Category Archives: advertising

TOMS Shoes- NEW WORK – Get Out and Play!

Written by Brandon. Posted on June 30, 2011. No comments.
I hate bragging. I really do, but what else is social media, and blogging good for (*cough* social reform, arab spring, uhh, world peace?)… Our Creative Consigliere Max Joseph helmed this fantastic video we created for TOMS Shoes, which really embodies the spirit of PLAY. We worked with a fantastic choreographer, and dance troop, [...]

Brand Spanking: Best of the Super Bowl

Written by Peter. Posted on February 7, 2011. No comments.
We’re all a bit dumber after watching so much crap during the Super Bowl yesterday. It’s shocking that a 5 hour advertising bonanza (with small bits of actual gameplay) is one of our country’s most celebrated events. However, there were a few memorable ads that aired yesterday. In case you missed them, tune in below. Volkswagen’s [...]

3D 360 Interactive Video Technology for iPhone

Written by Peter. Posted on January 31, 2011. No comments.
Posting about the Black Eyed Peas makes me feel kinda gross (sorry if you’re a fan), but their new 3D 360 interactive video experience for the iPhone shows off some pretty crazy technology. Yes, 3D 360, as in you can turn around in the video and see objects in 3D (the experience is limited to [...]

Brand Spanking: Honda, GE and Nike

Written by Peter. Posted on January 31, 2011. No comments.
Another Monday dose of branded content for all the commercial lovers out there. Honda’s unique, animated European commercial for the Honda Jazz called “This Unpredictable Life,” featuring Garrison Keiler’s awesome voice. Created by Wieden + Kennedy London. GE demonstrates their latest braking technology for trains using really amazing slow motion HD footage of different objects beings dropped [...]

Comedian Mike Birbiglia Sleeping in Macy’s Window Display

Written by Peter. Posted on January 26, 2011. No comments.
Comedian Mike Birbiglia latest acting job is as a mannequin. Well not exactly, but he is going to spend the next week living in the window display at Macy’s flagship store in New York City. Proctor + Gamble is supply downy fresh bedding for Birbiglia’s stay in a stunt called Clean Sheet Week. During the [...]

Needle in a Haystack

Written by Brandon. Posted on January 26, 2011. 1 Comment.
I found this fun article on the front page of the LA Times today to be especially relevant.  Apparently, it’s getting tougher for “reality” shows to cast “real” and “authentic” people who will play the desired part/role in the show, but are doing so genuinely.    At UC, we all have docu/non-fiction backgrounds when it comes [...]

Students Create WeSC RFID Sneakers

Written by Peter. Posted on January 25, 2011. 3 Comments.
Imagine checking in on Facebook without even having to blink. I stumbled across this video today on these special social media shoes. Students at a Swedish progressive, new media-focused school called Hyper Island partnered with clothing company WeSC to create RFID shoes that help connect social media to your experiences without the hassle of fumbling around [...]

Brand Spanking: BMW, Bud Light, Asics and Levi’s

Written by Peter. Posted on January 24, 2011. No comments.
Your Monday branded content multi-vitamin. Trailer for BMW’s promising future-minded, four-part documentary series called “Wherever you Want To Go.” Each part will be released weekly over the month of February. Bud Light demonstrates the dangers of 3D advertising in this year’s Super Bowl commercial entry. If these athletes drank Gatorade before this commercial shoot do you think their [...]

Have You Seen This Yet? Ray Ban Viral Where the Sun Don’t Shine

Written by Peter. Posted on January 19, 2011. No comments.
I noticed a new viral video while trolling the net and thought I’d confront it. It was posted yesterday on YouTube. Then BuzzFeed picked it up yesterday and Laughing Squid picked it up this morning. It features a guy running through a subway train in the opposite direction that it’s traveling, so he stays even [...]

Posterchild Messes With Phonebooth Advertisements

Written by Peter. Posted on January 18, 2011. No comments.
Posterchild is a Toronto-based street artist who likes to mess with your mind in public places. His most notable project was hanging giant Mario blocks in public, which influenced some copycat incidents. This time he’s trying to get people to think better of public phonebooths – which are no more than just sidewalk protrusions for [...]

