MTV Goes Mobile with Return to Puberty

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Because there's nothing like the ugly awkward suffering that composes puberty, and maybe because "puberty" happens to be a loaded and funny word to say, MTV makes its first leap into the mobile universe with a set of 11 characters who, in their collective uncoolness, make up Puberty.

Created by Clay Weiner and Hornet with the help of WDDG out of NYC. Suggesting the characters may be an allegory for the everyday, Clay notes, "Puberty, as painful as it was, proves in hindsight to be a pretty apt metaphor for life. But the cruel truth is that you never get over it. No matter how old you get you still get pooped on (Doo-doo), you always wish you were more mature than you are (Pubes), you always think you have a big butt (Booty), and they'll always laugh at you for sticking out of a crowd (Boner). As bad as Puberty is, adulthood is worse."

We're just making that discovery ourselves. But hey, at least now we don't have to worry about getting stuffed into lockers, and it's been a long time since we last wet the bed. Check out the cast of Puberty here and see the promos.

by Angela Natividad    Mar-22-07    
Topic: Campaigns, Good, Mobile/Wireless, Online



Aria Giovanni Makes Calling Your Mom Icky

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After reading a piece in Snackable Content which ended with, "Well I guess it certainly is one way men can get Giovanni in their pants," we simply had to share with you the story that led to that one liner. Aria Giovanni, the gorgeous and curvaceously top-heavy model, has teamed with Brickhouse Mobile to create Ariamobile, a site where Aria lovers can download videos, photos and ringtones featuring Aria. With images titled "So Big," "Overflow" and "Dangerous Curves," the site offers up all manner of curvaceousness to make using your cell phone more pleasurable than you ever thought possible. Except, of course, when you mother calls and you have to mentally rectify the sound of your mother's voice in your ear with the body of Aria in front of your eyeballs so that your head doesn't explode from the ickyness that combination is sure to conjur.

by Steve Hall    Feb-18-07    
Topic: Celebrity, Mobile/Wireless, Racy



Kooky Musical Bodysuit Guy Returns with Mic-Spitting Competitor

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Pjotro of the musical bodysuit is back to promote the Nokia NSeries phones (which, yes, store music). This time he's got competition, the freestyling DJ eFFeX.

The pitch goes, both guys think they're music. (We're not really sure what that means.) You get to manipulate the battle between them thereby proving you, in fact, are music. And hopefully this will make you want to buy an NSeries phone, which means you may have to forego the media miracle cure coming out this summer.

Trailer is here. The campaign was created by Sweden's FarFar.

by Angela Natividad    Jan-26-07    
Topic: Mobile/Wireless, Online



Oddcast Launches U-DOO, Another Individuality Widget

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Oddcast, the guys responsible for this year's It's Red Again campaign, just launched U-DOO in tangent with MySpace.

U-DOO enables you to create unique user avatars and ringtones for your phone so instead of staring at an image of your buddy with his mouth hanging open every time he calls, you can look at an animated version of him while bobbing your head to his theme song. If there's anything better than that, we might just spontaneously combust, because that's a fate too sweet to miss.

Read more about U-DOO here. It ain't no iPhone but we're sure they'll get along just fine.

by Angela Natividad    Jan-12-07    
Topic: Agencies, Mobile/Wireless



iPhone to Revolutionize Phones, Music Players, Lives at Large

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Owning an iPhone is the equivalent of an out-of-body experience which is the only way to justify the 7% leap in Apple share post-unveiling and the $499-$599 price tag that out-hurrahs both iPod and BlackBerry.

ZDNet talks pros and cons, foreseeing death and suffering for many companies left vulnerable in the storm of common interest. With Apple's cultlike status they could have released this to the exact same jizz-in-the-pants fanfare.

There's a vibe in the air like people are down to give Apple their credit cards for safe-keeping until June, when the first iPhones will slide off conveyor belts and into warm laps. That is, if WOM is anything to go by as the topic's received a whoppin' 1,684 mentions on Google news alone per Adfreak's last count. Obviously iPhone is already more popular than the Beatles, a sweet irony because it's really only a platform for the Beatles and because Apple recently exercised total ownage over the Beatles.

