If Youtube is the ultimate archive of self-exploitative human behaviour and ads are major persuaders in societal instruction, then it's only natural that at the crossroads we find Life Lessons I Learned the Hard Way.
This is TLC's feeble dip into the somehow unexhausted world of CGM. And guess what you win if your life lesson is the best? A chance for your ad to air on TLC, and ... wait for it ... $10,000. Yeah, that's the going rate for anybody whose exhibitionist camp gets an accolade from a big brand. (Observe examples 1, 2, 3.)
At this point we have little hope that video-whoring will go away anytime soon. That reality TV fad? Still going strong. Who'd have guessed there'd be a market for seeing anybody, not just celebrities, get gritty on camera?
Okay, aside from MTV.
If you like Cirque du Soleil and you live in San Francisco or will be there attending ad:tech April 24-26, you'll have a chance to see the performers do their thing. During the ad:tech Awards Show April 25, the group will be performing at 6:30 PM. No, it's not free. That'd be wonderful but they do have to be paid for their spectacular performances which is why ad:tech is charging for entry. But since it's the ad:tech Awards Show, there will also be open bar, tons of food and tunes from DJ Zeph included in that entry fee. You can get an early bird discount if you buy your tickets before April 25 (They cost more at the door).
Angela and I will be there so if you want to hunt us down and berate us for any crap we may have written about you or your company, this is your chance!
Angela: Dude. Did you have to publish an open invitation to hunt us down? I might actually want to spawn cheeky rant-filled children someday.
Forget the Snickers Kiss. That's been one upped by a Canadian MTV don't do drugs commercial created by Saatchi & Saatchi Toronto which, yes, has two guys kiss each other. Kinda like the recent Axe backwards commercial, this one delves into the realm of incestual nastiness. Ew. But funny. Really, it is.
Last month we featured a very weird and very whacked video from Cleveland agency Brokaw which was celebrating its 15th anniversary. Now, the agency has sent us some of its real work for its client the Cleveland Institute of Art which we really like. It's five minute, stop motion-ish video created with a sketch pad and some minimal effects. After all, educational institutions aren't famous for spending big in recruitment advertising. The video is nicely done and the voice over does just the right job of smack talking the educational recruitment process without overdoing it. It even highlights many reasons why a college student would want to go to Cleveland in the first place. Top on our list? The Barking Spider.
- Yikes. Reminiscent of that "where the hell did all the 18-34 men Go" trauma of a year of two ago, MediaWeek's Marc Berman reports NBC's adult 18-49 demo plummeted 24 percent to a 2.2/9 compared to last year representing the lowest since September 1991. Hmm. Ratings glitch?
- The Web Marketing Association has begun the 2007 Call for Entries for the 11th annual international WebAward competition. Check it out if you can stand the insanely annoying Rovion video that incessantly appears in the lower right hand corner of the site every time you visit. This is a technology that should get shot in the head. Along with in text advertising and PayPerPost.
- CreateAthon 2007 wants 24 hours of time from agencies to dedicate their time and talent to non profits.More info here.
- Kleenex has debuted a new oval-shaped package and a program that lets people design their own tissue box for $4.99.
- While it feels like the whole graffiti as advertising trend is so yesterday, apparently, it's still a thing and Adidas has launched a project whereby graf artists are tagging a New York subway car.
Fresh Creation tips us to yet another bit of salacious ad fun. If you've got time to waste and want to stare it thong-clad Sloggi models while making your own billboard with the Sloggi Billboard Director, have at it. Famous for their banned billboards and propensity to show as much ass as often as possible, the lingerie maker is now letting everyone in on the fun having. After all, why should art directors and photographers be the only ons to stare at ass all day long?
Because we love you so much, Adrants is giving away five free passes to the Future of Online Advertising conference held June 7-8 at New York's Gotham Hall. That's two days (a whoppin' $895 worth) of all the buzz-hocking and inspiration you can swallow -- for free. Nada. Zip. Nothing.
Conference topics will include search, online video, click fraud and online advertising basics. Many speakers at the conference are at the forefront of advertising's future including BlogAds Founder Henry Copeland, blip.tv Co-Founder Mike Hudack, Feedburner's Steve Olechowski, Edelman Senior Marketing Strategist and uber-blogger Steve Rubel, Brightcove's Jeremy Allaire and many more. Apart from the serious stuff, let's not forget the fun-having! Every conference has it and this one will too.
The fun and games take place June 7-8. This is a new conference. It doesn't have a track record but it's shaping up nicely. We're pleased to offer five Adrants readers free passes to this event. If you're interested, all you have to do is send an email to fooa@adrants.com. We'll choose five people at random on April 18, providing you the penultimate experience of wallowing in the future of online advertising.
There's something very odd about the word "mastication." Say it ten times and you'll see what we mean. It's like saying "both" ten times in a row. See? Anyway. Enough about the oddities of the English language. On to Trident gum which, with help from AKQA London, has created an interesting movie about, yes, mastication. And brain lobes. And mastication quivering. And pleasure, And lobal deflation. And Softeriationificationflavorization...uh...something about making the gum soft. And fruit recognition software. And...oh just watch the video.
Because apparently even grown women who aren't named Mariah Carey have fantasies about being princesses, Caress gives the longing a chance to star in their own fairy tales.
The website, meant perhaps for yoga mamas still squeezing their own toes into kids' ballerina flats, includes capabilities for creating Prince Charming as well as Harlequin Romance-style videos about ingenues who turn combative burlies into relationship trophies. Don't forget to catch the one about the career chick who learns there's more to life than business. (Whether that lesson leads back to true love or soap remains a mystery.)
In a previous life we may have lounged around concocting princesses while swathing ourselves in fragrant sodium laureth sulfate, but frankly we don't have to. We already know we're the best princess of all. Vera Wang said so when they tried this same approach.
Let's forget for a minute that the CGM wave is so last February. If Mr. Clean wanted to personify cleaning house, we'd think they'd use that big bald burly dude already featured on all their creative instead of haphazardly throwing an Oompa-Loompa at us from left field.
While we mentally rejected the idea of an Oompa-Loompa creeping around cleaning shit (they are very naughty, after all), we liked the screaming ADD-ridden kid. And if you can somehow top Mr. Clean on the weird video scale, you could win $10,000. Lookie, they even made the contest name rhyme: Make a Scene with Mr. Clean. How whimsical.
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