Enter the Adrants Holiday Party Shenanigans Contest

Every year around this time the schadenfreude-fueled emails start pouring in from those who revel in the unfortunate (or fortunate) positions in which co-workers (or they themselves) sometimes find themselves at the annual holiday party.

Over the years we've had a director of broadcast at Crispin Porter + Bogusky reveal his ass crack and an Arnold staffer pole dance.

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Cruelty to Cookies Promote AT&T GoPhone

For client AT&T, BBDO enlisted Aardman Productions, the folk responsible for Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run, to put together this quaint little holiday ad. It's lighter and funnier than what we'd expect from AT&T, which bodes well, at least for Christmas.

In the spot, a gingerbread son (who sounds too old to be living at home) asks his dad (who's busy roofing) if he can have a GoPhone. Dad agrees. Shortly afterward, a giant human hand takes a chunk out of his house.

Aww. It's practically a cautionary tale.

Not Into Elves? Become a Chipmunk

Sucking helium solely for the effect it has on your voice is a time-honored tradition among kids, and probably the only instance of substance abuse you won't get vilified for.

Couple that with an effort like Elf Yourself, and you've got a bonafide interactive promotion for Alvin and the Chipmunks, the feature film based on our favourite childhood show. (Next to Shera and He-Man, anyway.)

Hit Munk Yourself to get "munked," (Get it? Chipmunks?) without the helium. It's definitely safer, even if it cuts the fun in half.

Catch our munked rendition here. And read more about the customizable viral craze, and how it relates to our old buddies Alvin, Simon and Theodore, at Brandweek.

Brawndo Graduates from Big Screen to Seven Eleven

If you saw Idiocracy, you know what Brawndo is: the energy-pumped thirst mutilator that's so potent it replaces water, even for crop irrigation.

Now you can use Brawndo to water your own plants, or at least soothe you while thirsty. The drinks are slated to start appearing at 7-Elevens, says Uncrate.

'Choices' Effort Says Drink Responsibly. Maybe

The Choice is Yours is a UK-based effort to get people to have fun, but drink responsibly. Site sponsors include Diageo and other labels like Smirnoff, Bell's, Bailey's, Gordon's and Guinness.

The site dragged us through an average party-goer's night. Lots of pretty people, seeing double and spilling drinks.

We're not really sure what the point is but we're sure it's profound.

ad:tech Announces Call For Entry For 11th Annual Awards

ad:tech has announced its call for entries for its 2008 Awards Show which will take place during ad:tech San Francisco April 15-17. The awards focus on the best online work from affiliate programs to email to branding to mobile to social media to word of mouth to search engine marketing to ecommerce and, yes, even to the banner. Also part of the show will be a people's choice award and industry achievement awards. Entries are due January 18 so get yourself over to the entry form and sign up your best work.

Ken Convoy Rants Rich About Agency Arrogance

Ken Convoy's got a few agency-ready business models proven to save tons of money and make clients love you more. He can do it all at a fraction of the cost most agencies can, and with less than 10 people involved.

What are these big ideas?

We don't know.

Who is Ken Convoy?

Um ... a dude who runs a one-man agency in Santa Barbara, CA.

But hey, Ken is willing to convey his winning, proven models to any kingpin agency willing to talk to him. The problem is, nobody's passed him more than a few friendly emails, followed by the inevitable brush-off.

In this post right here, Ken (sometimes eloquently) details his attempts to penetrate the iron curtain of "agency arrogance" with zero luck.

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Simple Scare Tactic May Sow Seeds for 'Dino Death Trap'

zig, Chicago built this playful, tamely sadistic little site, Dino Central Park, to get kids to watch Dino Death Trap, which airs on the National Geographic Channel this Sunday.

The rules are simple, the results entertaining: pick a dinosaur. Embody the dinosaur. You're presented with a nighttime view of Central Park, and every time somebody walks by, you push the ROAR button!

We forgot how much we liked dinosaurs.

YouMail Disseminates Custom-Made Blake Lewis Mobile Messages

Feeling uncool? Get American Idol's Blake Lewis to croon out a message for your cell phone, courtesy of YouMail.

These custom-made celebu-greetings must wreak havoc on Blake Lewis' actual friends. If anybody can get Blake to pick up their phone and sing on command, what use will he be to them now?

Omnicom Touts Cutting Edge Capabilities...With 2006 Work

This is the perfect time to use George Parker's BDA acronym which stands for Big Dumb Agencies. Adrants reader Lauren tipped us to a story in AdWeek about Omnicom's John Wren touting the holding company's "non-traditional" work.

The story miffed here a bit and she wrote us, "Congratulations Omnicom and welcome to the digital age. This article really bothered me because it seems like the advertising trades are so obsessed with covering any bit of news coming out of holding companies that they are missing the real news, the real trends and maybe even the cool interactive work that's being done now, and not in 2006. And (gasp) maybe, just maybe it's not the holding companies that are ahead of the game this time..."

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