The ladies’ bathroom at Bang Bang, a new San Diego sushi restaurant is so stunning that once they step inside, women don’t ever want to leave. You see, every inch of the walls is covered with posters and photographs of Hollywood heartthrob Ryan Gosling. I’m not going to waste time telling you just how dreamy this bathroom is for most girls; I think the pictures speak for themselves.

It’s a marketing strategy that’s so simple, it’s brilliant. Women are actually thronging Bang Bang, a Japanese social house, just for a glimpse of that bathroom. They’re taking ‘Gosling pics’ of themselves and putting them up all over the internet.

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Jack Link’s, a popular manufacturer of beef jerky, came up with a grand way to celebrate National Jerky Day this year. They organized the construction of ‘Meat Rushmore’, an all-meat replica of the popular American monument, Mount Rushmore. The 13 foot by 17 foot structure was unveiled in New York City on June 12, as a part of the Jerky Day celebrations.

The humongous meat mountain took 1,400 hours to assemble – it is covered in over 1,600 pounds of beef, pork and turkey jerky. If you were to lay out all the meat used in a single line, you’d end up with close to 10 kilometers of jerky. The core of the sculpture was hand carved using foam, and then each layer of jerky was individually applied over it. Over 20 staff members worked on the project, supervised by art director Alex Valhouli.

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Eating rabbits isn’t a real Easter tradition, but that hasn’t stopped Hell Pizza from adding rabbit pizza to their menu this year. And that’s not even the strange part of this story. What’s really unusual is their marketing strategy. The New Zealand based pizza chain has put up billboards completely covered with real rabbit hides. The posters read: ‘New for Easter. Rabbit Pizza. Made from Real Rabbit. Like this Billboard’.

If you find that gross, you aren’t alone. The restaurant has been receiving severe backlash from locals ever since the billboards went up at multiple locations. But the folks at Hell Pizza are totally unapologetic. They’ve defended their PR stunt on their Facebook page: “As well as being a delicious meat, and even quite cute, rabbits are unfortunately also a noted pest that is damaging to the New Zealand environment, particularly in the South Island.”

General manager Ben Cumming called rabbit meat one of the healthiest meats in the world. “Eating rabbit meat isn’t just environmentally sustainable – it’s actually helping to reduce pests,” he said. “It has a beautiful, subtle flavor and is a great match for the other ingredients on the pizza. You get chunks of the smoky rabbit flavor complimented by sweet and slightly spicy beetroot and horopito relish, then bursts of cream cheese and toasted pine nuts which linger on the taste buds afterwards. We think it’s going to go down really well.”

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Finding true love can be really hard, but a young entrepreneur is hoping the giant billboard he recently put up in the Chicago area will make things a lot easier. It cost “a few thousand dollars”, but the man says finding his significant other is worth every penny.

“…I’m Gordon! Let’s have dinner!” is the simple message displayed on a new billboard overlooking the Stevenson Expressway, near Chicago, that Gordon Engle, a 40-something successful businessman hopes will help him find love. After becoming frustrated with online dating, Gordon decided to spend some real coin on the large advertisement that directs interested women to his website, where they have to answer a short questionnaire to qualify for an outing with the bachelor.  “You’ll spend several thousand on education, a quarter-million on a house, money on a car, but what’s your most important thing?” he asked during a WGNTV interview. “Your significant other. You’re going to go cheap on that? You can drop $19.95 for Match.com or drop some real coin for a billboard.” Although the billboard has only been up for a few weeks, Gordon says he already has about 15-20 “solid” applicants, with many other women getting in touch just to wish him well, even if they are not interested in a date.

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Italian car-maker Fiat has partnered with renowned body painter Craig Tracy to advertise their sporty Fiat 500 Abarth in a truly unique fashion.

Craig Tracy is a master of body-painted optical illusions. From realistic animals to breathtaking sceneries, he is able to create just about anything from a a few expertly-painted flexible bodies, but he has really outdone himself for this new Fiat advert. The talented artist spent five days working with a team of female circus performers and contortionists, mapping out each one’s position in this human vehicle model and painting all the tiny details on their bodies. Although it would have been much easier, photographer RJ Mura says the team never even considered doing it in Photoshop, and that everyone strived to get the human Abarth looking just right without relying on post-production editing. All things considered, the end result is mind-blowing.

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Metro St. James, a French-themed cafe in Sydney, Australia, has been open for only three months but it’s gaining popularity fast thanks to an ingenious promotional offer that allows customers to pay for their coffee with kisses.

