Pretty Polly packs a promo
Touch Pretty Polly’s cleavage, and she’ll start talking. No, it’s not a new blow-up doll, it’s part of a new poster campaign for U.K.-based Pretty Polly lingerie by agency Miles Calcraft Briginshaw Duffy.
The two-week interactive campaign broke earlier this winter in major U.K. city centres and featured a young woman dressed in a Pretty Polly lingerie set with a button beneath her bra line that prompted viewers (or voyeurs?) to ‘Press for lift.’ Once pressed, the poster girl extols the virtues of the bras, which come in matching colour sets, and tells admirers where they can get the product.
The campaign brief was to raise eyebrows while raising awareness of the Pretty Polly line. Judging by U.K. media reports, the posters managed to raise both eyebrows and ire.
Posters that spritz
On a similar note – this one of the fragrant kind – Procter & Gamble in the U.K. is using perfume-emitting posters to advertise a new Head & Shoulders Citrus Fresh SKU. Aimed at women, the Saatchi & Saatchi-created posters look like typical shampoo ads, complete with beautiful windswept woman and superimposed product shot. But these ads feature a large button prompting passersby to ‘press here’ to ‘experience the scent of new citrus fresh.’ Once they do, a citrus spray is emitted into the atmosphere for all to enjoy. Could be ideal for those who forgot to wash their hair one groggy morning and need a quick pick-me-up.
What would Puccini say?
If luxurious ballpoint pens and exquisite champagne come to mind while watching the latest version of La Bohème on Broadway in New York, don’t be alarmed. There was a time when advertising and the opera didn’t mix, but filmmaker Baz Luhrmann (Moulin Rouge) has debunked that notion.
His version of La Bohème kicked off early December and takes place in 1957, rather than the original 1830s, making it easier to slip in billboard ads for Swiss-made Montblanc pens and Piper-Heidsieck champagne.
The marketing scheme doesn’t stop there: placements include café patrons drinking Piper-Heidsieck during Act II, and Montblanc boutiques in the U.S. are covering themselves with La Bohème posters to plug the show. Could ads for Steve Madden’s platform boots in Mamma Mia be that far off?
They didn’t say anything about sex line ads…
Municipal police forces in the U.S. are offering up cop cars as billboards in an effort to cut down on vehicle expenses. A Charlotte, N.C.-based marketing company called Government Acquisitions LLC is offering municipalities new cars for just $1 each in exchange for allowing ads and logos to be emblazoned all over the cruisers.
So far, at least 20 cities have signed up – from Ozark, Ala. to the one and only Bald Knob, Ark. – and more are said to be interested. Rescue, EMS and fire vehicles are also up for grabs. No alcohol, tobacco, gaming or firearm ads are permitted, but it’s pretty much open season for other local or national advertisers.
Says the company’s Web site: ‘The opportunity to advertise on government vehicles is not only about brand recognition and point-of-sale activity; it’s also about giving back to the public and supporting homeland security in America.’
Timing is everything
AOL Time Warner is helping to further the trend towards daypart advertising on the Net by joining Yahoo in offering placements by both position and time of day. Coinciding with the launch of AOL’s version 8.0 software in October, the company is selling ads for the following times of day: 5 a.m. to noon, noon to 7 p.m. and 7 p.m. to 5 a.m.
The idea is to better target advertisers’ demos by hitting them when they’re most likely to be online. A study by the Online Publishers Association found that people surfing the net at work – said to be the Web’s ‘prime time’ – spend more bucks than they would surfing from home. Do you know what your employees are doing right now?
