I came across two ads for Smart Cars the other day and thought they were genius. The first one blew my mind and while I was made aware of the fact the ad was there, I assume many people never notice it. But, for those who do, I have a feeling they appreciate it even more than I do (if they get it of course). See the ad here:

The ad is so simple, but clearly the placement was thought out and in effect really drives the point home. I'm not sure you can convey the convenience of the Smart Car's size any other way. I do find it interesting that there are two car ads on the sides. It creates a great visual that implies parking spots, but I wonder what happens if the ads on either side change to another product. Much of the humor and message is conveyed by being between two other cars and not just a small advertising space. 

The second piece is one right up my alley. I am a huge fan of extremely creative outdoor and guerilla advertising. This display does a great job conveying the idea that the Smart Car is fun and powerful despite its small size. Here is this ad:

I find this one funny because I could see myself driving by day after day when the bridge is down and thinking to myself "what is so special about this ad." On the day I drive by and see the bridge up I know I would laugh pretty hard maybe even get a legitimate LOL out there (and I can use LOL because I actually would be laughing out loud). 

I didn't know it, but Smart Car does some really great advertising. This probably has to do with the fact that they are relatively new to the US. You can check out more of their ads here. I look forward to seeing ads her in the States because I think those face an interesting challenge; we love our big cars. 

I was driving down I294 outside of Chicago last week and there was a very simple billboard for Lover’s Lane. It was a couple embracing on a plain white background with the Lover’s Lane logo. Below that there was some small text that I didn’t catch at first, but on second look (and trying to avoid any accidents) I see that the small text reads “February 14th.”

Alright, Valentine’s Day, Lover’s Lane; I get the connection. That’s all great, but  it was May 4th. I guess they are just really getting their moneys worth… or being really lazy.

Photo Credits:
Lover’s Lane image by: Steve Rhodes
Both photos licensed under CC

The other day on my drive home from work I was thinking about a topic rather new to me: dating. I was thinking about how it would be nice if the women came to me, how it would be nice if a girl who was interested in me told me as much.

The advertiser in me started emerging and I was thinking about ways one could make this happen. I thought back to the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall and some of the brilliant ads there were put up to generate buzz. For those of you who don’t know, they put billboards up everywhere with seemingly random lines about this girl named Sarah Marshall. The ads seemed so basic and cheap that my friends and I believed that some guy was taking a shot at his girlfriend publicly. It wasn’t until we started seeing TV ads that it made sense.

But the point there is that the ads generated enough buzz to get people to start talking and go to the website. They forced people to be proactive. The thought

that crossed my mind was to put up a billboard, that essentially  was creative enough and yet vague enough to make people want to find out more. It would point them to something like www.DateMattMcNamara.com (I almost bought the domain).

Admittedly, this is crazy. I know that. But I couldn’t help but think about how fun it would be. People put up billboards to get jobs, ask their significant others to marry them, and  probably other crazy things. People are dating in all sorts of crazy ways (online dating, speed dating, blind dates, etc), so why can’t I date via billboard?

While it would be fun, I don’t think I have the money to put up a billboard right now (anyone want to sponsor me?). For now I will stick to the traditional methods; whatever those are.

Photo Credits:
Sarah Marshall Billboard by: aemoreira042281
Original Blank Billboard by: mediaboytodd
Both photos licensed under CC