Snickers Wacky Word Campaign Gets 'Homolicious' Makeover

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Everyone's all worked up over that Snickers Kiss ad and all the publicity it's getting. Flickr user cliffsteringo may further fuel the hype with a few suggestions on how Snickers might extend the Kiss campaign by incorporating it into to the long-running wacky word portion of the campaign.

by Steve Hall    Feb- 9-07    
Topic: Spoofs, Strange



Head of Cartoon Network Resigns Over Boston Bomb Scare

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This is what it's come to. A guerrilla marketing campaign for a show no one had ever heard of and which caused a city to cry terrorism has now caused the CEO of the network that hosts the show to resign. Drudge has the resignation letter but because his flash links aren't permanent, here's the letter:

"To: Colleagues
From: Jim Samples

I am sure you are aware of recent events in which a component of an Adult Swim marketing campaign made Turner Broadcasting the unintended focus of controversy in Boston and around the world. I deeply regret the negative publicity and expense caused to our company as a result of this campaign.

As general manager of Cartoon Network, I feel compelled to step down, effective immediately, in recognition of the gravity of the situation that occurred under my watch. It's my hope that my decision allows us to put this chapter behind us and get back to our mission of delivering unrivaled original animated entertainment for consumers of all ages.

As for me, there will be new professional challenges ahead that will make the most of the experiences I've had as part of this remarkable company. Through my 13 years at the company I have found myself continuously in awe of the talented artists and business people surrounding me, from those who realize their vision in creating a cartoon to those who so brilliantly deliver the animation to viewers.

I will always cherish the experience of having worked with you. I appreciate the support that you have shown me. As a friend and a fan, I also look forward to seeing your best and most personally fulfilling work yet. Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Boomerang and each of you deserve nothing less."

Spineless appeasement to overly sensitive reactionarys or appropriate response to the blown out of proportion event?

by Steve Hall    Feb- 9-07    
Topic: Guerilla



Jeep and Marvel Fight Crime, Draw Pictures for Patriot

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To promote the Patriot, Jeep gets cozy with Marvel Comics and their built-in audience of former geeks, geeks-in-training, pop aficionados, and mutants like us (we turn everything we touch into AWESOME).

The campaign site includes a progressive comic-drawn adventure scrawled by Bing Cansino. Users can input their own storylines as the tale progresses. The winning tale gets penned by Cansino and may result in an autographed original page sketch.

Yeah, it's consumer-gen. Again. But it's way better than Jeep Compass and that strange bobble-head/karaoke stuff.

by Angela Natividad    Feb- 9-07    
Topic: Good, Online



Nudist Resort Blog Features Bluefly Clothing Ad Campaign Launch

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Public Relations professionals work hard to get their client's message out to the media. They send press releases. They make personal contact. They send gifts. They take you to lunch. They bribe...uh...no. The good ones don't go that far. So after a PR professional spends a day pitching their client's new ad campaign to the media and only one publication picks it up, a nudist resort blog, it is both depressing and very humorous. Why would a nudist-focused blog pick up an ad launch story? Simple. Because the ads feature nude models.

Yesterday, Bluefly launched a new ad campaign touting Bluefly's ability to eradicate that feeling of nakedness when not fashionably dressed. Or something like that. Thankfully, these nude models are far more attractive than your average nudist colony resident but that would be insensitive and uncaring to say so we're not going to.

Anyway, Bluefly President and CEO Melissa Payner tells us, "This campaign is not about nudity - it's about feeling naked, which is very different. These days more than ever, what you wear is inextricably linked to who you are. Without the 'right' clothes we experience an identity crisis. So our tagline 'That's Why I Bluefly' is the perfect antidote for this condition." OK. See the second ad here.

by Steve Hall    Feb- 9-07    
Topic: Campaigns, Racy, Strange, Weblogs



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Coke Celebrates Diet Coke/Mentos Geyser Eight Months late

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While Joe Jaffe is all excited about having been present yesterday during Coke's Experiment #214 at which the famed EepyBird did their Diet Coke/Mentos thing, we're gleefully snickering at the mammoth company's 180 on the whole thing from its "craziness with Mentos doesn't fit our brand personality" stance to its eight-months-too-late embrace of the stunt. We'd be as excited as Joe too if we were there witnessing the event but we can't forget that Coke is doing this because their ass was taunted and dragged into it. I'd be curious if the word Mentos was even allowed to be mentioned at the event. Joe makes no mention of it in his review of the event.

