At Crowd's Command, Getty Shoots a Dwarf. In Skates.

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To maintain its iron grip on the stock photo industry, Getty records searches and commissions shoots when enough people have searched for an image that can't be found.

To wit: a truckload of people recently queried "rollerblading dwarf." As promised, Getty had its photographers whip out the ambient lights and hunt down a highly mobile midget.

The result is at left. And because mass consumption of "rollerblading dwarf" images is just soooo quirky, agency Think Meets Do launched a Getty-whoring Facebook group in its honour: Search for a Rollerblading Dwarf on Getty Images.

Yeah, there probably could've been a better name for that.

Future shoots (those likely to be repurposed as an ad campaign, anyway) include shooting a crying lobster, and a llama in high heels.

by Angela Natividad    Dec- 8-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Online, Promotions, Social, Strange



Stove Top Stuffing Keeps Bus Patrons Toasty

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There are few things more soothing than warm stuffing out of the gutted sternum of a turkey. And with help from JCDecaux, this soothingest of comfort food is warming bus patrons at 10 bus shelters in Chicago.

The Stove Top ads -- radiant with warmth -- feature a heaping bowl of stuffing, tossed and tasty looking and beckoning hungry passengers home.

"Cold, provided by winter," the ad reads. "Warmth, provided by us. It's a good night for Stove Top."

Find stuffing-hot bus shelters in the Chi through December. Reps will also be handing out (steaming?) samples. Work by DraftFCB.

by Angela Natividad    Dec- 8-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Good, Guerilla, Outdoor, Poster



TremorMedia, ContentWatch Rain on Inappropriate Content's Parade

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Many people have derided the "blind network" practice in online advertising which, in a nutshell, gives an advertiser little or no control over where their ads appear. That's why you see Disney ads on porn sites and other similar non-sequitors.

Many people have lamented the occasional "odd" contextual ad placement which offers up placements such as ads for turpentine next to articles about teens who drank the stuff to terminate her pregnancy.

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by Steve Hall    Dec- 8-08    
Topic: Good, Online, Tools



Self-Lovin' Scents, Twitter Marketing Help, Designer Laptops, Knowledge Hustlers

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- A whiff of Hugo Boss Femme may put you in a self-adulating, decidedly Diddy state of mind.

- Twitter marketing toolbox. *twirls finger*

- Contemplating facial hair? Upload your likeness here. For Schick -- which may actually lose customers that may have otherwise grown mustaches out before realizing they looked like Super Mario. (And not in an awesome, sliding-through-the-magic-pipe kinda way.)

- Bob Knorpp contemplates the legal saga of the Bratz. Complete with at least three hooker jokes.

- This HP Mini 1000 is brought to you by Vivienne Tam. We find them semi-sassy.

- Hey Facebook, "your dreams of avarice are fucked."

- Just another world record-breaking stunt.

- Cab driver advertises MBA credentials to customers. One good thing you can say about this economy: it makes everyone a marketer.



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The End of the Beginning is the Beginning of the End

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If teenagers knew the consequences of unprotected sex before they engaged in it, would it make them think twice before succumbing to desire? That's the question this teen pregnancy commercial ponders. Following the actions of a teen couple as they party, drink, hook up, have sex and deal with the consequences in reverse, the commercial shares the possible negative outcomes of having unprotected sex.

The bigger question is, given the quick-cut/ADD mentality so prevalent among, well, everyone these days, will anyone remember the beginning (end) when they get to the end (beginning)? Wait, what? Exactly.

The commercial was created by DLKW London for COI.

by Steve Hall    Dec- 8-08    
Topic: Cause, Commercials, Racy, Strange



Sony's New Bravia Commercial Gets More Coverage

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So our dear friend Ask Wappling from Adland was in Italy last Thursday for the Sony Bravia Drome launch event which we, from thousands of miles away, covered here. While she was sitting in a hotel after the event, she overheard one Sony exec reading aloud the Adrants story on the event to another Sony exec all while three other invited bloggers and press were furiously typing their own coverage of the event. She thought it a bit bizarre.

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by Steve Hall    Dec- 8-08    
Topic: Brands, Commercials, Industry Events



The Cobalt: A Cred-Bereft Ugly that Can't Be Painted Over

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Snake Plissken, who sent us this lead, called the hip-hop-inspired Chevy Cobalt Labs subsite "an identity crisis in website form."

After surveying the features -- Tricked or Trashed (think Hot-or-Not), Mod Street (where you can visually vandalize your own Cobalt) and Track Challenge (where you can race other site visitors) -- we're inclined to agree.

