Being in the service is like living in a bubble: you do as you're told, go where you're sent, and live on-base, which has its own restaurants, shops and medical centers.
So one of the scariest things about leaving the military is knowing what to do afterward. Four years in, it's hard to remember what civilian life is like; worse still, you're rusty with the social and professional politics.
To help future former military members get a head start, Plaid created AreYouG2G, a clever little site that helps them construct outside lives based on what they did in uniform.
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Three Olives Vodka, the folk that pimped the nation for its best O-face, is back with a triage of TV spots.
Each scenario is the same: a bespectacled male is subjected to pain. He doesn't react. Then he downs a shooter of the vodka, squeezes his little shoes together and O's his little heart out.
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We're not really sure what New Yorkers read to give them that Big City somethin'-somethin', but NBC New York wants the crown for itself.
So it turned to Mother, which in turn conceived "Locals Only," a campaign that spotlights the website's granular take on the city. It's the spots that compelled us to visit the site, where we discovered it's a lot like HuffPo for deep-Manhattanites with a PG palate (more for NBC's sake, wethinks, than for the city's).
Yesterday's big story was a taser-toting robber grandma; today you've got a happy ending to a very old kidnapping story.
We also think the changing header -- "NBC New York [is intrigued by nude models]" -- gives it a personable touch, lending sass to a rag that, while not as gritty as NEW YORK POST, may well hold its own in the city's dense circle.
But enough about the site; let's move on to the weirdos. The punchline's cheap, and the news tidbits at the end feel a little shoehorned in, but the caricatures are wicked.
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We all get save-the-kids! mailers, and most of us have received the kind with the nickel or the quarter enclosed, for added effect.
But it never occurred to us how stupid this approach is until The Denver Egotist pointed it out:
If your envelope line reads "A Nickel Could Save A Child's Life!" and you not only enclose the aforementioned nickel, but spend a few more of them popping it in the post, you've just fucked yourselves and the importance of the message.
For those of us that have already passed precious shekels to a charity, it really leaves you wondering how much of that cash was recycled as nickels for the trash heap. But who knows, maybe this works, and we've been doing ourselves a great disservice by hoarding for retirement. What's that proverb? It takes money to make money?
Through the magic of YouTube, Choose a Different Ending walks you almost seamlessly through a tense scenario between street kids. As it progresses, you get to decide what happens next and how you -- as a character -- will react.
The choose-your-own-adventure model's been used before, notably by Twix, but not this well or for this provocative a cause. We were surprised by how the experience captured our curiosity -- and also by a lot of the endings. (When you elect to talk things out, it's rare that you expect to be gutted like a fish.)
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Those shit-quality YouTube clips, where something extraordinary happens and you're supposed to wonder whether the footage is real, probably feel like the video advertising equivalent of cavepainting to you by now. Sure there've been classics, but by and large we've all evolved, right?
No.
Behold "Dairy Chicken," a piece so square you're left thinking these people knew exactly how lame they were being and just surrendered to their destinies. In it, some guys at a park catch a chicken sipping from somebody's milk glass. (Who brings glasses of milk to the park?) And suddenly the chicken flashes the camera a big toothy smile.
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Instead of imposing changes that everyone inevitably just complains about later, the Chicago Transportation Authority decided to poll city inhabitants to find out how they'd improve the public transport service.
With help from Chicago Now, the entity created a huge street chalkboard where users could kneel down and write their views. Oh yeah, you could also leave opinions on a Chicago Now blog. But given the option between keyboard and chalk, we'd rather be clutching the latter.
Variant photo here.
Ho there. Know what we never get tired of? That retail-superhero crap that Best Buy did with Geek Squad and Dell tried doing with Nerd Buddy.
But that's cool, because this is Sears, and you know they're hurtin' for imagination.
In defense of the Sears Blue Electronics Crew, we will say real-time price-checking is neat if it works the way it does in the ad, and we dig how research-intensive purchases, like a new TV, are made to look like a rest-easy impulse-buy process.
The slogan is equally brief: "Sears: Life. Well Spent."
These are the parts we like. The parts we don't: it's derivative, as usual; the piece is too long; and we feel like they tossed in Brett Farve because a celebrity face will ensure at least some campaign love. Also, did they even do the price comparison before Farve OK'ed the buy?
Nice tie-in with the "waffle" joke though. High-five for that, Y&R/Chicago.
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...I guess that makes sense, although the five spots featured for Discover's new "Get Back" campaign do occasionally, if feebly, try suggesting you can also "get back" buddy time and family time and youth.
But this really all just comes down to buy more shit.
By the nonetheless well-meaning folks at The Martin Agency. The brand isn't strong in the first place; it's only natural that the message be blurry in equal measure.
The Toronto Zoo has completed a brand-new habitat to accommodate the return of its polar bears. No, not sure where they're returning from, but it must've been some awesome digs because their just-finished gilded cage is 10 acres across and outfitted like the Tundra.
To promote the exhibit, Lowe Roche is disseminating this spot in which a square but well-meaning dude mistakes the habitat for the real thing, then penetrates it and goes off in search of adventure and meaning.
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