iPhone Cupcakes Win Championship
This is not exactly promotional, but these iPhone icon themed cupcakes won a recent Cupcake Decorating Championship. Although we don't have promotional cupcakes available (I'm guessing they would not ship so well), we do have plenty of promotional cookies.
Posted by mark at 5:04 PM. Permalink: iPhone Cupcakes Win Championship
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Chernobyl Matryoshka
| The matryoshka doll - those nesting Russian dolls - is a well-known phenomenon, sometimes referenced in promotions. In this particular example, the doll is used to make a statement about the radioactive contamination from the Chernobyl disaster. |  |
Posted by mark at 2:23 PM. Permalink: Chernobyl Matryoshka
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Clever Piano Lessons Flyer
| Remember the cool poster of the dog behind bars? The one where you actually removed the bars by taking info about adopting pound puppies? Well, here's a very similar poster for piano lessons! |  |
Posted by mark at 5:49 PM. Permalink: Clever Piano Lessons Flyer
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Coffin-vertising: Pabst Blue Ribbon Edition
You may find it surprising that, over the years, this blog has covered branded coffins several times. It started with African coffins designed like consumer products, moved on to the Elvis-themed "Return to Sender" coffin, the Kiss Kasket, and even little varmint coffins as a direct mail promotion. Today, we have the story of a man, who like many of us, just wants to be buried in a giant can of Pabst Blue Ribbon. It's a heartwarming tale from Middle America, and he actually improves on your standard branded coffin by converting it into a beer cooler so he can enjoy it before it gets converted back for its ultimate purpose. (via Metafilter)
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Posted by mark at 11:41 AM. Permalink: Coffin-vertising: Pabst Blue Ribbon Edition
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Pen Spinning Championship
| This is basically totally off topic, except that I guess this could be a sponsorship opportunity. However, it is quite cool, if you are not already familiar with the Japanese pen-spinning championships. This year's title went to 16 year-old Ryuki Omura. According to Reuters, "Contestants, performing a 30-second routine in front of a crowd of 400 including journalists and other pen-spinning aficionados, were assessed for technique and artistry." |  |
Posted by mark at 12:16 PM. Permalink: Pen Spinning Championship
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Next Stop: Logo Pickles!
Square watermelons? Old news. Heart-shaped cucumbers? Now that's noteworthy! Because, like me, you surely must know more, they are apparently grown by a co-op of nine women in Chiba, which is a Japanese prefecture just outside of Tokyo where my grandma lives. And, while square watermelons are practical (they can be boxed and shipped more easily than round ones), these are better because they're just more fun. Logo pickles can't be that far off. (via Trends in Japan)
Posted by mark at 9:17 AM. Permalink: Next Stop: Logo Pickles!
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Bad Smell Poster
Okay, it isn't a promotional product, but it is a clever way to make a poster interactive. The poster is purposely mounted so it droops over itself. When a curious passerby lifts it up, their personal smell is called into question. They get props for being funny, and for making a simple piece of paper into an interactive ad.
Posted by mark at 7:15 AM. Permalink: Bad Smell Poster
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Best of 2007: Best German Mountaintop Promotion
This is a pretty crazy promotion done by Mercedes that was a litte bit artsy, a little bit outdoorsy and pretty unique. Basically, at the tops of mountains in Germany they keep log books, called summit books (or, presumably the German equivalent) that people sign once they've climbed to the top. Mercedes basically made artists climb to the top of various mountains and hand draw artistic Mercedes ads in the books, incorporating views from the actual hike up the mountain. This high altitude campaign resulted in almost 200 test drives for Mercedes. (via Direct Daily)
Posted by mark at 12:02 PM. Permalink: Best of 2007: Best German Mountaintop Promotion
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More Urban Camouflage
| Here's another entry into our urban camouflage series. This awesome backpack folds out to turn an average schoolchild into a fire extinguisher box. This would actually be a cool backpack even if you weren't a kid and weren't afraid of criminals. |  |
Posted by mark at 8:47 AM. Permalink: More Urban Camouflage
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Emergency Donut
| The Anti-ticket Donut isn't actually a promotional product yet, but it does make a good gag. Because, as we all know, donuts make great promos! |  |
Posted by mark at 5:45 PM. Permalink: Emergency Donut
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Cook the Books with Unique Annual Report
| This isn't a promotional product, but it is nice to see that corporate communications can be influenced by guerrilla marketing. In this case, the annual report for food company Podravka was done with special ink that required baking in order for the text to show up. Let's hope it didn't come out too dry! |  |
Posted by mark at 10:09 AM. Permalink: Cook the Books with Unique Annual Report
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Return to Sender Coffin
So you find the idea behind the Kiss Kasket appealing, but you're really more of an Elvis fan? No worries, it seems customized coffins truly are available for all tastes.
