Apple of the Decade

So Ad Age, an online marketing and communications website, recently gave Apple their first Marketer of the Decade award. Cool, eh? Though it’s only won Ad Age’s Marketer of the Year once this past decade, the company has been named runner up many times, and a contender practically every year.

To be frank, I'd have to agree with Ad Age’s decision on this one. Apple ran plenty of great marketing campaigns over the years that were fun, engaging, and told the audience what Apple was all about. Let’s take a peek at some of their major campaigns over the years:

The Apple silhouette dancing campaign for the first few generations/lines of iPods (one of my fave campaigns, BTW):

“Get a Mac” campaign (with John Hodgeman and Justin Long—hilarious!):

Sorry for the blurriness!

“There’s an app for that”:

Impressive, eh? Well, part of the genius goes the advertising agency, TBWA (who has a long term agency-client relationship with Apple), for its success! Fascinated? If you want to learn a bit more about this, go here for more info!

New Logos??

I'm not sure if any of you have heard..but Gap just recently came out with their new logo, and I'm not quite sure what to make of it. If you head on over to Gap's home page, you can see that the iconic blue box with the white logo in caps (the 84th most valued brand in the world, according to Interbrand, might I add) has been replaced by a plain old "Gap" in black over white background..with a blue box sitting morosely over the "p".

See the comparison below:

Outrageous! I don't know about you, but frankly, I'm not impressed by the new logo. The old logo has been around for 20-odd years, and I guess Gap thinks it's time for a change! When Gap came out with the new look, netizens were quick to react and quick to criticize (quite harshly from some, I've heard).

Gap soon responded with a note on their Facebook page, acknowledging the reaction and asking the audience for new designs. So says on their status:

"Thanks for everyone’s input on the new logo! We’ve had the same logo for 20+ years, and this is just one of the things we’re changing. We know this logo created a lot of buzz and we’re thrilled to see passionate debates unfolding! So much so we’re asking you to share your designs. We love our version, but we’d like to see other ideas. Stay tuned for details in the next few days on this crowd sourcing project."

Well, at least they were quick about it.

Which brings me to ANOTHER company that recently did a logo change as well: Myspace (thanks to Katherine, our Publications Director for telling me about this! You are awesome!!). Apparently, even more recently, Myspace rolled out their new logo:

Geddit, geddit? I actually think that the idea behind it is a pretty good one, and a great play on words...image...line...thingy. And the cool thing about the logo is that when you hover your mouse over it, the blank space will have user generated artwork in the redesigned site. I'm not sure what the general verdict about it will be since the site hasn't been relaunched yet (otherwise, I'd totally link you lovely people to it!), and since I'm not on Myspace, I'm a bit indifferent to the logo change. But what about you guys? What do you think of the new logo?

Oh, and here's something that was tweeted (that Katherine also sent me...honestly, what would I do without you, girl?) by @gaplogo, supposedly a parody account that was created within 24 hours of the new Gap logo launch. I think I like that one the most!

Simplicity at its Best

You know what I love? A successfully done ad. Doesn't have to be flamboyant, or even technically advanced--just something innovative. But mostly one that plays on the audience's emotions. I don't know, perhaps I'm more of a sap and a cheeseball than the rest of y'all, so it's easier to get to me with the ads, but I'm sure you'll understand why this commercial gave me that sad yet warm and fuzzy feeling inside. It's extremely simple--no flashy lights or loud music here--but I think that's what also adds to it and makes that connection with the rest of the audience.

But I digress. You'll understand after you watch it.

Happy Cats

So earlier this month, a friend of mine posted a video of the newest IKEA campaign: Happy Inside. After dutifully clicking on the link, I was quickly won over by the beautiful artistry and the grace of the 100 felines that were let loose in the store.

Yes, 100 cats.

Created by the ad agency Mother London, the video depicts a hundred house cats roaming throughout the IKEA store in Wembley, UK and exploring all the nooks and crannies available in their showrooms. According to Feh Tarty, the creative director at Mother, the idea behind the video was that cats are incredibly independent and tend to live their lives in pursuit of their comfort and happiness. So what better way to express that sentiment than to let them explore and find the furnitures that make them "happy inside"?

IKEA's TV ad is part of a bigger market push to advertise their 2011 catalogue, including press advertising, in-store media and a Facebook page, as well as a "making of" video. Want to see how an ad agency pulls off a stunt like the one you see in the IKEA commercial? Click here and find out.

But for those who just want to see the commercial...enjoy!

Tweeting About the New Twitter

So apparently Twitter rolled out a newer version this past Tuesday, and its been getting a lot of hype and retweets ever since the first mention posted by @Twitter. I've certainly tweeted and RT'd a few times about it, and am personally very excited to get and try out the newer version. According to the site, the new Twitter will show a split screen--with the left side showing mentions, retweets, searches and lists, and the right showing who you follow, who follows you, favourites, and Trending Topics. There are also a few improvements and updates here and there that are all going to add up to give users an "easier, faster, and richer experience."

When I found out about the new Twitter, I obviously clicked on the video ad first...

...and was quickly charmed and won over by the simplicity, sweetness, and creativity of the video. Plus there has already been over a million views on YouTube since its upload 3 days ago.

So which ad agency was the mastermind behind this simple yet professional ad? Twitter.

The best thing about it is that the video's actually based on a real first-date that Twitter's design researcher, Mark Trammell (who worked on the video!), had. Like in the video, Trammell used Twitter to find the wine, book, and location for the date, and the actual tweets are shown towards the end of the commercial too!

And you know the quirky yet catchy music in the background? Yeah, there's a story behind that as well. Trammell said that he was in the south of Austin, Texas attending a technology and media festival, when he saw a tweet from an online music and radio music show about a band playing there, called Freelance Whales. Trammell saw them, loved them, and later on contacted them for the commercial. Consequently, the relatively obscure song in the ad jumped to the iTunes alternative top 100 chart the first day after the video was released.

But the cutest thing of all? Trammell recently received a text from the girl. They're going on a second date.

Google Instant

As if Google can't get any better than it already is. But apparently, it can. Earlier this week, the company released Google Instant, a "new search enhancement that shows results as you type."

Well...isn't it what I've been getting all this time? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I seem to have always seen the drop-down box that comes up whenever I type in anything in the search bar. Or maybe they sped up the thing? Seems to me they just tweaked a few things here and there, bundled it up and presented it as a brand new toy. Or am I thinking of a completely different thing?

Mind you, I checked it out a few times when I found out about GI, and the results do seem to pop up a bit faster, and more correctly as I continue typing, so maybe there is some merit to this new handy dandy...thing. I mean, just check out the image I posted! Pretty nifty, eh?

For more information, I suggest y'all head on over here for a small perusal, and here to try it out for yourself!

A Feast for the Eyes II

Ok, so I realized that I forgot about my month-end image post...sorry! However, to make up for it, this month will have TWO weeks in which the posts will be mostly images for your viewing pleasure.

And besides, it IS the first of September, so I wasn't too late....right? Anyway, I'm sure you guys are itching to scroll down to see, so here they are:

Learn to draw in a flash

Omax Lenses: Wide-Angle lenses

"You can do more than celebrate. 60 years of the universal declaration of human rights"

...so? What do you guys think? Any favourites?