- Amalgamated clears air over "Virtual Drinking Buddy" rip. In addition to starting a dialogue with Robbie Wenger, Amalgamated founder Charles Rosen told Adrants, "in no way are we above stealing ideas around here - but it wasn't the case this time. we really didn't know about robbie's virtual drinking buddy until he emailed us about it after our mike's spot ran." That's serious grace under pressure, and we were completely charmed.
- Smart way to promote sober driving.
- Tribal DDB scores Wrigley account, must now work out how to adhere gum to 'net users. Shouldn't be too hard. Just chew a little and avoid this kinda crap.
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Who doesn't like a bit of Friday fun? Not that this necessarily counts as fun as opposed to the late night direct response television idiocy it is but, here, we are presented with Tiddy Bear. Yes, Tiddy Bear. It's exactly what it sounds like; a bear to place on your tits. Why? So that the seat belt in your car doesn't give you that annoying separation so often experienced when the shoulder strap creates a canyon between the left and right breast.
One wonders if there's a corresponding Dicky Bear for the guys to help keep their packages from sliding out the bottom of their shorts while enjoying the Tiddy Bear-wearing woman sitting next to them in the car.
In an internal letter obtained by TechCrunch, SVP Bill Veghte tries to explain WTF Microsoft was getting at with its Seinfeld campaign, which kicked off with this really weird ad.
Excerpt from Veghte's letter:
Today, we are kicking off a highly visible advertising campaign. The first phase of this campaign is designed to engage consumers and spark a new conversation about Windows - a conversation that will evolve as the campaign progresses, but will always be marked by humor and humanity. The first in this series [...] aims to re-ignite consumer excitement about the broader value of Windows.
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"Best of Skype Laughter Chain" is FOUR AND A HALF MINUTES of footage of other people laughing. After awhile you'll be like, "That is one seriously ugly noise."
The video is part of a broader effort where people upload videos of themselves laughing. Sorta like that Gmail thing from last year. The idea is that Skype provides the ultimate setting for mirth and hilarity with its video chat feature. That's cool, and I'm a Skype fan and all, but this "take a giggle, pass it on!" gimmick is lame. It's like a whole campaign composed of inside jokes you weren't let in on.
This is HSBC's "Lumberjack" by JWT/London/NYC and production company Gorgeous. At first watch it's like Swiss Family Robinson meets Lord of the Flies, except everybody's grown up and cops ruin all the fun.
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In the first ad released by Crispin Porter+Bogusky for Microsoft, Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld meet serendipitously at Shoe Circus, a Payless ShoeSource-type store. Seinfeld helps him pick out shoes. Made of pleather. Significant glances are exchanged, immigrants gawk, and churros are shared.
Thus ingratiated with one of the world's richest (and thriftiest?) men, Seinfeld poses the question we'd all ask, given the chance (and a serious case of munchies): "Are they ever gonna come up with something that'll make our computers moist and chewy like cake so we can eat 'em while we're working?"
Gates gives Seinfeld a subtle but sassy little ass-shake to denote "yes."
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To promote the Sunday premier of HBO's Entourage, a series that enlivens the imaginations of freeloaders everywhere, Creature pimped out public transport.
Buses in NYC were wrapped with Entourage creative and outfitted with ostentatious chrome rims featuring the series logo. Way to bring LA to Manhattan!
Attesting to the show's success at engaging its demographic, one of the rims has already been stolen. The others will be auctioned off after the promotion.
"What does it mean to be interesting? That's an interesting question." It's also one of the better lines from "Behind Interesting," a six-part web series by Dos Equis and Break, which is letting Dos Equis ride its leaderboards like a carnival pony.
"Behind Interesting" expands on Dos Equis' Most Interesting Man in the World campaign. Problem is, all that over-practiced pompousness is just too earnest to be ironic.
Aptly called "Melony B." Watch 'til the end -- there's a candy surprise.
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Sort of like a politician making rosy promises but forgetting to spell out the details, this new Martin Agency-created commercial for Discover Card which acknowledges the fact we get carried away with all the cool stuff in this world and how that can stress us out because of the resulting debt, promises to help people "spend smarter" versus spend more.
It's all very feel good with images of people having a great time with their families and friends but, like many political speeches, one is left with a feeling of emptiness and curiosity after the high has subsided. OK, Discover, just how exactly does a company that exists solely because people spend money avoid being accused of smoke and mirrors-fueled shenanigans by telling people to spend less? Huh? Huh? Do tell.
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