I am not so sure if Nissan and TBWA know that this part of Germany’s anthem is (not prohibited but) officially banned in Germany due to its function in the Third Reich. We sing the third strophe now for about 65 years…apart from a couple of skinheads. And yes, coming up with this headline in 2010 is highly offensive for a German. But what I feel sorry about most, TBWA – your lack of knowledge in combination with bad copywriting.

Does Nissan actually sell cars in Germany too? I think so.

© Gerald for davaidavai.com, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Ads, Campaign, Fail, Germany, Nissan, Underway

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Think about e.g. an ex-spouse in your life and now think about any object in your appartment. Can you associate it with him or her somehow? You probably can. Take the old vase in your living room and you will probably find a connection to your ex who loved flowers so much. Most likely you will be able to link the TV set to her preferences for ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ and so on…But why should you do that? Especially since you will be able to link pretty much anything to pretty much anything after thinking about it for a while. Plus, simply put, while you actually might not want to think about your ex-spouse anymore at all?

Well, that’s what self-proclaimed guardians of Political Correctness do on the web 24/7. They love to think about all kinds of connections because there is not one thing which makes them as happy as making up a good old PR disaster.

One information in advance: I am German and I work for a digital agency with Audi International on the client list (not PR, not Audi USA). This is just accidental and not the rationale behind this article. I am professionally not at all engaged in any Audi project even though I like the cars. I simply react on this article by Danny Brown, entitled “Audi and the Super Bowl Social Media Shit Storm“.  This is the story: In an attempt to spearhead a social media intiative, Audi USA (keep that in mind, it is important) had invented the so-called ‘Green Police’. It comes with a Super-Bowl ad, a Youtube channel and the inevitable twitter account. This is the more or less entertaining ad:

Did you realize it? No? Audi has just committed a major act of Political Incorrectness, according to Danny.

(...)
Read the rest of Audi’s Green Police. Didn’t They say Hitler? (819 words)

© fb610548435 for davaidavai.com, 2010. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Ads, Audi, Brands, Fail, Germany, Ideas, Philosophy, PR, Social Influence Marketing, Strategy

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Check out this short analysis of Apple vs Microsoft spots. It rather makes me perceive Apple as a brand constantly working with scare tactics.

© fb610548435 for davaidavai.com, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Ads, Analysis, Apple, Fail, history, Microsoft

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Lately (I have to admit) I more and more get sick of the keepers of the holy grail of Political Correctness whenever a brand launches some kind of ironical, stereotype-laden communication tool in the social space. But wait, it’s not that simple! Actually I am more hacked off by brands who bow down to these people and beg for forgiveness whenever a group of these people start mocking around on twitter.

Pepsi and the score advisor app
Probably you have heard about the so-called Pepsi AMP fail. Early in October Pepsi has launched an iPhone application for its AMP range of energy drinks. The idea of the app is simple and (more or less) funny. After downloading the tool the user may choose between 24 different stereotypical female characters, ranging from “athlete” to “cougar” to “punk girl”. The app will then support your nightly challenge at the bar with helpful tips, pickup lines and conversation snippets to spice up your ‘pre score’ conversation with the respective woman of your choice.

(...)
Read the rest of Dear Brands. Please learn to say I am not sorry. (648 words)

© fb610548435 for davaidavai.com, 2009. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Ads, Brands, Fail, Ideas, Motrin, Pepsi, pepsifail, PR, Social Influence Marketing, Strategy, World

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© fb610548435 for davaidavai.com, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Ads, Boing Boing, Fail, Funny, photoshop, Ralph Lauren, visual, World

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I finally made it into white & nerdy paradise. I just wrote a Blog article about Facebook Connect not working well with WordPress. I promise to return to more important topics. But I still hope rants like that are being monitored and help to improve things. So here we go.

Deep in my heart I know Facebook Connect is the big thing. I am absolutely convinced of the idea of decentralizing stuff, no matter what that stuff is. I think content should follow me not the other way around. So, Facebook: Yay! Actually.

For a couple of months now I have tried to install Facebook Connect on my blog. I know that when it works, Facebook Connect adds about 15-20% readers to your Blog, it leverages conversations and it makes a lot more stuff possible. So, let’s go for Connect.

No developer = No Facebook Connect

Problem is I have a creative background. I used to be a copywriter, not a coder. I know a couple of lines of HTML but that’s basically it. Everything else should be self-explanatory, friends help me…or whatever. Frankly, Facebook Connect was a challenge for me!

By today Facebook has only managed to come up with a couple of third party WordPress plugins. None of them worked out fine. The so called Sociable plugin didn’t have any reasonable functionality while Adam Hupp’s plugin was the one I should finally be able to use (but I didn’t know at that time). Fact was when I installed the plugin it generated a king size error and nothing worked -> Deinstall.

(...)
Read the rest of Facebook Connect. #OMFG. (405 words)

© Gerald for davaidavai.com, 2009. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Diy, Facebook, Facebook Connect, Fail, Tools

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This iPhone app definitely belongs to this category: A Land Rover iPhone app which works like a navigation application but instead of showing you ‘how to drive over the road it draws a straight line between you and your destination’ (yeah, I got it…Land Rover, right?) Plus you can take a look at various Land Rover models. Wow! What’s that supposed to be? A senseless waste of iPhone space? Or a helpless try to win a Cannes Lion? Whatever: Fail. (via Ibelieveinadv)

© Gerald for davaidavai.com, 2009. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Apps, Brands, Fail, Land Rover, Mobile

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