'Get Smart' Whored, Mommy Scolds McCain, Man Conceives Soda, Jack Hits the Track

anything-whatever-cola.jpg

- matrixx pulls a fast one: to score coverage for a cross-promotion between Vespa, Subway and Get Smart, it produced a write-up for us. "Please do feel free to use or rewrite the whole thing," the matrixx rep said generously. What a nifty guy. And here we were thinking we had jobs to do.

- David and Goliath put together Jack's Track, a racing game that makes the most of Jack Daniel's NASCAR sponsorship.

- MoveOn says this anti-McCain ad is its most effective ad EVAR. It involves a baby. Meh.

- Bun in the oven? Learn how to troubleshoot.

- What a strange way to market a cola. I'm disgusted. But also sold.



Wanna Party? Leave McCain with Mom and Dad

blue-balled-tta.jpg

Hoping to recruit film buffs to the Democratic Party, Truth Through Action launched its first indy production, Blue Balled. Where it lacks political depth, it compensates in party-line zeal.

Nice use of the Requiem for a Dream theme music. And we totally caught that nod to The Graduate!

It's a failsafe ploy for fast appeal: No one ever gets tired of the "I'm 19! Tonight's my lucky night!" plotline, right? I'm guessing not; otherwise, Porky's, American Pie and Chico State would be fresh out of relevance.

Crappy jokes aside, we look forward to seeing future stuff from Truth Through Action.

by Angela Natividad    Jun-17-08    
Topic: Online, Political, Video



Starbucks Goes Bananas, Mennen Spiffs, Cusack Talks Dirty Politics, Microsoft Bans 'Gay'

mennen.jpg

- Can your manly-man hair pass the caress test?

- If a chaste mermaid won't save Starbucks, maybe frozen bananas will. (Ugh, dude.)

- Some celebrities educate the public on the Burma situation; John Cusack tallies similarities between McCain and Bush. MoveOn, as usual, is helping raise money to get the ad on air.

- Apparently the Copyright Nazis are after more than just pirates these days. In the UK, you can be prosecuted for playing music too loud or playing it for callers on hold without a license. From now on, let's just keep all music secret and see how the record industry fares.

- Baseball and the Tour de France aren't the only sports to disillusion one-time fans; almost half of Advertising Age readers believe the NBA rigs its games. I fondly await the day Canadians lose faith in hockey. Oh wait, many - already - have.

- A Microsoft Xbox Live group banned a player because he used "gay" in his gamer tag, "RichardGaywood." Upon discovering that was the guy's name, they BANNED IT ANYWAY. Microsoft, you charmers, you.

by Angela Natividad    Jun-15-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Cause, Celebrity, Events, Online, Political



Bell Bails, a52 Honored, Obama Fights Smears, Tots Tattoo, and MTLB Beats Down Bad PRs

tot-tats.jpg

- Global marketing guy Jeff Bell is leaving Microsoft. He's held his post since 2006.

- a52, which produced the visual effects for that Monster.com spot with the people on the rails, won some love at the Association of Independent Commercial Producer's 17th Annual Show. This is the 11th year its work was recognized by the AICP. To celebrate, it created a YouTube chronology of all the a52 spots that have been honored by the Show. Watch them.

- Obama for America has launched an online news site to fight the smears against his name.

- Make the Logo Bigger created guidelines for the ideal PR. If you don't meet 'em, you're not just getting trashed; you'll be marked as SPAM.

- Not ad-related, but hey: here is a rhinoplasty tutorial. After a few slides, even YOU could do it! Well, maybe she could.

- Speaking of tattooing tots, here are some tattoos for tots. Prepare them early on for their future as this guy. (That tribal-inspired tattoo actually contains the coordinates for $50K and keys to a Volvo.)

by Angela Natividad    Jun-12-08    
Topic: Agencies, Brands, Campaigns, Industry Events, Political



McCain Gets Hulking Girl to Do Battle With Obama Girl

mccain_girl.jpg

The latest from Barely Political, home of Obama Girl, is The Incredible McCain Girl, a poor girl who gets angry...like McCain, apparently does, and does battle with Obama Girl who tries to hottie-dance, unsuccessfully, against MCain Girl's "hulking" presence. Catch it this summer at a theater near you. Or here on YouTube.

by Steve Hall    Jun-12-08    
Topic: Political, Racy, Strange, Video



Office Freakout Outed, Soup Gets Cocky, Sarkozy Smoked, Renetta Denies Obama-legiance

cock-soup.jpg

- David Griner of AdFreak reveals the promotional origins of that one office freakout video. You should thank him; it involved interpreting Russian. (Well, no, not really.) Also, Angelina Jolie is a factor. Collective ooOooOooh.

