Btw...

- The 2012 London Zionist Games.
- Stay in Room PMS 300.
- Wii’s spank you very much.
- Writers CAN draw.
- Banning is the new...
- Legotecture.

“And the Tweet goes to...”

Aside from a repeat of the Diet Coke spot from last year’s Oscars, Hyundai probably had the coolest *tech* moment with their iPad spot above. That’s not saying much though. Not sure why there seems to be so many mediocre spots for one of the larger TV events of the year. Yes, brands may have spent a lot on the Super Bowl and don’t care about the Oscars, but then why settle for bringing the average. The only thing worse than the show trying to self-referentiate itself with Anne Hathaway’s insufferably forced “Young and hip” vibe was JCPenny trying to be as insufferably younger and hipper. (Their Twitterivia aside, look at any of their older spots have the same vibe.) People will likely also go on about how reading Twitter was more fun than the actual event. My 80,000 updates aside, all this will do is reinforce the need for both to feed off each other. Can’t tweet the snark unless you have something working tearing apart, and with ABC announcing during the show that they will be running the show for another decade, Twitter looks to have plenty of material.

“Distance is a thing of the past.”

It IS the world of tea-morrow with Bushells Tea.

Join us at ToomanyPSAs.org

I need to check if Anothercausecelebritiesarebehind.org is available. Do you give a damn? I give a damn that we have too many of these *PSAs* that all bleed into each other. In this case, Wegiveadamn.org is raising awareness over GLBT bullying in schools. Which, was the main theme of “It Gets Better.” (And ya know how I feel about that.) Sooo, why not join forces instead?

Btw...

- Farmville for Dummies.
- Coke was thinner before Pepsi was.
- Stop snitching? How about stop running out of shirts.
- Made in Chimerica.
- UFOS > real.

Ads... ads... (news)... ads... ads....

Are the new online journalism? Yah! This wireframe was part of a story on the AdAge.com redesign at AdPulp, but it’s worth pulling out as accurate look at what the user experience on journalism sites has become.

A url will not get you to quit ____________ ing.

Will it? Taco above and Pickles (below) for the Vermont Department of Health are hipsterish enough in that self-effacing, body partification way, but I just can’t get this drinking and driving spot out of my head. So is it a combo of violence and humor that works? Grace? Shock? Teens being teens? Will a website like ovx.org? Just what is it that gets people to stop _______ ing? Or does no agency have an answer because it needs to come from within the person.

Btw...

- Spam wallpaper.
- Another reason pharma ads should be banned.
- Read DMC.
- Caravaggio’s police file. (Via.)
- Skyface.
- Fire the apostrophes!

The way they were.

NASA, 1996. Given the level of design back then, I’m kind of glad things don’t go back much past 1996/97.

Contextual Madness.

Hmmm. Lot of dating options on this page. People into Disney. People into seniors. Anyone gay into Facebook. PEOPLE WHO QUESTION ANYONE GAY WHO MIGHT DIG FACEBOOK. Okay, dig marriage. Heppynow?

Btw...

- Genuis Squad?
- When parents text.
- TV shows out of their time.
- Who needs real live art?
- Why Save PBS infographic. (Via.)
- Phonography.
- Whoa 2011.
- Please, please sell me now.
- Mickey Rourke WILL do cigarette ads thank you very much.

Be one of us.

He’s not just a businessman... that’s Kevin Costner, Apple user with a neat sweater and neat dog. Neat!

Overheard Internet.

Yep, they wrote it...


“I’ve found that in the last couple of years, I keep expecting the internet to be one way and it keeps being another. -- So for instance, they say if you want people to read your work, concentrate on quality. But that’s bullshit, what you need to concentrate on is popularity. On any given day, boards all over the place are full of high-ranking articles that are crap that people vote on simply because the author is popular. -- Then they say that the wisdom of the crowds will help pick clear winners. But the wisdom part begins to look like mob rule and crowds can be easily gamed, as this article shows.  -- I could go on, but I think I'm not alone in realizing that the cool interconnected internet that I wanted and the one we're actually getting are two completely different things.
– DanielBMarkham

Everybody down on the ground.

THe HELL’S with the bank robbery slash hostage theme. Pick a spot because it never goes out of style, that’s why! This older Jimmy John’s :30 has been running down this here way as well as online as a rich media thang online with automatic delivery option.* (After the jump.)

