We stumbled across a very eye-catching tourism advertising campaign today on our way back from this glorious view of the Brooklyn Bridge, and thought we'd share. It's underground in the Union Square subway station, and it's all over. The ads, a before/after study in what can happen to you when you leave the rough city life for the beaches of St. Petersburg and Clearwater, depict rough-and-tumble characters turning into attractive, exotic people once they've flown the 2.5 hours south to Florida.

Check out all of the images, after the jump]]> JetSetCD 2010-03-19T16:45:08-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2010/3/19/153734/352

It used to be that airlines were in charge of attracting passengers while airports just quietly went about their business. In the last few years, though, industry dynamics have changed and airport facilities are now front and center. Cities have been left to to sell themselves to potential flyers, with the result being what USA Today is sensationally calling "The Airport Wars." These involve campaigns and travel ads that promote home airports, highlight their amenities, and even sometimes explicitly trash rival airports.

Before we get to some examples, a bit of context. There are positive and negative changes driving these efforts. On the good side, you've got a combination of LCCs, online travel agencies, and technological savviness empowering passengers. Flyers can and do mix and match their own connections. On the downside, you've got airlines decreasing their amenities, forcing airports to step up. The results have included everything from SFO's cheerful "I Wanna Go Through SFO" campaign (see the video after the jump), to Edmonton International's gloves-off attack ads on rival airport Calgary:"When you go south, so does your air service." That's just mean.]]> Omri 2010-03-19T15:49:11-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2010/3/18/171438/221

What would happen if you took a celebrated National Geographic photographer and asked him to do the glossy ads and commercial for a French luxury fashion house? The answer, which you'll know if you've gone shopping for any very expensive leather bags lately, is a stunning gallery of ads that belong in an art gallery.

Hermes, famous for producing the highest quality goods for travel (if you're okay with dropping four figures or more on them), signed on Eric Valli, a NatGeo name who really fell in love with travel back when he traversed Afghanistan on horseback at age 18. Aside from the Fall/Winter magazine ads like the one above, he's now developed their short commercial for the new fragrance Voyage d'Hermès, a $90 perfume that evokes the romance of nomadic travel with a horse and a dove.

See the poetic commercial, after the jump]]> JetSetCD 2010-03-18T17:20:07-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2010/2/26/84944/5032

There's something weird going on in Brazil. We haven't figured out what it is yet but we're pretty sure we don't like it. South America's largest country is supposed to be a libertine paradise, where chiseled men and perfect women mingle in itty-bitty swimsuits with the kind of wild abandon that would make Hugh Hefner mutter darkly about declining family values. Now the nation, once one of the world's sex travel hotspots, seems to be turning into some kind of soccer-obsessed version of Puritan New England circa the Pilgrims.

Last year there was that flap over a first-year undergrad's pink miniskirt, which got her chased out of a tourism class and off campus by male students yelling "Whore! Whore!" And while Brazilian Playboy editors did their level best to redeem the country's reputation, a new scandal is threatening to ignite a second moral kerfuffle. A 1-minute beer commercial with Paris Hilton has sparked not one, not two, but a grand total of three investigations. We'll get to the details in a second—suffice it to say she's not wearing anything she wouldn't wear at Tao, and not acting in any way she wouldn't act at Tao—but first we're going to give you the video. Because it's Friday. And research is important.]]> Omri 2010-02-26T09:35:23-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2010/2/15/055/83014

Guess what we saw this weekend! That's right, it's the rumored Holland Tourism train, which is really just the S Train in the New York City subway system, but wrapped in advertising.

The genius ad campaign comes from the Netherlands Board of Tourism, who are hoping that when you're sandwiched into a subway car filled with their images of bicycles next to canals and famous Dutch paintings, that you'll get it into your head to maybe vacation in Amsterdam or anywhere in Holland during one of your two weeks off a year. We don't think we've ever been on the S Train simply because the 7 Train does the same route, but when we spotted this one idling at Times Square, we noted that it was packed with people who were about to fall prey to the subliminal messaging of the ads. Score for Holland!

One more picture after the jump]]> JetSetCD 2010-02-15T13:35:17-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2010/2/11/225445/117

The Dutch just won't let New Yorkers forget that they could be living in "Nieuw Amsterdam" and not "New York." Holland may have lost their grip on Manhattan back in 1674, but they can still find their way in somehow...and these days, they're hoping to gain access to the wallets of New Yorkers by enticing them to vacation in the Netherlands. And what better way to get the attention of jaded New Yorkers than by taking over their commute and decorating the interiors of subway cars? Sure, it's been before, but it never fails to delight.

All through the rest of February, the S Train will be wrapped inside and out with scenes of Holland, like a canal with bikes or a dark wood museum gallery with Vermeer's Girl With the Pearl Earring on the wall. And because everyone loves freebies. street teams will be handing out "Holland-themed giveaways" each week at the Grand Central and Times Square stations.

And then there's the big prize... ]]> JetSetCD 2010-02-12T12:35:16-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2010/1/29/10255/5563

It's nice to see that it's not just Amtrak taking advantage of those bins at airport security. You know the ones—the plastic ones at the metal detectors, into which you drop your laptop, shoes, and all other worldly possessions.

Well apparently brands are realizing that this is some invaluable advertising space, where they can have direct access to the weary eyes of travelers, a huge captive audience guaranteed to be gazing at the products for a precious few seconds day in and day out.

Last weekend at JFK, we spotted these Zappos ads in the security bins in Terminal 4. It was difficult to get a proper picture of them in a surprisingly swift-moving security line, but it seems that we're not the only ones to find them a bit shocking, since we easily located this picture on Flickr. If you spot any new airport security bin ads, do let us know!

Related Stories:
· Amtrak Ads Invade the Bins at Airport Security [Jaunted]
· Travel Ads news [Jaunted]

[Photo: Scott Beale/Laughing Squid]]]> JetSetCD 2010-01-29T10:40:08-05:00 40.6444122 -73.782745 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/