Everyone loves a good house party, right? Especially one with lots of good music, dancing, (drug-induced?) finger painting, pixie dust, fireworks, gambling and celebrities. So if this all came together and Russell Simmons, DMC (nice guy), Ilie Nastase, David Beckham, Kevin Garnett, Young Jeezy, Katy Perry, Estelle, Ting Tings, Missy Elliott, Jeremy Scott, Kazuki, Dynamo, Ryukyudisko, Afra, Method Man, Redman, Mark Gonzales showed up, it'd be the perfect party, right?
Sadly, it's just an ego-fueled, self-indulgent, hipsteresque celebu-fest akin to, oh, say, the recent AgencySpy party (kidding, Matt. Seriously!) masquerading as an Adidas commercial. And if this weren't enough, there's a two minute version of the commercial coming out after the New Year.
"Branded widgets are the refrigerator magnets of the Brave New World," says Bob Garfield in a lengthy Advertising Age article in which he examines widgets, compares them to specialty advertising and dubs them "the magical connection between marketers and consumers."
Garfield notes the widget space will "amount to something like $100 million." Though not a small sum, he also adds, "it's a sum even an endangered species such as NBC Universal can shake out of the sofa cushions."
He spoke with Jackson Fish Market Founder Hillel Cooperman who laments marketer's malaise and his frustration with their lack of interest in widgets. While marketers seem to clearly understand the day's of the :30 spot are numbered, confoundedly, they act like a deer in headlights when it comes to moving ahead with alternative methods of marketing.
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Under its classic slogan "There is always a clever mind behind it," German paper The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung is running a campaign depicting various "clever minds." At left is UN Chief Inspector Mohamed ElBaradei in a state of exceptional transparency.
Hmm. What he needs is a red nose. Then we'd really have a party.
See variants for Billy Wilder, Helmut Kohl and Vitali Klitschko. All smart stuff, comparable to some of the better work we've seen for The Economist and BusinessWeek.
Photos by Nick Veasey. Curiouser still? See making-of and interview with ElBaradei.
For his signature sneaker the Zoom LeBron VI, "Chalk" lovingly exploits LeBron James' habit of throwing talcum powder into the air before each game. Watch as others follow suit -- with contagiously patriotic reverence -- to the slightly narcotic Candyman by Cornershop.
The spot aired on Thanksgiving day and features cameos by Greg Oden, LaMarcus Aldridge, Brandon Roy, Daniel Gibson, Anderson Varejao, J.J. Hicks and Lil' Wayne. By Cohn & Wolfe in tandem with Wieden & Kennedy/Portland.
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It's common during the holidays to wish you could be many places at once: everywhere you're obligated to be, and everywhere you actually want to be. So instead of promoting the girth of its network, Vodafone claims it'll let you make the most of now.
In this ad, a guy on an iPhone traipses casually around town, doing everything he wants to, and ends up at the door of a booty call. (Well, I guess it could also be his sister.) Anyway, as he walks, he's joined by clones that have done still more.
Expect the song, Because I Do by Katie Sutherland, to stick with you awhile.
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