But Heineken, I See No Good Here

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Apparently Heineken has started a radio and (cheese-tacular) TV campaign that directs people to a subsite that isn't even up yet. (We tried. Still doesn't work.)

Try your luck at SharetheGood.com. Jetpacks, who seems sort of traumatized by the radio spot, went out of his way to check the Who Is data behind Share the Good (registered to Brian Citron, Associate Brand Manager for Heinie) and see if it works on other browsers (no).

UPDATE, 10:10 EST: The site is up now. And it only took all morning. Good going, guys.

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by Angela Natividad    Apr-23-08    
Topic: Bad, Brands, Online, Radio



RMG Connect Lawyers Will Soon be Calling Newly Named RPM Connect Lawyers

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Looks like we're in for some more legal wranglings over agency naming. Minneapolis agency Ryan Partnership is changing its name to RPM Connect to "better reflect the firm's expertise in retail and shopper marketing." After the drama over We Are Gigantic and Gigantic Marketing, one has to wonder what JWT's RMG Connect is going to have to say about this one.

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by Steve Hall    Apr-22-08    
Topic: Agencies, Bad



The World is Plastic. It's a Plastic, Fantastic World.

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VBS.TV is broadcasting a 12-part series called "Garbage Island," which follows the adventures of angry kids that scoop up, examine and lament the drifting artificial refuse we've forcefed Mother Earth.

It's an interesting series. But dude, what's going on with the visual litter all over VBS.TV? It seems incongruous to make us feel glum about depositing commercial waste everywhere while blatantly selling us commercial waste. Those Stussy ads chafe my eyeballs.

by Angela Natividad    Apr-22-08    
Topic: Bad, Cause, Good, Online, Video



Copyranter Calls it Quits

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Copyranter is leaving the blogosphere in favour of more productive uses of his time. Show the 'ranter some love by contributing to the fare-thee-well comment count.

Between us, Bill Green over at Make the Logo Bigger said he thinks mastheads everywhere should be at half staff. We feel him on that. Read his post on Copyranter's departure, which started a big discourse about fact-checking and the interview methods of Katie Couric.

by Angela Natividad    Apr-21-08    
Topic: Bad, Creative Commentary, Online



Nike: Jump Over a Moving Car. Kobe Bryant: How High?

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Jun Group is distributing a Nike-sponsored YouTube video where Kobe shoves some shoes in the camera's face and then jumps over an Aston Martin coming at him from 50 MPH.

"DON'T -- TRY -- THIS -- AT HOME!" he shouts, but come on. How often have you done some dumb shit on a boring afternoon just to see if you could?

That Kobe. If he's not cheating on his fine-ass wife, he's doing silly shit for shoe dollars. Way to set an example, role model guy.

We're filing this under "Bad," but what we really mean is "Stupid."

by Angela Natividad    Apr-14-08    
Topic: Bad, Brands, Online, Sponsorship, Video



So, How Intensely Talented is Your Mouth?

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Because Colgate wants to know. o_O Catch the cattle call for "intensely talented mouths" all over MySpace today.

And speaking of mouths with intense talent, get a load of the nipple-tasting action on the lower right-hand side of the page.

All that dirty context doesn't really leave us with that fresh clean feeling. Exactly what kind of submissions do you want, Colgate?

by Angela Natividad    Apr-10-08    
Topic: Bad, Brands, Campaigns, Online



Meet Pike Place, the Ghost of Starbucks Past

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On Tuesday Starbucks debuted the fresh-brewed Pike Place Roast, named after the street where, in 1971, the first Starbucks was born.

Print ads by Wieden+Kennedy ran in newspapers in most major cities. The bright colours and simple messages coax people to associate Pike Place with everyday workingman coffee (at $2 for a grande? Come ON). Creative concludes with the statement, "37 years in the making." So I guess this is the trump card.

And the trump card feels very Dunkin'.

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by Angela Natividad    Apr- 9-08    
Topic: Bad, Brands, Newspaper, Promotions



McCain Girls Not Helping McCain

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Who knew? McCain has his own bevy of Obama Girls. Well, sort of. These girls aren't exactly in the same hotness category as Obama Girl nor do they appear all that excited about their candidate. Nor can they sing. Not that looks or singing ability mean anything when it comes to supporting a presidential candidate.

The McCain Girls first did Raining McCain. Now they're out with Here Comes McCain Again. The effort is the polar opposite of the Obama Girl effort. It makes the candidate looks as exciting as watching paint dry. Is this some sort of "uncool is the new cool" sort of thing?

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by Steve Hall    Apr- 9-08    
Topic: Bad, Political



Interactive Milk Campaign Totally Shuts Us Out. Well Then, Soy It is.

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We really love neolithic sentences like "Get more cowbell," which is probably why the agreeably retro Get a Load of Milk site is so endearing, even though it's otherwise useless, because it's PC optimized and we're on a Mac.

At least the new mobile site works all right. Oh wait. No it doesn't. It's optimized for video-friendly phones like the Sony Ericsson K85i Rogers Vision, and our BlackBerry ain't that.

Do the milk men hate us? Come on, guys. We eat cereal too.

by Angela Natividad    Apr- 8-08    
Topic: Bad, Brands, Campaigns, Mobile/Wireless, Online



OMG! Degree Wants to be Your BFF!

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Ten years after it would have been, perhaps, at least a tiny bit OK, there seems to be a sudden onslaught of marketers becoming BFFs with txt and chat-speak. From McDonald's with its coy use of "R U Ready" copy to AT&T's subtitled conversation between mom and daughter to Frito-Lay's failed gt2kno jack, everyone wants in on teen chat slang.

If that weren't enough, Unilever has launched a campiagn called Degree Girl OMG! featuring Disney Channel's High School Musical star Ashley Tisdale complete with the solicitation of shadenfruede-like OMG moments...which, if the moment is OMG enough, could get you a visit with Tisdale herself.

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by Steve Hall    Apr- 8-08    
Topic: Bad, Good, Online, Social