[ad_icons] They Call Her "Irritabelle"

3404.

She's manic, she's totes adorbs, she's your BFF (she'll tell you so), and she's obvs been working out.

I, too, have been charmed by the mascot and easy-on-the-eye incarnation of irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea (IBD-S) and mascot of Pantheon Phramaceuticals' treatment Viberzi (generic name: eluxadoline). Anyone who needs to be explained-to what a nasty thing this can be needs to take off your human suit, but only after you get back in your flying saucer and are well on your way out of the atmosphere on the way to your home planet, thanks. What one may not know is that IBS-D is a particularly wily variety, which can leave you alone for a great long time and then say 'hello!' with no warning, no idea of how annoying it can be and no obvious way of telling you it's going buh-bye again for a while.

The actor playing the role's name is getting known, just as we all once wondered who played Progressive Flo (that'd be Stephanie Courtney), and that customer's name is Ilana Becker. She's an up-and-comer, with a role as 'Salesperson' in the season 2 episode of Orange Is The New Black episode "Power Suit", and with roles in the series Girl Code and Odd Mom Out to her credit so far. She brings a cockamamie, Lucille-Ball-esque maniac affability to what is quite obviously an affliction that … well, you know. But it is funny, and has a sort of sitcommish irreverence, and dressed as she is in a figure-revealing bodysuit with a cartoony depiction of the anatomical bowel, she's appropriate, being built like a brick … well, you know.

AdWeek has the skinny and a link to two longer (about 3 and a half minutes each) videos talking about the condition and featuring self-aware, fourth-wall-breaking humor. I particularly liked the one where they staged the intervention on her. 

[brand] Vern Fonk's Iconic Pitchman, Rob Thielke, Passes at Age 50

3216.

The bald guy in the Vern Fonk ads is as Northwest as they come.

In the world of late-night ads, you have to have that certain something in order to become an icon. Back in the early 90s, we had started to run low on ad icons … Tom Peterson had gone into retirement, the blond "More Cars, More Trucks, More Credit" Scott's Auto Sales lady had abruptly left the scene after that business had failed.

Then along came Vern Fonk. Oh, he wasn't really Vern Fonk. But more on that momentarily. Vern Fonk, the company, started as a high-risk insurer with several locations in the Seattle area; eventually, it opened branches here in PDX. And then the commercials happened.

They seemed to center, most of them, on this strange, animated, bald fellow. He played an astounding array of roles and you could never tell what he would do next. They broke through to the big time with one word … Shapoopi. 



This was broadcast on Leno. For a short time, everyone had their version; even KPTV's Good Day Oregon got in on the fun (sadly, I can't find the video. It seems to have fallen off the intermets).

At Fonk's acme, they were even riffing on Brad Pitt, in a way:



And, along the way, that strange, funny, slightly edgy bald guy actually became so identified with Vern Fonk insurance, that people thought he was Vern Fonk. He wasn't; he Rob Thielke, a man with as singularly strange sense of humor and an adeptness, with his brother Kevin, in making memorable late-night commercials for the company he worked for. At the time of the Fonkvasion, he was office manager of the Everett office; eventually, he would rise to be the president of the Company (Vern Fonk himself having retired some time previously, and also having passed in 2006).

When we had heard that Thielke passed away, at the surprisingly tender age of 50 this week, we were quite shocked. It did indirectly proffer an explanation as to why we haven't seen a Fonk ad in a while. And we're mightily unhappy about this; he really made us laugh, the way he would push things to a Theatre of the Absurd level for ads for an insurance company. Obviously he could inject bizarre humor into anything. Not even holiday greetings were safe:



I mean,  Ram-aAAAAaaa-DAAAAAAN! , right?

Vern Fonk's current FB avatar.

But Rob's no longer with us. Has he died and took Vern Fonk's brand with him? Impossible to say. Now, if you want to see any of his divinely-inspired weirdness, just head to your favorite search engine and put in "Vern Fonk Commercials", "Vern Fonk Vision", or anything like that, and it'll come tumblin' out of the YouTube like … well, like something YouTube probably has lots of.

Somebody better step up quick to become the Pacific Northwest's late-night advertising icon, or I'll have to do it.

And nobody wants that, I'll clue you what.

[pdx] My Tom Peterson's 82nd And Foster Pic Communicates Hard!

3093.

Being the PDX lover that I am, I usually find my way to the great posts, one way or the other. Maybe it's net-magic, the way the intarwebz tend to remember what you like, I don't know. But I find them, or they find me.

Today's offering is a article at the real estate blog Movoto, which I have only just heard about. The reason is this fine article about sweet quirky Portland things that were. Pride of place, though, and number one of the 26 Things You'll Never See In Portland Again, is this:

Which uses this photo I have up at Flickr:

… which was taken back in 2005 and originally posted on this blog at http://zehnkatzen.blogspot.com/2005/12/logodesign-pdxhistory-now-thats-tom.html

I rock this town. With my blog. And if they think of this photo when they think of Tom Peterson's that was, well, that's about the next best thing to getting a ton of money for my opinions.

