Baby Vlogger Touts Cause, Crispin Rips Again, Skittles' Twitter Lift

capucine-edurelief.jpg

- Devil heckles cyclists.

- 1% of the tweets you've seen were all about Skittles.

- 10 compelling, authentic brands.

- Google has announced winners from YouTube's crowdsourced symphony orchestra contest.

- Crispin's "Secretary of Taste" sounds a lot like...

- Little French vlogger becomes Edurelief/Mongolia advocate. Ohh, look at her telling the funny story! Look at her eating all the candy! Look at her tricking the tooth fairy!

- Hey, remember Candystand? It's got a sassy new game -- sponsored by The Harlem Globetrotters.

- Not ad-related, still perusal-crucial: "You don't win a race by huffing and puffing as hard as you can. You win it by going faster."

- Heh. The rumors are true about beer and "the goggles."

by Angela Natividad    Mar- 3-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Cause, Games, Online, Video



Yawn. 'Much-Anticipated' Dairy Ad Disappoints

bc_dairy_arm_wrestling.jpg

Much-anticipated? Seriously? Yes, that is how this new commercial, Arm Wrestling, for the British Columbia Dairy Foundation is being touted. Part of the BCDF's Must Drink More Milk campaign, the DDB Vancouver-created cinema ad pits one big arm against two smaller...but milk-drinking arms. The outcome is predictable.

Thankfully this is bit one of 14. One hopes at least one of the yet to be seen 13 is actually "much-anticipated."

by Steve Hall    Mar- 2-09    
Topic: Bad, Campaigns, Cause, Commercials



'Teenagers' Convince Teenagers to Drive Slower

youth_reckless_driving.jpg

Every possible method of convincing young people to drive slower and more carefully has been done. Everything from light humor to horrifically gut-wrenching emotional manipulation has been put to use. Does any of it work? You'll have to ask the statisticians for the answer to that questions.

In an update to the Ad Council's Youth Reckless Driving Prevention campaign, Y&R New York is out with four new commercials which involve the goofball "teenage friend" joining a threesome in a car and, through different tactics, convince the kids to slow down. They're quite tame compared to many of the more extreme examples we've seen.

One might say they were lame but they are so ingratiatingly squirm-inducing, they just might keep people's attention long enough to garner at least a tiny bit of consideration.

by Steve Hall    Mar- 2-09    
Topic: Campaigns, Cause, Commercials



Department of Energy Compels Kids to Lose Their Excuse

de-lose-your-excuse.jpg

To make kids act more energy-smart, the Department of Energy launched Lose Your Excuse, a painfully cute website* that encourages engagement and boasts a 10-step energy "action plan" to download.

Two quirky little ads drive traffic in its direction. Each features a kid getting caught in a lie about why s/he hasn't become more energy efficient. (I know that vibes like the Spanish Inquisition, but the execution is feel-good and funny).

more »

by Angela Natividad    Mar- 2-09    
Topic: Campaigns, Cause, Commercials, Television



Clean Coal is So Clean It's An Air Freshener

reality_clean_coal.jpg

Hmm. So Crispin Porter + Bogusky asks the Coen Brothers to do a spot for their client, The Reality Coalition, to poke fun at the notion there's such a thing as clean coal. Aside from the irony of the word "coal" being in the cause group's name, the Coen Brothers do an OK job withe the cheesy spokesman approach.

In the commercial, the spokesman says, "clean coal harnesses the awesome power of the word clean," as the wife half of the couple he's speaking to sprays black clouds out of an aerosol can. Complete with coughing kids, the spots also claims "clean goal is supported by the coal industry, the most trusted name in coal."

You see? Just like the word clean guarantees your clothes will be clean in laundry detergent ads, the word clean in clean coal ads assures the same, right?

by Steve Hall    Feb-27-09    
Topic: Cause, Celebrity, Commercials, Strange



You Don't Have to Quit, but At Least Leave the Building.

parents-secondhand-smoke.jpg

With help from Cactus, ONE Step focuses on protecting the health of young children by encouraging smoker parents to go outside before lighting up.

The narration is soothing and the message doesn't direct smoking wholesale, although the smoke dragons and flesh-eating ravens -- which malevolently circle and eventually engulf the kiddies -- make things just uncomfortable enough.

We'll step outside, and we don't even have kids. Though this doesn't provide a gameplan for what to do when little kids walk by, but hey, those ones aren't yours.*

More on this at raisesmokefreekids.com.

more »

by Angela Natividad    Feb-26-09    
Topic: Campaigns, Cause, Commercials, Television



Tweet, Tweet, Tweet. Tweet to End Global Poverty

a_powerul_noise.jpg

Want to help fight global poverty on Twitter? Just tweet the hashtag #apowerfulnoise anytime from March 2nd to March 5th, and NCM Fathom will donate $.10 for up to 50,000 Tweets to CARE, the organization working to end global poverty.

Oh and to promote the documentary, A Powerful Noise.

Sound good? Oh wait, where's George Parker when we need someone to crap on all things Twitter?

by Steve Hall    Feb-25-09    
Topic: Cause, Social



Parents Recall How Their Parents Talked -- or Didn't Talk -- Drugs

pdfa-parents.jpg

The Partnership for a Drug-Free America enlisted Avenue A/Razorfish to help it talk to parents about talking to their kids about drugs, I guess because the Patsy angle didn't go over so well. (Actually, this probably didn't either.)

Don't Sound Like Your Parents is the fruit of this partnership. It plays with out-of-touch parental camp ("You don't need drugs for excitement -- you can help me dust!") but it's also really candid. (Video reels depict Boomer parents that generally meant well, but for the most part failed to adequately deliver the drug talk. But hey, like the sex talk, it's a tough topic to scale.)

more »

by Angela Natividad    Feb-25-09    
Topic: Campaigns, Cause, Online



Now You Know How It Feels Like to Get Motor Neuron Disease

motor_neurone_disease.jpg

Trapped. Unable to escape. Unable to control your self. Helpless. Dignity stolen. Dreams evaporated. Life as you know it, over.

Nothing but you, your wheelchair and your life...such as it has become...locked in a prison. With no escape.

There are powerful PSAs and then there is this PSA for the Motor Neurone Disease Association.

by Steve Hall    Feb-24-09    
Topic: Best, Cause, Creative Commentary



Elephant Makes Unwanted Airport Landing

ifaw_elephant_landing.jpg

If the International Fund for Animal Welfare had their way, Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey wouldn't have elephants in their circus. You wouldn't find them in zoos. And they certainly wouldn't be making landings like a jumbo jet returning from an overseas flight.

But, that's exactly what happens in this commercial which informs us that animals are not souvenirs.

But, wait. Is it OK to use elephants in television commercials? Or is that just effective CGI at work?

by Steve Hall    Feb-24-09    
Topic: Cause, Commercials, Strange