Bloggers vs. Bailout, 'Human' Ice Cream, Digital Marketers Wrist-Slapped ... by Eyeblaster?!

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- Last night Steve Hall hit Nokia Theater for Adobe's Battle of the Bands (photos here). Later he ran into Barbarian Group, which brought him a-frolicking to a hip hop club. Steve has all the fun.

- Guinness World Records taps greenfield media to manage its 3D book campaign. You'll need 3D specs to get the full experience from the ads, which run from Oct. 6 to Dec. 25 in the United Kingdom and United States.

- Blogging taxpayers aren't keen on this whole "Wall Street bailout" thing: "[We] have yet to see any online evidence of organic support for the Paulson proposal. Instead, what's going on may be the largest flowering of civic dissent since the antiwar protests of 2002-2003, but with a [bipartisan] twist." Our own online digging corroborates that (HuffPo! Michelle Malkin! YouTube junkies!), but Pew says 57 percent of the public favors the bailout. Confusing.

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Jungle at the Opera, Paddington Bear Poisons Guests, Millennial Girl Destroys America

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- Hyundai and Goodby Silverstein & Partners are breaking up. Yeah, it's such a tragedy.

- Tokyo Agency brought the jungle to Paris's Opera Garnier to promote Guerlain Homme, a fragrance for the testosterone-soaked wild animal in you. That's cool and all, but I wonder if the wrist-spritzing preppies in suits didn't send a mixed message. Merci to in:fluencia for passing this along.

- Speaking of France, one Languedoc vintner launched a saucy new label: Le vin du merde (Shit Wine). For optimum psychological fuckery, serve with dark chocolate cake.

- Childhood icon Paddington Bear sneaks Marmite into egg sandwiches during his birthday party. Surprise! All the guests gasp and gag. Wonderful stuff by DDB.

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Democracy in Perspective: What Would Obi Wan Kenobi Do?

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Ever see those Advent Day calendars that count down to Christmas, and with each new day you can pop open another part of the calendar to reveal a wooden toy or a piece of chocolate?

Gerrymander, a company that produces political oddities, worked with Ignited/LA to release an election day calendar that does pretty much the same thing. Buy one for $12.98. Then, starting from October 1st, pop open each of the cut-out doors to find neither chocolate nor choking hazards, but non-partisan political wisdom, like what's listed below.

Guess who said what!*

o "I never vote for anybody, I always vote against."
o "Democracy is never a final achievement. It is a call to untiring effort."
o "Who's more foolish; the fool, or the fool who follows him?"

I like how when you Google "advent day calendar," the "2008 Election Day Advent Calendar by Gerrymander" is the first organic result that comes up. Way to usurp the old-school kitsch kings!

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by Angela Natividad    Sep-18-08    
Topic: Packaging, Political, Strange



Shoot Clays, Cure Leukemia; LiveBar for Lifeless Websites; Pink Palin Kippahs; Crest Slogan Contest

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- LiveBar makes static websites instantly interactive. Hooray! No work for you.

- Twenis. Hilarity.

- Yahoo tries hard to be kooky. "That's the problem with Yahoo: It thinks it's an iPod -- universally loved and carried around. But it's really a Mac -- a fine product nevertheless rejected by many."

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Just Another Tap Water Advocate, Shilling Its Own Plastic Bottle

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Witness the Tappening by DiMassimo Goldstein/NY. Didn't we cover almost this same thing yesterday -- except prettier and less tight-assed?

In any case, it's nice to know there's a tide turning against the bottled water-buying trend. But why flood the market with new plastic containers at the same time? What committee got together and decided this made business sense?

Demonstrate your conviction with a little extra. Go stainless steel. Or even tin, but watch out for the occasional stomachache or bout of diarrhea. Small price to pay for a happy planet.

by Angela Natividad    Sep-16-08    
Topic: Cause, Packaging



Julianne Hough for Juicy Fruit, BMW on Review, Pigs in Drag, HP Meets Far East

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- BMW's holding a media review worth $155 million.

