Radiohead’s new video ‘Reckoner’ created by fan

Radiohead’s latest music video “Reckoner” was created by Clement Picon, one of their fans, who submitted the video into a contest.

Front man for the band Thom Yorke was so impressed by the video that he approached Picon about making it the official Reckoner music video. Picon of course said yes and here we have a brand new official music video for Reckoner.
Radiohead - Reckoner - by Clement Picon

When we heard about this people powered creation we were very excited. Just another example of how this method of design is a win/win situation.  Radiohead got an amazingly orriginal video that has a great story behind it and helps connect them to their fan base, which in the end sells them more records and merchandise.

On the other end of things you have Clemont Picon, who no one has ever heard of before, comming out strong with a massive addition to their portfolio and we can assume will get a pretty penny for becomming the new official video.

Now doesn’t that just give you a warm fuzzy feeling knowing all of that? And that’s not normally something you can say about advertising. Kudo’s to you Clemont Picon!

Mariah Carey, Ne-Yo, Method Man and Ludacris: Artists or Ad Agencies?

Product placement in music is not a new trend by any means, it’s just become much more blatant and apparent. Even still, most of us would like to think that a musical “artist” has chosen the words in their songs because they create a reflection of themselves. Heck, I’d even accept “just because it rhymed.” Sadly that’s not really the case.

When RUN-DMC wrote the mid 80’s song “My Addidas” it was because they liked the shoes. In fact, back then hip-hop was still seen as a scary underground trend that devalued a companies brand equity. It took millions of dollars of sales for Addidas to publicly recognize the iconic impact RUN-DMC had for their brand and embraced it in their advertising and company image.

[EDIT - Oct 4th, 2008 ]

Some more information about “My Addidas” was posted in a comment by one of our readers P.J.

“…it’s important to note that, ‘My Adidas’ was released in 1986 and Run-DMC actually ‘pitched’ a sponsorship deal to Adidas who signed them to a $1.5 million endorsement deal later that year. There’s a good video of the original pitch at http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x17zzt_message-from-run-dmc-to-adidas_creation. Some more details here http://www.villagevoice.com/2002-09-10/news/hip-hop-goes-commercial/…”

Thanks P.J! We thought it took much longer for them to sell the idea. I suppose their one saving grace is they really did wear only Addidas and decided to go after a sponsorship after seeing their obvious consumer impact.

Not exactly the same situation when artist / rapper Nelly released his song “Air Force Ones.” Nelly and his record label created this song as a negotiation tactic for landing a deal with Nike. Which happened almost immediately, along with the release of a signature edition Nelly shoe.

In fact in todays music it’s become more and more evident that chart topping artists are positioning themselves as independent advertising agencies. A recent article on WIRED.com shines a much needed light on how these transactions take place in todays market.

An advertising representative from the Kluger Agency (who represents artists such as Mariah Carey, Ne-Yo, Method Man and Ludacris) contacted a company called “Double Happiness Jeans” with a proposal. Essentially, for the right price Double Happiness Jeans could have their name used in the lyrics for an upcoming Pussy Cat Dolls song. Having your product ingrained into the minds of impressionable young teens with huge expendable incomes can be an offer hard to refuse.

Unless of course you are Jeff Crouse or Steve Lambert who are partners at the Anti-Advertising Agency. Well known for criticizing the pervasiveness of materialism and advertising in our culture, these two were a little shocked when they received the proposal from Kluger for their imaginary brand. That’s right, Double Happiness Jeans is not even a real product.

Ouch. Someone at Kluger didn’t do their research.

Turns out Double Happiness Jeans is actually an online social experiment created by the two Anti-Advertising advocates. Double Happiness Jeans is the name of a virtual sweatshop within the popular MMORPG  (Massive Multi-player Online Role Playing Game), Second Life.  Players of the game can earn 90 cents an hour making designs for jeans which are then converted into real life products. The finished products are currently on display in Carroll Gardens Brooklyn.

In the end this embarrassing mess up has caused some unwanted publicity for Kluger and has some people questioning just how ethical this is. When you read a magazine or watch television you can easily separate ads from content. Unfortunately that’s not the case with music and lyrics, which makes it hot real estate for advertisers. Klugers website actually states,

“A successful “Brand-Dropping” campaign will imprint your brand name and product in to you markets subconscious. This will increase their “decision to buy” response when they visit your place of business. That alone is one of the most valuable keys to brand power.”

