Samurai Kittens People Invite You To Look In Santa's Pants

santas_pants.jpg

COG1 takes a pause from bloodying kittens to deliver What's in Santa's Pants, a confusing, slow-loading site for Fuse TV. Guess what's in the pants of a pervy Santa perched between a contentious elf and a Russian ... hooker? Muse? Cookie-baker? We don't know why she's there aside from making eye candy and strained comic relief. - Contributed by Angela Natividad

by Angela Natividad    Dec-15-06    
Topic: Cable, Games, Online



Yahoo Makes Gives Shleps Everywhere a Shot at Photojournalism

youwitnessnews.jpg

Because actual Amazon-braving, dysentery-getting, foxhole-hovering journalists don't have enough to bitch about already what with crappy pay and self-entitled bloggers, Yahoo! fuels the fire with You Witness News, a beta service that magically converts any kid on the street with a camera phone into a paid member of the photojournalist elite.

The idea has potential considering a guy with a camera phone fully recorded the unfuckingbelievable horrors of that UCLA student tasing incident awhile back. We'll see where it goes. In any event, it'll be fun to watch the sparks fly among the watchdogs of the profession. - Contributed by Angela Natividad

by Angela Natividad    Dec-14-06    
Topic: Good, Online, Social



Apparenly Seasons Can Have Blogs Too

old-man-winter.jpg

If you thought the blogosphere was limited to hipsters, cool-hunting businesses and 12-year-olds, you were horribly wrong. Winter (yes! That most frigid of seasons) just started its very own blog, Winter is Cool. Guess we couldn't have named it better ourselves...

And to push its right to the 2.0 pie, it's got an agency too - AgencyNext out of Massachusetts. Read an interview with the strangely defensive season here. - Contributed by Angela Natividad

by Angela Natividad    Dec-14-06    
Topic: Campaigns, Online, Strange, Weblogs



P&G Tickles 2.0 with 'Men in Cramps'

menwithcramps.jpg

Catch Up Lady fills us in on the mysterious force behind Men in Cramps: Procter & Gamble, differentiating themselves from other brands who try (hard) to get down with the viral crowd and ultimately fail.

"We simply didn't have enough women who knew about our menstrual product [ThermaCare], and had to find a new way to connect with them," says Tom O'Brien, associate marketing director for personal health care at P&G, Cincinnati. R&D reveals women lamenting "there was one group of consumers they would like to see understand more deeply what it meant to have menstrual pain -- men."

Well, they nailed it with "cyclical nonuterine dysmenorrhea." Big Pharma's been successful at inventing chronic ailments for so long it's only natural they'd hit a home run doing it as a spoof. Catch one of the ThermaCare ads with poster boy Dr. Fardel here. - Contributed by Angela Natividad

by Angela Natividad    Dec-14-06    
Topic: Best, Campaigns, Online, Promotions



Second Life Lets Would-Be Creepies Live Out Fantasies

secondlife_rape.jpg

You can do what on Second Life?! That was, and remains, our reaction when we discovered you can role play rape in the back alleys of the commerce-friendly virtual wonderland.

Apparently even Second Lifers can't do the rounds alone after dark. - Contributed by Angela Natividad

by Angela Natividad    Dec-14-06    
Topic: Bad, Games, Online, Racy, Strange



Carat Fusion Knows True Meaning of Christmas

carat_fusion_gingerbread.jpg

Carat Fusion is injecting a bit of common sense into the out-of-control agency Christmas card trend and rather than trying to create something that's funny or cool or witty that just comes off as dumb, the agency has created something that refelcts what Christmas is all about: giving. The agency's Carat Fusion Holiday Cookie Maker lets visitors decorate gingerbread cookies. For each cookie decorated, the agency will donate $1 (up to a limit of $5,000) to Save the Children. Now that's a Christmas card.

by Steve Hall    Dec-14-06    
Topic: Agencies, Good, Online



Petition Says Marketers Start Christmas Promotions Too Early

Petition.jpg

Whether she's trying to drive readers to her blog or develop business for herself doesn't really matter. What does matter is Lotus Child's (yes. apparently, that is her real name) effort to stop marketers from beginning their Christmas promotions too early. Claiming promotions beginning in November and October are just too over the top, Child has created a petition called Take Back the Holidays. So if you think we're getting overzealous with our Christmas advertising plans, head over to the petition and check it out.

by Steve Hall    Dec-14-06    
Topic: Agencies, Brands, Online



Sara Lee Skin Care Campaign Releases Bravia-Style

sanex_bodies.jpg

Sanex, the Sara Lee body care brand (wait, don't they make frozen cakes?) is working with PR agency immediate future to release a European commercial Sony Bravia-style. The agency has set up a site that will follow the creation of the ad which involves "over 100 bodies imitating skin cells." We've been promised updates as the campaign develops and we'll share them with you, good or bad because, as you know, criticizing something can be as much fun as praising it.

UPDATE: Oops. Someone forgot to tells someone something. The ad's already out. So much for the sneak peeks. It aired in Denmark in November. We'll still share any goodies regarding the production of the ad if they are of any interest.

by Steve Hall    Dec-13-06    
Topic: Brands, Commercials, Online



Newsflash! TimeLife Hooks Up With Brightcove to Release 'Get Smart'

get_smart_brightcove.jpg

Whoa. Stop the presses! Are you ready? Are you read ready for this? Now....oh, we're so excited about this...you, yes you, with help from TimeLife and Brightcove, can get...hold your breath...Get Smart: The Complete Collection. Yes! It's true! People have been clamoring for this for 40 years! Fourty years, my friends. Can you think of a more important DVD release to use when announcing a partnership a partnership between a big publisher and an online video/TV company? No, we didn't think so. Damn, these guys are good at generating buzz! Wow, that took a lot of energy to write. We have to go take a nap now and then order up our copy of Get Smart: The Complete Collection.

by Steve Hall    Dec-13-06    
Topic: Online, Video



Dept of Defense Says Don't Drink with 'That Guy'

that_guy.jpg

The Department of Defense takes a shot at drinking with That Guy, another one of those characteristically we-speak-your-language government campaigns that, in a wildly uncool manner, attempts to demonstrate how uncool it is to be a drinker.

The site feels a bit dated and we agree with Bill at Make the Logo Bigger: there's not much of an attempt to reach out to swig-happy women, and you know we've seen a few. It's also a little stupid to put a "Fun Stuff" section on a site that hopes to lay it on thick about the mals of the bottle. - Contributed by Angela Natividad

by Angela Natividad    Dec-13-06    
Topic: Campaigns, Online, Social