Posted by mark at 7:15 AM. Permalink: Return to Sender Coffin
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Butterfly Car
| We've featured some pretty crazy cars here in the past, including a car covered in promotional pens. So why not feature a car covered in butterflies? Ambi Pur produces room fragrancers and it looks like this promotion was done to support the launch of Ambi Pur products for cars. |  |
Posted by mark at 10:49 AM. Permalink: Butterfly Car
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Starvertizing
No, we're not talking about celebrity endorsements. We're talking about actual stars in the shape of your logo. Or, in this case, a star that kinda, sorta looks like the Apple logo. Not seeing the resemblance? Maybe you just need to be the kind of person who creates and wears a 60-pound iPhone costume for Halloween. And if people aren't this crazy about your brand, go ahead and get your own mascot costumes made. (via James & TUAW)
Posted by mark at 4:28 PM. Permalink: Starvertizing
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Heineken Bottle Bricks
| So this is a little bit like the Heineken speaker crates, but kind of cooler. These bottles were designed to double as bricks (after being emptied). According to Inhabitat, the bottles were made in 1963 and were referred to as WABO, or world bottles. The project was started by brewer Alfred Heineken after a trip to the Caribbean where he found beaches littered with bottles and a lack of housing. The goal was to promote recycling and provide building materials, one ice-coled Heineken at a time. Although the project was abandoned, there are a couple structures made from the bottles. (via The Adverlab) |  |
Posted by mark at 8:13 AM. Permalink: Heineken Bottle Bricks
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Absolut Icebar Tokyo
If I were one of the Wonder Twins, specifically the one who takes the form of water, I might be likely to use my Wonder Twin powers to become a bar made entirely out of ice.
Posted by mark at 2:12 PM. Permalink: Absolut Icebar Tokyo
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Bronx Zoo Posters Make the City Come Alive
Sometimes, less is more. That's certainly the case for these posters promoting the Bronx Zoo that use New York City's natural and man-made textures to convey the richness of the Zoo experience.
Posted by mark at 11:30 AM. Permalink: Bronx Zoo Posters Make the City Come Alive
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New Redesign of London 2012 Olympic Logo
| Previously we discussed the new logo for the London 2012 Olympics. We knew that lots of people didn't like it, but man, some people REALLY don't like it. |  |
Posted by mark at 11:05 AM. Permalink: New Redesign of London 2012 Olympic Logo
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Rice Paddy Art
What's cooler than artwork on a grain of rice? How about an entire rice field turned into art? Farmers in Inakadate, in the northern part of the island Honshu in Japan create large scale art by planting different varieties of rice in intricate patterns. Much of the art is based on traditional wood block prints, and the artwork is a popular tourist attraction for the area. (via Pink Tentacle)
Posted by mark at 9:59 AM. Permalink: Rice Paddy Art
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Get Your Logo on a Grain of Rice
| Okay, so these aren't actually logos on a grain of rice, but clearly there is plenty of space for your average logo and tagline. Micro artist Andrew Rykovanov has put a great many things on grains of rice. Of course, even if you can get everything you want printed on the rice, your customers may not be able to read it. Your best bet is to also send a logo magnifying glass. |  |
Posted by mark at 7:42 AM. Permalink: Get Your Logo on a Grain of Rice
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Sponsors Get Great Promotional Mileage from Tour de France
There was an article in the New York Times today about the amount of exposure sponsors are able to get from the Tour de France. Having your brand on a top cyclist's jersey can mean your brand is on the air for hours and hours over the course of the race. According to British cyclist Bradly Wiggins, I had nearly four hours television coverage the other day on my own, which is for free in many respects. If Cofidis [his sponsor] were to buy that advertising space, it would cost them a lot of money. Bicycle-themed promotional products can probably add to the exposure. And the photo below? I have no idea, except that it is somehow Tour de France related and the mascot is totally crazy.
