There’s nothing like Australia. Fine enough line to base your overseas ad campaign on but then DDB produce this TV that seems like an 80’s relic. The whole campaign idea was nice as was the places used throughout, based on user recommendations. But that song. That singing. This is not the Oz I love & gave up my home for. And I loved the 80’s XXXX ads!

To continue this slight rant. I was working at Mindshare Melbourne when the Baz Luhrmann ads came out. Cheesy but, being from overseas, I thought they’d work well enough for the target market. The Oz guys and girls hated them, almost as much as the ‘Where the bloody hell are you‘ Lara Bingle adverts, which is fair enough but not the main point. It’s the non-Aussies we’re trying to appeal to.

This new ‘sing-a-long’ Australia is just grating and shows wonderful images in a bit of a bogan and childlike manner. Oz is beautiful with so many wonderful people, places and wildlife. But let’s also show the great food & nightlife. Not just a shot of pony pub where ‘everyone is yer mate’. What about how brilliant it is to watch the AFL on Saturday night at the MCG or the NRL in Sydney & Queensland for instance? Where’s the Melbourne lane ways? I know there’s to much stuff that could be mentioned to fit into one ad but I’m just trying to say a few examples of how what makes Oz for me. An actual show at the Opera House. Roof terrace drinks and food but without the chessy sing-a-long. Bit more style please next time. And cut out the dodgy sing song stuff.

Rant over!

http://www.sexysubaru.ca

The user takes the role of a photographer to shoot images of a rather large sumo wrestler and the Subaru car. It’s all done with a video of the shoot showing the wrestler getting himself into lots of different poses and you can snap and capture a photograph at any time. These can then be viewed, retouched and saved to the website as part of a competition.

Using the TV advert and an online user focused competition in this way is very engaging and the website is wonderfully designed and produced.

I wish I’d thought of this idea! Nice work indeed.