Maxtor Does...God Help Us...Subservient Chicken

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OK, this is getting boring. Very boring. Whoever handles the Maxtor account has created yet another Subservient Chicken rip off and this one sucks. The guy doesn't to anything. Can the entire industry just acknowledge the Crispin Porter + Bogusky scored with this tactic and just move on? Apparently to drum up interest in their hard drives, Maxtor has created Loser Loser loser - which they should have called Boring Boring Boring, a site that has all the usual stuff; the afformentioned Subservient Chicken rip off, a personality test, advice for losers from some guy named Dr. James Callahan and loser horoscopes. The one unique thing this site does have is ads. Yup. Ads for Maxtor. Funny. Sponsor your own viral site. Now that's kinda new. They actually sell ad space on the site. Not that anyone would actually buy.

by Steve Hall    Dec- 1-05    
Topic: Online, Viral



Rolling Aids Ball Calls Attention to World Aids Day

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In recognition of World Aids Day today, Medecins Sans Frontieres has launched a powerful Aids recognition video, created by Duval Guillaume Brussels, which calls attention to the exponential spread of the Aids virus in areas where treatment is mostly unavailable. The video is an amazing 3D creation that clearly and somberly calls attention to the devastating effects of the virus. The video finishes with "Don't let Aids gain more ground. Everyone must have access to treatment."

by Steve Hall    Dec- 1-05    
Topic: Viral



Dustballs Get Carpet, Squirrels Get Nut With Sony PSP

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TBWA/Chiat/Day has created two spots, directed by Monkmus of Hornet, for Sony's PSP. Both promote the PSP as a device that can be played outdoors. The first spot, Dustballs, has a couple of, yes, dust balls talking to each other. One is trying to convince the other he doesn't have to be stuck inside watching Carpet. he can do it outside. The second, Squirrels, has two squirrels talking to each other. One tells the other he doesn't have to be stuck inside playing Nut. he can play it outside. get it? Sony wants us to know we can use its PSP outdoors. Next.

by Steve Hall    Nov-30-05    
Topic: Online, Viral



Philips Viral Seductively Sucks Demo Info From Visitors

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Flipping the tell-me-what-to-do, Subservient Chicken style viral and turning the television into a sexual object, Philips UK has launched Ambilight, a site voiced by a woman cooing sexually laced phrases while images of a television and a lingerie-clad female are intertwined. The site asks visitors to answer four questions about themselves in a manner so non-threatening that before you know it, you've told Philips your age, income, email address and whether or not you live in the UK.

The site was developed to promote Philips' Cineo flat screen televisions and along with the engaging Q & A, the site enters you in a contest to win one of the new TVs. While some will toss this off as "been there done that," there's something about this site, even though it doesn't invent anything new, that keeps one's interest. Well, if you're a guy it does. Perhaps there's a version for women floating around somewhere too. Nice work.

by Steve Hall    Nov-30-05    
Topic: Creative Commentary, Online, Viral



Elevator Used to Recruit Pole Dancers

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Two guys. An elevator. A pole. A dancer. It's an ad for Peekaboo Pole Dancing, of course. Yawn. Oh wait, it is kinda hot.

by Steve Hall    Nov-27-05    
Topic: Viral



Emarketing Company Brings Back Short Shorts

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In some weird ode to the seventies (or was it the eighties), emarketing company eROI has created a silly little site called WearShortShorts on which office co-workers do, well, strange things while wearing short shorts. we guess this is some form of viral attempt at driving traffic to the company's website. Or, it's just a bunch of advertising wackos, sick of their client's ridiculous requests, letting off some steam. Other than that, we don't know. Oh wait, there;s a store that sells the short shorts, a t-shirt and a headband so you can fully don the idiocy of seventies cool.

by Steve Hall    Nov-27-05    
Topic: Agencies, Strange, Viral



Sprint PowerVision More Entertaining Than Cab Ride

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OK, so maybe we don't like the new Sprint Together With Nextel thing but we absolutely love the company's Entertainment Anytime cab ride experience that promotes Sprint's Powervision network which consists of video, news, music, games TV and other goodies for your cell phone. This little piece of amusement resembles that of HBO's Taxi Cab Confessions except there's no confessing and it's all G rated. Basically, the keys on your keyboard become devices through which to add a bit of entertainment to a usually boring cab ride all while making an analogy to Sprint's far better choice of entertainment on its cell phone network. Perhaps we'll forgive them for all that yellow and inane combo-branding strategy.

by Steve Hall    Nov-22-05    
Topic: Games, Mobile/Wireless, Online, Viral



Mo Rocca Sings Christmas Carol For Best Buy

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Political satirist, former correspondent for Comedy Central's The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and current contributor to NBC's Today Show, Mo Rocca has been tapped by Best Buy and has produced a goofy version of some Christmas carol, which, maddeningly, we can't seem to name, to, yes, promote all the goodies Best Buy would like us all to buy for Christmas. There's even a Geek Squad version of the video too. Good stuff.

by Steve Hall    Nov-21-05    
Topic: Celebrity, Viral



Eye Squirt Somehow Tied to Windows Media Center

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Promoting Microsoft's Windows Media Center, Switch Interactive has borrowed an oddity from the Guinness Book of World Records. Swift found Mike "The Milkman" Moral, former holder of the "longest milk squirt from eye," and latched onto his bid for a comeback tying it into a promotion for the Windows Media Center. The effort, which consists of a site with several videos, games and all the other usual stuff chronicles Moral's bid to return to the pages of Guinness. It works. It kept us engaged long enough to want to go drink a glass of milk. See, we didn't even make any comments about the Guinness Milkmaid Mammary Milk Squirt contest.

by Steve Hall    Nov-21-05    
Topic: Viral



Absolut Bottles Form Holiday Singing Quartet

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Promoting some kind of special plastic holiday packaging, Stockholm agency Great Works has created a microsite for Absolut featuring a quartet of singing Absolut bottles sharing drink recipes (which, as one commenter points out, is misspelled on the site) and singing about where Absolut, and the quartet's songs, can be bought. There's even a singing send to a friend feature.

by Steve Hall    Nov-20-05    
Topic: Online, Viral