We're not even going to mention it. What we are going to mention is recent pro-bono work Agency.com did in conjunction with TBWA\Chiat/Day for the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation which seeks $170 million in private funding. The agency created a microsite which, in homage to the many actual flags that appeared after 9-11, consists of a flag people can add their names to show support for the WTC Memorial and Memorial Museum at Ground Zero.
The flag can be forwarded to friends and will also be incorporated into dynamic online banners that people can interact with. The microsite and the banners, part of an overall TBWA\Chiat\Dat multimedia campaign, will point people to the WTC Memorial Foundation website for more information on the project. Now there's some noble work that actually deserves a fist bump. Dammit. We mentioned it. Sorry.
- Jumping on the pop-up store trend, Sharpe Blackmore Euro RSCG launched the Evian Purity Spa in Toronto's Yorkville. The spa will operate for the month of September then close.
- This has absolutely nothing to do with advertising but you have to see this video of an interview Ben Affleck gave a few years a go with a Montreal-based French Canadian reporter for Jersey Girl during which he never let her off his lap.
- Caffeine Marketing offers up some important tips on requesting links from others sites to build your own site's popularity.
- Mack Simpson who works for Hispanic agency Dieste Harmel wants us to know there's an elephant inside the living room of Madison Avenue. That elephant is th burgeoning Hispanic market which is expected to have $863.1 billion in buying power by 2007 and making up 20 percent of the 20-34 population.
- Mack Simpson has also created a top ten list every young creative should heed. Don't be a dickhead, think twice/speak once and don't play politics are just a few.
Here's another fun little time waster from Boston's Captains of Industry (yes, it's an agency and that's their name) has launched Ask Dr. Clark (go to the site, click the "fun" tab ) in which a 60's style doctor answers important questions such as "My snoring keeps my wife awake. What can I do?" and "My voice is too low to get a date. Can you help?" The answer to the snoring question is ridiculous but quite funny. The site is bilingual and Dr. Clark speak Spanish with a curiously German accent.
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Todd Copelvitz, formerly with The Richards Group in Dallas tells the story of an account person with whom he worked while at the agency named Tanya Pinto who's launched a charity called Baal Dan which she set up to aid orphans in India. She's done it one her own time, with her own money and while still working at The Richards Group.
Having grown up in India until the age of 13, Pinto was motivated to start Baal Dan after a sabbatical to India to help orphans. Now, back at The Richards Group, she is receiving help from co-workers on the charity. Why not get behind one of our own and, as Todd writes, "...take a moment from reading about the latest viral campaign and check out Tanya's work. Then do something that will really matter, and donate." Indeed.
Abuse seems to be a theme lately. First, it was last week' boxer-themed One Man Fight video for Amnesty International. This week it's ambient (OK, OK, we'll start using that term) placements near the top of Boston T (subway) station stairways that read, "I fell down some stairs" for Endabuse.org.
There are just certain situations where staring is simply not advised: at the urinal, in the elevator at someone's disgusting facial blemish or if you are an overweight, wife beater-wearing, ice cream licking slob looking at two teens making out in a convertible. It is, however, OK to stare during poker as indicated in these Fallsview Casini Resort/World Poker Tour commercials by BBDO Toronto.
Taking the phrase, "straight from the horses mouth," literally, Merial, a drug company for horses, has launched a promotion for its ulcer prevention medicine UlceGard and employed a talking horse to do it. On the site, visitors can pick their horse or upload any image of their choice, type in a phrase and have the horse speak it. Who knew horse ulcers could be so much fun?
Chevy is amping up its obsession with consumer generated media and has launched a contest for college students to enter competition, create an ad for the company, get it produced and have it air during the Super Bowl in 2007. With teams of three students, the focus will be on the automaker's Aveo, Cobalt, HHR and Equinox. Students will submit their concepts to Chevy and five will be chosen to present to Chevy and its ad agency in the Fall. The winner will participate in production. No mention was made regarding just how much creative control students will maintain once the idea is handed over but we're pretty confident Chevy will be honorable in this area.
In a move to avoid embarrassment during Advertising Week, several Interpublic and WPP agencies, have promised to set goals for increasing black representation at their firms and signed agreements with the City of New York that call for the agencies to provide reports on hiring, promotion and retention and to develop recruitment programs. The City's Human Rights Commission has plans to hold hearings beginning September 25 at which agency executives would have to testify to their company's position in the area of diversity.
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This past weekend, New Zealand vodka maker 42Below held its its 42Below Cocktail World Cup.which took place in the mountains of Queenstown New Zealand and involved bungee jumping, rafting at 80 MPH and sliding down snow covered mountains all while mixing drinks. It's yet another way the cheeky vodka maker has a bit of fun while, at the same time, gaining some publicity. For the event, 42 bartenders from around the world battled it out. Winners will be named September 16 at the Cocktail World Cup Finals.
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