CAPTCHA Talks Smack, Robot House Tweets, Conservatives Critique Palin Pick

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- Blogger Meggie Poo unsubscribes to a random retail e-newsletter ... and its CAPTCHA calls her a whore. O_o

- Some members of the maverick Mad Men twitterati are affiliated with We Are Sterling Cooper, which "[catalogues] the conversation around AMC's Mad Men and its fanbase across the social web." Thanks @AmandaMooney.

- Speaking of fake Twitter characters, meet @S.A.R.A.H., an artificially intelligent house from the Sci Fi Channel's Eureka. Created by Fallon.

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by Angela Natividad    Sep- 3-08    
Topic: Brands, Online, Social, Trends and Culture, Word of Mouth



Jamba Juice: Now In Handy-Dandy Plastic Bottles!

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Jamba Juice makes its foray into the grocery aisle with a celebratory ad by Publicis/NY and production firm Stardust. In "Fruit Pixels," a bouquet of berries spring out of a Jamba smoothie bottle and shape-shift into a swinging schoolgirl, a swimmer, a volleyball player and the Jamba Juice logo before slipping back into the bottle, now neatly capped.

Tagline: "Live fruitfully." Hrrrm. The Ting Tings, which sing Fruit Machine in the background, could've given you guys somethin' better than that.

Off-topic, I love how personified energy can be used to promote both hip surgery and fruity beverages.



Want a Porsche? Spin Those Dreams Into Bragging Rights

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Sike friends into thinking you have a Porsche. Upload a shot of your driveway on the Porsche -- I Can subsite, choose from one of four platinum-coloured models, then PhotoShop your heart out with a limited set of image adjustment tools.

The result is an almost-perfect, semi-nifty shot of a Porsche in your driveway. (Unless, like me, you Googled up a dream driveway too.) Save as wallpaper or share with friends. Just don't invite them over.

Impressed? Yeah? ...No? Well, the effort earned Cramer Krasselt/Chicago some LA Times love.

by Angela Natividad    Sep- 3-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Online



Bionic Pizzazz Brought to Hip/Knee Surgery

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This year at the Olympics, performance-enhancing athletic gear were all the rage. Four years from now, will it be highly-advanced hips and knees?

"Smith & Nephew introduces the next generation of joint replacements: highly-advanced hips and knees engineered to meet the needs of your high-performance life."

The ad, designed to make active human beings look like fluid ribbons of energy, was produced by Psyop for Ogilvy/NY. I like how it breathes life into an industry normally associated with near-immobile geriatrics ("I've fallen and I can't get up!"). But It also brought Touch of Gray to mind. Sexy grays, bionic hip surgery: looks like advertising's in midlife-crisis mode.

by Angela Natividad    Sep- 3-08    
Topic: Brands, Commercials, Television



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Thirsty African Kid Invades TV Studios for Water

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To promote "Music for Life," whose theme this year was the dearth of drinkable water in some countries, the Red Cross and Studio Brussels let loose a thirsty black kid, who invaded TV studios and stole sips out of TV personalities' glasses.

It's hilarious. He just races onstage, gulps water down, and races off again without a word. Nobody can keep a straight face, and one chick just looks totally lost.

A video montage of the effort was put together and disseminated under the catchy name "Black boy wants water." As the Guerrilla Communications blog points out, it kept people awake -- and better still, got its point across.

The effort purportedly raised 3.3 million euros for drinkable water. It also won two golds, a silver and a titanium award at Cannes this year.

by Angela Natividad    Sep- 3-08    
Topic: Campaigns, Cause, Good, Guerilla



Dear Carat Staff: Layoffs Are Coming. To Everyone Else: Be Nice

These things happen. Everyone's done it. It's just too easy what with all the mailing group features in Outlook that make it so simple to send email to entire groups of people with one click. That's apparently what Carat Chief People Officer (can we stop with these idiotic titles?) Rose Zory did today when she sent an email about upcoming layoffs intended for select senior management to the entire agency.