I dunno about you, but statements like that leave a horrible taste in my mouth. Nothing says classy like riding the coat tails of someone else’s success by purchasing blatant consumer manipulation to sell your products.

Recreating Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan

The ad world spills over with derivation. Ideas get transmitted, reused, repurposed. Sometimes executions get directly ripped off. People quote George Bernard Shaw: “The mediocre borrows. Genius steals.”

Watching this churn of ideas, execution and the chest beating and cockery that often accompany a discovery of influence / theft provides good gossip. It exercises anxieties in everyone. We all stand on the shoulders of giants. Some of us just don’t want anyone to know what giants prop us up.

So I found it pretty refreshing to discover an ad campaign grateful to have its influence discovered. The above campaign is for Jack Wolfskin. The image is a recreation of the album cover of The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan.

The CEO of Jack Wolfskin turns out to be a big Dylan fan and wanted to shoot an ad in homage. Seems a odd fit — a European outfitter and a protest singer’s formative early album — but odder fits have happened.

The Rolling Stones’ Start Me Up (”I’ll never stop!”) for the launch of Windows 95. John Cleese for Compaq. Jack Kerouac’s On the Road for BMW.

Any other favorite examples?

Thanks to Steve at the Daily Heller for the link.

Candidate + Supporters = DIY Ads

How do you break through the clutter and sameness of campaign ads on the front lawn or boulevard?

Let your supporters customize the ads according to their own reasons. That’s what Jason Kander has done. It also taps into the variations of issues important to voters. My important issue may also be yours but it may not be on the radar of the candidate and their handlers.

Nice job Jason Kander. As long as you didn’t believe dinosaurs roamed the earth 4,00 years ago, we’d give you our people-powered vote just for this idea!

Thanks to Monique Trottier of Boxcar Marketing for the link.

Assignment #10: Remixed Emotions (Win an iPod)

A big problem consumers face today is Greenwashing, which wikipedia defines as,

“a term used to describe the perception of consumers that they are being misled by a company regarding the environmental practises of the company or the environmental benefits of a product or service.”

Being lied to by advertising sucks and it sucks even harder when it’s just plain confusing. like this HSBC Lumberjack Ad James ranted about in a prior blog post. “Emotional-Greenwashing” he called it. Basicly HSBC found a tear jerker story and tacked their name onto the end. The perfect premis for a simple AdHack Assignment.

We’ve called this assignment, “Remixed Emotions.”

Why? Because we want you to remix the emotions of this ad and change the ending.

For this assignment do not re-edit, dub, or change the actual commercial. Just make a new ending / payoff.

This is a very easy Assignment for anyone to enter using Windows movie maker or iMovie. Just ad new text/logo/footage at the end and you’re done! Submit as many as you like.

We know this commercial is pretty lengthy, but once it’s uploaded viewers and voters can just skip to the various endings by clicking near the end of the time-line.

So don’t worry no one  will have to watch the whole sappy commercial dozens of times. except whoever wins, they can watch it every day over and over on their new 8GB iPod Nano Chromatic.

See the original ad and get full Assignment details here!

How to Photograph Food by Lolo

My friend Patrick, who used to be a much better photographer than I’ll ever be, once told me food was the hardest subject to shoot. Since I’ve shot very little and he’s shot a ton, I’ll trust him on that claim.

So Lolo’s recent post impressed me a ton: Food photography for bloggers.

Wow. It’s an incredible wealth of techniques, tips and practical knowledge for anyone taking photos of food.

If you’re considering using food in any of your AdHack ads, be sure to check it out.

Thanks to Siobhan of Magpie and Cake for the link.

Assignment #9 Prize Awarded

We are very happy to announce Dave Gibson has been awarded his new Panasonic Noise Cancelling Headphones for winning our Rogers iPhone remix in Assignment #9. You can check out his winning submission iFood Here!

We had some minor delays in awarding these to him as it turns out Amazon does not ship this item to Canada. Unfortunately for us we were not told of this until two weeks after placing the order. Not cool.

But what is cool, is that we got them in today, delivered them personally and have been informed that they are hot like fire. In other words, they sounds awesome. We are anticipating a much more detailed review from Dave soon. Stay Tuned!

Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe and Ways of Seeing Image Frequencies

Q: Who is in the image above?

