Recessions Don't Bother 102 Year Old Men

Has the recession got you depressed? This 102 year old man says we shouldn't be concerned with such minor details in life because, in the end, we'll only remember the good things. And the fact his wise words are sponsored by Coke.

Blackberry Drives Formula One Race Car? You Decide

Real? Fake? Oh, who cares. After all, it's really not the point. All this stunt advertising stuff is supposed to just be fun so we're going to leave the "real or fake" analysis the the web weenies who can't help but take the fun out of everything by analyzing it to death.

Anyway, on with the story. Vodafone, that company that loves to throw snowballs in a girl's faces that look nothing like snowballs, is out with a stunt that has driver Lewis Hamilton operate his McLaren vehicle with a Blackberry.

Funny how the car doesn't run off the track when he turns to beam a smile at his pit crew after taking the car out onto the track.

Diggnation Hosts to Appear on Jimmy Fallon Tonight

So who says this new-fangled social media, web 2.0 stuff doesn't work? Not Diggnation's Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht who, on January 16th interviewed Jimmy Fallon, will, in return, appear on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon tonight.

Watch them. They're good. But if you miss it and are going to SXSW, you can see them do a live show at the Bigg Digg Shindigg at Stubb's Saturday night beginning at 6:30PM.

Contextual Advertising Gets Its Own Conference

We've had a good time poking fun at contextual advertising, a $1.6 billion industry, over the years for its awkward mishaps and curious mismatches but it's still a viable practice. So viable, there's now a conference dedicated specifically to the practice.

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Mars Hosts Online, Offline Easter Egg Hunt

Thanksgiving. Christmas. Valentine's Day. *slap* Easter. Please, make it stop! It's like one holiday ends and another begins. So, yea, Easter's on the way and so are the Easter-themed campiagns like this one from Mars Canada for M&M. Created by Proximity Canada, BBDO Toronto and Firstborn, this one has been dubbed "Canada's most Speck-tacular Egg hunt."

With print, TV (see one of the spots here), POP and online, people are urged to collect M&M eggs hidden around the web (a virtual egg hunt!) and in stores with PIN codes to use as entrance to drawing to win a trip to New York, Las Vegas or Orlando.

There's a site, four minisites and banners on MSN.ca, Yahoo.ca, MySpace.ca and others all with PIN codes to hunt for. Have at it.

Barbie's Birthday Ride, Defiled Desserts, Neo-Con's Golden Child

- White paper in comic book form.

- Meg Whitman for CA gov.

- Two sides of Arnold -- the disgruntled and the loyalists -- come to blows.

- Neo-conservatism's golden child.

- Barbie's birthday Beetle.

- Ugh, dude. Only in Iowa.

- "If they did do it, you'd expect them to be flaunting it. Unless there's no one left in the fucking building to do it!"

...Is it the Foam Beard that Makes the Big Boys Strip and Shave?

Continuing that creepy Japanese game show-inspired shaving fetish campaign thing for Nivea, DraftFCB and Rubber Republic assault us with Foam Beard Lady.

We are appropriately terrified.

The associated microsite guides shaving addicts to Stepping Stones Retreat, where a slightly Running with Scissors-y doctor will promise to cure you of glabermania while eye-raping you with Nivea shaving products. Compulsive shavers will no doubt be pleased.

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Vodka Firm Ferrets Out Nation's Best O-Face

Victims of Office Space probably remember the unforgettable reference to the O face -- that almost embarrassingly vulnerable expression guys make when they're stuffing somebody full of meat popsicle.

Under the mistaken impression that it's clever (and maybe on some level it is), Three Olives Vodka has launched a "What's Your O-Face" contest. Give 'em your best O and you could win $10,000, a "VIP trip to NYC" (what is that, a Broadway show and coke?) and the privilege of getting your O-face splashed all over a national ad campaign.

Think of it! You could be the village bicycle ... except for the whole country.

Associated creative: blue O-face, cherry O-face, root beer O-face.

Just Imagine, for a Sec, that Jellyfish were Table Lamps

Here, Nordpol envisions a secret world populated by IKEA furniture.

Hrm. Wonder whose unfortunate job it was to parse out the setup manual for all those levitating lawn chairs. The spoon fish were neat, though.

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Testicular Awareness Goes Right for the Balls

You gotta forgive the quality of the imagery at left, but we couldn't leave this one alone. For a Macedonian testicular cancer awareness campaign, grabby paper hands were laid down on public seats or positioned suggestively over barber's gowns, snatchin'-the-manpouch style.

The objective is to take the stigma away from checking your Holy Grail for testicular cancer. (Alternatively, I don't know how I'd feel if I put on a barber gown and looked down to find two disembodied hands cupped over my boobies. I guess I'd have no choice but to live with it.)

The blunt "Check Them" message also appeared on eggs -- which made us feel decidedly wary about picking any up in the near future.

Orchestrated by McCann Erickson for NGO Veritas Spiriti. The work is also shortlisted in the "Best Targeted Campaign" category of this year's Festival of Media Awards.