I SMELL BANANA!

FINALLY, someone said screw Hitler parodies. But, me thinks telenovas will now be getting too much love after seeing Agencia Loco. Enjoy!

(From Melbourne copywriter John Pace.)

I give it one hand up.

Ha, okay. Nicely done for the FantasPorto 2011 Horror Film Festival.

(Agency: Draftfcb.)

AdVerve 65 - Job hunting.

Play the show now.

You've done it. And if you haven’t, God be with you because you’re gonna have to.

Bill and Angela do the straight talk on their experiences getting work in this business, specifically from the perspective of social media or those who claim to “do it all” in an environment where that’s exactly what people seem to be wanting, but what nobody quite wants to hire. (Polyvalence is a bitch!)

Krystal gives football the finger(s).

Ah... local market ads, an MTLB staple. This Krystal spot is a few months old but has a cute twist on football themes. (I needed something football-related to get me through a promotional-laden NBA All-Star weekend.) How long until next season again?

Btw...

- The REAL Death of the music industry. (Via.)
- “It’ll never work.” Failed predictions.
- Zombies vs. Supermodels.
- I need an image of a housewife from the fifties sprawled out on the kitchen floor.
- Egyptian man names baby ‘Facebook.’
- The ad always plays.

PULL!

Just a little something to express my reborn appreciation for heavy artillery here in the Low Country.

Analysis paralysis.

Duty called this week as I just now got to posting this episode from last week. Me, Åsk Wäppling Ken Wheaton and Doug Zanger go off on more post-Super Bowl analyzational madness. What else do ya need to know? Listen you some.

Download the show now or listen through iTunes.

Tags: Beancast

The way they were.

Heineken, 1997. Sexy!

Super Bowl leftover.

Sealy says “Whatever you do in bed...” as if there are any choices beyond reading, sleeping and... not those two things. (Yeah, I always try to rewire electronics in bed.) Maybe it ran, maybe it didn’t, like I said, some spots ran during the game in certain parts of the country. This one sure wasn’t showing where I was though. Still, pretty risqué spot for a mattress company, and it damn sure beats jumpy mattress guy. Dig the hollywood cliché of the perfectly formed sheets over each body too.

The Oreo cookie spot that they should use.

The weak use of the Cars cue at the end aside, this Target spot featuring Oreo cookies blows away the bloated mess that is the Manning vs. Manning DSRL campaign. No, it does, you can admit it.

Btw...

- Let’s eat!
- Canada is smart.
- Win biscuits or something.
- HR goes to the dogs.
- Beer joy ride.
- Don Shula burgers!

Super condom playlist time.

Nice to see a brand do something related to the space their message appears in. Durex could have run a plain ad but instead on Last.fm came up with this nifty playlist generator – I said nifty – for lovers of... love. Out for a little while, Wegasm seems forced as a name, but I dig the overall thought.

Btw...

- Confessions of an Apple store employee.
- Putting the ban in Banksy.
- Song wallpaper.
- Headfake.
- In case your staff calls in sick, there’s monkeys.
- Will wordplay for carrots.

“People Beside Themselves As Brand Has Human Moment on Twitter.”

Another example of brand honesty. Sorta. So the Red Cross got *caught* being real on Twitter with an update not meant for public consumption. They subsequently followed it up with an apology and deletion of the original with extreme prejudice. Result: social Media order of the universe restored, yea! On one hand, you have to respect any brand that remains consistent in its messaging wherever it appears.

But you don’t always come here for the *other* hand.

The way they were.

The world of Sony, circa 1996.

Countdown to 2012 in 3... 2...

Ahh, 2012 campaigns are heating up. Amazing how two issues like abortion and illegal immigration which got almost zero attention by McCain and Obama during their 2008 campaigns are now suddenly an issue. Moveon.org and House’s Lisa Edelstein stop short of taking the PETA imagery reigns here in We Won’t Go Back, but the symbolism is nonetheless strong with this one. Goes perfect with the bumpber sticker I saw the other day that said “Abortion stops a beating heart.” Cute!

“They may take away our rakes...”

Braveheart’s borrowed interest is excused thanks to the slight twist of using a bicycle. Ace Hardware here just owned weekends in a way that Lowe’s or Home Depot hasn’t been able to because of their dependence on lawn porn. Talk about not right in the head. (Clarion Call after the jump.)

