Brett Ratner, the director who gave us X-Men: The Last Stand and the Rush Hour trilogy, has launched Brett Ratner Brands.
Less an agency than a "consultancy," Ratner aspires to marry brand messages to pop culture.
His first such effort was for Guitar Hero. During the American Idol finale this week, two ads appeared -- one with Idol finalist David Cook in briefs, lip-synching to Old Time Rock 'N Roll, the other with David Archuleta in boxers, following suit, Risky Business-style.
Ratner said he wants to make ads "everybody wants to be in." His models include "Got Milk," HP's "Hands" and iTunes' "Celebrity Playlist."
- I thought this Meth Minute video would be a wacky cartoon about abusing methamphetamines. But it was just a reel of complaint calls.
- Oprah's Angel Network and Free the Children have formed the O Ambassadors project, which "encourages young leaders to dream."
- MoveOn wages war against Pastor John Hagee, who said Adolf Hitler was a God-sent hunter of Jews. Hagee is one of McCain's "key backers," and McCain is currently MoveOn's pet project.
- Chevy considers how impractical a dancing car would be.
- Yahoo offers an under-the-table paid program where you provide the description ad copy for the ORGANIC RESULTS of your website. And it'll only cost you TWENTY CENTS per click. This is because Yahoo's spiders might fail to properly process your SEO efforts. Little wonder Jolie O'Dell calls it "frikkin criminal." (We second the motion.)
Well that was quick. Nike has ended its relationship with Crispin Porter + Bogusky after just over a year. George Parker broke the story and tipped us here at Adrants. The story was then picked up by Advertising Age which reports the 13 month relationship yielded but a single TV ad with Nike exploring relationships with other agencies such as 72andSunny. Nothing like treading water for 13 months. Time to get back in the game, Nike.
Tonight Verizon debuts this spot for its "This is FiOS; This is Big" campaign.
Put together by McCann Erikson, New York, it depicts Celtics player Kevin Garnett as a guy who can poke fun at his own rich-ass, gratuitous-technology-loving self.
Yeah. It's the "I'm human too! Now let me image-bomb you with everything you can't afford" shtick.
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- WeeWorld is holding a celebrity lookalike contest. The WeeMee at left is a Miley Cyrus lookalike. Funny: it's become difficult to recognize her without her blankie.
- What could be more chic than shoving a five-dollar footlong up your headlight? Vespa teams up with Get Smart and Subway.
- Check out the FWA Theater, which went live on Monday. It has a "Hot Advertisements" section that made us recall the fighting days of Firebrand. And then we laughed.
- Registered voter kthustler27 would like Hillary or Obama to buy his vote. He had an eBay auction up, but it's been yanked.
- This has nothing to do with advertising, but watching pole dancers fight just doesn't get old.
Here's a contextual quirk that appeared in Joe Madison's AP news feed. In the video, Bush refuses to support a bill that bails mortgage lenders out of crisis mode. Meanwhile, a contextual ad for Countrywide -- a lender in dire straits -- appears below his torso.
"No closing cost refi. No points. No credit report," the ad promises. Jesus, Countrywide. Is it any wonder Bush wouldn't stick his neck out for you?
In related news, Countrywide recently got ripped in the press when its CEO trashed a hard-up borrower via email. (It was an accident. The borrower was appealing for financial relief, and apparently the flustered Mozilo pushed "reply" instead of "forward.")
What beautiful irony.
Last week, American Apparel CEO Dov Charney was awarded Retailer of the Year. Some witty prankster wasted no time spoofing the announcement with a poster showing Charney holding an object very different from an award. Animal's Copyranter took the photo.
To draw attention away from its absence of a sound position in the beer market (unless "favorited beer of the band 'Black Label Society'" counts), Beck's tries wearing the message "Different by Choice."
This new spot -- produced by Anonymous for agency Lowe Worldwide & Partners -- compares the mediocre green beer to avant-garde painters, punk rockers and the VW bug, among other subversive cultural icons.
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Amstel Light may have taught us properly how to spell "beer" in Dutch, but this is definitely not how you spell "damn." Unless you're referring to what beavers make, or are trying to be clever with your city of origin. But really, did bad puns ever get a brand anywhere good?
Also, I'm digging how the YouTube video description reads "Tradition since 18070." I didn't even realize we'd passed that year yet.
Here's a new series of GEICO commercials where the gecko gets stalked by a wildlife enthusiast. Watch him narrate for nature lovers while the green mascot goes about his business at libraries, golf courses, cafes and parks.
The safari fanboy is totally at odds with his surroundings, but he's got that wild, lovable Steve Irwin enthusiasm about him. My favourite is the spot where the gecko ditches him on the subway.
One point for beast; zero for man.
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