Bebe Sports Debuts 2008 Eva Longoria Campaign

Having moved on from over privileged whiny teen to desperate housewife, Bebe Sports has unveiled its new print campaign featuring Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria Parker, who, last year, replaced Mischa Barton as the company's celebrity spokesperson. In the campaign, we see Longoria Parker dressed in Bebe Sports sportswear lounging on a surfboard, posing with a bicycle, standing next to a motorcycle and sitting on a car. See it all here.

HP Exploits Idle Hands with Idolhands Contest

HP is looking for the world's most talented hands.

Entrants to the Idolhands contest could win $10,000 or one of four TouchSmart PCs. Contest ends February 28.

Having sat through five or six of these, we don't imagine the expectations are super-ambitious. If you're Vera Wang or Jay-Z, that is.

Other brands have have relegated talent to fancy fingertips include Guinness, Elle MacPherson (in panties, no less!), and Phaeton.

Oh, and Campusfood, if soliciting handouts counts.

Dutch Elderly Make Naked Protest of Rotating Homecare

Adfreak pointed us to this homecare ad for the Dutch Socialist Party. In it, an 86-year-old woman undresses for the camera eye to demonstrate displeasure with the government's new policy of rotating personal helpers amongst the elderly.

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Mazda Courts YouTube Car-Lovers with YouTube-Esque Demo

Maybe because it has so much trouble getting people into actual cars, Mazda is inviting users to test-drive its virtual cars on Southern California roads: Angeles Crest, Arroyo Pkwy, the Pacific Coast Highway and Decker Canyon.

There's an explanation for the odd action angles (for example, the one where you get a birds-eye view of the front wheel). Mazda observed that on YouTube, car enthusiasts strap cameras to the sides of their cars to show you how gears shift and such.

Okay, then. Now excuse us while we head back to Problem Playground.

The Letter 'H' Takes Up Residence on Lexus Hybrids

It seems the letter "h" has found a new home and has deserted words, keyboards, landmarks, news stories, and offices opting instead for a better life on the back of the Lexus hybrids, the RX 400h, GS 450h, and LS 600h. Called The Power of H and created by Team One, the commercial shows us what life would look like without the letter H. Apparently, it's a better life and one which embraces change, looks forward and doesn't rely on the status quo.

We never new a car could make such a powerful, cultural statement. Hence forth, we will be proud to be known as Steve All.

Boone Oakley Supports WGA With Solidarity Campaign

While the strike may be nearing an end, Boone Oakley has come to the aid of the Writer's Guild of America with a solidarity campaign along the lines of so many other ribbon-style cause-related campaigns. The lead graphic element in the campaign is a pencil twisted into the shape of a ribbon. The campaign urges writers, directors, actors, crew and fans to wear the pin in support of the writers and to show "media moguls" the WGA is united and won't back down.

Checkout the campaign elements on the Bring Back the Dialogue site.

Yes, But Will There Be a Technicolor Dreamcoat?

If you can't afford LSD, mark your calendars (February 15th) for the debut of The Sound of Color.

"Does red sound like gurgling, molten lava?" the website asks. "Does green sound like the familiar tune of wind whistling through the trees? Do black and white even make a sound? What is the sound of color?"

We played with the idea of going, "Oh my, what is this? What is this?" but the truth is we already know because we wrote it up for MarketingVOX. This is a Gap campaign for which artists will write songs and make videos about color in all its tie-dye glory.

The site will hock colorful swag and free music downloads. After a month, artists will regain the rights to their songs, and some of the meaner ones might decide they don't want you downloading their pigment-inspired masterpieces for free. As with manna, hoard as much as you can.

Cilantro Encourages Intimacy with Multi-Flavoured Hispanic Market

When it comes to targeting the elusive Hispanic consumer, Cilantro Animation has this to say: "Be prepared to offer more than just Hola!"

(Though we'd like to point out that strategy worked wonders for Dora the Explorer.)

But Cilantro -- which creates Hispanic cartoons like the one at left -- makes an interesting point. When we hit ad:tech Miami we were overwhelmed with a sense that the Hispanic market remains unimpressed with the way big media has (or hasn't) tried to reach out.

And indeed, a salsa-colored Hola! just doesn't cut it when you consider the range of ethnicities blanketed under what we breezily dub Hispanic: Mexican, Cuban, Peruvian, Venezuelan, Colombian, Ecuadorian, and others -- all with their own cultural customs, jokes and sensitivities.

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CareerBuilder Teaches the Timid to Reach Out and Touch Themselves

We're officially crazy about CareerBuilder's "Start Building" campaign, which debuted on Super Bowl Sunday.

Wieden+Kennedy, with help from a52 and (Rock Paper Scissors), gives us "Help You, Help You" and "Self-Help Yourself."

We didn't really get what was going on in "Help You, Help You" until the end, which had the odd effect of keeping us glued to our seats until we could make sense of it. We'll preface it thus: watching a guy stroke his own face, before lovingly carrying himself out of his pathetic job, gave us that "foreign-finger-in-our-bellybutton!!!" feeling.

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MySpace Skins Feebly Bring Super Bowl Ads to 'Net

Recent findings from Reprise Media critique this year's Super Bowl advertisers for failing to buy online search terms related to their ads. They also neglected to leverage online social networks, where most worked so hard to build a presence.

Oddly enough, some advertisers did incorporate social networking into their Super Bowl ad campaigns. That is, if slapping a skin onto MySpace the week after the game counts.

Check out the try-hard efforts of Sunsilk at left (for this commercial) and Vitamin Water with Shaq.

Don't get us wrong; ravaging a social networking homepage is probably the 'net equivalent to billboard advertising. Users definitely get an eyeful. But it's not terribly interactive, the contact lasts two seconds, and there are more creative ways to exploit SB ad buzz online.

Update: the cats at Deep Focus just told us there's an interactive MySpace page for Shaq and Vitamin Water. So if you want some nifty matching widgets, or just want to watch Shaq horserace, take a look.