This "Infinite OZ" subsite for the Sci-Fi Channel's Tin Man does little besides guide passive visitors deeper, deeper and still deeper into worlds sitting inside other worlds, kind of like those marbles at the end of Men in Black.
Entrance looks and feels like the rabbit hole Lewis Carroll's Alice fell into, except slower and scarier (vestiges of Pink Floyd, maybe?). Advertisers will also be happy to know that the first thing a person sees upon penetrating the refurbished Oz is a billboard.
Granted, it veers into a totally fucked-up, scary and apparently deserted world, but hey, this is very good news for those seeking a more interactive user experience.
And oh god. Did a disembodied female voice just say "There's no place like the O-Z"? You did not go there, Calle & Pelle Sjonell. (This is their last gig for Fallon, Minneapolis before they move on to BBH, NY.)
Tin Man premieres November on the Sci-Fi Channel. After traveling for 10 minutes into the void with no end in sight, part of us does want to see the show.
We're not really sure why you'd want to tell a buddy that he or she "is God," but Eric Clapton's PR team is hoping you will.
The image at left is being promoted to celebrate "Complete Clapton," which goes out on October 8. In the meantime, you're invited to send a "[Buddy's Name Here] is God" ecard to somebody you (presumably) worship in exchange for the chance to win a Fender Stratocaster electric guitar.
Guess that makes sense.
...assuming you want to get very close at all.
To promote the Pitpass subsite (created by Zugara, LA), which is Toyota's attempt to drum a fanbase out of the NASCAR niche, Saatchi & Saatchi gives us FanDangler and FanTandem.
The former actually seems like a lot of fun, and the latter looks like something you might think would be funny to try if you were bored as hell and high as a kite and had nothing better to do besides see what NASCAR was up to (and baby, it ain't never much).
Interesting. When every marketer is on a land grab for the latest Second Life, MySpace, Twitter or Facebook stunt, Metropolitan Life, perhaps being true to the blandness that if life insurance, has chosen old fashioned eBay (remember all those stupid auctions?) to place its MetLife Snoopy in Fashion promotion. Part of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, the promotion lets people bid on fashions designed by Heatherette, Isaac Mizrahi, Betsey Johnson and Pamella Roland, Kristin Chenoweth, Whoopi Goldberg, Elisabeth Hasselbeck, and Ingrid Hoffmann.
Design for a September seventh runway event, proceeds from the bids will go to Dress For Success, "a non-profit organization which promotes the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support and the career development tools to help women thrive in work and in life."
For once, an eBay auction that doesn't have anything to do with tattooing body parts or auctioning off pixels on a website. And who doesn't love Snoopy?
There's something strangely appealing about this simple promo for ABC's Pushing Daisies. Developed by True North Inc., Plant a Daisy lets you write out a name and a question for your beloved (or detested?) deceased, then plant a daisy. The field of daisies gives way to a teaser for the show, which walks a line between funny and touching in some sad way.
The show premieres tomorrow.
It seems those in the Pacific Northwest think alike when it comes to travel and tourism advertising. In early September, we took a look at a campaign for Horizon Air which highlighted the 200 mile stretch of Interstate 5 between Seattle and Portland. It's referred to The Slog for all the oddities and annoyances along the way that make taking a Horizon Air (of course) flight to traverse the distance instead.
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In September, Corbis ran a contest called I Am Buried, which encouraged ad creatives to bitch about how hard life is in the most enviable job any college burnout ever dreamed of. Winners got shopping sprees, personal assistants and other stuff you fantasize about when you're depressed and not buying razors.
We held off on covering this because we thought it would be more interesting to wait after the campaign, so as to air out the dirty laundry of the winners. It turns out -- surprise of all surprises -- the winning stories were not really all that compelling.
One refers to something called "WORKIARRHEA" and somebody else made a chart of her dirty dishes, coupled with a somewhat depressing description of how her work piles up with no end in sight.
This must by far have been the suckiest contest ever, providing us with data only slightly more interesting than a discussion about corns, and somebody's attempt to be witty by referencing hufu during Advertising Week.
Because they heard we're in love with them - at least while intoxicated - some really enthusiastic PR chick won't stop sending us images and factoids about WeeWorld.
See how WeeMees can help add colour to Skittles or relentlessly rock that tired (Red) campaign we hate so much.
Off-topic, at the WeeWorld Cocktail Party a lady from Europe was telling us Americans often confuse the word "wee" with some kind of baby-talk that actually denotes "pee-pee" or a little boy's private parts instead of the adjective "small" - which is more common in Scotland than it is here.
Hm. Okay, then.
It might be because we're a sucker for anything with Jerry Bruckheimer-like theme music but we do think this new Saatchi & Saatchi created online promotion for Wendy's is pretty cool. It's a call to arms of sorts but not the military kind. Wendy's believes everyone should be entitled to a fresh, hot, juicy burger and not some frozen crap. And it's crafted a site to spread the gospel.
Those who join the cause can spread the word social networking-style by emailing friends and posting the character they create on the Wendy's site to one of their social networking sites. Points can be earned by spreading the word and by using the site continuously. It's pretty simple and a nice use of viral and social networking tactics.
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What's a meatball sundae? It's the unfortunate result of two good ideas smashed together -- and the topic of Seth Godin's next book, which is generating much buzz on Hype Street at Advertising Week.
We couldn't go anywhere last night without hearing about it. Marketers describe Meatball Sundae as an invitation to approach web 2.0 as an opportunity to enliven company culture, even as passion begins to make way for bureaucracy.
Alternatively, Godin claims to see web 2.0 as a chance to "transform" the organization. Two sides of the same coin? Read about the book from the meatball-loving mouth itself.
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