NateTharp.com » advertising

The Ad Agency Bloodline

Nate Tharp — Thu, 19 May 2011 16:42:47 +0000

Vitamin T put together a very in-depth chart on the history and consolidation of ad agencies.

[via @zeldman]

Crazy Old Christmas Ads

Nate Tharp — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 16:07:26 +0000

Nothing gets me into the Christmas spirit like guns and perverted Santas.

[via J.E. Skeets]

How they do it: The Old Spice response videos

Nate Tharp — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 14:49:38 +0000

“Well friends, like all great things, this too must end..”
- Isaiah Mustafa

And that marked the close of the epic Old Spice response videos. But at least now we get to see out how they did it.

[via Cameron Moll]

Take It To The Next Level

Nate Tharp — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 15:01:26 +0000

Nike, among others, has been killing it with their ads for the upcoming world cup. So there’s no better time to enjoy a classic Nike Football ad.

[via OK Great]

5-Hour Energy is crap

Nate Tharp — Fri, 21 May 2010 05:21:09 +0000

Now I’ve never tried 5-Hour Energy, I’m more of a Red Bull man. But I’m told by those who have that a more accurate description would be “2-hour energy and a 3-hour crash.” Which makes their ads even more offensive. We’ve all seen them, but have you ever read the fine print? Check out this gem.

*No crash means no sugar crash. 5-Hour Energy contains no sugar.

How is that even allowed? That’s like saying “Cigarettes have never killed anyone. *Never killed means shot on the face with a bullet killed. Cigarettes do not contain bullets.” Just plain ridiculous.

Nike Air Collection Unit (ACU)

Nate Tharp — Sat, 08 May 2010 05:44:28 +0000

Good to see Nike is back on their game. Their advertising was pretty weak for a while.

The grunt removal system is crucial.

Vintage sexist ads

Nate Tharp — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 23:24:06 +0000

It amazes me that some of these ever made it to print. But maybe that’s just a sign that I haven’t watched enough Mad Men.

[via Kottke]

The throwback is back

Nate Tharp — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:41:37 +0000

It’s amusing to me how huge something can become, simply because it’s taken away for 10 months out of the year. There’s no way Pepsi Throwback would be this popular if it was available year round. I wonder what else this would work with. The question remains, will Pepsi ever realize that people aren’t obsessed with the throwback products because of the taste, but instead because they don’t have the horrible new branding. Rad indeed.

[Via Kottke]

Ad invasion

Nate Tharp — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 21:34:00 +0000

I don’t think this is what Happy Cog had in mind when they gave Dictionary.com the gift of an amazing website redesign. Dictionary.com had been redesigned in 2008 by another agency, but their most recent look is simply outrageous. They’ve taken advertising to an entirely new level. Not even Microsoft’s Bing is as shameless as Dictionary.com. Their new home page is literally, a full-page ad with a search box in the middle.

[Via TechCrunch]

What type of hole do you prefer?

Nate Tharp — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:44:24 +0000

Genius and hilarious ad from Hardee’s. They’ve got a tough road to hoe against McDonald’s and Burger King, but you can’t say they’re not trying.