- Remember Memento? Imagine if it were an ad for Sony Ericsson.

- The Institute for America's Future hopes to derail the political bullshit train with an ad campaign about "major challenges facing the country." That's cool and all, but is this nearly as exciting as this? Don't answer, that's rhetorical.

- "Mom, what are those?" "Tadpoles, honey." "Oh. What do they have to do with being 'knocked up'?" Good luck with that.

- If PETA's ads were always this cute, I might have wanted a pig for a pet, not for breakfast. I like the point it made though. And look! They didn't even have to embarrass anybody.

- Here's a Wrigley Juicy Fruit ad in the style of that DoubleMint candy raver-looking thing. In this one, Julianne Hough invests the Juicy Fruit jingle with country music flair. It was so peppy and sweet, watching it gave me a cavity.

- In the unlikely event you need a laptop to match your Mandarin dress, Hewlett-Packard's got just the thing.



Nibble Celery and Peanut Butter off Arthur's Face!

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Arthur is among the few kid shows I still feel okay watching. It's wholesome, square and enriched with feel-good lessons.

Anywho, CVS and Hefty licensed Arthur's name and likeness to promote products, like the charming paper plate at left, to kids (and possibly nostalgic quarter-lifers). One plate by itself is friendly enough, but check out this disembodied constellation of Arthur characters, all ready to bear slices of cake on their noses. It's unsettling.

You know how Stamps.com lets you turn photos into stamps? I bet one day Hefty'll do that with paper dishware. Why eat off a fictional acquaintance when you could be scooping peanut butter out of Kid Sister's right earlobe?

by Angela Natividad    Sep- 9-08    
Topic: Brands, Packaging, Sponsorship, Television



Amalgamated Defends Honour, Sexy (Sexist?) Palin Buttons, B of A Tries Gettin' Down with Co-Eds

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- Amalgamated clears air over "Virtual Drinking Buddy" rip. In addition to starting a dialogue with Robbie Wenger, Amalgamated founder Charles Rosen told Adrants, "in no way are we above stealing ideas around here - but it wasn't the case this time. we really didn't know about robbie's virtual drinking buddy until he emailed us about it after our mike's spot ran." That's serious grace under pressure, and we were completely charmed.

- Smart way to promote sober driving.

- Tribal DDB scores Wrigley account, must now work out how to adhere gum to 'net users. Shouldn't be too hard. Just chew a little and avoid this kinda crap.

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by Angela Natividad    Sep- 5-08    
Topic: Agencies, Brands, Campaigns, Cause, Packaging, Political



Jamba Juice: Now In Handy-Dandy Plastic Bottles!

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Jamba Juice makes its foray into the grocery aisle with a celebratory ad by Publicis/NY and production firm Stardust. In "Fruit Pixels," a bouquet of berries spring out of a Jamba smoothie bottle and shape-shift into a swinging schoolgirl, a swimmer, a volleyball player and the Jamba Juice logo before slipping back into the bottle, now neatly capped.

Tagline: "Live fruitfully." Hrrrm. The Ting Tings, which sing Fruit Machine in the background, could've given you guys somethin' better than that.

Off-topic, I love how personified energy can be used to promote both hip surgery and fruity beverages.



Hannah Montana's Gummy Gear Could Be Mistaken for Penises

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"Why in hell do people still try to make candy in potentially phallic-looking shapes? You'd think they would have learned by now....."

It's definitely a mystery worth pondering. Adrants reader Candace sent over this rawkin' shot of Hannah Montana's Concert Candy. The packaging features our Lolita du jour holding a mic up to her mouth while a giant gummy guitar comes at her from the left.

"Guitar and microphone shapes!" the package boasts, but that guitar doesn't look all that guitar-like, and I don't think the gummy mics will help either.

by Angela Natividad    Sep- 2-08    
Topic: Brands, Celebrity, Packaging, Promotions, Strange, Worst