Viera: For Working Off that Caffeine High

Apparently Viera plasma and LCD TVs are so awesome that you'll leap tall buildings and whatnot just to sit your ass down in front of it. Okay, maybe not tall buildings but motorists at least.

By IBD Brands/Mumbai for Panasonic.

IKEA Web Series, or Portent of Things to Come?

IKEA's first webisode stars Illeana Douglas, who arrives on-set as a spokesperson but is mistaken for an employee. The ensuing adventure involves Jeff Goldblum, Tom Arnold, Justine Bateman, Jane Lynch, Craig Bierko, and Kevin Pollack.

You could play the video without the sound on and probably lose none of the impact. I felt only a blandly receptive response to the cheery color palette.

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Please, Housewives, No Diving in the Fountain of Youth

For Johnson & Johnson's Aveeno label, Ogilvy commissioned a street artist to create a three-dimensional "fountain of youth" with chalk on pavement.

See a sped-up video of how the drawing was made. It's sorta like watching a Bob Ross segment, except too fast for you to follow and there aren't any "happy trees."

Of late, Ogilvy's totally stuck on this street art thing. See what it did for IBM and Tom of Finland. If it keeps this up, subversive street punks might actually go back to using Sharpies and aerosol paint.

It'll be like the '80s again.

'No Stank You' Reminds You: Smoking is So. Not. Trendy.

WONGDOODY brings retro effects and electonica beats to No Stank You, a fervently trendy effort to keep teens in Washington from smoking.

A dance-off sets the stage for the first spot. Each team consists of a person and a disembodied set of lungs. One set's healthy; the other looks like the tattered black pieces of a deflated life vest.

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Play Wallet World! Oh Wait, Don't. You Don't Live in the Right State

This is pretty stupid. No, it's idiotic. OK, not really. Every once in a while , an advertiser sends in a game that, in some way, is supposed to help it sell more shit. So, today, comes the game Wallet World, created by Doner for PNC bank. It's got all the usual goofy visuals and, like many games, always asks for some sort of information before you can play. Wallet World ask you to choose the state in which you live.

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Pabbit Promotes, Corbis Matches, Kids Cross, Shawn Pops

- So how do you promote a Philadelphia bar called Pub and Kitchen? You invent a mythical animal called Pabbit and make it your new logo. Red Tettemer created.

- Corbis has a new game out, The Modern Family Goes on Vacation, which combines matching images and taking a quiz.

- Like helping kids cross the street? Well then you'll love this game from Kwik-Fit Insurance. And there's lollipos too!

- Shawn Johnson's taco pops. Ooops, that could be messy. And wrong. Especially when it's a 16 year old girl saying it in an ad on national television while its twisted, in-the-know, creators laugh their asses off each time it airs.

- Second quarter spending fell 3.7 percent in Q2 2008 as compared to Q2 2007, the biggest drop since 2001.

- Wieden + Kennedy has dumped Starbucks citing client micromanagement as the reason. Client micromanagement? Nah, that never, EVAR happens.

No More Adrants. No, More Adrants

Illustrating the unique power of the comma to drastically change the meaning of a given phrase and to call attention to the Brazilian Press Association and its mission to insure freedom of speech, this video offers several examples of what happens when a comma is removed.

The ad was created by Africa in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Because Politics Can Get Dirty, So Can Las Vegas

OK. Having recently been in Las Vegas, this new VEGAS.com campaign caught my eye and made me laugh knowingly at its wit and complete lack of attempting to make the city appear to be anything other than what it truly is: Disney for grownups.

Latching on to the Presidential election, the press release asks, "Tired of all the 2008 presidential election hype? The nastiness and innuendo? The half-truths and naked lies?" And answers, "We're not either. We're good with naked. And in Las Vegas, our 'polls' tend to have half-dressed women hanging from them." Not sugar coated at all and that's to be appreciated.

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Flight Theme Adds Relatability to 'Human Network Effect'

You've probably seen ads for Cisco's "The Human Network" campaign, which tries making the possibilities of Web 2.0 seem accessible to ordinary business people. (What, there are still execs out there that don't video-conference?)

Phase two of the effort uses the banality of airline travel to demonstrate how the so-called "human network" makes it unnecessary to leap time zones for work. In "The Save More Travel Less Effect," an array of business people perform the airline safety procedure you hear every time you get on a plane. They do a nice job of seeming alternately bored, frustrated or severe.

In this spot, a deserted baggage belt rotates slowly as the frustrations of travel flash across the screen: jetlag, wake-up calls, expense reports, lost luggage, etc. As the words go by faster, the music picks up: this is a life you can leave behind!, the ad seems to shout. Three cheers for the human network!

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IBM Battles Carbon with Removable Street Art

Of late, IBM's been trying to loosen its tie and go a little green. Its efforts so far have been earnest but self-conscious: potentially exciting work dampened by risk-aversion.

For its "Fight Carbon" campaign, IBM gets down with the street artists -- "vandalizing" public areas, then removing its work and leaving those spaces cleaner than when they left them.

In its younger years, IBM was clearly not the rebel in the 'hood.

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