Excuse the late pass...

It's tough on this side of the pond to keep up with British adverts. I wanted to post this up though because it is another example of blue-collar alcoholic beverages going white-collar once they get stateside. I went to London once and saw a three liter bottle (I didn't know about the three liter bottle at that point either) for 1.80 quid in a Safeway. The only people I ever saw drinking it were winos and the occasional Brit with a gluten allergy.

Here's an ad that firmly places Strongbow within the trenches, pun intended, of blue collar folk. Please think of this next time you pay 7 bucks for a pint of Strongbow during happy hour in D.C.

How cute...

The Rolling Stones have made a Monopoly game. This kind of makes sense in a real Phillip Morris kind of way. As your target market gets older and falls off, you need to reach the next generation. I imagine at one point in time the Rolling Stones were the type of thing you wouldn't want around children. But this could well be a product that baby boomers buy their grandchildren for christmas. 

I'm personally going to feel extremely old when I see Justin Beiber working on similar cross-branding efforts.

via Brand Republic

Arcade Fire Video

You will see this on every blog all week. In a month's time, your 75 year old father will be sending you this with a nice note attached. Why even post it? Well, it's really pretty rad.

http://www.thewildernessdowntown.com/

Make sure you use Chrome though.

Kaws X Dos Equis

Dos Equis teamed up with graffiti artist gone super famous Kaws for special beer bottle. There is bad news and good news. The bad news is that it's only slated for a Mexican release. The good news is that they made a video.

Can we talk about gimmick shoes?

My brother sent me this youtube video with Kenny Powers advertising some new K-Swiss trainer that comes with a state-of-the-art technology they call “Tubes.” I’m not exactly sure what Kenny Powers’ origins are. I’ve never seen Eastbound and Down save for a few youtube clips and I see him featured in internet memes from time to time. I’m pretty sure he is a fictional character though it appears the actor spends a lot of time in character ala Paul Reubens. Anyway, my point is that I want to give K-Swiss props for kind of admitting that their new shoes are a ridiculous gimmick.

Gimmick Shoes-

I’m only an casual footwear historian and will not pretend that I know the origins of gimmick shoes but the first one I remember being cognizant of was the Reebok Pump. You probably remember remember the big campaign push. I also remember the kid with indulgent parents showing up with a pair in gym class. Of course they weighed like well over a pound and even fifth graders kind of thought they were silly. 

photo via NiceKicks

Gimmick shoes are back. Actually, they have been back. As anyone in the shoe industry will tell you, Nike Shox are a joke and actually pretty bad for you if you run in them. Of course adidas rolled out the Bounce soon afterwards. I was in an adidas training session one time and was told that the Bounce is for people that aren’t serious about working out but want to look cool in the gym.

Reebok has been busy too. I’m no insider but it seems like adidas, the owner of Reebok since 2005, has been looking for a space to put Reebok in that won’t actually cannibalize adidas sales. Their solution is gimmick shoes.

One is supposed to give you a workout just be wearing them and has lots of great ads with girls rocking spandex and wearing these around.

The other is supposed to work like a slinky and spring you forward or some such. They weren't shy with the colorways on this one.

Photos via City Sports

I know this all because I had the benefit of talking with a Reebok sales rep at a running tech event last weekend. It was kind of comical. He showed up late to this big running tech event and squeezed his table between the Saucony and Mizuno tables. The Saucony and Mizuno gear is really well respected in the run world and their reps are really knowledgeable and take gear super seriously. The Reebok rep was a nice guy but just a full on sales personality. He started talking up the Reebok gear like it was the second coming of the pump. He had a slinky out on his table and would push it over on its side and say, “See that? These shoes are just like that.” It was a little shocking how many people wanted to hear more.

All the serious run techs in the room were quietly shaking their heads- kind of amused and kind depressed. I’ve talked to some retail sales associates and they’ve told me that people are always asking about the Reebok products because they want a work out but they don’t want to work out.

