'How to Make a Blog' Book Offers Chance to Crap All Over Adrants

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We don't normally pimp books here on Adrants. Oh we have occasionally in the past but, seriously, business books, for the most part, are dull, dry and boring. And way less interesting than a story about a busty, bikini-clad celebu-hottie offering up her bulging breasts to sell a product, right?

But we're going to break that norm for a minute here and feature a book called How to Make A Blog? Why, you ask as you yawn, lean back and almost fall out of your chair while dozing off to sleep from boredom? Because we're in the blog book! That's why.

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by Steve Hall    Mar- 5-11    
Topic: Publishing



Emma Watson Shows Leg, Taco Bell Rebutts, Shoes Socialized

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- Harry Potter cutey, Emma Watson, is fronting the new Spring/Summer campaign for People Tree, an "eco-chic" fashion line.

- To combat the "creative crisis" in U.S. schools brought on by standardized curricula and testing, No Right Brain Left Behind is turning to the creative community and asking it to develop educational programs that foster creativity.

- Taco Bell is launching a campaign to refute claims made in a class action suit which states the brand falsely advertises its meat as "seasoned ground beef" or "seasoned beef" when it's claimed it actually uses mostly filler and less beef than is required by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's standard.

- TAXI and the Tomorrow Awards have announced they will host the first Tomorrow Awards event in Montreal on March 31st.

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by Steve Hall    Jan-28-11    
Topic: Cause, Celebrity, Publishing



Win Leo Burnett's New Book, HumanKind

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AgencySpy already had their competition to give away five copies of Leo Burnett's new book, HumanKind, written by agency Chairman and CEO Tom Bernardin and Creative Director Mark Tutssel. The book, which we haven't completely read yet, is "not about advertising or brand propositions or selling products, but a story of people, purpose and changing behavior. It's a look at marketing that serves true human needs and not the other way around."

A lofty goal, indeed. Highlighting some of the agency's best work, the book focuses on the agency's four principles of people, purpose, participation and populism, the book is one we know we'll be a fan of. It's got lots of pictures and not a lot of words. It's a picture book or sorts for those of us that just want to wallow in the world of advertising without being subjected to pointless pontification.

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by Steve Hall    Nov-30-10    
Topic: Agencies, Publishing



Babies Curled, Kindle Calmed, Facebook Placed, Meester Gets Wang

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- It's not in English but the point is pretty clear: curling is a very, very strange sport.

- Amazon is out with a couple of less threatening Kindle ads that decidedly do not go head to head with Apple's iPad.

- Be sure to check out this week's Beancast in which some idiot named Steve Hall tries to sound like he knows what he's talking about when it comes to Facebook's new Deals offering.

- Murray Newlands is out with a new book, How to Make A Blog Book. Check out the Facebook page too.

- If you're Gossip Girl fan, you'll likely want to check out Leighton Meester in the new Vera Wang campaign when it breaks next summer. It's currently being shot in New York.

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by Steve Hall    Nov- 8-10    
Topic: Agencies, Celebrity, Podcast, Publishing, Social, Strange



Threatened Prep School Teacher Pleads Her Case on YouTube

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To promote Jonathon Kellerman's new book, Deception, which features Dr. Alex Delaware as a forensic psychologist for the LAPD who is investigating the murder of Windsor Prep Academy teacher Elise Freeman, a video of "Elise Freeman" has been seeded on YouTube.

In the video, the woman outlines the abuse she has been receiving at the school and offers the video up as a clue to who her murderer might be.

Accompanying the video is a website with background on the case and clues to solve it. In addition, there's a "criminal empathy test" to determine which type of criminal one might most identify. Why? We have no idea.

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by Steve Hall    Oct- 4-10    
Topic: Publishing, Video



How to Make It As An Advertising Creative

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Of his new book (entitled How to Make it as an Advertising Creative), BBH's Simon Veksner, publisher of the Scamp blog, tell us, "I know there's a lot of ad books out there, but I'm hoping mine's a little different. There's nothing in it about what makes a good ad, or how to write a good ad. Instead, it's all about what you need to know to be a successful creative, above and beyond being good at writing ads. So it's not about craft, it's about guile. It's about how to get the best out of directors, how to find the right partner, and how to sell more of your ideas to your CD."

In writing the book, Veksner spoke with Trevor Beattie, Jeremy Craigen, Paul Silburn, Flo Heiss, Jeff Benjamin (interactive ECD at Crispin Porter), Amir Kassaei (chief creative officer of DDB Germany) and Aussie creative entrepreneur Siimon Reynolds. And the book's forward is written by David Droga.

Once we give it a read, we'll tell you more about it but we like the approach. We don't need any more "how to make a great ad" books.

by Steve Hall    Mar-30-10    
Topic: Publishing



YouTube Overlays, Foursquare Plays, American Apparel Displays

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- Foursquare was all the rage at SXSW this year. And they had a killer party with Ashton Kutcher in attendance. Now a new, location-based app, CauseWorld, allows you to check in to a box of Tampax. And other products. For charity. So it's all OK.

- YouTube now offers something else to distract us from the video we are viewing: ad overlays.

- In partnership with LookBook, American Apparel has figured out how to pimp itself without resorting to near naked teens in underwear.

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by Steve Hall    Mar-18-10    
Topic: Industry Events, Publishing, Social, Specialty, Video



New York Times Awards Gothamist's Hatred With Massive Ad Buy

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Apparently, Gothamist editor Jake Dobkin has no love for the New York Times and he made that very clear with scathing post on his Facebook page last month. That didn't seem to dissuade the Times from tossing a bunch of money Gothamist's way for a site-swallowing wallpaper ad. Nor did Dobkin's hatred of the Times stop his organization from accepting the Time's money.

You see? There really is a separation of church and state. That or, as Gawker posits, "Bitch, we OWN you."

by Steve Hall    Mar- 9-10    
Topic: Newspaper, Publishing, Strange, Weblogs



Where the Hell Is Matt Harding? In A New Book

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Remember the Where the Hell is Matt guy, Matt Harding? He was the guy that made goofy videos of himself doing a goofy dance in different places all over the world. The videos became a viral sensation and Stride gum eventually sponsored his videos.

The videos were heavily in the "feel good" category and simply by dancing with people in different countries all over the world, he made it seem like all the worlds problems could easily be erased if we all just danced with Matt.

Well, Matt's out with a book now that focuses on his travels, his videos, who he met on his travels and how the whole thing started.

by Steve Hall    Jul-23-09    
Topic: Publishing



1-800 Flowers Intern Wins Killed Ideas Book

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Remember that contest we held last week? Of course you don't so we'll tell you about it again. Those who correctly guessed the color of the bikini the girl sleeping on the couch at Cannes had on (green), would be entered into a drawing to win a copy of Killed Ideas, a blurb-produced book highlighting fifty ideas that were never produced.

Now that you're all up to speed, we're pleased to announce Ryan Kiernan, a brand communications intern at 1-800 Flowers won the drawing. We;ll be sending him a copy of Killed Ideas soon

by Steve Hall    Jul- 2-09    
Topic: Announcements, Publishing