Advertising

This RC Car Chase Blows Away Some Hollywood Blockbusters

You may never again be able to justify spending your hard-earned cash at the movie theater when you see what a group of incredibly talented amateur filmmakers are able to pull off with a small fleet of RC cars. Working with the video game developers behind Need for Speed: Most Wanted and a skilled crew,…

Microsoft is reportedly spending a cool $1.5 billion on the Windows 8 marketing campaign. Hope it’s worth it. [Forbes]

How to Stop Apple From Tracking You Again in iOS 6

Business Insider is reporting that Apple’s launch of iOS 6 brings with it not just Passbook and bad maps, but a new means of tracking user activity, too. That’s right; your iPhone tracks your every activity by default. Here’s how to stop it. The report suggests that Apple has started tracking users again so advertisers…

Your Next Block Party Needs This Giant Car-Powered Cardboard Boombox

Bartek Elsner, an artist who uses cardboard to build things far more awesome than your childhood fridge box fort, created this monstrous paper boombox for a Mini Cooper dealer in Zurich, Switzerland. What’s even more awesome is that the creation works, and is powered by the car battery from a Mini that’s actually parked behind…

Using an iPad to Animate a Print Ad Is a Huge Waste of Time

If you happen to stumble across the ad for the 2013 Lexus ES in your favorite magazine, you’ll be able to bring it to life using a technology the carmaker’s ad agency is calling CinePrint. But ‘technology’ is a generous description since all it does is use an iPad placed under the page to play…

Would You Pay Facebook Money For More People To See Your Status Updates?

Today Facebook began testing Promoted Posts. You’re familiar with these advertisements from brands, but now civilians can get in on the game too. If you want more of your friends to see your funny one-liners or important life announcements, you can pony up a little cash money and Facebook would give these posts more visibility.…

Here’s the Annoying New Way Facebook Makes Money Off Your Life

Facebook really needs to start making more money, or its stock will soon be worth about as much as a shopping bag full of mulch. How do they do that? Ads! New ads. But these new ads involve your life. Facebook spilled the beans on its new stab at ad cash in a public blog…

Clever Coke Ad Turns Any Magazine Into a Speaker Dock

iPhone users in Brazil who also subscribe to a magazine called Capricho recently got an extra bonus in one issue. But it wasn’t a promo code for a free iTunes track or anything like that. No, it was a special printed cover that turned the rolled up magazine into a passive amplifying speaker for their…

Etsy’s ponied up $250,000 to give free Google Shopping advertising to its US sellers. Can’t make that at home. [Etsy]

Voice Activated Popcorn Cannon Blasts Kernels Directly Into Your Mouth

Popcorn can be a fantastically healthy potato chip alternative, but always ends up playing second fiddle. So in an attempt to finally claim snack world supremecy, a company called Popcorn Indiana has created the Popinator, a voice activated kernel cannon that promises to be the perfect weapon to finally dethrone chips—at least if it ever…

Dr Pepper releases evolution advertisement, the Internet loses its shit and America is fat

Yesterday afternoon, Dr Pepper posted an image to Facebook depicting human evolution, and now everyone is yelling at one another. This has been a monumental waste of everyone’s time. So let’s talk about it. http://io9.com/5895993/internet-debates-over-evolution-vs-creationism-summed-up-in-one-hilarious-video How to start an inane Internet flame war in three easy steps: 1. Be a major company with significant social…

New Versions of Google Chrome Will Finally Let You Say You Don’t Want Advertisers Spying On You

If you’re paranoid about ad networks tracking your behavior and compiling a file on your tastes somewhere, there’s good news. Google Chrome’s developer build finally got built-in Do Not Track functionality, meaning Chrome will finally join the club with Firefox, Safari, and Internet Explorer. Google reluctantly agreed to add the feature back in February, but…

Will Google Ads for Google Products on Google Make You Switch to Bing?

Today Google has an ad for Google’s Nexus 7 tablet on Google’s home page. Google Google Google Google did you know this page is called Google.com? Between search, a mobile os, hardware, and a social network, Google apparently does absolutely everything now. The ad is an obnoxious departure from the comfort and familiarity of a…

Sony Wants To Let You Skip Commercials But Only If You’ll Stand Up and Shout Brand Names At Your TV

As technology marches ever forwards, there are companies who will want to make sure advertising can keep up. That’s why Sony filed a patent for next-gen ads that let you skip through them, but only if you yell a brand name at your TV. The patent includes a whole bunch of annoying, but relatively benign…

Facebook Is Putting Annoying Ads in Search Now

ADS ADS EVERYWHERE JUST ADS ALL THE TIME LOOK AT ALL THESE ADS YOU MORONS should be Facebook’s new slogan because pretty soon there won’t be anywhere on the social network where someone isn’t trying to sell you something. And starting today it’s getting even worse with the launch of sponsored results in search. So…

Are Apple’s New Ads Dumb and Horrible?

Apple has new ads out, and because Apple is a special company, we all care. Also, Apple’s ads tend to be well executed, occasionally bizarre in a charming way, and often Zooey. But this time? Ehhhh? https://gizmodo.com/ten-adorable-fun-super-gifs-of-zooey-deschanel-talking-5905864 The “Genius” series of spots is a pretty stark 180 degree slide from the haute marketing reached with…

Nike funds scientific study to “prove” its new sports glasses enhance memory

You’ve heard of pharmaceutical companies and cigarette lobbyists funding studies to prove that their products are awesome. But now Nike is getting in on the game. The company funded a study at Duke’s Institute for Brain Sciences that investigated “stroboscopic training” using Nike’s new sports glasses, called Nike SPARQ Vapor Strobes. According to a press…

Walking Dead Zombie-Ear Necklaces and Lord of the Rings murals: Comic Con Radvertising

Yesterday we showed you the worst ad fails at Comic-Con. But now it’s time to focus on the good — and luckily, there was lots of creative marketing, all over San Diego. https://gizmodo.com/booty-ring-toss-cthulhu-panties-and-racist-cookies-co-5926829 Here’s the best of the best Radvertising from San Diego Comic Con. LEGO Lord Of the Rings 3D Mural This work of…

Sacrilege: Coca-Cola Will Soon Be Sold In Bottle-Shaped Eco-Friendly Plastic Bags (Updated)

Apparently in many parts of Central America, expensive soda drinks like Coca-Cola are served up in plastic Ziploc bags—instead of glass or plastic bottles—so they’re more affordable. And so the iconic and highly recognizable shape of the Coke bottle isn’t lost, the sugar water maker has created these Coca-Cola bags as a low-cost alternative to…

Are You Impressed By This Publicity Stunt?

A German heavy equipment manufacturer decided they’d impress potential buyers—or maybe just people with a fetish for construction equipment—by using a series of massive cranes to lift each other. The Inception-like stunt started with a small crane hoisting a model, that were both then lifted by a larger crane. And so forth, until four cranes…