With the ubiquitous YouTube video, Leno appearance and online video site, famed (at least if you watch movies and TV) Fred Thompson has entered the 2008 presidential race. We're not much into politics finding ourselves oddly aligned to some things Democrat and some things Republican but not comfortable with Independent status and certainly not or right or left wing crazy...at least in real life. So it is with confusion, we are drawn to Fred Thompson who appears to be as Republican as they come but also pretty laid back about a lot of things.
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Talk about deception. Here's a campaign that looked like something it wasn't.
Mastercard's Priceless Pep Talks with Peyton Manning gives you two text-entry boxes: a place for your name, and a place to enter something you're bummed about.
But if your name isn't already in a pre-set database, you officially do not exist. And the second box seems to be stuck on one setting: "I drive a minivan."
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George Clooney wants us all to know he needs to make a living and the press should stop giving him shit about appearing in ads. Specifically, ads for Nestle which, in the past, has been maligned for its baby milk marketing practices in third world countries. George tells us all to shut up at the Venice film festival last week telling reporters, "I'm not going to apologize to you for trying to make a living every once in a while. I find that an irritating question." OK, George, we got the message loud and clear
The man in the pig-tailed wig is probably the best thing that's happened to Wendy's, having achieved improved recall in eight weeks versus 18 months with a previous campaign. But the muse of all the hubbub, Melinda Lou "Wendy" Thomas herself, isn't enjoying the ride.
Advertising Age reports that Melinda, who studied marketing at the University of Florida, auditioned as herself for the new campaign, but spokesman Bob Bertini said resulting consumer response was "not positive."
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When we think of Maggie Gyllenhaal, the first thing that comes to mind isn't usually an Agent Provocateur campaign full of black lingerie and provocative sexual imagery. Granted, she did offer herself up as an office fantasy to James Spader in Secretary and played a trampy, hardnosed, harlot-like, character in SherryBaby but we still think of her as the wise-ass younger sister to real-life brother Jake in the atmospherically fantastic Donnie Darko. So it is with a bit of WTF we react to her appearance in the lingerie maker's latest campaign.
In the campaign, she seems to carry an air of 20's flapper but that's crossed with a dose of S&M, coy cuteness, subservient subjugation and playful elegance. It's got something for everyone.
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For the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, Habitat for Humanity has enlisted Quincy Jones and Usher to "[implore] Americans not to forget the victims of the storm."
Quincy Jones will also be commandeering calls to action on his video podcast series, distributed by Wizzard Media, which also put together this teaser.
Lest we forget, much of Katrina's problem was racial, and that is just one (more) reason why lots of people still need your money.
We hate to be callous (or do we?), but it's always been our view that an administration doesn't have to be racist to be careless and negligent.
It's always nice to see a model with a sense of humor. For her Intimates collection, Elle Macpherson put together a funny little set of ads that 1) look completely home made, 2) have a quality of the impossible and 3) are still sexy.
Check out Drummer Girl and Bubble Girl. (We really liked Bubble Girl.) Others include Balloon Girl, Saucer Girl, Tuba Girl, Bomber Girl and Joke rGirl.
The Glue Society directed the spots, with help from The Names Agency.
Writing as if overseas celebrity endorsements of American celebrities is a new thing and, apparently, never having heard of Japander (which has been around forever but currently appears to be undergoing some sort of renovation). Advertising Age goes for a bit of celebu-journalism. The gist of the piece is how, recently, celebrities like Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie have fallen on hard legal times making it difficult for brands to rely on them to represent their brands alongside endless news stories about their troublesome dalliances.
However, as if the rest of the world is cut off from the Internet (OK, so some of it actually is), it appears to be news American celebrities and their handlers are turning to overseas markets to strike endorsement deals. This story is five years old. Jus' sayin'.
Rather than launching a multi-million dollar campaign urging people to treat female athletes with respect and to judge them simply on their athletic abilities, Nike could have a spent a lot less money simply by targeting marketers, many of whom love to focus on female athletes' physical qualities more so than their athletic abilities. Or to all those celebrity handlers who love to get their girls in a Maxim or FHM spread.
Oh, and is it just us or is their something weird about this image of the Nike Women website and accompanying text which reads, "Are you looking at my titles?" Nike coyly playing into the very thing their trying to dissuade?
Following Vera Wang, Jay-Z, Pharrell Williams, Mark Cuban, Mark Burnett and others, tennis champ Serena Williams is HP's nexy "achiever" in the company's "The Computer is Personal Again" campaign. Coming courtesy of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, the campaign breaks today with a spot on USA, ESPN and online at SportsIllustrated.com, ESPN.com and Yahoo.
On August 31, a Serena-focused website will debut with all sorts of goodies like a blog, ring tones, videos, clothing and a documentary. Yes, it's all about achievement.
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