We also wonder why Honda never tried anything similar with the rice-rocket Civic crowd. Unlike the Cobalt, which is stretching the limits of our imagination with this Pimp My Ride crap, that was a car kids liked to play with.

by Angela Natividad    Dec- 8-08    
Topic: Bad, Brands, Campaigns, Online



Nikon Cameras Offered In Exchange For Firearms

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Toronto-based photo retailer retailer Henry's, along with Toronto police, just concluded an interesting promotion called Pixels for Pistols. Anyone who turned in a firearm they didn't need or want received a Nikon digital camera in exchange. Rifles or firearms earned a Nikon Coolpix P-60. An assault rifle or pistol earned a Nikon Coolpix S-52. Along with the cameras, each person also received photography lessons.

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by Steve Hall    Dec- 8-08    
Topic: Good, Promotions



DC Snowboard Ads: Now Infused with Kitsch!

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They're versatile! They're powerful! They have beards and many adjectives!

Lean back while this Al Borland-looking dude and his tanned-but-silent sidekick sell you a snowboard for all seasons. Look familiar? They should! Your host is Billy Mays, high king of insomnia-enabling infomercials, and his snowboarding homie is Iikka Backstrom.

"Enjoy the ride more!" with DC's new line of snowboards and boots. More infomercial riffs here.

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Fawkes Talks, ad:tech Calls, Life Takes Shmuly

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- Piers Fawkes talks to creatives from Barbarian Group, Undercurrent, Naked and Electric Artists at Good Ideas 2009.

- Premium Network has launched PremiumChannels, 45 category-specific sites offering contextual targeting.

- ad:tech has launched its Call for Entries for its 2009 ad:tech Awards to be held during the San Francisco Conference in April. Entries are due January 23, 2009.

- Jason Heller shares his not so pleasant recent experience buying a new BMW and how his experience relates to social media.

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by Steve Hall    Dec- 8-08    
Topic: Industry Events, Spoofs



One More Bedtime Pharma that Promises to Last All Night Long

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Last week pyjama-clad women on mobile beds circulated Los Angeles, using spammy typefaces and a warped colour scheme to ask the $65,000 question:

WHAT DO 75 MILLION WOMEN WANT MOST IN BED?

If you guessed fiber-rich cereal, you are so, so wrong!

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by Angela Natividad    Dec- 8-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Events, Guerilla, Strange



Bennetts Insurance Upholds Legacy of Its Founder

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There are many ways to sell insurance: the full coverage facial. Or cross dressing cheerleaders. Or the accidental wedding proposal. Or five-year-olds. Or Sanjaya.

And then there's bouncing thong-clad women getting spanked, courtesy of Bennetts Insurance.

Which brings us to Bennetts' latest effort, featuring motorcycle-style mechanical bull riding ... in slow motion ... in the rain ... while the riders wear bikinis.

But before rising to argue that wet, slow, mechanical bikini bull-riding has nothing to do with insurance, consider the roots of the company. "The origin of the oath 'Gordon Bennett' lies in the behavior of a 19th century playboy of that name," FishNChimps informs, helpfully adding, "It therefore came as a pleasant surprise to read on the CV of a certain insurance website that in 1930 this company was 'Founded by Gordon Bennett in Coventry and provided general insurance for customers.'"

So it's probably safe to assume Gordon Bennett himself -- self-styled playboy -- is smiling down upon the warped efforts of his ad men, proud that his pervy love of poon has trickled down to the modern day ... with admirable fidelity.

by Steve Hall    Dec- 8-08    
Topic: Commercials, Racy



Geico 'Right Sizes' Ad Campaign With Minimalistic Kash

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Perhaps in an efforts to identify with trying economic times or, perhaps, to give us a break from the Gecko and the Caveman, The Martin Agency is out with two commercials featuring the goofy character, Kash, who, well...who does nothing but sits there as the cast around him wonders just what the little guy is all about.

And the song. Don't get me started. David Gianatasio has that one covered.

by Steve Hall    Dec- 8-08    
Topic: Campaigns, Commercials, Strange



Beck's Launches Blog. Does Everything Wrong

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Beck's has launched a blog, Different by Choice. Yawn, right? But the way they've announced it and the way it's formatted is so annoying, it can't be left alone.

In an email beginning with "Hello Important Marketing Blog People," Beck's blogger Darius asks, "has anyone told you recently how hot you are?" and then goes on to explain how he "destroyed" 850 other potential bloggers vying for the job "'cos that is the way I roll." Ugh. Cue the Agency.com Subway video.

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by Steve Hall    Dec- 8-08    
Topic: Bad, Opinion, Weblogs



Ben & Jerry Cows Seduce Rudolph with Chunky Monkey

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Ben & Jerry's Caring Dairy releases a sing-along Christmas Cowal. Like Love Actually's "Christmas is All Around," it's campy in a way that forces you to watch.

Diggin' the banjo action in the background.

By Cake/London. Download track here. Proceeds from the effort go to the RSPCA.

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by Angela Natividad    Dec- 8-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Online