Arctic Cat Help Snowmobilers Hunt Moose

Snowmobile maker Artic Cat has launched Moose on the Run, a quirky microsite with all sorts of tips for moose hunters. There's the usual game, moose translator, mini movies in which moose ride snowmobiles, moose pictures, moose profiles, a moose trap contest (which is closed) and, unlike some other non-transparent marketing efforts, an actual link to the Arctic Cat website. It's good work.

ESPN to Launch Second Season of 'Off-Mikes'

We'd never viewed this before and we kind of like it. ESPN is set to launch its second season of "Off-Mikes," audio drawn from banter between ESPN Radio’s morning drivetime personalities, Mike Golic and Mike Greenberg and accompanied with animation from design studio ANIMAX

The first 10 episodes of "Off-Mikes" premiered last May on ESPN.com. Expanded "Director's Cuts" versions of the original episodes launched on the site at the end of the summer. The shorts were also available as mobisodes from ESPN Wireless via Verizon's V-CAST.

Each program runs about a minute in length and uses actual dialog from exchanges between Golic and Greenberg as heard on the "Mike & Mike in the Morning" show, which airs on the national sports radio networks. ESPN producers select bits from tapes of the broadcasts, then the ANIMAX creative team chooses a segment for production in Flash. The animation is then synched back to the edited audio tracks of the original radio broadcast. A very interesting repurposing on content.

Uncle Yaris Site Promotes Toyota Yaris

A recently launched site, called Uncle Yaris goes and goes appears, based on the preponderance of Google search results for the term and the likeness of the site's color to Toyota's brand colors, to be a promotion for the Toyota Yaris which is scheduled to go on sale in early Spring 2006. The site, like many of these non-transparent promotions is kooky, odd and attempts to somehow be hip. Anyway, that's all the time we have to spend on promotions that waste our time by not telling us what is being promoted. Sort of counterproductive, don't you think? Of course, there's always a chance our assessment of this is completely wrong.

CBS Takes Content to Web, Ads May Follow

In an OMMA keynote, CBS Digital Media President Larry Kramer said the webcast of "Everybody Loves Raymond" was an experiment to determine how many people watch the show online and what traffic is driven back to the Viacom site. The webcast carried no ads but in the future, Kramer said shows could carry ads which advertisers would pay additionally for and an option to view ad-free shows for a fee might be offered as well.

Jaguar to Introduce Gorgeous

It's official. Countdown sites are now a trend. This time, it's Jaguar who is insisting we watch their clock, maddeningly anticipating the launch of...well...something. The site is called Where Did Gorgeous Go, which, we're sure, in two days, 12 hours, forty-three minutes, Jaguar will tell us it hasn't gone anywhere. It's right here before our very eyes in the form of a new car model...and some travel specials. Oh, and of course there's hot babes involved too.

Condo Complex Encourages Loud Sex in Ad

As a selling point, Herald Towers condominiums is promoting its units by touting the very thick walls between dwellings and encouraging residents to "be as loud as you want." Now there's honesty in advertising.

Mortal Combat Viral Answer to Meeting Insanity

Celebrating the beauty of violence and glorifying its callous regard for it, Mortal Kombat has launched a new viral (or, at least an online film they hope goes viral - after all, it's ain't viral until it becomes viral), called Blood on the Carpet, to promote the new Shaolin Monks game. The film was directed by Seamus Masterson of Maverick and will be tracked by Viral Chart. Violent or not, you have to admit, after day-long, mindless, chest-thumping, group hug, brand-building blather sessions, this is exactly what you'd want to do to the pontificating, puffery-spewing idiot sitting next to you.

Pepsi Australia Spoofs Own Campaign

Spoofing its own Pepsi Max Heaps Rich campaign, Pepsi Australia has launched a viral advertising campaign called Heaps Poor Pepsi Min which, over the past three weeks, has been viewed by 160,000 people. The site features a spoof of Pepsi's currently running promotional television spot along with purposefully bad prizes and a game that lets visitors determine how boring they are. Some nice insiderishness here.

Flickr User Upset Over Yahoo Ads on Photo Pages

With Yahoo's purchase of Flickr, it didn't take too long for Yahoo text ads to begin appearing next to Flickr member's pictures. Unlike Google AdWords, Yahoo text ads, at least on Flickr, appear on personal Flickr pages whether or not the member wants them. Granted, Flickr provides the service for free which negates a non-paying Flickr member's ability to completely control what appears on their photo pages but one Flickr user, tanais, doesn't like the practice, commenting on an ad placement next to an image of, we assume, his dog, "I do not like my pictures being used to advertise a specific breeder (they may be excellent they may be terrible - that's not the point)... so I shall sit down and think about how best to AdBust this."

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IKEA Products Featured in Rotating Website

IKEA's on a roll these day. We just featured a design project by IKEA in which 28 designers created strange but apparently useful home goods. Now, from Swedish agency Forsman & Bodenfors and Flash producer Kokokaka, IKEA has launched a very beautiful website which features many different homescapes caught lushly mid-motion which are navigated through by pressing the mouse and sliding left or right. The homescapes rotate 180 degrees then change to a different homescape and with each change comes a change in accompanying music. Very nicely done.