Coldwell Tries Funny with Founding Father Staring Contest

There are few things more lame than a competitive staring match between two non-blinking pros, unless those pros are also inanimate objects.

Watch helplessly as the portraits of Coldwell Banker's founding fathers, Colbert Coldwell and Arthur Banker, try to out-stare each other. Well, sort of. They're side by side, so they can't really stare.

It could be worse. (Imagine the moving-mouth and eyeball-hockey effects that challenged advertisers usually impose on stills.)

This playful take on the real estate market is positioned by the PR folk as a radical departure (note: our view, not a verbatim quote) from manicured lawns, smiling children and "the ubiquitous 'sold' sign."

Nice distraction. You want radical departure? How about the now-ubiquitous "foreclosed" sign? Make generous use of yellow tape.

The ads were developed by McKinney, Durham and are accompanied by a microsite by Kinesis Marketing. The site includes a virtual office and blog.