Gift Squad Confuzzles with Menagerie of Curious Creatures

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It seemed like such a good idea in theory.

For client Borders, design studio Firstborn created the Gift Squad, a site that aims to make gift-choosing easier but feels more like a horrifying attack by the characters adults find soothing for children but that actually populated our nightmares.

We dug the idea of an elf-chat. That could work. But Gift Squad asks a bunch of confusing and seeming unrelated questions generated by nothing that appears to be human. And along the way you're bounced across five other vapidly-happy "experts" (the nutcracker, the teddy bear, etc) on this quest that's starting to feel like the search for the holy grail - and all you want is for some human being playing elf to say "I know what to get your mom! She'll love a box of truffles from Borders! Would you like to order now?" or something similarly simple.

Do we ask so much?

by Angela Natividad    Dec-22-06    
Topic: Bad, Campaigns, Online



Scooter Challenge Enables Driver's-Eye Snapshot of Ads-in-theMake

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RBLM's holiday card not only greeted us personally but also cleverly showcased their new creative effectiveness tool: the Scooter Challenge.

Find out how your work holds up streetside by uploading your own ads, then getting a view of how it looks from a scooter's perspective. RBLM admonishes detail-happy ad-heads to keep it simple. We agree, we like the idea and we dig how they got it out to us. Boy are those guys smart.

by Angela Natividad    Dec-22-06    
Topic: Agencies, Good, Outdoor, Tools



Beamvertised Skater Skids Across Holland Buildings

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For Sportlife, a chewing gum that's big in Holland, Netherlands-based Fresh Creation orchestrates a stunning promotion called "Can You Make it to the Pack?" in which a skater is beamed doing tricks across billboards, buildings and other cityscapes.

For those who lament street peace jarred by deviant boarders the beamvertised, totally heedless skater must have been especially distracting, along the lines of "Goddamnit, now they move through walls." Must have been frustrating.

We dig the campaign and envision a world in which beamvertising becomes as much a part of city life as the lights on Times Square. Can you see it now? It would be next to impossible to drive. We'd all just walk around with that deer-in-headlights look on our faces all the time.

by Angela Natividad    Dec-22-06    
Topic: Good, Guerilla, Outdoor, Promotions



Lynx Offers 100 Percent Off Women's Clothing

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You have to love the simplicity of this Lynx promotional email containing the subject line "100% off women's clothing." Upon opening the email, the only this you see is a naked (with the appropriate body parts covered) specimen of female perfection who peers out at you with a look you can only hope to ever see in real life. It's a witty play on words that gives nod to the long-running notion portrayed in past campaigns that wearing Lynx gets you the girl.

by Steve Hall    Dec-22-06    
Topic: Direct, Good, Online, Racy



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Wieden + Kennedy Recruiting Again For WK12

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It's that time again. Aieden + Kennedy wants your creative ass. Or at least the asses of 12 people who think they're creative and can "solve" the agency's invitation to the fourth semester of it's school for young, uber-creatives.

by Steve Hall    Dec-22-06    
Topic: Agencies



Desperado Stick Figure Returns in Animator v. Animation II

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Remember Alan Becker's neat video about creative gone awry? Atom Films just published the sequel: Animator v. Animation II. It's arguably better than the first as the stick actually escapes his template, wreaks havoc on the desktop, breathes fire and duke sit out with AIM and the Firefox logo.

The ending may either disappoint or grant closure, but there's definitely room for a bad-ass third installment. Unleashed on the world at large? Can't wait.

by Angela Natividad    Dec-22-06    
Topic: Good, Online, Video, Viral



Gruesome, Twisted, Sick North Pole Site of 'Save Santa' Game

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There just aren't many words that come to mind when describing this animated promotional piece from ID Branding, Ride Studio and Omatic Design called Save the Fat Man. Sick, twisted and weird might be a few though. Puking polar bears, orgiastic elves and cannibalistic gingerbread cookies are just part of the fun.

by Steve Hall    Dec-22-06    
Topic: Good, Online, Strange



Julie Mancuso New Lange Girl

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How could we possibly forget? We grew up skiing and still do. We subscribed religiously to Ski and Skiing and Powder when it made its entry. We even owned Lange boots but we only have vague memories of the Lange Girls which graced the pages of Lange ski boot ads for years. Perhaps, the parents tore out the Lange ads before we were able to read the magazines. Perhaps we have a horrible memory. Perhaps we were so infatuated with Jonna Lee we didn't have time for anyone else. Anyway, the Lange Girls are back. Or they never left and we never noticed. Now, though, Lange is using female sports figures rather than models such as U.S. Ski Team member Julia Mancuso who's gracing the current campaign.

by Steve Hall    Dec-22-06    
Topic: Campaigns, Magazine, Racy



American Greetings Hits the Blogs With Greeting Card Campaign

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American Greetings, with help from B.L. Ochman, is running a blog ad campaign on 80 blogs to promote last minute holiday card and family letter ideas. Each of the ads, which can be seen on Cute Overload, Woman Diary, GetOutdoors and others, points to American Greeting example site such as this and this. The campaign is said to be doing extremely well. In fact, we know it is, we just can't tell you exactly how well.

by Steve Hall    Dec-22-06    
Topic: Campaigns, Weblogs



Jenna is the Perfect Girl For Your Friend

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If you're a guy and you're feeling a bit down and dejected this holiday season or if you, man or woman, know a guy who is, Jenna is here to lift your/their spirits. Adrants reader David Shrager created a little site called Your Perfect Girl, that lets you enter your friend's name, what Jenna is supposed to like about him, what they will talk about at dinner, what your friend does for work and how the message will end. A video then plays and Jenna, with her intoxicatingly sweet voice, takes the friend out for the night. Possessing a fantasy-addled brain, this is the stuff we love. Be kind to your friends this year. Send Jenna.

UPDATE: Jenna loves us....really loves us:-)

by Steve Hall    Dec-22-06    
Topic: Games, Good, Online