It's no secret we've loved Barbarian Group from the start. From the first time we heard of them back in the days of Subservient Chicken to its more recent work for CNN and Dove, they have always impressed. And not just with their work but with who they are as people.
So we're super pleased they were just named Creativity magazine's Digital Company of the Year.
Co-Founders Rick Webb, Robert Hodgin, Keith Butler and Benjamin Palmer are amazingly talented. Boston office President Bruce Winterton is a great guy. Uber PR pro/Director of Communications Eva McCloskey does a stellar job telling the agency's story. They host amazing parties. What's not to love?
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This Christmas card from Manchester-based AHD imaging in which an out of work computer-generated character, AHD168, finds itself homeless and destitute strikes a cord. With this one video, AHD has accomplished two things; it's wished everyone a Happy Christmas and it's looking for work, something a lot of companies are doing these days.
So come on, help out an unemployed animation (company).
In this tiny burg populated by upright-standing pickles, the townsfolk come out, don hats and carol for the viewing pleasure of omnivorous predators.
All's well until a giant hand reaches down and takes a big noisy bite out of a baby pickle -- right after his solo. The savage! Mangled bits of soured cucumber fall from the sky, a disturbing yellow stain splashes across the snow, bystanders vomit relish ... and the miracle of singing dill becomes a wretched crime scene.
By Firehouse/Dallas, which, as of this moment, are the only people we want to invite to our birthday party.
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OK, wow. It's not like the massively co-ordinated, perfectly-timed thing hasn't been done many times before but timing a bunch of microwave ovens to render Jingle Bells is impressive.
We have AKQA to thank for this.
And we hope no one was inadvertently radiated during the creation of this "epic."
- Santa gets his Christmas beatbox on in Bring the Toyz.
- The folks at Firehouse bring us The Christmas Pickle.
- Mobile answer service Cha Cha is happy it's market share has grown from seven percent to 28 percent in 90 days.
- HandPickedAds lets "search, view and rate the most gorgeous advertising photos ... discovered in some of the most respected magazines in the world."
- How about some common sense when it comes to the client/agency relationship?
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Like the iPhone 3G, the iPod touch is sensitive to motion and stimulus, making gameplay a funtastically engaging experience. To illustrate that, the Yahoo Games page "reacts" to the movement of the gamer in this piece by TBWA/Media Arts Lab.
Niftay.
Wii did something similar on YouTube to promote Wario Land: Shake It!. And every once in awhile, a somewhat-less-awesome page manipulation spot for Marley & Me appears on MySpace. (In it, the dog Marley drags a leaderboard across the screen, knocking stuff around as he moves.)
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- Pepsi blocks other non-alcoholic beverages from entire first half (!!!) of next year's Super Bowl. And Halftime! Now that's just gluttonous.
- To promote its Scott Shop Towels ("like paper towels but way tougher," the PR folk explained), Kimberly Clark goes on safari for grills gone wild!.
- Bill Green lends valuable insight on how to gain a near-instant boost in Twitter followers.
- Evil Dead -- the Musical.
- If the Peanuts crew were an ad agency, Lucy would be the obnoxiously bitchy, but refreshingly honest, Christmas party organizer. And Linus would be an AD. (The security blanket should've been the tip-off.)
- Powder Blue trailer strips Jessica Biel down to her bare minerals. Eat your heart out, Natalie Portman! (Neither link is SFW.)
- Burger King's King loses wallet.
London-based? Swing by 16 Hanbury St. and walk by the offices of Wieden + Kennedy, where a giant Christmas card is fusing the faces of passersby to various holiday characters. Stand there long enough, and you might see your own face appear on Santa, an elf, or some kind of creepy egg-shaped bird.
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- Detroit-based writer, Mandy, was recently laid off. On her blog, she shares the drama and emotion that goes with losing one's job.
- Charlie Brown and crew illustrate how an agency goes through the process of creating a Christmas card.
- The I'm Just Sayin' Show dissects the Jessica Alba Photoshop Debacle.
- The House voted in favor of the auto industry bail out...sorry...bridge loan.
- Santa Claus is dead.
Digital agency OneUpWeb is helping Santa manage the Naughty or Nice list this year. Well, really just the Naughty list. When you visit the list, you can nominate three people who will added to the list. If you're on it, nominating the three people gets you off the list.
Once you add the three people, they receive a letter from Santa which reads, in part, "Due to inflation and economic hardships, I have had to layoff many of my elves ... If you don't make it off the list before I check it twice, you can count on coal this Christmas Eve."
Of course, if you like to be naughty, you might just want to leave yourself on the list. So Santa knows exactly what sort of toy you'd like to receive Christmas day.
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