Apple also changed its official title from Apple Computers to Apple Inc, better suited to accommodate its menagerie of soon-to-be-successful non-computer products, including iPhone and the iTV which will marry the 'net to the tube. That's definitely a pairing we've seen attempted before but with Apple's blessing (and the fact that the original WebTV is now owned by MSN, adding the critical pwnage component) we're sure it will fly this time around.



Adrants Explodes with Orgy of After-the-Fact Holiday Promotions

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Post eggnog haze, it's come to our attention the holidays are fast winding down. So we're cranking out the last of the jingle bells-oriented marketing efforts of 2006:

- Do New Years with Hard Rock and help save the music. Because somebody has to. Soon. Help. Please.

- This Santa Session from Dailey makes you pity the extra work Santa has to put in for perfectionist consumer culture. At what other point in time could you viably tell your favourite mythological character, I'm sorry but I don't think you're hitting the alliteration right?

- Santa + fleet of Porsches + wreath-bearing bull = happy holidays to the plush-ass execs feeling fresh post-bonus. Brought to you by the big ballers at Jack Morton Worldwide.

by Angela Natividad    Dec-27-06    




Mary Gets Scary, Paris Gets Ditsy, Yaks Save Children

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- And just for some holiday diversion, some guy recut the Mary Poppins Trailer into what he calls Scary Mary.

- Celebhead, a new series from VH1 Mobile created and directed by former Deutsch creatives Cheryl Van Ooyen and David Rosen, debuts online and on cell phones today. The first episode, of course, features "Paris Hilton."

- On December 5, Save the Children launched an outpost in Second Life called Yak Shack where residents can buy a virtual yak and donate to the charity.

Visa has launched Fan With A Plan, a community site where sports fans can make travel plans to their favorite large sporting events such as the Olympics and the World Cup.

- Sunday, January 7, VH1 is debuting The Surreal Life Fame Games, a collection of the show's audience favorites from the show's past six seasons.

- The AARP magazine has increased it readership seven percent to 29.9 million adults according the Fall 2006 MRI report.

by Steve Hall    Dec- 7-06    
Topic: Celebrity, Good, Mobile/Wireless



Google Says Cell Phone Bills Are Relics of Yesterday

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With some hyper-prevalent advertising, that is. Eric Schmidt, CEO, tells Reuters that even if mobile phones aren't entirely free in the near future, costs will definitely go down.

Which is something we're definitely not opposed to. We're quite used to living side by side with advertising in all other aspects of our lives. And hey, if they want to make money, the ads have to at least be helpful, yeah? Maybe one day we'll be able to order directly from our "Call" buttons and have the costs added to our wireless bills. - Contributed by Angela Natividad

by Angela Natividad    Nov-13-06    
Topic: Mobile/Wireless, Trends and Culture



Magazine Subscriptions Available Via Mobile Phone

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With the cell phone fast becoming the single most popular device for...well...everything, it only makes sense for "old" media such as magazines to capitalize. Conde Nast has teamed with mobile couponing company Cellfire to offer steeply discounted magazine subscriptions. Those who use the free Cellfire mobile application can subscribe to Wired, Glamour, Allure, Teen Vogue, Details and Vanity Fair.

by Steve Hall    Oct-28-06    
Topic: Magazine, Mobile/Wireless, Promotions



McDonald's Promotion Serves Up Virus-Infected MP3 Players

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As part of a McDonald's Japan promotion, the burger giant, along with Coke, gave away 10,000 MP3 players to those who purchased specially marked cups of Coke. Unfortunately, the MP3 players were infested with QQPass, a piece of spyware, that, once connected to people's PCs, allowed hackers access to passwords and other personal information. McDonald's issued a public apology and a recall for the infected MP3 players. It's unclear whether the company made any restitution for any data lost by those who were infected.

by Steve Hall    Oct-16-06    
Topic: Mobile/Wireless, Promotions, Worst