I saw some Haier billboards when I was back in my hometown, Ponsonby, which is now over run with hipsters.  At first I quite liked them because they do exactly what advertising should do; make a purchasing decision easier for the target market.

But then I thought you can’t really claim to be a hipster if you buy cheap Earth-hating appliances made in China.

Or if you drive a car:

This ad like the Haier ones has some fantastic insight into the target market. Probably because most ad creatives are hipsters themselves. But my guess is the target market simply isn’t looking into those categories.

Hipster ads can be great if your product is organic or eco-friendly.

And small bright blue cars were best advertised when everyone was into azn street battles:

Brew Dog

A full social media experience based around a couple of Scottish lads (who are part time furries) brewing the strongest beer in the world. There are different stories around each of their different lagers, and the one which has really taken off is “The End of History” which literally puts the stout in stoat. These limited edition taxidermy beers made the  sm rounds and quickly sold out:

Dos Equis

Following on from the Chuck Norris meets Old Spice guy TVCS > is this online treasure hunt. I pitched an idea similar to this a little while ago so it was a pleasant surprise to see it executed well by someone else. The premise is treasures are hidden in adspaces on different sites and there are rewards for collecting them:

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Pacifico

This is simply brilliant, just a webcam on a sign in Mexico. I’ve always liked the idea of having a real life billboard used as a website, but the crucial element I was missing is the live webcam on it. You can’t help but watch intently to see if someone will come to clean the “website’s fountain” or repaint the “website menu”. Love it:

“The idea is to have tasting sessions in which she would participate… They want to market tea to a new, younger generation – particularly in America, and Gaga is making drinking tea cool again.” via Stuff.co.nz >

(News to me and all the teacup collecting hipsters that drinking tea is not cool.)

It will be a great success for anti drinking campaigners if Lady Gaga gets American teenagers drinking tea instead of booze. However Long Island Iced is probably the closest compromise they will come to.

Any guesses as to what brewed Lady Gaga will taste like?

Sad to hear the Goldstein ads are over, but there are a few funny suggestions on how to end his career >

Bompas and Parr have a very interesting company, designing food. When I first read about their jelly I was instantly reminded of The Simpsons episode where everyone brings a bowl of jello to the company picnic. That scene fascinated me as a child, trying to imagine that much jelly in a room.

B&P don’t just deal in jelly, but make all sorts of fascinating feasts and foods. The above jams are Absinthe and pineapple with sand from the Great Pyramids, Plum and Oak with wood from Nelson’s ship The Victory and Milk Jam infused with a speck of Princess Diana’s hair. Simply amazing.

They have done there is everything from a 12 course Victorian breakfast to a gin infused room where you can get drunk just by breathing in the air. Go to Jellymongers.co.uk to see more.

I thought that was bad, but I just saw this ad on a real estate site. I am a bit confused about the messaging, to me it reads as “No cash deposit. Actually just kidding mwahahaha”.

See more including a lovely maths tutorial poster here >

I was reminded of these today after reading an email thread which made me cry with laughter while at work today. Ok just read it again and still LOLing. I usually find David Thorne’s emails too forced to be funny, this however is the most I’ve laughed since January >

My RSS reader has been filled with hate lately, more specifically hate about Cannes. I agree with the general rage especially when people can win by creating a campaign for an obvious product running it once and entering it every year until it wins.

But I want one. I have made it my goal to have at least one lion on my shelf. Even if the good creative directors, decent clients and angry blog writers don’t care about awards. Why shouldn’t I be sipping Perrier-Jouet next to the French Riviera? That sounds awesome!

But I’m not going to cheat to win, I want to create a the kind of campaign which inspires this in it’s audience:

(Disclaimer: for me to win without cheating the judges will need to learn something about digital.)

Seeing as I can’t seem to hold down much more than contract work at the moment attending the school would be a smart career move. I need to make a decision this week about whether I am going, right now it looks unlikely as the course fees are so expensive. I’m not too worried about the “the high cost of living” in London. If I can stay in Hilton on Park Lane for 50 pounds, surely rent is going to be cheaper than here in Surry Hills. What worries me is that I already owe $25,000 for my bachelors degree and I will need to borrow that much again to pay the fees for the school.

Is a few years of this worth that much money:

Probably. But how am I ever going to pay that off? Useful advice come hither!