Now You Know How It Feels Like to Get Motor Neuron Disease

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Trapped. Unable to escape. Unable to control your self. Helpless. Dignity stolen. Dreams evaporated. Life as you know it, over.

Nothing but you, your wheelchair and your life...such as it has become...locked in a prison. With no escape.

There are powerful PSAs and then there is this PSA for the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

by Steve Hall    Feb-24-09    
Topic: Best, Cause, Creative Commentary



Hope in the Slammer, Witch Buddies, Ad Poetry

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- "Twitter for sports." And then our eyes rolled back in our heads, and then we died.

- BFFs with the Wicked Witch of the West. She seems fun. DDR, your house or mine?

- The question we all must ask. Sometime.

- Shepard Fairey, the guy who did that Obama/Hope poster we all love to wheatpaste on walls that don't belong to us, gets arrested before his first solo art show. Duuuude. Sux.

- Scroll down to the part that reads "cb with a Flair."

- Intern sweatshop haiku.



The Super Bowl Isn't Over Until the Ad Critics Say It's Over

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Ever heard of The BeanCast? It's OK. Neither had we up until a few months ago when this half of Adrants was invited to appear. It's a podcast. Well, a new one is up and it's - surprise - all about the Super Bowl. Yea, we know. It was duller than a newspaper circulation department this year but, hey, it's our job to discuss the ads ad naseum, right?

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by Steve Hall    Feb- 9-09    
Topic: Creative Commentary, Opinion, Super Bowl 2009



Our Super Bowl Faves: Doritos, Cash4Gold, Pedigree, CareerBuilder

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For the first time in many years, the ad blogs didn't live blog the Super Bowl. The reason for the change? Simple. One word: Twitter. With at least four different hashtags (words that let you follow a particular Twitter stream), a cascading waterfall of real-time opinion flooded through for all to see. Thousands of people could live tweet their thoughts in 140 character bits instead of a few attempting to type 3,000 words a minute to publish three stories per ad break.

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The Twitter stream we arranged along with AdFreak, AgencySpy and Adland was #superads09. It was near impossible to read every tweet but some information did bubble up. People liked the CareerBuilder spot. They liked the Pedigree ad. They liked the Hulu ad. The like all three Doritos ads. They liked Pepsi's Bob Dylan spot.

They hated both GoDaddy commercials. They hated H&R Block. They hated SoBe Life Water. They hated Toyota's Faces. There was debate over the Teleflora ad which not so subtly made fun of, shall we say, less that beautiful people and just how much backlash that spot might generate.

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A service called Thummit asked Twitter users to give each ad a thumbs up or a thumbs down and tallied the results here. Oddly, Bridgestone topped the Thumbs Up list with its Hot Item spot. That was followed by the Doritos remote control spot, Coke's Heist and Monster.

Topping the Thummit Thumbs Down list were, no surprise, GoDaddy's Shower and and Baseball commercials. They were followed by Toyota Faces, H&R Block's Death and Taxes and Cheetos Chester the Cheetah.

Over at the USA Today Ad Meter, Doritos topped the list with Free Doritos (Crystal Ball) followed by Budweiser's Circus, Budweiser's Stick, Bridgestone's Potato Heads, Doritos' Power of the Crunch and Car's.com.

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by Steve Hall    Feb- 2-09    
Topic: Creative Commentary, Opinion, Super Bowl 2009



Techno Dancing Eyebrows Sell Cadbury Chocolate Bar

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We're always looking for something different in the advertising business. Something that's just a little off the beaten path. Something that's quirky but not overly far fetched. Something that makes you want to watch the commercial. And something that makes you smile.

We think we've found that in Cadbury's Eyebrow Dance; a commercial in which two kids coordinate their eyebrow movements with some techno. Hmm. Brings back memories of Freakazoid

by Steve Hall    Jan-23-09    
Topic: Commercials, Creative Commentary, Good



This Robot Doesn't Commit Suicide. It Brings Joy (We Think)

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OK it's not the GM suicide robot but watching this SantaClaraNitro-created commercial for Eldorado Shopping Center and listening to its soundtrack from Made of Chalk, leaves one with an eerie feeling. Are we supposed to feel bad for the robot? Is the robot real or a toy? How did the robot get on the desk? How (and why) did it get small? And, what, what, what does a lonely robot have to do with shopping?

And, yea. We know the robot is on his way to the guy as a gift. But still.

by Steve Hall    Jan-22-09    
Topic: Commercials, Creative Commentary, Strange



Teleflora Super Bowl Commercial to Trash Boxed Flowers

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Oh look! There are going to be advertisers in this year's Super Bowl. Joining the list, for the first time, is Teleflora which will use its Super Bowl commercial to highlight its Valentine's Day offerings. Because for some reason, flowers delivers unboxed are better than those delivered in a box, that's what the commercial will highlight with a box of flowers asking the woman ito whom it was given, "Have you ever considered rhinoplasty?"

The commercial's tag will read, "Don't send flowers in a box. You don't know what they'll say." While that potentially could come off as funny but, really? A talking box of flowers? Rhinoplasty? Unboxed flowers better than boxed? Damn, that's a lot for a guy to take in. It's hard enough just buying the flowers.

So guys, you might want to leave the room when the commercial airs giving you plausible deniability when you fail to deliver your woman a nice (unboxed) bouquet on V Day.

by Steve Hall    Jan- 8-09    
Topic: Commercials, Creative Commentary, Super Bowl 2009



Puma Celebrates 60th With Past Masher

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Upload your photo! Change its size and position! Alter the skin tone! Mess with Saturation! Toy with brightness! Meddle with contrast! Choose a body style! Pick a hair style! Slip on some glasses! Accessorize! Save it! Share it! Add to gallery!

Seriously?

Yawn.

Thank you Puma.

by Steve Hall    Jan- 6-09    
Topic: Creative Commentary, Online



Deleye Fashion Educates Belgians on Multiple Uses of Socks

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In a world where bigger is better, size matters...and socks have multiple uses, Belgian retailer Deleye Fashion is out with an ad that majestically embraces the world's obsession with size.

Created by DDB Belgium, the ad is a nod to the world's collective inferiority complex but let's not be negative here. Is there really anything wrong with striving to be bigger, better, stronger and more intelligent? OK, that last one is stretching it a bit. After all, this is an underwear ad. How intelligent can it possibly be?

by Steve Hall    Dec-15-08    
Topic: Creative Commentary, Magazine, Poster, Racy



Diesel Gets Its Freak on With Kids

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OK first of all, who knew Diesel made clothes for kids? And who would assume they did given the nature of most of their past advertising work which has included bondage, strippers, near nudity, porn, a meat puppet, disco dancing, S&M and voyeurism. Not exactly child-friendly behavior.

But that hasn't stopped the brand from going after kids. Sadly, though, they appear to be having a tough time getting the word out. A six minute video which some might call enchanting and worthy of being called a film has been on YouTube since September 29. It's received just 2,212 views and no comments. What's up with that?

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by Steve Hall    Dec-10-08    
Topic: Brands, Creative Commentary, Opinion, Strange, Video