Lowe Turns Film Into Website Navigation Device

Stella Artois has done a nice job elevating the online video to something much more that a simple add on to a website. The Stella Artois site uses video (a "full length film" if you will) as a navigational element. Created by Lowe, the film was shot on the set of Ingmar Bergman's last movie by members of the crew that work on The Illusionist and pauses every once in a while to offer up navigational options.

Facebook More Useful Than MySpace For Marketers

When marketers assaulted MySpace with pseudo profiles, the whole thing came off and a lame attempt to leverage social media. For some reason, this doesn't seem to be the case with the growing proliferation of Facebook profiles and groups. Perhaps it's because it's not so much about profile but, rather, groups people can join if they're interested in the subject matter of the group. Perhaps it's becasue Facebook has a cleaner structure. Perhaps, it's just that time has past and the industry has caught up.

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'Fashion Walk' Boosts Clothing Retailer's Store Traffic

What do you do when you open a retail clothing store and no one comes? You take the store to the people, of course. That's exactly what Wexley School for Girls did for eco-friendly clothing company Nau in Seattle. The agency hired models to walk the streets of Seattle, Bellevue and Kirkland with a rack of clothing and handouts urging people to visit the store. Apparently, it worked with the Bellevue store reported a nice increase in store traffic.

Animated Storybook Highlights Sears Fall Fashions

Oh look. Sears is getting hip! Whether or not that ever happens doesn't really matter but we do like this new commercial from Y&R Chicago which has some nice video effects courtesy of Zoic Studios. The models in the ad were shot on green screen. The environment they inhabit consists of thousands of photographs which were then animated and served up as a story book. Nice work.

Firebrand Thinks People Will Actively Seek Commercials

We really wonder if people do their homework before launching what they believe will become something akin to the next YouTube. The idea of commercials as content has been done many times before and has failed each time. However, the recently launched Firebrand doesn't seem to care and believes its offering of the "coolest" commercials served up MTV VJ-style will connect "consumers directly with their favorite brands in an integrated environment." How many billions of time have we heard that before?

We tried really hard not to laugh when Firebrand CEO Roman Vinoly said, "We program TV spots like a DJ spins music in a club. There is a rhythm and flow to it." In an attempt to spin Firebrand as something other than a massive database of commercials, Vinoly adds, "On Firebrand, you'll see more car chases, explosions, gags, drama, heroes, Oscar-winning actors, directors and producers in an hour than in a month of HBO." Right, dude. They're still fucking commercials. Not The Sopranos.

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Advertising Week: If 'Darfur' Sounds Familiar, Thank Heaven for Saint Advert

It bears mentioning that Panasonic Ideas for Life - Saving Darfur was as much about advertisers' power to set global agendas as it was about the actual plight of Darfur. Call it a conceit, but there's method to the madness.

Advertising played a pivotal role in raising awareness about genocide in Darfur. Some members of the panel expressed having been inspired into their current professions after seeing ads about famine or others' suffering.

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Bobby Darrin Makes Bioshock Violence Seem Serene

Every time we see a commercial for a violent video game we wonder if they are the cause of human violence or they are therapy for our violent tendencies. Personally, we don't care for games that involve beating/kicking/mauling the shit out of people purely for enjoyment. We know. It's weird. Everyone should enjoy a few hours of violence each day. It's good for the soul, right?

You've got to wonder though what some alien race thinks of us when they peer down on our world. We can imagine their first words to be, "What the fuck is wrong with those people? Killing each other over such idiocy as geographical borders and religious beliefs. They even have video games when the real thing isn't good enough for fuck's sake!"

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'Purple Cow' Fans Rejoice: Godin Writes Again (This Time on Meatballs)

What's a meatball sundae? It's the unfortunate result of two good ideas smashed together -- and the topic of Seth Godin's next book, which is generating much buzz on Hype Street at Advertising Week.

We couldn't go anywhere last night without hearing about it. Marketers describe Meatball Sundae as an invitation to approach web 2.0 as an opportunity to enliven company culture, even as passion begins to make way for bureaucracy.

Alternatively, Godin claims to see web 2.0 as a chance to "transform" the organization. Two sides of the same coin? Read about the book from the meatball-loving mouth itself.

Forget Dating Sites, the Mail Order Bride is Back in Vogue

The college-bound doll at left is going for a steal at $19,995 on Marry Our Daughter, where families can safely sell stone-footed girls for a price soothing enough to eradicate in-law strife.

Harking back to arranged marriage in the Biblical sense, the site's a publicity stunt orchestrated by women who actually were sold into marriage. They hope to shed light on the mail order bride industry at large, and on loopholes across the nation that enable minors to marry, says Newsweek.

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DDB Chicago Packs Everything But Red Thong Into McDonald's Spot

Oh there are so , so many stereotypical elements going on in this DDB Chicago created, Biscuit-produced commercial for McDonald's. First, we have the classic male game of oneupmanship where the two guys in the ad try to out do each other over the prices they paid for their clothes and haircuts. Second, we have the classic female amusement over this alpha male trait.

Then, we have the woman illustrating the pointlessness of all this bravado and trumping them both by announcing she paid only one dollar for her double cheeseburger. And then we have the "I'm not gonna let a woman beat me" response from the men who begin bidding to buy her burger. And finally, we have an homage to the men-as-idiot trend made famous by Verizon's Dumb Dads.

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