Don't Stop at Shaking Your Ass. SHAKE TA LIFE.

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Viacom is the parent company behind a covert French mobile phone promotion called Shake Ta Life (probably the most wince-worthy Franglais EVAR), where, with one quick shake, phones do all kinds of wild and wonderful things to improve the lives of their MTV-enslaved owners.

An on-site phone customizing doohickey lets you select what you want a phone to do (make you sexier, make a kebab) and how you'd like it to look (girly, glamrock, gothic, geeky).

I put together a geeky kebab-making phone. That's the thing at left. It probably smells nice.

The brand behind the madness will be revealed on April 16th. Try not to stay up fretting over it. Instead, ponder on this: wouldn't it be cool if your phone had a foosball table?

by Angela Natividad    Apr- 9-08    
Topic: Campaigns, Mobile/Wireless, Online, Strange, Video



Now There's a Home for Your Lame Home-Made Sports Videos

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That home is "Homestyle Sports."

And when I say "home," I mean a bonafide online show complete with hosts (Dan and Adam!), sponsor (Champion!) and a big-ass box of swag, which Dan and Adam explore between candid sports takes.

The whole thing's kinda like watching "America's Funniest Home Videos" except with two Bob Sagets, a lot of balls and some hoodies.

To be part of all the fear and loathing, upload your own clips to Break.com or YouTube.com/homestylesports. Be sure to tag them with "homestylesports."

by Angela Natividad    Apr- 9-08    
Topic: Consumer Created, Online, Sponsorship, Video



Flickr Users Protest Video, iJustine Says Quit Being A Btchr

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What the hell? Flickr decides to make it possible for users to upload videos along with their photos and what do some people do? That's right. They bitch, complaining Flickr is only for photos as if people who take and look at pictures NEVER, EVER, EVER take or watch videos. WTF? Justine tells all the video mimbys to quit being Bitchrs.

by Steve Hall    Apr- 9-08    
Topic: Social, Strange, Video



Feed Company Drops Stats on Zune 'Masks' Effort

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Hey, remember that Zune Masks spot? Feed Company, which seeded it on YouTube and elsewhere, sent us metrics on how well it fared.

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by Angela Natividad    Apr- 9-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Research, Trends and Culture, Video, Viral



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Meet Pike Place, the Ghost of Starbucks Past

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On Tuesday Starbucks debuted the fresh-brewed Pike Place Roast, named after the street where, in 1971, the first Starbucks was born.

Print ads by Wieden+Kennedy ran in newspapers in most major cities. The bright colours and simple messages coax people to associate Pike Place with everyday workingman coffee (at $2 for a grande? Come ON). Creative concludes with the statement, "37 years in the making." So I guess this is the trump card.

And the trump card feels very Dunkin'.

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by Angela Natividad    Apr- 9-08    
Topic: Bad, Brands, Newspaper, Promotions



Xiaxue Was iJustine Before Justine Became iJustine

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Back in 2004, Singapore resident Wendy Cheng, aka Xiaxue was just a blogger. But a very popular blogger. in Singapore, at least. Then, in 2005, a t-shirt company LocalBrand approached her to become their brand ambassador. It was sort of a big deal back then for a brand to tap the popularity of a blogger.

Xiaxue was sort of like iJustine before iJustine became iJustine.

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by Steve Hall    Apr- 9-08    
Topic: Trends and Culture, Video, Viral



Coffee, Tea ... or Richard Kirshenbaum?

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Sassy Richard of kirshenbaum + bond is launching a show on Plum called Creative Lunch. Think Oprah, except people will be picking at food while weighing in on almighty Creativity. Slated guests include Martha Stewart, Matt Lauer, and David and Dylan Lauren.

We've seen Richard talk before. He's mesmerizing, especially when he does that swishy thing with his hair. Also, he never ever capitalizes anything.

Hurry for self-fellating agency heads. Now here is a promotional image of Richard barefoot. (The PR company sent it to us, except 34098343908 times bigger.)

No word yet on the debut of a "k" magazine, featuring Richard on the cover in various states of simper, following the success of the talk show. We're sure they're working on it though.

by Angela Natividad    Apr- 9-08    
Topic: Agencies, Online, Strange, Television



Yahoo Taps Google, Webby Would-Bes Go Live, BMW Gets Tagged, and the Most Beautiful Marker We've Ever Seen

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- YAHOO'S PARTNERING WITH GOOGLE FOR SEARCH ADS OMG. Whew. Glad that's out of the way.

- Here is the Webby Awards list of nominees.

- Barkley's Bad Gift Emporium, which makes e-cards like the treasury of memorable Hillary expressions at left, was nominated for a Weird Webby. It's weird and all, but can it beat Cute Overload? (See reclining pug and potent pandas.) Vote here.

- Tag a BMW on Facebook.

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by Angela Natividad    Apr- 9-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Games, Online, Video



Bloggers Rapped, Fonts Focused, Flickr Adds Vid, Butt Doubled

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- Remember Neil French? The man who created a miniature shit storm a year or two ago is back mugging with his fellow judges for his World Press Awards.

