Eau de Emo Draws Mascara-Stained Tears

Ad Freak tips us off on this dandy little spoof for emo cologne which, with its drama-filled mod vibe, skinny ties and stars of ambiguous sexual orientation, assures emo lovers everywhere that if it isn't enough to bleed emo out of your tortured wrists you can always leak it out of your very pores and accost innocent bystanders with emo aura.

We don't even have to smell it. The very thought makes us want to cry.

Monster Works at Finding Work by Asking Why We Work

Asking for consumer opinions and airing them as ads is super trendy, and Monster hops on the clue train with Monster Works for Me, a campaign running on just about all iterations of traditional media to ask us why we do what we do.

Created by Brand|Content out of Boston, it "recognizes the multiple reasons why people work and the passion that drives them," says agency CEO Doug Gladstone. "In short, no matter what you do, or what you'd like to do, Monster has the tools and resources that can help you find the right match, so you can be successful at whatever you pursue."

While we can't claim it pulls much creative weight it certainly moves the long-dormant Monster in the right direction as people are more interested in what they have to say than what companies have to say anyway. And it definitely helps to play mirror. So cheers to Monster.

Top Secret Ford Ad Not So Secret

AdFreak wonders if this "top secret" Ford Ranger ad which popped up on YouTube yesterday will make an appearance in this year's Super Bowl and whether or not it is even intended to run in the U.S. We think not. Predictably, the YouTube user that uploaded the video is new and the video is the only one in the member's profile. The member is also from Portugal which means the ad could be a commercial emanating out of that country or it could mean nothing at all. One commenter notes the truck's steering wheel is on the right side, a pretty clear indication this is a non-American ad. And the tagline at the end of the ad, "Make Every Day Exciting" is one we haven't seen before. Guess we'll just have to wait for the press release for more details.

Oh, and can we stop with the ridiculous pickup-truck-in-peril scenarios that, clearly, no truck could ever escape from without massive damage or water-induced stalling? But wait, it is kind of a cool ad isn't it?

Hotpants + Cleavage + Wal-Mart Git 'R Done For Country Singer

If you're into the whole cowboy-up, redneck, git 'r done scene and want to assume Danny Griego's new Wal-Mart Girls single is just a marketing ploy by his record label, Miramonte Records, to get his new album into Wal-Mart, you just might like this music video (does not seem to work with Firefox) featuring the sort of Wal-Mart girls you will certainly never see in an actual Wal-Mart. Except for the ones that dolled themselves up for Playboy. Ad Age couldn't help themselves.

The video aired twice as an ad during last week's Independence Bowl and is said to be a ploy to boost consumer demand at Wal-Mart forcing the overtly conservative retailer to allow hotpants and boobs onto their CD racks. Of course, the record label denies it's a ploy, Wal-Mart has distanced itself but did say it may carry the album if demand warrants.

Dog Training Ads Don't Have to Be Borring

Now isn't this much better than some "only $19.99 a month" small space ad in the back of K9 Magazine or in some obscure local newspaper? We certainly think so. And, apparently, so does the dog.

Canada Convicts Inebriated Excuse-Makers in Youtube Ad Effort

Canadians always have clever drunk-driving PSAs. That's one thing they consistently destroy us over.

A series of shorts on Youtube encompasses their CounterAttack effort, which highlights excuses typical of drunk drivers in a disturbing setting: the situation when things go awry. Excuses are scrawled like last words across gravestones or on street signs beside totaled vehicles, for example.

The campaign is subtly clever and not garish or too obviously impressions-hungry, a typical characteristic of Youtube efforts by other major entities. Experience the savvy here, here and here.

Truth Gets Keen on Blogs, Starts a Xanga

Known for its guerilla marketing magic, the hard-hitting Truth recently got a clue about blogs and started their own on Xanga.com. This is in contrast to the many sites who prefer to blog exclusively on their own servers or homepages, a good move in our opinion because of Xanga's sizeable built-in audience.

The campaign's been around a couple of months and is advertised heavily on Xanga's front page, visible to a serious chunk of the Truth demo as Xanga sits in the top 15 most-visited websites for the American teen demographic (per their own research). Entries range from scandalous calls to action to news on concurrent campaigns like their back hair effort.

We dig the idea but the blog could do with a better writer as the content's a bit dry and hardly does dignity to Truth's razor-edge persona.

Volvo Courts Negative Vibes to Generate Gen-Y Thought

Volvo's Free Will campaign is a collage of consumer opinion about its C30 hatchback. While this concept isn't new, airing negative views as adstuff (er, kind of) is.

The campaign also includes video shorts that viewers can rate upon seeing. One features an audience throwing tomatoes and heckling as a burlesque woman unveils the C30 on a theatre stage.

The campaign's gone strong in the UK for a year. Ford global ad director Tim Ellis says the effort aims to get the up-and-coming 25-35 demo to do some thinking about the C30 and develop a relationship with Volvo based more on honesty than is typical in brand relationships. "In research, we learned that people feel as if we are really talking directly to them, so they consume [campaign offerings] and engage [them] differently than other typical advertisements," he explained.

Cheers to Volvo for their bravery. We look forward to seeing how it turns out even if we don't find the C30 that cute. (See? Works on marketers too.)

T-3: How About Some Penguin Tipping to Kick off Your Season?

Here's what we think (er, hope?) is our last holiday card of '07. T3 The Think Tank sent us a game in which you pose as an elf and tip penguins.

Far from the benign polar friends we met in Happy Feet, the birds talk trash and also emit holiday wishes from T3 employees when you knock them over. (We located T3 founder Gay Gaddis' wish. It's for nice penguin shoes.)

Great incentive for a little digital abuse. The game is simple but strangely addictive.

Colombia Says Cocaine is Addictive

The Presidential Office of Colombia, known for its heavy-handedness in rumour if not in actuality, turns to humour to explain why people should avoid cocaine. The 15 second ad says "Cocaine is addictive. Very addictive." We suspect this may not be true as we've been snorting at least 7 years and can quit anytime. To drive the point home, a man on a bus leans forward and snorts the dandruff off the shoulder of the man in front of him.

The ad generated a grade school reaction. We all went "EWWWWW!" and jerked our knees up. Then we watched it again. And again. And again.

500,000 watches later, we are still going "EWWWW!" and showing all our friends, who don't seem deeply impressed, then we all snorted cocaine and laughed over the thought of psychos snorting dandruff. Doesn't the Presidential Office know anything? You need a credit card and a flat surface to snort cocaine. Coke capital of the world indeed.