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Digg Founder to Keynote at ad:tech San Francisco

kevin_rose_digg.jpg

Having just returned from SXSW in Austin where the bleeding edge digerati share their wisdom regarding all things interactive, it's pleasing to know we'll be able to experience it again at ad:tech San Francisco where Digg Founder Kevin Rose, who was at SXSW, will be the closing keynote speaker Thursday, April 17 at 4:45PM. We captured him, along with Reddit and StumbleUpon founders, at an SXSW party. Now we'll be able to see him speak.

Other keynotes during ad:tech San Francisco, which is held April 15-7 at the Moscone Center, include NBC Universal Chief Digital Officer George Kliavkoff who will talk about how NBC is taking NBC's programming digital through the company's just launched Hulu (which rocks, by the way) and other outlets.

more »

by Steve Hall    Mar-14-08    
Topic: Industry Events



Bad Breath Burns Skin off Skulls, Says Scope

testyourbreath.jpg

Test your breath on an innocent bystander, courtesy of Scope and the fine people at Dentsu and Crush (Toronto). What have you got to lose? It won't be the last thing that attacks your ego today.

by Angela Natividad    Mar-14-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Online



Loaded Pizza Pops Burst When Provoked

exploding-pizza.jpg

To show consumers their wannabe Hot Pockets are loaded with pizza stuff, Pizza Pops enlisted Cossette, Toronto, which got some boys that remind us of Smosh to star in these spots, Woodchipper and Campers. In each, the boys get a Pizza Pop to explode -- with results that would make Wes Craven beam. (Guess this whole dumbing-down-for-YouTube thing isn't over yet.)

The spots drive traffic to www.PizzaPopsareLoaded.com, which was hijacked by Citizens Against Pizza Pops, which is actually located at www.PizzaPops.ca. It has testimonials from people with pizza guts on their faces.

And that's about it, really.

by Angela Natividad    Mar-14-08    
Topic: Campaigns, Online, Video



Oh Look! Abercrombie & Fitch Does Nudity. How Novel

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OK, OK, we'll cover it. Geez. Just because all everyone thinks we write about here are boobs and booty doesn't mean we're always going to cover the latest nudie film from Abercrombie & Fitch. But, since you beg, we aim to oblige so here it is in all it's NSFW glory.

We could comment on how it degrades human morality or how, conversely, it celebrates one of the most normal human states we know, nudity, but we're not going to burden you with endless pontification that would amount to nothing more than endless babble. Speaking of endless babble, have we reached our word count so this text will properly wrap around the ubiquitous (obligatory?) racy image we've included here for you?

by Steve Hall    Mar-13-08    
Topic: Brands, Online, Racy, Video



Surprise, AOL Buys Bebo

bebo-logo.jpg

In a surprise twist of social networking fate, AOL buys Bebo, which is like MySpace with a British accent, less garish colours and funnier videos.

Word is that Bebo will help AOL expand internationally -- and by "help" we mean Bebo's gonna expand internationally and AOL will point and go, "That's totally US!" This year Bebo plans to breach Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany and France.

Meanwhilst, AOL itself continues to hemorrhage value. Supposedly it's going to shaft half its sales force. Also, ad exec Curt Viebranz just left, and Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes openly admitted they're whoring for an offer. Or in his words, "whatever configuration makes it the strongest and most valuable."

Uh-huh.

more »

by Angela Natividad    Mar-13-08    
Topic: Brands, Online



Argentina Goes Big, Obama Girl Hottest, Bebo Sells

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- Those Argentinians sure know how to orchestrate a big ass car commercial. apparently it took a crew of 170. Hmm. CGI sounds cheaper.

- Our favorite political pundit, Obama Girl, has been named by E! as the "#1 Hottest Woman on the Internet."

- Advertising Anarchy didn't like the "Bud Light" hottie on the poster in the Dell Lounge at SXSW.

- Don't miss the world's worst small business ad. Or is it the world's greatest viral for YouTube...or somebody.

- AOL is buying social networking site Bebo for $850 million. Damn! That's a steal compared to overly bloated Facebook :-)

by Steve Hall    Mar-13-08    
Topic: Celebrity, Commercials, Social



ING Invests Retirement Figures with Friendly Feel

ing-number.jpg

Here's a story about a nifty ING campaign promoting "your number," the dollar amount you want to save for retirement. In the associated spots, people walk, work or play while toting big orange numbers around. And they're playful. See how the older guy in the pic at left is checking out the younger guy's figure?

See "Nurture," which about how you work to take care of your number so it can take care of you. And this is "Intro," which explains what "your number" is about.

We're fans of ING, which tries making saving fun with feel-good promotions and bright colours. Also see Planet Orange, a financial learning center for kids, and check out ING's orange cafes.

by Angela Natividad    Mar-13-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Commercials, Good, Television



As Long As We Know It's for Packages, Not Eyeballs

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Wow. For its Wrap Rage Cure campaign, which prescribes the (frightening in context) Open It! tool for people who suffer from package-opening rage, the Zibra Company has been awarded a Gold Addy for Interactive Media.

The award was distributed by the Nashville Advertising Federation.

Zibra partnered with web design firm Cabedge for the Wrap Rage Cure campaign, which included mock case studies, radio and interactive spots. The campaign generated "dramatic increases" to the number of unique visitors to the microsite. We're just hoping Open It! was actually used for packages and not customer-on-customer organ tweezing.

Rageheads are notoriously myopic. Just sayin'.

by Angela Natividad    Mar-13-08    
Topic: Agencies, Campaigns, Events, Good



Pink Bra Distracts From Car Commercial's Message

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Attempting to explain how a small tweak can make a better car, ATTIK has created a new commercial for the Scion tC. From a name change to a floor change to a telephone number change, perceptions can change quite a bit. Apparently, the small tweaks made to the Scion tC have made it a far different (better?) car.

We're just wondering how many people were distracted by that revealed pink bra at the end and missed the final shot of the commercial during which the car was shown thinking, "was that a car in that 1-900 ad?"

by Steve Hall    Mar-13-08    
Topic: Commercials, Racy



Comfeze Brings Uncomfezable Twist to Typical Diaper Ad

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Wow. This is warped. That's apt, because it's a spoof spot for Scream TV, which wants us all to (tagline, tagline!) "Get scared more often." And we're definitely feeling the fear.

The spot for fictional brand Comfeze was put together by Zig, Toronto.

Does Depend make ads? Maybe Zig should look into that. There's a whole market of fear and absorbency waiting to blossom before our eyes.

by Angela Natividad    Mar-13-08    
Topic: Brands, Good, Online, Spoofs, Strange



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