Here's another spec ad from the fine people at Spec Spot. This one is for Carvel Ice Cream Cakes. I don't know exactly why it wasn't used, though I suppose a girl wishing her whole family to fall over dead is just a tad morbid, even if it is hilarious. To paraphrase a favorite line from Mel Brooks, "Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when someone falls into an open manhole and dies." Maybe that adage doesn't quite work in the advertising world, but I still found this to be quite funny.

I've never had vegemite, that odd Australian condiment Men At Work mentioned in their song "The Land Down Under." You know: "I said, 'Do you speak-a my language?' / he just smiled and gave me a Vegemite sandwich...." So anyway, I've never had the pleasure, but I've heard it's some pretty nasty stuff, at least to American tastebuds. This funny spec ad created for Kraft acknowledges that cultural separation by showing an automechanic using Vegemite as axel grease. You won't find it on TV, but you can watch the ad here, courtesy of Spec Spot.

Here's another "not really an ad" from Spec Spot. This one for Coke shows how to get your hands on cold, refreshing cola when the soda machine happens to be resting across the border in another country. Two border guards figure out a way to work around the problem. Unlike a lot of the stuff on the site I could actually see this one as a real advertisement. The commenters over at Spec Spot really seem to enjoy it. I recommend taking a look, tis good for a larf.

Frank H. Jump has an affinity for old, faded advertisements. Visit FrankJump.com and you will see firsthand. He snaps beautifully detailed photographs of the most fragile and worn old signs. Usually bound to aging buildings, these ads are tiny snippets of a world long outgrown. Mr. Jump has been living with AIDS for 21 years and calls his faded subjects "metaphors for survival." He has opened up an art gallery in Brooklyn that has a permanent collection of his work. When visiting his site, feel free to turn the volume on your computer off. Jump's very own musical composition "Lifetime" is a doozy.

You gotta love it when a commercial gets right to the point. That's what happens in this spot, a public service announcement done on spec for the American Lung Association. 

Comparing what people think about the number of deaths that are attributed to cigarette smoking and what people would think or feel if the same number of people perished from any other "everyday" activity is something that hasn't been done in this type of ad. The "Truth" folks do a good job at keeping young people away from smoking, and their ads are generally entertaining, and sometimes shocking - but the impact is quite the same as what Paul Santana has done here.

From the annals of "P.A." (which stands for pre-AdJab) we have an amazing spot for Apple's iPod Mini as put together without the help of an advertising agency. This kind of thing seems to be happening all over the place, even outside of sites like The Spec Spot, which features speculative work by directors and designers trying to get their names out there. In March, an art & design school student created a super colorful ad for Firefox that was well heralded on the 'net. 

Employment firms be damned, people seem to be finding ways to market themselves these days, just as they have been able to get their voice out there via blogging. Which raises an interesting question - just as big companies are going with boutique ad agencies because of their ability to get to market quickly and "freshness," will the same thing begin to happen with these independent and freelance designers? If one person with some skills and creativity can put together something to the level of the iPod Mini like George Masters did, and the software is out there for them to be able to edit and publish in a professional manner, who's to say that this won't be more than just a trend.

Check out this most slick advertisement (one would guess on spec) for the Firefox browser, made by Eric Edwards, a student at the Savannah College of Art & Design.  It's very much "out there," attention getting, and well done all around.  From a marketing perspective, it shows everything a product manager could want -  telling the key abilities of the product without having to go into intricate detail.

Who thinks it's time for another fundraiser?

[via IMHO]

Sometimes a speculative spot makes you actually think that the director, cast & crew are on to something.  This ad, "Nike," is one of those examples.  The concept is simple - a man playing tennis in an urban location against the ball machine, and pounding return shots just as soon as the balls are fired at him.  The climax falls properly, right at the end, leaving you on a high note. 

Check out the ad at the Spec Spot. 

Joe Atkinson writes in the Daily Press about how creating an advertisement for speculative means has taken on new meaning these days - not only do you run it for the company you're pitching, but distribution on the Internet (even just to "test" it out) is usually acceptable, and may even be preferable in some cases.  In fact, creating an ad, having it "banned" from a particular event, even if you know it will be, and telling everyone that the network refused it is possibly the best course of action, as we said yesterday regarding the Wynn Casino spot.