In the "Um...WOW" category, Adidas said it would buy Reebok for $3.8 billion. Who new merger madness would hit the sneaker category. Adidas CEO and Chairman Herbert Hainer said in a statement, "We will expand our geographic reach, particularly in North America, and create a footwear, apparel and hardware offering that addresses a broader spectrum of consumers and demographics. With Reebok, we are advancing our position on the playing field of the sporting goods industry and are improving our financial strength to drive increased shareholder value." Watch out, Nike.
Max Lenderman points to a billboard created by TBWA/Vancouver which leveraged the unfortunate but dependable human propensity to steal stuff. The billboard was created for security company Black Tower Home Security and after enough people had stolen various items off the billboard, the headline, "People Steal," was revealed aligning nicely with the Black Tower's business proposition. Good stuff.
To promote the UK-based search engine 118 118, several viral videos were created over the last month which, in their own weird way, have something to do with driving viewers to a promotional site which then leads to the 118 118 search page. The page provides searches for businesses, people, addresses, films, train times and the Internet.
The videos, which are made up of odd situations - an old guy skateboarding, a homeless guy having a gourmet dinner out of a trash can and a guy your goes nuts on a traffic cop, all of whom don a 118 118 head bandanna and a black mustache - are just odd enough to create necessary curiosity to see what 118 118 is all about. At least it did for us.
Likely, everyone's seen this already and we couldn't get to it yesterday since we spent the day in Times Square doing important advertising-related research but this on is just too funny to pass on. That hipper than hip big box store Target has launched a bunch of new back to school commercial, one of which, features a bunch of little kids with backpacks on dancing to the tune of that racy Baby Got Back, booty-shaking tune MTV had trouble with a while back. Of course, they've toned down the lyrics to a much tamer, "We like backpacks and we can not lie. With a cell phone pocket on the side. Those old backpacks were a fashion risk but can a cool backpack exist? Baby, I'm back...at school...etc."
Either Target has just moved to the top of the hipness pile or they have crossed into dangerous territory associating big assed babes shakin' ass with little girl's back packs. While we're on the topic of Baby Got Stuff, check out the very funny Baby Got Book which promotes church of all things.
Without her involvement or consent, Hilary Clinton is getting promoted as a candidate from president in 2008 via an ad campaign created by a Florida-based Gay rights group, called Hilary Now!, run by Bob Kunst. The campaign consists of an animated television commercial showing Hillary driving a "Bush's Mess" garbage truck. In the ad, Hillary is seen emptying into the truck trash cans in front of the White House labeled "Iraq," "War on Terror," "Health Care" and "Budget."
The campaign will air on New Hampshire cable news networks in the cities of Manchester, Portsmouth, Concord, Nashua and Salem.
Yesterday in New York City, some weirdo decided to hang from a 13th floor balcony of the Kimberly hotel at 150 East 50th Street and drop a bunch of flyers promoting his non-sensical website that seems to be designed to dissuade Florida tourism. Of course, all hell broke loose with police arriving on the scene, closing the block and finally apprehending the kook. The Daily News reports the website mentioned on the flyer is registered to Mauricio Pavez of Miami. It's unclear whether Pavez was the man on the balcony as the police declined to release the man's name.
While idiotic and frustrating to many New Yorkers who were held up due to the street closings, we can be quite sure the man's website is getting a lot more attention today than if he hadn't been caught.