Btw...

- For the Super lonely.
- The Sweden solar system.
- Destruction therapy.
- “Safety first for all shoots but creativity and flexibility a must.”
- It’s not pretty inside the mind of a social media community manager.
- Doomsday guide: By lawyers, for lawyers.
- Can’t hate on the Dew.
- Great Gatsby NES video game.

Copy away, kids.

A look back at the problem of pirated material in a digital age with the classic “Don’t Copy That Floppy.” (Digitally remastered? Irony ftw.) They couldn’t solve this problem then and they can’t solve it now. Why? Because the law never catches up with technology. Taken to extremes, shouldn’t we have been in trouble every time we lent a book to someone? Copyrighted material, no? Library or Lendle, what‘s the difference? Even if you were to shut off the internet, there would still be DVDs passed around. So good luck stopping the kid watching movies on SideReel that haven’t been releases to Redbox or Netflix yet. (Via.)

Video mapping is the new...

I’m catching up on some housekeeping and just now got to this piece. Some nice video mapping work for Charter Communications by Klip Collective (for Fallon), where they performed a digital makeover on a house. One of the things that’s not mentioned much at all on ad blogs is the cost of things. It’s something that gets lost amidst all the eye candy we get sent, but it’s something that should be included to give a little perspective to what things cost. Funny how brands will think nothing of dropping $200K on a spot like this, yet hesitate to spend money on a community manager for their brand on social networks at a third of that cost.

Btw...

- Taking out the trailer trash.
- What I said about agencies and Valentine’s Day self-promos? Yeah, like that. (Via.)
- Wait, what? More! (Via.)
- This is very Swedish.

Sad Khloe.

She has everything she could ever want and yet, she’s sad. Looks like she could use some meme time!* So yeah, the Oscars are coming up and based on her performance in this T-Mobile spot, there’s still time for a write-in vote for Khloe. Cue Kardashians vs. Baldwins on Family Feud in 3... 2...

*Why not – it’s about the only thing this brood hasn’t appeared in.

The Spammies.

Forget the Grammys, we need an award show for internet noise. And they said good spam is hard to find. Danielle crafts it! For a recent Super Bowl blog post here, she attempted to work in a personal story with product attributes. Junior writers, take note:

I love taking road trips especially with my three best friends, it's always a guaranteed good time and memories to last a lifetime. Since technology has changed, road-tripping has become so much more convenient. No more getting lost in the boondocks and forget about going east instead of west. Sometimes while driving, I wake up to find that we are still on the freeway in an undisclosed location at 2am in the morning but instead of being a tad bit bored with the landscape, I pull out my iPad and use my DISH Remote Access app that allows me to watch live or pre-recorded shows that are on my DVR. It's great, I don't have to wake up my friends and I just plug in my headphones and keep the volume to a minimum and I catch up on my favorite shows like CSI or Criminal Minds and it's wonderful. I highly recommend that people come and explore the endless possibilities with DISH Network and experience the countless values that DISH offers!

*Danielle

Contextual Gladness.

Yep, these usually don’t turn out well, but this time, Diesel scores! (Ouch!) Talk about being on brand.

Introducing the iCondom app.

Sorta. TDA’s pet project Sir Richard’s Condom Co. is back for Valentine’s Day with some special iLove including a “Significant Other” iPhone app that turns Jobs’ anti-porn device into a personal massager. Which, *leads* to condom use, depending on how many people are participating in the *call* (iWash not included so please bleach before letting someone make a real call.)

The Grammys were on last night.

Or so I heard. YO, CHECK OUT NELLY. While you weren’t skipping past the AARP lineup performing live – only group missing was the Sugar Hill Gang – did ya catch some dame solid Target spots? (After the jump.) No of course not. You were to caught up in the Twitter buzz talking about the show INSTEAD OF WATCHING IT. *Raises hand* Big TV events driving the Twitter again. LOOK AT THE FIERCE EMINEM.

Happy V Day.

How many senior citizen Valentine’s Day self-promo vids do I get? NOT MANY. So here you go, from your friends at Lucky.

Laphroaig scotch revels in winter... and kicking you in the teeth.

Subtle for a whiskey, eh? IT IS NOT, I ASSURE YOU.