Posted by mark at 10:32 AM. Permalink: Sponsors Get Great Promotional Mileage from Tour de France
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For Foosball Hooligans, I Guess
Here's some clever environmental advertising from Carlsberg beer. Little plastic foosball men almost turn this handrail into an impromptu foosball table. Unfortunately, there is no table. And no ball. And the handrails probably don't spin. But still it's quite clever.
Posted by mark at 9:10 AM. Permalink: For Foosball Hooligans, I Guess
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Billboard Baggin'
| I guess these are formerly promotional bags, because they're actually made out of recycled vinyl billboards by Alchemy Goods. Perhaps future billboard designers will take this into account when designing billboards. In some ways this is actually very similar to the Saks Fifth Avenue logo redesign that allows the logo to be split into a grid of 64 squares and reshuffled. If you're looking for a recycled bag to put your logo on, we do have plenty of recycled products, including bags. (via the Adverlab) |  |
Posted by mark at 9:58 AM. Permalink: Billboard Baggin'
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Sumovertising!
I just realized that somehow I never posted about sumovertising. Talk about a huge omission! At any rate, this can definitely be added to the ever expanding -vertising list:
- spiderwebvertising
- headvertising
- sheepvertising
- eggvertising
- bugvertising
- thumbvertising
- nutvertising
- childvertising
- conveyorvertising
- jumbojetvertising
Posted by mark at 5:18 PM. Permalink: Sumovertising!
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Chia Keyboard
Here's another item that isn't actually a promo, but does remind me of a couple promos, including the chia direct mail, jungle book and the logo bean plant. This chia keyboard makes for kind of a cool juxtaposition of high-tech and nature.
Posted by mark at 3:35 PM. Permalink: Chia Keyboard
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Candyfab is Fabulous
| This is one of those things that is not exactly promotional product related, but is clearly very awesome. Part 3D printer, part custom candy, 100% awesome, this device can fabricate large candy objects from sugar. Basically, the device uses a focused beam of hot air to melt the printing medium (sugar) in a specific pattern in 2 dimensions, then it moves the level at which the air is focused to do layer after layer until the whole object is created. Basically the same concept as other prototype printers, but tastier. Becasue first you get the sugar, then you get the prototypes, then you get the power. (via Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories) |  |
Posted by mark at 12:54 PM. Permalink: Candyfab is Fabulous
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Giant Shoebox Promotes Adidas on the Court
Okay, this isn't a promotional product per se, but I do love my Adidas. Located in Amsterdam, it exists presumably to promote, amuse and perhaps confuse. I would imagine it successfully does all three. (via the Adlab's Billboardom)
Posted by mark at 2:17 PM. Permalink: Giant Shoebox Promotes Adidas on the Court
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Thoughtvertising: Now We've Gone Too Far
In the fast paced environment where the saturation of advertising and decline of traditional media is forcing us to come up with a new form of -vertising every darn day, I think maybe this goes a little too far. But I will say that given some of the silly stuff we've seen lately, why not just buy pretend advertising? Especially when the imaginary ROI is so incredible. (via The Adverlab)
Posted by mark at 10:01 AM. Permalink: Thoughtvertising: Now We've Gone Too Far
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Giant Toy Promotion Down Under
Normally, people can't be promotional products. Unless the people are imprinted. However, if you dress someone up like a soldier and attach a gigantic hand to their back, then they are, kinda. Of course, the notion of a life-size toy soldier is kind of like land monkeys: they're like sea monkeys, except they're just real monkeys.
Posted by mark at 9:06 AM. Permalink: Giant Toy Promotion Down Under
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Matchbox Cars vs. Hot Wheels Truck
Here's a clever idea to promote matchbox cars: put giant stickers on parking places to turn regular-sized cars into super-humongous versions of tiny toy cars:
The tactic is very similar to this giant hot wheels truck:
Posted by mark at 9:35 AM. Permalink: Matchbox Cars vs. Hot Wheels Truck
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Spiderwebvertising
Yay! One more thing to add to my "-vertising" list:
(This was done by Nina Katchadourian, who has lots of other cool art on her site.) |  |
Posted by mark at 10:38 AM. Permalink: Spiderwebvertising
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Feeling Lucky?
