Rich Man Still Stands, Virgin Flys, Seinfeld Jumps, Young Read

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- The City Desk examines the 60 year history of the Richman Spectacles rich Man iconic neon sign that sits atop the Deputy Tyrone Campbell Building on Pearl Street. The area was once called Squint Alley due to the overwhelming brilliance and quantity of neon signs that once graced the area.

- Virgin Atlantic Airways has put its account in review. Crispin Porter + Bogusky has had the account since 2003 and will not defend.

Catch Seinfeld promoting Bee Movie by jumping off an eight story building in Cannes.

- Oddcast is having fun with its Baby Mail.

- Cynopsis reports, "The CW is planning on not selling traditional commercials in the new trend-watching series CW Now on Sunday nights. Instead, the network will integrate marketers into the show as sponsors for specific segments such as fashion, beauty or music. This fall, The CW will also sell five-second spots called "cwickies" to advertisers, in particular movie studios, three times throughout a show or during the course of a night, followed by a longer-form commercial, like a trailer. "

- Apparently, new research suggest young adults read more magazines, not less.

- Check out the Creativity Award winners.

by Steve Hall    May-18-07    
Topic: Agencies, Celebrity, Guerilla, Magazine, Outdoor, Research



TTs Invade Toronto - Try Not to Panic

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For the new Audi TT, Lowe Roche, Toronto decided to leverage what we're going to call Boston Syndrome and invade a town with unexplained symbology: giant TTs. Note crop circles. Note video (which is actually quite gorgeous and pleasant).

Orwell would have a blast in '07.

Our only major critique of these sorts of campaigns is that unless you're blowing minds with your guerilla efforts, it might be asking much to assume your consumer is going out of his or her way to pursue an understanding about why TT's are suddenly appearing all over the place.

Out of resentment, they might even go out of their way not to.

And to be fair, corporate art (which also proliferates every corner) is so crappy they might not even register the significance of the TT's, unless they wander mistakenly into a cornfield over lunchtime and stumble across a crop circle.

by Angela Natividad    May-18-07    
Topic: Brands, Guerilla



Chevy's Aveo Lives Large Again, Travels to Hollywood

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As a follow up to their Livin' Large in Aveo, Chevy is doing the "this car's so awesome you could live in it" thing again. Chevy is sending Eric Schackne and Filup Molina on a cross-country quest for so-called stardom. The two will travel from Gainesville, Florida to Hollywood, California continue to to see if they can make it big in movie land. Along the way they'll document the people they meet, the experiences they have and the "performances" they deliver in comedy clubs and with improv troupes in cities along their route. Eesh. That oughtta be good. If you aren't lucky enough to be one of their stops on their week-long road trip, the whole thing's being chronicled with videos and a blog.

No one really wants to live in a car but a road trip is a right of passage and we're liking Chevy a lot for helping these two dudes fulfill this important life chapter. We think more automakers should get in on the game too. After all, there ain't much money in the pockets immediately after college.

by Steve Hall    May-10-07    
Topic: Brands, Good, Guerilla, Social, Weblogs



Saatchi, Company X Redesign the PSA

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How do you make cancer funny? With tighty whities and hairy men, which make most everything funny.

For Olay's Skin Cancer Takes Friends, effort, which encourages watchers to get free screenings, Company X and Saatchi and Saatchi put together a spot about a screening station on the streets of New York. Only one man balls up to take the exam and he strips all the way down to his briefs, to the horror of passers-by.

Check it out on the Company X website.

The ad was shot with a set of hidden cameras and reactions were for the most part genuine. Company X editor Barney Miller gushes, "Every friend I play it for says something along the lines of, 'Wow, that's funny. I really need to get a skin cancer screening.'"

