Cracked Skull Imagery Delivers Helmet PSA Message

We love PSAs. We especially love PSAs from countries outside the U.S. where creating an ad that dramatically delivers the message isn't hampered by left, right, middle-winged cause groups that feel anything beyond a shot of a smiling baby will be offensive to...well...some small minority no one's ever heard of. So we gleefully share this Berlin-based public serviced announcement encouraging bicyclers to wear helmets.

Hill | Holliday Ditches Website, Goes All Blog

Boston agency Hill Holliday has tossed its traditional site and launched a weblog. No, they didn't just add a blog to their already existing site, they ditched it entirely. Well, almost. They've done a wonderful job incorporating some of the usual capabilities and portfolio items into the header of the blog using Flash. The beauty of this approach, what many agencies still need to discover, will catapult Hill Holliday into the "conversation" about advertising. The site will get natural Google love, Technorati love and proliferation throughout the blogoshere's link-fest, something a static agency site can never achieve. And, most importantly, potential clients will get to know how HH thinks rather than how well they write website copy.

Other agencies such as W+K have great weblogs but we're not aware of any other major (yes, smaller ones have) agencies that have gone the all-blog format. We think this is great and we welcome HH to the conversation.

Adidas Yellow Series Not So Nice to Asians.

Our Asian cultural expert Tian tells us Adidas should expect a bit of backlash from the Asian community in reaction to a newly introduced line of sneakers called the Yellow Series. One particular shoe has the image of a buck-toothed bowlcut slanty eyed face on the shoe's tongue - not exactly the currently acceptable rendition of the Asian populace.

AARP Wants You to Know Over 50's Aren't Dead

The AARP, bastion of those unworthy of inclusion in the coveted 18-49 demo, is issuing a wake up call to youth-fixated media planners and twenty-something ad agency types in the form of a new research service called AARP Publications Marketing Intelligence. The service hammers home the point over 50's have the bucks, aren't all in a rocking chair on a deck in front of a lake in Maine and are cooler that a lot of twenty-something who think they know it all. So, now that we've insulted you enough, go out and grab this research, talk to this audience and smile as they open up their fat wallets and throw money at you and your brand.

Army Poster Conveys It's More Fun Not to Join Up

Ironic Sans points out an ad for the Army that, perhaps, sends the wrong message. In the ad, citizens are shown smiling and army personnel are shown with stern, even angry or sad expressions. To us, it looks like being a citizen is a lot more fun then joining the army. We're guessing the top brass is of the opinion smiling soldiers convey a weakness, hence the bad ass, military facial expressions.

Lincoln Mercury Returns to Webisodes

Lincoln Mercury, which previously launched a serial Internet-based movie called Meet The Lucky Ones, is launching two new webisodes featuring the Mercury Milan mid-size sedan and the new Zephyr, Lincoln's first entry-luxury sedan. The first installments of the five-week Web series debut today at LovelyBySurprise.com and TheNeverything.com, bringing together stars from Oscar-winning movies and hit television series, including "Grey's Anatomy," "A Beautiful Mind," "Amistad" and "Walk the Line." Written and directed by Kirt Gunn, they tell the story of an author whose fiction overtakes her real life. The two sides of the story are presented on two separate Web sites - one by Lincoln, the other by Mercury.

Our brief review of the work interests us. This isn't your standard web video stuff. This is stuff you'd expect to see on TV or in the movie theater. If this is truly where advertising is going, we're all for it.

'Lost' Star Evangeline Lilly Loves Rugs, Does Carpet Ads

AdJab points out 'Lost' cast member Evangeline Lilly is appearing in a series of print ads for carpet maker Karastan. Ads break this month in Architectural Digest, Elle Decor, Traditional Home among others. In an interview on the Karastan site, Lilly tells us she just wanted to be mediocre and was not looking to be anything special. She also gushes about how she loves to decorate.

Decapitation Ad Sells...Something

This is just one of those ads that would cause so many complaints in America that, well, it's not running in America. It's running in China. To say this ad attracts attention is an understatement. See more "executions" here.

Outdoor Razor Ad Shaves Grass

Here's an interesting ad for BIC found by Creative Criminal. You don't see outdoor ads like this very often but you should. It's definitely attention-getting.

Nelly, Daddy Yankee Join Reebok' 'I Am What I Am' Campaign

Joining Reebok's rap-tastic "I Am What I Am," campaign, which we still think they stole from popeye, are Nelly and Daddy Yankee. In April, Reebok will introduce a Nelly-inspired line of sneakers, t-shirts and hats. Daddy Yanke will join the party May23 with a line of sneakers. The two will become part of Reebok's $50 million campaign.

E! News Takes Over Page Six

What may once have been a one off is now a bonafide ad unit. Late last year, the New York Post emblazoned its Page Size with a Sex and the City watermark. Today, E! News is all over Page Six. We liked the ad unit back then and we still like it. Bucky Turco spotted this one for us.