Not a promotional product per se, unless you plan on giving out luggage conveyors, but this casino promotion does make a big impression. In an advertising-saturated world, I guess it was inevitable that someone would take advantage of one of the few times we're left staring at a blank object. Plus, if you're traveling in a group you can place bets on where your bags will land.
Posted by mark at 11:23 AM. Permalink: Feeling Lucky?
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Often the Best Promos Are Plain and Simple
| Often the best promos are plain and simple. After all, if you have a well-defined goal and target audience, reaching them doesn't need to be a complicated affair. Hopefully everyone already knows that. At any rate, I just really like this photo. We have lots of promotional hats, but zero promotional gourd hats. We have a pumpkin mask rubber duck, though, and a pumpkin is like a gourd and a mask is like a hat, so it's pretty much almost the same. |  |
Posted by mark at 12:10 PM. Permalink: Often the Best Promos Are Plain and Simple
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Bee-utiful Custom Items
With the rise of bee colony collapse disorder, custom items like this vase may become impossible to create even before they reach the promotional marketplace. Although I don't have a ton of info, the basic idea is that a Dutch design group got bees to build a vase-shaped hive. In theory, they could get them to build a hive in the shape of your logo, too!
Posted by mark at 9:09 AM. Permalink: Bee-utiful Custom Items
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Back to the Future Footware
| This is clearly only tangentially related to promotional products, but apparently at least a couple prototypes (below) of Marty McFly's Nike sneakers from the future, as seen in the film Back to the Future (above), were made. Much like children's cartoons and toys, it begs the question, do the sneakers promote the movie or vice versa? It would also perhaps be the first time product placement in a movie was done 20 years before the product existed. Of course, if the sneakers were made in 1987, people would have probably started disappearing from photos or something. Or maybe sneakers would have started disappearing from photos. |  |
Posted by mark at 9:00 AM. Permalink: Back to the Future Footware
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Man's Best Friend-vertising
| We've lived through headvertising, sheepvertising, eggvertising, bugvertising, thumbvertising, nutvertising and even childvertising, so dogvertising should come as no surprise to anyone. |  |
Posted by mark at 12:48 PM. Permalink: Man's Best Friend-vertising
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Emissions Awareness Balloon Promotes Sustainability
This powerful demonstration of the magnitude of automobile exhaust from even a single vehicle was done by the World Wildlife Fund in Beijing. With its rapid economic growth and increased demand for automobiles, China is the target for the Fund's 20to20 mini-site that features 20 tips for sustainable development. When it comes to making a statement about sustainability, it seems balloons and tailpipes are a classic combination. At ePromos, we're happy to help our customers raise awareness about environmental issues, and even find environmentally-friendly promotional products.
Posted by mark at 11:31 AM. Permalink: Emissions Awareness Balloon Promotes Sustainability
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Hello Air! Branding in the Sky
Why brand just a pen or mug, when you can brand a whole airplane? Eva Air, a Taiwanese airline, has Hello Kitty-fied and entire Airbus 330, inside and out. The product of two years of negotiation between the airline and Sanrio, the company who owns the character, the plane is primarily used for flights between Taiwan and Japan. We feature plenty of promotional airplanes, but alas, none of them are full-size. Next up, battle between Hello Kitty plane and Wonder balloon.
Posted by mark at 9:02 AM. Permalink: Hello Air! Branding in the Sky
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I Get Busy!
They didn't call me on my cell phone, they just sent the goods. I got my homestar runner figurines today, plus this awesome t-shirt. They even threw in a promotional keychain.
Posted by mark at 3:59 PM. Permalink: I Get Busy!
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Briefly: Imprinting Accuracy - Avoiding Chi-Tonw
| I've said it before, and I'll say it again, when it comes to promotional products, imprinting matters. After all, you don't want a Chi-Tonw incident. You may wonder what the heck I'm talking about, so let me explain. In April of 2005, a Chic |