It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's Plaid Tour '08!

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Remember that van that looked like it was dipped into the dyeing vat of a private school uniform purveyor? Last year it motored through the East Coast converting heathens to Web 2.0; this year it's going West.

See tentative dates.

About four months from now, the Plaid van will stop at agencies and companies to preach the gospel of social media. Along with new ideas, they will come bearing Twinkies and shirts. (Email Darryl [at] thinkplaid [dot] com if you'd like them to pop by.)

The roadies need sponsors so if you can pitch in some cash, a hotel room or a new fashion tip for that chocolate ride, they'd be much obliged. (So would we.)

by Angela Natividad    Mar-25-08    
Topic: Agencies, Events, Good, Guerilla, Social, Sponsorship



Calling All Stillborn Ad Ideas! Your Time is Now

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Raging Artists wants the ad ideas your boss already told you to bury, along with your dignity and the ugly easter eggs that the children didn't want. On a roll? Good for you. Join the Speckies too.

by Angela Natividad    Mar-24-08    
Topic: Consumer Created, Events



Grab Your Bikinis Girls! 'Cosmo' Wants Your Body on the Beach!

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If you're into girls wearing bikinis - 1200 of them - you might want to head to Nikki Beach in Miami on April 18. And if you are a girl, Cosmopolitan is looking for 1200 of you 18-34 who are willing to hang out with 1,200 other women dressed in bikinis for a photos shoot which, Cosmo hopes, will break Guinness World Records for the most people photographed on a beach. The current record is 1,000.

more »

by Steve Hall    Mar-24-08    
Topic: Events, Guerilla, Magazine



Echo Factory Seeks Brilliant Designers for Skater Community

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Following an online portfolio review, 20 designers were shipped blank skate decks from Land of Plenty and asked to decorate them for Career Day '08, which happens at Alex Cheung's Gallery in LA's Chinatown tonight. Designers can present portfolios and decorated decks to major skate firms in the flesh.

Career Day '08, which seeks to position design students in the skate industry, was organized by the Echo Factory. Visit the Career Day site to find out just how badly they need good talent.

by Angela Natividad    Mar-21-08    
Topic: Events, Online, Promotions



Bessies Execute Bad Ads. Yippee.

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Remember when the Elmo Song assassination brought out the inner-child-decimating sociopath in you? The Bessies can help fuel that sleeping fire. Also see their take on crappy multi-blade shaving spots.

Tagline: "Only good TV lives." Courtesy of John St., Toronto.

Yawn. Gratuitous media murder is so freshman year. Right up there with the UC Berkeley Putnam Porno. (Don't ask.)

by Angela Natividad    Mar-20-08    
Topic: Events, Promotions, Spoofs, Video



For Chinese Olympian, Silver's Just a Po' Man's Gold

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More Beijing Olympics/Adidas gorgiosity by TBWA/China and Psyop. This one tells the story of Hu Jia, a competitive diver who in five years won a slew of Olympian silvers before taking the gold in Athens. Great mix of individual determination and community pride in these spots.

See previous efforts for the "Impossible is Nothing" campaign.



Heavens, There's a Man in Those Murky Waters.

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This is neat. During the Wilderness Fair in Stockholm, the Miami Guerrilla Agency used removable paint to spray images of divers on the ground in the style of road signs around the area. Above the divers is an arrow pointing to the nearest body of water; below is the web address www.borjadyka.nu (www.startdiving.now). See a variation.

The promotion is for the Swedish Diving Association's "Diving Village," a Wilderness Fair attraction. Hope nobody got the wrong idea and jumped instead.

by Angela Natividad    Mar-18-08    
Topic: Events, Guerilla, Promotions



It's a Mobile Barbeque! How Very American

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Tabasco's Chipotle Sauce, Weber Grill Creations seasonings, Royal Oak charcoal and Chinet tableware have joined forces with the Kansas City Barbeque Society to launch the first-ever Great American BBQ Tour.

The sample- and recipe-packed bus will start its slow journey in Rio Rancho, New Mexico during the Pork 'n' Brew BBQ Cookoff from March 28-29. It'll visit 25 cities before coming to a stop at the Jack Daniels World Championship Invitational in Lynchburg, TN (October 24-25).

See tour info and schedule.

We are hungry for rib of animal drowning in spicy sauce. And maybe apple pie with Kraft Singles on top.

by Angela Natividad    Mar-18-08    
Topic: Events, Guerilla, Outdoor, Promotions, Sponsorship



UGC Can Reinforce Existing Brand Messages? Yes, Says Dove

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According to Collective Intellect, which tracked brand lift for advertisers before and after the Academy Awards, Dove outdid 10 other major advertisers, elevating its position 500 percent with pre-show buzz.

Consistency, and refining an old model, were probably key. Dove rehashed last year's campaign strategy: appealing to audience members to produce and rate ads for its Cream Oil product. The winner was a woman named Celeste Wouden, whose spot lacks the slapstick, paging-Cartoon-Network! feel we've come to expect from UGC efforts. In fact, it looks like a stock Dove commercial (and for WAY less money).

Watch the ad at DoveCreamOil.com. Runners-up can be seen in the gallery.

more »



As Long As We Know It's for Packages, Not Eyeballs

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Wow. For its Wrap Rage Cure campaign, which prescribes the (frightening in context) Open It! tool for people who suffer from package-opening rage, the Zibra Company has been awarded a Gold Addy for Interactive Media.

The award was distributed by the Nashville Advertising Federation.

Zibra partnered with web design firm Cabedge for the Wrap Rage Cure campaign, which included mock case studies, radio and interactive spots. The campaign generated "dramatic increases" to the number of unique visitors to the microsite. We're just hoping Open It! was actually used for packages and not customer-on-customer organ tweezing.

Rageheads are notoriously myopic. Just sayin'.

by Angela Natividad    Mar-13-08    
Topic: Agencies, Campaigns, Events, Good