Kids' Ambitions Reflect the World Their Parents Made

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In "School," a Greenpeace ad by DDB/Paris, a teacher poses this question: "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

Her students' responses are laced with guilt-inducing grownup undercurrents: climate worries, health concerns and capitalist gusto conceived in ecological exploitation. Fascinating.

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by Angela Natividad    Jun-11-08    
Topic: Cause, Commercials, Good, Television



The Tour de France Needs a Champion: YOU

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Take Back the Tour -- not to be confused with Take Back the Night, though it wishes to be taken just as seriously -- is a movement that aims to "champion [Tour de France] riders who compete clean, while giving a platform ... to [their] passionate fan base."

More to the point, it reminds bike junkies that VERSUS (the sponsor!) is "the exclusive cable television home of the Tour de France."

"Show me another sport that's as tough, as demanding and as epic in its grandeur, grit and beauty than the Tour de France, but it's a competition that has seemingly lost its way over the past few years," said SVP Bill Bergofin of Marketing and Promotions for VERSUS. "[This] campaign ... will provoke a dialogue ... which will hopefully help to restore the Tour to its glory."

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by Angela Natividad    Jun-11-08    
Topic: Campaigns, Commercials, Events, Good, Online



Office Freakout Outed, Soup Gets Cocky, Sarkozy Smoked, Renetta Denies Obama-legiance

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- David Griner of AdFreak reveals the promotional origins of that one office freakout video. You should thank him; it involved interpreting Russian. (Well, no, not really.) Also, Angelina Jolie is a factor. Collective ooOooOooh.

- Traffic scores the $185 million Mitsubishi account. Meanwhile, the Michelin Man gets cozy with TBWA\Chiat\Day. Awwww.

- Beef and vegetable not doing the job? Treat yourself to cock flavoured soup mix. Just like mama used to make.

- France's Le Figaro was given promotional access to As if Nothing Happened, the latest album by Carla Bruni, the only First Lady we've ever seen naked. Her musical interpretation of Nicolas Sarkozy: "You are my junk. More deadly than Afghan heroin. More dangerous than Colombian white ... My guy, I roll him up and smoke him." SRSLY?

- Renetta McCann is "not joining the Obama campaign -- in any manner." Well, Renetta, Peter denied Jesus not once, not twice, but thrice. That didn't make them any less chummy.



Polaroid to Liberate Photos from the Clutches of Your Tyrannous Razr

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New ad out for Polaroid's "Free the Photos" campaign, which promotes the PoGo instant mobile printer. The phones go marching one-by-one, hurrah, hurrah.

Nifty. But the secret hope is that the video will go viral. My money's on "hell no" (or the more diplomatic "it's unlikely"). Cut down to :30, it'd make an okay TV ad, though.

by Angela Natividad    Jun-11-08    
Topic: Video



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Claim Your Free Conference Passes to Generational Communications 2008

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So we have two conference passed to the Generational Communications 2008 X + Y + Boomers conference to be held June 19 from 1:30P to 6P at the Graduate Center/CUNY on Fifth Avenue in New York City. The conference will examine generational usage of the Internet and how that usage has changed over the years.

If you're interested in going the first two people who email generational@adrants.com will get the passes.

by Steve Hall    Jun-11-08    
Topic: Announcements, Industry Events



BBDO Employees Steal; Publicis, Element 79 Lay Off

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- It seems things are so bad at BBDO, employees are stealing from one another.

- Publicis laid off ten percent of its IT staff.

- Element 79 lays off 30, and 20 quit? So goes the rumor. Nothing confirmed. Repeat after me. There is no recession. There is no recession. There is no recession. Positive thinking, people!

- Oh, and JumpStyle? Tweeted about it yesterday. AgencySpy commented. Yes, it's destined to be the next most copied ad concept.

Alisa Leonard points to a video that explains social media to CMOs in plain English.

by Steve Hall    Jun-11-08    
Topic: Agencies



BMW Hits the Spanish Turnpike with Jack Kerouac

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Perhaps worried about Lexus poaching the literary crowd, BMW released an ad where Kerouac's On the Road is the star.

Feels a little Moulin Rouge-ish. You know, with the fast-paced prose and the music, the random intrusions of hitchhiking bands and too many cars and, at some point, a horse. (The pressie calls it "vibrating and action-packed." Which sounds a lot like an ad for a very expensive sex toy, actually.) I didn't like it at first, but after five or six watches I found it almost breathtaking.

