Even in Death, Michael Jackson Sells Pepsi

Wholly unintentional, Pepsi is enjoying a bit of added exposure in Times Square. It's signage is placed all around a digital display which is paying tribute to the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, who died yesterday.

Most brands don't willingly take advantage of a celebrity's death but it's a sure bet a few people at Pepsi and the brand's agency aren't complaining about this coincidental confluence of events.

Barack Obama Helps Improve Perception of Illinois Lawyers

See if you can find Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama in this Abraham Lincoln mosaic, part of a perception improvement campaign for Illinois State Bar Association. Created by & Wojdyla (yea, that's not a typo. what's up with these agency names?), the campaign consist of mobile billboards and posters.

Also appearing the in 3,055 head shot image are Stephan Douglas, Clarence Darrow, William Jennings Bryan and (Abe's son) Robert Todd Lincoln.

The campaign will make its debut this Sunday at the Chicago Gay Pride Parade.

Cannes Lions: Real Winnars in Radio, Media and Outdoor

Last night was the ceremony for Radio, Media and Outdoor -- not very exciting stuff, but you get a chance to review highly localized work you wouldn't otherwise be exposed to. Always good to remember what ad life is like outside internets.

Here are the Grand Prix winners for each category. Hopefully by now I don't need to tell you where to go to see the full list of oversized bookend recipients.

For RADIO: Net#Work BBDO/Johannesburg wins Grands Prix for "Dancer," "Dog" and "Ferret" -- three radio pieces for Virgin Atlantic Airlines, South Africa. Wanna hear? Listeny-listen.

For MEDIA: JWT Japan/Tokyo scores for "Kit Kat Mail 2009" on behalf of Nestle's Kit-Kat.

For OUTDOOR: TBWA\Hunt\Lascaris Johannesburg wins Grands Prix for "Fight the Regime," "Cheaper than Money," "Trillion Dollar Billboard," "Z$250,000,000" and "Wallpaper" -- on behalf of The Zimbabwean. The campaign's objective was, in great part, to demonstrate the ridiculous rate of inflation affecting Zimbabwean currency as a result of the current regime.

We covered one execution in which trillions of Zimbabwe dollars were used to wallpaper a billboard. Trillion dollar bills were also used as flyers. See the rest of the work; if you're curious about the roots of Z's current political situation, read some colourful background.

Cannes Lions: Not the Funnest Welcome into Advertising's Sandbox.

First ad I saw upon entering the Palais. Where better than a sweltering, decadent vacation spot to remind us of the dire consequences of climate change?

Somewhat less depressing than the wrist slitter cause ad that appeared on BART trains during New Years Eve '06.

Here's a Message That's Fun for the Whole Family.

Throw open that beach towel, get a public service announcement: "You're probably not expecting to drown today." Not especially, no.

Other fun-tastic messages in ideal places include "You're probably not expecting to need a helmet today" and "Being run over while jaywalking only happens to other people."

And here are some highly depressing, but decidedly effective, TV spots. Sobering stuff for preventable.ca by Wasserman + Partners/Vancouver.

Mini Markets to Vampires for True Blood's Season 2

@AskACopywriter managed to catch the phone booth ad at left, fruit of a liaison between BMW's Mini Cooper and -- oddly enough -- HBO's True Blood.

You may have noted that, in July of last year, True Blood orchestrated this pretty cool YouTube effort where vampires worldwide apparently produced their own amateur videos and tried demanding suffrage from the narrow-minded living.

This Mini partnership is another way to work that "vampires among us" angle: Mini is among a handful of brands that will be targeting their campaigns to vampires through June 14th, the start of Season 2.

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Tissue Tree Bears Silky Relief to Spontaneous Sneezers

In time for allergy season -- which not only stimulates sneezes but generates impromptu tear-duct leakage -- Kleenex erected a Tissue Tree, swathed in silk, no less, beside Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art.

The tree was inspired by the work of "wrapping" artist Christo and is wrapped in over a kilometer of silk. (See metric conversion here.) More importantly, it sports 700 generous tissue blossoms, which passersby can tug out at leisure.

Clever way to promote Kleenex Silk Touch, whose wares are supposed to be even softer than the average snot receptacle. Greenpeace is gonna have a helluva good time tearing the lovely idea a new one, though. We can already hear the siren song: Turning your gauche synthetic wares into fake spins on the noble arbors that fell for your cause? You sick bastards!

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Deconstructing Album Mugs, Twitter on Paper, Gay Marriage Rage Crosses Coasts

- Personality traits ... of album covers.

- Bring your tweets vintage. (Via.)

- Hope, delivered on the spin cycle.

- Facebook vanity URLs.

- Hulu desktop.

- Porn on Bing.

- Anti-gay-marriage ads hit NYC.

- Boone Oakley has fun trashing agency holding companies on its new website.

Smuin Brings Grit and Glamour to Ballet

Creative for the Smuin Ballet Company is all over BART right now, and every time we come across one of the pieces we can't help but stop and stare for awhile.

One of the biggest problems with ballet is it's traditionally classified as a "high culture" pursuit, which gives the dance some cachet, but also shuts potentially innovative new young audiences out.

Hoping to level this barrier, agency Evolution Bureau positioned Smuin as a ballet group that dances on the razor's edge. Each piece has its own tagline, beginning with "Ballet but...", and the ballerinas are double-exposed over some human element of pop culture manifested in their dancing.

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Depressed Dog Simulation Hits Chilean Bus Shelters

Unwitting public transport users were treated to a depressing sight at some bus stops in Chile: a simulation of emaciated, depressed dogs peering out of cages, one side of which is actually the bus shelter wall.

The video below demonstrates the effort drew a crowd of gawkers and photo-snappers. Whether it earned any of those sad oily mutts a home, however, remains to be seen.

Work by TBWA\Frederick, Chile for an adoption program sponsored by Pedigree, whose kibble our dogs have consciously avoided since the early '90s. You know what'd be a real buzzkill though? A pet shelter desktop widget, like San Diego Zoo's panda cam, which we listlessly stare at between blogs.

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