Male VIA Creatives Model Maidenform Backless Bra

Oh. My. God. Sometimes there are things you just shouldn't see. After writing about VIA's work for Maidenform's new backless bra, we were promised photos of VIA chief creative officer and creative director modeling the product. Well, we got more than that. We got a room full of male VIS creatives mid-concepting session wearing the backless bra and, well, you really don't want to see these pictures.

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Seven Reasons Why Twitter is a Great Social Media Resource

One of the students who attended our Social Media panel at Boston's Emerson College Tuesday, April 2, Pamela Sieple wrote a wonderfully concise article about Twitter and why it's a great resource. She's right. Twitter goes far beyond its "What are you doing?" roots as anyone who uses it will tell you.

Pamela says Twitter is a great resource for the latest news, feedback on immediate thoughts or needs, a basis for networking, a channel through which live news coverage can be had and, of course, a bit of self-promotion. Give it a read and forward it to everyone you know who's jaded about the purpose and benefits of Twitter.

Here is an Ad About Struggle

"Soul Soldiers" is a reminder about the black guys who fought for America in Vietnam, even as they struggled against racist beliefs at home.

The ad is for the Senator John Heinz History Center and it ran through '07. It got an award for cultural awareness at the ADDYs last month.

New Balance Gets Running

Here's something we can identify with: the love/hate relationship with running. "Every day with running is a question of your commitment," this New Balance ad observes. "And running is not afraid to ask."

It's cheesy in some respects, but on the whole it reads like a motivating anthem for those that do tear themselves out of Sleepy Time Station to wrestle concrete, icy air and reluctant limbs. The work/play, love/hate balance is played up to make way for the tagline: This is the New Balance. Gotta love a well-situated pun.

Put together by BBDO/NY. Much cooler than the desperate-to-please NB Zips thing that New Balance did last year.

Do the Green Thing Find New Purpose For Retired Turntable

With sort of the WTFness of that beer commercial but not really, comes this video for Do the Green Thing which urges people to SAVE THE PLANET by taking short showers. The message is delivered with old school cut and paste and a turntable. Amazing how that odl shit works so well together.

The dets: "Short Sharp Shower Deck was thought up and shot by talented Green Thing friend Michael Wright. It was lit by Stuart Bunce and features the music of John Hegley, Zeep, The Meanies, Martin Jones and Tom Williams."

Will you take a shorter shower because of this?

Travelers' Red Umbrella Makes Triumphant Return

After a goof six years ago which kept the iconic red umbrella with Citigroup as it spun off the Travelers unit, Travelers has won it back and has gone BIG (literally) in a new commercial celebrating the umbrella's return. In the ad, a man carries the gigantic umbrella back home and on his way does what good insurance companies do, helps people when they need helping. OK, so most insurance companies don't a shit other than making money but it's a nice sentiment at least.

Fallon Minneapolis did a nice job with the spot. It's elegant, well-produced an fairy tale-like in that big adventure movie sort of way. It's one of those ads that really doesn't look like it's actually an ad but at the same time, delivers its brand message beautifully.

Maidenform Backless Bra Too Small For Busty Adrants Interns

Just what is it about guys and bras? It's like the subject comes up and we're in high school all over again, snapping the bra of the cute girl sitting next to us in social studies. Oh yes, breasts make boys (and men) do very stupid things. Sadly (or maybe not), snapping the back of a girl's bra may be a thing of the past if this backless bra from Maidenform takes off.

Created by ABC American Inventor contestant Elaine Cato, the bra is getting a big creative and media push from VIA Group, which will launch campaign "This Feels Right" with the tag "Out with the old, in with the new." Media will consist of women's magazine's, outdoor and online.

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Clorox Uses Music Mix to Bring Melody to Schools

Here's a taste of the stuff on The Blue Sky Project, a promotional CD created by DDB, SF for Clorox. Some of the tracks were in Clorox ads, then extended to beef up the album.

50 percent of the price goes to Music in Schools Today (MuST), which brings music programs to low-income neighborhoods.

I was gonna say it would be hard to associate Clorox with any kind of music, mostly because I can smell bleach wafting out of the kitchen and there is nothing musical about it.

But The Blue Sky Project is calm and unpretentious -- an okay fit for the (slowly evolving?) household brand. I'm happy the agency avoided the temptation of using electronica or hip-hop. Getting people to listen isn't hard, as long as you avoid being something you're not.

Agent Provocateur Launches Game For Window Peepers

Our favorite purveyor of lingerie, Agent Provocateur, has a new game and a new adventure out so if you're into sexy lingerie, games that are called Peep in Paris and episodic video installments, head over to Agent Provocateur for some afternoon delight.

M&M Gets Blue Balls, Licks Himself to Mother's Horror

Like a mother walking in on her son in the middle of a masturbation session, this M&M commercial has a blue M&M sitting on a couch licking himself because he tastes so good while mom walks in, surprised, and asks, "Are you licking yourself?"

One can just imagine the concepting conversation:

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