Related:

Mentos Loves Diet Coke. Coke Could Care Less
Mentos to Launch Geyser Video Contest
Coke Copies Mentos, Launches Own Video Contest
Coke Wakes Up, Smells Social Media

by Steve Hall    Feb- 9-07    
Topic: Bad, Brands, Events, Social



Real Estate Firm Puts 'Felicity' in Luxury Loft, Slaps it On Youtube

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To promote its Donovan homes, Cressey Development Group launches Donovan Life, a well-produced but rather poorly-acted lifestyle series "about young urban professionals full of energy and ambition who are looking for a comfortable environment to enjoy the best the city has to offer," explains director Roger Evan Larry. The films are produced by his film and TV production company, Relevision.

The idea's a good strategy for getting people thinking inside the space. Who wouldn't want to own the apartments inhabited by the cast members of Friends?

Unfortunately this isn't Friends, or Felicity, or Will and Grace, or Sex and the City or anything else it's shooting for. But the series is shooting for pilot status, so maybe that will change and another ditsy but happy-go-lucky city ingenue will have her moment in the spotlight. Should the producers succeed in this noble quest, it'll be an awesome first for real estate marketing.

Check out an episode of Donovan Life here.

by Angela Natividad    Feb- 9-07    
Topic: Online, Product Placement, Video



2 Hormonal Co-Eds + 4 Countries = STA World Traveler Contest

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It's become part of the 20-something cliche to leave college and see the world. That's why we think the STA Travel 193 campaign by Night Agency is doing so well. Upon the contest's end a winner will be selected to become a "world traveler" over a two-person trip to four countries.

The campaign features a little Flash globe with clickable videos where you can watch people talk about their experiences in a given country. It's a little like being back in college again, watching those EAP kids give speeches about how their lives have changed forever post beer-chug in Munich.

With next to no media money spent this invitation has garnered over 6000 leads for STA in its first week. Now how can we possibly have an immigration problem when everybody's just raring to leave?

by Angela Natividad    Feb- 9-07    
Topic: Campaigns, Games, Good, Online



Photo Booth Gets Digital Makeover For Ecco Shoes

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In step with the photo booth motif, Danish agency We Love People (what a friendly name!) has created what it calls a Remix Nature installation for its client Ecco Shoes. The installation contains three sets of three TV screens. One for the head, One for the body. One for the feet. When people walk into the container their picture is taken and the person can "remix" their images for each of the three body segments with those of others in the booth.

The booth supports the footwear makers 2nd nature shoe line and will be placed in Copenhagen, London and Stockholm during Fashion Week and then in Singapore afterwards. The campaign will culminate with a Remix Nature event at which international DJs will perform using images collected from the booth. Check out more images of the installation here.

by Steve Hall    Feb- 9-07    
Topic: Good, Outdoor



'Automated' Advertising Systems Another Threat to Agency Infrastructure

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More and more, the advertising business is becoming commoditized with services that make it ever easier for advertisers to circumvent the infrastructure that the industry has built over the last 100 years. Every year, another do-it-yourself service crops up offering companies tools to create their own advertising without the need for an agency. Certainly, these services will not replace ad agencies but they may take a dent out of their revenue stream.

Omnicom Group is hoping to stem any potential loss to this new ad-o-matic approach and launched their on such service through on of its agencies, Zimmerman, called Pick-n-Click which provides automotive advertisers 150,000 components to choose from when crafting an ad. car dealer franchise AutoNation has signed on and is using Pick-n-Click for its 331 car dealers.

more »

by Steve Hall    Feb- 9-07    
Topic: Agencies, Tools, Trends and Culture



Anna Nicole Smith Exits Stage Left

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The practice of "marrying up" is as old as time and remains pretty common. When you're Anna Nicole Smith, marrying up isn't just an act; it's a full-blown profession.

