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Bill and Jerry: Too Quirky for Quirky Suburbia?

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In installment 2 of Microsoft's avant-garde repositioning extravaganza, Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld try the simple life.

Imagine it: two rich dudes, bunking in with a family straight out of Little Miss Sunshine. It's almost like when Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie lived on a farm, except more weird than entertaining.

But maybe I'm just reacting to the malicious geriatric.

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by Angela Natividad    Sep-12-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Celebrity, Online, Strange, Video



Naked, Taped Jessica Alba Wants You to Vote

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There are stranger ways to encourage people to vote but this one from Declare Yourself featuring an undressed, taped up Jessica Alba -- which is somehow supposed to suggest only you can silence yourself (i.e. not vote) -- is up there on the strange list.

So are we supposed to be encourage to...rip the tape off Jessica so we can ogle her naked body? That might actually distract one from the necessary concentration required to make in informed decision when in the ballot booth.

Like clockwork, cause groups are outraged...OUTRAGED over the ad.

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by Steve Hall    Sep-12-08    
Topic: Celebrity, Good, Political



Office Crush Aided by Whitecoulls

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Everyone's had a crush on a co-worker. Just ask The Daily Ad Biz who's on a lovestruck conquest for the Pretty AE. To aid in the lovelorn's expression of crush-worthy giddiness, Whitecoulls offers the geek a chance to stand out in the crowd by affixing little something special to her going away card.

by Steve Hall    Sep-12-08    
Topic: Commercials, Good



Verizon Loves Idiots

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Once again, Verizon positions dads as blithering, socially-inept idiots. Oh, but they did something new this time. They included moms. Kudos! Equal opportunity idiocy from a company that can get away with it because, despite their idioct, they do have the best coverage and who wants to be left off the grid when you need your eighties music fix?

Thanks McCann Erikson.

by Steve Hall    Sep-12-08    
Topic: Bad, Commercials



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Sifting Through the Debris of PhotoShelter's Collection

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"Ok, so this picture is a metaphor of-sorts," began Rachel Hulin in her last post for PhotoShelter. "You see, those are beautiful balloons. And we had a wonderful New Year's. But eventually the balloons floated to the floor. And then the cats ate them.

"And it's with this bit of knowledge that I sadly depart as stewardess of Shoot! the Blog."

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by Angela Natividad    Sep-12-08    
Topic: Online, Social, Specialty, Trends and Culture



Palin Isn't Perfect. Neither Are You

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Political satire comes with the territory when running for any political office and more so when it's an executive office position such as president or vice president. Regarding the content of political satire, some would argue it's disrespectful and disingenuous to the person and the office they hold or hope to hold. Others would argue, it's all fair game because they are political figures and, like celebrities, different rules apply when it comes to potentially besmirching the person.

With McCain's choice of Sarah Palin for the office of Vice President and Barack Obama in the running for the office of President, the country has two firsts (oops, one) on its hands. A women is running for Vice President (sorry, forgot about Ferraro. no one's perfect) and a black (OK, half) is running for President. We've seen the spoofs. Goofy pictures of Obama in his bathing suit or sporting a 'fro as a kid; pictures of Palin in a red, white and blue bikini holding a rifle and all sorts of other stuff.

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by Steve Hall    Sep-12-08    
Topic: Opinion, Political



Oats Lost, Fringe Lacks Luster, Cartoons on AdSense

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- StopandVote.org launched today. Produced by 10 college interns at Concept Farm, the site urges users to craft political messages for dissemination. See it put the stops on knee-jerk topics like religion (represented by Jesus), sex, abortion, 9/11, McCain and Obama.

- The premier of Fox's Fringe underwhelmed expectant viewers, but media buyers are infatuated by it. Here's to hoping one of those groups has an epiphany by the second ep.

- Quaker Oats drops Element 79, following in the footsteps of sibling brands Gatorade, Tostitos, Lays, Tropicana and Propel. Combined losses to Element 79 total $440 million.

- VBS.TV partnered with the Red Bull Riders Cup for a web series called School of Surf. It feels less like reality TV and more like a documentary and looks surprisingly good.

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by Angela Natividad    Sep-11-08    




Wendy's Goes Viral. Just Kidding.

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Wendy's joins the amateur video club with "Crazy Lettuce." By now you know the score: two guys are involved. One can never hold the camera straight. At the very last second some zany shit happens.

In this case, a bushy head of lettuce consumes a wee little Wendy's burger. Link to meatatariansunite, a nightmare of poor wallpaper that does nothing but hurt eyes and demand emails.

If this is the one trick to succeeding in so-called "viral marketing," the medium ought to die fast and painfully. Unfortunately for Wendy's, the eyes-deceive-thee! gimmick that served Levi's, Ray Ban and Nike so well is all used up. People finally get the joke: these amazing feats in online video? They never happened. Know what else? They're ADS.

"Crazy Lettuce" has drawn less than 1100 views on YouTube, a mediocre rating (2 stars) and mixed response (of which there are 12).

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by Angela Natividad    Sep-11-08    
Topic: Bad, Brands, Campaigns, Online, Video



Nike Says Here I Am, Just Do Me

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Over at Gawker, Nike is taking a beating for a new slogan it's testing in a new campaign targeting women in Europe. The tagline, "Here I am" is humorously pointed out to have, well, and interesting relationship with the parent tagline,"Just Do It." The relationship? The actionable "do it" portion of the parent tagline is seen to be a bit, well, awkwardly demeaning when placed next to the more submissive "Here I Am."

So is Nike telling the bulk of its audience to just do it with submissive women in Europe who will just lay down and say "here I am?"

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by Steve Hall    Sep-11-08    
Topic: Bad, Brands, Creative Commentary, Opinion



Today's Internet Is Not Killing Our Culture

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Occasional Adrants contributor Jennifer A. Jones, VP PR & Social Media Strategy for Fletcher Martin and author of Speak Media Blog, has reviewed Andrew Keen's new book The Cult of the Amateur: How Today's Internet is Killing Our Culture and she doesn't like it.In both video and in written form, Jones takes Keen to task over his beliefs that bloggers have had no impact on journalism and don't add any value. Arguing against Keen's assertion, Jones asks us to note it was bloggers who first covered the LonelyGirl story, bloggers who outed Sony's fake PSP blog, broke the Alberto Gonzales scandal and the whole Rathergate thing.

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by Steve Hall    Sep-11-08    
Topic: Opinion, Social



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