Brand Spanking: MLK, Monster Trucks, Bus Stops and more

Written by Peter. Posted on January 17, 2011. No comments.
Gathering up buzzworthy branded content from around the web. Chevrolet goes big on MLK day with a site that invites people to record themselves reading quotes from the historic civil rights leader. Check out the website here. Mini takes center stage at a monster truck rally in this brilliant new commercial of theirs. Colle+McVoy created these heated bus [...]

Have You Seen This Yet? Tom Selleck Predicts the Future

Written by Peter. Posted on January 14, 2011. No comments.
This video of 8-year-old AT&T commercials has been around a while – even on YouTube – but surprisingly there aren’t THAT many views on it. Somehow I missed Mashable’s post on it the other week, but maybe you did too. So what’s the deal with these AT&T commercials you ask? They’re from an old campaign [...]

Cool! A Banner Ad! – Says a New Tumblr Blog

Written by Peter. Posted on January 12, 2011. No comments.
I spotted a funny new Tumblr this morning and I’m really feeling the urge to pass it on to everyone. It’s called Things Real People Don’t Say About Advertising and it features hilarious, captioned photos of exactly that. I chose a few selects for you to check out below, but definitely visit the blog for [...]

Are Employees the new Creative Directors

Written by Brandon. Posted on January 11, 2011. No comments.
Well… not quite.  But Stuart Elliot of NYT wrote this piece about Italian chain restaurant Carino’s producing a commercial based on a seemingly random suggestion from an employee for a concept of a commercial she’d like to see.  The resulting spot that ran on TV is below. The article then goes on to explain that Carino’s [...]

Brand Spanking: Carlsberg, Kraft and Huggies

Written by Peter. Posted on January 10, 2011. No comments.
Gathering up buzzworthy branded content from around the web. Carlsberg goes big with this new commercial demonstrating why they have probably the best ad in the world. via Adverblog Ted Williams on his first gig with Kraft after becoming a YouTube sensation. I find the whole thing kind of awkward now. Like we can’t just let the guy find [...]

Year of the URG-ELEPHANT

Written by Brandon. Posted on January 5, 2011. No comments.
My partner in advergrinding, Hank G wrote a lovely post on what he/we have learned in our almost 2 years now running UC. Since he took the New Year op to look back in time, I thought I’d do my due and look forward to the future of UC. While we’re no consumer [...]

Weekly Ad-vice: NogPong

Written by jewel. Posted on December 16, 2010. No comments.
Nowadays, putting together a dynamic and tech-savvy social meda campaign is one of the most effective ways to boost brand interest, and accomodate fun. Take some ad-vice, courtesy of advertising powerhouse Saatchi & Saatchi LA: Everybody who’s been to college (or even high school) has had at least one experience with the plastic Dixie cups [...]

2010’s Most Innovative Viral Video Ads (via @mashable)

Written by Peter. Posted on December 9, 2010. No comments.
Mashable published a list of the 10 most innovative viral video ads of 2010 today and, needless to say, it’s definitely worth checking out. Every year the effect of viral video ads gets closer to eclipsing television ads – and this year I feel like viral definitely killed TV. Sure, TV ads still get more [...]

Get Him to the Shiek

Written by Brandon. Posted on December 6, 2010. 3 Comments.
Ok that’s a really far stretch for a post title. Hear me out though… I recently had privilege of shooting with Puff aka Diddy for our series of Celeb Flip spots on his video shoot for “Coming Home” which took place on a salt flat in the middle of the desert. It wasn’t [...]

Cute Moleskine Commercial That Most People Won’t See

Written by Peter. Posted on December 6, 2010. No comments.
You’re hip, you’re creative, you’re organized, you probably own at least one Moleskine. Since you don’t really need to be sold on the practical uses of a day planner/notebook, you probably don’t need to watch a commercial for one. But you MUST watch this. Like you, this commercial is hip, creative and organized (well credit [...]