Which I'm still open to. Just sayin'.

[branding] Bodyform: The Best Feminine Hygiene Advertising … Period.

2870.

There's a joke I learned as a kid. A version went something like this:

Did you hear the one about the kid who found a fiver on the street? He went to the drug store and bought a box of Tampax. When his friends heard, they made fun of him, but he said "Don't laugh! With Tampax, I can go horse-riding, water-skiing, bicycling …"

Yeah. I guess you had to be there.

I kind of wish I was in the room when the Branding Zen Masters™ came up with the following thing …

It's said (can ye believe everything that falls out of the intertuebz?) that a person who we shall regard as "Richard Neill" posted a rant to the page of Bodyform, manufacturers of a line of things we used to call 'sanitary napkins', which gave my mind no end of fits as a kid, because I know what sanitary is, and I knew what napkins were, but … well, anywhozzle … It was a soliloquy apparently on the reproach of a man who, upon learning the ins and outs of living with That Special Someone™and hoping to see the joy of woman from a closer vantage, instead, feels wronged. The whole rant is here, and it ends on the plaintive note:

Instead I had to fight against every male urge I had to resist screaming wooaaahhhhh bodddyyyyyyfooorrrmmm bodyformed for youuuuuuu as my lady changed from the loving , gentle, normal skin coloured lady to the little girl from the exorcist with added venom and extra 360 degree head spin. Thanks for setting me up for a fall bodyform , you crafty bugger

Damn you, Bodyform! A pox upon your house (but just a small one, understand). 

Added venom and 360 degree headspin, it must be said, at no extra charge. Such a deal.

Forging ahead: the trajectory of the thing seems to be thus; the Bodyform company saw the rant and decided to embrace it with humor and aplomb befitting the finest in fine comedy. As the company said here, Unfortunately Bodyform doesn't have a CEO. But if it did she'd be called Caroline Williams. And she'd say …

Well, she'd say this: 




Yes, my friends, we have finally learned how to joke effectively about when Aunt Flo comes to visit. To think that I'd have lived to see the day. But it's an effective lesson in social marketing, and great comedy to boot.

The rant spread to Mashable, as did the reply, and the rest, as they say, is hystery. 

There are some, though, who wonder at the timing and the quick, highly polished response to the rant. Some of the posters at AdWeek, in the reply stream, think the whole thing is a bit pat. And maybe it is. I myself am torn about advertising these days. It's true, as Orwell has said, that advertising is "a stick rattling in a swill bucket", but another side of me says If you're going to waste my time, at least entertain me.

Well, I'm entertained.

Well played, Bodyform … well played. You earned a "like" from me.

[branding] When You "Make Your Brand Work" For A Bigger Brand, Does That Make You Seem Phony?

2692.This may sound odd coming from me, since I don't really even care for Project Runway, but I happen to think that Tim Gunn is one of the most fun TV personalities out there right now.

The whole elegant, confident "Make It Work" thing. He's turned his personality into a pretty powerful brand and it's really taken him off and taken him places. As a matter of fact, he's recognizable and big enough now that he can hire his brand out to promote other brands, as this recently-released commercial where Expedia gets the Project Runway treatment …



I'm hardly a brand guru (yet), but I get a certain feeling when I see things like this.

Now, I've got to say, the commercial is very slick, and nails the PR vibe with preciseness. And it's not unentertaining. Expedia got their money's worth, and more. Tim Gunn's smoothness and personality lend a certain style to Expedia's brand that's hip and unique.

But here's where I think this might be going a bit far. I'll try not to ramble, because I'm going way subjective here … but then, that's what branding is all about.

Tim Gunn's signature phrases … Make it work, Major WOW factor … were uniquely him. They expressed his personality in ways nothing else quite could and that nobody else could ever own. He is suave and smooth in a way that's obviously sincere and authentic. I get the impression that, when we see Tim doing his Timness, we aren't seeing an act. He's not a put-on.

However, when he does it in the service of another brand, that removes a the honestness about it. More's the pity, it seems insincere now. I'm left with the impression that Expedia has enhanced his brand … but Tim's unenhanced his, and now, it's not as fun as it used to be.

Now, I'm not exactly saying that it's a bad thing to hire your brand out. Branding is a tool. It's a powerful tool with more edges than a Gillette disposable razor (see what I did there?). It can be used for evil, good, or awesome. But I do wonder if it's always a good thing to hire out your brand to support someone else's for advertising in this way. And branding, when it's used in this way, to me, sucks a bit of the sincerity out of human emotion.

Or … am I just being too sensitive here? Obviously this use of Tim Gunn's identity to promote Expedia obviously moved me in a way.

I'd be interested to know what people think. Comment, please.

[design] "Was Dein T-Shirt Kann, Kannst Du Auch" - Design Activism Via Trojan T-Shirts

2646.Hardcore Rebellen - National und Frei ("Hardcore Rebels - Naitonal and Free") said the legend, within an energetic skull-crossbones-and-ink splattered design on T-shirts distributed at a recent rock festival organized by Germany's National Democratic Party which, despite its name, has more to do with anything Nazi than anything this blog would consider actually democratic.

