Mariah Carey Hologram'd, Ten Best Ads of 2011

- Mariah Carey hologram appears in five countries to celebrate Christmas courtesy of T-Mobile.

- Ouch!

- AdWeek's list of the ten best commercials of 2011.

- Amtrack WiFi campaign combines iconic regional route symbols with WiFi symbol.

- Yawn.

Newsflash! Carl's Jr. Doesn't Use Sex to Sell!

In a shocking development, Carl's Jr., aka, the brand with the "that's the just the way it is" response to people's concern's about it using sex to sell, has launched a new campaign that's devoid of boobs, branded bikinis and famous socialites washing a Bentley while clad in a bikini.

Yes. There is no cleavage, no gratuitous shots of bootylicious gyrating ass and no slow motion slithering of the camera's eye across the curvaceousness of Audrina Patridge. Nope.None whatsoever.

In this David & Goliath-created ad we have the far from bootylicious Harold, a retired ice cream man with a long history in the business of scooping ice cream. One night, Harold suddenly wakes up and realizes there's something very different about the ice cream business. Yes, Carl's Jr. is out with it hand-scooped Oreo Ice Cream Sandwich.

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Black Friday Online Sales Up 24.3 Percent

It seems a an increasing number of people are opting for the couch versus the crowd come Black Friday. IBM's fourth annual Black Friday Benchmark study which gauges online shopping found year over year Thanksgiving Day sales were up 39.3 percent with Black Friday sales up 24.3 percent.

Mobile devices accounted for 10.2 percent of Black Friday shopping with the iPhone and iPad topping the mobile device list with 5.4 percent and 4.8 percent. 9.8 percent of all online Black Friday sales were completed through a mobile device. Although sure to increase in future years, social networks accounted for 0.53 percent of online sales.

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Bongo Bingo Offers Free Trip Through Social Media

To celebrate its tenth anniversary, Belgian gift voucher brand Bongo has launched Bongo Bingo, an online and offline contest that will result in 30 people having the chance to win a trip for two to the Maldives. The thirty people will gain entrance to the Brussels-South train station where 5,000 Bongo Bingo boxes have been affixed to the ceiling. One box contains the gift certificate.

Participants can begin by signing up at Bongo's website. Sharing the contest through social networks online and buying other gift certificates offline will improve a participants place in the cue to enter the Brussels-South station December 3, the day of the physical portion of this promotion. Liking and following the brand on Facebook and Twitter will further improve a person's position in the virtual cue.

The campaign, created by Duval Guillaume, is a nice mix of the physical and the virtual, offers the brand increased exposure in social media channels and build revenue and customer base through the purchase to participate element of the campaign.

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Fashion Brand Bjorg Uses Heresy Motif to Sell Jewelry

If you're a brand that's linked to the fashion industry you can do pretty much anything you want to promote your products without anyone blinking an eye. After all, what's really left to say about a fashion brand? You either like it and will buy it or you don't and you won't. It's a purely subjective purchase decision.

Knowing that, fashion brands have long abandoned any rational approach to marketing and have, instead, decided to...well...do whatever they hell they want. and never before has that "whatev" approach been better illustrated than in this Bjorg Jewelery ad. The company feels they can sling necklaces and pendants with this over-the-top content.

Or, argued another way, fashion brands dispense with the mundane and, instead, latch onto political, social or, in this case, religious notions to pimp product. Either way, it's a parade of strange. But we like it. After all, how many lame-ass, conventionally derivative ads can you watch in one day?

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Lynx Apologizes For Lucy Pinder's Provocative Pulchritude

The great Advertising Standards Authority has spoken. If you hadn't heard, the organization recently banned a Lynx campaign which featured Lucy Pinder in a series of, some say, sexually suggestive videos. Reacting to an army of complaints, in this case, 15, the ASA asked the brand to pull the campaign. Praise be the power of the vocal minority. Yes, just 15 people lodged official complaints and those 15 people got an ad campaign pulled.

Not one to sheepishly drag its tail between its legs for too long, Lynx produced yet another video featuring Ms. Pinder apologizing for...well...whatever it was she did to get 15 people to complain. In the video, she returns the props she used in the video campaign while dressed in a baggy top that reveals zero cleavage.

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