To promote the launch of online sports marketplace, Protrade, Pod Digital Design created Mascot Kombat, a fighting game parody of Mortal Kombat, where team mascots duke it out on a football field, basketball court as well as tailgate party, bleed team colors, and face the ultimate humiliation of having their helmets removed and true geek identities revealed. It's not an easy game to play which simply means it's a great game because we suck
Seattle startup Edoc Laundry, maker of coded t-shirts that give clues to episodic stories, will be the major storyline in tonight's episode of CSI:NY. The "placement" was not paid for. The producers found the Edoc Laundry concept so intriguing and appropriate for CSI, they just organically worked it in to the episode.
Launched in March, Edock Laundry uses coded messages hidden in its line of shirts to tell a covert story which is told on the Internet on the website and through forum postings. The premise for the CSI: NY show, titled "Hung Out to Dry," concerns a serial killer who uses trendy t-shirts to hide clues to his identity and motives for his killings. Edoc apparel is named and featured throughout the show, and designed four specially coded shirts that the episode's victims wear. Check out a clip of the show here which concisely explains how the whole Edoc Laundry thing works.
We've seen this at least three times at different web addresses but passed it off as just a freakishly weird video but now the video contains a TiVo status bar, sound effects, closing copy and logo. And, it now lives on the website of San Francisco-based Swivel Media lending more credence to the marketing angle of the clip. The video (an old Bollywood film) features an Indian-looking family sitting on a bed with an old-school boombox. The Dad turns the boombox on and off as one of the kids (or...dare we say, dwarf with a big head and freakishly weird smile), standing on the floor in front of the bed dances robotically, starting and stopping as the Dad starts and stops the music. Freakishly weird but additively entertaining.
We contacted our friend Erik over at Swivel Media to confirm (yes, shockingly, we do that sometimes) this is, in fact, another weird promotion for TiVo and Erik tells us, yes, Swivel did create it in the sense they latched on to popular and strange clip and branded it with TiVo. We say another because in mid-September an odd, 50's-style video surfaced called Blue Moon in which scientists found a Tivo and thought it was some sort of alien (the kind from other worlds) device.
Today, we received a cryptic email directing is to a Belgian website called Unknown Frequencies which delivered explosive, full screen imagery that made it look like your computer was being attacked by some sort or killer virus. It then delivered an onslaught of IM windows in quantity only the likes of girls with naked pictures on their profiles would ever receive. After a few more ominous messages, the site said to check our email October 11 for more information. We don't need to wait. We already figured it out.
Strangely, as soon as this full screen takeover begin, it reminded us very much of a movie review we had read back in August for the Kristen Bell film, Pulse. And, sure enough, after spending a bit more time with the site, seeing a directory tree with YouAreNowinfected.com flash by early on and following that link, we were redirected to pulsethemovie.net.
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To promote its new online and mobile dating show, Meet or Delete, this virally intended video features a woman on her bed transfixed by a guy she's checking out online. Her desires to be with him do come to fruition but, sadly, not for too long.
To promote their ad contest for the practitioners of tomorrow, Young Guns releases Worth the Pain, which straddles the fine balance between educational and entertaining in a satisfyingly dark way. We dig the sense of despair dripping from the guy holding his head in his hands. What's got him so down? Is it the pressure that comes with competing for attention in a cutthroat industry, or is it the anal thermometer that explodes in hearts and rainbows? Come on, we all have to pay our dues. -Contributed by Angela Natividad
Ben Schwartz at Rejected Jokes put together a short called Cheating in which an irate husband, prepared to throw open a closet door and beat the libido out of his wife's secret lover, is strangely pacified when handed an enormous Whopper-looking thing by the King himself. The ad's just perfectly off-color, but who can seriously have a hot and steamy affair with a guy who carries a King mask in his backpack? -Contributed by Angela Natividad
The discourse about ethics in advertising is getting picked up by people who'd like to help draw out that imaginary red line in a way that doesn't sound so whiny. Under the premise that society (and not just irate marketing bloggers) can now contribute to media messages, After These Messages does for the opinionated audience what Yelp did for hipsters who get their kicks bitching out posh restaurants. You log in, post an ad and then - get this - scale its ethical weight and relevance. The gauge includes questions like the following: If you created it, would you sleep well at night? Does it contribute to society? Will it bring good karma? Is it an effective piece of communication?
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We apologize in advance. We simply cannot help ourselves when it comes to Gary Brolsma and all things Numa Numa. Advertising Age's Bob Garfield took a look at yet another knock off of the Numa Numa video, this time done by a company called Arnet Broadband. The company uses that same catchy tune but fills the video with a Gary Brolsma look-a-like (which they call Garry avoid legal stickiness) and several others whose purpose it is to illustrate the virtues of broadband access and the utter wackiness it provides access to.
One might say this is played out with over 3,000 Numa Numa videos out there but the train won't stop. Even Gary himself came back to join th party, albeit with a less organic and far more commercial endeavor. If it works, rinse, repeat.
To promote its new Exilm EX-1000 10.1 Mega Pixel camera, Casio has set up Too Much Detail, a sit that shows just how powerful the zooming capability of the camera is. In fact, the zooming capability of the camera is so powerful it can zoom and pan right past the couple disrobing in the foreground and onto the very old couple having a bit of their own fun in the background. The fun part is zooming and panning around the and past the foreground images to find out which of 12 pictures the old couple is in. Once that image has been located, you can enter a sweepstakes to win the camera.
The site does a great job illustrating the features of the camera, avoids boring tech and spec stuff and offers up a bit of fun at the same time. There's also a little clip that goes along with the site that reveals why finding thr old couple might be a bit embarrassing to the foreground hotties.
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