BikiniBabesNetwork Bikini Babes Defend Booth Babes

At Affiliate Summit East I spoke with two women hired to represent BikiniBabesNetwork. Dressed in nothing but tiny bikinis, they were the hit of the exhibit hall floor.

They explained BikiniBabesNetwork and discussed the controversial role of booth babe.

At Affiliate Summit Frank Luntz Profiles Humans

At the ASE10 keynote Frank Luntz offered up a simplistic demographic profile of the human race. Among other stats:

- Men want more money
- Women want more time
- Hispanics and Latinos value home ownership highest
- Best not most important. Constant improvement is.
- Accountability most important brand attribute followed by integrity amd respect.
- More people believe there are UFOs than social security's ability to sustain itself.

Luntz also discussed the importance of visuals in advertising and the psychology behind them. For example hotels should never show people in a hotel room because everyone wants to believe they are the first and only person to use the room. No one wants to know they aren't the first person to use the toilet.

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Chicagoans Kidnapped, Pools Boarded, Windows Made

- Hoffman/Lewis is out with a kidnapping spoof to get Chicagoans to go to St. Louis.

- SapientNitro would like us all to see their new reel.

- Here's a few webisodes Window Seat Pictures created for Converse. Yea, there's a pool and a skateboarder.

- A couple of creatives got bored working in an office with no windows. So they made their own. A lot of them.

- The San Francisco Egoist is holding a contest to determine the best ad city in America. Make sure you are represented.

- To kick off to its 90th anniversary celebration, the ADC has announce an open call to its 600 past ADC cube winners to submit their reinterpretation of the iconic ADC Cube for possible use on the ADC 90th Annual Awards call-for-entries.

- From a crisis management perspective, Davia Temin addresses the question, "What was HP's Mark Hurd thinking?"

- Perry Ellis has launched Project Beach to aid oil spill recovery.

- Director Scott Otto Anderson gives us a behind the scenes look at the production of his newest spot with Photoplay productions for NRMA Insurance.

Six Ways Brands Should Think of Social Media as a Party

We've said this many times before but Big fuel Communications CEO Avi Savar is saying it with much greater detail. Check out his guest post on the notion social media should be approached as if it were a cocktail party.

I've been using this analogy for some time now and it seems to resonate with everyone who hears it. If you are a brand looking to connect with consumers through Social Media, think of Social Media as one giant party. Here's why:

1) Social Media is one giant party.

Let's set the stage.

Imagine the social web as one huge cocktail party. In one corner of the room, a group of moms are talking about education and parenting issues. In another corner of the room, a group of recent college grads laugh over Will Ferrell's latest movie. Everywhere you turn, different groups of people are enjoying themselves, sharing stories, discussing current events, pop culture, trends, etc. All the groups are mingling, making new "friends," and the most influential people in the room have the most "followers" hanging on their every word.

Sound familiar?

Social Media is a true reflection of society today--and what better representation of social behavior, fragmentation, hierarchy and influence than a giant party?

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Asking Your Wife to Clean the House is Sexist

In Australia it's sexist to ask your wife to clean the house. Oh wait, it's sexist everywhere because, as we all know, asking a stay-at-home mom to, well, stay at home and take care of the house is just wrong.

This My Local VIP cleaning service ad depicts a man returning from work to a house he thought would be cleaned while he was away. Well, apparently, mom was too busy with the kids and all that goes along with managing a household.

My Local VIP has received a few complaints from viewers who say the ad is sexist. Is it? Answer this question honestly. If you (male or female) returned home from work expecting the house to be clean (because you and your spouse talked about it getting cleaned in the morning before you went to work) and it was a mess, would you ask, "Honey, I thought you were going to clean the house today?" Or would you say, "Honey, you must have had a really tough day. It looks like the kids ran you ragged. why don't you go have a seat and I'll get you a glass of wine." Answer honestly.

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ANDY Awards Get Crowdsourced in Squirrel Fight

Co-chairmen of The International ANDY Awards, venerated industry creative Ty Montague and Michael Lebowitz, founder and CEO of Brooklyn-based creative agency Big Spaceship, announced today the launch of a global "Call for Entries" creative challenge...ahem, crowdsourced contest...developed in partnership with Victors & Spoils. Participants will use the agency's Squirrel Fight digital engine.

The online effort invites people from around the world to submit creative concepts promoting the The 2011 International Awards call for entries. The person behind the chosen entry will be awarded the last remaining seat on next year's ANDY Awards Jury.

Fiat Tweak's Your Nipple

Fiat has teamed with Faithless to create a video to promote its Punto Evo vehicle. Yea, a music video promoting a car. Never heard of that before. But it's actually not bad. We like. And we're told there will be future collaborations between the artist and the car maker.

Oddly, the song makes us think of King Missile's Detachable Penis. no idea why. It just does.

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Hey, Guess What? Advertising is Dead! Who Knew?

We've all heard the stories. Advertising is dying. Advertising is dead. We've all seen it played out over and over again in various forms of media. Just about every agency has created some sort of self-promotional piece touting the fact they know advertising is dead and they are the only ones who can weather the storm and come out healthy on the other side which, of course, is why you should work with them and only them. Because, well, every other agency is stupid, anachronistic and can't get out of its own way.

But not Latvia's CCS. Oh no. They have all the answers and have launched as the country's first social media agency. And to do so, they've taken the whole "advertising is dead" thing to it's logical conclusion; a funeral. An actual funeral. Online and off. And they've invited every other agency in the country to attend.

Sadly, they've committed a grave, Online Markating 101 error. They've launched an "under construction" website. But that's OK because they have, yes, a Facebook page! And that's what social media is all about, right? Facebook. Facebook and Twitter. That's all you need do do the social media thing.

Well, here's hoping they're not that naive.

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Northern Irish Strip For Retail Campaign

Hyping the fact nobody takes off more, 70 percent, a campaign in Northern Ireland for retailer The Outlet features people with, well, 70 percent of their clothing off. Some, we're told, will be 100 percent naked which is, we're told, a big deal for the conservative Northern Ireland market.

The campaign, which includes print, radio, outdoor, digital and promotion, is called The Naked Truth and broke this week.

Lil' Kim Lends Her Assets to Three Olives Vodka

Last time we wrote about Lil' Kim was way back on 2003 when she appeared in s few Old Navy commercials. Today, Proximo Spirits has announced the singer will front a new campaign for the company's Three Olives vodka brand which is introducing a new flavor, Purple. It's the first time the brand has tapped a celebrity for its advertising.

"Since I'm Queen Bee and purple is the color of royalty," says Lil' Kim, "I'm thrilled Three Olives has asked me to bring my flavor to the sexy 'O-Face' campaign for their new Purple vodka!"

Of Lil Kim's appearance in the campaign, Proximo Spirits VP of Marketing Elwyn Gladstone said, "A perfect match for our latest flavor, Lil' Kim is the personification of the sassy, fun and confident brand that Three-O strives to embody. We are so delighted to welcome Kim to the Three-O family, and look forward to introducing Three-O Purple to her dedicated fan base."