The Department of Defense takes a shot at drinking with That Guy, another one of those characteristically we-speak-your-language government campaigns that, in a wildly uncool manner, attempts to demonstrate how uncool it is to be a drinker.
The site feels a bit dated and we agree with Bill at Make the Logo Bigger: there's not much of an attempt to reach out to swig-happy women, and you know we've seen a few. It's also a little stupid to put a "Fun Stuff" section on a site that hopes to lay it on thick about the mals of the bottle. - Contributed by Angela Natividad
Scamp directs us to yet another holiday video. It takes place in what looks like a dorm and involves two guys in Santa hats dancing around in their underwear. Since five-year-olds do this all the time we failed to see what was so special about it.
The video was created by some "directors/graphic designers" called Type2error operating out of the UK and, we suspect, out of this same dorm room. Well, we look forward to watching their talents develop, which should happen shortly after their voices change and they discover tube socks and vegetable oil. - Contributed by Angela Natividad
Rexley and Roy of Dog Judo are back in a holiday promo as pointless and confusing as ever. Watch them duke it out over philosophy and headlocks while wearing gis, swigging beer and eating chicken. And don't forget to pick up some Christmas cards, which are just so awkward you can relish in the feeling of alienation that emanates from family and friends. - Contributed by Angela Natividad
Toyota pairs up with Swedish agency SWE to create On Toyota's Mind, a site that's supposed to creatively communicate to Swedes what Toyota's philosophy and values are without directly selling vehicles.
The site's certainly unique and has interesting music involving what occasionally sounds like a goat, but despite assertions that "we're not trying to sell any car directly on the site!" (PR guy, verbatim) every graphic leads to a cleverly-rendered media-kit style pitch about different facets of Toyota and new vehicle features. And unless what they're referring to is the tone in which this Flash-ridden kit was written, we're not finding much philosophy either.
We much preferred the Aygo campaign. At least then they were more direct about their intention: actually getting a car inside your living room. - Contributed by Angela Natividad
We sometimes wonder why anyone in their right mind would want their ass crack revealed for the entire industry to examine but, apparently, someone over at Crispin Porter + Bogusky wants (practically begged) all of us to see Director of Broadcast Rupert Samuel's ass which he bared (sort of) at the agency's recent two office (Miami and Boulder) holiday party. Bogusky himself was on hand as well dressed as Willy Wonka. Oh the things we do to bring you important ad industry news.
Given available facts, when queried on their opinions about whether or not Julie Roehm should have been fired from Wal-mart, the industry is clearly undecided and split right down the middle. Based on a survey of 509 Adrants readers, 250 think she should have been fired and 259 think she should not have been fired. Hardly conclusive and, well, hardly relevant either. It's just interesting to see where the industry sits on this issue.
In an attempt to capture an unlikely audience, London's Time Out has launched two spots directed by Julian Pugsley and edited by Owen Plotkin that take us inside the very weird world of social losers illustrating to us how we'd never, ever want to lead such a life and how Time Out can cure all. Well, at least it can provide places to go. We're not too sure if it can cure the idiosyncratic behavior of the two guys in these commercials.
United Church of Canada's WonderCafe, "home of open-minded discussion and exploration of spiritual topics, moral issues and life's big questions," has, with help from Smith Roberts and UNTITLED, launched a viral-intended video called E-Z Squirrel. In the video, a squirrel is asked simple yes or no questions until he's asked, "which one of the gospels do you think resonates most in relation to the modern world in which we live?" The squirrel answers "yes" leaving the questioner a bit stumped - which is the entire point of the video. When you have want to explore life's big questions a bit deeper, don't ask a squirrel. Go to WonderCafe instead. It's clear. It's simple. It's funny. It works.
Motorola has wrapped itself in the (RED) campaign and is promoting its Moto RAZR V3M phoe with a very odd site called Improve Your Karma on which a dude named Sven Goodsson gts all excited about karma. He'll even analyze your karma using youur MySpace profile as a yardstick. You might want to remove all those porn star...uh...friend profile from your site before you take the test. Tough, apparently, our lame profile registers as "awesome." Have fun.
- AdFreak wraps up the year with its list of the Ten Most Wanted stories of the year, the stories they most enjoyed covering in 2006. From Folger's Happy Mornings to IKEA's dog penis to TBWA's toilet bandit to Bank America's bastardization of U2, it's all there for your enjoyment.
- TBWA\Chiat\Day and Firstborn have created a virtual road trip site for JBL that lets visitors get inside the world of a groupie.
- Shannon from Glossy received a very inventive Advent calendar Christmas card from ACLC. Each of the days on the calendar for the month of December are stages in the development of a campaign. Nice.
- Oh look. An online press kit for Paramount Home Video's The Last Kiss.
- Sean John (Diddy, P. Diddy, whatever) has launched a campaign in Canada to raise awareness of the many counterfeiters who rip off his brand.
- Mobile content company Airborne Entertainment is cuddling with Marc Ecko in a deal that will bring the Ecko brand to ringtones, ringbacktones, message alerts, screensavers and wallpapers to cell phones the world over.
- While the Federal Trade Commission agreed with Commercial Alert that some word of mouth marketing that does not disclose the brand can be deceptive, the Commission declined (pdf) to heed Commercial Alert's request (pdf) the Commission launch a formal investigation into the practice.
