- The McCain campaign was caught proclaiming John McCain's victory in the Presidential debate -- before the debate even happened.
- For down-and-out creatives that need to feel like heroes. V-v-v-via.
- PETA insinuates that fishermen have small penises.
- Sarah Palin needs prayer from advertisers.
- Ogilvy picks up Wachovia. Good fucking luck!
- Ed McMahon does rap vids for FreeCreditReport.com. Guess the waiter was unavailable that weekend.
- Citigroup vs. Citi-Mobile. Here's a thought: why not just buy the bastards?
Wednesday night during Advertising Week, Adobe held its Battle of the Bands even at the Nokia Theater in Times Square. It was well attended and there was some amazing talent on stage. Agencies participating were The Concept Farm, Eric Mower & Associates, Vidal Cendeno Advertising, Initiative, Grey, May & Co., Tribal DDB, Surge, Pyper Paul Kenney, TargetCast TCM, Starcom Chicago, Twon Sports International and McCann Erickson.
And while there was certainly talent on stage, it was the winning stage presence of McCann Erickson's More Fucking Cowbell that won over the judges and the crowd. Rocking out classic eighties heavy metal in full, big hair regalia, the group, along with two females dancers, just owned the crowd. There was no way they couldn't win. There would have been a riot of epic proportion. See pictures of the battle here.
Following the Battle of the Bands, I tagged along with the Barbarian Group to a little hip hop place in the Lower East Side for some drinking and dancing which lasted until 3AM. that agency knows how to party. One emplyee IM'd she had "85 hangovers" this morning. Sweet. All kinds of pictures here.
Or at least knows how to stare and snack at the same time.
Brokaw Inc. sent us this video of an elevator rescue that took place at its office. Awesome cut to the American flag at the end. It would make the agency look damn heroic if only they didn't include that shot of all the creatives, standing there, mid-chew. And maybe if they stenciled the likeness of Bill Brokaw over the firefighter.
The video hit YouTube on February 22 and drew a fiery 859 views. Way to take the world by storm! And if for some reason you need another reason to make Brokaw your agency of choice, here's an illustrious name-drop: Brokaw occasionally also does outdoor stuff for White Castle (whose agency of record, incidentally, is JWT).
- Google's Sergey Brin started a blog. In the first entry, he discloses his risk for Parkinson's disease. The New York Times probes why he'd do that.
- British actor Paul Kaye plays Seamus Murphy, the shady proprietor of an airport car park, for another one of those not-yet-viral "viral" campaigns. This is for Holiday Extras, a travel website.
- Esther Lee departs EuroRSCG.
more »
- 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.
more »
Crazy crooner Matt Maxwell is at it again. Following his five songs about Flash, design and web technology, Maxwell is out with some new tunes about the heated inter-relationship between left-brained account managers and right-brained creatives as well as the difficulty in preparing for client presentations. It's goofy stuff but it does highlight the pain points only someone who works in the business can know.
Maxwell admits he's not such a great singer but he did have the opportunity last month to perform one of his songs in front of an audience of 800 in San Francisco at FlashForward. That can't be all bad.
Copywriters Brian Pierce and Nik Bristow of Fitzgerald+CO/Atlanta are embarking on a wince-worthy mission: following the route of the Cannonball Run, they'll drive across the nation without a single stop. Not for fuel ... not even to pee. (Although I'm sure at some point they'll gracefully pause in order to switch seats.)
All this to promote Willie Nelson's brand of biodiesel, aptly named BioWillie. The mission's been dubbed WillieRun and you can follow the hijinks (of which I'm sure there'll be many) from their blog.
Seriously though, no pee break? I refuse to believe it. You guys have gotta be carrying empty Gatorade bottles or somethin'.
Find out for yourself at their kick-off party, which takes place Sept. 22nd at the XR Bar. More details at the blog link above. And big-ups to Brian Thompson for passing this news along.
Cheesiest email-based PR pitch ever: "Let's hope your tequila comes with a sunrise in Miami, cause now ALL of their public bus shelter advertising is illuminated by solar panels. Check out the pics I attached."
Apparently Fuel/Miami "donated" 600 solar-powered bus shelters to the city of Miami in exchange for an exclusive 20-year advertising contract on those shelters. Hear the plops? Those are three dead birds, shot down by one stone: Fuel contributes to the community, demonstrates its commitment to the environment and scores insanely pervasive ad space FOR 20 YEARS.
More chummy PR chatter: "For real though, I guess if I have to have a Spanish Heineken ad in my face while waiting for the bus at night, it might as well be solar powered." Ha. Ha. Smarmy, yo. Smarmy.
More pics here and here.
- The Effie Awards has open its call for entries. The entity that "honors marketing communication ideas that work" asks that entries be submitted by October 15.
- TBWA has won the $600 million Visa global creative account. Bested were BBDO, Grey and Leo Burnett.
- Yes. Is is insane but there are still companies out there willing to drop $3 million on a single ad to appear on the Super Bowl.
- Here's the ad Barak Obama would run if presidential candidates didn't have to act all polished and buttoned up.
Just as the proverbial Mr. Smith went to Washington to clean things up, it seems top civil rights lawyer Mr. Cyrus Mehri is on his way to Madison Avenue to clean up the ad industry's diversity mess. A top civil rights lawyer, Mehri conducted a study of diversity in advertising agencies and found it woefully out of whack when compared to diversity in other business sectors.
While the study is still underway, it seems Mehri may already be setting his sights on an industry he says has only paid lip service to the issue with hearing, conferences and hiring efforts. He claims the problem isn't lack of interest in advertising among minorities as some have surmised, rather the seeming unwillingness of agency management which he sees as a closed country club filled with white men who just don't want to address the problem.
more »
|
Stanton Optical
|
