The commercial is styled after the Gags television show that Just For Laughs produces, featuring hidden-camera pranks on unsuspecting people in public.
Ford's new vehicle: the trickster
Ford Canada is looking to lighten up. The auto maker has partnered with comedy festival Just For Laughs to produce its newest ad. The commercial is styled after the Gags television show that Just For Laughs produces, featuring hidden-camera pranks on unsuspecting people in public. The Ford ad has an actor playing a criminal drive up to a curb in a 2013 Focus ST, abandoning the car, and tossing away a bag of money before running away. The police then arrive to question the unsuspecting person standing on the sidewalk, who is now surrounded by the evidence.
This type of prank advertising has become much more common, and the ad also speaks to a growing business model for comedians and comedy troupes in creating "branded content" for advertisers. The new ad, developed by agency Y&R Canada, marks the first time Ford has teamed up with Just For Laughs. The company says it is hoping this will be the start of a long-term partnership.
iShopping for the holidays
As the holiday shopping season ramps up, retailers can expect to see more of their sales coming from online stores than ever.
New research from Ipsos Reid, which surveyed more than 800 Canadians, revealed some interesting numbers.
79 per cent
Canadian Internet users who say they have bought something online in the past year.
$899
The average amount Canadians say they spent buying things on the Internet in the most recent survey.
$639
The average amount reported in last year's survey
$1,080
The average amount for Canadian men.
$725
The average for women.
The most popular items:
Books (60 per cent purchased)
Travel (56 per cent)
Clothing (52 per cent)
Computer software (45 per cent)
Source: Ipsos Reid
'It's time to change. /We deserve to see a range. /'Cause all our toys look just the same and we would like to use our brains.'
–Some sweet rhymes for U.S. toy brand Goldie Blox, set to the Beastie Boys' hit Girls.
Sick of the pink-saturated world of marketing to girls? You will want to see a new ad in which young girls rebel against overfeminized, demeaning products and rise up to build a Rube Goldberg machine out of construction toys, all while rhyming about their desire for change. The company, which manufactures a series of books and a construction set, was founded by a Stanford engineer named Debbie Sterling who wanted to offer better toy choices to girls that would help them realize their own potential beyond the princess career path.
If you build it, you'll love it more
"Some assembly required" is often a dreaded phrase at gift-giving time. But while assembling toys may still drive parents bananas, new research is showing that consumers often derive more enjoyment from products that they are involved in putting together.
The study from researchers at the University of Miami and the University of Florida, published in the Journal of Consumer Research, found that consumers found it more rewarding to be part of creating a product – sometimes even more so when the process was challenging.
The trick, researchers found, was to introduce an element of customization into the assembly process. When that was done, customers felt more engaged and creative.