Play-Doh Brings Reading to Life!

DDB, Milan orchestrated this neat campaign for Play-Doh. The copy reads "The world needs children's dreams." Advertising for Peanuts has more images along the same vein.

We happen to like this campaign a lot because we did something similar with our own Play-Doh. The only difference is, we only had the colour green and were later fined by the library for defacing public property. See, that kind of stuff doesn't happen in the sanctioned world of ads.

Wired Says 'Get Naked, Rule World'

Here's a pearl of wisdom that strippers have been leveraging for as long as they've existed. The most current issue of Wired invites enterprising voyeurs to take a peek at radical transparency -- new buzz for an old strategy that, every few years, gets re-toted as the Grail.

Open up to rivals? Get honest with customers? Admit failures? Who does this stuff? Wired says smart businesses do and it's "sweeping boardrooms across the nation"! That may be true, and blogs and wikis may dramatically contribute to the eye-opener, but it's hardly a new game. Warren Buffett's been doing it forever (ever read his love letters to the shareholders?) and Santa from Miracle on 34th St. (circa 1947) did it too, to Macy's chagrin. Oh, and then there were strippers. Don't forget the strippers.

Killer Jeans Take On Killer Situations

Some print campaigns are just so odd they make you stop and look. This Killer Jeans effort is one such campaign. Touting its Immortal Jeans line, we've got a Disney Test Track/crash test dummy-style approach with the required auto babe. We've got the hipster base jumper and we've got a mine sweeper crew. Get it? Dangerous situations? Killer Jeans? Good. We didn't want to have to spell it out for you.

Bates Enterprise Mumbai created the campaign.

Samsung HDTV is Actually a Very Large Frame

To push its line of full HD LCD televisions, Samsung launches a Bordeaux print campaign on how the device can convert soap operas, soccer games and even the weather report into works of art.

The captions read "Even a [soap opera/soccer game/weather forecast] looks like a work of art."

Pretty but perhaps misguided. It's not often we've sought docile masterpieces for hours of mindless entertainment, though Vogue may beg to differ.

Props to AdPunch for the lead.

Milk Earns Passionate Flair with Promolac

In lieu of your typical "Got Milk?" stint, Promolac ties milk to everyday passions. Who'd have guessed the stuff of cow udders could be sexy? Not us. Then again, sex and dairy aren't strangers, and it's definitely less "eh?" than this.

Put together by Eva of Santiago, Chile, the copy reads "I drink." Adpunch has more from the same campaign. The others aren't sexy, but they're pretty to look at, and we were getting tired of that bland family sitcom humour-type stuff people are always pulling to push milk.

Low Profile Contests Stick Out for 'The Economist'

The Economist was a 2006 Print Ad winner at the London International Awards for this sparing scratcher. The agency responsible is Ogilvy & Mather, Singapore which, judging by the Levi's Copper programming-throwback microsite they did, has a flair for the basics.

We dig a sparing and direct message and thought of tossing in an insinuation of nostalgia-laced laziness just for kicks, but decided we'd hate to be buzzkills for this method. Advertising could use more of it. Plus, the bold red block is growing increasingly synonymous with The Economist, which can't hurt them any.

Though if we were an ad firm working for The Communist, we'd be kind of pissed.

Abe Books Draws Readers with Knife Throwing for Kids

For client Abe Books, the March Hares of Rethink, Vancouver literally rethink the notion of the stodgy rare-bookery. Tagline: "If you can't find it here, it doesn't exist." Imagery: highly unlikely works of fiction and non-fiction, including Everything You Wanted to Know About North Korea, But Were Afraid to Ask.

We dig Abe Books because we recently used the service to land first-eds of Don Marquis' impossible-to-find Archy and Mehitabel, a series of poems written by a sensitive cockroach who types at night (in low caps because he can't hit Shift and reach for another button at the same time!) and his moody feline friend Mehitabel, who believes she was once Cleopatra. Can you think of better lit? We didn't think so.

The fine Balendu has more images from the same campaign.

Clowns and Boxers Recruited for Chicago Exchange Campaign

Chicago's Flow Creative has whipped up a fun campaign for what sounds like a seriously mundane business, Chicago Board Options Exchange which has fun with clown surgeons who don't know how to operate and boxers who think oven mitts will do the trick. This is one of those campaigns that only makes sense if your in the financial industry. Otherwise, when you hear the close of the clown spot which says "when it comes to options, there's no substitute for CBOE." you'll just respond by asking, "Huh?"

Lexus Sponsors Digital Green Edition of 'The Week'

The New York Times' Stuart Elliott reports The Week will publish an issue that focuses on environmental issues and in true tree hugger fashion, the issue will only be published online. On April 20, the issue will be available to all, not just subscribers to the magazine. Lexus is sponsoring it and will use the site to promote its hybrid vehicles.

In true fashion, Stuart goes on endlessly so if you're interested in how this will affect the magazine's readership, what other print publications have taken to online either by choice or out of sheer economics, how Lexus is challenging other media to change their game, the pop up stores Lexus created last fall in tandem with Conde Nast and Hearst, the previous promotion The Week did with Philips and this gem: "Single sponsorships, in print and on TV, are becoming popular among marketers as they seek to stand out from the commercial clutter," be sure to read the article in its entirety.

Kenneth Cole Uses AIDS to Sell Fashion

Kenneth Cole is having fun again. This time with AIDS. He's making AIDS fashionable. Well, sort of. Nothing like showing a hot fashion chic to attract attention and then slapping the tagline "we're all potential carriers" to repel with plague-like force. Oh wait. AIDS is kind of like the plague and even hot models can get it so we'll just shut up now and let Ken do his thing.

UPDATE: Even more Kenneth Cole idiocy. This time with weapons of mass destruction.