The T-Shirts, enthusiastically snapped up by the attendees, carried a payload, however … after washing, the muscular right-wing extremist message was replaced by Was dein T-shirt kann, kannst du auch ("What your T-shirt did, you can also"), followed by the appeal Wir helfen dir, dich vom Rechtextremismus zu lösen ("We can help you escape from right-wing extremism") from an organization called Exit Detuschland, whose mission is to offer such an escape route.

The campaign, while clever, is backed by realistic expectations: they don't expect this to change any minds so much as they hope to plant a seed.

Design is great at selling things, from the tangible and commercial to this - and can have great power to spread good.

The whole story at Der Spiegel International.

[ad_design] What's Up Your Butt?, Or The Power Of A Negative Message

2631.As reported by KGW and other media outlets, a … well, there's no other way to say this … blunt message about colorectal health was nixed Washington-state dry-siders - specifically, those dry-siders around the Tri-Cities. But I can't help but thinking that maybe it hit the mark (again, 'scuse) anyway.

The billboards depict a bespectacled, rather average-looking woman with a mildly unpleasant look on her face, her mouth screwed up, lips pressed together, perhaps contemplating something awkward, maybe even nasty, but necessary. The message: What's Up Your Butt? Get tested for colon cancer starting at age 50 takes up most of the rest of the board (check the link above to see it).

As odd as it might seem, it's an "up-front" and irreverent way to get people thinking about a major risk factor as they move into the second half of life - something that will sneak up on you from, well … behind. Colorectal cancer is something that is, at best, awkward to talk about but it can get the most beautiful of us … Farrah Fawcett was killed by a form of this disease.

To say that this campaign didn't play in Pasco suggests that it did elsewhere; just up I-82, in Yakima, the article suggests, it's been running for a bit. 

Even though it's a simple design, it works, and it doesn't have to stay up to do so. Everyone in the Tri-cities, or at least a whole lot of people in the target audience, while presumably appalled at the lack of taste, is talking about it now. 

Sometimes, you don't have to design a design for the ages. Sometimes, you just have to design for right now.

Mission accomplished.

Now, I'm going to go off an giggle a lot. My inner four-year-old is loving this thing.

 
Technorati Tags: billboards, biilboard_ads, ad_campaigns

[logo_design] That Peculiar Lightness of Logos for 2011

2612.So saith GD USA's Logolounge: the fashion trend for logos seems to be light, airy, and transcendant:

For the 2011 report, our ninth, color is still prevalent, but tinted down. Where black has been used as the strong neutral, now brown or gray is in place. Blues and greens are softer, and pinks are starting to appear.

Other degrees of lightness: Shapes are airier, lifting off the page. Designs are rising out of their 2D resting places and suggesting that they would really like to go places. In some logos, line weights are slimmer. There’s plenty of transparency, too, as if light is now able to flow right through.

The transcendancey comes from what's turning out to be a logo's new remit: it did what it does before, but now it does it in places that Paul Rand never would have guessed. You'll find a logo as a favicon, animated, in print and in electronic form … but not just one form, many of them – animated, backgrounded, what have you. As digital design tools evolve, more effects and functions, once the domain of fairly abstruse professionals, now come to the fingertips of your friendly neighborhood desktop designer.

They can be used for evil, yes, we understand that. With great power comes great responsibility. Also, large power bills.

Read the Logolounge's report here … http://www.gdusa.com/issue_2011/april/logolounge.php … and go right to the graphic that illustrates what they see as the 2011 trends here … http://www.gdusa.com/issue_2011/april/logolounge/index.php … each image has a link to a definition and examples.

H/T to Jeff Fisher.

[icons] "Get A Mac": Art Imitates Life Imitates Art Imitating Life

2610.They've become iconic: John Hodgman as the PC and Justin Long as the Mac. Over many years and between 60 and 70 seperate commercials, the buttoned-down, business-suited, bland Hodgman became a sort of PC-tan against Long's Mac-tan in the ultimate collision of American advertising and moe anthropomorphism.

Turns out that the incarnations are actually quite close to the stereotype.

An article on PC World reports than an unscientific survey run by a site called Hunch suggests that the stereotypes have basis in reality:

An unscientific survey by Hunch, a website that makes custom predictions based on your interests, shows that PC users tend to prefer fitting in with others, are less tech savvy, and prefer Hollywood films over indie films. The same survey suggests Mac users tend to throw more parties, are modern art enthusiasts, and would rather drive a Vespa than a Harley.

The real cosmic joke, in my opine, is that John Hodgman is actually a hardcore Mac user:

Here is the joke that is absolutely apt, though I once promised I would never make it: "I play one on TV, but I am not a PC." It is true. I am first of all: not a computer, but a human being; and second of all: a Mac user, almost exclusively, since 1984. There was a brief period in the wilderness between 1997 and 2003. Let us not speak of it.

Justin Long is an Actor whom, I presume, doesn't trouble too much about computers.

And so it goes.