In a recent article for Advertising Age (adage.com) Jeff Goodby takes a clear position on the new paradox in the advertising industry: Ghost ads. He puts it like this,”when you get into a taxi and tell the driver that you’re in advertising, they often ask you whether you’ve done anything they might be familiar with. (…) Ironically, the more awards you’ve been winning these days, the more likely the answer is “No”.”

Read his Jeff Goodby’s opinion on Ghost ads and the need to make marketing famous again on adage.com.

Stefan Schmidt, the Chief Creative Officer of TBWA Germany, shares all the background stories of Impossible Goalkeeper and the Impossible Huddle in a speech he held during the International Advertising Festival in Cannes 2008. You can enjoy all the insights around the two football pilgrimages sites exclusively on mad-blog.com. Both pieces played an essential role in the adidas marketing activities during the 2008 UEFA EURO championship in Austria and Switzerland.

Part one

Part two

If you have any comments or suggestions please email Stefan Schmidt.

The Zimbabwean Trillion Dollar Campaign celebrates the freedom of speech – and after winning the Grand Prix in the 2009 Disruption Awards the jury at the 2009 Cannes Lions honored the South African campaign with an unseen amount of Cannes Lions: so far three Gold, one Silver and one Grand Prix.

The campaign was designed to raise awareness regarding the plight of The Zimbabwean newspaper and consisted of various creative elements, including a billboard, all made up entirely of Zimbabwean Dollar bank notes. The newspaper, the brainchild of journalists driven into exile, is committed to providing independent and fair comment on Zimbabwe to Zimbabweans, and has had a ‘luxury’ import duty of over 55% added to it by the Mugabe government, thus making it unaffordable to the average Zimbabwean citizen.

Damon Stapleton, Executive Creative Director says, “We don’t believe that information is a luxury, which is why we believe so strongly in this campaign. All of the campaign elements were made up from trillions and trillions of Zimbabwean Dollars, which in the end worked out cheaper than using paper. When we conceptualised the campaign the idea of using Zimbabwean Dollars came about; we couldn’t think of a stronger or clearer way to illustrate the seriousness of the situation in Zimbabwe. Effectively we turned the currency, a symbol of what is happening in the country, into the medium.”

Gavin Heron, Group Managing Director for TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris enthused, “As an agency we are thrilled and humbled by this win and couldn’t be prouder of our team! The aim when the team first started working on this campaign was to draw attention to the plight of The Zimbabwean newspaper and Zimbabwe as effectively as possibly. Winning these awards is the cherry on top of a great campaign which delivered exceptional sales results for The Zimbabwean. ”

If you have any suggestions or comments please email Gavin Heron.

In order to get the right feeling of driving a convertible we went to a place where our audience was highly concentrated and in the right mood for an unseen commercial. A commercial that wasn´t just shown on the cinema screen but on the cinema ceiling. By doing so certainly the right message at the right moment to an entertained audience: “convertible-feeling for everyone!” With the Nissan Micra C+C.

Download here.

If you have any suggestions or comments please email Kai Röffen.

In a series of four short films, TBWA Worldwide Creative Director John Hunt answers questions about creativity, disruption and media arts. Prepare for inspiring thoughts about instinct, sharing, humour – and coat hangers.

3. It’s not my idea, it’s our idea – John Hunt explains how big egos suffocate creativity and why ideas benefit from being shared.

In a series of four short films, TBWA Worldwide Creative Director John Hunt answers questions about creativity, disruption and media arts. Prepare for inspiring thoughts about instinct, sharing, humour – and coat hangers.

2. What does a big idea look like? In our next film, John Hunt tells us how to spot those vital signs!

EXTENDED DEADLINE, SEND PICTURE OF SHIRT YOU WANT TO SWAP BY JUNE 25, 2009 (noon, Cannes)

The game is simple; you give me yours and I will give you mine. A limited edition of mad-blog t-shirts has been produced, 15 altogether. Three of them are ready to be yours. Simply send a picture of the shirt you want to trade in for one of our hot MADOHOLIC shirts.

Do this by tomorrow noon (Cannes-time) and the jury will publish the results after lunch (two hours later). Send your picture to: ulrich@mad-blog.com. May the best shirt win.