María Sharapova feels pretty.

As anyone in NYC knows, the U.S. Open starts this weekend. I know this because of all of the ads, the subway specials, etc. I also know this because of the sudden influx of tennis commercials. Late August is to tennis what June was to football/soccer.

I saw this spot on TV the other night, and was immediately swept up in the song... it's hard not to be. It's fun, it's peppy, and ultimately, it shows girls can be a hell of a lot more than just pretty.

"I'm excited about this ad because not only is Nike drawing attention to women's tennis, but there's also an empowering message for female athletes that it's okay to be fierce and competitive on the court and still have a feminine side off court," said Sharapova. (from CNN Money)

On the other side, however, as David from Thirdway points out, "Sharapova was hired as a spokesperson by Nike not just because she is one of the top female tennis players, but because she is very attractive. So while she works unique well for this campaign, there are still lots of other players who will never have this chance because of the societal values that Nike is taking aim at in this spot." Hmmmm.



Client: Nike
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore.

Sex Positive, Anti-AIDS Messages

Sex positive, gender positive, and race positive. Simple visuals, simple (but important!) message. Sometimes simple is best- no clutter. I like the subtle visuals & symbolism. (Translation of copy: "Don't count on luck. Protect yourself.")

Found on Coolz0r.
Client: Plate-Forme Prévention SIDA
Agency: Euro RSCG Life

Kellogg's Special K: Spec Work

This is pretty damn clever. Steve at Adrants wrote about it today, and while it appears to be spec work, I still think it's great.

The girl isn't morbidly thin, Special K is supposed to be a healthy cereal for women; it gets all those points across in a charming and witty way.

(And if you don't get the phone number, it's ok, it's because it's not an American number. It's European listing.)

Secret gets you to spill it....

Secret just launched a campaign for their anniversary, asking women consumers to “share their secret.” The television and web spots are directed by Jessica Yu (she’s done documentary work in the past, and has also worked on Grey’s Anatomy, American Dreams, and ER). “Real” people were used for the spots, not actors—so, supposedly, real secrets were filmed: “There’s better stuff between real people—things that you can’t imagine,” says Yu.

Link to one of the spots “I told” on this week’s Ad Age. (Link will probably die after this week’s over, so check out the other spots on Secret’s site.) This spot is an affirmation of sisterhood: “one young woman admits to her sister that she told their parents about the sister's first sex encounter.” So much for that being a secret…

With the television ads, there is a tie-in project with print ads featuring text messaged secrets from women around the country. They’re visible in various subways stations within NYC, and I’m sure elsewhere.

Many of the supposed secrets that were shared seem of the garden variety, insecure type:

“I want a fairytale relationship.”
“I wish he still loved me.”
“I’m still in love with my ex even though he dumped me.”
“I think I’m staying for security.”

And while these are moments of weakness, I can see how they’re true secrets—things we hide within ourselves, because we want to be strong, want to be independent, want to be unique and clever and awesome. Just as these “girly” or “feminine” weaker secrets are shared, there are also secrets shared that have nothing to do with gender roles or sex,

“I never finished collage.”
“I’m afraid to be alone.”
“I talk out loud to no one.”
“Growing up scares me.”
“I have a hard time keeping my lies straight.”

Stunningly few are amazingly affirmative and wonderful:

“I’m more secure with myself than I’ve ever been in my life.”
"My sister is my hero.”

So, I’m thinking about Secret as a brand, and how this campaign seems to want to celebrate strong and independent women. Sort of similar to Dove in some ways. The commercials themselves are quirky, sort of positive, and pro-female: “Dad took me to get a tattoo” is an example of one of those confessions.

We don’t see things like “I still love him even though he’s married,” even though, unfortunately, that seems to be the majority of the user submissions.

Secret had an interesting idea, but it seems the users didn’t quite measure up. They’re submitting their secrets, their truths, but when all you see is their secret fears; it’s hard to remember the hopes and dreams that balance it all out. I’m surprised by the amount of pain and heart-ache within these text submissions. When all we’re judging is a quick sentence, it’s hard to tell if these women are strong through out the rest of their lives, and this is their one admission of weakness, of fallibility, and of true humanity.

Secret can’t control what sort of submissions they receive, but I’m not sure if this was entirely what they were expecting. It’s hard to run a campaign about the wonders of girl-power when your source material is a bit weak. Why is that? I think it’s because when we think about the nature of what a secret is, it’s something we don’t want to share with others. Positive news, for that reason, would very rarely be a secret—we want to shout our successes from the rooftops, but not our miseries and failures. So, chances are, these women aren’t weak and crying—they’re just sharing actual secrets, private parts of themselves that not everyone gets to see. And that, I think, makes them strong.

Agency: Leo Burnett, Chicago.

You're selling clothes, not skin.

You ever hear stories about the girl who poses nude or semi-nude for her boyfriend, then the photos get spread around without her permission? The American Apparel ads are particularly irksome to me because of their similarities. There's no gloss, no barrier, just women posing in an intimate way, as if for a lover. They're too raw. As it turns out, I'm not the only one bothered by these over-sexed ads and graphics:

There's a brilliant article in this week's Business Week attacking advertising tactics by American Apparel & Abercrombie. Turns out that Business Week has a weekly column called Girl Improved, written by the women at 3iYing (which seems to be a market research company focused on female consumers).

"Girls cringe at overtly sexual ads, yet paradoxically, marketing campaigns targeted at teen girls are sex-obsessed," the article states, and goes on to detail how women fashions are aimed at men; trying to impress them and attempting to fulfill male fantasy, not young women's ideals.

The authors later go on to point out that often the message is confused due to the overuse of sex: "Gratuitous sex dilutes the sales value of your expensive advertisements... By relying on sex to sell your product you are not only getting lost in the steamy sea of marketing erotica, you're not highlighting what you want us to love in the first place—your product."

Kudos-- I'm glad that some people are realizing that women are consumers in their own right, and the same old ad ideas won't work on them. Let's class it up. I'm tired of walking into a store and seeing images like these.

* Just a sidebar: American Apparel seems to have run into multiple issues regarding sex and gender, including harrassment charges against its CEO. Read about it here and here. And also, here. Or just google it.

Post Mortem: That Girl Emily

Oh man, the pun in my post title makes me giggle.

Anyhow- as predicted, the That Girl Emily blog was indeed a viral marketing technique-- I saw the billboard in the cab the other day (I see so much in cabs.). It's been updated, and now features a huge poster for a Court TV show. Eww.

Wish I could find a photo- nothing yet.

I'm surprised a viral technique was used to promote the P.I. show-- the blog made me more interested in the psycho wife Emily, not the P.I. who might be helping her. It was a terrific use of blogs, YouTube, traditional outdoor ad placement, etc, but the product doesn't measure up to the hype. Another good question might be how much will this stunt may hurt the Court TV brand: I would normally associate justice and law enforcement shows with the truth-- not a shady marketing scheme.

Boards Women of Excellence Announced

The list for the 2006 'boards Advertising Women of Excellence (AWE-- everything has to have a catchy acronym these days) have been released. Lots of women owners, CEO's, senior producers, etc-- including Nancy Vonk!

Speaking of Vonk, here's a great link to a post & discussion she started about the whole Neil French episode (originally written about on TS here).