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Garmin Releases 'Maposaurus' Super Bowl Spot

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We think people are going to like this new Super Bowl commercial from first-time advertiser Garmin which is promoting personal GPS. We saw the music video of the spot earlier but here is the finished :30. It's 50's-style battle between a monster than emanates from a driver's wind blown road map and the driver whose personal GPS device converts him into a monster fighting super hero. It's just weirdly different enough to achieve some decent recall. Though, it might suffer from the dreaded "what was that commercial selling?" problem the morning after.

Fallon created the commercial for the first time Super Bowl advertiser and will launch a corresponding microsite this Saturday before the game. There's also a blog that digs deeper into the world of the Maposaurus.

by Steve Hall    Jan-31-07    
Topic: Commercials, Good, Super Bowl 2007



Blogs Launch, Online Ad Spend Up, Toy Explains, Brands Clueless

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- Former Gawker Founding Editor Elizabeth Spiers, now founder of Dead Horse Media plans to launch several new blogs. One will cover organic living.

- Online ad spending is predicted to increase 18 percent in 2007 while media spend in other media decline.

- If you want the background behind those 20 websites Toy, New York created for OfficeMax, here's the video that recaps the project.

- Apparently, consumers aren't the only ones having trouble understanding a brand's positioning. In a recent Louws Management Corporation study, it was found just 1/4 could clearly articulate their company's brand positioning. Oops.

- Incumbent Riney is out of the Sprint Nextel pitch. Goodby, O&M and Y&R remain.

- Boobs and bikinis are now hawking coffee at coffee shops.

by Steve Hall    Jan-31-07    
Topic: Online, Publishing, Research, Weblogs



Ad Age's Jonah Bloom Slapped Down For Defending CP+B

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While Advertising Age's Jonah Bloom has had issues with what we've written a couple times, we are, without doubt, sure he's going to take issue with what George Parker recently wrote about a column Jonah did on Crispin Porter + Bogusky backlash. Commenting on Bloom's statement about ads being "events" and hatred of Crispin's work actually being a good thing for the client, Parker wrote, "Listen Jonah baby, do me a favor, go and rent a copy of 'The Hucksters' and check out the scene where Sydney Greenstreet as 'The Soap Baron' spits up a huge gob of phlegm on the boardroom table to show agency guy Clark Gable how you go about catching the consumers attention. It's disgusting, just like holding a pile of dog shit, or having a crazed Nazi with a Nurse Diesel assistant shilling for VW. You don't have to spit in someone's face to get their attention."

Parker's gleeful criticism doesn't end there, adding, " And don't give me that shit about 'Ads as events.' They're fucking ADS... Get it. If I want an event, I'll go to the Super Bowl, and not for the ads. This is what happens when you have people who've never worked a day in advertising, writing about advertising. Pathetic!"

So who's right? No bullshit George who has years of advertising experience or CP+B-defending Jonah who's made a successful career in journalism?

by Steve Hall    Jan-31-07    
Topic: Agencies, Opinion



Geico Opens Up the Caveman's Crib

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Geico's getting all sorts of mileage out of its rising star, the caveman. He gained fame in the insurance company's television commercials and now Geico is letting us into his home crib-style with Caveman's Crib. Once inside, you can take a virtual tour of the Caveman's apartment as he gets ready for a party he is hosting. The level of detail and the places you can go once inside the apartment is impressive

You've gotta love the answering machine in the kitchen. One of the messages is from Jerry Shannon (from Geico, we assume) in response to complaints the Caveman lodged when he saw himself in a Geico ad as he rode the conveyor in one of the television commercials. Very cool how this is all tied together as an integrated story. Zev Kanter sent is the link and tells us he worked on the creation of this in-house job.

by Steve Hall    Jan-30-07    
Topic: Good, Online



Axe Turns Woman's Super Bowl Date Auction Into Promotion

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The LAist, now written by the legendary Tony Pierce, tells the story of a Brentwood, Callifornia woman, Sarah, who created an eBay auction to sell herself to the highest Super Bowl ticket holding bidder. The winner would take Sarah, a Chicago Bears fan, to the game and Sarah would be the perfect date for the day. Well, eBay doesn't like people auctioning themselves off so they closed the bid but Axe heard of it and turned it into a promotion.

