Daffy’s touts its discount prices with quirky apartment contest

Oh, the Craigslist apartment hunter’s dream! As part of its strategy to reestablish itself as the leading "off-price" fashion retailer, Daffy's is offering one apartment in New York's highly-coveted West Village area for the ridiculously low price of $700 a month. (Average is $7,000 monthly.) To qualify, contestants must submit a 30-second pitch about why they deserve the luxury rental via in-store video capture cameras tomorrow through Aug. 14. Five finalists will be selected and Daffy’s is allowing the public to vote on the final winner online Sept. 7 to 16. (Oh darn, we have yet to formulate our pitch. I'm thinking: "I’ve got to win because it’s so close to my office?" Nah.)

—Posted by Elaine Wong

HSBC's digital campaign values its customers two cents

So, what matters to New Yorkers right now? To find out, HSBC asked consumers to get on a soapbox and share their two cents at an experiential event in Madison Square Park last week. The event drew 686 participants, all of whom have the chance to appear in a digital campaign launching later this month. Those who were too shy to stand up instead penned their thoughts ballot box-style (335 total votes were cast). The effort is part of the bank’s continuing “Different Values” campaign, which aims to convince consumers that it recognizes and takes into account customers’ unique perspectives in life. Among the top-ranking topics that day were marriage (107), baby (87) and jobs (80). Bottled water, education, technology, immigration, fast food, privacy and nuclear power rounded out the list. What? No "Gimme my bank statement on time" or "What happened to my savings account?!" complaints? (We’re impressed!)

—Posted by Elaine Wong

One small step for man, one giant leap for Moon Publicity

The expression "out of this world" could literally be used to describe advertisements in the near future. That's according to a company called Moon Publicity, which claims to have invented shadow shaping technology that can create images on the Moon. Founded by engineer and entrepreneur  David Kent Jones, Moon Publicity hopes to use robots to create ridges in lunar dust and shape the shadows formed as a result into logos, domain names and even memorials. The company's pitch to marketers? "Twelve billion eyeballs looking at your logo in the sky for several days every month," per a press release. Moon Publicity is making the moon-imaging technology publicly available for licensing in hopes of attracting marketers that will buy into the idea. Ads are already prominent in our everyday lives—from TV to billboards to mobile devices. Assuming moon-imaging will become a reality, just imagine: Every time you look up at the sky, you'll be reminded to buy laundry detergent or to switch your car insurance.

— By Elena Malykhina

When it rains, he pours

Ladybird Johnson may be rolling around in her grave screaming "blight!" but this bleeding billboard has purportedly saved lives in Papakura, New Zealand. Highway deaths typically increase around Easter during the area's rainy season, so agency Colenso BBDO, Auckland, created pro bono billboards to remind drivers to slow down and "drive to the conditions" during inclement weather. The gimmick? When the rain kicks in, the ads leech "blood" thanks to a material embedded in the billboard, which give the boy a weepy and grisly post-accident appearance.

—Posted by Becky Ebenkamp

Noses encouraged to run to Kleenex's shopping-mall exhibits

Hey, snot noses, you're in luck. Kleenex tissues are popping up in malls across the country.
  As part of a sampling effort launched last fall, Kimberly-Clark has set up experiential marketing booths in shopping centers in 10 U.S. cities. Through March 22, shoppers can tour these Kleenex "Feelspace" booths, which highlight K-C's newest tissue—Kleenex Facial Tissue with Lotion, which is supposedly 17 percent stronger than the more weak-ass previous version.
  Visitors can touch and feel (but not at all spread germs on) different soft surfaces, window clings and floor graphics, and see an iPhone app. Kleenex brand manager Amy Popp says the goal is to remind people to take a moment out of their busy lives and really "feel" the good things in life. "[We want to] allow people to experience the soothing benefits of this product in a unique, in-life setting," she says.
  Hey, who knows? Those tissues might even come in handy for that occasional mall break-up.

—Posted by Elaine Wong