Avis 'Tries Harder' to Catch Up to Web 2.0

Avis, the guys who made a winning marketing position out of being the second-place rental car guys, have leaped onto the blog train. And while the site looks boring and fairly inactive, we do think the facts are handy and the little chatboxes on wheels are cute.

They clearly do try harder.

Your Love of Advertising Might Land You A Spot On National TV News

Meredith Turner from the Rosen Group is working on a news item that will appear on a major nation news show (we know what it is, we can't tell you but you've definitely heard of it) and is looking for advertising addicts. Turner is interested in "interviewing someone who can wax poetic about advertising all day long and rattle off One Show 'Best of Show' winners like nobody's business."

If you think you're worthy, answer the below questions with yes or no answers. If most of your answers are yes, you may be what Turner is looking for. Answer these questions and contact Meredith Turner here.

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'Cannes Fringe' to Provide Alternative View of Annual Ad Fest

To provide alternative coverage to this year's Cannes Festival, Asabailey Advertising and Draw Pictures in association with Ricall, Rushes Post Production, v2film and Final Cut will be producing three videos per day during the festival which will highlight festival events, parties and offer interviews with creative gurus the world over. The work is being done for Cannes Fringe, an alternative news organization of sorts that's been covering Cannes for three years but, this year, will do so in an official capacity. If you more than Advertising Age and AdWeek, give Cannes Fringe a visit for another look at the industry's biggest ego fest.

Kids Air Views on Global Warming for SOS

Anonymous Content lends a slightly tinted angle to this green campaign for SOS Live Earth. Here a bunch of kids air their views on global warming.

It's always interesting to hear kids discuss big global issues because they generally take what they've been taught and express it with confidence. Absolute truth: another one of those imaginary friends that died with college. Our favourite quotes:

"Humans aren't the main threat. the main threat is water vapour."

"The world will last forever, because God won't let us down."

Ain't that a relief.

Martial Arts Used to Higlight Malaria Awareness

To call attention to the Malaria plight many Britons face as they travel abroad, the famed Lee and Dan created a martial arts-themed video that shows the importance of properly fighting off mosquitoes and points viewers to a site called Malaria Hot Spots providing malaria-related travel tips. It's one of the odder ways to call attention to Malaria but we aren't going to knock it.

Mountain Dew Gets All Tatted Out with Sexy New Bottles

How much do you love your carbonated sperm-killing cola of choice?

Enough to turn it into body art? Mountain Dew and agency Seed Gives Life hope so.

By implication, anyway. A new campaign called Green Label Art is promoting a series of limited-edition Mountain Dew bottles, inspired by tat culture. See video.

Rumour has it a local burger joint whose name escapes us conducted a campaign in which people were invited to tattoo their logo somewhere on their bodies in exchange for free food for life. In just a few months so many people called the bluff that the campaign had to end.

Sucks for those who didn't cash in. Well, a memory's worth a thousand ice-breaking conversations, isn't it?

'The Break Up' Illustrates Ridiculousness of Advertiser/Consumer Relationship

Microsoft Trade Marketing Manager Geert Desager has launched a site Bring Back the Love which features a video, The Break Up, that hilariously illustrates the ridiculous relationship between advertisers and consumers by making each human and filming them while on a date. Working with Microsoft Agency Openhere, the long-form commercial takes a hard look at what we all like to call the "relationship" between advertiser and consumer. Clearly, at this point, it is far from a relationship which is why this video is entitled The Break Up.

Desager hopes the video and the blog will foster discussion about this ridiculous notion of relationship and how it can be better defined or reworked so that an actual relationship can occur with The Break Up. While never a good thing to com[are to a classic, this thing's right up their with the famed Truth in Advertising.

Chris Angel is a Mind Freak and Knows Who You Are!

Every marketer's got one of those personalized, send to a friend video thingamabobbers that's all the rage these days and that "miraculously" arrives in your friends inbox "miraculously" personalized with information no one but you could possibly know. Yawn.

Now, if you really want to have fun with your friends, check out this Chris Angel Mind Freak promotion. It's not that this promotion uses any new technology or amazing wizardry but it does present itself in a way that manages freak you out a bit. At least it did us. Anyway, take a look at it. We can't even show you an example because the created video can only be used once. Probably a good thing since it contains identifying information. Send one to yourself as an example.

Canadian Poster Campaign Carries Gun Control Message

Let's not revisit that heated gun control debate we stirred up a short time ago but rather appreciate a new 172 john st-created Canadian gun control pro-bono campaign for its stark simplicity and directness of message. Reacting to an increase in gun violence, the online initiative, Stop the Guns, has launched this poster campaign which portrays people with gun range targets on them and the headline, "Gun Crime Affects Us All."

McKinney Offers (Virtual) One Show Pencils to Losers

If you feel like hanging with One Club Chairman McKinney Executive Creative Director David Baldwin, you can have the pleasure of his company during a chat session this afternoon from 4 - 4:30P EST on a site, Virtual Ad Partner, his agency developed in tandem with a print an run in ONE Magazine. Apparently. McKinney wants to share its One Show award winning creative directors with the rest of the industry providing them a platform to impart One Show Pencil winning strategies to the rest of us losers whose work failed to deliver. Since everyone can't have a real Pencil, McKinney will offer "every struggling copywriter and art director a chance to win their very own (digital) Pencil."

Come on. You know you'll be there. You'll do anything for an award of any kind, right? We're all sick like that and you know it.

Lynx Mynxes Select Ultimate Lynx Player Finalists

Back in April, Lynx launched its Bom Chicka Wah Wah Rally flirting contest which asked guys to send in videos displaying their best flirting techniques. Well, the finalists have been selected by a team of Lynx Mynx Girls and you can view them here. It's no wonder most guys still can't get a date.

gluelondon Listens, Improves Initially Disappointing Work

Occasionally we see work from agencies that falls short and disappoints. Earlier this week, we took a look at the work gluelondon did for the Royal Navy. It was a site that let visitors send naval-themed personalized messages to their friends which would be delivered via email or mobile. Well, let's just say the site was a bit kludgey and took forever to load even loading several times in the middle of its presentations. Usually this work just lives on continuing to cause disappointment without a care from either the client or the agency. Not this time.

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Change Advertising Forever Has Really Familiar Business Model

Remember AdCandy, where companies could pitch consumers and consumers could throw together campaigns for a pittance?

Change Advertising Forever takes that same idea and infuses it with drama.

We're with Shedwa on this one.

Cows Have Emotions. Feeling Like a Palio Yet?

Oh, awesome. Again for its Palio model, Fiat succeeds in confusing us more than it did yesterday.

Got two minutes? Watch an old man throw knives at a cow. Then hit the campaign website, where you can watch all sorts of other bizarre Brazilian fare.

Elave Goes Bare to Push Purity

Because it has nothing to hide (no nasty chemicals or cancer-causing agents), skincare brand Elave pitches product in the buff.

We've never seen so many different types of naked people doing all sorts of really ... well, mundane stuff. Where do we apply?