« Mar-07 | This archive, pg:  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8  |  9  |  10  |  11  |  12  |  13  |  14  |  15  |  16  |  17  |  18  |  19  |  20  |  21  |  22  | May-07 »

ihaveanidea's Portfolio Night Goes on World Tour

Burn_Back-003557_2.jpg

Complete with full blown faux rock band returning after a 25 year absence, behind the scenes-style video and a "hit single," the folks over at ihaveanidea are promoting their upcoming Portfolio Night in style. The band, Burn Back, was popular back in the day but disappeared because they "weren't getting enough respect." Now, they're back to help push the organization's annual world-wide portfolio review during which top creative directors the word over will review the portfolios of aspiring creatives eager to get into advertising. It all happens May 3rd in 28 cities across the globe. Get your portfolios ready people!

by Steve Hall    Apr-10-07    
Topic: Good, Industry Events, Online, Promotions, Strange, Video



Houlihans Invites You to Play 'I Never' Drinking Game

i_never.jpg

It's a fair statement for us to say, for the most part, we've never found an online game we've really liked. In an odd and twisty bit of word play for us, a game called I Never has become an online game we really do like. Created by Kansas City-based Sullivan Higdon & Sink for Houlihan Restaurants, I Never is a drinking game (well, a virtual one in this case) where one person asks another ten questions and it spirals from there.

SHS's John January explains, saying, "Players can invite their friends to play I Never and can choose from questions we wrote or questions they make up themselves. Following on the heels of this email will be an invitation to play the game. Each time one of us chooses to submit answers the rest of us will be notified. You can wait for a couple of people to answer or you can watch as each person answers. Whatever floats your boat. The stories are optional but they make the game better."

more »

by Steve Hall    Apr-10-07    
Topic: Games, Good, Online



Baltica Sets Beers Astride Metro Poles

bonne_biere.jpg

Genevieve at VLAN points us to this effort to win Baltica beer drinkers on the metro. Maybe we're delusional but there seems to be something totally sexual about the way the beers are perched. Like ... do they move?

by Angela Natividad    Apr-10-07    
Topic: Good, Guerilla



Aw, Second-Lifers Can't Run Amock Anymore

second_life_reg.JPG

The moment we heard somebody actually made money on Second Life, we knew it was only a matter of time before the smut trades came barging in, followed by regulations galore.

Linden Lab cracks down on casinos, and a source tells us their stock market's pretty much gone to bust.

Second Life is starting to sound a lot like first life. Nix the laggage and cool costumes, of course. The debate over which is actually worth living remains a personal preference.

by Angela Natividad    Apr-10-07    
Topic: Games, Online



Talking Socks, Mike and Mike Take on Athlete's Foot

lamisil.JPG

MS&L Digital helped launch this weird new site called Get Your Game Feet On, a perhaps dead-on attempt at making Novartis' Lamisil AT Gel more jock friendly.

We weren't deeply moved by hosts Mike and Mike's feel-good product pushing (it's really hard to take feet seriously) but we kind of liked the hoop shot game and thought the talking socks were sort of funny. That is, until we remembered Lamb Chop and got really bummed out. It's not every day that your favourite talking sock dies.

by Angela Natividad    Apr-10-07    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Celebrity, Online



HBO Brings Sopranos Closer to Home

sopranos.JPG

To promote their Sopranos DVDs, HBO gives us two spots entitled Pole and Hair.

Pushing the objective of "[Bringing] home the Sopranos -- permanently," spots include insider nods to the Badda Bing strip club and Paulie Walnut's skunky hairdo. They were directed by Harvest Films' Baker Smith for Venables, Bell & Partners, and edited by Phoenix Editorial & Designs.

Unless you're an avid Sopranos watcher you're probably going to be all "OMGWTFBBQ?!" That's okay, because that's part of why they're so funny. We often stare sadly up at our ceilings at night and wish we were born in the mob. Sure there's sporadic death and violence, but the mobsters' otherwise zany antics (oh, and piles and piles of black market money) seem to make decent compensation.

by Angela Natividad    Apr-10-07    
Topic: Campaigns, Television



Milk Earns Passionate Flair with Promolac

proolac_milk.jpg

In lieu of your typical "Got Milk?" stint, Promolac ties milk to everyday passions. Who'd have guessed the stuff of cow udders could be sexy? Not us. Then again, sex and dairy aren't strangers, and it's definitely less "eh?" than this.

Put together by Eva of Santiago, Chile, the copy reads "I drink." Adpunch has more from the same campaign. The others aren't sexy, but they're pretty to look at, and we were getting tired of that bland family sitcom humour-type stuff people are always pulling to push milk.

by Angela Natividad    Apr-10-07    
Topic: Campaigns, Magazine



Ideocracy Brings Idiotic Non-Ads to Fox Ad Space

oleg.JPG

As of April 9 Fox aired its first non-ad-supported, non-promotional content, aimed at making commercial breaks more entertaining (and thus effective) advertising environments.

This all sounds lovely and nice but the result of this thought process is a series of 8-second bits starring a Greek-Lithuanian taxi driver named Oleg. Oleg is the pet project of Ted D'Cruz-Young, founder of firm Ideocracy, previously of Saatchi and Saatchi and BBDO.

Check out spots one and two. We're not that turned-on by them (dude reeks of Borat, except he's less funny) but hey, it's Fox, so maybe the world at large will sit riveted on their couches waiting for their next hit of the taximan-stereotype's confuzzling accent-ridden reverie.

by Angela Natividad    Apr-10-07    
Topic: Television



New Social Networking Site Victim of Boston-Style Marketing Stunt

b4class.jpg

Not that we need another but if you feel you simply don't have enough online personas, there's another place for you to place one, B4class. Created by 18-year old North Quicy, MA resident Sofia Loginova, the site's unfortunate claim to fame, to the chagrin of Loginova, will now be yet another Boston-based marketing stunt gone wrong even though Loginova had nothing to do with it. This morning, unattended backpacks were found in Newton North High School which prompted a Aqua Teen Hunger Force-style lock down until it was determined the backpacks contained only promotional references to Loginova's B4class.

more »

by Steve Hall    Apr- 9-07    
Topic: Guerilla, Social



Doe-Eyed Kashmir Kids Gaze Longingly Out of Grocer Freezers

unicef-kashmir_25.jpg

The people of Norway get a surprising little treat in the frozen section of their local grocery stores. This strategically-placed UNICEF poster is meant to raise awareness about the sub-zero living conditions of poor children in Kashmir. Copy reads, "The children of Kashmir are freezing" and the concept belongs to Dinamo Reklamebyra of Oslo, Norway.

We think the campaign is borderline clever but doubt it will inspire much emo checkbook-busting. At best it may just make Norwegian moms think twice about getting frozen pizza.

by Angela Natividad    Apr- 9-07    
Topic: Poster, Social



« Mar-07 | This archive, pg:  1  |  2  |  3  |  4  |  5  |  6  |  7  |  8  |  9  |  10  |  11  |  12  |  13  |  14  |  15  |  16  |  17  |  18  |  19  |  20  |  21  |  22  | May-07 »