Yesterday 39-year-old Anna Nicole Smith collapsed at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, FL and was pronounced dead some time later. This is just months shy of the death of her oldest son and smack in the middle of a series of mysteries, including the paternity of her newborn daughter, the ongoing inheritance lawsuit over her ex-husband's fortune, and some sort of trouble with TRIMSPA.

The former Playboy bunny first garnered attention when at 26 she married 89-year-old Texas oil billionaire J. Howard Marshall. Later she experienced a brief running spotlight with The Anna Nicole Show, a reality program showcasing a wider version of the ex-stripper. She most recently fed the tabloid tikis with her controversial marriage to her lawyer and significant weight loss following the TRIMSPA campaign.

For someone so often laughed at and belittled the woman knew how to self-promote and play up her crowd. It's not every girl that can go from stripper to marketing powerhouse - that takes some brains. For that we salute you, Anna Nicole.

by Angela Natividad    Feb- 9-07    
Topic: Celebrity



Swatch Makes Love Voodoo-Style

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If lust doesn't do the job for you this Valentine's day, Swatch suggests voodoo. And if the voodoo fails, at least the apple of your eye will have a neat new watch and a weird-looking stuffed toy.

Swatch is running a neat little Valentine's Day campaign with love voodoo master Eddy G Lazaro. In this video he shows you how voodoo love Swatch watches are made. It's not nearly as action-packed as it sounds and there are no shrunken heads, but he does do that neat eyes-rolling-back trick. And each voodoo love Swatch comes with a bonafide voodoo doll.

What can beat that? We're at a total loss. This is just a notch better than smacking your partner on the back of the head and dragging her by the hair into your cave.

by Angela Natividad    Feb- 9-07    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Good, Packaging, Strange



French Kids Rain 400 Blows Down on Abused Moms

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Responding to this British domestic violence campaign, Alt-Buzz decided to show us how the French do it.

Released by Young and Rubicam for La Federation Nationale Solidarite Femmes a few months ago, this ad demonstrates that when you beat your spouse, you teach violence to your children. The ending came as a surprise even to us. We've kicked cans, other peoples' glasses and the occasional pigeon but we've never kicked our moms.

by Angela Natividad    Feb- 9-07    
Topic: Commercials, Good, Television, Video



Wrong Answers Given to Save Right Ones For Trivia Show

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Here's a collection of odd promos for Toronto pub The Hargrave which holds a trivia contest every night. The promos capture three scenarios in which a particular answer would be right but the wrong one is given because viewers are urged to "save you right answers" for The Hargrave's trivia night. They're just weird enough to make you go WTF was that?

by Steve Hall    Feb- 9-07    
Topic: Commercials



VW Drives Vegas, Krispy Kremes For VDay, Census Shunned

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- If you're in Vegas February 16 during he NBA All Star Weekend and want to hang with the likes of Lebron James, Baron Davis, Kenny Smith from TNT's Inside NBA and more and race against them in VW's 5 on 5 Drive Challenge, this event is for you.

- Because Valentine's day is all about sweets, Krispy Kreme is selling heart shaped donuts until Feb. 14. For each dozen purchased, people get 12 cards with a free donut coupon to give to friends. The chain is also sending box loads to celebrities during Fashion Week and to Clay Aiken for his appearance on Jimmy Kimmel next week.

- Agencies are dropping like flies from the $300 million Census pitch. McCann Erickson, Martin Agency, Mullen DDB, Leo Burnett, Ogilvy & Mather and Grey have decided not to pursue the account.

- Wall Street Journal Senior VP of Advertising Sales Judy Barry is leaving her position at the paper.

- Who knew? MySpace is making money for News Corp. And, it's the company's top money maker. eMarketer says MySpace is on track to make $525 million for Foc Interactive this year.

by Steve Hall    Feb- 9-07    
Topic: Agencies, Events, Promotions