the addition of the old Al Hudson and One-Way song 'Cutie Pie' they scorched this joint with. Oh sweet 80's baby! I think Al Hudson has a trove of music that would be great in a myriad of advertising uses. Note to self; pitch clients on using Al Hudson & One-Way music in commercials. There's songs like 'Push', 'Pull', 'Pop it' all things a brand could own or leverage. Or may just create some corny ass out of step adverting. Approach this eighties music with caution.

Kevin M. Williams returns to Matlock ad agency as EVP & Managing Director

(June 5, 2009) Matlock Advertising & Public Relations today announced it has named Kevin Williams executive vice president and managing director, Brand Group. Kevin will manage the agency's client relationships, direct its marketing communications and new media initiatives, and lead its new business development efforts.

Williams joins Matlock from Global Hue, where he served as SVP, Group Director. At Global Hue, Williams lead the development of a wide range of successful marketing and communications initiatives for The Bermuda Department of Tourism, Verizon Wireless and Verizon Telecommunications, Subway Restaurants, the United States Census and Ad Council.

"Kevin is one of the country's leading multicultural marketing and strategic communications executives," said CEO Kent Matlock, "We are very excited that he has rejoined the agency."




Read the whole thang @ http://targetmarketnews.com

Fine Artist: Kara Walker

“Most pieces have to do with exchanges of power, attempts to steal power away from others.” —Kara Walker



“One of my earliest memories involves sitting on my dad’s lap in his studio in the garage of our house and watching him draw. I remember thinking: ‘I want to do that, too,’ and I pretty much decided then and there at age 2½ or 3 that I was an artist just like Dad.” —Kara Walker 1
Kara Walker (American, b. 1969) is best known for her room-size tableaux of black cut-paper silhouettes that examine the underbelly of America's racial and gender tensions. Her works often address such highly charged themes as power, repression, history, race, and sexuality.

Be blown away more.

Taco Bell: Rap

Illinois Lottery awards Burrell Communications multi-year contract worth $6.4 million

(June 4, 2009) The Illinois Lottery announced today that it has awarded Burrell Communications a contract to provide public relations and integrated communication services. Additionally, Burrell Communications will perform other special projects to assist the Lottery and its other communications partners.
The Illinois Department of Revenue sent out a request for proposals in February 2009 for the Lottery contract. A committee of six Lottery representatives evaluated four written proposals and through a scoring process determined that each agency would progress to the technical presentation round. Burrell Communications competed against three other local companies in April 2009. The three other competitors for the bid were Flowers Communications Group, Inc., E. Morris Communications, Inc. and Carol H. Williams Advertising.

Target Market News

See more off the scratch-off here.


B.S. The smart people over at MultiCultClassics are suggesting you didn't get the real money!?

Blog on Blog Love

We love Clutch! Clutch Mag Online always features great uplifting well written and smart articles. The editor never pulls punches or bulls(hits) hunches. The writers, well, the writers are bananas. They are a hip erudite bunch, whom I assume take their laptops everywhere, because they bring it fresh and have a knack for what's next. So I just wanted to spit out some bloggerly love to the good peeps at Clutch!


CLUTCH Fresh for 20-10... suckas!

Check'em out!

Signing off for the weekend.

Vitamin Water: Dwight vs. Dwight

TypeCon 2009 in Atlanta

Get your kern on in the A!
More info typecon.com

Onyxcon 2009

I don't know a lot about this even but I'm certainly going to show then some love and check out the show August 14th in Atlanta.

Charlie Murphy as Leroy Smith

Two words to describe these ads 1) Ig 2) Nant! Wieden + Kennedy made about a hundred and ninety-eight of these and I could watch them all. Along with a web site that gives you a phantom pitch from more angles than internet porn could ever imagine. They have faux trading cards, iPhone apps, news clips and recipes to name more than you care to hear. Charlie Murphy has about three characters in him, But I love them all. Because there was always somebody just like Charlie around in most black neighborhoods. It could be my longing for the return of the Chappelle Show, but man I enjoyed these ads, promos, hey, what the hell are these? They definitely have that feeling of general market agency pimping the hell out of black culture, humor, etc. Also I was tensing up with almost painful anticipation of the big sell, but it never comes.

If you can figure it out let me know.

http://www.getyourbasketballon.com

Ebon Heath: Typographic Sculpture

This dude is so good.. I just may quit advertising & design all together!
So, what does he have to say for himself...

"When I close my eyes i can see the words of great poets like Rak[i]m or Tupac flying thru the air and dancing with the same physicality my body instinctually feels. In the content of hip hop is a verbal dance between the MC and words, my work hopes to capture that dynamic flexibility found in bending, twisting, and chopping the language to reflect its content."

These are sculptures people! Not fancy 3-D computer hi-jinks! The man takes his hands and makes things while he imagines Tupac flying and rapping and sh*t!

