Rugby Promo Disguised as PSA

Covent Garden London, 50 undercover actors, 7 hidden cameras, 3 bananas. 1 song, 1 club, 1 cause. Yea, That's about all you need to know about this orchestral flashmob PSA for England's Help for Heroes. Oh wait. It's just a promotion for some rugby team. Oh well.

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Hot Girls! Whipped Cream! Lingerie! Pillow Fight! Yawn.

So...let's have a pillow fight. Yea, that's it. And why not? After all, pillow fights are fun. Especially when there's a lot of feather-filled pillows. And the pillows break open. And you film the thing. In slow motion. With zoom shots. And an oh-so-uber-cool throbbing soundtrack. And you stage the thing between two hot girls. In lingerie. In a bedroom. On a bed. With a third girl. Who has an ejaculating squirt gun. With pump action. That shoots water over a girl's chest. Which is gratuitously zoomed in upon. In...slow motion.

And when that isn't enough, you add a fourth girl. With two pies. Filled with cream. That end up all over the four girls. Along with the feathers. Which makes the girls look like they just appeared in a bukkake flick.

And the you ruin the whole thing by actually showing the advertised product.

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Microsoft Sends Girl Across Globe to Meet All Her 'Friends'

Microsoft's out with a new campaign to tout two new phones, Kin One and Kin Two. And it's doing it by sending a girl named Rosa on a trip across the globe to meet her social network in person. All 824 of them. From an old boyfriend to a flirt that's really not a friend at all to celebu-friends, Rosa will find out who her true friends are and perhaps once and for all end the silliness of collecting "friends" online just to have more than everyone else. Like it was some sort of currency.

Follow it all on Facebook.

Beginning today, the campaign will release two new episodes a week for the next 8 weeks until May 3, at which point TV and cinema ads will debut...and the Kin will be released.

Stanley Steemer Calls Attention to Human Oddity

As with most things video, the fun is in the outtakes and that truism is no different with this new Stanley Steemer multi-spot campaign. The commercials chronicle the experiences of two Stanley Steemer technicians as they go through their days.

In one ad, a technician has an emotional breakdown when he pulls up to a roll of needlessly discarded carpet. Another spot highlights an alpaca, a living room and the importance of knowing where a stain comes from. And another features an unfortunate aquarium mishap.

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Eastpak Saves, Iron Man Interacts, Ben Jerked

- Eastpak backpacks will save your skateboarding ass.

- Diapers.com will help office babies manage their poop. Seriously.

- Iron Man 2 has an interactive trailer.

- WongDoody is out with a new campaign for FullTiltPoker.

- Despite his apology, Pittsburgh Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger has been booted as spokesman for Big Ben's Beef Jerky.

BBDO Tops Webby Award Nominations

On June 14 in New York, the 14th Annual Webby Awards will be handed out. Judges including R/GA's Bob Greenberg, Ogilvy's Lars Bastholm and AKQA's Rei Inamoto along with the public will select who gets the glory.

Among the campaigns receiving multiple nominations were Starbuck's "Love Project" (BBDO New York), which received three nominations (Best Viral, Best Public Service & Activism Video, Best Integrated Campaign), Volkswagen's "The Fun Theory" by DDB Stockholm (4 nominations); Nike's "Chalkbot" by Wieden + Kennedy (3); and the Grammy Awards' "We're All Fans" by TBWA/Chiat/Day (3). Evian's "Roller Babies" by BETC Euro RSCG, which has been viewed more than 45 million times, was nominated for Best Viral Marketing. we're pulling for the babies.

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MasterCard Celebrates End of Recession With Total Eclipse of the Heart

Can you say corny? Mastercard can in this new commercial featuring Bonnie Tyler and a very surprised shopper named Neville. Apparently to make the UK aware of the issuer's rewards program and to herald the end of the recession, Neville is subjected to all manner of gospel craziness to the tune of Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart.

Yea. There's a flying Tyler, rollerskating angels, a giant Nevile statue, pyrotechnics, a jet pack powered guitarist and a dog driving a miniature car. Oh, and rose petals too. And balloons. And banners. And, well, it's just weird.

Of course, what credit card company wouldn't be overjoyed people are starting to spend again? And, being the greedy sons of bitches they are, they're going to get back to taking every opportunity they can to encourage people to spend more money they don't have.

Thanks for the freak show, McCann London.

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Steven Segal Offered Ad Gig, Sued For Sexual Harassment

To help hype the introduction of a women's climbing helmet from Petzl USA designed to accommodate a ponytail, Boulder-based TDA Advertising & Design developed an ad that takes the form of an open letter to a formerly ponytailed Steven Segal asking him to grow back his hair and to consider endorsing the helmet.

Sadly, Segal is a bit busy these days having just been sued for sexual harassment and human trafficking by 23-year-old Kayden Nguyen who claims the actor treated her like a sex toy after she was hired for what she thought was an administrative assistant position. As it turns out, Nguyen claims she was actually hired to replace one of two Russian females who, reportedly, where on staff to take care of Segal's sexual needs.

Depending upon the legal outcome of the suit, Segal may actually have to take on menial ad gigs like this one.

GoDaddy Girls Give Stripping Lessons

"At GoDaddy.com, we're inexpensive. Not cheap," so says Go Daddy CEO Bob Parsons to Go Daddy Girl Vanessa Rousso as Danica Patrick and Candace Michelle illustrate the proper method of stripping off a jacket to reveal the Go Daddy top.

It's all part of Go Daddy's sponsorship of NBC's national Heads-Up Poker Championship. Of course, as with its Super Bowl antics, Go Daddy will unleash another "edgy" commercial called teacher which will feature Rousso. Unsurprisingly, it's said to be filled with innuendo.

Here's a video hyping the whole thing. You might want to skip the ending.

In Stream Ads Come to Twitter

Twitter has launched a new ad platform that will insert ads in search results and relevant streams based on purchased keywords and contextual relevancy. Called Promoted Tweets, the ads will stay on top of a given search result or stream rather than scrolling off the page as does a normal tweet thereby giving the advertiser lengthier exposure.

Promoted Tweets will carry a small notice the tweet is an ad and the tweet itself will turn yellow when rolled over.

To make sure the ads remain relevant, Twitter will employ a metric called resonance, the sum of nine metrics including delivered impressions, replies, retweets and clicks. If a certain resonance level is not achieved, the ad will cease to be served.

Twitter has been testing various ad models for a long time. No one can argue with the fact Twitter needs to make money to remain afloat. No one can argue the fact most will hate the fact ads will now be a part of the daily Twitter experience. And so it goes. With great changes comes...well, no change at all.

Advertising still makes the world go 'round.