Extending the gadget technology currently available with Google Desktop, Google is has debuted its Gadget Ads, AdSense standard sized ads into which AdWords advertisers can embed video, games, flash animations, feeds and other elements. The units, in beta since last Spring, can also be placed on iGoogle homepages, Google Creator pages and inside Google Desktop.
There is a communal, social networking aspect to the ad units as well. People can take the Gadget ads and place them on their own iGoogle pages. Ad for everyone. How nice.
This is only mildly creepy. In hopes of generating fan interest for an Allstate promotion to meet Kasey Kahne of NASCAR, the pencil-twirlers at Leo Burnett have come up with a few videos of fans hanging out with a cardboard Kasey. It manages to be both laughable and sad. Our favorite is probably the ping-pong scene.
For those who prefer flesh to the paper doll, opt for more contest information on the site. After that, you'll be able to upload a picture so you can see what you'd look like hanging out with Kahne. And when all this fantasizing is said and done, you may win a chance to actually meet the guy.
We love the idea of selling idolatry to push insurance. It's so deliciously insane.
This game is awesome. Banking on the knowledge that most of us have enjoyed the fantasy of a good food fight but have had little opportunity to act on it, mono has created The Good Food Fight for General Mills' Eat Better America.
Gamers get to choose between three healthy dishes, based on splat factor, hurlability and stainage. Then they get to select a trash-talking, food-slewing chef.
We were disappointed at first because after choosing a chef, the site loaded a recipe page. So we thought we'd write the game off - then all of a sudden this crazy chef in a kimono comes leaping out of the frame throwing food at us and saying all kinds of wild things.
It was amazing. It was like playing a game of Street Fighter and finding our little characters come to life to harass us. It was like Animator vs. Animation, except with a tiny person and not a sociopathic stick figure.
Anyway, we lost the game, and in a manner most demeaning we were told to go clean ourselves up. Bummer. But in a good way.
After seeing these videos for the Share Louisville campaign, we are stunned by the opportunities proffered by the Louisville community. We can act on our sexual preferences? Play the tuba? Eat tofu?
We didn't realize Louisville could pose as a haven for disenfranchised members of higher-profile cities. Thanks to Doe Anderson, Red7E (the creatives) and Guthrie Mays for opening our eyes.
The ads are part of an effort to engender local pride. Those inclined can also become "Friends of Lou" to help evangelize the Louisville brand.
Hey, here's an idea we've never seen before. To promote Colgate's Max Fresh, Y&R Interactive and Tele-Pele have created a banner that behaves with direct feedback from users.
Encouraged to test their "freshness levels" via telephone, the curious click on the banner to get a phone number. After dialing in a code and blowing into the speaker, the site will actually react by freezing before your eyes.
This isn't just something we'd get out of our seats to try; it's something we'd tell friends about. Good stuff!
The campaign launched across all main Israeli online destinations, including walla!, msn, tapuz, and smile media, on August 12th.
- Here's a making of video highlighting the creation of a 3D graffiti project for Reebok in Cracow.
- Arnold and fashion-focused No. 11 have teamed to launch ArnoldEleven, an entity which will serve the fashion, beauty and luxury industries.
The New York Times is throwing in the towel on its subscription based Times Select product saying the growth of online advertising allows for far more revenue.
- Check this out for some face licking goodness from Guinness.
After spending some time on Horizon Air's The Slog, a site created by WONGDOODY which highlights the landmarks along the 200 mile stretch of Interstate 5 between Seattle and Portland - in order to convince us to fly the 200 miles instead of drive - we actually want to take the 200 mile drive just to see all the cool stuff the site highlights. OK, so it's not all cool, the road sucks and the rest stop bathrooms are disgusting. But the way WONGDOODY crafted the site - a collection of videos highlight each of "the slog's" oddities and frustrations Old West-style - lends a certain attraction to the road.
In addition to the site, the campaign also includes print, radio and a branded truck with a museum-like diorama of the road that makes stops along the highway. Brochures will also be handed out to travelers on the road convincing them Horizon Air is really the way to go. In all, it's one of the best airline campaigns we've ever seen.
Oh the lameness that passes as advertising because, well, we all love a good fart joke or a high school cafeteria food fight. It's the latter General Mills, with help from mono, has gone for in launching The Good Food Fight. On the site there are recipes which you can forward to your friends who can view them but as they view them, they are visited by character who throw food at them. So, send one to that shit head boss of yours just for laughs.
For reasons that defy logic, this microsite put us in a really buoyant mood. Everything from the greeting, "Let me - teach you!" to the retro theme song, to the sad little martial arts graphic at the right of the video, to the campy slogan, "Grab your nuts - it's go time!" coaxed a smile from our scowly little faces.
The site is the work of Jansen Weatherly, the "world renowned activities expert and martial arts specialist" who's been traveling the country and filming his adventures. Imagine Napoleon Dynamite, all grown up and with a passion for adventure ... and PayDay candy bars.
More to the point, it looks like a promotion for Dutchstar RVs, which appear to be Jansen's gear of choice.
We love a good hoodia ad. Here's one in which a woman goes from fat to skinny, then gets fat again before your eyes. Guess it can't be pegged false advertising if she balloons back to original size, and if the company shrouds a very clear promise under the guise of a study, rather than overtly promoting "the new magic bullet" of weight loss.
Did we ever work out what the old magic bullet was?
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