Solo Strong Beer Says Little People Are Half As Good As Regular People

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So...does strapping a midget...oh, damn, that's not the right word...a little person to the front of a man who then, with the help of the little person, hurls a shot which beats a 1973 record make the man one and and a half times the man he already is? According to Solo Strong beer, the answer is yes.

All of this raises a very important question; Does Solo Strong beer thing midgets, sorry, little people are half as good as "regular" people? Apparently so since advertising is, as we all know, the bastion of truth and enlightened thought, right?

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by Steve Hall    Oct- 5-08    
Topic: Bad, Commercials, Strange



Goldfish Burials Aren't Always What They Seem

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This soothing video opens on a beautiful but sad scene in which a girl is digging grave for her dead goldfish. The music lulls us into a relaxing mood as a neighbor approaches the girl to offer his condolences but asks here why she's digging such a large whole for a tiny goldfish. At this point, the mood, shall we say, changes quite dramatically. Give it a watch.

by Steve Hall    Oct- 3-08    
Topic: Strange, Video



7K Gorilla Run, Absinthe Revisited, Gay Puppy Poems

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- Gay folk write odes to pet pups.

- Folksy new site for Kubler Absinthe. The "Creativity" tab suggests an upcoming CGM effort where people can "contribute to the myth of Absinthe." See videos for preparing mixed drinks. They're cool, and don't you love that background music? Also check out "fact and fiction" and the how-to-drink, which I thought was really neat. By Decon/NY.

- Palin inspires rampant web subculture. So many options! Brings back fond memories of Miss South Carolina.

- Really good resource on getting paid to blog.

- M. M. McDermott is not impressed by Millennials, but he'll cater to them on the Baltimore Sun's hipster spin-off. While reading a stylebook and wearing a nametag labeled "COCK."

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Levi's Wants Men to Unleash Their Beast

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In what appears to be a last ditch effort to make itself a relevant brand and something even the most fashion-unconscious would ever consider buying, Levis has resorted to grade school humor with Unbutton Your Beast. And, yes, they do mean the trouser snake.

Created by EVP and LAIKA/house, a collection of trouser puppets offer up nastiness you can send to your friends. It's not Dick in a Box which at least had the decency to leave something to the imagination. Nope, Unbutton Your beast is very blatantly all about what's behind the zipper and how much it wants to come out and play.

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by Steve Hall    Oct- 1-08    
Topic: Good, Online, Racy, Strange



Stock Photo Faux-Viral Attracts Bloggers, But Not Corbis

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Everyone that starts an agency has a dream account -- a client that, upon winning its business, validates your ability to both create and persuade.

Corbis is that dream for General Projects, a just-launched design shop that wooed its prospective client with Schtock.com.

Schtock is really flippin' cool. Each time you reload the site, you see a random, totally abstract image. When you click on the "About the image" tab, you'll find each one was composed of many stock photos. The work at left, for example, is called "Emo." Here's how many stock photos it took to produce it.

The site blog claims Schtock is the lovechild of someone at "a major stock photo company," putting illicit use to imagery that see nothing but the cutting-room floor. "Corbis" isn't mentioned outright, but all the photos can be found on Corbis's image search.

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by Angela Natividad    Oct- 1-08    
Topic: Agencies, Brands, Good, Online, Promotions, Strange, Viral



WaMu Fades to Grey, Petco Hamster Races, Branding with LASERBEAMS

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- Last week Washington Mutual ran this colorful little ad on its homepage. It reads, "Most banks are grey. That's not our style." Its fortunes have changed since then. See what ad they're running now. (Thanks to Adrants reader Martha for the link.)

- Who's the dick writing comments on your blog? Via David Griner at Adfreak.

- Over the bar-and-bowling scene? Hit up a hamster race near you. (Come prepared. See track specs.)

- Branding with LaserGames. Watch out for epilepsy.

- Alphas eat beef jerky.

- Bored or pissed off at Cubicle Cog #4? Play the Super Fantastic Corporate Confusion game. Unlike life, it will not let you down.

by Angela Natividad    Oct- 1-08    
Topic: Bad, Brands, Campaigns, Games, Good, Online, Strange



Hot Cheerleaders Prove Proper Marketing (Sex) Can Sell Anything

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Wait, what? How was this missed? We might have some slapping around to do here at the Adrants offices for staff missing this one. I mean we are talking cheerleaders here.Cheerleaders, people! That's bread and butter around here.

OK, so Undercover Cheerleaders, a creation of production company Hungryman TV, has a squad of cheerleaders, Steph Pearson, Nikki Williams (who, hmm...lives quite close to the Adrants mansion), Ash Simms, and Jess Powers who apparently didn't make the Cowboy squad so they go on adventures instead.

There are several adventures so far. One is called Selling Shit in which the cheerleaders create crap and sell it to prove anything can be sold with proper marketing, i.e. hot girls in, like, cheerleader uniforms. Um, like, yea.

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by Steve Hall    Sep-30-08    
Topic: Good, Racy, Strange, Video



Because I Get Off Seeing My Likeness on Coffee Mugs

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Hoping to reproduce the viral success (eh?) that Elf Yourself garnered for OfficeMax, EVB/San Francisco launched MakeMeSuper.com for Kodak.

Look look! It's me! Except blonde and trapped in the '70s!

Use the Kodak gallery to prop your face -- or that of an unwitting victim -- on a spandex-clad body. Your name is incorporated in a theme song (choose from one in five HUNDRED!), and -- that's not all! -- your own logo and swag. It's almost too super to stand.

by Angela Natividad    Sep-30-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Online, Strange



IBM Battles Carbon with Removable Street Art

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Of late, IBM's been trying to loosen its tie and go a little green. Its efforts so far have been earnest but self-conscious: potentially exciting work dampened by risk-aversion.

For its "Fight Carbon" campaign, IBM gets down with the street artists -- "vandalizing" public areas, then removing its work and leaving those spaces cleaner than when they left them.

In its younger years, IBM was clearly not the rebel in the 'hood.

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by Angela Natividad    Sep-29-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Cause, Guerilla, Strange, Video



It's a Special Chair. A Special Sex Chair.

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Came across this ad for the Tantra Chair earlier today. (NSFW, unless your boss is into artistic nudity.) Under the tagline "For the sensually sophisticated," the spot starts out with rave reviews and flashes dramatic imagery of a woman lying across the chair in sexually suggestive positions.

Neato. But where would one put a Tantra Chair -- between the recliner and the yoga ball? (It's not exactly a stashable copy of Joy of Sex.) I guess if worst came to worst, you could always wipe it down and tell the kids it's one of those newfangled video game chairs.

by Angela Natividad    Sep-25-08    
Topic: Commercials, Packaging, Strange