- @MackCollier, in the thick of SXSW, captures social media junkies in unnatural habitats.
- Trojan continues that slightly uncomfortable pro-STD reverse psychology thing with an a la carte booth. Samples of genital warts, anyone?
- Mark Cuban invests in poo-inducing pizza. Just read the story, man.
- More 'net-based teen angst.
- "Is this the most sexually explicit ad ever?" In a word, no. We're still kinda confused about what dude was doing with the Six Hour Power jar, and it isn't immediately clear if he's going to bang his secretary or just give her a really peppy memo. It could go either way ... but the reason why this ad fails is, we don't care where it goes.
- Why Jason Calacanis employed a felon -- or how to handle negative press.
"Happiness Factory 3" continues Coke's Happiness Factory/Open Happiness campaign with a Monday-friendly beginning we can all identify with. Mid-yawn, a guy hits up a Coke vending machine, compelling all the Wonderland creatures inside to yawn too.
There's a bit of authoritative clapping, then some feel-good pop music kicks in. Everyone snaps open their Cokes, and both worlds bloom into quotidian activity.
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Skittles continues its mile-high "WTF?" spree with "Transplant," which illustrates a new pack of cross-breed candies with a guy who recovers from an operation -- only to find he's been crossed with a dude named Jose.
There's this weird moment where a pack of Skittles gets tossed hither and yon, then they eat them while facing each other and delicately licking -- kissing, really -- their own fingers.
By TBWA\Chiat\Day\NY. See its last little bit of magic.
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"A Lighter World," where a couple pops open a bottle of Mahou and does a gravity-defying dance, is deliciously infectious.
By Agosto; featuring a cover of Pump the Jam by Canadian band Lost Fingers. (I realize that sounds not-very-savoury, but with a guitar in the background and a tap-dancing featurette the song is surprisingly fresh.)
Tagline: "There's a lighter world" -- riffing off the Premium Light status of this particular Spanish bev.
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For a company like Carl's Jr. to say "Eat Responsibly" is a joke. Oh wait, it's supposed to be a joke or at least we hope it is because they've been hyping their fat-filled, artery clogging burgers for years.
It was one thing to watch a hot socialite seductively eat a burger while making love to a Bentley. It's an entirely different - and a bit disconcerting - to watch a doctor scarf down a Kentucky Bourbon burger between surgeries.
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Has the recession got you depressed? This 102 year old man says we shouldn't be concerned with such minor details in life because, in the end, we'll only remember the good things. And the fact his wise words are sponsored by Coke.
Thanksgiving. Christmas. Valentine's Day. *slap* Easter. Please, make it stop! It's like one holiday ends and another begins. So, yea, Easter's on the way and so are the Easter-themed campiagns like this one from Mars Canada for M&M. Created by Proximity Canada, BBDO Toronto and Firstborn, this one has been dubbed "Canada's most Speck-tacular Egg hunt."
With print, TV (see one of the spots here), POP and online, people are urged to collect M&M eggs hidden around the web (a virtual egg hunt!) and in stores with PIN codes to use as entrance to drawing to win a trip to New York, Las Vegas or Orlando.
There's a site, four minisites and banners on MSN.ca, Yahoo.ca, MySpace.ca and others all with PIN codes to hunt for. Have at it.
Here, Nordpol envisions a secret world populated by IKEA furniture.
Hrm. Wonder whose unfortunate job it was to parse out the setup manual for all those levitating lawn chairs. The spoon fish were neat, though.
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Hmm. Maybe it's like that scene in the Sylvester Stallone/Sandra Bullock movie Demolition Man where future cop answers the phone saying, "Hello, this is the Los Angeles police department. Press one for an automated attendant or stay on the line to speak to me" or something like that.
VCCP Berlin has produced a commercial for O2 which depicts all sorts of robots in retirement with a voiceover that, OMG, you can now talk to an actual live human being when you call the company.
Wow. How novel. How did we ever get to a place where insanely annoying phone trees became the norm?
2K Sports promotes video game MLB2K9 with an ad where a Giants player schools his (adorably earnest) virtual self in both work and play.
It's witty work, a big plus considering there's no genuinely exciting way to hype a video game about baseball.
Agency: Ground Zero.
UPDATE: If you'd like a more mundane version of this piece, click here.
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