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A group of artists comes together in locations around the world to create art pieces that spell out the philosophy of Absolut Vodka.

From previous research blogged, I’ve made some mock-ups of advertising that could be feasible in the countryside.

Traditional billboards

Moss signage

Grass cutouts

Clean Advertising / Reverse Graffiti

Bus stop/billboard with natural elements

Dirty Street Advertising are based in Bristol and provide a clean advertising / reverse graffiti service.

“CURB is the world’s first natural media company. We offer a range of highly effective media solutions solely using natural earth elements. We have created a portfolio of unique eco-advertising services and a crack green team of creative experts, to provide clients with outstanding natural marketing which impacts on their target consumer without impacting on the environment.”

Heather Ackroyd and Dan Harvey used grass as a photographic paper by projecting a black and white image on it while growing in a dark room.

The image is projected onto the grass panels in order to achieve the affect of the finished picture. Typically, a grass panel needs a little over a week of exposure at 12 hours per day. Unfortunately, the images don’t last for too long without continued maintenance. Once exposed to natural light, the grass begins to grow more evenly and the images fade away.

Via InHabitat

Interesting way of introducing Jeep into the urban environment. I want to do the opposite on this project.

“Our object of communication was to make the Jeep brand part of the urban environment in a surprising way”

via I Believe In Adv

via I Believe In Adv

A beaver can cut down 200 trees a year.

via I Believe In Adv

Gorge Grown Farmer’s Market: Carrots. They lined a city block with six big carrots for a local farmers’ market. The images kind of speak for themselves.

via I Believe In Adv

For Tibits, a large vegetarian restaurant chain in Switzerland, oversized forks have been produced to be fixed to trees in major parks and in main outdoor shopping areas all over Switzerland. In an surprisingly new manner the freshness of Tibits food could thus be demonstrated to people walking by.

“Very, very fresh vegetarian food.”

via I Believe In Adv

This billboard, complete with fake mud, was put up during the rainy season to show how FedEx puts your package first.

via I Believe In Adv

“When you kill a child on the road, that image never leaves you.”

Life size cut outs of a little girl were placed around Rodney District.

Three weeks later we revealed the message:

“The kids you kill never leave you.”

via I Believe In Adv

Nice example of advertising that uses the weather!

via I Believe In Adv

Photo of Rexona deodorant surrounded by Ivy plant.

via I Believe In Adv

Very clever billboard made into a real fish tank with living fish swimming around. “Fresh as can be”.

via I Believe In Adv (with video)

Life-size stickers of athletes/strong people placed on revolving doors with tagline ‘milk makes you strong’

via I Believe In Adv

To spread free samples is not an original idea for a brand, but Friskies decided to feed bird in streets to gain people’s attention.

Via Crazy Marketing

Some are calling the technique “green advertising”, some others call it “enviromentally friendly” and it is also being called “reverse graffiti”.

The idea, as good ideas are most or the time (I will never cease to repeat this!) is very, very simple: the ads are imprinted in street walls, roads, pavements or any other dirty surface by… cleaning it. 

Two companies in Europe are already offering the service and companies like Puma, Smart and ING have been already advertising this way.

They are pretty long lasting if no one decides to clean the whole wall, and as GreenGraffiti states, “the more GreenGraffiti™ the better”… because they are cleaning the streets not making them more dirty!

via Ugly Doggy

I have spent the past two days driving around nearby countryside to Bournemouth. Yesterday evening I took a trip to The New Forest, and this morning I made my way to Swanage via Wareham and Corfe Castle. Driving around these rural places for a couple of hours has been knowledgeable for the start of the project as I can now start thinking how or where advertising can be used in those areas. I have taken photographs where possible. One annoying thing is that on the country roads it is sometimes hard to park up to snap a photo!

A very obtrusive Times Square. This is typical New York, large scale billboards cover the city.

An interactive advertisement that flashes at you as you walk by, as if there are real paparazzi’s taking photos of you.

Toilet advertising! Is this a bit too far?

The Osbourne Bull large metal models are found throughout Spain in remote places. The Bull is seen as Spain’s unofficial national symbol, and here used to advertise the Brandy de Jerez Liquor.

Using barns for billboard space.

Obviously these billboards are destroying the natural beauty of the landscape.

Using a retired tractor and cart for advertising space.

Synopsis of study

For the Extended Major Project, I intend to investigate advertising and branding, focusing on location and positioning in unexpected places. The majority of advertisements are located in urban areas such as cities and towns. These adverts are normally obtrusive – they generally have to grab people’s attention away from the numerous other ad’s surrounding each other. We’re now used to seeing billboards everywhere, it doesn’t bother us. It’s a city, it’s normal. The focus of this project will be to look at the complete opposite: the countryside. There are hardly any advertisements in rural areas. This could be because there are less people that will see it, and therefore not worth the investment. Another, more major reason would be because it could ruin the scenery, the whole point of preserving rural areas. I want to see if there’s any way to create unobtrusive advertisements and branding to be placed in rural environments.

