Starbucks Brings Back Topless Mermaid Logo

To the ire of a Seattle Kent Elementary School Principal who is requiring her teachers to place protective covers over their Starbucks coffee cups, Starbacks, to mark its 35th anniversary, is bringing back its original logo - a topless mermaid with her fins spread - to Washington and Oregon. We're thinking this isn't going to go over very well.

Anna Nicole Smith's Dead Son For Sale In IntelliTXT Ad

Someday marketers are going to wake up and realize that humans are, in fact , a much needed entity in the creation and management of online ad campaigns and that some aspects of those campaigns shouldn't be left to a bunch of servers in some sever farm in the middle of nowhere. This latest contextual corrigendum comes courtesy of IntelliTXT, that company that places annoying roll over pop ups linked to text in articles on many sites such as the Atlanta Journal Constitution. In this AJC.com article about the sudden death of Anna Nicole Smith's son, we find an ad offering 10 to 20 percent off Smiths at Target as if Anna might want to drop by Target and pick up a new son with her credit card.

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Agency.com Earns Redemption With WTC Memorial Work

We're not even going to mention it. What we are going to mention is recent pro-bono work Agency.com did in conjunction with TBWA\Chiat/Day for the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation which seeks $170 million in private funding. The agency created a microsite which, in homage to the many actual flags that appeared after 9-11, consists of a flag people can add their names to show support for the WTC Memorial and Memorial Museum at Ground Zero.

The flag can be forwarded to friends and will also be incorporated into dynamic online banners that people can interact with. The microsite and the banners, part of an overall TBWA\Chiat\Dat multimedia campaign, will point people to the WTC Memorial Foundation website for more information on the project. Now there's some noble work that actually deserves a fist bump. Dammit. We mentioned it. Sorry.

Kenneth Cole Shares 9-11 Insensitivities With Public

Usually, we'd offer witty kudos to those marketers who manage to squeeze in a bit of well timed self promotion when offering a quote to the media but capitalizing on 9-11 kinda goes a bit overboard as indicated by this Kenneth Cole quote given to the New York Daily News yesterday.

"Important moments like this are a time to reflect," Cole added. "To remind us, sometimes, that it's not only important what you wear, but it's also important to be aware." Yea Kenneth, it's not only important how you die, but it's also important what you buy.

Nike Pays For Stolen Logo

Back in May, we reported Nike had co-opted the logo of London borough Hackney for use on a line of World Cup sportswear. Hackney didn't take kindly to the giant retailer "borrowing" what little the downtrodden borough had in order to profit from and asked Nike to share in the profits of the line. Luckily, the story does have a happy ending and Nike parted with £300,000, apologized to Hackney and covered all legal costs.

Evian Pops Up, Affleck Pops Up, Hispanics Pop Up

- Jumping on the pop-up store trend, Sharpe Blackmore Euro RSCG launched the Evian Purity Spa in Toronto's Yorkville. The spa will operate for the month of September then close.

- This has absolutely nothing to do with advertising but you have to see this video of an interview Ben Affleck gave a few years a go with a Montreal-based French Canadian reporter for Jersey Girl during which he never let her off his lap.

- Caffeine Marketing offers up some important tips on requesting links from others sites to build your own site's popularity.

- Mack Simpson who works for Hispanic agency Dieste Harmel wants us to know there's an elephant inside the living room of Madison Avenue. That elephant is th burgeoning Hispanic market which is expected to have $863.1 billion in buying power by 2007 and making up 20 percent of the 20-34 population.

- Mack Simpson has also created a top ten list every young creative should heed. Don't be a dickhead, think twice/speak once and don't play politics are just a few.

Agency Launches Bilingual Online Video Advice Comedy Column

Here's another fun little time waster from Boston's Captains of Industry (yes, it's an agency and that's their name) has launched Ask Dr. Clark (go to the site, click the "fun" tab ) in which a 60's style doctor answers important questions such as "My snoring keeps my wife awake. What can I do?" and "My voice is too low to get a date. Can you help?" The answer to the snoring question is ridiculous but quite funny. The site is bilingual and Dr. Clark speak Spanish with a curiously German accent.

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