Created: Parking enforcement

A 1989 Mercedes model 190 lies overturned in a parking lot opposite Iron Kore in the Junction district of Toronto, as part of a promotion for the newly opened fitness center.

It used to be that an overturned car in the Junction district of Toronto wouldn't be a big deal. But times have changed: cafes, gentrification, that sort of thing. And sure enough, when the (really strong) elves at Cossette installed an upside down 1989 Mercedes 190 in the parking lot this week behind IronKore, a new fitness centre emphasizing strength training, heads began to turn. The promotion, which is both bold and minimalist (the only clue to its origin is a sign behind the car which reads: “We Said No Parking – IronKore”) has apparently done the trick: IronKore says walk-in queries have increased. “You can think of this as classic product demonstration advertising,” Cossette co-chief creative officer Dave Douglass said in a statement. “Lifting cars is something that seems to come naturally to very strong people. Our goal was to highlight the strength training programs offered at our client's facility.” Does this mean Cossette didn't get the Mercedes account?

Noted: Making lemonade

documentary Lemonade

Attention, out-of-work ad people: Here's your chance to grab victory (or at least a modicum of fame) from the jaws of adversity. When Erik Proulx lost his copywriting job at Arnold Worldwide last year, he decided to reinvent himself. His first project? Lemonade, a movie about creative people like himself who took their new-found unemployment as an opportunity to do something more fulfilling. In the film's trailer, one woman says she became a holistic health counsellor and yoga instructor. One man says he became a coffee roaster; one became an artist; and another changed his gender. Post-production on the doc is nearing completion, so now Mr. Proulx is putting together a companion book, and he's looking for stories of people who didn't make it into the film. You can visit his blog, Please Feed The Animals, for more information. But be careful: If you're not already unemployed, hearing the tales of reinvention and hope might make you wish you were.

Quoted: Harry Rosen's expensive lesson

“Oh my God, think of how much money we spent on this.”
– Sandra Kennedy, Harry Rosen

A look at Harry Rosen's failed social media campaign (Confidence) from last spring

A warning to companies: Don't rush into social media just because you've heard it's cool. Last spring, the upscale clothier Harry Rosen launched a campaign urging Canadian men during these difficult economic times to have confidence. Roger Martin of the Rotman School of Management, ad man Rob Guenette of Taxi, and Porter Airlines CEO Robert Deluce were drafted as models and enlisted to blog about their business successes. But during a forum on social media sponsored by Adobe this week, Harry Rosen's director of marketing, Sandra Kennedy, recalled that only about 1,000 people had visited the blog by the end of the campaign, making it an embarrassing and expensive flop. When so few readers materialized, Ms. Kennedy said the company scrambled to find ways to throw the content up onto Facebook and other online outlets. “The good news is, you do learn from those things,” she said. One thing we expect they've learned? That their customers are too busy running the world to stop and read blogs.

30-second spot: Immunity boaster

Cocoa Krispies backs down on its cereal box claims that it can boost immunity.

Bad news: breakfast cereals apparently don't cure cancer. Under pressure from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Kellogg is pledging to remove big, bold claims from boxes of Rice Krispies and Cocoa Krispies that the cereals help boost immunity. Parents and public health professionals said consumers could be misled into thinking the cereals could help fight H1N1. Last spring, Kellogg's had to pull ads that claimed Frosted Mini-Wheats improved the attentiveness of children by 20 per cent. Hey parents, do you know what really improves kids' health? Not feeding them sugary crap for breakfast.

Telecom smackdown

We love when companies take on each other in their advertising: It's the business world's version of WWE wrestling, except the body blows aren't (as) fake. South of the border, AT&T has been smarting over a Verizon campaign using maps to compare the two company's 3G coverage. The ad's tag line? “There's a map for that.” AT&T, which has exclusive rights to the iPhone, is now suing Verizon for false advertising. It seems to us that if AT&T spent as much effort on upgrading their oft-maligned network as they do on legal tussles, this never would have happened.

No accounting for taste

Speaking of marketing gone awry: The Down Under division of Kraft Foods recently hit a bad patch of yeasty brown sludge when it dared to fool with the national food Vegemite, blending it with cream cheese and holding a contest in which Aussies were able to vote on a name for the new concoction. The winner, Vegemite iSnack 2.0, wasn't a winner with the public, and the company was forced to hold another vote. The new winning name? Cheesybite. That strikes us as fairly gross. Then again, we live in a country that adores something called poutine.

Taxi rises to the occasion

Congratulations to the folks at Taxi Toronto for winning a pair of gold statuettes at the London International Awards for their work on Pfizer Canada's Viagra account. The winning ads, a trio of 16-second TV and mobile spots, each featured a 60-something fellow recounting how he and his wife had grown obsessed with a leisure activity. “Antiquing took over our lives,” says one of the men. “So I tried Viagra, and now my antiquing is pretty much gone.” The spots are wry, yet pointed, without being déclassé. If only we could say the same for every ad out there.

Client appreciation

Buy an ad, get out of town? This week Astral Media Radio announced it had paired up with Aeroplan to offer program points to clients who directly buy ads on one of Astral's 83 radio stations across the country. For its launch promotion, the companies are giving every Astral client who is registered with the program by next August a shot at winning 200,000 Aeroplan Miles. That might just be enough points to get you to some exotic location where you won't have to think about advertising, radio, or any kind of business at all.