Shut Up & Play Comes Off Crass & Tacky

David&Goliath launched "Shut Up & Play," an outdoor campaign for the NY-NY Hotel & Casino that revolves around the rowdy, party-hardy ambiance you'll find within.

Creative below. It reminds me a lot of D&G's campaign for Rok Vegas, a night club owned by NY-NY.

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RTCRM Wrings Sweat Out of Agency Creatives

Creatives hitting the vending machines at RTCRM might be accosted with a smorgasbord of aluminum signs, each with a military-style message demanding, in some short shouty way, that they beat their own bodies into a pulp and do a great deal of sweating.

This is part of RTCRM's six-week "extreme exercise" boot camp. Creatives meet at 7am, twice a week, to groan and sweat with fellow languid-limbed chums.

Must be interesting for morale. You never quite look at someone the same way once you've seen where their sweat glands are most active. And an approach like this is infinitely kinder than firing people for smoking.

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Because Nothing's Cuter than a Second-Hand Costume, Right?

This painfully cute Goodwill Halloween ad is like a benign form of brainwashing: you've got a repetitive jingle, high-pitched voices and adorable versions of monsters -- including Jason, oddly enough.

It's never warmed my heart more to watch a drop of blood slide slowly down a vampire's chin. Seriously -- I think my pupils dilated.

For Goodwill Los Angeles. The spot'll run until October 31.

Asics Shine in Giant Lite-Brite

Lori Kanary, an artist known for cobbling pictures together out of Lite-Brite, was recently commissioned to build the world's biggest Lite-Brite image -- a garishly-coloured Asics shoe.

Impressive. Though part of me is just relieved Asics didn't reach for the graffiti artists, which are making a tidy living off shoe labels experiencing crises of brand relevance. The other part of me is resentful of how, as a kid, I never even got to touch a Lite-Brite.

This time could be different, however. Splashlight Studios will be exhibiting the Asics Lite-Brite, starting with New York, for the next six months. Think there'll be guards around it?

Wii Music Makes Nostalgia Play with Mario Bros. Theme

This infectious Wii Music ad depicts people in shelves, sorta like notes in sheet music, playing individual melodies with a Wiimote. As the spot progresses, they all tap into the original Super Mario Bros. theme song.

Very cool. It reminds me a bit of those iPod ads that featured silhouettes of people jamming out to whatever they were listening to.

Like iPod, Wii's become a lifestyle brand, except it's less self-conscious and more democratic. Everybody plays, even grandma.

Sony Ericsson: Be the Star of Your Own YouTube Video!

Because everyone knows that's tough to do.*

Check out Ericsson's Darkside campaign, where you plug your likeness into a pre-made spooky YouTube video.

Brando, the left-of-center agency responsible, even provided one-click ways to "viral it out" via Facebook and email. So, like, wow, you don't have to do jack to get your face on the front of the internets.

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Hmm. Maybe America Should Be More Hip-Hop.

Mos Def joins a whole train wreck of celebrities encouraging everyone in their sphere of influence to get out and vote. Unlike Hayden Panettiere and Serena Vanderwoodsen, however, he doesn't make the case for McCain or Obama.

Here he explains what he'd do as President.

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'Dream of a Truly Free Marketplace' Can be Realized -- with Gas Masks

And if you're willing to buy that, also consider Anarkon's Molotov cocktails and concert series DVDs. Options include revolutionary titans like (suck in your scoff!) Anthrax and Rage Against the Machine.

Finally, an affiliate network with imagination. Just wish it were clearer what the service offering is. But I guess that's the kind of thing you telephone for.

Rubicon Project Mocks its Own Merits

The Rubicon Project tapped its "LA movie friends" to create this spoof vid, in which Channel 3 News goes behind the scenes to pinpoint the company's awesomeness.

I was told this would be "a tongue-and-cheek take on the magic" behind Rubicon's success, but until 1:25 it's nothing but pure pitch.

That was irritating. But afterward the whole thing was kinda funny.

Frank Addante is awesome as the young, arrogant startup douchebag. Know how Rubicon screens for talent and makes VC cash? Chugging contests. Not that that's a secret; anybody who's been to one of their parties could've figured that out.

Just wish I'd seen the hilarity coming before Minute One was up. Because seriously, I thought I'd been tricked into sitting for a demo. Actually, I still kinda suspect that I did.

Great Milk Comes from Happy Cows. And the Happy Cows are Casting!

The California Milk Advisory Board is screening for its next bovine star. And guess who gets to pick her? You! Between October 13 and September 30, trawl audition vids and cast your vote.

Of 10 total, only two videos, "Alicia" and "Jenn," are currently available to view. Alicia reeks of The Real World, and little Jenn's being constantly goaded on by her attention-starved mom.

Videos of the hopeful heifers will be repurposed as TV spots. I hope one of Silk's renegade soy cows enters, because no audition series is complete without some wacked-out anti-establishment radical.