It’s no joke. During the month of June, people who choose to drink their coffee at Metro St. James between 9 and 11 am get the chance to pay for their order in kisses. “We’re bringing romance back! Take your partner to the café from 9-11am in June and surprise them with a kiss when you order your coffee. We’re not accepting your money, just your kisses,” the cafe’s Facebook page reads. But while the staff isn’t available for kissing, you don’t necessarily have to be a couple to take advantage of this original promotion. If you’re brave enough, you can just pick a random stranger from the streets, or an office buddy you’ve always had a crush on, all that matters is the kiss look genuine. In Metro’s cute promotional video, one of the waiters says: “We’ll watch you. It has to be a real kiss … a true kiss. I can see if it is a fake kiss. I am kind of a specialist.” So no cheating!

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Pizza and movies are a popular combination, so Domino’s in Brazil decided to mix the two in a single package – a heat-sensitive movie DVD that looks and smells like their delicious pizza.

Domino’s Pizza teamed up with Brazilian advertising agency Artplan to create a truly ingenious campaign for their popular products. Taking advantage of the fact that movie rental stores are still very popular in the South American country, the creative minds at Artplan used thermal ink and flavored varnish to transform 10 new release titles such as Argo, 007, Dread and Dark Knight into appetizing disks that looked and smelled like pizza. They partnered with 10 video rental stores in Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro which distributed the media to unsuspecting clients. The DVDs were painted in black thermal ink and featured the movie title, but once the heat emitted by the player started affecting them, they gave away a pizza smell, and the black coloring was replaced by a delicious looking pizza image and the message “Did you enjoy the movie? The next one will be even better with a hot and delicious Domino’s Pizza.”

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Unemployment in Europe has recently hit record highs, and although Denmark has been shielded from the eurozone’s economic problems thanks to its low public debt, qualified professionals are still finding it tough to get a job. Danish marketing firm Reputation Copenhagen has come up with an ingenious way of helping academics get noticed – putting them on display in storefront windows.

Many highly-trained professionals, ranging from former CEOs to lawyers and tax experts are currently finding it increasingly difficult to find decent employment on the Danish job market. Some of them have been trying for years, leaving their resumes with dozens of companies, without ever hearing back from them, and are now at a point where they are willing to try anything. Even putting themselves in display windows like mannequins, hoping to get noticed by someone in need of their services. Alexander Peitersen, managing director of Reputation Copenhagen came up with the idea of using his company’s office as a storefront for the campaign, as there are many businesses nearby that might be interested in the talent on display. So he set up a small desk, put up the “an available academic is sitting here” sign, and asked the unemployed to just sit in the windows like merchandise. It seems like a pretty desperate measure, but at least it works; according to the agency’s website 3 of the job-seekers in their window display got a job in a day or two.

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In an attempt to do more than simply raise awareness about child abuse, a Spanish organization has created a smart billboard that contains a secret message visible only to children  under the age of 10.

Using a technology known as lenticular printing, an organization dedicated to aiding abused children joined forces with Grey Group Spain to develop a special billboard that sends different messages to kids and adults. They were looking for a way to help even children accompanied by abusive adults by sending a message exclusively for them, hidden from adults’ eyes. The lenticular printing allowed them to assemble to different images in the same billboard, one visible from the point of view of adults and another aimed at children as tall as 4’4”, or around 10-year-old. While adults can only see a simple yet powerful message “”Sometimes child abuse is only visible to the child suffering it”, children receive useful instruction: “If somebody hurts you, phone us and we’ll help you,” along with the Aid to Children and Adolescents at Risk (ACAR) foundation’s phone number. The image displayed on the billboard also changes depending on the angle it’s viewed from. Adults with an average height of 1.75m see a normal looking boy, while children of around 1.35m will see a bruised-up child they might identify with.

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A New York City real estate company has offered employees a 15% pay raise if they get a tattoo of its logo on their bodies. So far, 40 of the 800 employees took the deal and got a permanent Rapid Realty tattoo.

People usually get tattoos to show off their personality, but for the employees of Rapid Realty getting inked was simply a quick and sure way to get a 15% permanent bonus. Company owner Anthony Lolli has been more than happy to pay for tattooing fees, but doesn’t take credit for the idea. Surprisingly enough, it all started when one of his employees decided to do it for free. “He calls me up,” Lolli said “‘Hey Anthony, I’m getting the logo on me.’ I show up at the shop and I’m like ‘this is cool, how can I repay you?’” And it all pretty much snowballed from there, and now 40 of his 800 workers have the Rapid Realty logo inked somewhere on their bodies. There are no restrictions regarding the size and location of the tattoo, and that got people interested. For example, Brooke Koropatnick got hers behind the ear and says: “I had a paycheck coming in what was a substantial amount of money different, so it was nice.” Stephanie Barry went under the needle two weeks ago and got a nice bonus for every successful transaction. “I was like, why am I throwing my money away when I could give myself from a $25,000 to $40,000 for the same amount of work?” Barry told reporters.

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By design, the “Mohawk” hairdo is really hard to miss, but someone found a way to actually make it even more of an attention grabber. Florida native Mohawk Gaz uses spray paint to turn his head into a truly unmissable advertising billboards for friends and businesses.

