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Lays Joins HomeTeam in Homemaking Fantasy

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In a liaison that appears strange at first glance, Lay's potato chips joins nationally syndicated series HomeTeam in fueling the fantasies of starry-eyed virgin homeowners. Lays.com will feature moments of joy from past and upcoming episodes. The show is hosted by former Apprentice star Troy McClain.

A good if unlikely liaison. We're pretty sure that the consumption of chips on a couch of one's own is a fantasy every American has when constructing that imaginary white picket fence.

by Angela Natividad    Mar- 6-07    
Topic: Brands, Online, Television



WTF Chuck Bursts Open Secret World of Asst Media Planners

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Ever wonder what it's like playing asst. media planner to a set of sadistic self-righteous bigwigs? Find out from people who know. WTF-Chuck brings us Three Horses, a mini-feature on getting saddled at the bottom of the media planning ladder. He calls it bitter but we say there's always a little truth - maybe too much truth - in satire.

At some point in our careers we all get to be human shields. And how about demographic quantification? Few things are funner than making caricatures of whole groups of people while hoping to strike a chord with them.

Well, we don't actually get to do that as much as we'd like. That's what TRU is for.

by Angela Natividad    Mar- 6-07    
Topic: Good, Online, Video



'Maxim' Goes Green With Irish 'Maxim'

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Even as it searches for a buyer, men's magazine Maxim is still having fun. For one of its advertisers, Irish Spring, it's created a special, six-page mini-magazine insert that is appearing in the March issue. With a freckled, red-headed, girl-next-door gracing the cover of the insert, Irish Spring will promote a multi-city tour, custom published editorial and the Zagat's Guide to America's top pubs.

by Steve Hall    Mar- 6-07    
Topic: Magazine, Promotions



Mother Lovin' Ass Celebrated by Booty-Shakin' Gospel Singers

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In a nod to the over-the-top celebratory stylings of gospel singers, Nivea is celebrating the launch of its Goodbye Cellulite product which, apparently, reduces cellulite on asses of all shapes and sizes. The video, which features a choir of booty-shakin' gospel singers, was created by TBWA, has been launched on viral sites like Boreme and Kontraband.

by Steve Hall    Mar- 6-07    




Pringles Seeks Jingles in Jingles for Pringles

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For some inexplicable reason, everybody loves a good karaoke contest. ViTrue, the guys who made Sharkle (ground zero for user-generated ads), teams up with Pringles to host Jingles for Pringles, a video community featuring Pringles' new slogan, "Pleasure. Every single Pringle."

For a few prizes, including tickets to see the American Idol finale, users can turn in songs and videos promoting Pringles' new face.

Well, that's exciting. You know what would be more exciting? Replacing the face of the Pringles man with a warped anime character. Oh wait, Doritos did that already. In fact, Doritos also did this CGM thing. The only difference is, they did it when it was hot.

Can we just hurry and skip to the place where we assume CGM will be part of every marketing effort from this point on? Emphasis on "part." We think it's past the point where asking for content and giving away prizes can be considered a headlines-worthy marketing campaign.

by Angela Natividad    Mar- 6-07    
Topic: Online



GAP Still Hunting For Direction

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We're just out of comments when it comes to the GAP, it's marketing and its apparent inability to connect with any segment of any demographic. In this spot, Claire Danes and Patrick Wilson dance across an empty stage to Irving Berlin's "Anything You Can Do" all to promote...The Boyfriend Trouser. Huh? Whatever.

The spot was created by Laird and Partners with some visual help from Brickyard.

by Steve Hall    Mar- 6-07    
Topic: Commercials



Freakishly Weird Laugh Follows Woman's Need For Real Meat

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We've seen this new Quiznos spot several times and every time we get to the end of it we cringe when a woman, after saying, "It's not lacking any meat and that's what real women need," lets loose this freakishly awkward laugh as if she were a high school teacher who just attempted to tell a joke to an auditorium full of students. It's like your mother telling a sex joke to your girlfriend when she meets your parents for the first time. It's like walking in on your parents while they're having sex. OK, it's not that freaky but this girl's laugh is just weird. We'll leave it at that.

by Steve Hall    Mar- 6-07    
Topic: Commercials



Coulter Drops F-Bomb (Not that One), Loses Ad Revenue

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After calling John Edwards a faggot at the last Conservative Political Action Conference, several companies are arranging to pull their ads from Ann Coulter's website, now billed politically extreme by Verizon and probably others. A quick content scan makes you wonder why anyone would make a milder assessment. Guess it's a perspective thing.

With cavalier she's presently flouting Edwards' campaign letter against her alongside her blog. We want to call it ballsy but we think there's a better b-word for it.

Unless you're Kate Moss, losing endorsements is often the first sign you're slipping through the tubes, but in Ann Coulter's case it's just another notch in the figurative bedpost. It's not like she's acting out of character.

by Angela Natividad    Mar- 5-07    
Topic: Online, Sponsorship



Cramer-Krasselt Wants Monster.com

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In a Talent Zoo podcast interview, Cramer-Krasselt CEO Peter Krivkovich said, among other things including how illogical it was for CareerBuilder to dump the agency because its ads didn't place in the top ten of the USA Today Super Bowl ad poll, now that he's free of CareerBuilder he'd love to take on Monster.com. By all accounts, Cramer-Krasselt has catapulted CareerBuilder to stunning success even besting primary competitor Monster.com in some areas.

Oddly, CareerBuilder has been silent regarding its strange move and has offered no explanation for its sudden dumping of Cramer-Krasselt. Perhaps it's too embarrassed to face the wrath of detractors who've maligned the company for it's irrational decision. Perhaps we'll find out later there's some intriguing nepotism going on between CareerBuilder and the yet to be selected agency. Perhaps we'll never hear anything until next year's Super Bowl when the company, aided by some as yet unnamed agency, trots out another set of commercials. Perhaps no one will care and this will die like the controversy surrounding a certain Wal-Mart marketing executive whose name we no cannot remember.

by Steve Hall    Mar- 5-07    
Topic: Agencies, Good



Book Promotion Strip Videos Beget Stripper Preference Poll

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Let's have some fun. Perhaps you've seen the recent YouTube campaign for the book Punk Marketing, in which a model, Cleo, stips while reading excerpts form the book. Yea, yea. We know the striptease is nothing new but we haven't seen it used this way before. Now, a second model, Anna, has been added to the mix and we're curious which one you like better so we're going to host a fun little poll.

You can read about the campaign's history here, here and here. You can view the three Cleo videos here, here and here. And you can view the Anna video here.

After you've "educated" yourself, take our quick poll here and let us know what you think. We'll report back the results.

by Steve Hall    Mar- 5-07    
Topic: Online, Racy, Video



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