This would involve researching into processes and materials that would fit in with said environment. Initially, investigating all methods of advertising used in the city to see if any would work in a rural environment. Equally, research will be undertaken to see if or what kind of adverts already exist in rural areas, which would involve spending time exploring nearby countryside in Dorset or Hampshire. Scouting for possible locations where ad’s could be positioned, with photographic evidence. Furthermore, investigations into what kind of brands might want to advertise in these locations, whether it be well established popular brands, or local businesses.

Additionally, investigating environmental branding will be essential, as well as looking at land art, environmental artists and sculpture artists such as Andy Goldsworthy and Richard Long for inspiration of what is possible and seen as acceptable, or art forms. Currently, unsure of what will be submitted for assessment, it may be a final outcome, or a series of experiments undertaken during the project. To be presented print-based, including at least one publication and possibly a series of posters. Plus a publication containing research.

Proposed Time Plan

Week 1: 8-12 Feb
Explore the city: investigate current methods of advertising in cities and urban areas. Could these be applied to rural environments? Why are they only used in specific places? Are they obtrusive?

Week 2: 15-19 Feb
Explore the countryside: look at advertisements currently in place in rural areas – The New Forest, and other countryside areas of Dorset and Hampshire. For example, farm shop signs, etc.

Week 3: 22-26 Feb
Investigate rural art and artists – what’s been done before? Are they just conceptual pieces? How can this be made into something permanent? Experiment with materials, seek which processes can be used to design unobtrusive advertisements for the countryside. Scout possible locations for advertisements.

Week 4: 1-5 Mar
Determine whether a final outcome can be made from all the research, or whether to submit various experiments.
Decide what kind of brands I want to use as candidates. Well-established popular brands (Coca-Cola, etc) or focus mainly on local businesses? Brands that are pushing eco-friendly attitudes? Create mock adverts for chosen brands.

Week 5: 8-12 Mar
TBC

Week 6: 15-19 Mar
TBC

Week 7: 22-26 Mar
TBC

EASTER VACATION / IN VALENCIA
While in Spain explore the local countryside for any rural design. Differences between UK? Might have different approaches.

Week 8: 12-16 Apr
TBC

Week 9: 19-23 Apr
Design publications/chosen outcomes/whatever final pieces decided.
Finish designing research publication.

Week 10: 26-29 Apr
Producing + Printing of publications plus any other work.

DEADLINE 29 Apr

Themes I am thinking of for EMP…

- Graphic Design seen at speed/on the move (billboards, ads you see whilst driving, on the train, etc)

- Words with no pictures / Can typography be more effective by itself, than with images?

- Logotypes / Trademarks

- Packaging [wine / italian food range ]

- Shopping Experience

- Branding

- Obtrusive Branding/Ads [ how ads and branding are everywhere we look - could this be made to fit in with the environment? ] see logorama-themovie.com —- however ads need to shout out at you – how can this be done in another/new way?

- communicating ads, communicating in different situations – different ways of communication of ___ (posters, whatever)…

- No Images, Just Type. — design using only typography

- The future of magazine design

- Branding a town or city

- Investigating the differences between living in the countryside and living in the city — find similar families, people. E.g. The New Forest vs. Southampton.

- Advertising in rural areas/countryside —- without ruining the environment.

I will document practice for my Extended Major Project and Evaluation, Career Planning and Enterprise here on the blog. Towards the end of the project, I’ll be creating a publication to hand in with the EMP. A selection of blog posts from here will be put into the book. Please check back soon for progress updates.

Amazing design and typography from Mark Adamson.

“A poster the recipient completes by revealing spot-varnished type with hands made dirty by handling the poster, the back of which is coated with powdered pigment. This is the first of a series of posters.”

by Roland Tiangco

PTARMAK are an awesome design company that specialise in branding. They have a great way of photographing their work so check out their website it’s really inspiring!

Student work from JuliAnn Miller…

“We were to design work for a social or political cause; I chose tattoos for my topic.  This Tattoo Tester is a kit that comes with certain papers so that the user can create custom temporary tattoos (transfer paper and carbon paper).  The kit also includes a brochure with information on tattoo statistics and a brief history of tattooing.  All parts of this kit are designed, written, and constructed by me. The box is made from light cardboard and all printed material is printed on recycled kraft paper.”

Via Lovely Package

Vanessa Lam is a talented designer from Los Angeles, with some lovely print work.

This calendar from Wüsthof Knives illustrates an onion being cut into 365 slices – a photo per each day of the year.

Via Ads of the World