Illustrator of Visa Dancing Worm Patrick Smith Interviewed

One of the coolest Visa "Life Takes Visa" commercials, in my opinion, is the one with the work which dances to Afrika Bambaataa's "Looking for the Perfect Beat." Blended Films has posted an interview with Patrick Smith, the man behind that dancing worm who talks about the creation of the worm, the spot and the choice of music. On the site, there's also promotional AIM icons and the spot itself.

Booties Shake In Belgium For Coke Light

When it comes to promoting Coke Light in Brussels, they don't sign some random pop star to perform canned dance moves, they go out and film real people doing real dance moves and let others create their own dance moves on a website that collects all these dance moves. On the sitem you can watch dance clips or upload your photo onto a random body and create your own dance clip. Predictably. most are amateurishly bad but, then again, people love to see themselves on camera and send them to their friends so I guess this could work.

Apple Leads Pavlov's Dogs to Store Opening

Yesterday, we shared a few pictures of Apple's New York store opening. Today, we have a video that further captures the insanity and the power the Apple brand holds over us. It's just a computer store, people! Relax. Go home. Have a beer. Seeing James Woods and Kevin Bacon really isn't that exciting. Unless, of course, your life is meaningless and ll you need is a few pieces of geeky white electronics to spice it up.

People Are 'Getting It' In Austin

It seems the Texas heat is causing people to get it all the time in Austin. The Austin-Statesman is running a promotional campaign with the tagline "How Do You Get It?" to promote the Austin newspaper and its online properties. One women gets it from her assistant, Ricky, on her desk. One basketball player gets it in the locker room. One student gets it from her guidance counselor. Hmm. One guy gets it from his dog. Yuck. One hottie got it her first week of college. One dude got it from his best friend's Mom. Uh, no thank you. Anyway, it's one of those campaigns that does cause you to go "hmm" and pay attention for at least a few more seconds than you normally would.

Apple New York Store Opening Crashed By Animal Magazine

Ever the intrepid reporter, Bucky Turco weaseled his way into the exclusive Apple store opening at 58th and 5th in New York Friday night. Apparently, a snatched press pass did the trick. While inside, Turco took a bunch of pictures of the opening and of the elite crowd allowed into the store which included James Woods, Kevin Bacon, Julianne Moore and Jobs himself. If it weren't enough to worm oneself into the event, Turco, after gaining early entry, switched the homepages of as many of the computers in the store as hew could to his publication's website, Animal. Bucky knows his guerrilla marketing.

Additional Seven Inches A Very Big Thing

While we can't remember which advertiser recently did this - in fact it might have been from Dodge itself with a version of this very spot - Dodge is now doing the men's bathroom "that's big" thing for its new seven inch longer Durango. With the usual "handles great" and "I love the way it looks," this spot pumps the joke for all it's worth. After all, seven inches added to even the tiniest...uh...vehicle is a very big thing. Apparently, the ad's been banned from TV but you can check it out here.

Nikon Signs Sponsorship Deal With Flickr

In a natural move, Nikon, as part of its Stunning campaign - the one which recently featured Kate Moss - has entered into a deal with photo site Flickr whereby any picture taken with a Nikon camera and uploaded to Flicker will display a small Nikon log next to the information section on individual photo pages. Also, photos tagged "nikonstunninggallery" will be featured on Nikon's NikonStunningGallery website and a prominent link to Nikon's site is featured on Flickr's homepage. If ever there were an appropriate campain to appear on Flickr, this would be it.

IKEA Improves New York Bus Shelters

Curbed has noticed the recent bus stop installations that IKEA has placed around the New York City area making the bus a thing someone might actually want to use to get from point A to point B. Now if they could only do the same thing for cabs.

UPDATE: Deutsch, which created the campaign, informs us, "In preparation for Design Week in NYC, IKEA teamed up with Deutsch to make 'everyday fabulous' for New Yorkers. With more than 650 different experiences during this 5-day, city-wide guerilla marketing event (including padded park benches in Union Square, oven mitts in the #6 train, bus shelters designed for comfort and flair and doggie bowls for our four-legged friends) IKEA proves that good design can make every day even better."

Check out this page for some very cool images of the effort.

MasterCard Leeches Off Florida Hurricanes For 'Priceless' Campaign'

In a move that could be described as both the display of good corporate behavior as well as a cheesy effort to leverage natural disaster for corporate gain, MasterCard is lending its "Priceless" campaign to the state of Florida for use in a combined campaign to persuade Floridians to make sure they're ready for hurricane season. On the good corporate behavior side of the story, MasterCard will donate the cost of a print ad campaign in four Florida markets to deliver the hurricane preparedness message. On the not so good corporate citizen side of the story are the lobbying efforts MasterCard may have implemented to get Florida Governor Jeb Bush to sign into legislation a bill creating a tax holiday from May 21 to June 1 on all purchases. Hmm. Lower taxes. Higher purchases. More charge card usage. More money for MasterCard.

Hardee's Disses Sex For Talk In New Ad

If you can believe it, Hardee's has released an ad without a woman trying to stuff a bunch of straws into her mouth, without a woman writhing atop a mechanical bull and without Paris Hilton slathering herself with soap. nope. Just a bunch of guys talking with their mouths full. Typical.