HoneyShed Was Fun. Puma's $100 Million Is, Like, Way Better

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Droga5? Puma? Wait, what? This is confusing. Isn't Droga5 supposed to be the agency that creates whacko stuff like HoneyShed? They wouldn't dream of taking on a real client now would they? It seems so. Droga5 has come to the realization that agencies need to make money to stay afloat so why not accept $100 million from Puma?

OK, so fine. Droga5 already has "real" clients like MTV and Method. But puma will make those accounts look like a local car dealer account.

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by Steve Hall    Nov-12-08    
Topic: Agencies, Brands



Uptown Minneapolis Doesn't Want Agency to Move In

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Ah hahahaha. Funny. Not really but there's not much else you can do to hype something as boring as an agency moving from one location to another. Minneapolis brand agency, mono, recently moved and created a video to illustrate how "outraged" the community is about the agency coming to town and doing terrible things like using kids in ads and brainwashing people into buying things they neither need nor want.

Say moNo!!

by Steve Hall    Nov-12-08    
Topic: Agencies



Honeyshed: The Tech Diva's QVC.

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"You can wear this to a club, you can wear this while you get jiggy ... you can wear this just to have a latte!" gushes an Alexander McQueen Puma sneaker promoter on the revamped Honeyshed, which hopes to give QVC's bauble-loving enthusiasts a run for their money.

Also, product models aren't 65 pounds overweight ... and sometimes they breakdance. You know you want those Alexander McQueen velcro shoes now.

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by Angela Natividad    Nov-12-08    
Topic: Online, Promotions



42 Below Out With Grandiose Trippiness

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Here's some trippy new commercials from 42 Below, the folks famous for creating really, really weird videos. These commercial go bigger and were created simply, as the ads state, "because we can."

So will these ads sell any vodka? Who cares. Seemingly, it's irrelevant. Because, they were created "becasue we can." get it? Told you they were trippy.

by Steve Hall    Nov-12-08    
Topic: Commercials, Good



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Greenpeace Spoofs Pirates of the Caribbean.

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The Curse of the Bluefin Tuna Industry. Cringe. See variants in The Economist (really?) and last week's European Voice. The people named on each poster are villainous Fisheries Ministers that failed to better regulate Mediterranean bluefin tuna. God help us.

Moved by a conviction stronger than yourself? Send angsty pro-tuna letters to Fisheries Ministers for Italy, France and Spain.

by Angela Natividad    Nov-12-08    
Topic: Cause, Magazine



Smokerman: The Superhero that Needs a Breather

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Tearing the chapter in irony out of theTruth.com's tattered playbook, Crowell Advertising brings us Fight the Ugly, home base to a lame-duck action figure named Smokerman.

Um, diggin' the 'stache.

See ads in which the action figure, stopping often to catch his breath, tries saving trains or disarming plastic bombs. The spots -- prepared for the Utah Department of Health -- will air during morning cartoons, where hopefully they stop kids from smoking as opposed to, oh, making the puff-puff seem fun.

by Angela Natividad    Nov-12-08    
Topic: Campaigns, Cause, Commercials, Strange, Television



Girl Meets Boy, Visual Orgasm Ensues

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Part Matrix, part classic Maxell ad, this DDB Mexico-created commercial for Gran Centenario Tequila unleashes all the visual stops and assaults your senses with a spectacle far unlike any liquor ad seen in recent memory. It's like a visual orgasm. In slow motion.

It's not entirely clear what it all means (ok, fine, it's all about vampires...oh wait...no...winged angels...it's, like, biblical? whatever) but it sure is fun to watch. If this came on TV during, say, well, any show, it's pretty clear it'd cause one to rewind it and watch it a few more times. If only to analyze all the effects and shots assaulting the senses.

by Steve Hall    Nov-12-08    
Topic: Best, Commercials



Dear War Veteran: You Are Not Alone

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A new campaign from BBDO and the Ad Council for the Irag and Afghanistan Veterans of America reminds people the one percent of Americans who put their life in harm's way for the other 99 percent should not be left alone when they finally come home.

The campaign includes television, print and a social networking site which offers returning veterans the chance to connect with fellow soldiers and work towards re-entering society.

by Steve Hall    Nov-12-08    
Topic: Online, Social, Television



New York Festivals Offers Year's Worth of Fame!

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Its time for New York Festivals again! And there's no boring call for entry email on this one. Nope. The organizers went all out this time, pulled out all stops, worked for months creating...wait for it...yes, a YouTube video!

In the video, you can watch various creative pontificate about the "process" and "words" and "recognition" and "creative excellence" and "effort" and "power" and 15 minutes of fame" and, and, and...well, just watch.

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by Steve Hall    Nov-12-08    
Topic: Industry Events, Video



GLAAD is Sad, Dentsu Grabs McGarry Bowen, Cannes on DVD

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- Burger King does the dropped wallet thing. Hey, it's a whole lot more fun that shoving coupons in people's faces.

- Even though you've already seen all the ads months ago for free, you can now pay for a DVD of the Cannes Lions Titanium and Integrated Lions. Go ahead. Open your wallet. Or try to. All we got was "not available yet" when we went to check the price.

- Gotta love nefarious Boards of Directors. The Commercial Closet Association, founded by former Ad Age staffer Mike Wilke will merge with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation. It was a planned merge. What wasn't planned was the Board's outing (not the gay kind) of Wilke while he was away on vacation. Wilke was supposed to maintain his position after the merge. No he's suddenly out of work. Not nice, GLAAD.

- McGarry Bowen has sold its sole to Dentsu.

- And so it continues. In today's layoff news, Conde Nast has said goodbye to 36 staffers.

by Steve Hall    Nov-12-08    
Topic: Agencies, Policy



Target Helps Christina Aguilera Hype 'Greatest Hits'

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Probably because the bulls-eye has more brand cachet than she does, Christina Aguilera's paired up with Target to promote Keeps Gettin' Better, a premature greatest-hits album buttressed by a handful of mediocre new tracks.

The ad features Aguilera in superhero Target garb, breaking through comic book frames like a cross between Frank Miller's Sin City and a less saucy version of Britney Spears' Toxic. It's infectious, mostly because Target knows how to play with the colour red. But it took a coupla watches to positively ID the once-ultra-visible pop diva.

Keeps Gettin' Better is available exclusively at the big-box. Possessed of timeless classics like Genie in a Bottle, Dirrty and something called Genie 2.0, we (don't) highly recommend it.

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by Angela Natividad    Nov-12-08    
Topic: Brands, Celebrity, Commercials, Promotions, Television



Microsoft Does 'I'm a PC' UGC Mash-Up Thing.

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"I'm a PC ... and I love the slimming effect of a purple striped shirt."

That's the profound kick-off to "Real PC," one of the :30 TV spots being cobbled together with clips from Microsoft's Upload Your Own 'I'm a PC' Ad! campaign. I saw one last night and winced; what is it about this effort that rings so painfully desperate? See more here.

These user-generated variants manage to be just as quirky and random as the originals, with a little amateur-vid spice tossed in. One guy at ad:tech's Millennial panel said he finds these ads more "democratic" than Apple's snarky but irresistible "Mac vs. PC" spots. He's not wrong; they definitely reek of The People's OS. For whatever that's worth.

Let's just hope Crispin didn't produce them on a Mac this time.

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