'Probably' the New First, Best Only

Leave it to a lone shoe store somewhere in America to hoist honesty in advertising atop its gated entry in the form of a sign shot by Flickr user JoelJohnson. Claiming , "We are probably the lowest price in the city," a fresh breath of honesty and humor finds its way into the most simplest form of advertising. More of this would certainly not be a bad thing.

Unrestrained Creativity Begets Funny Agency Christmas Video

OK. OK, we laughed. We couldn't help it. We love a sick Christmas (uh...holiday) video and what better to kick off the agency holiday card bonanza than this video card from TBWA\Vancouver sent to us by Mack Simpson. This, my friends, is what we get when creatives are not constrained by pesky creative briefs and annoying client approval processes.

CMT Inspires Community Superheroes with 'Power of One'

Fresh off that compelling Dove ad, production company Reginald Pike jumps on "The Power of One," a campaign for the Country Music Channel to promote community activity and awareness.

It's endearing in a corny MidWestern sort of way. We're just not sure how far a man with a tight rubber outfit and cape could get down the street, even if he was reading to old people and whatnot. - Contributed by Angela Natividad

Ariel is as Flawless as its Billboards

Shedwa points us to creative use of an old medium. Buenos Aires detergent company Ariel set a billboard low on a roadside and attached an inkspot to a pole nearby so it actually appears to leave the shirt as drivers pass. The copy at bottom says "Comes out this fast."

We're hard-pressed to find flaw in such cleverness. Creativity doesn't always have to be all blinged-out. - Contributed by Angela Natividad

The Quitter Inspires Smoke Rings

Nodding to that covert blog thing that didn't go so well, the American Cancer Society visibly sponsors The Quitter, a blog written by a generic representative (they hope) for smokers at large.

We like a good message but the blog tries so hard it's almost farce. With terminology like "Ya know," "I'm really craving a cig" and "this ain't their first rodeo," we couldn't help looking around and wondering, Are they serious? Or are they fucking joking? The video blog nailed it in: they are really trying to do this with a straight face. In consternation we left for a smoke break.

Yes, we know smoking is marketed as cool but really isn't. We have to hand it to Big Tobacco for doing a better job at hawking cool than the ACS, who visibly struggle with this whole "get down with our peeps" thing. - Contributed by Angela Natividad

MSN Holiday Challenge Launches With Crashed SIte

Sucks when you launch big holiday promotion and your site tanks. That seems to be what's going on right now with Micrsoft's MSN Holiday Challenge, a celebity-filled contest in which people can watch videos to get clues to win $50K, $20K, $10K prizes and a grand prize of $100K. Al Roker, Kristin Cavallari, Jerry Rice and Perez Hilton (fame whore:-) ) will be on hand to deliver the clues. That is once the site actually works.

Subservient Santa Shakes in Sassy Sequence

Subservient Chicken - so yesterday. Adrants reader Mark presents us with this warped fusion of Subservient Chicken and Parappa the Rappa, Office Max's North Pole Dancing which, disappointingly, isn't what it sounds like. There's no pole (so no removal of clothing - then again, why would we want that?) but sometimes there is a candy-cane, which is a little redeeming but not by much.

Get Santa to dance in a sequence you choose but not really because all the moves are pre-selected. We're not quite inspired to buy Bic pens in bulk but we were amused for like 8 seconds. - Contributed by Angela Natividad

Marketing Manager Has No Idea What Customers Want

Like the sudden impact of that MasterCard Priceless Blowjob ad, Ventura Foods Marketing Manager Christina Ong in an article about legal wranglings over the proper labeling of guacamole dip and the ingredients of the company's own recently acquired Dean's Zesty Guacamole said, "I have no idea what consumers expect." Hmm. Hope that one doesn't find a home on her resume.

Metrics Idiocy Continues with 'Receptivity'

Is your head about to explode with the proliferation of stupid metric buzzwords like "engagement?" Ours certainly is after hearing Scripps Network is tossing yet another into the pot: receptivity, and finding, of course, two of their networks, DIY and HGTV rank tops on the list. Gee, let's just invent yet another metric so that our media property can come out on top. How about "blatant use of cuss words and pics of hot chics?" Adrants, number one. How about "wise-ass commentary you don't necessarily need to get through your day?" Adrants, number one. How about "most typos to piss off readers resulting in the highest level of 'engagement' as indicated by the number of bitchy complaint emails?" Adrants, number one.

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Don't Just Say Go to Hell, Send Them There

We've finally been empowered to act on the command. At You Are Damned put the name of someone or something that sucks ass (like the England Cricket Team) right on the scratch-ridden walls of hell. And if you want to play both sides, grant redemption too. If you feel like it, anyway. We very rarely do.

After damning a few people we know and cherish we got a bunch of thank-you letters from Lucifer himself, inviting us to visit anytime. Our favourite line: "You don't know how happy I am to see this lousy S.O.B. What can I say, I'm all giddy."

So are we, L. So are we. Campaign by Mono in Minneapolis and EVB in San Francisco. - Contributed by Angela Natividad

Strong Argument Made For Death of Page View

Writing on his Micro Persuasion blog, Steve Rubel concisely explains why the online metric mainstay, the page view, is becoming useless and predicts its death in 2010. Citing the rise of navigate-within-page technologies such as Ajax, Flash and widgets which negate the need to leave a particular URL to experience new content, Rubel says the media community will need to face the music very soon and stop the chest beating about the importance of page views. While there doesn't seem to be a replacement metric on the horizon, aside from already existing Time Spent and Unique Visitors, the industry may need to come up with one very soon lest the usefulness of online metrics become as useless as traffic count for billboards.