What the Hell Are These Guys Excited About?

Watch this promotional ad from French pay TV channel Canal+ and see if you can guess what's for before the ad ends. You've seen this activity before. But not exactly in the various scenarios the ad portrays. BETC Paris created the work

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Return of Tampons Celebrated, Holiday Cards Feed America

- Lowe Roche Toronto is launching and Endless Celebration to tout the return of...o.b. Ultra absorbancy tampons. Yea, seriously.

- Colle+McVoy is selling special occasion cards for $14.99 with proceeds going to Feeding America.

- Check out Yoke's Ad-Vent calendar which, each day, will feature one of the best (in Yoke's eyes) ads or branded content from all over the world.

4 Steps to Increase Customer Loyalty Using Mobile Apps

A well-designed mobile app, tailored to its audience, has the ability to increase customer loyalty, encourage more frequent interactions and drive sales. If poorly designed, it runs the risk of falling into the vast pool of mobile apps that are used only once, then abandoned.

In this white paper from Appcelerator, you will learn the keys to creating "sticky" mobile apps that keep customers coming back. Using four pillars of the mobile relationship lifecycle - reach, loyalty, engagement and monetization - as guides, you'll learn the most effective ways to connect with customers at the right time, on the right mobile device.

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The Most Embarrassing CES Party List Promo You Will Ever See

As an entity that's often involved in party planning and listing at various advertising and marketing events, we're well aware of what it takes to host and sponsor a great event. We're familiar with what it takes to promote a party. We're familiar with the talent needed to insure party goers have a great time.

Which is why we are both amused and horrified that CES Partylist guy, Michael Terpin - also founder of SocialRadius - decided to appear in a promotional video drumming up sponsors for his Partlist Party. Yes, the entity that lists all the parties at CES also has their own party.

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The Weirdest Toothpaste Commercial You Will Ever See

This is a really, really, really weird commercial. It's for toothpaste but you'd never know that when you first watch it or without having first seen the video's title. In what is likely NSFW (though no nudity), a man and a woman return home from an evening out and proceed to go at each other as if neither of them have had sex in over a year. The intensity builds, the passion mounts and...well...just watch it all the way to the end.

It's the furthest thing from a P&G commercial you'll ever see.

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iStockPhoto Shares 2012 Stock Photo Trends

Either stock photography is getting better or creatives are getting lazier as indicated by the fact 98 percent of creatives used stock imagery in 2012 as opposed to 79 percent in 2000.

This nugget comes from an iStockPhoto infographic which explores stock photo trends for the year.

Also noted, an increase in the use of medical imagery. Hmm. Yet another indication of the growing and aging baby boomer demographic?

And who knew? Quality is the number one consideration when selection stock photography. Riveting, we know.

Museum App Lets You Create Glass-Blown Art, Promotes Exhibit

As part of a campaign for the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Martin Agency, along with Unit9, has created an iPhone app to help promote a new exhibit; Breathe Art into Life from glassblower Dale Chihuly.

The app allows users to blow into the phone's microphone to create Chihuly-inspired glass blown art. Creations can then be shared on Facebook, Twitter, emailed to friends and saved to a gallery on the Museum's Facebook page.

The app is being promoted through social media and with outdoor and print.

Honda CMO Dumps RPA After Promising to Keep Them

As is always the case, the irrefutable CMO math has bitten yet another ad agency in the ass. This time it's Honda biting RPA. True to form, new Honda CMO, Michael Accavitti, after taking the job last year, said, dumping RPA would be "completely unproductive and unnecessary, RPA is an extension of the Honda family," flip flopped and uttered this mouthful:

"In the face of a changing media landscape and a hyper-competitive marketplace, our challenge is to create dynamic marketing campaigns that connect and engage consumers with our products and our brands. The review we have initiated will lead to a strong, long-term strategic plan for our brands"

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