Kevin Canned, Facebook Updated, Miller Lovemarked, Feedburner Googled

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- It is said NBC will, today, confirm the firing of Network Entertainment President Kevin Reilly. He will be replaced by William Morris Exec Ben Silverman.

- Facebook is getting in bed with marketers with a new release that lets software developers create branded applications which will integrate with the site.

- Miller Brewing is heading over to Saatchi & Saatchi for some Lovemarks goodness.

- All your feeds are belong to us.

- Julie Roehm goes after Wal-mart...again.

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by Steve Hall    May-29-07    
Topic: Agencies, Online, RSS, Strange, Television



Creepy Zune Characters Trade Pulsing Organs to Electro-Rock

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So 72andSunny got together with some esoteric music-makers to put some weird shit out on Zune-Arts.net. The most current of these is a little video called Los Corazones, animated by Punga, and set to ³Lex² by electro-rock band Ratatat.

The spot reminded us of Boy Meets Girl - it's got that noir innocence going for it. It also features self-conducted organ donation, which we're increasingly convinced is the only way to show love. How very Dirty Pretty Things.

Check out the spot at the Zune Arts site. It's the one with the two bear-looking things. One is yellow and one is dressed in a skeleton suit.

If you need more coaxing, there's a live heart transfusion, followed by plenty of dancing by said bear-looking things. Need we say more?

by Angela Natividad    May-29-07    
Topic: Online, Strange, Video



Spoof Provides Douche Cologne to Douchebags

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Left by a commenter in yet another story about Axe and their hate-to-love-it, love-to-hate-it Bom Chicka Wah Wah oddity, comes Douche Cologne, that, if the marketer and the agency conveyed the truth about Axe users, would become the next ad campaign for the brand. Poking fun at everything from pop collars, striped shirts, bottle service, house music, Scarface lovers, shirtless MySpace pictures, Abercrombie and Diesel, this spooftastic piece of hilarity sends all the metrosexual wannabes home to their mothers.

by Steve Hall    May-29-07    
Topic: Good, Spoofs, Strange



Hey Dude, We're Not Dead Yet!

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Hey all you 20 and 30 somethings conquering the world from inside the creative conference room, the older set wants you to know they're still alive and they have a lot of money to spend on that product you should be marketing to them. Oh sure, it's much more fun to develop a campaign for the standard but utterly meaning 18-49 demo but if you want to make some real money, the action's squarely with the over 50 boomer set. Unliver's getting in on the action. You should be too.

Recent research from Unilever's Boomer Project finds 45 percent of households are boomers but they make 60 percent of all packaged goods purchases. That's found money my friend. So what are you waiting for? Get out there and pitch the Depends account!

by Steve Hall    May-29-07    
Topic: Research, Trends and Culture



Yes, Johnny, The Yellow Pages Do Still Exist

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Though it's hard to believe, people, apparently, still use the yellow pages. Or at least yellow pages publishers would certainly like people to.Or maybe it's just an Israeli thing. Young & Rubicam Israel sends us these outdoor boards which continue the endless creative twists that yellow pages categories offer for fodder. From circumcision to couples therapy, this campaign still finds humor in a decidedly boring category. See all the boards here and a TV spot here.

by Steve Hall    May-29-07    
Topic: Commercials, Good, Outdoor



Smart, Snarky Audi Ads Leave Watchers Feeling Dirty

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Based on its last pair of efforts (1, 2) we decided that ad-wise, Audi's getting pretty - and flippant too, a quality that's lost in luxury car ads that get by on status alone.

Venables, Bell & Partners, San Francisco and production company OUTSIDER USA got together to continue the trend with a couple of new spots.

Moments for the Audi TT plays the tease with meaningful moments cut tantalizingly short, smugly signifying that while you can't get much done in .02 seconds, you can at least change gears. Really, really fast.

Parking is a spot for the A4. The action and length betray an unmistakable fuck-you to marks like Lexus, which features parking assistance technology.

In the world of high speed and hot bumpers, Audi's positioned as the innocuous-chick-turned-hot-bitchy-babe, and everyone wants to like her anyway.

by Angela Natividad    May-29-07    
Topic: Brands, Commercials, Good



Carlton Draught Gets Candid in Surround-Sound-Worthy Spots

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There's nothing the assertive audience likes more than a company that puts all its cards on the table.

So if you're going to be honest about pushing your hops, you might as well do it in an epic way: with a score, some choir robes dyed in primary colours, and a giant esophagus made up of burly men running in circles.

There's more industry jabbing in another spot from the same series. "Fermented in a big metal thing!" We love that drama-soaked tone. Anheuser-Busch, which is trying really hard to get beer taken seriously, must be gnashing its teeth in aggravation.

The spots fall under the tactful slogan "Made from Beer" and are for Carlton Draught. We hope they sell lots of bloody beer.

by Angela Natividad    May-29-07    
Topic: Commercials



Bom Chicka Wah Wah Invades Outside World

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No better way to start a revolution than with stickers. Just ask Shepard Fairey. Or in this case, Axe. Observe slap-on improvements on mundane street signage here and here.

The effort was launched by Lowe, Belgium via Ads of the World, so we're more or less sure somebody's going to snarl, "Hey, that's fake."

In a less subtle effort to demonstrate how completely irresistible the common man could be with a more persuasive spritz, Axe recently also had really hot cops spray and siege at random on the streets of Poland.

Oh, Axe-scented man, let us at him, we can't resist. Except, oh, that we can.

by Angela Natividad    May-29-07    
Topic: Guerilla



Wendy's. Tree-Kicking. Revolution. What?

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We should start by saying that by the time we got to watching this ad for Wendy's by Saatchi & Saatchi, we were already a bit out-of-sorts because the eagle in this Unicast ad kept squawking. Eagles are just generally really distracting. They are exactly the opposite of ninjas.

Anyway, this Wendy's piece involves communal tree-kicking and a burger-inspired epiphany by a guy wearing the Wendy's girl wig. We're not really sure why. And if it does nothing else, the spot decently demonstrates that people who do stupid crap as a team will probably band together behind something equally inane.

To be fair, though, we'd rather watch this ad than another I'm-Lovin'-It rehash.

by Angela Natividad    May-25-07    
Topic: Commercials, Strange, Television



Hillary Explores Theme Song Options, Almost Smiles Once or Twice

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Hillary, who for the 2008 presidential campaign is pushing viral in a big way, recently invited would-be voters to help her pick a campaign song.

Here she discusses the results and even sort of invites people to laugh at her, except with Hillary one never feels comfortable laughing about anything.

If we were Hillary we'd play the Darth Vader theme everywhere we went and act really pompous (think Xerxes, 300).

Hit the Hillary Clinton website to find out which song won. It probably wasn't the Darth Vader theme, but that would have cost way too much anyway. Sanjaya's looking for a gig, though.

by Angela Natividad    May-25-07    
Topic: Campaigns, Celebrity, Good, Trends and Culture