In partnership with modeling firm IMG, Bebo's launching yet another web series called Model.Live, whose tagline, "Reality TV just got real," rings a little, well, hollow. (In its defense, episode 1 -- which consisted mainly of serious, sleepy conversation between the people representing these models -- was just dull enough to convince me it's real shit.)
The show aims to reveal the truth about how professional models live. And it's not all coke and parties. These girls field degrading commentary and make dramatic, career-altering decisions every day. Sadly, no Mama Tyra can stand over their shoulders and guide them gently to a Victoria's Secret contract.
The 12-episode series follows three wannabe-supermodels from NYC's Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week to Milan, Paris and Elsewhere. It went live yesterday on Bebo and Vogue.tv. Clothing company EXPRESS -- a brand that's long affiliated itself with the runway by sole merit of its Muzak -- is sponsoring. Every week, it will air the models' responses to featured questions from fans.
Imagine if the Coke Happiness Factory got hijacked by dancing Reds that prefer fruity vodka to sugar water. You're probably picturing "Airship," the latest spot for Stoli Blakberi, put together by Publicis/London and production company Stink/Psyop. Music by Prokofiev.
Part of what keeps me drinking Stoli is unwavering affection for its advertising. On TV or in print, it's always got the same feel: over-the-top, cartoony, propagandistic. Disney's "It's a Small World After All" meets the hoarse ballads and frosty grit of Moscow.
Stoli is a proud, heavy-handed romantic, and taking a swig is like surrendering to history: the beautifying dizziness, concrete on your lips, bile in your throat. It's a suffering, and a brand, baptized in nostalgia.
The other day I was complaining -- or was it more like bitching? -- about how all car ads seem pretty much the same. (If not "the same," then "zealously derivative.") Then Organic busts out with this really weird ad for the Chrysler Town & Country.
It's all words. The narrator's telling this bizarre story, then the words appear in front of you, so you get this tiring but riveting experience of seeing and hearing crunchy nouns like "pocket pony" and "crabapples" at the same time. (Don't ask, just watch.)
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I got up early this morning to play with the website for Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, a Wackness-meets-Go-type movie featuring Michael Cera and Kat Dennings.
It feels totally inspired by the chaos of Manhattan. You're hit with a trailer, after which you can enter the site, riddled with cardboard cut-outs, frenetic noise (honking horns, sirens) and, under "Music," an Infinite Playlist that's not so infinite. (Two songs so far. Will there be more? Somebody needs to contract this guy.)
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One-time babykiller Gary Oldman is back on the hunt -- this time, for glory. Following in the footsteps of Rosario Dawson and Neil Patrick Harris, the actor is starring in his own web series, The Gloryhunter.
UPDATE: Looks like Oldman's not in The Gloryhunter after all. (We never got to see it; Silverlight is not our friend.)
Oldman appears in an ad for ITV's live football (that is, soccer) programming. See ad.
So weird seeing Oldman kick soccer balls around after trying to off Natalie Portman in a bathroom. Guess that's the way of things.
And unlike other cars, which wave their ostentatious extras in your face, you can't even see the excess tooshums. Because you know why? It's made up of service, so says the tagline: "The extra Volkswagen part on every Volkswagen. Volkswagen service."
Nice repetition of brand name!
By production firm Czar, NL and DDB for Volkswagen.
Claussen, which has asked us for years to judge pickles by their snap, takes its chances on online "viral" advertising with this video for its "World's Most Excellent Pickle" campaign.
The premise: a series of "pickle fitness" tests were conducted. The footage was boring, so two comedians were tapped to ad-lib over it, Mystery Science Theater 3000-style. It is not funny, and the sight of pickles being systematically snapped by the accordion-looking machine only left us with a dull, empty ache in our chests: is this our lives?
Yeah. Yeah, it is.
And I like how on YouTube, the video is disseminated by "funnystuff75." Way to be obvious, Mister Obvious.
Imposed on us (and now YOU!) by Draft FCB.
Video ad firm Husky Media has decided to ride against the tide, offering advertisers big-ass ads instead of feeble pre-rolls and teeny ticker tape text. View the demo video, which makes the proposition look sane: videos flanked on either side by gigantor ad messages. It's about as offensive as Coverflow.
"At Husky Media, we believe bigger is better and will never succumb to the shrink ray," boasts Co-CEO David Carson of Husky. "We've been seeing it everywhere this summer, from the size of a cup of yogurt to dog food to cheese wheels to 'staycations' to 14 oz. pints of beer. Isn't a pint supposed to be 16 oz.? This is one summer trend we will not let idly pass. Last I heard WE LIVE IN AMERICA."
That's officially the Best PR Quote Ever. Bonus points if he starts appearing in public with a cowboy hat.
To honor the legacy of John Lennon, Ben & Jerry's have launched Imagine Whirled Peace, an ice cream flavor loaded with toffee cookies and fudge peace signs.
Upload shots of yourself in a peace mosaic at the Imagine subsite. (You know, like the song. Note Lennon specs on twitchy cow.) The ice cream company also partnered with The Lennon Estate and Peace One Day to host a bed-in, nodding to Lennon and Yoko Ono's lavishly-covered bed-in for peace -- a golden opportunity to lie around all day, preach peace, and play King and Queen Meet Lowly Serfs with scandalized reporters and photographers.
More here about how Ben & Jerry's poaches the Baby Boomers by canonizing idols with frozen treats. Frankly though, I've always been the Phish Food kind.
- It's targeted you with limited-edition designer bottles and luxury facial sprays. Now Evian wants your kids. Introducing Evian Les Petits!
- Greenwich aspires to seize the spotlight as soon as it's off Beijing.
- Microsoft UK's Multimap uses pigeons to promote its "bird's eye view" feature. Created by digital agency LBi, it marks the first time Multimap has used cartoons to advertise.
- Check out the Word Clock typographic screensaver, which one Bos AD thinks is the "coolest screensaver EVER." It's pretty cool. Kind of like UNIQLOCK without the girls, or the music, or the colors.
- If you're following HBO's online campaign for True Blood, you should catch this 3-minute Ad Age video about virals. True Blood premieres September 7. Dude, sometimes it sucks to not have cable.
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