Nike Conveys Jumpropers to the Happiness Factory

Except there's no Coke, and lots of Domos.

"Jump Rope" -- chock full of delicious images and noises -- was put together for client Nike by AKQA. Creativity Online pegged its position "the escapism of exercise." Well-said.

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Drink Milk Now or You'll Have A Heart Attack Doing Jumpstyle at 75

You know how old people always dance to, well, old music? That's because it's the music they grew up with. They didn't have rock, hip-hop, trance, disco, new age and they certainly didn't have Jumpstyle.

According to this Duval Guillaume-created commercial for the Agricultural Marketing Board of Flanders, "People always dance to music from their youth." We see a loving old couple dancing to some old tune and then...quick cut...to two dudes doing Jumpstyle with the tag, "So you know what's awaiting you. Start drinking milk."

Did we or did we not tell you eight months ago this dance craze would soon appear in an ad? Oh yes we did, brotha!

Angela and I learned Jumpstyle today. If you're lucky, you'll get to see us do it at the next ad conference. It should be good for a laugh.

Billboard Karma Shines on Pro-Biking Campaign

When Fort Collins-based New Belgium Brewing Co. was offered a package of urban Denver billboards, pro bono, for a pro-biking ad campaign, it quickly accepted, and assigned its agency, Denver-based Cultivator Advertising & Design to create the outdoor messages. And that's when serendipity stepped in and flooded the billboard placement Gods with good karma.

The headline, "Work to Bike More," was inspired by the priorities of several New Belgium employees who may well be more passionate about cycling than about gainful employment. The billboard promotes New Belgium's Team Wonderbike, which encourages both New Belgium employees and the general public to trade in their cars for a bike. The placement above PT Motor's "Cash for Cars" sign, at I-76 and North Federal Blvd., Denver, was...oh yea...serendipitous.

Mr. T And Snickers to Offend Again?

Uh Oh. The Wimpy Swimmers of America cause group is about to get their undies in a twist. As will, no doubt, Bob Garfield. Yes, after its Speedwalker ad offended gays (and Bob Garfield), which we never quite understood, Snickers is out with another Mr. T ad which takes on wimpy "toe dippers" who cower at the thought of swimming in water that isn't a perfect 85 degrees.

"You makin' me mad, sucka!"

"It's time to get in the pool, fool!"

"Take that, toe dipper!"

"I hate flying so this better be the last time I hear you crying!"

"Get some nuts!"

Yea, baby! Classic Mr. T.

Ladies, Need A New Bikini For Summer? Buy Some Doritos

Who knew Doritos had so many uses? They can help get a guy whacked in the balls. They can provide the power to rip a girl's clothes off. And now they can function as the latest fashion on the beaches this summer.

Or at least in a Peruvian ad that imagines such a scenario

Sony. Bravia. Zoetrope. (Don't Act Like You Didn't Just Reflexively Twitch Your Cursor.)

If you've seen one Sony Bravia ad, you've got the blueprint for all of them: seize upon the easiest way to illustrate a product's raison d'etre, then magnify, until the crowd whose attention you so wistfully coveted has been submerged by your idea.

"Zoetrope" is no different -- and just as compelling as its predecessors. (See "Bunnies," see "Thread," see "Bubbles.")

For Sony's Motionflow Bravia TV, Fallon/London built the world's largest zoetrope: a rotating montage of static images viewed through small slits. (See? More fodder for Guinness.)

We got teaser material for the work last December. It was filmed a month prior in Venaria, near Italy's Turin. View the spit-shined final product below.

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This Video Has Been Viewed Every 4 Seconds Since It Went Live.

It's called "Ken Block Gymkhana Practice." (But what is Gymkhana?, you ask.)

We didn't really get the big deal, but that was before we realized our fingers had burrowed into the glass tabletop. Then Ken Block did donuts around a guy on a Segway, and it was like, "Ohhh."

(It's racer porn. Plenty sexier than that one time you watched two Ford Fiestas tango in London. Even if you're not a speed junkie, the handling depicted in Gymkhana is fit to give you tingles.)

Mad Media put the video together in collaboration with Ken Block, DC Shoes and Subaru. Stats listed below.

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Despite what 'Mad Men' Would Have You Believe, Things Back Then Sucked.

To promote its pension plan, AMF uses tact and a tongue-in-cheek tang to explore the actual merits of the good old days.

We were hooked from the first scene, where a kid with a dated haircut is stuck in the car with his chainsmoking parents. But the scenarios just kept getting better. Think life before Lisa! Think dinner pre-pizza.

The voiceover wraps with a niggling question: "Were the good old days really that good ... or do things get better and better all the time?" (We're really glad Forsman & Bodenfors resisted the temptation to license the Beatles.)

On-screen text: "Funds for the future. AMF Pension."

NICE!

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Cisco Explains Mobile Internet to Common Man

Okay. See the hands at left grasping greedily for the giant diamond? That's supposed to represent the mobile web ... and the faceless villains that will immediately try to exploit it.

This is the first of a three-part video series that explains the whole "4G=IP" thing to people that buy tech items, such as iPods, primarily because they like the pretty colours.

We're suckers for smooth animated magic -- and for Cisco in general -- so we kept our eyes on the piece, which was a comfortable length and not too stuffed with strange-sounding geek noises. It's possible we even learned things.

That squeaky Adventures in Odyssey-sounding narrator kinda pissed us off though.

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NBA's Al Harrington Offers Up Animation For Kmart Kicks

From George Parker's favorite agency, Draft/FCB, comes this recent commercial for Kmart which hypes the Al Harrington-designed $34.99 Protege sneaker. Working with Draft/FCB, production company Superfad did some live action and animation work that was designed to be "an authentic representation of their [the shoes] origin."

In the spot, we have Harrington shooting hoops. He then talks directly to the camera while holding out his hand on which several animations depicting the shoes origin, its price point, its features and its performance characteristics. dance about.