Hrm. Okay, then.

by Angela Natividad    May- 8-07    
Topic: Guerilla, Television



Stoli Comes In From Cold, Opens Stoli Hotel in LA

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In an effort to put all those overpriced, hipsteresque pussy vodkas back in their place, the grand daddy of vodka, Stolichnaya, constructed a 10,000 square foot traveling hotel and gave it a celebu-gasmic opening in LA May 2. With everyone from Bai Ling to Apple Guy Justin Long to ER's Shane West to Andy Dick to Devon Aoki to Bijou Phillips to James Blunt and even Paris Hilton who looked bored out of her mind, Stoli did the pop up store thing in high style. What, you expect more? There's only so much you can say about celebrities and LA.

by Steve Hall    May- 8-07    
Topic: Celebrity, Good, Guerilla



Pedestrian Death Crosswalk Ad Defeats Intended Purpose

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While we think its a great idea to call attention to the number of pedestrian deaths by doing so at one potential point of death, the crosswalk, we don't think asking people to read the names of dead people and other "don't walk and die"-related messages while crossing the road is a smart move. One primary preventer of death is to simply pay attention to your surroundings. Distractions such as this would seem to increase the very problem it's trying to prevent. A perfect idea of creative conference room idea gone wrong.

Of course, following this line of logic, all forms of roadside advertising such as billboards should be banned since, when driving, people should be paying attention to the road, not reading billboards, right?

by Steve Hall    May- 7-07    
Topic: Guerilla, Outdoor, Worst



Dents Promote Cars That Don't Get Dents...We Think

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We're inclined to agree with Autoblog on this one. We're not sure we'd like large magnetic stickers that look like dents placed on our cars to somehow illustrate how tough the VW Polo is. Not to mention the questionable strategy behind the move as questioned by Autoblog which wrote, "Besides, what message does this bone-headed marketing campaign really send for the Polo? Is it: 'Polo: the steering is so bad, you'll have little control when you try to park.' Or could it be: 'Polo: the car everybody else will hate because it reminds them of the stupid magnet that got stuck on their car.'" Indeed. We don't really get it either.

by Steve Hall    Apr-18-07    
Topic: Bad, Guerilla



Geese Get Snubbed, Enact Internet Retribution

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Fame is fickle. Snubbed at a casting call for a recent Air Canada ad, some disgruntled geese launch a weird online campaign that covers all the requisite Web 2.0 bases:

Myspace
Flickr
Youtube
Friendster
LinkedIn
AllRecipes (This was probably going the extra mile.)

Oh, and in case you wondered what the point was, it's for a contest to win free tickets. Woo-hoo. The campaign, entitled The Great Migration, was orchestrated by Marketel.

by Angela Natividad    Apr-16-07    
Topic: Campaigns, Guerilla, Online



Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Illuminate Brazil, Stage Rescue

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Beamvertising is back and bringing the Ninja Turtles to life outside the big screen.

For the Brazilian film Tartarugas Ninja, the beamvertised Turtles enacted a mini-rescue against a building, utilizing its actual dimensions, which made the show that much more realistic. We admit it came as a comfort to us to watch them in live action. We have always wanted them to be real.

by Angela Natividad    Apr-13-07    
Topic: Good, Guerilla, Outdoor, Promotions



Proper Dress Increases, CBS Goes Online, Holiday Squeaks

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Dressing properly pays off. USAToday.com's recent face lift has increased registrations by 380 percent.

- CBS has created an online distribution network for its programming. Outlets include AOL, Joost, Bebo, MSN Video, TV.com, Comcast, Brightcove, SlingMedia, Netvibes, Veoh. Programming will include with a 90/10 revenue split to CBS.

- BudTV ain't cookin'. Traffic has dropped 40 percent since its launch in February.

- Elana Centor sat down with Fallon copywriter Paula Maki Biondich to discuss her work on the latest Holiday Inn commercial in which bloggers and WiFi are celebrated. That squeak at the end? No idea.

- Verizon has jumped on the Adwalker train and is using the "human TVs" to promote its FiOS service.

by Steve Hall    Apr-13-07    
Topic: Brands, Commercials, Guerilla, Online, Television