Head-Up-Their-Ass Marketers Shove Product Up Ass

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Back in the day, people scoffed at the practice of parting with cash to acquire a bottle of water, a product readily available free from any faucet. Now, water, a product which costs its makers next to nothing to produce, is standard fair in convenience and grocery stores the world over.

An alien visiting from another planet might think this paying for water thing is one of the most illogical of all observed human behavior but he would be wrong. Until he observes humans paying $40 for a bottle of Bling H2O marketed by none other than the ubiquitous bare-assed, sex-sells hottie, he won't have a true understanding of how the human race has "evolved" since his last visit.

While our alien might hypothesize anyone marketing a bottle of $40 water must have their head up their ass, the ad will certainly confirm that assumption quite clearly.

by Steve Hall    Jul-12-07    
Topic: Online, Racy, Strange, Trends and Culture



Rap Cat Gets Benefit of Doubt with Unnecessarily Deep Analysis

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A buddy at Deep Focus sent us this news about Rap Cat, demonstrable success that guerrilla advertising, performed properly (assuming Rap Cat was), unlocks the quality of loyalty and evangelism in the demo it's meant for.

We don't know about all that. And five pages on a video that we couldn't hang with past the first minute was five pages too many. We did think Rap Cat was a good way to showcase how vacuous mainstream rap is (and has been for awhile), and maybe it's commentary on the whole lolcat phenomenon too. Who knows.

All we know is we felt embarrassed watching it, and somewhat impatient, and a little aggravated, and after all that washed away we had a strong suspicion Rap Cat was intended to generate just those feelings. Because it sure wasn't funny.

(For the record, Deep Focus had zip to do with Rap Cat. The bling-sporting feline was the brainchild of Amalgamated, a wee NYC firm.)

by Angela Natividad    Jul-12-07    
Topic: Online, Spoofs, Strange, Video



DMBDO is the Ultimate Agency. Really. Seriously. Go Look.

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"Welcome to DMBDO, the hottest agency in the business, where the work comes first, unless something better comes along." This is the welcome line for Puppet Agency, a wicked take on agency life in serial form.

We tried in our lazy two-minute way to figure out who was behind it, but the whois on the domain is, of course, anonymous. But we've been tipped it's BBDO. Blue Sky Agency.

The featured agency episodes, though, are funny as hell and surprisingly insightful. They take every inane frustration you suffer at your desk, talking to all sorts of digression-happy vainglorious folk, then magnify them - with puppets! And oh, what a theme song.

See the first installment, Junior's Advice. Way to encapsulate a character that doubles as both puppet and complete tool.

by Angela Natividad    Jul-12-07    
Topic: Best, Online, Spoofs, Video



BK Promo Sparks Facial Hair Fetishes for Unlikely 'Stache Sporters

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We've just spent the last hour having way too much fun with Pet Moustache, built in-house by the facial hair-loving folk at Crispin Porter + Bogusky.

The site is an interactive extension of the Burger King Western Whopper campaign, and it's almost too entertaining, particularly in the wee hours of the morning.

You upload a picture, grow your own mustache and then trim, wax and shape it. The demo made this process look really easy but the hair is unwieldy and the image at left was the best we could do.

If we could get this grooming thing down, we think we'd look kind of awesome.

"It's horrific," a nearby passerby said.

Yeah. If by "horrific" you mean, "THE SEX."

by Angela Natividad    Jul-12-07    
Topic: Good, Online, Promotions, Strange



Trance Music Adds Little Flair to Jonas Moore Mash-Up Promos

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Factory Publishing launched a contest for The Many Worlds of Jonas Moore, an online graphic novel with a Matrixy premise that revolves around a United States controlled by - get this - British gamers.

Jonas Moore fans can mash up, remix and otherwise stir the soup of various graphic novel media to create their own music videos.

To demonstrate that all's well on the CGM front, Factory sent us this recent montage put together by an artist called Emeson for his song Maybe We Energise.

The song has its moments and the tame, carefully-selected imagery is occasionally cool, but the whole thing rings too much like an agonizing 20 minutes spent watching a video collage at somebody's wedding: self-indulgent, too long, and uninteresting to non-fans.

by Angela Natividad    Jul-12-07    
Topic: Online, Promotions, Trends and Culture, Video



Ready for a New Buzz Word? All Together Now: 'AVATARSMENT'

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Leaping into the virtual world with guns a-blazing, and perhaps dissatisfied with slaughtering just Spanish on its quest for incoherence, Taco Bell partners with DraftFCB, Irvine, which in turn enlisted Gizmoz and MTV, to launch a "virtual casting call." Future digital celebrities will have the pleasure of appearing on a late night commercial in the MTV Video Music Awards.

So for those seeking their 15 minutes of fame amongst stoner-kind, you may get your wish.

more »

by Angela Natividad    Jul-10-07    
Topic: Online, Promotions, Strange



(sic) culture Chooses Table Napkins Over iPhone, Any Day

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We're kind of crazy about this parody site for (sic) culture's iDea, which contests the iPhone with a table napkin and an awkward pear-shaped logo sporting a bite on the "wrong" side.

Like the iPhone, it's got simplicity going for it - and like the iPhone, it can accommodate your biggest ideas, then act as a vehicle to communicate it to the rest of the world. Add-on accessories include masking tape.

As an act of goodwill, the small print divulges that the parody site was created on a Mac. That aside, we think it's less a jab to the miracle technology and more a nod to the simple things we take for granted.

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by Angela Natividad    Jul-10-07    
Topic: Online, Packaging, Spoofs



Perrier Nails Left-of-Center in the Bullseye

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In hopes of winning points with the edgy and the tongue-in-cheek, Perrier launches Show Me Perrier.

The site works a little like Stumbleupon. You click on the Perrier logo (which, instead of "Perrier," says "Sexier") and it brings you to a new Web destination without driving you out of the Perrier site. Then you rate the content or contribute your own site to the mix.

more »

by Angela Natividad    Jul-10-07    
Topic: Best, Brands, Online, Poster



Candystand Leaps Off Dedicated Site, Infiltrates UK

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After deluging us with Candystand-specific fun and games, the makers of the Wrigley's games have started a microsite for UK-based Airwaves gum. Check out Airwaves Pro.

It boasts user interactivity features, content sharing and laggage galore.

by Angela Natividad    Jul-10-07    
Topic: Games, Online



Voyeuristic Viral Draws Fawning Eyeballs to Open Event

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SemutApi Colony put together a video to help raise awareness about an event with voyeuristic viral from the inside. Here you find a camera boy peering up shirts and down ass cracks to gauge the quality of fan meat.

We're not sure what language the viral is in but it does involve a good swift punch in the face, which was pretty satisfying.

by Angela Natividad    Jul-10-07    
Topic: Online, Video