- Deep Focus' Ian Schafer comments on the oddity of similarly fonted (yes, I just made up that word) Geico and Casio Shea stadium signage placed so close to each other. Yes, that is what ad people think about when they go to a baseball game.

- Twitter-like site Pownce has added RSS and video/photo support for YouTube, Flickr, Vimeo, CollegeHumor, Zooomr, Photobucket, Ustream.tv, Viddler, Qik, Google video, Metacafe, Revver, and Viddyou.

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by Steve Hall    Apr- 9-08    
Topic: Industry Events, Outdoor, Poster



Scott's Knows 'All in One' is the Way to Go For Guys

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It's true. All guys are like this. We want simplicity in our lives. We want everything at our fingertips. We want to be coddled in luxury. We want it all. All at once. We want...All in One. Actually, truth be told, we're just lazy. So if we can cut the lawn while simultaneously barbecuing and watching the game, that's what we'll do. And we love that Scott's appreciates that.

MDC Partner agency zig created the spot, it's first work for the brand since winning the account last year. The spot is running in Canada.

by Steve Hall    Apr- 9-08    
Topic: Commercials, Good, Strange



Adrants Adds Staff, Serves Up Social Media Savvy

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Adrants is pleased to announce the addition of a squad of writers who will join Angela and me to bring you more of what you've come to love. Five social media junkies who all met at Emerson College in Boston and now work/intern at Schneider Associates will contribute to Adrants on a semi-regular basis.

Each will bring their own flavor of editorial prowess to Adrants. Mostly, they'll focus on the proliferation of social media and what that means both to people who have embedded themselves within the increasing social aspects of online life and to marketers trying to reach this hyper-connected, digitally-distributed, socially-savvy crowd.

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by Steve Hall    Apr- 9-08    
Topic: Announcements, Social



Ladies. You Only Have One Beaver so Take Care Down There

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Camp Beaver Lake. Camp Beaver. Camp Beaver Fork. Beaver Cross Camp. Beaver Creek Youth Camp. Beaver lake nature Center Camp. Friendly Beaver Camp Ground. Beaver Cove Camp. camp Beaver View. The list goes on. And on and on and on. And you know you can't come across a list like this without cracking a smile. You know it.

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by Steve Hall    Apr- 9-08    
Topic: Commercials, Good, Strange



Zombies Dance Thriller-Style For Zune

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From agency 72andSunny and production company Green Dot Films comes this new Thriller-themed commercial for Zune caled "Piece of Me, Piece of You."In the spot, custom created characters named Lead Skater Zombie, Lead Zombie Girl, Business Man and Elderly Couple dance to a Thriller-like tune "Fancy Footwork" from Chromeo. It's very un-Microsoft-like and actually fun to watch. Never gonna get us to give up the iPod though.

by Steve Hall    Apr- 9-08    
Topic: Commercials, Good



McCain Girls Not Helping McCain

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Who knew? McCain has his own bevy of Obama Girls. Well, sort of. These girls aren't exactly in the same hotness category as Obama Girl nor do they appear all that excited about their candidate. Nor can they sing. Not that looks or singing ability mean anything when it comes to supporting a presidential candidate.

The McCain Girls first did Raining McCain. Now they're out with Here Comes McCain Again. The effort is the polar opposite of the Obama Girl effort. It makes the candidate looks as exciting as watching paint dry. Is this some sort of "uncool is the new cool" sort of thing?

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by Steve Hall    Apr- 9-08    
Topic: Bad, Political



Gambling Success Insured With Life-Altering Rule Breaking

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Here's a good one. When gambling, most people like a sure thing. Trouble is, gambling is far from a sure thing. Unless, of course, you break the rues and insure your own success as illustrated in this commercial for allshots.com

by Steve Hall    Apr- 9-08    
Topic: Commercials, Good



Come On. Deforestation is JUST LIKE Plucking Out Earth's Chest Hair.

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Here's a video that will make you think about deforestation in a painful, deeply personal way. Try not to cry.

Except this metaphor doesn't really hold. Because after that virgin pluck session, you get all rhino-skinned and totally impervious to the pain of losing your hair, one at a time, in an agonizingly slow manner.

I know this. I have conducted studies on my own anatomy.

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by Angela Natividad    Apr- 9-08    
Topic: Agencies, Cause, Online, Strange, Video



Apparently T3 Wants to Raise Your Kids

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Austin-based agency T3, The Think Tank, was recently featured in USA Today for its communal approach to raising kids. "It takes an agency to raise a child," the employees say.

Here is where you do the collective Awwwwwww.

Caretakers are permitted to bring infants to work and even take them into meetings with strap-on carriers. At T3, new parents get private offices. Kids are welcome daily until they're about nine months old, at which point you better find yourself an au pair, because the boss ain't havin' it.

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by Angela Natividad    Apr- 9-08    
Topic: Agencies, Good