iPod Central in Teen Pedestrian Death Campiagn

While Apple certainly isn't going to like this campaign, Sydney's police department felt it necessary to call attention the the apparent epidemic of teenagers dying while crossing the street, unable to hear oncoming cars because they were using an iPod.

Ronzoni Gives Cows A Day Off With New Calcium-Infused Pasta

PETA's gonna love this one. Ronzoni Smart Taste which contains as mush calcium as an 8 ounce glass of milk is celebrating its new pasta with the launch of Cow's Day Off, a site on which people can give seemingly overburdening cows a day off. There's just one big problem. If the creators of this had done their homework, they'd know taking a cow off its daily milking schedule would make it quite sick. You see, cows make milk. Cows have to be milked. Regularly. They can't just not be milked for one day. It just doesn't work that way.

And yea, yea, yea, we know it's just a fun little ad concept that only offers the cows a "virtual" day off but, much like cow tipping, it's just one more little thing that spreads mis-information about our bovine friends.

Contextual Advertising Adds Color to Matching Smarts

We all know contextual advertising has it's ups and downs. Well, mostly downs. At least here on Adrants. We've had Do we really need killer values from supermarkets offered next to articles about Amish killings. We've had turpentine ads next to bits about a teen drinking turpentine to abort a pregnancy. We've had Anna Nicole Smith's dead son put up for sale. And we've had "card shark" credit card copy next to an article about a woman killed by a shark.

So it's refreshing to see, thanks to Adrants reader Sarah, contextual advertising progress to the point where it can now match not only contextual messaging but, in some sort of new fashion fixation, match colors...and the need for new hair. In this case, we have a story featuring a balding prisoner in orange prison garb and an ad seemingly sympathetic to the prisoner's hair-challenged status. So sympathetic that the model in the ad is also wearing an orange shirt as if to say, "I identify with you man. Don't worry. We have hair for you here on the outside."

Hair the New Currency for McDonald's NHL Hockey Cards

Ew. I mean really. Hair swapping? That's just gross! But it's funny too. In this quirky McDonald's spot created by Toronto's Cossette and directed by OPC's Brian Lee Hughes, two guys negotiate for an NHL hokey card in s way that isn't normally done...at a McDonald's...or in a sports bar...or anywhere for that matter. Oh what men will do for their sons and for their vanity.

Emails Awarded, Whipple Squeezed, Conference Engages, Lynx Mobilizes

- January 11 is the deadline for entering MarketingSherpa'a 2008 Email Summit Awards which "recognize email campaigns that have outstanding measurable results."

- The Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP), announced today that entries are now being accepted for the 2008 AICP Show, The Art & Technique of the American Commercial. Entries may be submitted online here. The Show debuts on June 3rd at The Museum of Modern Art in New York.

- GSDM Creative Director Luke Sullivan has released the third edition of his book, Hey Whipple, Squeeze This.

- The Custom Publishing Council has announced its first custom content conference, Content '08: Re-thinking Branded Content in the Age of Engagement, held March 9-11 at the New Orleans Marriott.

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Penn Farm Show Promotes Wares with Butter Bus

Butter is important.

What, you don't believe us? You clearly don't live in Pennsylvania, where it serves as a crucial vehicle for grade school transportation.

Purdue Employees Federal Credit Union Blows Nose with Brand

We just got a press release that starts, "PURDUE EMPLOYEES FEDERAL CREDIT UNION BLOWS AWAY THE COMPETITION." And no, it's not a reference to some landmark deal-making.

It's an announcement about its AdPack marketing strategy!

The credit union is giving away 20,000 branded tissue packs at Purdue University football games. The packs read, "Don't blow it with another credit card."

Har har.

We made a lot of "blow" references in college, but none of them actually had to do with credit cards. Well, except for one.

Agency's Orgiastic Imagery Plays Visual Trickery

Boulder agency TDA Advertising & Design, "a big advocate of, and more than willing to perform gay marriages, " so says CD Jonathon Schoenberg, has created an interesting cover for quarterly elephant magazine, a guide to "The Mindful Life." Intertwined are two couples each embracing their partner creating some intriguing optical trickery. Depending upon your sexual proclivities, it just might be fun to be in the middle of all of that.

What Do the Battle of Thermopylae and Chippendales Have in Common? SPARTANS!

Those who watched 300 in a theatre full of high school kids know it was just a matter of time before the film sparked an epic spoof with a disco king-meets-Bring it On kind of feel.

And no, we're not talking about this.

The wait's over. Meet the Spartans. The trailer's almost as guffaw-inducing as 300 itself.

Zune Goes Silent, Stays Pretty, Over Times Square

The Zune is getting mighty sexy ad-wise. (Not like Microsoft hasn't got the blow to cash -- er, the cash to blow.)

The brand enlisted TAG, SF to build a silent spot for the 20-foot GeoffreyTron billboard in Times Square. The final product, Zune Tron, made use of work by Stardust, whose job it was to enliven the spot without use of actual sound. That's a tall order considering the product is an MP3 player, but it turned out damn pretty. It must have been gorgeous in person.

GEICO Gecko Gets Talky with Otter and Jellyfish

GEICO supports wildlife conservation. Not convinced? Watch the gecko have a heart-to-heart with an otter and a jellyfish, courtesy of the Association of Zoos and Acquariums.

The gecko shtick never gets old. We're glad GEICO didn't lose sight of that in the face of its neurotic caveman's mushroom cloud popularity.

Catch the gecko in the flesh at the San Diego Zoo's Children's Zoo from January 5-February 17. You'll meet a few real geckos, and a big fake one too. (The GEICO mascot, that is.)

ABC, Kimberly-Clark Intervene on Rooms in Need of Therapy

ABC's The View and Kimberly-Clark -- the pretty name behind a bunch of brands lying around your house -- are conducting their second annual Room-a-Day Giveaway. 16 people will get 25 grand for a room makeover from January 12 to March 7.

15 winners will be announced on the show; the 16th will appear on the March 13 episode. Last year (arguably the height of the UGC craze) the contest got about 3.6 million entries.

It's not like there's anything else to watch, right? Damn writers strike.