To promote W., Oliver Stone's artistic tribute to America's favorite President (insert eyeroll here), Lionsgate launched the W. Mashup Contest on YouTube.
Use the clips and audio/video composition tools to create your own trailer. Oliver Stone himself gets to decide which is best.
The problem is, YouTube immediately removes entries upon submission. One entrant says, "all that remains of your genius contest entry is the phrase 'This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Lionsgate'."
Here is the hole where an entry should be. (In the event that Lionsgate is smart enough to fix this, here's a screenshot.)
A complex promotion for a man who, at the very least, was a complex leader. Maybe they're only suppressing entries by users suspected of storing WMDs.
Today I came across a banner ad run by the Newspaper Association of America, which seeks to reposition "the newspaper" -- a rolled-up, grayish mound of reading material that occasionally appears on the threshold of hotel room doors -- as "The Multi-Medium."
"Is newspaper old media or new media?" the ad asks, followed by an enigmatic, all-encompassing response: "Yes." Below the text is a woman whose newspaper appears to be feeding content to other media from a bunch of wires and cords. Cute.
Click-throughs guide the perplexed to Newspaper Media. With pretty imagery, plenty of data -- many of which are broken links -- and sentences that melodramatically start, "In a world where consumers are tuning out advertising...", the NAA hopes we'll start perceiving newspapers as less a stagnating medium than an abstract (but stable!) concept: "newspaper" isn't just where Gram finds the crossword; it is THE legit news source, offline and online (unless you're looking for data on why).
And the NAA can help you (yes, you!) advertise on both.
In defense of the NAA's position -- which could use some work, starting with those dead links -- print media isn't dying so very quickly. Newspaper readership grew 2.5 percent in the top 100 markets, according to a survey from earlier this year. And trusted newspaper brands increasingly dip into other so-called "new" media: mobile and internet, for a start. The New York Times even started embedding video.
See? Nobody's dying. Now go help Rupert Murdoch finance a new yacht.
There's something crude and flippant about these new ads by the Corn Refiner's Association, which have begun advertising to undo all the bad PR surrounding high fructose corn syrup.
In one spot, a mother casually accuses another of not caring what her kids eat; in another, an uptight boyfriend insinuates his girlfriend doesn't love him because she's offered him an artificially sweetened Popsicle.
Both the girlfriend and the accused mom get the last word in the end. Turns out the corn syrup Nazis don't know why it's bad, and are apparently only following an invisible crowd of lemmings informed by, who knows, the nasty nasty liberal media.
Each spot ends with "You're in for a sweet surprise!" and guides users to SweetSurprise.com, which sports a gigantic, disarmingly fresh ear of (as-yet-unrefined?) corn.
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"I'm a PC and I sell fish!"
Say what you will about the Microsoft/Seinfeld ad campaign (or "Phase I" of a grander design), it's hard not to like these fresh-out "I'm a PC" ads.
The spots -- quirky, friendly and feel-good -- debuted last night during The Office. See all three below.
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Crush/Toronto, the fine folk that produced the promo work for Douglas Coupland's The Gum Thief (kicking off our love affair with his books), partnered with Blok Design/Mexico City to produce the opening title sequence for Arte en Construccion.
The latter is a Mexican TV program that "[examines] the creative process of leading artists in Mexico."
The score is playful, almost exploratory; the visuals are well-shot and deliciously tactile: grains of sand, vibrant pink against dull landscapes, thread being manipulated between metal points. Thankfully, it's also short, so you can enjoy all its charms without holding that wry grin for over a minute.
Because they're spraying on their pantyhose.
But wait! -- don't stop at aerosol hosiery. Think bigger. Think self-adhering panties. Introducing the NYCE G strapless G-string, part of a life-changing liaison between Nyce Legs -- the spray-on pantyhose people -- and Shibue Couture. Helping you look your sexy best.
Thanks to MTLB for the find.
On October 2 in Times Square, Netflix kicks off a five-day movie-watching marathon. The objective: to make the Guinness World Record for most consecutive hours spent watching movies.
Provided you don't die of sleep deprivation, drowning or electrocution,* winners get "undeniable notoriety associated with holding the title of world champion," plus $10K, a lifetime Netflix subscription, and a Popcorn Bowl trophy -- the first of its kind!
But jobless film buffs be warned: the current record-holder, Ashish Sharma of Mathura, India, will also compete. The time to beat is 120 hours and 23 minutes.
To promote the marathon, DECON produced three spots for TV and three for online. The online ones are pretty much the same as the TV ones, except more to-the-point (see?).
Each ends with a huge Netflix logo, followed by the ominous words, "The training has begun." Titillated? Is your calling calling? Enter on Facebook.
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A Fletcher Martin "insider" tells us, "Fletcher Martin (on behalf of our client, Arby's) is hijacking billboards around Atlanta during rush hour tonight to remind drivers they should be 'thinking Arby's.'"
Nice effort.
In its ongoing quest to appeal to the Prozac nation ("Have a happy period!"), P&G pad-peddler Always redid its site.
Think pastel shades, abusive Corsiva-style typefaces and a general "Happy" theme. PMS-sufferers are invited to spread the happy! with downloadable insanity, zen garden therapy, or -- better yet! -- by printing out iron-on clip art.
"Make your period a happier time by grabbing a comfy tee and pair of panties, picking your favorite transfer designs and heating up the iron!" the site prattles, its copywriter clearly a model of loathing -- or on a whole lot of Zoloft.
- Hyundai and Goodby Silverstein & Partners are breaking up. Yeah, it's such a tragedy.
- Tokyo Agency brought the jungle to Paris's Opera Garnier to promote Guerlain Homme, a fragrance for the testosterone-soaked wild animal in you. That's cool and all, but I wonder if the wrist-spritzing preppies in suits didn't send a mixed message. Merci to in:fluencia for passing this along.
- Speaking of France, one Languedoc vintner launched a saucy new label: Le vin du merde (Shit Wine). For optimum psychological fuckery, serve with dark chocolate cake.
- Childhood icon Paddington Bear sneaks Marmite into egg sandwiches during his birthday party. Surprise! All the guests gasp and gag. Wonderful stuff by DDB.
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