OK, this is a little creepy.

Found on the I Believe in Advertising blog, I give you this for Snuff Clothing in Norway.

Snuff, sold only in Oslo and Hernsedai, is made for hard-core skiers. The brief, according to the blog, was to visualize their selling idea, which is "Death is only a matter of time." They put these stickers on elevator doors around Oslo. And when the elevator doors close . . . well, you get the idea.

If you're the type to buy a clothing line called "Snuff" and respond to "Death is only a matter of time", I guess this is right on the money.

But I wouldn't want to share an elevator with you.

It must be true. I read it somewhere.

Ok, don't take our word for it when we say a down economy presents an opportunity.

But how about Seth Godin?

A good idea here

Here's a little something cool for GoCanadianRockies.com that I found on the ihaveanidea web site.

Love the simplicity.

In fact, this post offends me.

The most overused word in the world right now is “offended”.

If you don’t want to run the risk of “offending” somebody better stay in bed. The world has become incredibly thin-skinned.

Here’s an example from Canada where a Ford campaign in Manitoba was pulled because people were offended by an ad that shows a “Drive it like you stole it” bumper sticker on a truck.

Car theft and carjacking are no laughing matters. And people have been killed by other people driving stolen cars. But come on. It’s just a freaking ad.

You know, I don’t like drunks behind me at ball games, so beer advertising offends me. I slipped on the sidewalk in front of a Hyatt once time, so all Hyatt hotel advertising offends me. When I was in high school a guy named Steve beat me up, so anything with a guy named Steve in it brings back bad memories and therefore offends me. Got it?

Personally, I like the “drive it like you stole it” line. Google it. It’s not even unique to Ford of Canada.

I’m sorry for the poor quality of the photo here, but it’s the best I could find. I’m guessing that offends you.

Those Canadians -- always with the great ideas.

And now this, from LG2 in Quebec (via ihaveandidea.com).

The economy is down. Here's your chance.

Call it economic uncertainty. Call it a pending recession.

I call it an opportunity. Especially for challenger brands.

Right about now, many of your competitors are hunkering down to ride it out, promising to kick that marketing program back in when times are better. That’s your cue to step in and snatch their customers. Slow and steady isn’t going to win this race. Neither is short-term thinking.

The best analogy for this I have seen was in a column by Alf Nucifora a few years ago and attributed to Jamie Turner of Turner Fernandez Turner: “Think of it this way. If you’re in a room with 20 people and they’re all talking, all you hear is noise. But if 19 stop talking, suddenly the one person who’s still talking can be heard loud and clear.”

However you care to define “advertising” ― print, broadcast, web, e-mail, whatever ― companies that maintain or increase their customer outreach during a recession typically do better than those who don’t. That’s a fact. And when those who don’t advertise get back into it, they have to spend more money over a longer period of time just to get even. I think this applies pretty much across the board -- condominiums, radio stations, hotel rooms, hamburgers, health food or machine screws. Whatever.

There’s a lot of evidence out there to support this. For example, a McGraw-Hill study of 600 companies showed that those who cut advertising during the recession of the early 80’s saw sales increase by 19 percent between 1980 and 1985. On the other hand, companies that maintained or increased their advertising during the recession had sales increases of 275 percent during the same period. That’s not a typo. Two hundred seventy-five percent. OK, this isn’t the 80’s, but if anything, there is more competition for your customer’s dollar now.

Although nobody uses these exact words, what people are saying, for all intents and purposes is: “Business is bad, so we’re going to cut back on our investment in attracting customers until it gets better all by itself.”

Think about it. When your competition decides to hide out for a while, it’s time for you to go for the throat. Because if you decide to hide out along with them, you’re going to bleed with them.

Who knew the WSJ could be so entertaining?

Found this ad in the weekend Wall Street Journal. It's for a real estate auction company. Maybe you get it. I sure as hell don't.

Note the logo tattoo and logo Mohawk. I'm not sure exactly what this is supposed to tell me about Williams & Williams. But maybe I'm just stupid.

By the way, 918 is an Oklahoma area code and I live in Maryland. Let's hope they didn't run this in the national edition; even just the Baltimore-Washington run is nearly four grand for a quarter-page, which is what this is.

(Click the image to read the copy.)