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Six Party Marathon Completed by 1AM

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Let's just get this out right up front. We make every effort to help you vicariously party your way through the night at ad:tech by attending all the parties so you don't have to. However, even for this nighttime wanderer, there were far too many parties on Wednesday night at ad:tech for any single human to attend them all. But we did make it to six and we think that's a pretty good effort for one night.

Ready? We kicked the night off with a walk over to Roe Nightclub for the Criteo party. Turns out, Yahoo was having a party there as well but it was starting later. Anyway, Criteo had their party upstairs. We met a few folks from Criteo including the PR folks and the marketing director. All wonderful people. Drinks were free and the snacks were great.

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by Steve Hall    Apr-15-11    
Topic: Industry Events



Firebreathers, Dancers, Acrobats Highlight First Night of ad:tech Parties

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ad:tech San Francisco kicked off nicely Monday night. Oh wait. ad:tech kicked off Monday afternoon. Sorry, on this beat, we keep forgetting the conference is really about the content and not the parties but you'll have to forgive us because party coverage is, well, just more fun sometimes.

Anyway, the first night of ad:tech kicked off with a cocktail party over at Pereira & O'Dell in their Barrel House bar space around the corner from their offices. It was a nice event with about 200 people showing up. Pereira & O'Dell PR exec Molly Parsley spoke with us for a while and told us the agency's offices used to be in the Barrel House space but they outgrew it and had to move around the corner. But they decided to keep the space to host parties of their clients and for the industry. The agency now has about 80 employees.

Next stop was Temple Nightclub where Blumberg Capital and Pillsbury held a three hour event which included all kinds of snacks and delicious passed Hors D'Ovres. At the rate the food went, one could safely conclude the 400 or so attendees considered that their dinner. I know I did. Is it just us or is the ration of men to women in the financial services industry about 90/10? If the male female ratio of the party is any indicator, it certainly seems to hold true.

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by Steve Hall    Apr-13-11    
Topic: Industry Events



Chase Does Inception's Landscape Roll Up

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This is at least the second homage to Inception we've seen. Citroen did it here. Is the technique the new Matrix camera swing move? Who knows but the landscape roll up maneuver has been spotted quite a bit lately. Here's another rendition of it courtesy of mcgarrybowen and Psyop for JPMorgan Chase.

The works touts the fact the financial institution lent more than $10 billion to small businesses last year along with funding and donations to hospotals and schools. Points for technique. No points for originality.

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by Steve Hall    Apr-12-11    
Topic: Commercials



Human Curling the New Bikini Bowling

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Ha! This is so funny. And so stupid. But those are two qualities that, in our opinion, make for a great ad. And, in case you can't figure it out by the end of this Buzzman-created video when the announcer informs you, yes, this little piece of crazy is, indeed, an ad for BIC razors.

Human curling. Now that's even better than Bikini Bowling.

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by Steve Hall    Apr-12-11    
Topic: Strange



Skinny Models Bashed, GroupMe is Meh,

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- Scottish entrepreneur Michelle Mone has waged war on size zero models by "flying the flag for real women" and choosing models of different shapes and sizes for her new Ultimo ad campaign.

- The story behind GroupMeh.

- Copywriter does penis pushup.

by Steve Hall    Apr-12-11    
Topic: Agencies, Campaigns, Racy, Spoofs



Pretzel Crisps Doubled Facebook Fans in 36 Hours

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As much as we enjoy opining ad naseum about the intangibles of creativity here on Adrants , we also love good clean facts in the form of campaign results so we're happy share this case study from Pretzel Crisps. The brand worked with Buddy Media (yes, they have advertised on this site in the past) on a fan-building Facebook campaign that hinged on product trial through the use of coupons. The details:

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by Steve Hall    Apr-12-11    
Topic: Social



A Roundup of Upcoming ad:tech San Francisco Parties

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Are you ready? Are you really ready? Are you? Are you ready for three days of intense networking, session viewing, exhibit hall exploration and all night partying? You had better be. Because if you're not, you're going to be left behind, sucking the exhaust of others who plan to hit ad:tech and make the most of it.

So we all know there will all kinds of amazing content at the conference. You've read about it here and on the ad:tech website. There are many fine keynote speakers, panelists and exhibitors for you to check out over the three days of the conference.

But let's not forget the most important aspect of ad:tech. OK, maybe it's not the most important part but it's the part I'm in charge of hyping and that's the parties. Hey, somebody's got to do it and, after all, you're going to need to party after 8-10 hours on your feet doing business.

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by Steve Hall    Apr- 8-11    
Topic: Industry Events



Big Breasts Do Not Belong in Your Portfolio

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Writing on About.com, Paul Sugget has published an article entitled What to Avoid When Assembling a Portfolio. His primary piece of advice is to avoid going for the simple, the obvious, the easy. If you've ever done work for the likes of Nike, Viagra, Victoria's Secret, Red Bull or Wonderbra, leave that work out of your portfolio. Why? Because, in his opinion, it doesn't require much strategy or effort to come up with creative solutions for those categories.

He claims Wonderbra ads are a dime a dozen writing, "Big breasts, and the outcome of them, is a very simple idea to get behind, and it's easy to be visually funny and verbally concise." Instead, he argues, "do ads for bland products or services that have no easily-identifiable or unique traits."

He suggests an airlines, dish soap, a wireless carrier and we'd toss in anything from the business to business category.

Additionally, he urges creatives to avoid creative that looks expensive to produce as it could cause someone to think you can't work on a small budget. he says to make sue you don't stuff your portfolio exclusively with popular forms of media, make sure substantive ideas outweigh glossy polish, don't include anything your not 100 percent proud of and always finish strong.

by Steve Hall    Apr- 7-11    
Topic: Opinion, Tools



Hyundai Projects, Mad Men on Netflix Instant, Heineken Reviews

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- Hyundai is out with a very cool building projection video.

- MadMen (season 1-4) is coming to Netflix Instant. Subsequent seasons will follow after they air on AMC.

- In Belgium, thanks to a new Nutricia babyfood iPhone application, dads are about to get more involved with their wive's pregnancies. Whether they want to or not.

- The Art Directors Club has new inductees to its Hall of Fame. Joining the esteemed club are Ruth Ansel, Marshal Arisman, John C. Jay and Joe Pytka.

- Samsung, with help from Digitas, has announce the launch of The Smart Living Room, an interactive microsite that "makes movie watching a deeper social experience and engages the viewer in the world of Samsung televisions."

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by Steve Hall    Apr- 6-11    




Artist Creates Custom Prints to Benefit Detroit Documentary

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Hugh MacLeod, a best-selling author and the artist behind Gaping Void, has created a custom, limited-edition print to benefit Lemonade: Detroit, a documentary about the revival of the city.

Boston-based filmmaker Erik Proulx has funded the making of the film entirely by donations from supporters of the Detroit story. Proceeds from the Gaping Void "Shut up and reinvent Detroit" prints will go directly toward production of Lemonade: Detroit.

Each print is signed and numbered by Hugh and artwork is available in two sizes: 15x18 and 24x30. Both small and large prints are available for purchase online in the Gaping Void Gallery.

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by Steve Hall    Apr- 6-11    
Topic: Industry Events, Specialty, Video



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