Buzz-able Ideas/Buzz-able Mediums

Rohit Bhargarva from Influential Interactive Marketing has listed 10 pretty interesting buzz advertising ideas.

Some people say that these type of ad ideas simply add to the clutter. These are the anti-ad parties and are comprised of two camps : 1) the people that hate all forms of advertising  or branding (the anti-corporate/Naomi Kleins) and would like to restrict ads to the mediums where it doens't get noticed or you easily can look away (mass media) and 2) the ones that would like to standardize the ad world in the forms of efficient metric ad units and never give a marketer the option of choosing beyond vanilla, chocolate or strawberry (the traditional media buyers/planners/sellers).

But the brilliant thing about ads is the ones that work, the small percnetage of ones that people care about or think about or turn their heads to -  always look, sound, feel or small different..effectiveness in advertising, certainly in today's marketplace, defies conforming to the norms...and to quote an often referenced Canadian icon Marshall McLuhan "the medium is the message".

So my position is if the medium is cluttered already and your mission is to advertise, you'd better find a fresh canvas to paint on and get creative with it. It's the media strategy espoused by successful brands like Calvin Klein -once their competitors show up in the medium, the underwear colussus moves onto a different, fresher media.

See if you could imagine putting to work Rohit's suggested list of new buzz media below:

1. Hubcaps (Goodyear, Car Manufacturers, ZipCar) Nothing handles these roads like Goodyear.
2. Fruits and Vegetables (5aDay, WeightWatchers) Try this fruit with [product name here]
3. Bottom Logos on Beach Flipflops (to make footprints in sand) (Beach Resorts, Crocs)
4. Screen Printed Contact lenses (Nike, Lenscrafters)
5. Chinese Takeout boxes (Netflix) Would you like some Netflix with that?
6. Public Restroom Doors (Glade Air Fresheners) Glade ... if it stinks, we can fix it.
7. Grass/Lawns (Local sports teams, local elections, Residential services)
8. Airline seat backs (Portable DVD players or MP3 players) Watch your own stuff.
9. Movie Theater Popcorn Bags (Candy bars, Orville Redenbacher) Movie theater taste, right at home.
10. Printed Aluminum Foil (GE Ovens, Betty Crocker) The ultimate choice for baking.

Some great buzz-able outdoor ads from reThink in Vancouver brilliantly repurpose conventional outdoor mediums as well.

At Buzz Canuck, we tried to come up with our own great buzz-able mediums?
1) Wine Corks for Bally's Fitness  - "If This Took a Lot of Effort, maybe You Should Consider Joining"
2) "Enter Here" Door Clings in High Brow Restaurants for American Express Platinum - "Getting in is the Tough Part "   
3) Bait Wallets for Capital One - "Who Had Their Hand in This Pocket"
4) Blackberry Skins for Callaway Golf "Yes, I Am Working...Fore"
5) "Aim for this Hole" Public Men's Toilet Wall Stall for Prostate Cancer  - "This is your chance of getting Prostate Cancer'
6) Dog Fleece Coats for Lavalife "If I Can Commit to Rover, I Can Commit to You"
7) Window Cleaner Guys for Windex "Spotless 20 Floors Up or 1 Bedroom Over"
8) Potholes Filled in and Painted by GoodYear "Saving Your Tires One Hole at a Time courtesy Good Year"
9) Watercooler 5 Gallon Water Holders for Word of mouth companies "Your company's Word of Mouth Headquarters sponsored by Agent Wildfire"
10) Specialized or Gary Fisher Bikes Yellow Jerseys on Urban Bike Lanes "I Yield for Bikes"
11) Public Rental Bike Locks from Allstate "Your BIke is in Good Hands with Allstate"
12) Top Selling Physical Books Tethered to a Transit Ad for a Public Transit Literacy Campaign - "This 12 Minutes of reading Brought to You Before Your Next Stop by Chapters" 

Others?