The United Artists for Advertising ‘UBFA’ is a non-profit art project on the subject of Advertising. The idea is you click on the eye and you will be forwarded to one of their life-like creations.

They live in a weird self-inflicted vicious circular world. “UBFA is there to promote UBFA. Money made will be reinvested in promoting UBFA. UBFA will be eating itself in an absurd loop. We make a commercial for a commercial. “
Read more in their statement..

I think I may have mentioned the Google service which allows consumers in the USA to launch phone calls to businesses straight from the Google Maps service. Or, maybe I didn’t because its in direct competition with a certain company which employs me from time to time.

In any case it is too important to ignore as Google now allows users in Germany to send a business listing from Google Maps straight into their BMW Assist service. Great if you drive a BMW and you live in Germany.

Well yesterday they did launch a new service for Google Maps in Germany. Users in Germany can now send a business listing found on Google Maps Deutschland directly to cars enabled with the BMW Assist service. (note on the map click “senden” and choose “fahrzeug” to send map details to your BMW

Somewhat of a nice article from Springwise today about Spotrunner, a Los Angeles based company which is making it affordable for small local advertisers to broadcast their message on TV.”The entire process is online and automated: customers pick from a wide range of ready-made videos that are tailor-made to their industry. After selecting an ad, the business customizes voice-over text and on-screen information, and tells Spot Runner how much it would like to spend on air time and which markets the ad should run in. Complete campaigns, including production and airtime, start at USD 1,500 and can be up and running within weeks.”

As explained by iSoldIt’s CEO: “Our industry is really still in its infancy, and TV lets us visually explain what we do in ways that print and online ads can’t. Spot Runner’s Franchise Advertising Program gives our franchisees a way to get on TV and introduce their services to the community, which is extremely valuable, because once people understand what we do, they visit our stores.”

I only just had the opportunity to watch the movie Children of Men, out on DVD since last week in Belgium.

I’d been totally oblivious to all the fuss around the movie but dropping me in cold had a rather sobering effect on me. Prior to this my idea of future advertising ran along the lines of Mission Impossible, here is a slightly different take: Children of Men

I have worked with many people in advertising of whom I really respect their talent in the production of viral ad concepts. However I have to admit that regarding efficiency this viral ad from US food chain CCarl Jr. . just ticks off all the boxes. First of all they have solved the problem of personalizing the message in Text to Speech efficiently by allowing the sender to choose from a drop down list of possible names for their friends, including aliases such as Casanova or Bunny.

Secondly I am actually immediately rewarded with a discount coupon on chicken wings from Carl Jr. . if my email was successfully to a recipient. Viral’s are great but what is important that at one point the recipient is rewarded with something else than a slap on the back from an advertiser saying ‘thanks chum, you just helped us bang another victim to our mailing list, now just sit back an enjoy the rest of our spam mail!