Brooklyn-based artist Ebon Heath creates complex mobiles made out of beautiful jumbles of letters and words. Of his visually arresting suspended sculptures, Heath says, "The structures are a physical representation of our language as object. This 'visual noise' permeates all aspects of modern culture, especially urban living. From the signs, billboards, stores, and t-shirts that yell with type for attention as you walk down any high street. All the audio and verbal noise, from music we plug our ears with to the din of countless conversations, screams and whispers. With new media of texting, online, and transmitted technology there is even invisible noise silent to the eye surrounding us all. It is this cozy womb of information, data, or chorus of cacophony that my mobiles hope to represent as well as reveal: making the invisible visible."
Source: http://www.psfk.com

Meanwhile, I sit in front of a two forty seven inch monitors, better described as a mini imax array, a forty two thousand dollar mouse and enough software to f*ck up googles servers and I still can't kern type to save my ass!

Go ahead you traitors... see more of my reason for going into account services here.

Fine Artist: John Tindel

Spray paint, electrical tape & love. That's how John Tindel gets down to bid-ness.

See more southern fried love here.

Sweets From Heaven: Levitating boy

Copy:
Sweets from heaven introduces, sweet freaks. An exhibition of human oddities and freaks of the sweet. The incredible levitating boy. Marvel as he lifts himself off the ground using only bubble gum. Presented for your edification and wonder.

cred:
Ireland/Davenport, Johannesburg, South Africa
Creative Directors: Philip Ireland, John Davenport
Art Director: Warwick Rautenbach
Copywriter: Mimi Cooper
Illustrators: Warwick Rautenbach, Warren Louw
Photographer: David Prior
Retoucher: Rob Frew

Wu-Tang Design Remix Project

As much as I love Wu-Tang Clan, there has always been something unmistakably lacking when it came to their finished product. The subpar album art gracing most of their CD and vinyl album covers--save ODB's amazing ones--irked graphic designer Logan Walters as well. So like any person with a penchant for creating visually stunning imagery, he set about on his "Wu-Note Project." Though he's only created 12 of 21 total Wu-Tang album covers, Walters' attempt to elevate the music's greatness by paying homage to those classic Blue Note album covers serves as the perfect bridge between Hip Hop and it's undisputable forebear, Jazz music. Check after the bounce for another one of my favorites and check here to pick your own.

These are crazy gorgeous.

Wu-ed from Ill Mami @ the always sword swangin' SoulBounce!!!

Uptown: June/July Cover

... and the advertising air-balls just keep on coming...

I still like the spots. I wonder how the client/agency feels? It's like they are receiving a vacuum buzz. The effects are in reverse but still there. For of Le'hate and Le'love for the spots are drawing sort of a positive negative response. The commercials are everywhere on the nets. Actually there are some many of these spots out there, its kinda like the internet's on them.

Dr. Dre taking it slow in new Dr Pepper spot

Dr. Dre is the latest fake doctor contributing his name value to Dr Pepper. In Dre's case, he's also contributing the first officially released beats from the much-delayed Detox, his album that's due later this year, until it gets pushed back again. Nevertheless, Dre's imaginary medical credentials lend weight to his claim that "scientific tests prove when you drink Dr Pepper slow, the 23 flavors taste even better." And he's not alone. His colleagues Dr. J, Dr. Frasier Crane, and Gene "Dr. Love" Simmons (ew) all agree with him. Dr. Who and Dr. Wagner Jr. couldn't be reached for comment.
—Posted by David Kiefaber


Sneaked a freaked from Adfreak.

Is this campaign about being Black in advertising?

Or sports gear? Not for me dammit! I love a challenge!!! But,If the metaphor fits...



cred:
The Furnace, Sydney, Australia
Executive Creative Director: Rob Martin Murphy
Head of Art: Paul Fenton
Art Director: Luke Duggan
Copywriter: Paul Bootlis
Retoucher: Electric Art

Arbitron misses benchmarks on blacks, Hispanics in big markets in April

By Mike Boyle
Radio and Records
(May 29, 2009) As hard as Arbitron says it is working to restore credibility to its struggling electronic ratings system, the ratings firm continues to find itself in misstep after misstep.

In the latest portable people meter survey for the month of April, Arbitron missed several ethnic benchmarks in several markets. That's not a good sign for a company under Federal Communications Commission scrutiny and under attack by minority groups who claim the PPM undercounts minorities. Arbitron's public relations nightmare could worsen if the company doesn't do a better job of meeting benchmarks in May, which is traditionally radio's biggest revenue month.


Target Market News

Gatorade: Mission G "Blokhedz"

The ever morphin' Gotarade "G" campaign remains true to its flux and adds "Blokheadz" animated series to the fam. The 'hoody-mation takes place amongst the fictitious denizens of Empire City. One teenaged rapper named Blak seeks to make his way through the mean streets while avoiding the negative influences of an evil crime-lord turned media-mogul.

See the psychic energy of rap do things you never even imagined here.

Hey TBWA/Chiat, gimme some names to credit here.
(Gotta show some love of the labor)

Imajimnation? Is that what I think it is!??

Pedro Bell Illustrator for Funkadelic

Here is a link to a nice short film about Pedro Bell the cosmic slop artist who did the art work for the Funkadelic.

Golden Legacy Comics

Golden Legacy is a classic collection of 16 inspirational volumes. Each volume contains 32 colorful pages and is a fully illustrated, biographical account of many significant achievements of Black men and women.

I had these when I was a little kid and it was all most totally lost on me. It did help me to understand who people like Alexander Pushkin, Alexander Dumas, Thurgood Marshall and Matthew Henson were. But I missed the gravitas of these individuals. I should read them all again.

See more hand drawn history here.