smashLAB launches controversial ad campaign
Branding and advertising firm smashLAB launches an eyebrow-raising self promotional ad campaign featuring the less-glamorous byproducts of being a creative.
Initial reactions to ads have been strong - particularly to the one in the series titled "Toilet". The ad has raised a stink with some, with one respondent saying, "[It’s] gross. In a really disgusting way." But it also managed to hit some fans, with another respondent saying, "The **** is my fave. Masterful."
Overall, the feedback has been positive, with shades of concern. smashLAB feels it is just what the doctor ordered: a highly visible campaign that targets a very particular crowd and gets people talking.
You can see the ads and learn more about smashLAB by visiting www.smashlab.com
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comments
- What, no pitchforks and
6 min 7 sec ago - Worth it for your dream
7 min 4 sec ago - I could care less about the
1 hour 9 min ago - Okay, it may be hokey in some
14 hours 3 min ago - What is the name of the song
3 days 11 hours ago - With this card, they're
3 days 16 hours ago - Haha as well as "Why is it?"
3 days 23 hours ago - This was all so much better
4 days 3 hours ago - This wasn't an Abercrombie
4 days 20 hours ago - This just makes me like
4 days 21 hours ago


It's not controversial, but it is polarizing. Why is a turd, a snot, vomit, underarm sweat, a used condom, polarizing? Because either you don't like it because you know it sucks, or you love it because you think 'anything' that gets ANY kind of reaction constitutes a good reaction--and because you also have no taste. First of all, shock value? No, it's not shocking, it's just nasty looking. Toilet humor? Yes. Boring. It's something that I would expect an adolescent would come up with. Did the creative director leave the frat yet? This fine example is the very reason many clients don't trust 'creative' advertising. For all the strides some shops have made by just producing great work, we always see these little guys trying to compete by making something that's just crass and sophomoric. But you're obviously missing the point on how to stand out friend. Do work that makes you stand out. Don't puke and shit and blow your load to get attention. Make great ads or design pieces. Or make them better. You'll be appreciated for it. And respected. And successful. Tell me, if you're agency is so creative, why not just let the work speak for itself? Because obviously, it doesn't. Yes, there's some good design in there, but after seeing this, I expected your work to back up the claim way more than it does. Any agency or creative calling themselves a 'creative' through communication like this, while having the rest of their work be as boring and typical as your is, is like saying you're hyundai is a luxury sports sedan. You're the only one who believes it. Trust me, take this crap away, and you'll have a nice site with some tight work. That's honorable. But keep it on and you'll let it suck away whatever value and dignity your work once had.
It grabs my attention, but it could also be misinterpreted as "my agency's creative is shit".
Um, shouldn't this go in the Badland? This has been done at least twice already.
First by 86 the onions for NEC Japan:
View it here on AdLand
And again by MTV2's in-house agency:
watch it here (click on the MTV2 Beautiful/Ugly links)
or watch them on AdCritic if you've got a membership: spot #1 spot #2 spot #3
It's seven thirty in the morning and I am working on that post already you mind-reader you. Dammit. ;)
Doesn't the line force that conclusion? Our creative comes from within?
Now featured in Badland, under Technicolor yawn. Ta!
Yup. All I can say is at least they didn't go the birthing, baby route.
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