The Department for Transport has kicked-off its Act on CO2 campaign, to enourage people to think more about carbon emissions when they’re driving their car, or choosing a new one.

I caught one of the TV ads tonight and the call-to-action at the end was one I’ve not seen before. Instead of telling us to ‘visit actonco2.co.uk for more information’, the commercial directs us to ‘search online for act on CO2’.

When you put that phrase into Google, it seems they’ve bagged the top natural search spot, as well as the top sponsored link. Fair enough – they’ve picked a tag line and optimised the site so it’s highly ranked for it.

This approach does make some sense. It’s often easier to remember a phrase instead of a website address, and if you can’t recall the exact wording, a close approximation will often get you there.

But it does leave an obvious route for someone to mount a counter-campaign. A bit of concerted search engine optimisation work could probably push a different site to the top of those Google search results. And then the Department for Transport could find its ads promoting exactly the kind of behaviour they’re trying to discourage.

It would be interesting to hear if they’ve thought of this – and if they think the gains they’ll make from not quoting a specific URL will outweigh the damage done by conflicting websites appearing alongside their own.

(To give you some idea, the Association of British Drivers are already 5th-placed for that term, and I think it’s fair to say that they are slightly sceptical of the whole thing. With some work, I bet they could rise up the rankings.)

Stumbled across a gem of an advertising-related site today: adverbox, which showcases some of the most original pieces of advertising from around the world.

It seems like the role of traditional advertising and big-budget campaigns is evolving pretty rapidly at the moment, but that doesn’t detract from the fact that some of the stuff on this website is fantastically original and brilliantly executed.

I particularly like the WWF alarm clock and these rather arresting Amnesty International posters. Which are your favourites?

I think this sign in Reading station says more about British trains than the author intended.

This must be one of the few places in the world where rail services get altered “due to engineering works not taking place”.

I’m sure they could have phrased it better. “Engineering works cancelled – services running as normal” would probably have covered it.