I started noticing these super cute “characters” (as opposed to the boring old “brand” stickers) on my bananas a couple of months ago and have always meant to blog about it but just kept putting it off. However, I just came across this interview with the Art Director behind this clever Chicquita Banana rebrand, DJ Neff:
The process relied heavily in spending as much time with the product as possible. In this case it meant my partner Mark Krajan and I eating a bunch of bananas a day. Thankfully, we like bananas.It helps to immerse ourselves in the product and research as much as we can before coming up with ideas. In this case that emphasis was on the fruit and its cultural significance. After filling up on information, we let it all spill out in different ideas, drawings, sayings, photographs, then start to figure out truths. These truths all stem from the product and work outward, pulling from research and ideas to build upon the foundation, laddering up to a big idea.
I am not ashamed to admit that I deliberately pick up Chicquita Bananas because of these fun little stickers — and selectively choose the bananas featuring stickers I haven’t gotten before. These playful character stickers reminds me a lot of common Japanese marketing: place cute characters on virtually any random product, service, or public service announcement. And why not? It obviously catches people’s attention.
Beautiful, tastefully-done TV advertisement for – yes – sagami original 0.02 condoms.
The advertisement is apparently based on a documentary, filmed over a month-long period, of a man from Fukuoka and a woman from Tokyo who ran from opposite ends of Japan to meet each other.
What a refreshing and romantic way of selling condoms. Definitely a completely different tactic from condom advertisements in North America.
The Cool Hunter will be launching Access Agency, a marketing agency which creates “highly original, transformational, yet eminently practical and results-oriented strategies for companies to stage the kinds of offline brand experiences that will increase the economic value of their offering.”
One of the initial concepts Access has thought up? McFancy. As the name implies, it’s pretty much a fancy McDonald’s restaurant.
Access is hard at work creating ideas and concepts for some high profile brands. For McDonald’s, we envision a cool, surprising and fun mix of concepts. First is McFancy, an upmarket temporary McDonald’s store that launches at Fashion Weeks around the globe — London, New York, Paris, Milan, Sydney, Hong Kong. McFancy is part art installation, gathering spot and, of course, a restaurant that offers a traditional McDonald’s menu but packaged in a way that makes a playful yet stylish nod to the lifestyle of the highly desirable, influential consumers that attend Fashion Weeks.
Very cool — I would definitely eat there. McDonald’s french fries are already very addictive (albeit very unhealthy), so the added bonus of a luxury branded take-away box is just icing on the cake. Or should I say ketchup on the fries?
Play-Doh x Kinetic Design – Let Imagination Take Over.
I love this Let Imagination Take Over ad campaign for Play-Doh, done by Kinetic Design and Advertising. Looking at these ads brings me back to being a kid and playing with Play-Doh and Lego (separately, of course) and having infinite possibilities available to me right in my hands. I miss those days.
