Blue Light Special Grows Personality, Makes Us Sad

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For ever-struggling K-Mart, Rhinofx created the hopelessly lovable Mr. Blue Light, whose earnest eyes only promise to draw pity and a start of anxiety, the way you feel when in the presence of an imaginary friend whose death is just around the corner. (We have been the crying-shoulder for many broken dreams.)

Our earnest friend will appear in ad spots and stores - and then, we're sure, disappear into the unregulated chaos of K-Mart just as quickly. He just looks too weak to save the monster that is K-Mart's suckiness, man.

Observe his lame attempts at smooth jokes at a KMart runway show.

by Angela Natividad    Jun- 8-07    
Topic: Bad, Brands, Packaging



Try, Just Try, Making Beats or Playing Games After 6 or 7 Beers

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For Brazil's Brahma Beer, agency Nice Shoes put together this head-bopping spot about improvising to keep entertained. We liked the mellow vibe - it actually made us want to lie around and drink while watching two sweaty heaving men play pong with flip-flops.

We're ashamed to say we never considered slipper pong, but that's because we have Candystand.

Really. Why exhaust your brain in the scorching heat when you could sit inside on the Internet and work on your emo pallor? Bloodless has so replaced sun-kissed.

by Angela Natividad    Jun- 8-07    
Topic: Brands, Commercials, Good



McDs Gets All Stop Motion. We Remain Unconvinced

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We hardly recognize the McDonalds we've come to know so well in this stop motion ad by DDB, Chicago and production company Vitamin.

Stop motion is, like, the new sex (Lux best demonstrates: 1, 2). Gotta say, the method that helps make soap sexy can also do wonders with McD's.

The only question is, can the crisp and health-savvy ad get rid of the perpetual moisture that seems to plague the restaurant's floor? Or the square-shaped eggs in the breakfast sandwiches that betray utter non-freshness? Or the unhappy-looking, sickly-colored cheese? Or the flat and unimpressive non-meat-tasting patties?

Like hook-ups on MySpace, McDs runs the risk of traumatizing the ad-charmed with its actual appearance.

by Angela Natividad    Jun- 8-07    
Topic: Brands, Commercials, Packaging, Television



Nike Loosens 'Victory' Jockstrap, Rebukes Man Boobs

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Advertising for Peanuts points us to a Nike ad put together by Wieden & Kennedy, Amsterdam for the UK.

It's a lot more casual than other work they've done but maybe it's a precedent-setter for the type of tone their iPod collabo will take. Because really, we haven't seen jack out of this liaison since the OK Go liftoff.

by Angela Natividad    Jun- 6-07    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Commercials, Good, Television



Audi A3 Tips Glass for Sweet Music

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Audi continues her campaign of lux nose-tweaking playfulness with this spot called Audi in Crescendo.

Word on the street (read: an Audi pressie) is the formula for this spot required 600 bottles, one Audi and several days of anal-retentive brain-drain in Cape Town before production company Agosto and agency Tandem DDB were able to pull this off.

The simple, bottle-tipping A3 spot is a suitable hat-tip to Mozart, a notorious mischief-maker himself, unless Amadeus lied to us. (And movies never do.)

In general, Spanish ads just do music right.

by Angela Natividad    Jun- 6-07    
Topic: Brands, Commercials, Good, Television



London Olympic 2012 Logo Video Causes Epileptic Fits

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As if the crap the London 2012 Olympic Organizing Committee received over this week's release of its much-maligned logo weren't enough, now eight reported cases of epileptic seizures caused by the logo's supporting video have caused the organization to pull the video. Epilepsy photo sensitivity expert Graham Harding explained, "What it appears has happened is that the flash rate of the diving sequence contravenes the Ofcom guidelines." Odds makers have given the logo 10-1 odds it will be replaced by year's end.

by Steve Hall    Jun- 6-07    
Topic: Brands, Worst



Orbitz Game Sucks. Can They Do Anything Right?

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This Orbitz game, which involves some really weak shakram-like throwing, is amusing until you realize how much it sucks, which takes about 35 seconds.

It's also way too salesy. Why don't you give Wrigley's a call? They know how to throw together simple brand-oriented games that are actually fun.

Orbitz last disappointed us about a month ago.

by Angela Natividad    Jun- 5-07    
Topic: Bad, Brands, Games



Weiden + Kennedy Wins CareerBuilder Account

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The tipsters have spoken. First to George Parker. Now to Adrants. It seem the idiots over at CareerBuilder who fired Cramer-Krasselt apparently because its Super Bowl ad didn't place the the wholly unscientific USA Today Super Bowl ad poll have awarded their account to Wieden + Kennedy. Good luck guys. Hopefully, you'll convince the intelligence-challenged CareerBuilder folks there's far more reliable studies out there to determine ad effectiveness.

by Steve Hall    Jun- 4-07    
Topic: Agencies, Brands



Campaign Launched to Save Ford's Marketing

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Boston area marketer Kevin Glennon, in response to an article he wrote about Ford's marketing which received hundreds of responses but none from Ford, has launched Helping Hank, an effort to convince Ford to make an actual Bold Move: hire him as its Chief Marketing Officer. More than a ploy for employment - which Kevin doesn't need having launched his own successful business years ago - Kevin has written a letter to Bill Ford calling his attention to the article he wrote in which he urges Ford to think differently and offers up such suggestions as partnering with Lowe's and/or Home Depot to provide a Zipcar-like rental service.

Whether it's crazy or brilliant, you can decide for yourselves as Kevin has set up a full blown online campaign and weblog to support and continue his efforts towards improving Ford's marketing efforts. If we didn't know Kevin, we'd figure this was some sort of elaborate stunt blog marketing efforts so favored by some ill informed brands a few years ago but it's not. It's an honest effort by a smart guy who thinks he can improve a companies marketing. Only you and Bill Ford can decide if the effort is worthy.

by Steve Hall    Jun- 4-07    
Topic: Agencies, Brands, Good, Weblogs



The London Olympic 2012 Logo Trashed, Questioned, Praised

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Creativity is subjective at best but we think we'll have overwhelming support when we say the newly released London 2012 Olympic logo sucks. On the other hand, creativity is subjective at best but also we think we'll have overwhelming support when we say the newly released 2012 Olympic logo is brilliantly infused with modernity of motion and the mastery of motivation. You choose. We can't.

Viewing the logo, designed by Wolff Ollins, initially caused an immediate WTF? Letting the logo sink in while viewing the illustrative brand video behind the logo causes an entirely different reaction. The support for the brand direction could have easily gone down the ill but well traveled road of Olympic fist pumping, rather it quite eloquently examines what motivates humans to achieve. Interestingly, it wasn't for quite some time, we realized the logo's imagery visually represents the numeric date 2012.

more »

by Steve Hall    Jun- 4-07    
Topic: Best, Brands, Creative Commentary, Opinion, Worst