Rarely do we ever have the time or the inclination to sit through an entire segment of one of those online analyze whatever things marketers like to create to sell product. But, we did this time. Perhaps it was because our date last night was uneventful so we didn't have our usual hangover or have to make polite morning conversation with our less-pretty-than-she-was-last-night date. Perhaps it was because we didn't have to spend time with our new Remington Body Hair Trimmer in preparation for tonight's date who unceremoniously canceled after we asked her to arrive dressed up like a pleated plaid skirt-wearing private school girl. Or, perhaps it was because our favorite porn site was down preventing us from wasting hours slobbering over women we will never have.
Anyway, we found the time to spend with this DDB Chicago-created site for OfficeMax for its new line of TUL pens that offered up a handwriting analysis by graphologist Dr. Gerard Ackerman.So after we randomly selected answers to a six question survey about our writing style, we were presented with a step by step video analysis of our handwriting and an insight into our personality. While it may not have been the most stunningly entertaining thing we've ever seen, it did prove there are certainly other things in life than the aforementioned, less than respectable activities.
Polkadotholes tells us to promote its new hump back VW GTI-like vehicle, Qashqai, in Europe, Nissan has invented a new sport called Qashqui Car Games which looks like automotive aerobatics. On the site, there's detailed information on the origin of the faux sport, stats on the sport's top drivers, videos - most of which are "coming soon," current news on the sport, swag and an as yet unactivated "stunt builder" section which, one assumes, will allow people to create their own Qashqai automotive aerial trickery. It seems engaging enough and is well put together if not a bit heavy with long page load times.
In acknowledgment of the fact everyone plays video games now, Dallas-based agency Moroch Partners along with Video Gamers League and Affinity Sports and Entertainment Marketing created the Midnight Gaming Championship. The gaming contest will occur Satuday nights at Dallas/Ft. Worth area McDonald's from 9PM to 4AM beginning September 23 and ending with a championship bout on November 18.
Each week, players can register online for a chance to play in one of three different gaming tournaments each Saturday night. The games featured in each competition are NCAA Football '07, Guitar Hero and Tekken 5, and players will compete each week in a single elimination format until one winner is declared for each of the games. Winners of each game's tournament will receive prizes from McDonald's, Best Buy and GameZnFlix. Grand Prize winners will receive a generous prize package from Best Buy, GameZnFlix, McDonald's and Red Octane.
To promote the launch of Koch Media's Crusty Demons game, London's New Media Maze has created a virally-intended little game in which you decide where on a woman's body you want place a tattoo, write a message then send it to a friend. We found ourselves somewhere in the middle of two round objects with the message "Adrants Was Here."
Boston interactive marketing agency FUSEideas has created an online game for Boston.com's promotion of the Brigham's Ice Cream Scoop campaign which offers coupons for free ice cream to those that play the online game. Running from September 12 to 17, the game will also incorporate a "Vote for the Wildcard" flavor which will then be served on the last day of three Scoop promotion. The game itself calls for players to move ice cream cone, Coney, from side to side on the screen and catch as many scoops of ice cream as possible.
- Davis Freeberg sends us this long form commercial for TiVo called Blue Moon which is a 50's-style video explaining an important scentific discovery that turns out to be, yes, a TiVo.
- While we really like this new campaign for Florida's Commerce Bank which, in the TV spot, asks "When did you stop thinking you were a magician?" and other kid-related things along with images of kids that change to adults at the end of the commercial, there seems to be a missing transition between the innocence of dreaming in kidhood and Commerce Bank's assertion you can keep dreaming in adulthood if you bank with them. The work was created by Hispanic agency, The Lab thelabideas.com
- Put your Hispanic marketing caps on because the demographic segment is growing eight times faster than other other groups and will, this year, match the purchasing power of African-Americans spending over &800 billion.
- Arthur Schiff, the man behind the classic Ginsu Knife commercials as well as many other informercials died earlier this week at the age of 66.
- Debuting next week during the Come Out & Play festival in New York this month will be "kill them with kindness" game called Cruel 2 B Kind. The game assigns players one weapon and one weakness which consist of random acts of kindness which are to be delivered to other players who could be anyone on the street in the game zone.
- Maverick Media has created another Windows Live Messenger video, called Bottle, that points out the dangers of using old technology to deliver office messages.
- South African singer Verity is hoping record her album by pre-selling 5,000 CDs through a project called the Lucky Packet Project to finance the cost of recording the album. About ten percent of the revenue will go to the South African charity People Opposing Women's Abuse.
- OK, this Great Escape video for the PSP game Dark Mirror is just weird but it definitely reminds one to be sure which bed they slip into the night before.
- T-list is taking social media physical by selling t-shirts on which people can place thisr top five lists of bands, movies, places or any other list one might find on MySpace or any other social media site.
- Getting even closer to the day ads will be affixed to the back of church pews, the Boy Souts of America are now accepting brand sponsorship of its Scout Badges.
- While you may have heard of this stunt already, here's the video of UK artist Bansky "punking" Paris Hilton's new CD by buying copies, altering the cover sleeve's content and replacing her CD with an audio remox of her favorite and inane comments.
- A&T is hyping its online entertainment site Blue Room by airing, on September 10, footage from the Conde Nast Fashon Rocks pre-party featuring Elton John performing highlights from the songs on his upcoming The Captain and the Kid album.
Instead of display of anger and the slashing tires in this promotion for the Gangs of London game, we get a literal version of what the English like to says when they're mad, "piss off." SO that's it. Watch it. That's all there is to it. The video was created by Maverick Media.
Two Finnish guys, Michael and Maesky, from Make It Real Sports think the 145 million gamers (their number, not ours) the world over, more players than any other sport, should have representation at Cannes MIPCOM and have announced their own call for entries of a sort. They're asking people to send in videos lauding the importance of virtual sports as compared to real sports. They'll take the top four videos and their creators to Cannes MIPCOM, all expenses paid. They're goal is to shop the videos as fodder the creation of a gamer-based television show. English is obviously not their primary language so go easy on them if and when you visit the site.
- The New England Patriots are launching a branded line of hotdogs, Bratwurst and sausages supported by an ad campaign this September.
- Scott G weighs in on the whole Agency.com debacle.
- The EA Sports Madden NFL game is getting some love over at Maddenoliday. Hmm. And we didn't even know John Madden was still alive.
- From the Brawny Guy to the Mentos Kids to The King, YesButNoButYes has collected a list of the top ten creepiest icons in advertising history.
- Mad Musings is celebrating the August Moon-sized appearance of Mars with a MasterCard Priceless riff.
If you take the least likely people expected to utter a slew of dirty language, old ladies and young girls, and fill their mouths with a full-on stream of dick talk as if it were an everyday conversation, well, the outcome is funny. Call it the bathroom humor factor or stick it in the fart joke category but it's still funny. It never tires. Oh, and if it matters, it's all to promote the Reservoir Dogs game. There's second one with f-word-filled gun play.
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