The spot went live on Barcelona-based Agosto.tv and will also run on television. It's supposedly the first ad to be broadcast in HD to the Spanish market.

Voice-over text from On the Road is below.

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by Angela Natividad    Jun-11-08    
Topic: Commercials



Just Another Subservient Animal Who Needs a Favor

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Apparently a thing called the Mac Monkey needs freeing. (He's "starved of creative stimulation." Guess he hasn't discovered his own poo yet. Also, why does he have people fingers?)

Intended to increase subscriptions to Creative Review Magazine, Free the Mac Monkey was conceived by London-based STEEL, which sought to distract us from calling foul ("SUBSERVIENT CHICKEN RIP-OFF!") with the tasteful inclusion of early Steve Jobs wall art. And they almost succeeded. Well ... no, not really.

by Angela Natividad    Jun-11-08    
Topic: Bad, Brands, Campaigns, Online



Newsflash! Flash Mobs Return!

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What? Wait? Flash mobs? That's so...four years ago. Oh but wait. We're talking about advertising here. Not exactly the industry that latches onto trendlets in a timely manner. But since the press release also dubs the stunt "performance art," I guess it's OK.

To promote Taco Bell's Fruitista Freeze, Philadelphia's LevLane hired actors costumed in iced-over beachwear with their skin tinted blue who would freeze in position for hours while a support team outside Citizens Bank Park last week during an MLB Phillies home game handed out coupons for the frozen tropical beverage. Also, a flash mob in street clothes would do the same for a few minutes.

Because the stunt was, apparently, so successful and because, it seems, LevLane is so nice, the next day they did another stunt for free. Last Thursday during lunch, all agency employees wore orange t-shirts and walked to Philadelphia's City Hall. On cue, the majority froze in place while a few others handed out more Frutista Freeze coupons. Ten minutes later the mob thawed, walked to nearby Love Park and refroze.

So there you have it. The flash mob lives on. Or is it performance art? Hmm.

by Steve Hall    Jun-11-08    
Topic: Events, Guerilla, Trends and Culture



Who Needs Trucks to Deliver Seafood?

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If you want your seafood fresh, John West is the seafood company for you. From sea to retail and nothing in between. Ooo, ooo! Did I just write a tagline there? hardly. Anyway, John West fishermen go the extra mile to deliver their goods.

The campaign,from CheethamDell JWT, launches June 23 in Northern Ireland.

by Steve Hall    Jun-11-08    
Topic: Commercials



OMG! Cat Rescues Steve Hall! And Mike is Hard!

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What? What? What? Universal Motown just did this yesterday for Ashanti and now Mike's Hard Hard Lemonade? Please. Make it stop! While it is kind of fun to see your own image (even if it is an old, crappy one) affixed to a faux news story under the guise of a marketing promotion, these things are getting tiresome.

Of course, they're only getting tiresome to those of us who write about this stuff 24/7. Perhaps "normal" people actually like this stuff. Ya now, it's the "Ooo, Ooo. Look ! I'm on TV!" Yea. It's for all those idiots that stand outside the GMA studio in the morning waving like lunatics to the camera. Yea. This is for those people. And, since there seems to be a lot more of those wackos out there than us more refine advertising types, it's clear this personalized, faux news report thing has legs. Nice ones.

by Steve Hall    Jun-11-08    
Topic: Social, Strange, Video



Obama Watch Gets Candidate's Attention

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Jack Goldenberg tells the story of how he and Kevin Glennon turned a custom-made Obama for President watch into what could become a fairly sizable viral campaign for the candidate.

"Most people think of viral marketing is something they've seen on YouTube or a similar site. But in reality, a viral is any communication that causes one person to be so affected by "experiencing" the viral that they communicate it to another.

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by Steve Hall    Jun-11-08    
Topic: Good, Political, Viral



Agency's Biggest Fan Stirs Adrants to Write Book (OK, Not Really)

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So here's some randomness. I used to work for an agency called BlackSheep Marketing. It's a small shop in Boston that focuses predominantly on high tech (Sorry, Kane, if you've changed since then). I did some new business work for them and sucked ass at it. Clearly, new business is not my thing. I had a great time working there though.

Anyway, Kane sent me this random video which introduces us to BlackSheep Marketing's Biggest Fan. Yes, there's a fan in the video. Yes, Darth Vader makes a vocal appearance. And, yes, that's Kane, himself, in the video. No, I have no idea what it's for but it's great to see Kane after all these years.

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by Steve Hall    Jun-11-08    
Topic: Agencies, Good, Video