Honda Choir Ad Gets Really, Really Bad Spoof Treatment

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We wonder why we had to wait so long for a spoof of the Honda Choir ad to make it's debut and now we know. This spoof from 118 118, the same people that spoofed the Honda Cog spot, is so horrifically bad, they had to re-shoot it over and over and over to make it even worse so it good then be released as "so bad it's good." What a waste of time. View it, if you have to, over at Adland.

by Steve Hall    Apr-13-06    
Topic: Bad, Spoofs



MediaPost Invites Then Un-Invites 'VIPs' to Conference

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We were going to leave this one alone because mistakes do occur. We even left alone a previous mistake involving the placement of an image which looked like it belonged to editorial rather than the unmarked ad it turned out to be. But, two mistakes in a short period of time just can't be left alone. While we love the folks over at MediaPost but today, they made a very huge mistake.

Late this afternoon, we received this email from MediaPost inviting us to their Email Insider Summit May 21-24 in Scottsdale, Arizona as a VIP. All expenses, including airfare, accommodations and conference registration, would be covered. We thought, "Damn, Adrants has finally arrived!" We were all excited to spend four days at the Boulder Resort and Golden Door Spa basking in the Southwest sunlight while hanging with industry big wigs. That is, until a second email arrived.

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by Steve Hall    Apr-11-06    
Topic: Bad, Industry Events



AAAA Execs Use Dues to Fly First Class, Cost-Conscious CEOs Fly Coach

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A tipster who wishes to remain anonymous traveled to the AAAA's Conference last week and tells us about an interesting observation. We'll let them tell it in their own words. "I was flying to the 4A's conference and something struck me as funny. There were 3 4A's staff (senior level) heading out to the conference all in first class. There were about 6 agency execs (one being a c-level) all in coach. Per the presentation at the meeting over 70% of the 4A's revenues comes from dues paid by the agencies. Unbelievable that they [the AAAA's execs] chose to spend it less responsibly than the agencies that give it to them in the first place. Lower spending = Lower dues." Right on. Ah, but how ad wags love their perks.

by Steve Hall    Apr-10-06    
Topic: Bad, Industry Events



Extremely Stupid Sex Video Promotes Text Messaging

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This video promoting a text messaging service is extremely stupid not to mention it making viewers wait way, way, waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too long for the punchline which, itself, is also very stupid. Yea, yea, we know it's a riff on that Beautiful Agony site but it's a bad one. Whatever. It's from the UK. They like this stuff.

by Steve Hall    Apr- 7-06    
Topic: Bad, Online, Viral



Agency Management Placates Spoiled Employees

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The Lowe leaked email saga continues with yet another leaked email George Parker has acquired and published over at AdScam. With his usual seen-it-all wit, Parker craps on the ridiculousness of the Lowe Suggestion Box. From important items like Splenda being added to the kitchens uber-health conscious agency folk to increasing the dinner allowance for those who work late to giving employees their birthdays off to offering chair massages to beer nights to bagel breakfasts to coffee tastings to added vending machines, it just makes one want to scream, " Quit your spoiled, whiny bitching and do your fucking job!" It's a job, not a five star hotel.

by Steve Hall    Apr- 7-06    
Topic: Agencies, Bad



Comcast Extends 'Slowskys' With Excruciatingly Slow Loading Site

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Last night, we received this from the folks over at M80: "I think you may be of some help to me. I'm reaching out to you on behalf of Comcast and M80 regarding the Slowskys TV commercials. Since you are a fan of The Slowskys, I thought that you might enjoy and/or be interested in posting a video of the Slowskys. In addition to the original Slowskys commercial, we have a special outtakes video exclusively for those who are willing to help us out. You can check it out here.

I feel special. Whatever. Well, the rest of you don't have to be "willing to help us out" because you can just link to the site from here. But, be warned. Either it's a sick joke playing off the so-called slowness of DSL or it's a really lame promotional effort because the site is slower than an army or turtles stuck in a pool of molasses.

by Steve Hall    Apr- 7-06    
Topic: Bad, Online, Promotions



Canada Encourages All American Gays to Marry In Canada

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OK so it's not really a great spot, in fact, it's really cheesy but it does strive to let all Americans know Canada welcomes, with open arms, all gays and lesbians who want to get married without the hassle of state and federal anti-gay marriage laws. Oddly the spot is 42 seconds long which, actually, is a very good thing because 12 seconds of this spot could be cut and nothing would be lost.

by Steve Hall    Apr- 6-06    
Topic: Bad, Commercials



Internal Email From Lowe CEO Refutes AdWeek D+ With Babble

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"What the fuck was all that about? Why do people in management talk shit all the time? You're in the communications business, stop talking like a fucking Power Point presentation." Those are the words of George Parker after he was leaked an internal Lowe NY email from agency head Mark Wnek who babbled on endlessly trying to rally his troops after AdWeek awarded the agency a D+ in its latest report card issue. Parker is right. The business-blather laden email could have been boiled down to a simple, "We suck. Or at least AdWeek says we suck. We've hired some new people to help get our shit together. We need to win more accounts. Please don't quit and go to another agency." Oops...looks like the defections have already begun.

by Steve Hall    Apr- 4-06    
Topic: Agencies, Bad



Mattress Company Sells to People Who Don't Sleep

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Bucky Turco, roving recorder of all things New York, found this marvelous marketing misalignment. If you're going to co-op the New York City-ism "The City That Never Sleeps," in your advertising, you really shouldn't be a mattress company.

by Steve Hall    Apr- 3-06    
Topic: Bad, Outdoor, Strange



Ad Guy Doesn't Pay Rent, Ad Biz Still Viewed As Sleazy

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It seems Toronto ad execs can't seem to stay out of trouble. First, henderson bas President Dawna Henderson gets exposed as a maniacal control freak and now some ad guy has stiffed another out of rent money. An Adrants readers writes us saying, "Toronto Marketing consultant Simon Wood owed my friend thousands ($6,000) of dollars in back-rent, stringing him along until finally disappearing into the night. This friend, also an Ad-guy, got really pissed-off and searched the net for where to track down Mr. Wood. He discovered in the process that Simon had let his B2B site domain's registry slide. My friend (Phil Bonnell according to Whois) bought www.simonwood.ca for eleven dollars and the rest is history."

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by Steve Hall    Apr- 3-06    
Topic: Bad, Online, Strange