Chiquita Smoothie Bejeweled Effectively Tanks Our Thursday

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Few things entice us as readily as a Bejeweled knockoff. We've lost whole days to this game; now, on account of Chiquita, we've lost our whole afternoon.

This promotion for Chiquita Smoothies is a good way to not work -- plus, if you can fill the blender with aligned fruit well before time's up, you get entered (and re-entered!) into a sweepstakes to win a trip to Jamaica. (Where you can play iPhone Bejeweled, beachside, to tropical music.)

Work by matrixx, which knows the secret to a good advergame: keep it simple, incentivize gamers; tap into something they're already obsessed with and know how to play.

UPDATE: What the hell kind of advergame doesn't have a pause button. Are you trying to get us fired?

by Angela Natividad    Jun- 4-09    
Topic: Brands, Games, Good, Online, Promotions



Michael Jordan Had a Guru. And that Guru's Cashing Out.

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"Michael Jordan was the greatest player EVAR! But even he needed inspiration."

For MJ, inspiration apparently came in the form of Leroy Smith, who smushes basketballs with his bare hands and make man-on-man domination puns without breaking a sweat. Also, Get Your Basketball On RIGHT NOW and get his free motivational cookbook.

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by Angela Natividad    Jun- 4-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Online, Video



Doritos Unleashes Sweet Chili Lovers on Willing Webcammers

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To promote its Sweet Chili packs, Doritos Brazil adds a touch of the surreal to your day.

Click on "Liberte seu Doritos Lover" ("liberate your Doritos lover") in the upper left-hand corner of the Doritos Sweet Chili website, then enable it to access your webcam. Your presence on-screen is supposed to stimulate the release of a "Doritos lover" -- a friendly cartoon monster, of which over 18 trillion unique variants are possible, says Contagious Mag.

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by Angela Natividad    Jun- 3-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Good, Online, Social



Three Wolf Moon Madness, Tinseltown Jailbait, YouTube XL

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- Why you should buy the shirt at left. (No, it's not a Greenpeace thing.)

- Tetris' 25th.

- Keg party on Twitter. May be a mite warm, though.

- What tacky-ass Kiss needs to do is show women trying to type with those acrylic French manis. Not so sexy when your E's and I's keep turning into 8's and 3's, are they?

- 10 examples of how crowdsourcing is (possibly) changing the world.

- Tinseltown jailbait.

- Very Funny Ads is a glowing testament to the following truth: it's not that people don't like ads, it's that they don't like shitty ads. Embrace it.

- This is kinda saucy: YouTube XL makes your favourite amateur vids deliciously watchable over big TV screens. (V-v-via.)

by Angela Natividad    Jun- 3-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Online, Television, Trends and Culture



Newsflash! Site Pimping Erotic Stimulators Crashes. Le Yawn

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Yea, it's true. And we have the press release to prove it!. Apparently hoards of people had to check out U.S. Marine Roberto who does a bit of an online strip show to help Ann Summers promote their line of Rabbits. No, not the furry kind.

Who really knows if the site ever did crash. But who cares anyway. Check it out here. Yea. A bit of beefcake for a Wednesday morning.

by Steve Hall    Jun- 3-09    
Topic: Online, Racy



Asa Bailey and Cream Make Naughty with Saatchi

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Asa Bailey and Cream Recruitment tag-teamed to poach a bit of business -- and maybe some creatives, too -- from their new London neighbour: Saatchi & Saatchi.

The pair pretended to "hack" the Saatchi site (its actual site is located at saatchi.co.uk: SaatchiandSaatchi.co.uk sports subversive scribbles and a video that lends unattractive insight on the big agency's goings-on: how it crushes the dreams of earnest creatives, etc. The video's end promotes Cream Recruitment, but the lower left-hand corner features also subtle pluggery for Asa Bailey Viral Advertising.

Cold, man, cold. Though to be fair, any agency that thought this was socially acceptable behaviour was just begging to have their interns snatched.

by Angela Natividad    Jun- 3-09    
Topic: Agencies, Online, Promotions



Gillette Tackles the Hairy How-Tos

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In its latest YouTube campaign, Gillette plays the Sagacious Big Brother for lessons on shaving things you wouldn't ask your actual brother about. Well, apart from maybe the armpits, but hey, we all would've figured that out ourselves anyway; and possibly your head, but only because he probably had to do it for you first.

What we dig about the videos: they're easy to watch, no-nonsense and talk in a chill factual tone. We actually learned stuff. And we don't even need to shave our faces. Nice work by BBDO/New York and Proximity Canada.

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by Angela Natividad    Jun- 3-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Good, Online, Video



'That's Not a Vegetable, That's a Starch.'

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Gerber shocks parents into submission: In "Really?" parents on the street discover that the "vegetable" consumed most by the average rosy-faced US toddler is ... wait for it ...

French fries!

After this revelation, each Designated Caregiver looked appropriately shocked and appalled. Yeah, didn't see that coming. It's not like we have a nationwide obesity problem or anything.

Visit StartHealthyStayHealthy.com for more "Heart-warming. Thought-provoking. Hilarious!" reality checks.

by Angela Natividad    Jun- 1-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Online, Trends and Culture, Video



It's Not Abuse If It's Consensual. Waivers, Too? Better Still

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For client G4, Hal Riney took a little man-on-man BDSM fun and turned it into skin-crawly bruise-based animation.

Each guy was given a stencil of a character, whose likeness was bruised onto their skin in various creative ways: mousetraps, big rubber balls, ass paddles and the like. (If only mummy and daddy were that creative.)

The bruises were then stitched together in consecutive shots and enlivened by the brain-rending voice of YouTube's The Kid from Brooklyn.

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by Angela Natividad    Jun- 1-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Online



Saatchi & Saatchi UK Site Hacked. OK, Not Really

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Asa Bailey is up to his stunts again. Claiming to have hacked the Saatchi & Saatchi Uk website. Of course it's all a joke because the site he hacked was http://saatchiandsaatchi.co.uk/, not the real Saatchi and Saatchi UK website.

So why the stunt? Asa has moved his company in right next door to the real Saatchi & Saatchi and wanted to have some fun.Oh, and it's all to promote Cream+, a recruitment company.

by Steve Hall    Jun- 1-09    
Topic: Online, Spoofs