31-year-old Mohawk Gaz – real name Gasmy Joseph – from Pompano Beach, Florida, has been a fan of the Mohawk for many years, but it was only a year ago that he discovered the true potential of his outrageous hairdo. A buddy had asked Gaz to spread the word about his birthday party, and suddenly a light bulb went off in his head – why not advertise the event on his hairdo for everyone to see? The idea was a huge success, and he has been spray-painting his Mohawk with all kinds of designs ever since. He has been offering his head as advertising space to friends who needed promotion, and has even been contacted by small businesses. A health-food catering company called Deliver Lean send Mohawk Gaz to Miami Heat and Florida Panthers games with its logo painted on his hair and was very pleased with the results. “It’s been tremendous marketing,” the company’s founder said. “It’s great exposure, and it’s never been done before.”

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Researchers in Peru have teamed up with an ad agency to provide a viable solution to the problem of potable water shortage in Lima, the world’s second-largest city in the world. Their  creation is a s simple as it is ingenious – a billboard that turns air humidity into drinking water.

Located northern edge of the Atacama, the driest desert in the world, the city of Lima and its surrounding villages get around 0.51 inches of precipitation per year. For a long time, the capital city has relied on drainage from the Andes mountains and runoff from melted glaciers for its potable water needs, but due to climate change, the water supply from both sources is on the decline. Out of the 8.5 million people living in Lima, 1.2 million lack running water completely and have to either draw water from wells, which is known to be polluted, or rely on unregulated private-company water trucks, which charge u to 20 time the normal price of tap water. Aware of this dire problem, Lima’s University of Engineering and Technology started looking for a way to solve the problem and, at the same time, draw the attention of applicants for 2013. Inspired by the fact that the city’s average air humidity is about 83%, due to its location along the Southern Pacific Ocean, UTEC partnered with advertising agency Mayo DraftFCB to create an eye-catching billboard that produces water out of thin air.

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A good way to make sure your advertisement gets plenty of exposure is to place it where a lot of people are looking. With this important marketing rule in mind, one Japanese advertising service is offering brands a novel way to raise awareness to their business – placing advertising stickers on the bare thighs of young girls.

We’ve featured some pretty bizarre advertising techniques here, on Oddity Central. We’ve had people renting out their last names to the highest bidder, tattooing brand names on their faces, and even using animals as living billboards, But so far, women’s legs have been off limits. Well, not anymore; Japanese PR company Absolute Territory PR has begun paying young women to wear advertising stickers on their “absolute territory” – the part of their thighs between the edge of their miniskirts and their high socks. Apparently this area of the female thigh is very popular with Japanese men, as evidenced by the fact that it even has its own Facebook page. You’d think such a daring way of advertising would be frowned upon by most girls, but as of November of last year, over 1,300 girls had applied for the agency’s service, and their number is growing fast.

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Last month, 27-year-old entrepreneur Brandon Chicotsky launched a unique service called Bald Logo, turning his bald head into a billboard for businesses willing to pay him $320 per day, and walking around Austin, Texas to get as much exposure as possible.

How does the old saying go, “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade”? That’s exactly what Brandon Chicotsky did after he lost most of the hair on his head at a very young age. “Because I didn’t get to choose to be bald I thought I’d bring bald and beautiful back,” said Chicotsky, who also decided to use his head as an actual business. Last month, the young entrepreneur launched Bald Logo, and since then he’s been flooded with inquiries from businesses interested in having their logos temporarily tattooed on his or one of his coworkers’ heads, for a fee of $320 a day. Brandon and his team have perfected the tattoos to withstand any weather conditions, and will spend six hours a day walking the streets of Austin garnering attention for their clients. Bald Logo currently has three “bald angelicals” on its staff, but the ambitious businessman plans to hire more walking advertising spaces and expand to other cities.

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DDB Moscow, a creative ad studio from Russia, recently created a campaign for Dutch electronics maker Philips, in which it used the company’s new clothes iron and steamer to recreate a series of famous paintings. Didn’t think it was possible to paint with an iron? Think again!

The latest commercial for the Philips Azur GC4870 iron and the Philips ProTouch Steamer shows an artist making a series of folds with his hands and then using the new iron to fix them into place. As the video goes into fast forward, the simple piece of white cloth turns into a canvas for an original recreation of Johannes Vermeer’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring”. Then, once the masterpiece is complete, the artist uses the powerful steamer to clear all the folds and prepare the canvas for other famous Dutch masterpieces by artists like Vincent Van Gogh and Rembrandt van Rijn. The whole commercial is just over a minute long, but I can only imagine how much time was really needed to painstakingly create every fold by hand, to make such detailed replicas. No wonder this Russian Philips ad was one of the most applauded at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, the most important competition in the world of advertising.

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