A: Marilyn Monroe.

Click on the image to see a larger version, then click back here.

Q: Who is in the new, larger image?

A: Albert Einstein.

Would you be surprised to find out the two images are the same image at different sizes? Open the big version again and step back 6+ feet from your monitor. Marilyn again.

As the folks from Think Eyetracking say:

This is more than a cool optical illusion; it’s an insight to something very important about the way humans’ code information visually.

Human brains encode different visual frequencies when looking at objects from afar compared to up close. Humans see more detail, or high spatial frequencies up close, and see less detail, or low spatial frequencies from further away.  This is why, when we look at the image up close we see Albert Einstein, and when we look at it from afar we see Marilyn Monroe.

So when you’re designing an ad, make sure you know where people will see it. A bathroom print ad, displayed on the stall door or wall, presents itself to our eyes very differently than a billboard. A TV ad is different than a web video, even if they’re seen at the same resolution.

Food for thought next time you’re designing an ad.

Jawbone: Amanda Lepore in Vanity Fair

Click image for full-size version.

Amanda Lepore is a star on the New York club, fashion, art and nightlife scene. A recent issue of Vanity Fair magazine featured a 2-page ad with her and a surgeon for the Jawbone.

The 2-page effect is striking.

Thanks to social-creature Jenka Gurfinkel for the link.

Molson Brewery Brew 2.0

Yesterday the boss (James) asked me to work late on a special assignment. Being the model employee that I am, I immediately accepted this presumably daunting task and asked him what he needed.

“You’ll have to travel out of office for this,” he warned me.

“Fine, where to?” I asked.

“Vancouver Molson Brewery to drink free beer, eat amazing food and socializing with some of Vancouver’s top bloggers. It’s called Brew 2.0.” James replied.

Needless to say James totally owes me for covering for him on this one. But let’s try to put the horrible and unjust jobs I’m asked to do aside and talk about Brew 2.0.

This was a brilliant move on behalf of Molson.  I consider myself an emerging beer connoisseur and I can assure you Molson never comes to mind when I’m asked about my favorite beers. That being said I have to admit I had some of the best beer I’ve ever had last night. And it was Molson. And now I’m telling you about it. So their plan worked.

Granted, the beer was very fresh. One can of Rickard’s was only two minutes old and I drank it with Gord Rickards himself. So that’s kind of hard to compare to the usual liquore store brew. But I did learn about some great food pairings for various Molson beers which I’ve listed below.

Scallop and Papaya Ceviche Crostini
paired with Rickard’s White
Grilled Vegetable and Goat Cheese Bruschetta
paired with Coor’s Light
Smoked Wild Salmon on Wild Rice and Beer Blini, Fennel Salad
paired with Molson Canadian
Prawn Quesadillas, Fresh Guacamole, Salsa Fresca
paired with Corona
Chorizo Empanadas
paired with Old Style Pilsner
Rickard’s Honey Brown Ale- Braised Bison Mini Sandwiches
paired with Rickard’s Red
Cheeseboard with Aged Cheddars, Brie and Gorgonzola Walnut Baguette, Flat Bread and Crackers Blair’s Addictive Beer Nuts
paired with Heineken

After consuming each and every one of these dishes we were given a tour of the brewery. But the pièce de résistance (for me anyways) was Molson’s 50th Anniversary brew, served at the end of the night.

Using over three times as many ingredients of any regular Molson beer, this beer was dubbed “Rickards Gold Label.” Made specifically for this event, it was easily one of the top 5 beers I’ve ever had.

It was designed to have a very bitter taste, but it wasn’t offensive at all. It was beautifully contrasted by sweet honey and caramel tasting undertones. But unlike many micro brew or speciality import beers, it still had the ice-cold, crystal-clean refreshing snap Molson is known for. I was very impressed with this brew.

It was great to see Molson taking the time to reach out to the local blogging community (especially since it meant I got to drink free beer). And I hope it was a rewarding Social Media adventure for them.  They definitely put the nail in the PR coffin by giving every blogger a special Molson 50th Anniversary beer glass and a USB stick pre-loaded with logos, the night’s menu (posted above) and some promo videos.

Well played, Molson. Well played.

Some great photos of Brew 2.0 have been posted on Flickr by bloggers  Raul, Duane, Ianiv, Tris and Karen