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Here she is in all her glory:

Isabelle

She may not be Die Neue Haas Grotesk, but she's mine and she's lovely enough.

CARBUNKLE

VISUAL COMM DESIGN PRESENTATION

WARNING, THE FOLLOWING ADS MAY CAUSE SOME COGNITIVE DISSONANCE. IF YOU ARE DELICATE, YOU MAY WANT TO TAKE A POWDER.

Who is smashLAB?

All of the designs in my presentation are a product of the design firm smashLAB.

"smashLAB is an interaction design firm based in Vancouver, British Columbia, founded in 2000 by Eric Karjaluoto and Eric Shelkie. The firm originally offered a wide range of design services, from identity to advertising. Now it focuses on interactive strategy. smashLAB has received industry recognition and awards from groups including the Advertising & Design Club of Canada, Lotus Awards, Graphis, and STEP Inside Design, particularly for their self-initiated projects."

http://2fotoz.blogspot.com/2009/08/lousy-and-creative-advertising.html

smashLAB: our creative comes from within

Does NOT work...
YIKES!!!

WARNING!!

GRAPHIC GRAPHICS BELOW!

DO NOT SCROLL IF YOU ARE EASILY UPSET!!

found on: http://2fotoz.blogspot.com/2009/08/lousy-and-creative-advertising.html

Analysis:

For me, the biggest irony here is that the design team's own ads are the ones that simply don't meet any marketable standard - other than maybe the sniggering, middle school types. But how much can 13-year-old boys really spend on advertising? These guys took cutting edge and turned it into cutting the cheese.

Oh jeez, and all this time I thought Canadians were so mild mannered and conservative, aye.

******

While I can guess their aim was to be oulandishly imaginative and shockingly posh, all this campaign has done for me - aside from producing a tiny titter of my own, is disappoint. Once the shock wears off, something slightly unbelieveable sets in like, "is this for real??" This team has some brilliant fits and starts, but they seem to lack direction, cohesion and any semblance of marketability. The noise in my head keeps asking, "Who would hire these bozos?"

I get it that they are creative. I even love their tagline, "Our creative comes from within." (A little too literal in the 3rd ad) But from a marketablility standpoint they prove to be too juvenille to hire for even the simplest job. With these ads, the message they convey - whether intentional or otherwise - is that their best efforts equate to boogers and snot, sickening vomit, semen and poopy-turds.

For me, they just don't make that rainbow connection.

YIKES!

Tinactin: Root out disgusting Fungi

It works.. but not

Analysis:

I was so excited when I found these! They grab your attention and make you ask, "What on earth are these ads for??!!" A good sign in the ad world. But then you look closer at the little blue unfolded medicine box in the corner and disappointment sets in...

this is an ad for Tinactin, all that imagination wasted on foot fungus.

While on some sort of visceral level I enjoy - or maybe even relish - the boldness involved in this ad campaign, for me, it doesn't actually work. It doesn't meet the standard necessary for me to have a psycho motor response, and therefore the ads do not motivate - nor anyone else I imagine.

*I would like to mention at this point that I've never had foot fungus*

For me, the failing occurs primarily on a cognitive level. While I love the slipper/rat thing, it does not connect me to foot fungus. Neither do the hairball on the mat "shoes" in the second ad... or is it swirly poop? I'm not sure - which is another failing. What is the gross stuff the shoes are made of? And who gets foot fungus at their front door? I don't know, but once again, the psychological vectors at work here don't point me to what little I know about foot fungus.

Now, the only details I do know about foot fungus are from the commercials I've seen other agencies do, and my own knowledge that a mushroom is a sort of fungus. In ads that work, I've seen damp and sweaty places with bare feet and little dancing flames between the toes with itchy scratchy "bad guys" running riot and posing as fungusy things or nasty biting-burning athletes foot. I understand that, but these ads miss the mark. This inconsistency created a noise in me that was at first difficult to identify. I was bothered by the ads, but as Eric said, "I didn't know why." It took awhile, but I finally figured out that the pictures simply didn't represent my preconceived notion of what a foot fungus is or does.

That said, I love the textures and contrasts involved in these ads. The stiff and bristly fur of the dead rats contrasting with their their delicate little pink fingers. EEW!

The welcome mat was a lovely touch, but I thought that ad was for some sort of hairball tonic for cats. Maybe I'm missing an obvious irony... I don't know (because I missed it). I did love the little movie that played in my head about the poor guy that had to lace those shoes, threading the laces through all that icky muck.

I loved the cool and simple logo and branding placed pertly in the corner. As catchy as these ads are, I was disappointed to learn what they were supposed to be for. This negated any affective response in me. My insides said, "WHAT??!! Foot Fungus? No..."

The slightly worn and creased blanket was even perfect. I don't think I've ever been on a sleepover to an Aunt, Uncle's or cousin's house where that kind of blanket wasn't on the bed. Its a Grandma or Grandpa blanket, both comforting in its familiarity and uncomfortable because it is too worn and has too many holes in it to provide sufficient warmth. An interesting juxtaposition.

Like everyone else, we have that same blanket in our home. Oddly enough and now that I think about it, we only use the blanket when we have company too. It is the comfortingly uncomfortable insufficient universal sleepover blanket.

The ads work, but not. I love them, but they should not have been for foot fungus.

PRO DOGS against dung

I LOVE THIS AD CAMPAIGN!

Analysis: Eventhough it's more poop, this one works! But its late, I'm going to bed. I'll have to tell you later...