- Traffic scores the $185 million Mitsubishi account. Meanwhile, the Michelin Man gets cozy with TBWA\Chiat\Day. Awwww.

- Beef and vegetable not doing the job? Treat yourself to cock flavoured soup mix. Just like mama used to make.

- France's Le Figaro was given promotional access to As if Nothing Happened, the latest album by Carla Bruni, the only First Lady we've ever seen naked. Her musical interpretation of Nicolas Sarkozy: "You are my junk. More deadly than Afghan heroin. More dangerous than Colombian white ... My guy, I roll him up and smoke him." SRSLY?

- Renetta McCann is "not joining the Obama campaign -- in any manner." Well, Renetta, Peter denied Jesus not once, not twice, but thrice. That didn't make them any less chummy.



Obama Watch Gets Candidate's Attention

obama_watches.jpg

Jack Goldenberg tells the story of how he and Kevin Glennon turned a custom-made Obama for President watch into what could become a fairly sizable viral campaign for the candidate.

"Most people think of viral marketing is something they've seen on YouTube or a similar site. But in reality, a viral is any communication that causes one person to be so affected by "experiencing" the viral that they communicate it to another.

more »

by Steve Hall    Jun-11-08    
Topic: Good, Political, Viral



Obama Girl Could Take the White House

obama%29super_girl.jpg

When Ben Relles created Barely Political and hired Amber Lee Ettinger to play the role of Obama Girl, it was little more than a fun little one-off that no one thought would rise to the level of popularity it did. Month after month, Obama Girl videos appeared and month after month, Obama, himself, kept winning primaries moving closer and closer to a potential seat in the White House as out next President.

more »

by Steve Hall    Jun-10-08    
Topic: Opinion, Political, Social, Trends and Culture



Search Engines Sipped, Hitler Plays Hillary, Boston Gets Fish-Faced, Charney Pushes Package, Hello Kitty Gets Stuffed

google-classic.png

- FunAdvice mashed up top search engine and soft drink brands, under the premise that search engines today inspire us the way colas once did. Hrm.

- Hitler plays the fated Hillary in this emotional Nazi interpretation of the Clinton/Obama nominee race. The best part is when he shouts "The DNC has thwarted my destiny!" while the women tremble in his midst. It wasn't as funny as Hitler Gets Banned though.

- Legal Sea Foods' "Fresh Fish" ads piss off the easily-rattled Bostonians. The MBTA decided to pull the ads after Green Line workers took offense to them. (Some ads said things like "This conductor has a face like a halibut." Touchy much?)

- Penis advertising gets you everywhere. Especially if you're Dov "The Colonel" Charney. Horrors.

- Build-a-Bear Workshop is partnering with Sanrio to let kids build Tropical Hello Kittys. "Tropical Hello Kitty's sun-kissed look is perfect for summer and we're certain that she'll be a big hit," says Dave Marchi of Sanrio. But will that sun-kissed pelt betray her age?



Joy Division Sponsors Zune, Twitterati Defects for Plurk, Facebook Seeks Ad Feedback, John McCain Tells War Stories

john-mccain.jpg

- Maybe inspired by Apple's limited-edition U2 iPod, Microsoft is releasing a limited-edition Joy Division Zune.

- Expect downtime from Twitter when Steve Jobs takes the floor at WWDC.

- Speaking of Twitter, a lot of fed-up users are defecting to a fancy new site called Plurk. Plurk enables users to follow conversational threads, and encourages use with "karma" points and little gifts. Also, the colors are soothing.

- Facebook has launched an ad feedback feature.

- Filipinos aren't the only people featured in creepy dating ads.

- John McCain: put Obama in office if you want. But hey, if you do, EXPECT APOCALYPSE.