What a Way to Deliver a Message.

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We're really impressed by the gravity of this outdoor piece, part of the War Orphans campaign developed by Kolle Rebbe, Hamburg for Misereor, a German Catholic charity.

According to AdCritic the campaign won a Black Pencil in the Illustration: Press Advertising category at the 2007 D&AD Global Awards. Only two Black Pencils can be won per year, and it's rare that an Illustration entry makes the cut.

D&AD President Tony Davidson explained that "the simple idea behind [...] 'War Orphans' made the jury's decision easy. Naive family wall paintings they may be, but seeing where shells of bullets have shattered the images is a great and easily understood metaphor."

Laments about typography aside, a low-key but powerful image like this one can both transcend and sober most tongues.

Way to be a buzzkill, guys. Just kidding.

by Angela Natividad    May-25-07    
Topic: Best, Cause, Outdoor



Solar-Powered Billboard Tells Cautionary Eco Tale

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Oh, how exciting. DraftFCB, Toronto has solved the energy crisis, having harnessed the power of sunlight to fuel this billboard. (We always knew agencies could do more than push product.)

Developed for the World Wildlife Fund, its water levels rise when the sun hits it. Text reads, "Ocean levels are rising faster than ever."

by Angela Natividad    May-25-07    
Topic: Cause, Good, Outdoor



This Contest Could Land You a Sportscar in England. We think.

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If you can make head or tail of these instructions, courtesy of Grupow.com for Unilever's Rexona, you'll have a competitive advantage over us in this game (because you'll actually know how to play it):

Rexona, a deodorant brand from Unilever, offers the possibility of going to England and drive 4 sports car if you can get one of the 4 lowest temperatures in this advergame, where you have to mix speed when typing your arrow keys and some coordination to type them alternate so you can avoid the guy inside the car to sweat while driving.

Despite our confusion we think the graphics and sound quality in this piece is really sexy. We actually felt our fingers tingle in competitive anticipation.

Our only qualm was waiting for it to load while it ticked off the seconds (over 100! Come ON). You know how we hate that.

by Angela Natividad    May-25-07    
Topic: Games, Online, Promotions



EA: School Sucks, Come Play Potter

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For EA's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix video game, Wieden+Kennedy, Amsterdam remind school kids why lives of fantasy can be way better than everyday education.

See another variant on the print campaign here.

We remember grade school. It was hard enough to drag our asses to class without having to deal with moving stairs, talking pictures and breaks in which we may actually be, well, broken.

Otherwise, the print images speak a thousand favourable words for the quality of the game.

by Angela Natividad    May-25-07    
Topic: Games, Good, Magazine, Poster, Promotions



Questionably Named Jig-A-Loo Repels, Lubricates

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This is so bad it's good because it knows we'll know it's bad and think it's good even though it knows we'll say it's bad but mean it's good. Got it? No. OK then just watch this video for Jigaloo, a recently introduced to the States invisible, odorless, stain-free, all around lubricant (no, not that kind you pervert) and water repellent. Watch as sticky windows are opened and the President gets "unstuck." Unfortunately, it's name is way too close to the not so nice racial slur, jigaboo.

by Steve Hall    May-24-07    
Topic: Bad, Commercials, Good, Video



Hardee's Wants You to Have Sex With Its Mega-Burger

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It's one thing to use a sexy, scantily clad woman to, by association, promote your mega-burger of the month. It's another thing entirely to liken the eating of that mega-burger to the eating...uh...spending intimate time with that sexy, scantily-clad woman. But that's what Hardee's is doing in its latest babe-on-a-burger commercial in which Patty counts down the ten steps of eating the burger like you were having sex with her. Sex with a woman, groovy. Sex with a burger, eeew.

by Steve Hall    May-24-07    
Topic: Bad, Commercials



Release of Unapproved Ads Get Saatchi Fired

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The ongoing uproar over the Saatchi and Saatchi London-created ads for Dr. Martens which showed various rock artists sitting in heaven wearing the brand's steel toed boots has resulted in Dr. Martens parent company AirWair Ltd. firing Saatchi. The ads, which Saatchi claims Dr. Martens approved to run once in the UK's Fact Magazine caused a bit of controversy and complaint. Dr. Martens claims the images in the ads were not approved stating the work is "counter to our current marketing activities based on FREEDM, which is dedicated to nurturing grass roots creativity and supporting emerging talent."

Saatchi says it stands by the work, feels it is not offensive, promises to investigate why the ads were released beyond their intended destination and to "consider the ongoing employment" of the person who may have released the ads to the public. Oh my how things escalate.

UPDATE: Potions of this item have been changed to reflect corrections received from Saatchi & Saatchi UK and Dr. Martens.

by Steve Hall    May-24-07    
Topic: Agencies, Brands, Policy



Bald Man Goes to Great Lengths to Get Girl

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Here's the second installment of Keta Keta's work for hair loss treatment Propecia. The first explored the unfortunate events caused by a chrome dome. The new entry does a comical reverse Folger's Coffee thing with a guy doing anything he can to hide the fact he's balding from the good looking neighbor who just stopped by to borrow some sugar. We're thinking a simple baseball cap could have a long way towards helping this guy out.

by Steve Hall    May-24-07    
Topic: Good, Video



'Flight of the Conchords' Get Game For HBO Show

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Courtesy of Deep-Focus, here's an absolutely whacked promotional site for the absolutely whacked upcoming HBO show Flight of the Comchords. The show follows the trials and tribulations of the New Zealand-based digi-folk band as they, Bret McKenzie on guitar and vocals, and Jemaine Clement on guitar and vocals, make their way to New York. There's videos. There's a game. It's all as hipsteresque as they come.

by Steve Hall    May-24-07    
Topic: Cable, Games, Good, Online



Bud.tv Dies, Online Ads Live, Carat Loses, Office Cools

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- Cynopsis reports, "The disappointing Bud.tv may "fade away" later this year, admitted Anheuser-Busch CEO August Busch IV in a conference call to analysts" and "Rupert Murdoch's bid to acquire the Dow Jones & Co., which includes The Wall Street Journal, Barrons and the Dow Jones Newswires, isn't looking too promising."

- The Internet Advertising Bureau and PriceWaterhouseCooper report online ad revenue increased 35 percent in 2006 to $16.9 billion.

- Havas' MPG is certainly grinning over its recent $740 million Sear media account win. Unfortunately former media agency, Carat, is grinning an entirely different grin.

- This is just not all that much fun but hey, you have to sell office cooling systems somehow.

by Steve Hall    May-24-07    
Topic: Agencies, Brands, Games, Online, Research, Television