ARG Fetishizes Blindness

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DigiSynd prepared an alternate reality game (ARG) to promote the movie Blindness, which is about an epidemic of blindness that affects some small, nondescript town. Check it out at I Am Blind.

The site includes a forum, photos of people wearing blind people shades and abstract, overserious videos with themes like "Stress is blind," "Work is blind" and "Death is blind."

Not great. Poverty-ridden and fetishy, even.

by Angela Natividad    Oct- 8-08    
Topic: Campaigns, Games, Promotions



Wicked Uncles Break Toys without Breaking a Sweat

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Decapitate bears, blow Barbies to bits and deflate giant orange balls in Teddy Bear's Picnic, a disturbingly engaging game for Wicked Uncle.

Seems like the kind of game Hugh Grant's character would've enjoyed playing in About a Boy, shortly before getting told off by eight scowling mothers. Those good enough to make the leaderboard get a five pound (the currency) voucher and enter a sweepstakes to win an iPod touch. Generous.

Wicked Uncle helps the hapless "buy the perfect present" without busting their balls or getting bent over in shipping costs. But it's only available for UK residents, so you can relegate this convenience to other fun British stuff you can't have, like Cadbury Almond Apple Banana bars.

Game by TAMBA, which also did that Muck About thing for Match.com.

by Angela Natividad    Oct- 2-08    
Topic: Games, Good, Online, Promotions



VIFF Turns Camera Eye to Film Festival Audience

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"I was immediately attracted to the idea of turning the movie screen into a kind of mirror to the audience," says Chris Hutsul of Soft Citizen, referring to the spots he directed for the Vancouver International Film Festival (VIFF).

They're smart, funny and unexpectedly existential -- but also familiar, because you see yourself in each of these snapshots: your rage at late-coming friends, your perplexity toward abstract cinema, or the way some foreign films turn you into an overthinking, turtleneck-sporting douchebag. With a ponytail.

o The Overanalyzer
o The Foreign Film
o The Seat-Saver
o The Front Row
o The First Question
o The Die Hard

They end neatly -- gratefully, even -- with the words "We're glad you're here." (So glad, in fact, that they -- meaning VIFF -- have also given you a game to play. It's an amusing one-time distraction, enough of an experience to leave you feeling good, post-chortle.)

Agency: TBWA/Vancouver. Soft Citizen produced, Secret Location assisted with interactive production.



WaMu Fades to Grey, Petco Hamster Races, Branding with LASERBEAMS

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- Last week Washington Mutual ran this colorful little ad on its homepage. It reads, "Most banks are grey. That's not our style." Its fortunes have changed since then. See what ad they're running now. (Thanks to Adrants reader Martha for the link.)

- Who's the dick writing comments on your blog? Via David Griner at Adfreak.

- Over the bar-and-bowling scene? Hit up a hamster race near you. (Come prepared. See track specs.)

- Branding with LaserGames. Watch out for epilepsy.

- Alphas eat beef jerky.

- Bored or pissed off at Cubicle Cog #4? Play the Super Fantastic Corporate Confusion game. Unlike life, it will not let you down.

by Angela Natividad    Oct- 1-08    
Topic: Bad, Brands, Campaigns, Games, Good, Online, Strange



Sony Gets Its James Bond On with Mission for a Million

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Bond. James Bond. Yes, he's back for another adrenalin-fueled adventure this November and, yes, brands are lining up to get a piece of the action. Sony, with a promotion called Mission for Millions, offers people the chance to win $1 million by playing in which they are tasked with recovering stolen HDNA molecules.

Supporting the contest will be all the usual suspects, a Facebook page, a mainstream media ad campaign, storefront displays and an online campaign.

by Steve Hall    Sep-30-08    
Topic: Games, Promotions



Play Wallet World! Oh Wait, Don't. You Don't Live in the Right State

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This is pretty stupid. No, it's idiotic. OK, not really. Every once in a while , an advertiser sends in a game that, in some way, is supposed to help it sell more shit. So, today, comes the game Wallet World, created by Doner for PNC bank. It's got all the usual goofy visuals and, like many games, always asks for some sort of information before you can play. Wallet World ask you to choose the state in which you live.

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by Steve Hall    Sep-29-08    
Topic: Games, Worst



Pabbit Promotes, Corbis Matches, Kids Cross, Shawn Pops

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- So how do you promote a Philadelphia bar called Pub and Kitchen? You invent a mythical animal called Pabbit and make it your new logo. Red Tettemer created.

- Corbis has a new game out, The Modern Family Goes on Vacation, which combines matching images and taking a quiz.

- Like helping kids cross the street? Well then you'll love this game from Kwik-Fit Insurance. And there's lollipos too!

- Shawn Johnson's taco pops. Ooops, that could be messy. And wrong. Especially when it's a 16 year old girl saying it in an ad on national television while its twisted, in-the-know, creators laugh their asses off each time it airs.

- Second quarter spending fell 3.7 percent in Q2 2008 as compared to Q2 2007, the biggest drop since 2001.

- Wieden + Kennedy has dumped Starbucks citing client micromanagement as the reason. Client micromanagement? Nah, that never, EVAR happens.

by Steve Hall    Sep-29-08    
Topic: Celebrity, Games, Poster, Racy



Animation Site Plugged with Kitten-Killing Game

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Got a minute to kill and a lust for destruction? Take time out for Suicide Kittens, a strategy game where you play a kitten and the objective is to get shot, preferably by your own laser beam.

It gets surprisingly complicated.

I stayed alive too long in level 4, which landed me a big fat GAME OVER, after which I was invited to check out 4mations.tv, a just-launched site for deliciously sophomoric animators.

The funniest thing about this effort, though, were the game tags: suicide, kittens, lasers, and trigonometry...?

By Rubber Republic/London.

by Angela Natividad    Sep-25-08    
Topic: Games, Good, Online, Promotions



'Watch This Video - And Learn from It': RA3 RMX Gives Cult Beat a Fresh Spin

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"Red Alert 3 Remix," a promotional video for EA's Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, is the fruit of a partnership between DraftFCB and remix artist CB Shaw. The latter interspersed offbeat Hollywood icons with references to 'net memes and gaming footage -- all to the tune of Hell March, the track used in the opening sequence to the first Red Alert. Good way to draw legacy gamers back into the hype, though many will probably feel alienated by the invasion of Planet Hollywood.

But the line-up is pop culture genius. Jenny McCarthy, Gemma Atkinson, George Takei, Jonathan Pryce, Andrew Divoff, Peter Stormare, Tim Curry, JK Simmons, Kelly Hu, Autumn Reeser, and Ivana Milicevic have all been enlisted as characters in the game.

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Energy Savings Gets the RPG Treatment

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The Ad Council and the US Department of Energy are using a new ad effort to build a new "energy ethic" for tweens. The campaign's called "What's your excuse?" and was created by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners.

LoseYourExcuse.gov is stocked with tips for saving energy, desktop background downloads and the like. I really love the game, though. Been playing it all afternoon.

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by Angela Natividad    Sep-16-08    
Topic: Cause, Games, Good, Online