Office Max Gives Us the Gift of ... 20 New Holiday Sites

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Apparently that Subservient Santa thing is part of a larger campaign by Toy, NY for OfficeMax. The idea is to get people supply-shopping for the holidays by disseminating 20 time-burning holiday sites as "gifts" into the 'net, which is already as bloated as the gift-giving Saint himself. The concept does have that idle but colourful FAO Schwarz feel to it so maybe it's ingenious and we just don't know it.

Upload your head and elf yourself. Armwrestle with a reindeer (that sounds horrifically painful, actually). Get a kid with his tongue stuck to a pole to talk. Sing conspiracy carols. You get the idea. - Contributed by Angela Natividad

by Angela Natividad    Dec- 6-06    
Topic: Campaigns, Good, Online



Save Face This Party Season With Fake Business Cards

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You know you're going to do something stupid at some holiday party this year so why not protect yourself from the morning after guilt by pretending to be someone else during your evening of frivolity? Now, you can with Alternate Identity Business Cards, an interesting service from, yes, an ad agency. DDB to be specific. Now this is way better (and more useful) than some Christmas card or video.

by Steve Hall    Dec- 6-06    
Topic: Agencies, Good, Strange



Danica Patrick Godaddy Super Bowl Spot Not Guaranteed

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During a press conference held today at Victory Lane in Arizona with GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons and Andretti Green Racing's Danica Patrick who has signed a deal with GoDaddy to be a "GoDaddy Girl," Parsons could not guarantee Patrick's appearance in either of the two Super Bowl 2007 spots for which the company has contracted. It's unclear whether or not the spots will feature long time GoDaddy Girl Candice Michelle either but Parsons, ever the cagey one, did clarify both will be in several spots for the company in the near future. When asked when we might see a version of the completed Super Bowl spot, Parsons replied, "Game day, unless it's banned." Then we'll be able to see it online prior to the game.

more »

by Steve Hall    Dec- 5-06    
Topic: Brands, Celebrity, Good, Sponsorship, Super Bowl 2007



WaySpa Saves Witless from Christmas Faux-Pas

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For its clients at WaySpa, Dentsu Canada creates this viral-intended spot that reminds the witless, whipsawed men out there how very screwed they are if they forget to get honey a gift on the day of judgment. Once all the stress is over you too might want to book a spa visit.

And in the style of easy humour it's always funny when a dude with an accent and a bad sweater says something like, "You forgot to get that bitch a gift!" - Contributed by Angela Natividad

by Angela Natividad    Dec- 5-06    
Topic: Good, Online



Timberland Offers Self-Expression With Leather Billboards

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It's rare we receive a press release that isn't rife with orgasmic marketing blather and seems more concerned with "appearing" intelligent than actually being intelligent so we were pleased to received this straight forward release from Arnold touting their new leather billboard work for Timberland. We're so happy we don't have to sift through this release like so many others simply to find, among the thousands of words, the hundred or so that actually say anything that we're just going to reprint the thing here:

"Today, Timberland started posting billboards made of its iconic (Ed: OK, "iconic" might be a bit over the top) boot leather in three New York City boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn and Bronx. Over a two-day period, local artists representing each borough will adorn the billboards with original artwork reflecting what the borough means to them. (Ed: a little squishy but we'll let it pass) The goal of the project, created by Arnold, is to create a platform for artists to express themselves and their passion for community, using the Timberland boot as canvas. (Ed: Easy now. It's just a billboard.)

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by Steve Hall    Dec- 5-06    
Topic: Consumer Created, Good, Guerilla, Outdoor



Billboards Power Local Appliances

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Following yesterday's wind-blown dress for Pretty Polly lingerie, the outdoor medium continues to impress with a recent Saatchi Saatchi Switzerland campaign for Swiss electric utility Groupe E. Most people know everything runs on electricity which, for an electric utility, can be a problem. After all, when was the last time you gave a thought to the name of the company that delivers your electricity? This campaign works towards highlighting Groupe E and to remind people electricity, though ubiquitous, should never be taken for granted. See all the creative here.

by Steve Hall    Dec- 5-06    
Topic: Good, Outdoor



Submarino Does that Traveling Ball Thing

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Where do soccer balls go when lost? All over the place, apparently. For client Submarino, agency Santa Clara produced this little ball ad out of Casablanca. We liked the whimsical song in the background because it made us think of Kermit the Frog.

Someone we know called this "yet another masturbatory effort from creatives that want to make movies instead of ads." After that we couldn't help but wonder - does that make a good ad then? - Contributed by Angela Natividad

by Angela Natividad    Dec- 5-06    
Topic: Good, Online, Television, Video



Thumb-vertising is the New Second Life

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It's been a while since we've added to our "vertising" list but, today, we have a new candidate: thumb-verstising. As part of a new Sara Lee Coffee campaign to promote the company's "coffee pods" that turn into a drink when pumped with thumbs, the brand co-ops thumb-vertising, a movement that offers up thumbs as the next great medium. The site is complete with all you'd normally find on an new ad medium's site: services, case studies, diagrams, surveys and, for those willing to lend their thumbs to the cause, a chance to win a Wii. It's reported "thumbers" are rising subways across Europe holding their thumbs up for hours, promoting thumb-vertising clients. There have been several reports of marketers running towards thumb-vertising trampling those still scurrying for yesterday's medium of the moment: Second Life

by Steve Hall    Dec- 5-06    
Topic: Campaigns, Good, Human, Spoofs, Strange



California Bus Stops Stink...Like Cookies

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Yesterday, bus shelters in California started smelling like chocolate chip cookies as part of a Got Milk campaign. The smell comes not from actual, fresh-baked cookies but from New York-based Arcade Marketing's Magniscent adhesive stickers. Great. As if there weren't already enough drooling kooks at bus stops already. Now everyone's tongue will be hanging out, dripping saliva and jonesing for cookies.

UPDATE: A bunch of cause group idiots with nothing better to so than make life miserable for the rest of us complained and got the campaign pulled because of the so called damage the scent could do to "chemically sensitive" people.

by Steve Hall    Dec- 5-06    
Topic: Good, Outdoor



Chrysler Gag Ads Out Again

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- If you love to bitch about the importance of Cannes-winning creativity versus creativity that actually sells stuff, you might like this Effie webcast tomorrow featuring Carl Johnson of Anomaly, Chuck McBride of TBWA\Chiat\Day, Greg Stern of Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners and Paul Woolmington of Naked Communications.

- In case you missed it, here's (1, 2) those Chrysler ads that slipped out "by mistake" and was then "pulled" by the automaker.

- While crapping all over recent campaigns he feels are really bad such as Charmin, Pepto-Bismol, Mucinex and ExxonMobil, Scott G says the ad industry should simply stop hiring people who create these ads.

- Deep Focus has done some extensive work for HBO's Rome that pits two protagonist characters, Atia and Servilia against each other with dueling online sites in a celebrity smack down of sorts.

by Steve Hall    Dec- 5-06    
Topic: Commercials, Good, Industry Events, Strange