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by Steve Hall    Sep- 3-08    
Topic: Agencies, Opinion



3M 'Steals' Post-It Note Jaguar Viral Sensation

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Sadly, there have been a few too many examples of brands co-opting the work of others for their own financial gain. Here's another. In December 2006, Scott Ableman and his co-workers decided to play a practical joke on another co-worker who drove a Jaguar and was one of those people who would park his car in a very remote spot so as to avoid scratches and dings. Ableman and friends plastered the co-worker's car with Post-It notes, took pictures of the resulting colorful design and posted them on Flickr. The whole thing turned into somewhat of a viral sensation.

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by Steve Hall    Sep- 3-08    
Topic: Bad, Brands, Viral



Max Beer Has (Gives?) Head

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There's not much to say about this Max Beer faux commercial other than the fact than it'd it'd never air anywhere. Night Ranger? Sister Christian? Huh? Not a bad song but WTF for a commercial?

by Steve Hall    Sep- 3-08    
Topic: Racy, Spoofs, Video



Hot Dog Seeks Safety in Dorm Room Bed

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Some people will do anything for a hot dog. Well, or a Wienerschnitzel hot dog, that is. Here we have a college girl chasing her Wienerschnitzel down the dormitory hallway (yes, she's chasing a hot dog) and into the room of an unsuspecting guy. The guy, of course, taken by the girl's ample curvature and sweet face tries to put the moves on her while the little Wienerschnitsel dude seeks hiding under his sheets. Yes, it's a very weird spot but oddly watchable...in a weird way.

by Steve Hall    Sep- 3-08    
Topic: Good



Not Everyone Appreciates Topless Men and Bikini Clad Women

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90210 debuted last night on The CW. And...it wasn't as horrible as expected. But, you had to watch the entire two hour premier to arrive at that conclusion. Having watched the entire original 90210 and now the update, my, as they say, how times have changed (See Nat trying to operate the espresso machine and the blowjob scene). But this isn't a 90210 review. It's a story about a guy who doesn't like the 90210 billboard facing his Brooklyn neighborhood.

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by Steve Hall    Sep- 3-08    
Topic: Outdoor, Trends and Culture



ad:tech New York Keynotes Announced

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Yes, it's that time again. It seems the Chicago ad:tech conference just ended but the New York Conference is already upon us. Several keynote speakers have been announced including CNN President Jonathan Klein and Ogilvy & Mather Chairman & CEO Shelly Lazarus.

Early Bird registration is open and that means discounted rates for those who act before October 3. Use the code BRNYZ9 to get the discount. For those planning of getting an Exhibit Hall pass, which includes access to the keynotes, it's free until October 3. If you're planning on going, now's the time to make your plans.

by Steve Hall    Sep- 3-08    
Topic: Industry Events



Kids Say the Darndest Things

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Oh who doesn't love a 12 year old kid to puts a few stuffy MBAs on their guard during the interview process while getting to the heart of what consulting is really about: using a lot of fancy buzzwords to increase intelligence quotient thereby dumbing down the consultee to the level of a 12 year old? Perfect, right?

It seems that's what Deloitte is out for in this faux interview, promotional video for its Born2Consult site on which those wishing to explore the company can, perhaps, relive themselves of pre-interview jitters provided by the humor in this promotion.

Hey, kids put Monster.com on the map fairly well. Maybe kids can remove a bit of the stufiness associated with a big consulting firm.

by Steve Hall    Sep- 3-08    
Topic: Video



Amalgamated Rips 'Virtual Drinking Buddy' Off 'Wrath of Cannes' Winner

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You may remember Robbie Wenger. He won the grand prize at Wrath of Cannes -- yeah, that was him licking the statue -- for Virtual Drinking Buddy, a subsite he created for The Knot.

The theme behind Virtual Drinking Buddy was "never be alone again," and toward that end it provided a classy old boozehound that drinks at your side and occasionally even insults you -- just like a real friend.

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by Angela Natividad    Sep- 3-08    
Topic: Agencies, Brands, Campaigns, Commercials, Online, Television, Worst