HSBC Makes Good with Ambiguous Tat Ad

This HSBC ad out of Singapore demonstrates what may be a successful attempt to re-brand a stodgy, almost rotary old player into something more contemporary. An interesting choice, though it begs the question which, between "traditional" and "trendy," is actually the positive and the negative. Smart not to paint either option in a bad light. A hat tip to the old boys - at least they know a message is only as good as its interpretation.

Self-Serving 'Proposal Gone Wrong' Still Amusing

Ross Simons Jewelers has launched another version of its long-running marriage proposal faux paux (did we spell that right?) promotion. Back in the day, videos of marriage proposals gone wrong (or right) were physically shipped to the brand and only a few people (the judges) got to see hundreds of versions of that awkward moment in life known as the marriage proposal. Now we have YouTube for public humiliation the world over. In a promotion called Proposal Gone Wrong, Ross Simons is offering $10,000 to the person who submits the best marriage proposal screw up.

Oddly enough, the promotion is entirely self-serving (not that all marketing isn't) in that the $10,000 doesn't come in the form of cash but in store credit. It might have been nice if that $10,000 was around before the engagement ring was actually purchased. Now, the $10,000 has to be spent on other body bling whether you want it or not. Oh wait, people love jewelery. Who are we kidding?

Oral History Revived by New Orleans Ad Agency

In Lives Connected, 44 Peter A Mayer employees revisit their Katrina experiences. Far from the usual give-us-money pitch, the courage-tales nod to a tradition of legacy storytelling prevalent in New Orleans, with recurring themes weaving through each piece. The site launched around the same time hurricane season bowed out.

The NOLA-based agency calls this an "interactive data visualization" - a busy buzzword for "oral history" that we probably could have done without. But Mayer's shtick happens to be civic pride. Its slogan is, blatantly, "We wouldn't want to be anywhere else."

"[The purpose of Lives Connected] is to highlight the resilient nature of the agency and the spirit and dedication of its employees," explains a representative.

We're pretty sure somebody's going to shit all over this and claim it's an exploitation of high emotions and turbulent events. That's cool. But we liked the gesture and there's room in the Katrina narrative for more than just body counts and weepy stories. Those don't really help anybody or bring business back to the community. So nice job, guys.

XM Goes Yule with Post-Mod Holiday Cards

With the help of Lowe New York, XM Radio puts together a holiday card generator that's snazzier than your average. Shucking the white snow and holiday colours that one both expects and dismisses in holiday card campaigns, cards remain a sparing white-on-black with yellow flourishes. The nav is also stark and sparing.

We thought it was a neat concept - a few equal-opportunity greetings, a streamlined appearance, clever music, twitchy animals. We doff our caps to XM and Lowe for turning a stock campaign into something engaging without embarrassing themselves or indulging in overkill. That's surprisingly hard to do.

Some Feel DDB Berlin Copied Idea For VW Frog Ad, Want Apology

Some time ago, Danish comedians Wulffmorgenthaler created a comic strip that showed a frog being carried away by a fly stuck to his tongue. Earlier this year, DDB Berlin let loose a Volkswagen commercial that showed yes, frog being carried away by a fly stuck to his tongue. The usual pissing match has ensued. Some think DDB should apologize. See the strip here. Watch the ad here. What do you think?

Kenwood Unleashes Swedish Bimbo Boobs For MP3 Player

It's a good thing Annika holds the Kenwood MP3 player up to the camera for a close up in this video otherwise we'd have suffered from the "my eyes are up here" syndrome throughout the entire thing in which she sings We Wish You A Merry Christmas in an enticingly sexy Swedish accent. Acknowledging her hard to miss cleavage, this rendition of "We" Wish You A Merry Christmas takes on entirely new meaning.

Channel One Troubled, Evolution Spoofed, PayPerPost Discloses

- As AdFreak points out, Chysler may want to revise the ad it has placed introducing the Time PErson of the Year. The ad's headline reads, "You might not be the Time Person of the Year." Oops.

- The controversial PayPerPost, a service that pays bloggers to write things about brands now requires those bloggers to make not of that on their blogs. Since the disclosure is not on a per post basis, this simply calls into question the merits of every single word ever mentioned on the blog.

- Esquire gives a nod to the 2003 Pop Montreal Festival poster with its current cover featuring George Clooney.

- Looks like Channel One, the company that pretends to educate kids but is all about delivering ads to them, is in trouble. Complaints have increased. Revenue is down. Regulation looms. A sale is possible.

- Yet another spoof of Dove's Evolution.

- Greenpeace continued its efforts at calling the public's attention to Apple's apparent less-than-green approach to manufacturing its computers by shining green lights on the the company's 5th Avenue store in New York City last Thursday night.