To promote its new GMC Yukon SUV, GM has launched an interesting campaign that uses graffiti-like imagery that's really engineering equations along with a URL pointing people to a microsite called Beyond the Drawing Board. On the site, there is endless information about the vehicle presented within the grafitti-like motif (OMG, did we just use the word "motif?" Please, forgive us. That's like saying "synergy" after the 80's ended.) Upon hearing the audio intro to the site, "What happens when passion becomes obsession? When the need to innovate is unquenchable? When the desire to create is all consuming?", we resisted the urge to respond, "Gee, um, create a piece of Flashtastic orgasmimage that makes our tired old laptop's fan spin up to top velocity in an attempt to cool the burden placed on the processor by all this Flashtastic exuberance."
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In one of the most idiotic, unnecessarily sensationalistic pieces of crap, The Weather Channel has launched a promotion based entirely on creating fear of highly unlikely catastrophic weather events. Riffing off the look and feel of the weather-themed The Day After Tomorrow movie, the promotion, which combines actual past weather events with sensationalistic scenarios, promotes the network's new show called "It Could Happen Tomorrow." Well, yea, the Earth could crack in two under the weight of a clan of obese, fast food-eating kids all sitting down on their fat asses simultaneously to play some stupid video game too.
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Fallon London has created a microsite for its U.K. insurance client More Th>n (that's not a typo, you wing nuts, it's how they "spell" the company name) that focuses on the normal aspects of life in contrast to the usual sensations of unease when having to call upon an insurance company following some bump in the road of life. The site highlights the campaign but, more importantly, asked British citizens to contribute to the site their version of a normal life. While we're not sure this is all that normal, we've gotta be happy for this guy who defines his version of normal as, "Playing badminton with my 19 year old girlfriend knowing that i may not be quicker than her, but my experience wins in the end!
While we like articles that quickly come to the point, one letter Page Six stories, well, even Page Six needs at least a couple sentences to maintain interest. Take a look at this Page Sixe page Bucky Turcosent us. Relieve us from what book? Oh, and that contextual ad placement? Priceless.
Adding a change up to the American Dairy Association's Got Milk? campaign, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners has created a new campaign focusing on a race of aliens from Brittlelactica who suffer from a "series of horrible health ailments" until they visit earth and discover a special elixer called Da Iry. A TV ad points to a content-rich website that riffs on the supposed problems a diet without milk can cause. Brittelactica is broken into four regions, Insomniastan, PMStonia, Papua Hairthinny and Cavitopi, each suffering from ailments caused from the lack of milk. Each region contains a history and a message from the region's chancellor. each of whom suffers from his region's ailment.
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CBS SportsLine and the NCAA yesterday announced that NCAA March Madness on Demand, the online video player that provided streaming live video of the first 56 games of the 2006 NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship set a record, according to what, we don't know, for scheduled live entertainment or sports event with over 268,000 simultaneous streams. In total, NCAA March Madness on Demand has already surpassed 1.2 million video streams served. I guess we were wrong thinking people would prefer the couch potato method of viewing.
You'd have to agree the whole sex-in-advertising thing leans heavily in favor of men with most sex-based ads containing hot, untouchable women conjured from the fantasies of male art directors. It's very rare, in fact, to find an ad that turns the drool-inducing strategy on its head and caters to women. Perhaps it's because the industry adheres to the stereotype that only men are the horny ones, easily swayed by the lure of sex. Maybe it's because women are superior to men and don't let their lives revolve around the need for sex. Or maybe it's some weird Darwinian thing where, due to the forces of human procreation, men just have to have it more than woman.
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Boston radio station WAAF, to promote it's Hillman Morning Show, has launched Man Town Money Shot, a game in which the player pretends to be the station's photographer for its Ms. Mantown Calender. There's the usual collection of hotties prancing about in lingerie and offering bubbleheaded answers to stupid interview questions. There's even an appearance by - this is advertising after all - local billionaire car dealer Ernie Boch Junior, son of the famed "Come On Down!" Ernie Boch Senior. Give it a watch and revel in its cheesiness. Oh, and a bit of nudity too. The work was done by Pod Design.
Bob Cargill tells us Boston Marathon runner Dr. Paterson, Ph.D, in order to raise money for the Boston Children's Hospital has placed an auction on eBay asking for $8,000. In addition to asking for the charity money, he's offering himself as well to the highest bidder in the form of a dinner date
AOL' s new free video service, In2TV will launch Wednesday with premiere advertisers Intel, Kia, Kraft and Hershey. In2TV will host thousands of old Warner Brothers shows hoping to become the first stop on the web for video content. We wish them luck. We have no idea who would want to watch all those old shows and, maddeningly, they had to go and use some video technology that requires Active X rather than a more graceful solution like YouTube or Quicktime. There's also this thing called Hi-Q which, of course, doesn't work with Firefox.
So basically, the service is perfect for all those middle America, late adopter, IE-Suffering couch potatoes who somehow find pleasure in watching reruns of Wonder Woman, Head of the Class and Welcome Back Kotter.
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