Nuns Surgically Alter Tiny Statue

OK so while you can see it coming early on, it takes what seems to be an eternity for this commercial to reach it's not so unfunny conclusion. There's nuns. There's a penis. There's some glue. And there's some girlish giggling. See if you can see it coming.

Don't Just Talk to Them; Bring Them Aboard.

Based on the premise that people are more likely to watch a play if they know somebody in it, agency Happy Soldiers added a new scene to Spirithouse Theatre Company's play, "Vigil."

Spirithouse is a fairly new indy theatre company in Australia. "Prelude to Vigil," the new scene, takes five minutes and requires a fresh and local casting call every week. Spirithouse says this was a first for an independent play group.

Kind of a neat approach to (not?) advertising: personalizing an entire performance, and stimulating engagement, which in turn serves to generate word of mouth and record attendance. Apparently the play sold out in every instance.

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Email Response Rates Got You Down? Try Adding Video

Apparently, email is still alive and well and for those marketers who embed video within their emails, click through rates as high as 50% or more. Writing on Elastic Path's Get Elastic blog, Linda Bustos takes a look at a few retailers who have experimented with video in emails. She also examines the deliverability issue which can be quite challenging though there are strategies as well as new certification guidelines and increased email provider acceptance which can make these issues less of a hurdle.

Blow-Hardy Shuttleworth Brings the 'Tude to Yorkshire Tea

John Shuttleworth appears in this BMB-created ad for Yorkshire Tea, just pompous enough to nicely serve up the ad's two themes: tea and Yorkshire, whose inhabitants are "a joyless lot," says Sell Sell.

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You Mean We Don't Have to Make 3,000 Versions of That Banner?

According to...yawn...worldwide data from comScore...zzz..., ACME ad network is now the...snooze...third largest in the world. Recently released technology provided by ACME...OMG...clearly differentiates ACME from their competitors. As the...yawn...first self-serve behavioral ad network that will...(wake me when this is over)...automatically optimize flash creative so lazy designers don't have to, ACME will...wait, what did that press release just say?

Did it say "automatically optimize flash creative" so lazy designers don't have to? Yes it did! Who is this press release from? Oh. Tatto Media. [Sorry, they all blur together after a while]

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Paid-to-Tweet, Close-Captioned Arranged Marriages, Verified Twitter Accounts

- Twitter to launch Verified Accounts.

- Fox brings Third World matrimonial magic to the States. (Via.)

- On Gino Fisanotti, Nike's new GM dude for the UK and Ireland. (Via.)

- Toyota's 3G Prius site. By EVB.

- Dunkin' to sell Alabaman's sour cream/Heath bar doughnut.

- More paid Twitter stream swill.

- Wikipedia crosses into printdom.

Ba-Da-Bing! Bing Caps New York Times Front Page

Microsoft's Bing has a page takeover unit on the New York Times today. It's a custom-sized wide banner that expands downward (pushing content with it) and plays about ten seconds of video content before it closes. And it appears, the ad will only auto expand the first time you visit the site. As page taker over units go, not a bad one.

True Blood is Truly Weird

This is hilarious! It's another promotion for HBO's True Blood Season 2. It's a compilation of several different news stories about "extraordinary" people and STrange" events. The funniest part is when a seeing eye dog turns into a...well...just watch.

Rooftop + Tweetup = Roofup

Last night in Boston several hundred people arrived at the Rattlesnake Bar and Grill for one of the biggest tweetups the city has seen. Organized by Northeastern University student Sarah Merion and sponsored by Johnny Cupcakes, Kickass Cupcakes, Annie Mulz and RUNmyERRAND, the event was held on the rooftop of the Rattlesnake.

In attendance were @stevegarfield, @patrick, @schneidermike @urwingman @robertcollins @michaelpsweeney, @pamelump, @repcor, @gradontripp, @mathurrell, @swirlingmedia, @bostonist, @Meg_Goullet, @michaelpsweeney, @urwingman and many, many others.

As Tweetups go, it was a good one...and an interesting one. While there were many familiar faces there, there were more unfamiliar ones. As Twitter expands beyond the inner circle of early adopters, Tweetups will no longer represent the tech elite, the Twitterati or whatever label you want to apply to those who just love to get there first. Nope. Now it's all about the regular people. And you know what? That's a very good thing. After all, how long can we all talk to ourselves over and over again saying the same things over and over again at the same places over and over again?

And while it's always fun to see your friends, it's never a bad thing to step outside your clicke every once in a while.

Dank!: Aesthetic Imperfections Cut the Pain Out of Price

Here's a clever little campaign for Dank! Second Hand Furniture. Each print zeroes in on a piece of furniture; whatever defect mars it visually also mars the ostentatious price that made the item unattainable.

Also see Table and Chair. By the clever visual acrobats at DDB&Co./Istanbul; via.