Orbitz Game Sucks. Can They Do Anything Right?

This Orbitz game, which involves some really weak shakram-like throwing, is amusing until you realize how much it sucks, which takes about 35 seconds.

It's also way too salesy. Why don't you give Wrigley's a call? They know how to throw together simple brand-oriented games that are actually fun.

Orbitz last disappointed us about a month ago.

Whales Get Honor Treatment from Contrite Japanese

Leo Burnett made this pretty little GreenPeace video for Japan, which is currently undergoing some drama having to do with whaling and such.

Because whale meat was the main source of protein for the island after WWII, Japan feels it has the right to go on whaling, even if there's no demand for the meat (according to the Greenpeace pressie, considering we don't ourselves know how much or how little the island folk need whale meat today).

So Greenpeace goes, okay, let's restructure this historical conversation and turn the notion of man-to-whale relationships into one of reciprocal respect, instead of a Giving Tree situation (we hated that book, by the way) - where one side keeps giving until there's just nothing left.

more »

Allison Stokke Pole Vaulted to Internet Fame. Will Nike Bite?

There are unconfirmed and likely false rumors floating about that Nike will sign a marketing deal with high school pole vaulting sensation Allison Stokke. A few weeks ago, Stokke became the subject of a leering Internet drool fest much to the chagrin of Stokke and her family who felt, first hand, what's it's like to be the object of Internet admiration. While images of Stokke are said to have been circulating for years, it wasn't until an image of her posing her her pole appeared on the sports blog With Leather that things broke loose.

Stokke, 18, is a senior at Newport Harbor high school in Newport Beach, California, set the freshman female pole vaulting record of 12' 8" and now jumps consistently over 13 feet. She's won titles, broken records and earned scholarships but now she's feeling the unfortunate fame of becoming an Internet celebrity. At first, she kept it a secret when friends tipped her her images were beginning to appear all over the Internet. Shortly after that she told her parents and has now considered consulting handlers to deal with all the sudden media attention.

more »

iPhone Gets Monolithic Spec Treatment

Here's some iPhone spec work from Ryan Landels, Director for a Santa Monica production company. Landels has taken the scene in the movie 2001: A Space Odessy where the astronauts first discover the monolith which Landels has replaced with the iPhone. It's a nice piece of work that could certainly be a part of Apple's official iPhone campaign.

Win A Trip to Cancun, Las Vegas Just For Going to ad:tech Miami

If you're planning on attending the Miami ad:tech show, you could win a five day vacation for two to Las Vegas or Cancun just by walking into the exhibit hall. The chance to win is explained thusly, "Using cutting-edge Bluetooth technology, powered by Proximity Media and MangoMobile, a message will be sent to your mobile phone, PDA or computer as you enter the ad:tech Miami expo hall. Simply accept the message and you'll be instructed on how to enter the sweepstake. Winners will be announced at the close of ad:tech Miami, Thursday, June 27th via Bluetooth and/or SMS message. Entrants must be present to win." Couldn't be easier, could it?

MySpace CMO Shawn Gold to Keynote Miami ad:tech

Interviewed by CNN Financial and Business News Anchor Alberto Padilla, MySpace CMO Shawn Gold will discuss the explosion of social media what parent News Corp. and sibling Fox Interactive have planned for the U.S. Hispanic and Latin American markets, a focus of the Miami ad:tech Conference.

Weiden + Kennedy Wins CareerBuilder Account

The tipsters have spoken. First to George Parker. Now to Adrants. It seem the idiots over at CareerBuilder who fired Cramer-Krasselt apparently because its Super Bowl ad didn't place the the wholly unscientific USA Today Super Bowl ad poll have awarded their account to Wieden + Kennedy. Good luck guys. Hopefully, you'll convince the intelligence-challenged CareerBuilder folks there's far more reliable studies out there to determine ad effectiveness.

Campaign Launched to Save Ford's Marketing

Boston area marketer Kevin Glennon, in response to an article he wrote about Ford's marketing which received hundreds of responses but none from Ford, has launched Helping Hank, an effort to convince Ford to make an actual Bold Move: hire him as its Chief Marketing Officer. More than a ploy for employment - which Kevin doesn't need having launched his own successful business years ago - Kevin has written a letter to Bill Ford calling his attention to the article he wrote in which he urges Ford to think differently and offers up such suggestions as partnering with Lowe's and/or Home Depot to provide a Zipcar-like rental service.

Whether it's crazy or brilliant, you can decide for yourselves as Kevin has set up a full blown online campaign and weblog to support and continue his efforts towards improving Ford's marketing efforts. If we didn't know Kevin, we'd figure this was some sort of elaborate stunt blog marketing efforts so favored by some ill informed brands a few years ago but it's not. It's an honest effort by a smart guy who thinks he can improve a companies marketing. Only you and Bill Ford can decide if the effort is worthy.

AMC Brings Back Good Old Days of Advertising With 'Mad Men'

Hey old timers, remember when there was this thing called the three martini lunch? When men ran the office without fear of women climbing the ladder? When advertising was unfettered by annoyances such as fees, unbundling, the Internet, agency consultants, sequential liability, TiVo, consumer-generated media, Donny Deutsch? Yes, there were once simpler times in the ad business. When men were men and a handshake was better than a 300 page contract.

Susannah Breslin tells us Cabler AMC plans to bring back those day with its Mad Men, a series about the New York ad business in 1960 from the executive producer of The Sopranos. The trailer promises the show will be every bit as sexist as it supposedly was back in the day. Of course, we're sure they'll be the required current day tweaks to make it all more palatable so as not to completely alienate the now overly sensitive society in which we now live.

Jessica's Dribbling Ice Cream, Head on Head Promote Lucky Chuck

Ah yes, the dribbling vanilla ice cream cone. The barely seen head of a woman near the other head of a smiling man. Ah, yes, the late summer oddity known as Good Luck Chuck, a movie about a guy named Cahrile who has sex with women which then brings them luck. That is until he meets Jessica Alba and his luck forces him to, well, not sleep with her but with others so, well, following summer bubble gum movie logic, Charlie gets the hottie of his dreams. Watch the trailer. It makes sense. Sort of.

Oh, and we're thinking these posters are a a bit less than official. Either way, see both posters here.