This brilliantly creative solution is simple in execution, tastefully done, and allows the consumer to participate in the idea by removing one of the tabs to keep his contact information, while ummm… circumcising the poster in the process.  Nothing like a cutting-edge design to get the point across (sorry for the pun)!

Rarely is there an opportunity to get really creative or is that spark of brilliance in creativity outputted by in-house design staff working for academic, medical, or legal industries, which are usually very conservative and bland in their approaches to creativity in marketing and design.  I should know.  Been there, done that early on in my career. The reason is that most design rockstars go and work for design firms and creative marketing agencies where they can truly flex their design muscles and have the most creative freedom to do so.

Not is the case with designer Craig Parsons, who is on staff with St. Jude Medical in Plano, Texas in their Creative Department.

To help build awareness for breast cancer, St. Jude’s created a website and poster that creatively pays homage to all of the names that mankind has given to that portion of the female anatomy.  The result is a striking, yet familiar image, but done in a simple and effectively creative way.

Here Craig flexed not only his design skills but his copywriting skills and created a very straight forward, yet smart marketing message and backed up with a great visual that is visually simple, yet typographically rich and complex.

Beautiful job Mr. Parsons!  Keep your day job!

So when I came across this vintage, 1950′s ad for sausage by Le Cochon Prodigue, my one and only thought was:

What the heck were they thinking?!”

There is something deeply disturbing about this ad that I can not shake.  And, while I am a carnivore through and through, I can tell you straight up that this does NOT make me want to go out and buy sausage.

The only question I have left to ask is who was the advertising agency, how many lunch-time martini’s did they have, and how long afterwards was the Creative Director still at his post before he was fired.

These little colored pieces of plastic have been around for what seems like forever and while the playsets themselves get more complex and unique (there are Star Wars legos, Harry Potter legos, space legos, city legos, and even SpongeBob Squarepants legos).  However, at their core, they spark the imagination of young and old.

So, how do you convey this core principle with the fewest words possible in order to make an effective print advertising campaign?

Well, that’s exactly what advertising agency Blattner Brunner did.

Heck, they took it one step further and used ZERO words.  That’s right. No headline. No snappy ad copy that helps sell the product.  They chose to use the simplistic and minimalistic approach of a flield of color (that mirrors the lego branding colors of their little building blocks), a simple couple of blocks and inserted what the creative imagination would see.

Brilliant. Just brilliant.  Great job guys!

The beauty of everyone in the world having mobile devices and spending endless amounts of time Tweeting, texting, Facebooking, and Digging is that everyone in the world is losing the ability or desire to socially interact face-to-face or mono-y-mono.  Our youth are growing up will less emphasis on looking someone in the eye, shaking hands and utilizing good listening skills.  Now, if you want to make a new friend, you simply do a Friend Invite on Facebook, and they can comment on your comments which commented on someone else’s comment.  It is that simple.

Well, it looks like there is a new print campaign floating around that promotes September 18th as a day to turn off your cellphone and engage with people the way we used to have to do it.  It is called “Offlining”.  And I applaud its efforts.  I also applaud the creatives over at Digo USA for creating a very simple, yet effective way of promoting this event.  Clean, simple, and it gets the message across.  We are becoming a faceless nation of texters who express themselves best with emoticons.

“Lasinen Lapsuus” is Finnish for “Glass Childhood“.  This print ad campaign, designed and created by Euro RSCG Helsinki is for the purpose of educating the public. The Fragile Childhood activity has begun in 1986 and has been established as a well-known form of activity in Finland. Its goal is to help children who suffer from parental alcohol misuse.

As quoted by someone who was effected by the project:

I was shocked to hear that after only a couple of drinks my child doesn’t know me anymore. In my own eyes I’m just starting to be tipsy, but Niko thinks I’ve become another person. Mama is gone and he’s left alone.

The brilliant simplicity of this ad lies in its striking image and simple copy and its minimalist approach in its design.

Very inspirational!

I recently came across a blog entry from designer Jon Klassen about his collaboration with Studio AKA on their Winter Olympics ad for the BBC.

What makes this ad truly remarkable and stand out is the approach.  Wonderfully dark and dangerous animation fills the screen in stark comparison to the usual colorful flare used to advertise the Olympic games.  The musical score, the storyboard, and the animation style all lend to give a strong marketing plug that takes a different and refreshing approach.

I just love stumbling across creative genius and letting it inspire me.

I love nothing more than when the power of creative minds can be utilized for the greater good of mankind or for social awareness.

This is where the San Francisco-based design agency Altitude steps in. Charged with creating an awareness campaign for the areas thriving homeless population, Brian Singer and Altitude came up with a very simple campaign that draws the attention of passersby and causes them to see that for so many people, the streets are their home.

These “posters” were created out of actual found cardboard, hand-stitched typography, and literally posted in areas most frequented by the homeless.

The end result is profoundly moving and draws compassion, empathy, and forces to see the homeless plight in a new way. Hats off guys!

I am not sure of as to the original creator and it is foreign with subtitles, but this video appears to be an advertisement for bringing religion back into our public schools.

While being a very controversial subject in itself, I thought that the content of the ad was very thought provoking. Very insightful and I can’t believe it was all directly quoted by Albert Einstein himself.

As the video states at the end, “Religion is Knowledge too.”