Jim Beam Wraps Las Vegas Hotel

Last week, Jim Beam placed what is said to be the world's biggest outdoor ad for a distilled spirits company. A 32,000 square foot building wrap measuring 400 feet tall will be affixed to the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas covering 40 stories of the hotel.The ad is celebrating September being named National Bourbon Heritage Month. Damn. We're gonna have to start drinking Manhattans again. (Image courtesy of Miss Shari via Flickr.)

Hummer Goes Hydrogen With National Geographic

Here's a new commercial from GM Desedo Film's Raafi Rivero promoting the company's Hummer H3H Hydrogen vehicle which is supposedly set to arrive in Spring 2008. In the commercial the Hummer traverses across National Geographic and National Geographic-like vistas. The Hummer is being branded the National Geographic Edition. Teenage boys (from the seventies and eighties, of course, as one commenter bashes us for daring to make a joke that's relevant to anyone over the age of 30) world over are now wondering if the truck comes equipped with leather seats emblazoned with images of naked African and Aborigine tribeswomen for their viewing pleasure.

Jaslene Gonzalez Watches Unveiling of Her LOT29 Billboard

Last Friday, America's Next Top Model winner Jaslene Gonzalez, along with her adoring fans, witnessed the unveiling of her Times Square billboard for clothing line LOT29. Jaslene's reaction? "Look at my legs! They look great!" Indeed.

The event was also a shoot for an upcoming commercial for the "My Life as a CoverGirl" campaign. Let's see. America's Next Top Model. LOT29. CoverGirl. All in one place. All at one event. Are there really people in marketing who are actually this efficient?

Lowly Laundry Machines Become Ad Medium

Every time we think we've written, "Just when you thought every last square inch of space has been plastered with advertising...," yet another new form of ad creep rears its ugly head. Though this new laundromat promotion for the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory isn't so ugly. Working with Laundromedia Inc. (who new such companies existed?) CBS placed banners across four washing machines. Hey, there's nothing else to do while your clothes are washing. You might as well stare at ads.

Just how do companies like Laundromedia Inc. get there start? Very simply and very mundanely as Foounder David Kessler explains, "I was standing in front of the washers, waiting for the spin to stop, just staring at a sea of white and I went, 'Wait -- these machines could have ads on them.'" We still think an enterprising house painting company is, one day, going to knock on our door, offer to paint our house for free as long as they can turn the house into a gigantic Home Depot ad.

Bell Mobility References Holocaust With 'Belsen Was A Gas' Button

Portfolios.com's David Katz alerts us to an ad for Bell Mobility's Solo Mobile placed in Toronto's Downsview Station which carries a small pin that reads, "Belsen was a gas." The ad has caused a bit of a stir. The pin refers to the World War II Nazi concentration camp Bergen-Belsen where gassing was anything but a pleasant experience. The pin is tiny but several commuters spotted it and it became a TV news story last Thursday.

Whether intentional or an art director's sneaky joke, Bell Mobility quickly reacted and issued a statement, saying, "We are in the process of removing all of these particular Solo Mobile ads... running these ads was an error on our part and one we certainly regret. You won't see them again of course."

The company promise all fifty one ads in and around Toronto and Vancouver which contain the button would be removed.

Dutchstar RVs Invite Adventurous Geeks to 'Grab Your Nuts!'

For reasons that defy logic, this microsite put us in a really buoyant mood. Everything from the greeting, "Let me - teach you!" to the retro theme song, to the sad little martial arts graphic at the right of the video, to the campy slogan, "Grab your nuts - it's go time!" coaxed a smile from our scowly little faces.

The site is the work of Jansen Weatherly, the "world renowned activities expert and martial arts specialist" who's been traveling the country and filming his adventures. Imagine Napoleon Dynamite, all grown up and with a passion for adventure ... and PayDay candy bars.

More to the point, it looks like a promotion for Dutchstar RVs, which appear to be Jansen's gear of choice.

Wrangler Could Use Some Fashion 101 for Dummies

This is completely left-field. Eager to associate itself with Who's Next '07, an international fashion show, Wrangler (yeah, did you see that coming? We didn't) somehow deluded itself into thinking that setting mannequins all over Paris would be really clever and avant-garde.

We are overwhelmed by deja-vu.

Why do people think mannequins in human settings are going to be a big deal-maker?

Whatever. See the video here. It's a little long. The effort took 60 dummies, disseminated through the city in the wee hours of the morning preceding the September 7-8 show. We kind of think this one is sexy if you ignore the fact that Wrangler's logo is in desperate need of some contemporary TLC.

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Cobras, Ice Cream Won't Convince Us the Zune's About Sharing

72andSunny and Goldfrapp give us Meltdown for the Zune. It takes place in the desert with an ice cream cone and two cobras, which share the sweet instead of fighting for it. At some point their scales get all disco fever, and shortly thereafter, a shitload of other ice cream cones fall out of the sky.

The ad vibes like something off Cartoon Network with the '80s sex music and gyrating cobras and whatnot. We also can't help but wonder, are the ice cream cones metaphors for the now-ubiquitous iPod?

According to the press release, the ad is supposed to illustrate sharing (as in, filesharing) between the cobras, which is rewarded by all those other ice creams falling from the sky.

Wait - is this the same Zune that actually discourages sharing by restricting users to the Windows platform? Half the time it doesn't even play music purchased from the MSN music store. Don't give us this schlock about sharing.

Neat ad, though. Weird, but neat.

Jenny Craig Reviews, Page Six Goes Sunday, Kronkite Returns,

- WPP New York is reportedly not going to defend its $70 million Jenny Craig crative account which has been placed in review handled by Blank and Associates.

- The New York Post is expanding its Page Six gossip section to a full blown Sunday glossy magazine section debuting this Sunday.

- Walter Kronkite is returning to television and will appear on the newly launched Retirement Living TV.

- In an interesting mashup, the Polygamous Marriage conference in New Orleans October 26 brings together media, account planing and creative to hear speakers such as Modernista's Gareth Kay, Fallon's John King and Naked's Paul Woolington.

- As if there weren't already an overabundant plethora of awards shows, AdWeek now wants to honor supposed future creative geniuses before they even become geniuses with its "10 Best Creative You Don't Know" showcase.

Twisted Print Campaigns Sell Shoes, Deodorant, Noodles, Beer

2wenty 4our has an interesting collection of print ads that are eye catching in different ways. There's a campaign for Planetaria Mixers that makes cakes so fast you can trow them at bothersome door-to-door salesmen and religious fanatics. There's a Spanish campaign for some sort of deodorant that has women running away from their lovers in their underwear.

There's a campaign for Zu Shoes whose shoes are so hot they leave a trail of spent men behind. There's a Cup O Noodles campaign that oddly places the product in a little cubby embedded in people's stomach. And, of course, there's a beer campaign from Sol which leaves men transfixed by female ass.