Ikea Pokes Fun at Apple in Recent Ad

Apple has become pretty well known for their embellishing product advertisements and there have more than a few parodies made at their expense. However, with the quickly approaching iPhone 6 announcement, Ikea's recent advertisement couldn't have come at a more apt time.

In order to promote their newest catalog, Ikea took a page out of Apple's book launching a promo video that highlights the different specs and features of their new product: the BookBook.

Well, Ikea's clever and well-timed campaign has already gained a lot of attention, gaining over 3 million YouTube views in just two days! What's more? Consumers are starting to get in on the joke by filming their own "unboxing" or "first time impression" videos of the newest BookBook.

So what exactly makes this campaign so successful? For one, it's definitely relatable. Whether you're a fan of Apple products or not, I'm sure most people would agree that, while exciting, their product unveilings can be a bit dramatic. Ikea is basically saying what everyone was already thinking anyway: Apple could stand to take it down a few notches. The ad also appeals to those who prefer a simpler time, a time of bookbooks as opposed to ebooks and tablets.

Just uploaded to YouTube on Wednesday, this ad is gaining traction and shows no sign of slowing down anytime soon!

What do you think of Ikea's newest campaign? Share in the comments below!

Girl Unrelated to #BringBackOurGirls Made the Face of the Campaign

Recently, a social media campaign called "Bring Our Girls Back" has erupted in response to the kidnapping of 276 Nigerian girls by terrorist group Boko Haram. Several photos of citizens and celebrities alike have surfaced with them holding up a sign with the slogan in an effort to raise awareness and gain the support of government. In the past few weeks, the campaign has been very successful, reaching the ranks of First Lady Michelle Obama.

Unfortunately an issue has recently surfaced related to the most circulated photo of the campaign which features a girl that is neither kidnapped nor Nigerian. The photo is actually of Jenabu Balde, a girl from Guinea-Bissau on Africa’s western coast. It was found on the Alexia Foundation website, a photojournalism organization. 

The photographer, Ami Vitale, has since issued a statement saying, “I support the campaign completely, and I would do anything to bring attention to the situation. It’s a beautiful campaign that shows the power of social media. This is a separate issue....This is about misrepresentation.” Emmanuel Hephzibah, the Nigerian man responsible for photoshopping the photograph and adding the hashtag, says he meant no harm claiming, “I was crying out so that our voice could be heard in Nigeria, because it seems our government was not ready to take any action. I credited the source of the image as AlexiaFoundation.org.” 

Though Hephzibah has been asked to take down the photo, the image has already gone viral in association with this campaign and is impossible to remove completely. Unfortunately for Balde, she will also be associated with this campaign for a long time as the face of a terrible, ongoing crisis. 

Source: PR Daily

T-Mobile's Royal Wedding Entrance

T-Mobile found a creative way to get their name into the buzz about the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton. The cell phone company created a viral video mimicking the JK Wedding Entrance Dance video which collected 65 million views since July 2009. T-Mobile's video shows actors playing the royal family dancing down the aisle and ends with the message "One's Life is for Sharing." In the past 10 days, the video has gained over 11 million views.

An important part of PR is keeping up with the news and making your products or services relevant to current events. This is exactly what T-Mobile has done by creating a viral video and relating it to the upcoming royal wedding. If you haven't done so already, check out the video below.

Super Bowl ads are more than just fun to watch

Whether or not you are a sports fan or you cared about the teams playing, chances are you tuned in to the Super Bowl yesterday. If you're like me, you were excited to see the ads.

While ads run during the Super Bowl, the "most-watched single telecast in the US," are usually entertaining, Susan Gunelius also points out that there is a lot to learn from them.

In an article for entrepreneur.com, Gunelius looks back on important ads of Super Bowls past and draws interesting takeaways from each. Of course Apple's 1984 ad for Macintosh made the list, but Gunelius makes some great points about the ad's impact. "[I]f you know your product is great, go big -- or go home," Gunelius says.

Remember this ad from Monster.com? I didn't, but I was really impressed by it:



Be sure to check out Gunelius' article to see what she had to say about this ad, what other ads she showcased and the enduring lessons we can all learn from them.

What lessons can you draw from the best and worst of yesterday's ads? What ads from more recent years do you think are worthy of addition to Gunelius' list?

This Year's Most Innovative Viral Videos

Who doesn't love a good viral video? People spend hours watching funny and outrageous viral videos about just about anything you can think of. Advertisers are well aware of the ability of viral videos to attract eyeballs, which is why many have attempted to create viral video campaigns for their clients. Some have been hits and others were misses. Mashable.com has put together a list of the top 10 most innovative viral videos from 2010.

Number one on the list is an advertisement for Tipp-Ex white out pens titled "A Hunter Shoots a Bear." This video mixes the viral aspect with the Millenial Generation's need for interactivity. The video shows a hunter's camp ground being invaded by a bear. Crude words are uttered and the hunter grabs his gun. At the end of the video, viewers are given the option to click "shoot the bear" or "don't shoot the bear." The links take viewers to another video, in which the hunter grabs a white out pen and erases "shoots" from the title. Viewers are then instructed to type their own word in the title and click play. Doing so brings up more videos with the hunter acting out the viewer's title. There's no question as to why this video topped the list for most innovative!

Another viral ad shows a man walking across America in his Levi Strauss & Co. jeans. The video uses stop-motion filming to show the man walking through distinct landmarks across the country. The video is accompanied by a Google Map that tracks the route of the man and has photos from each destination.

The list certainly wouldn't be complete without mentioning the Old Spice video responses that took social media by storm this past summer. You can read a previous blog post about those personalized viral ads here.

To check out which viral ads made Mashable's list, click here. Which one is your favorite? Can you think of any other notably innovative viral ads from this year that didn't make the list?