- Geek rigs maternity device to tweet when his unborn baby kicks. Probably the earliest instance of Twitter use EVAR. (Thanks, Atif!)
- Collateral Damage's top 10 marketing blunders of '08. There's way more than 10 ("It was a very good year for very bad things"), and the top two are tied. Go figure.
- Deep Focus does FlightLipDub.com -- the new online home for Flight of the Conchords.
- Free Will Power aims to safeguard "the future of pro-choice America." There's spoken word poetry! And a T-shirt contest!
- It's a site on the hunt for beautiful ads.
- Another advertising socnet.
- Best and worst of AdFreak. If you consider what Collateral Damage's worst marketing campaign was, you can probably guess AdFreak's best ad of '08. We'll give you a hint: celebrity mashup.
OK it's hard to crap on an ad that hypes a good cause - in this case, TOMS Shoes' effort to eradicate Podoconiosis in Ethiopia - but after seeing so, so many block type-style ads akin to Motrin, Starbucks and Ford, it's not easy to reign in the rant.
But, in the interest of the holiday season and all the good feelings that come with it, the rant will be reigned in on this one. So just enjoy.
To bring attention to European Anti-trafficking Day back in October, McCann-Erikson Belgium created a campaign that illustrates just how connected those in the human trafficking trade are to their jobs.
Each of the three ads shows a person "connected" to their profession. See the other two ads here and here.
I was watching Heroes on Hulu last night when I caught these two utterly-bananas PSAs by Americans for the Arts.
Each ad spoofs prototypical cereal and junkfood ads in a fresh, over-the-top way. And they are hilarious, even after 80 watches (which you'll inevitably endure if you're watching any streaming TV on a network-owned site).
In "Raisin Brahms," Johannes Brahms bursts into a family's breakfast nook, Kool-Aid Man-style, and offers the kids Raisin Brahms -- "fortified with increased test scores and creative problem-solving skills!"
Pan to Dad. "Bobby? Susie?!" he whispers, aghast, when Brahmsy beards appear on his kids' faces.
"Don't worry, that's just the POWER of the ARTS!" Brahms explodes.
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I love rock n' roll. I will survive. I'm a hustler baby.
Why Tweet that profound, self-affirming lyric when you can rock it? Check out i/denti/tees. Each tee comes in its own album cover -- developed by agency POV -- and the ability to download any 10 iTunes tracks you want. (US residents only.)
Lyrics are printed on tees provided by EDUN LIVE, a charity started by Bono and his wife Ali, so a percentage of your purchase also goes to benefit sub-Saharan Africa.
All this for just $35!
Available at Hard Rock Cafes, where people are usually too drunk and/or high ("On life, man, on LIFE!") to notice price tags anyway. Also, Bill Green says Jennifer Aniston is serving as an unofficial brand evangelist. What other endorsement is there in life?
Recently lost your job? Sad, you'll miss the holiday party? Fear not, The American Society of Shit-Canned Media Elites is hosting a party Wednesday, December 17 at Ella Lounge from 8PM to 11PM.
Dance to the beats of Josh Link and enjoy free p.i.n.k. vodka drinks and $5 special from 8 PM to 9PM. If you're still employed, you get to buy the drinks after that.
Just so it's not all doom and gloom, it's also for a cause; New York Cares. So bring an old "gently worn" coat for the organization's coat drive.
And here we thought Canadians were such a caring, giving people. So it comes with great sadness and shock to find the nation one of the least philanthropic in the world providing just 0.28 percent of it gross national income to countries in need.
To rectify that imbalance, War Child Canada is out with a new campaign, Help Child Soldiers, which encourages Canadians to donate guns and supplies to the estimated 300,000 across the globe who have been drafted into various regimes and armed forces.
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"I'm drunk as hell and I'm not going to take it any longer!" Or something like that. One imagines that's the sentiment behind an new effort from alcohol industry watch dog Marin Institute called Free the Bowl. In response to what it calls "oppressive beer ads," Free the Bowl is a contest for 13 to 20 year olds which asks for the submission of videos aimed at asking brewers to stop advertising (wasting mony?) in the Super Bowl.
*old school sound of needle sliding off the record*
Um, say what???! Like that's got a snowball's chance in he...wait...isn't there a better metaphor for this? Hmm. That's as likely as an SUV getting manufactured in January. Oh wait. That's got as much of a chance of the U.S. government EVAR paying off its deficit. Hmm. That's as likely as Janet Jackson ever appearing in another Super Bowl half time show. Uh. That's as likely as George Parker not saying fuck for an entire day. That's as likely as an ad blogger never again using Donny Deutsch's Speedo picture. That's as likely as no one in the ad industry getting laid off in January. That's as likely as Advertising Age ever letting Steve Hall write for them. OK, this is getting boring.
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If teenagers knew the consequences of unprotected sex before they engaged in it, would it make them think twice before succumbing to desire? That's the question this teen pregnancy commercial ponders. Following the actions of a teen couple as they party, drink, hook up, have sex and deal with the consequences in reverse, the commercial shares the possible negative outcomes of having unprotected sex.
The bigger question is, given the quick-cut/ADD mentality so prevalent among, well, everyone these days, will anyone remember the beginning (end) when they get to the end (beginning)? Wait, what? Exactly.
The commercial was created by DLKW London for COI.
That question is rhetorical.
Brazilian actor Caua Raymond is auctioning off a hunk of chewed Trident that he kept in his mouth, just for the fans, for exactly 15 minutes.
Video below! Hope you speak Portuguese. Diggin' how Raymond has a dude with a tray and a glass receptacle, hanging around for moments like this one.
For reasons I sure don't understand, the vid is the most-viewed on YouTube Brazil today (280,743 views and counting). The "winner" of this spit-saturated dream-pebble gets to meet Raymond in a ceremony, where the money raised from the auction will be donated to charity.
So Trident, I guess that highlarious mastication movie just didn't work out for you...?
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