YouTube as Casual Gaming Platform?

youtube-street-fighter.jpg

On this especially idle morning, @tim_nolan invited us to partake of YouTube Street Fighter, brought to you by Patrick Bolvin.

Give it a whirl. The game enables you to interact by sending you to a new video every time you take an action, like picking a character or choosing to kick or block.

It's a fractured and disjointed experience, and you'll probably only play it once, but it brought to mind that Wario Land: Shake It! thing and reminded us that even when you think you know a medium, some innovative mind will turn it into something totally different -- opening opportunities for both the medium to evolve, and for creatives to take advantage.

more »

by Angela Natividad    Feb- 5-09    
Topic: Consumer Created, Games, Online



Guard Your Loins! This Video Will Gay You

gay-alpha-thumb.jpg

Responding to political insinuations that homosexuals "effectively advertise, glamorise and recruit people" to their lifestyle, a handful of creatives used their downtime to develop a tongue-in-cheek recruitment campaign for la vie en gay.

"The Gay Alphabet" is all Sesame Street-inspired eightiesness, cheerfully ticking down an alphabetical list of all the things that WILL MAKE YOU GAY. So yeah, that one time you went out in chaps and confessed to loving Kylie Minogue to a dude who later grabbed your ass? That marked your fall into Sodom -- and one day you will learn to love it.

more »



Barclay Turns Water Slide Commercial Into Contest

barclaycard_waterslide_challenge.jpg

So there was the Barclaycard slide commercial, remember? It's the one where a guy the office strips down to his underwear andhttp://www.youtube.com/user/Barclaycardcreate commutes home in a giant water slide. And, because it's a commercial hyping Barclay's slideless card, the dude buys a lot of stuff on the way home just buy holding his card near the scanner.

And, yes, it would have been funnier it it had been Donny Deutsch going down the slide in that Speedo. OK, maybe not but it would have fun to watch. OK, maybe not. It would have been repulsive and made us vomit so thank you, Barclay for using some anonymous dude.

more »

by Steve Hall    Feb- 3-09    
Topic: Consumer Created, Good, Promotions



The French Want Their Whoppers Back.

back-in-france-thumb.jpg

And that's cool, because Grease called and wants its moves back. (Better give up the leather jackets, too.) Hostage swap, anybody?

Helpful cultural sidenote: that guy with the big white stuff around his head is not an angry mashed potato. It is God.

"Back in France," produced by Clipit and directed by Cedric Dubourg, is a sugary protest against Burger King's mid-'90s departure from French soil -- a tribute to how we've managed to enrich the developed world (and are working on the pending one) with our seductive meat patties. Also, it was short-listed at last year's Festival de Meribel. (BK, what do you really need Crispin for?)

more »

by Angela Natividad    Feb- 3-09    
Topic: Consumer Created, Good, Online, Trends and Culture, Video



Doritos Narrows 'Crash the Super Bowl' Finalists Down to 5.

free-doritos.jpg

Having long ago concluded it never has to finance another agency-produced ad EVER AGAIN, Doritos announced the five finalists of this year's "Crash the Super Bowl" contest. They are:

1. "Free Doritos," Joe Herbert, Batesville, IN
2. "New Flavor Pitch," Oren Brimer, New York, NY
3. "Power of the Crunch," Eric Heimbold, Venice, CA
4. "The Chase," Chris Roberts, Burbank, CA
5. "Too Delicious," Michael Goubeaux, Los Angeles, CA

Impressively, they all share Doritos' abrupt frat-boyish brand persona. Almost like they were made by guys cut out of the same mold but of varying degrees of funniness.

more »



Laptop Tattoos, Adult SocNets Exiled, Wal-Mart Roves for Digital Agency

arbys-hardon.jpg

- Wal-Mart's looking to unload its $40 million digital ad account. The shortlist includes Resource, Digitas, MRM, R/GA and Razorfish.

- Digital Mad Men! Watch. Watch. Because Vince Kartheiser talking Caturday is probably the funniest he's been in his short career so far.

- Dell cracks open Design Studio -- where users can pay $75 to get a unique image "permanently tattoed" onto their laptop lids. o_O That's a slightly steeper commitment than the peel-off-friendly GelaSkins.

- Arby's brings hard-ons. I really hope they don't put this on TV.

- MySpace does video streaming on mobile phones. With ad support.

- As of January 1, adult social networks will not be permitted on Ning. (Pretty good) reasons listed in the link.

- YouTube cobbles together digital chamber music orchestra.



'Sibling Rivalry' Makes Artistic Contribution to Zune Arts

zune-arse.jpg

It's bloody disgusting. And knowing that, you can probably guess all that paint isn't coming from a Kelly Moore bucket.

by Angela Natividad    Nov-20-08    
Topic: Consumer Created, Online, Video



Elf Yourself Returns for Year 3

elf-yourself-obama-palin.jpg

While logic for continuing the campaign may be suspect, I guess it speaks to its undying faith that for the third year in a row, OfficeMax is rolling out Elf Yourself (complete with bigger OfficeMax logo!).

Around this time last year, Elf Yourself had spawned over 11 million self-elfers. This year there's new stuff to look forward to.

more »

by Angela Natividad    Nov-16-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Consumer Created, Online



Digital Designers Face Off in Intel's Digital Drag Race

intel_digital_drag_race.gif

Ingredient brand Intel has decided to dip its toes in the lemming-filled waters of marketing nirvana, otherwise known as social media, with Digital Drag Race, a competition which pits professional digital designers against one another mixed with a consumer-generated aspect for non-professionals.

Launching November 17, a collection of professional designers will spend 70 minutes on a computer powered by the brand new Intel Core i7 Extreme Edition Processor using Abobe Creative Suite 4 to create a 17 second motion graphic using supplied assets; video, music, vector images. The content of the videos are to center on the themes of power, speed and innovation.

After each race, judges will select competitors with the best final product. The first two digital drag races will be unveiled on the Digital Drag Race site on November 17th, after which site visitors will be able to view and vote for their favorite designs.

more »

by Steve Hall    Nov-14-08    
Topic: Brands, Consumer Created, Promotions, Social



Microsoft Does 'I'm a PC' UGC Mash-Up Thing.

im-a-pc-ugc.jpg

"I'm a PC ... and I love the slimming effect of a purple striped shirt."

That's the profound kick-off to "Real PC," one of the :30 TV spots being cobbled together with clips from Microsoft's Upload Your Own 'I'm a PC' Ad! campaign. I saw one last night and winced; what is it about this effort that rings so painfully desperate? See more here.

These user-generated variants manage to be just as quirky and random as the originals, with a little amateur-vid spice tossed in. One guy at ad:tech's Millennial panel said he finds these ads more "democratic" than Apple's snarky but irresistible "Mac vs. PC" spots. He's not wrong; they definitely reek of The People's OS. For whatever that's worth.

Let's just hope Crispin didn't produce them on a Mac this time.

more »