Obama the New LensCrafters Spokesman (OK, Not Really)

After seeing this LensCrafters ad on The New York Times homepage, one has to wonder if, perhaps, it was created specifically to get a bit of added awareness because, as one Adrants reader notes, it's somewhat "Obama-esque." Or, it could just be a random coincidence. But, it's not like marketers haven't done stuff like this before. See the ad in context on the NYT page here.

Marines, the True American Idols Debut on 'American Idol' Wednesday

During the Wednesday night episode of American Idol, The United States Marine Corps will debut a commercial called America's Marines which supports the Our Marines website that tells the stories of current and former Marines and why they serve. The site also contains documentaries of the public's interaction with the Marines during the filming of the commercial and during other encounters. It's the website, more than the commercial itself, that offers a deeper look into the life of a Marine as well as America's appreciation for them even if they don't agree with the politics behind their deployment.

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Arnold Deflates Egos With One Show Annual Design

Now here's an award show annual we love. Bluntly pointing out the fact you're either good enough to have won an award and be in the book or you suck and you're not, Arnold crafted an interactive annual of sorts for this year's One Show Annual. Along with the book, will come stickers you can affix to the front and spine of the book listing the pages you and your work are on or, if you aren't so lucky, a sticker that reads simply, "Not In." Oh the cruelty of it all! But hey, you know some of us need our inflated egos smashed every once in a while, right?

Cavemen Prove Focus Groups Kill Great Ideas

These two videos from DraftFCB Hamburg examine the idiocy of focus groups and why it's silly to rely too heavily on them. In the videos, one caveman moderator and three caveman panelists turn great ideas like fire and the wheel into useless inventions no one would ever need. It's humorous enough and hits home perfectly the notion a bunch of random people will, undoubtedly, kill a good idea every time.

The Phoenix Suns Invite You Into Their Locker Room

If you're into the Phoenix Suns, you might like this new website called Suns Locker Room. On the site, you can snoop into player's lockers, check out Head Coach Mike D'Antoni's office, turn on his TV and read his email, and...yes, see the Suns Gorilla dry his ass with a towel. And other stuff but we got tired of stating at the flickering "loading" graphic every time we clicked something.

'Get the Glass' Wins FWA Site of the Year Award

The Favorite Website Awards judging is complete. The results for the group's site of the year award are in and damn if my fellow judges didn't side with me! I voted for the infectiously engaging HBO Voyeur site but, apparently, more than half of the other judges thought the Goodby Silverstein/North Kindom-created Get the Glass site was better.

While good, Get the Glass just didn't hold my attention the way Voyeur did. But, and this is important, it took quite a while to get my attention in the first place which may have been one of the reasons it wasn't picked as a winner. Get the Glass delivers its goods quickly. The HBO Voyeur site is a slow build but once you're in, you're hooked and you can't stop. That's why I voted for it and, perhaps, why others didn't.

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Get Your Bribes Ready, ADC Jury Announced

Are you one of the cool kids? Did you get asked by the Art Directors Club to be on their jury for the organization's 87th annual awards? No? Don't feel bad. Neither did we. But we can still have fun. Go grab the nearest can of spray mount and we'll stick their hands to their temporarily pompous little asses. Kidding!

We love our fellow industry mates and we wish them well as they pour monotonously through thousands of entries ultimately assigning random grades as the list becomes endlessly frustrating and they scream, "Make it stop!" Kidding! We wish them well as they peruse the world's most beautiful advertising work and jealously exclaim, "Damn, I wish I did that!" Not really kidding.

Anyway, if you want to know who will be responsible for your potential appearance in the Club's nice fat annual coffee table book, here's the list of people to bride. Kidding!

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