(Via: Ladeson.)

Btw...

- Happy V Day. (Via.)
- Why the Grammys are corrupt?
- Insanity Plates.
- I live on Awesome.
- The new Starbucks Trente holds an entire bottle of wine.
- Kanye West infographic.

The way they were.

Forget Gap logo changes! We have website issues here people. 1996 to be exact. Yes digital natives, everything was 300 pixels wide with left nav.

“Was that cinnamon you put in the dessert?”

Not exactly. Don’t you mean, cinnemoan! (OH! Here all weak, breakfast lovers.) K-Y Intense subtitles get right to the point, know what I mean? Happy Valentine’s day.

Sure Mac, sure.

An old PSA on food and drinking safety from the 1970s. Awesome.

Jim Beam says...

Get a celebrity to shill for your brand. Nothing else matters. Actually, I’m saying that. Seriously. If I had the money on a brand, it’s what I’d do. I love Willem Defoe, but this could be for any spirits brand that says they’re bold.

(Via.)

(Agency: Strawberry Frog.)

Btw...

- Things he will do for $5.
- Bake a cake for Darwin.
- What happens in Geek Fight Club...
- Moon trees.
- Flamethrower gloves.
- Stealthcutz.

“Do you wanna tweet about it?”

The stabs at social networks continue by a brand which advertises for its service that lets you access... social networks. Oh the delicious irony, that. Never let it be said that dads take the hit for being technically clueless in ads. That aside, and the likelihood that I will never have occasion to use Sprint, this is one damn skippy performance by a clueless mom. Next to T-Mobile’s realtor Ronnie Briskman, I’d give that shit an Oscar for comedy. If, the Oscars recognized comedy.

Subscribe to the Tea Party magazine now and get the windbreaker.

BECAUSE WINDS OF CHANGE ARE COMING. While supplies last of course. Hey, why not, the Tea Party already has its own cable channel and AM radio station(s), so why not a magazine. I wonder if they’ll have any year-end double issues? Perhaps some QR codes to unlock some Ted Nugent bonus materials. The name is a little long there with Tea Part Review.com magazine? It’s also a little tough to read the text on the cover too. Remember kids: Don’t let your type tread on me.

Btw...

- Twitterbook? (Via.)
- Hipster Ariel.
- Why you freaks unsubscribe from stuff online. (Via.)
- Join the Fish Fight. (Via.)
- Social media sucka!
- No more Guitar Hero.
- Richard Lewis is now Geddy Lee.
- How ’bout them Cowboys seating arrangement lawsuit(s)! (Via.)

The internet is not free.

Are some countries more censor-happy than others? Yep. But that also doesn’t mean the free countries aren’t without their share of other problems online, such as bandwidth issues or being from a country known as spam haven (hello South Africa). Here’s some internet Spiderman twisted logic por vous: With great freedom comes great responsibility.

(Via.)

When your product kills itself.

What do you do when your product is a staple of illegal activity that you also profit handsomely from? That’s the longstanding challenge Rustoleum apparently decided to take on as they switch to a new type of nozzle for their spray paint, that in effect, will likely kill business among their most hardcore users. Oops... or maybe they woke up one day and decided enough was enough: time to phase out of the graffiti game and focus on another demo. Like... the weekend project warrior who wants to throw a fresh coat of paint on their patio furniture. Yeah, I could totally see that being a bigger draw.

(Via.)

This Valentine’s Day, be romantic, not frantic.

Aka, learn before you burn! It’s no “Shapoopi!“ but we may just be witnessing the Golden Age of fire safety copywriting. The Deathscare Squad as they’re affectionately known at State Farm returns with yet another holiday-themed threat assessment warning for Valentine’s Day. (Beats those STUPID pajama commercials.) So to recap: don’t deep fry a turkey in your bed with your significant others. Okay, cool. Got it.

Pervy ACs costing you money?

(Agency: Tierney.)

If they say so...

  

The Duke would never use Twitter.

Nor should he:

“Hi there,

To celebrate the release of the seminal 1969 Oscar-winning Western True Grit on Blu-ray (it’s out 7th February 2011) John Wayne gets off his horse and logs onto Twitter!