So where am I going with this? If you shoe is gimmicky, embrace it and get Kenny Powers to endorse it. I know there are NFL players in the ad as well but nobody has ever emailed a youtube video to their little brother because Drew Brees is doing a push up. 

Roger Federer Viral

Got to love this. Gilette pays Federer the big bucks and he delivers with a crazy William Tell style viral video. This reminds me that I need to shave. I use a Schick btw and maybe that's been my problem.

Starbucks cranking it up a notch

We've seen the original expensive cup of coffee take on Folger's and Maxwell house in the instant market. Now we are seeing Starbucks return to what it did best to begin with- seeking out those of us that like to pay a little bit more. This time it's packing premium coffees from exotic locals

The coffees will be released in limited runs to 12 cities starting in September. Those of us in Washington, D.C. will be lucky enough to be included. We've seen one off runs with sneakers that do incredibly well, I'm willing to bet this does well too. 

However, you won't see me drinking one even if the prices weren't higher. What is an exotic local in these days of globalization? I'm hearing the first batch comes from the Galapagos. When I was in fifth grade we saw a video about the Galapagos and how precious the place is. Of all the places for my friendly corner multinational to brag about sourcing from, the Galapagos isn't scratching that itch. 

via Washington Business Journal 

How did I sleep on this???

Yeah we all know that Geico puts out some really funny creative. So much so that it's kind of not even worth bringing up. This ad, however, had me laughing out loud. It's not even that new. I guess I need to focus my television watching game.

Asics is grabbing my attention

I'm not sure if I'm the only one that is paying attention to new Asics colorways for women these days. Granted I'm a little more into sneakers than the next guy but I don't think that is what it's really about. The Japanese sneaker manufacturer has enlisted the designs of a designer named Ronnie Fieg. Ronnie Fieg has the arduous task of developing new colorways for the Asics Gel Lyte III. It's a tough job but he seems up to the task. You can scope his website at RonnieFieg.

So why is it that I'm even talking about all this? This is why

This photo is just the beginning of the shoot. Asics keeps doing awesome photo shoots for new colorways with really pretty girls acting all casual. Trust me, there is something about girls chilling in some workout gear and nice kicks that does it for a large segment of the young male population. Bear in mind the shoots don't cross any lines of decency.

As soon Asics does this, several things happen in rapid succession.
-Sneaker blogs like KicksonFire post the pics up.
-The young males that check these blogs are sure to pay attention to this post.
-Most readers are thinking, "Damn, maybe my girl would look good in a fresh pair Asics."
-Credit card numbers are entered and shipping options selected.
- Just as a special treat, Asics drops a video documenting the photo shoot itself a few days later and we all watch that too.

This isn't rocket science folks. This is just nice sneakers doing what nice sneakers do.

Thanks to KicksonFire for bringing these to my inbox on the regular.

Nice Packaging Never Hurt

This is not really what we think of when we think packaging or point of sale but it is clever packaging. South African airline Kulula has gone all out with inspired designs on one its planes. Flying 101 was created internally by the company in order to demystify airplane travel. After all airplanes are made with science and not with magic as magnets are made.

Peroni's "Timeless" Look

While other lager brands were busy trying to find ways to create impressions at the World Cup or develop a new gimmick flavor for football season, Peroni was taking the high road. The company enlisted Gabriele Muccino to make this 5 minute video about love and product placement. The short is set in Rome and really succeeds in creating a timeless feel and not beating you over the head with the Peroni brand.

Bitchin' in the Kitchen

Hell Pizza out of New Zealand dropped an absolutely next level interactive viral video featuring a hero pizza delivery guy performing his duties in a wasteland full of zombies. I'm not a huge fan of zombie movies but we all know many people who are. It's really fun to watch and, like Tom Hank's role in the Castaway, demonstrates a commitment to customer service despite extreme circumstances. It takes a minute to watch but it's also a lot of fun.

You can get started with this embed.