IKEA Gives Every Girl Her Space

You just need to battle its hordes, brave the lines and spend a weekend alone with a Philips and a hammer to claim a little Pax for yourself. =P

Work by St. Lukes Communications and production company Outsider.

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Because America Can Never Have Enough Burt Reynolds. Or Stale Coffee.

Denny's promises to "bring dignity back to breakfast" in this teaser for "Thugs," a :30 spot slated to run in the Super Bowl's third quarter.

This represents its first-ever Super Bowl spot, and it's guns a-blazin: narrated by Burt Reynolds with a little Sopranos going on, mixed with Pulp Fiction cafe grit and some hipster sans-serif, but all in all we got a hankering for IHOP.

The work -- directed by Canada's Perlorian Brothers for the charmed folk at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners -- looks promising. But based on way too much experience, no amount of advertising can convince us that Denny's isn't one of the most depressing places in the world to visit.

Their mozzarella sticks are cool though.

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Saxsofunny Weds Sensory Delight to Your Average Print Ad

Brazilian sound production firm Saxsofunny's launched a print, outdoor and TV-based campaign that gives you something to play with. Under the slogan "Every image has a sound," the ad at left takes advantage of the human compulsion to pop air bubbles for that satisfying mini-'splosion.

We likesy-likesy. Other prints here, as well as a TV spot that ties 'em all together.

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Nike Channels Transformative Sister Magic

Nike shoots for sporty-chic in "Be Transformed," a fresh campaign for a line of trainers called Nike Zoom Sister One +. (We half-expected lotto numbers after that, but alas there were none.)

Following the "transformational stories" of six female athletes, the AKQA effort incorporates digital, print, mobile and outdoor, with the largest of the latter 110 meters, apparently -- a wrap around Beijing International Plaza, slated to appear in early February.

Check out "Punchbag." Sorta reminds me of Adidas' Beijing Olympics campaign, except less it's less melodrama and more Heroes. See other spots at Nike Women.

Energetic stuff, and just dynamic enough -- the kinda thing you can stomach seeing on Oxygen and the Sci-Fi Channel on Manga Night. All we can say is, thank heaven the "real women" phase is over.

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Recharging Dead Voltage, Inspiring Ads, SocNet Cannibalism, Pubfatico

- Mountain Dew brings the DEWmocracy slogan back for its new flavor, Voltage, which sadly brings to mind the vintage Volt, a green carbonated drink with a funny aftertaste. (It appeared, then disappeared, in the late '90s.) Subsite by Tribal DDB.

- On how Kaplan and Carnival open minds.

- Word on the street is MySpace wanted Facebook way back in '05. All ended much like a more recent unrequited love. Karma bites, bitch!

- Uh-oh: Publicis tries cobbling together some Enfatico-type thing for Carrefour. Squeeze your sphincters! This turd's been turned before.

- On Circuit City and its approaching demise.

MSFT: All Up in Everybody's Business, for Almost No Reason at All.

Remember Clearification, that neurotic but sometimes-funny Vista effort featuring Demetri Martin? Microsoft revisits hipster animation and irreverent anecdota with a JWT-developed ad dubbed "Because it's everybody's business."

According to GM-Advertising Gayle Troberman at Microsoft, the "I'm a PC" campaign was about "creating a 'vibe'" to "define our brand for consumers," whereas this spot is all about "showing business people the real value they can achieve with technology."

Yeah, good luck with that. Quiksilver President/CEO Bob McKnight justifies the ad's papier mache-style surfer imagery with use of his voice; and while nothing he says is truly memorable, I recall him comparing tsunamis to business. Then some rolled-up dollar wads with sheep heads traipsed across my screen.

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'Just 1' Square of Toilet Paper, and Lots and Lots of Twitter News

- Ketchum's FedEx faux-pas. "True confessions" probably don't belong on Twitter. Particularly if you're a Veep trying to seal a deal.

- Various types of Twitter birds complete with cheesy-but-empowering! traits of eagles.

- If you cannot heat the Healthy Choice mixers, you don't deserve to.

- "Where balloons go to die."

- A goal worth texting for.

- Twitter as Hudson crash citizen journalist.

- A yarn worth remembering: Lotus claims you can successfully swab your sunshine with "Just 1" square of super-strong TP. Uh-huh.

Danica Exposes Herself in the Name of GoDaddy. Again

As always, domain-buying service GoDaddy took the fullest advantage of its liaison with Danica Patrick -- and her beaver -- for this year's Super Bowl spots, whose scripts appear to have been written by pornographers in financial distress.

Here's a trope you might've seen before: pubescent boy's fantasies, realized.

And this spot, confusingly dubbed "Baseball," plays on trashy court TV. I think it would be better served if it were renamed "Enhanced? I'll show you enhanced."

Cast votes for your favorite on GoDaddy.com up to January 23rd. Like last year, each spot continues in a (gasp!) unrated online version.

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Pancreatic Cancer: The Assassin with Flair.

"That's Dan. And I'm Dan's pancreatic cancer."

How do you even begin to take a pitch like that seriously?

I just love how, after describing Dan's untimely death with a listless "eh," Pancreatic Cancer looks out the backseat window and croons (with the most subtle of accents), "I have 35,000 other people to kill this year."

Blase, baby, blase. Unintentionally hilarious work by Gardner Nelson + Partners for the Lustgarden Foundation. Somebody needs to page Charlie Brooker and tell him to update his list.

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Just Because It Doesn't Love You Doesn't Mean It's Defective

Think adopting a Russian teenager is hard? Try taking home a shy yet obstinate pet.

In these Saatchi & Saatchi spots for Iams, Felicity Huffman selflessly reminds us that "the real reward in adopting a pet is when the pet adopts you." So don't fish for that return receipt just yet.

This is part of Iams' Home for the Holidays Adoption Drive. It was only supposed to last through the holidays, but it fared so well that Iams thought, What's the harm? If it sells more munchies...

See dog ad and cat ad. Oh, and more credits here.

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