H&R Blocks Holds Agency Review On Heels Of $32 Million Tax Error

Perhaps anticipating the needs to distance itself from its own $32 million tax mistake, tax preparation firm H & R Block, according to AdWeek, will this week brief five agencies on its $100 million account. In the loop will be Deutsch/LA, Arnold, DDB/Chicago, Campbell Mithun and Mullen. Currently, most H & R Block work is handled by Campbell Mithun. Played properly, there's a great inside joke to be leveraged in future campaigns.

Canadian Agency Turns On, Plugs In With Self Promotional Boards

Because we've seen these images at least 3,000 times on Flickr in the last two days along with many people having sent them to us, we figure, hell, there must be something to them. While we're inclined to pass them off as a typical, ego-driven agency self-promotional effort, they are getting notice so there must be something good about these boards placed outside the offices of Brown Communications Group based out of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Brown describes its Light Switch board by saying, "Every corner of our building is supercharged with high energy strategy, advertising, interactive and public relations professionals. Stop by. Our lights are always on." Hasn't some wise-ass, eager to have a bit of fun, tried to turn off that light switch yet? Or try to plug something into the Wall Plug version of the board? Come on people. Get inventive.

Marketing Tips Offered to Movie Studios

Chris Thilk who writes the Movie Marketing Madness weblog has compiled a list of five tips movie marketers should heed when launching a movie marketing campaign. Chief among the tips is the recognition that the studio is not nor should be the sole source of information and content about a given movie. Thilk suggests studios should acknowledge and link to other sources of information about a movie rather than pretend the studio's website is the only place for movie info. He also says studios should make use of RSS to push out updates and deliver added information rather than require a movie's fans to remember to return to the site. Thilk also says studios should take an active role in joining the ongoing online conversation about a movie by searching Technorati for mentions and responding to what's being said about the movie.

Pre-Photoshopped Nicole Richie Jimmy Chew Ad Revealed

Waifish Nicole Richie can be seen in the new Jimmy Choo footwear ads being voraciously swallowed up by paparazzi. Gallery of the Absurd has done some investigative research behind the Brett Ratner shoot, unearthed the original photo and revealed the extensive Photoshop work which was done prior to the ad making its way into fashion mags. Check out the before and after here along with analysis.