KFC Saves Money, Debuts CGM-Powered Commercial

Here's that new KFC spot that will debut during tonight's American Idol. If you recall, it's the spot that's made up entirely of consumer-generated content found on YouTube and MySpace. Hmm. Way to keep that production budget down, guys.

FedEx Talks Back to 'Net-Surfing Time-Wasters

We were skulking around the Internet when we came across this hourglass-shaped FedEx banner. It turned on its own a few times, then invited us to flip it ourselves. So we did and it said something really snarky like, "You must have a lot of time on your hands."

Oh how we seethed. Then we realized it's been a long time since we've felt anything at all about a banner (have we just been burned too many times before?) so we thought we'd post it.

Nice how it flipped without bringing us anywhere or generating pop-ups.

Virgin Atlantic Airways Does Barf Bags in a Big Way

We were shamefully unaware of Virgin's preoccupation with barf bags until this entry by AdFreak, though one can probably argue it goes hand-in-hand with the drugs > food lifestyle of their other obsession.

Anywho, the barf ... bag ... theme is something they're clearly committed to. With Crispin Porter + Bogusky holding the staple gun, Virgin's proceeded to affix three-foot-tall barf bags onto temporary walls around construction sites and scaffoldings in major cities like New York, San Francisco, Boston, DC and Chicago, the airline's biggest hub cities.

Each bag has a long tome across the front about the retch-worthy penny-pinching going down in the airline business today.

"What better expression of the current state of air travel than an air sickness bag?" a Virgin spokesperson dryly notes.

Under the tsk-tsky tagline "How did air travel become so bloody awful?", expect to see the campaign through mid-July.

Change Shower Head Temperature, Get Girl on Girl Action

Axe just keeps pumping out the goodies for 14 year old boys across the globe. And every other guy across the globe of any age since all men are 14 years old when it comes to certain thoughts. Anyway, enough with the psychoanalysis. Axe, once again, is having fun at the expense of the male race's instinctual weakness, women.

In this little video created to look like an actual webcam mounted near a beach shower, the viewer can change the temperature of the water and view the results. Don't bother with the Cold setting. It doesn't deliver the response you expect. Go right to the Very Hot setting and you'll get the usual girl on girl goodness.

Ask, Ask a Ninja Get Together for Algo

While we thought their last algo campaign was kind of lame, we did admire Ask.com's attempt to get people actually involved with the search engine.

Keeping with that, Ask has partnered up with Ask a Ninja. Puppetvision points us to a new ninja video called Ninja Sayings, where the ninja takes everyday vernacular and gives it ninja roots. (We have always known, for example, that "OK" actually means "zero kills.")

At the end of the video you're invited to look a word up on Ask.com. After you do that you get a bonus ninja video, which makes up the top search result.

We like it: good clean interactivity, minimal commitment, instant reward. How often can you say that about a campaign that bounces you from one site to another? Not often. This goes to show that the old adage "when in doubt, find a ninja" is actually sound.

NewTeeVee points out Ask a Ninja is now powered by Castfire, whose audio/video CMS tool they've been using to serve their fare on the Ask site.

Samsung Searches For Next Gary Brolsma

Calling Gary Brolsma. Gary? You still out there? Samsung desperately needs you since you're the only one who can turn lip syncing into an overnight, worldwide sensation. You see, Samsung's UpStage Contest is looking for people to film themselves while lip syncing Melody Club's Destiny Calling. If you can deliver Numa Numa goodness, Samsung will award you a round trip for four to LA with a two night stay at the Standard Hollywood, concert tickets of your choice, a $3,000 shopping spree, four UpStage phones and a camcorder. Sweet deal, huh? Come on, Gary, we know you can do it. We know you're dying to get back to the top of the viral charts. Admit it.

So give us some of that "Mi ya hi, mi ya ho, mi ya ha" goodness. Samsung will love you and so will we. Of course the song Samsung chose sucks compared to that catchy Numa Numa tune.

Pure CGM Celebrated, Influenced CGM Trashed

Factory Publishing is promoting a Triumph Motorcycle-sponsored computer-generated online graphic novel called The Many Worlds of Jonas Moore which stars British actor Colin Salmon. Viewers and musicians are being asked to participate in the storyline by creating their own adventures and submitting their own soundtracks for the show.

In a tandem effort we're not completely clear on, Factory Publishing has created two videos that trash media and ad agencies involvement with consumer generated media somehow labeling them unnecessary middlemen. While it's true some agency managed consumer generated media campaign have resulted in work that's far from pure CGM, these videos paint agencies as a sort of Hitleresque evil which stunts the growth of unadulterated CGM.

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Bud Light Hangs With Beach Blanket Bimb...Uh...Beauty

No sooner to we take beer marketers to task for foisting idiotically staged and sexually charged commercials, do we stumble upon these Cannonball Agency-created, Cutters-edited ads for Bud Light's Have Soome Fun With It Campaign. Oh sure, some might say these are just as idiotic and sexually charged as every other beer marketer's work but we'd disagree. There's just something intriguingly different about these ads that different enough to maintain interest. Feel free to disagree because we know some well. But you all know we love a good debate.

Buying Frenzy Continues With Microsoft Scooping aQuantive For $6B

Google bought DoubleClick. Yahoo bought Right Media. WPP bought 24/7Real Media. Microsoft, always the follower, never the leader, just bid $6 billion to acquire digital giant aQuantive. It's an information grab as companies wake up and realize their prized and proprietary information is increasingly in the hands of their very own competitors.

TTs Invade Toronto - Try Not to Panic

For the new Audi TT, Lowe Roche, Toronto decided to leverage what we're going to call Boston Syndrome and invade a town with unexplained symbology: giant TTs. Note crop circles. Note video (which is actually quite gorgeous and pleasant).

Orwell would have a blast in '07.

Our only major critique of these sorts of campaigns is that unless you're blowing minds with your guerilla efforts, it might be asking much to assume your consumer is going out of his or her way to pursue an understanding about why TT's are suddenly appearing all over the place.

Out of resentment, they might even go out of their way not to.

And to be fair, corporate art (which also proliferates every corner) is so crappy they might not even register the significance of the TT's, unless they wander mistakenly into a cornfield over lunchtime and stumble across a crop circle.