The company that prides itself in functioning as a woman magnet for men gave Sarah four end zone tickets to the Super Bowl. She's bringing two of her female friends and the fourth ticket is being given away to the man (or woman, we guess) who crafts the most convincing email and sends it to hotsuperbowldate@hotmail.com. Way to latch on, Axe!

by Steve Hall    Jan-30-07    
Topic: Good, Online, Promotions, Social, Super Bowl 2007



Hottie-Covered Bed Linens the Next Best Thing

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While we're not going to get all descriptive about what guys do alone in bed, we are going to marvel at how wonderful it might be to have bed linens like the ones here created by Duval Guillaume Antwerp for their client Che Magazine. On those lonely nights when you just can't get the real thing, a nice, soft set of sheets and pillows emblazoned with your dream hottie just might help you fall asleep more easily. And yes, we hope that's all you'll be doing with the sheets.

by Steve Hall    Jan-30-07    
Topic: Good, Magazine, Specialty



Maxim Parties, Voiceover Ruins, Deutsch Wins

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- Maxim Magazine is doing it usual annual Super Bowl extravaganza. This year, the magazine has dubbed Miami's South Beach Hotel De Maxim and all kinds of European-style luxury will be in the house with sponsors including Cadillac, Absolut, Coors Light, Samsung, Under Armour, GoDaddy and others.

- Brent likes this Georgia Lottery ad and its Asian concept but thinks the voiceover ruins it. We tend to agree.

- Deutsch is celebrating today as GM announced the shifting of its account from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners without review.

by Steve Hall    Jan-30-07    
Topic: Commercials, Magazine, Promotions



Saatchi's Bob Isherwood to Recieve Clio's Lifetime Achievement Award

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Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide Creative Director Bob Isherwood has been selected as the Clio Awards 2007 Lifetime Achievement Award recipient and will be honored at this year's 48th annual Clio Festival held May 9-12 in South Beach, Miami. The award will be presented May 10 and is the seventh award of its kind presented by Clio. Check out event details here.

by Steve Hall    Jan-30-07    
Topic: Industry Events



Booble Gets Bobbled By CBS

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Adult search site Booble.com has, apparently, been trying to get CBS to accept one of its commercials for airing during the Super Bowl. While details are slim, one can assume CBS isn't too keen on having an ad in the game that gushes tantalizingly about Booble's boob finding capabilities. The commercial in question is said to be tamer than GoDaddy's early entry into Super Bowl fame but CBS isn't budging. Of course, some surmise it's just a PR ploy anyway. Who knows. Who really cares anyway? Next

by Steve Hall    Jan-30-07    
Topic: Super Bowl 2007



No Super Bowl For P&G, Vista Attacks, Maytag Man Found

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- P&G and Unilever has decided to sit out this year's Super Bowl advertising extravaganza and will, instead, allocate dollars to other efforts they feel will provide a better ROI.

- Rather than believing its new operating system is good enough to seel itself, Microsoft is serving up a $500 million worldwide waterfall of advertising.

- A "viral" print ad? Yawn. Snooze. Huh? WTF?

- George is right. The five finalists in the Doritos Crash the Super Bowl are quite good. Our money is one Duct Tape of Mouse Trap.

- George also thinks he has the perfect replacement for the Maytag Man. He thinks it's Elmo Blatch (real name: Bill Bolanfder), the guy who killed the Tim Robbin's character's wife.

more »

by Steve Hall    Jan-30-07    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Commercials, Research, Super Bowl 2007, Television



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