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Volkswagen Shows Caddy Love with Pappy Love

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Knowing full well we can't imagine anything funner than a conga line or a naked jacuzzi stint with our grandparents, Volkswagen tries to push the point with its Caddy Love campaign, which seats seven fun-loving senior citizens instead of the standard five.

You have DDB, Paris to thank for this.

by Angela Natividad    Jul-30-07   Comments ()    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Magazine

Nejma Sunflower Oil Makes for Cleaner Cooking

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We really like the simplicity of this ad for Nejma Sunflower cooking and frying oil, which by contrast makes any other option seem like the equivalent of cooking over petrol.

Sometimes taking the purer tack can just destroy the competition by association, a little like how a certain president must feel when doe-eyed cause-toting Al Gore walks into the room.

by Angela Natividad    Jul-27-07   Comments (15)    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Good, Magazine, Packaging

JWT Sydney's Cannes 2007 Winner 'Borrowed' From Student?

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Oh look. Yet another ad campaign has "borrowed" from a student spec campaign. In this case, it's a JWT Sydney-created campaign for Cannes 2007 Lion winner Science Diet dog food which, oops, looks a lot like this Advertising Education Foundation 2005 print winner (scroll down) Streamlight created by an Academy of Art University student.

Coincidence? Maybe but shining a light out a dog's ass isn't something your average creative conceptualizes every day. You decide.

by Steve Hall    Jul-26-07   Comments (12)    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Agencies, Bad, Industry Events, Magazine, Opinion

Gender Inequality Getting You Down? Skirt! It

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This fall Scripps Howard is going to start publishing a free magazine called Skirt! for "educated and empowered women." Men who appear in the publication have to wear a ... well, we'd hate to ruin the surprise.

On our merry way to infantilizing everything in sight while demonstrating our educated- and empowered-ness, we think it would be a great idea to push the first 100 issues of Skirt! with a riding crop.

That way, we have something to snap maliciously if the laddies forget to cross their legs while sitting.

by Angela Natividad    Jul-26-07   Comments ()    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Bad, Magazine

Billboard Purism, Calgary Promotes Gwangyang, AOL Buys Tacoda

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- Christiania Spirits is hosting a billboard competition. Finalists will be judged on the company's guiding principles known as Purism. OK then.

- A recent ad in the Economist promoting South Korea's Gwangyang as a business center used the Calgary skyline to do so.

- AOL has plans to acquire behavioral ad network Tacoda. The company will use Tacoda's targeting capabilities to improve its advertising offering.

- On the eve of Saatchi's new red pigtail guy commercial, Improv Everywhere is staging a faux protest claiming the ads unfairly represent red heads.

- AdFreak says Microsoft's new Live Derby 2007 game which promotes Live Search doesn't do much more than prove Microsoft is uncool and is still good at crashing.

more »

by Steve Hall    Jul-25-07   Comments ()    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Consumer Created, Magazine, Online, Outdoor, Strange

Even Rugby Players Love Each Other in Paris

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Leveraging for the billionth time Paris' position atop the cities of love list, the Regional Tourism Committee of Paris in London has launched a campaign for the Rugby World cup that proves even rugby players feel the love. Of course any game that requires fully grown men to forcefully embrace and thrust themselves into each other must certainly have something to do with love. The only thing missing from this campaign is a Snickers bar.

by Steve Hall    Jul-22-07   Comments (1)    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Campaigns, Magazine, Strange

Simpson's Bazaar, Disco Dreams, Eyewonder Calls, Mops Orgasm

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- In the ever expanding quest to make sure every inch of media space contains some elements of its campaign, the Simpson's Movie campaign has hit the pages of Harpers' Bazaar.

- Grow Interactive has created Disco Dream Ride, a site which promotes Lance Armstrong's fan club and the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team. Visotors can webcam themselves and affix their heads to character on the site Trailer Crashers-style.

- Eyewonder has launched a Click-to-Call feature or its rich media ad units.

- Naked people, cock rings and orgasm mops get it on for Method cleaning products. These are the ComeClean people.

- The "world's most boring movie" is supposed to promote paint. We think not.

- Here's the full length Obama Girl vs. Giuliani Girl video we tipped last week.

- First there was Diet Coke and Mentos. Now, there's Carlsberg and Mentos. And it's bad. Really, really bad.

by Steve Hall    Jul-18-07   Comments (3)    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Magazine, Online, Racy, Tools, Video

New Zealand: Big Tummies Are Never OK, Even if They House Fetuses

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AdFreak drew our attention to this wee controversy in New Zealand, which is up in arms on account of Hot Milk, a lingerie mag for pregnant and breastfeeding women.

Images of preggy ladies wearing the racy panties have been dubbed "soft porn" by some.

Jasus. It sucks to be swollen-footed and hormonally out of wack. Do you have to wear parachute underpants and tablecloths too?

by Angela Natividad    Jul-16-07   Comments ()    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Magazine

WW II Flag Raising Used to Sell Luxury Jets

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Perhaps, in reaction to a luxury jet company using the famed WW II flag image, said it best, writing, "Freedom Honor Integrity. The Freedom to use one of the most revered (and rights-free!) photos in history to sell, yes, trips on a luxury jet. The Honor to use six WWII soldiers--three of whom were later killed in the battle of Iwo Jima--to hoist your sales. The Integrity to...oh fuck it. I am not a patriotic man. I do not "love" my country. I love my parents and my girlfriend. And American icon exploitation is nothing new. But this is just...retarded tastelessness!"

The ad appeared in the Jason Binn-published Hamptons magazine. A reader voiced a complaint to the luxury jet company which elicited a defensive response you can read here. It seems just about anything can be explained away now.

by Steve Hall    Jul-12-07   Comments (5)    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Bad, Magazine

Page View Dead, Jane Dead, Heavy Drifts, Simpsons Market, Flickr Up

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- The death of the page view is now a reality. As of today, Nielsen is expected to announce it will no longer base its ranking on page views but rather time spent on the site. Stickiness is the new auto-reload. Of course, time spent and page view are just one metric among many used based on campaign goals. All have their place.

- Heavy.com and Castrol have launched Heavy Tuning Channel to celebrate the art of drifting.

- Rohit Bhargava has gathered together all the varied methods of marketing used for the upcoming Simpsons movie.

- Following a two year, last ditch effort to rejuvenate Jane magazine, Conde Nast is folding the publication, shuttering the website and bidding adieu to employees.

- Hitwise reports Flickr traffic is up 38 percent over the past four weeks following Yahoo's shut down of its Yahoo Photos and its inclusion of Flickr photos.

- Copyrranter ain't liking the new Ad Council PSA for youth alcohol abuse.

by Steve Hall    Jul-10-07   Comments ()    Bookmark and Share     
Topic: Magazine, Online, Promotions, Research, Tools

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