To mark the four decades since this classic was first released The Duke will be online on Twitter for four hours, this Friday 11th February – allowing film fans to find out exactly What Would John Wayne Do…

Twitterers will be able to ask any questions they have about life, love and everything else by directly tweeting at @TrueG_JohnWayne, but make sure the tweet uses the following hashtag #wwjwd. John Wayne will reply by offering a solution to your everyday dilemmas in the inimitable style of Rooster Cogburn. The John Wayne agony aunt directing the troubled people of Great Britain in 2011 to live their life by the moral code of a cowboy – is this the solution to our problems?

- JW Agony Aunt will be online from High Noon on 11th February 2011
- @TrueG_JohnWayne
- #wwjwd
- http://whatwouldjohnwaynedo.tumblr.com/

Please get in touch with any requests/reviews copies/ or further information: (Redacted)

All the best,
(Redacted)”

“We Built This City” lives on forever.

Jodie Foster is sad. In case you’re worried that we’ll run out of bandwidth, like, ever... apparently not, given the size of our combined “noise” in the scheme of things. Okay, so it’s not internet bandwidth per se, but that’s a lot of radio signal my friends.

(Via.)

When duty calls, make fun of it.

Nice meta deconstruction of the FPS* genre. Uber-popular gaming title Call of Duty gets the piss taken out of it, as they say with Duty Calls. “Blah, blah, blah, SECRET MISSION.” If you need a gaming 12-step because you play so much or just started, you’ll laugh, you’ll cry.

(Via.)

*Google it, I don’t have time to keep bailing you out like this.

Btw...

- Twitter ain’t private. (Via.)
- Bike parkour.
- Inappropriate album cover of the week. (Via.)
- Long copy ftw.
- Jetpacks steps down, sorta.

The other Super Bowl spots.

Those would be the regional spots that ran wherever you happened to live. In my case, South Carolina threw up my personal choice for wtf? YellaWood.com had been running outdoor down here prior to the game, with their bold Yella Fella cowboy hero and no other clues. (The brand makes pressure treated Souther pine.) The spot above called “The Lady from Silver Gulch” though ran several times and continued its Western saga theme, which qualifies it for a Wtf? in my book. There’s wood everywhere and a Blazing Saddles approach that makes you wonder.

The only Super Bowl recap you’ll ever need.

Or not. It was awesome, wasn’t it? Borrowed interest and crassness working overtime. (Teleflora, Cars.com and GoDaddy were truly the most embarrassing.) Everything that everyone ever said about it is in one of the links here. My vote for best spot? The Fox promos weren’t too bad, like the one above swiping some lineage from the classic Coke spot with Mean Joe Green. Overall though, a more inconsistent Super Bowl Ad Class of 2011, owing more to the placement of spots and the duration of the halftime show. To that end, NASCAR and Fox promos seems to break up the brand flow of everyone else.

Yes the event has moved beyond halftime to include ads running throughout all quarters as well as the week before, but the *wonder* of the ads as this main event at halftime seems to have been abandoned. I kept waiting for that big block of badass, but it never came. That’s not a problem when you have a halftime act able to pick up the slack either, but Black Eyed Peas were simply overwrought with wth?

Guns N’ Roses covers and shrieking, party of five, your stage is ready.

Super Bowl 45 TV commercial madness.

(MOST) ALL THE SUPER BOWL ADS & COVERAGE THERE IS:

_________________________________________________

OPINIONS & BREAKDOWNS OF THE ADS:

_________________________________________________

TWITTER SAID:
 


..

#brandbowl...#sbads11...#sb45...#sbads...#sb45ads...#superbowlads...
#admeter...#sbxlv...#superbowl...#nfl...#steelers...#packers
_________________________________________________

MORE SUPER BOWL TALK AND SUCH HERE:

 




Tags: super bowl ads, super bowl 45

AdVerve 64 – Revolution 3.0: Sandmonkey on Egypt, the Internet and the Connected Fight

Egyptians hold shoes up high following Mubarak's speech on February 1. Showing the sole of your shoe is "a grave insult in Arab Muslim countries," sayeth MSNBC. Weird, no Kenneth Coles in sight.

Play the show now.

Aka, the revolution will be retweeted.* We’ve brought you a very special show this week. Renegade freedom blogger Mahmoud Salem (on Twitter as @sandmonkey), takes a good hour out of his revolution schedule to give us the skinny on what’s going on in Egypt (which is here, not here). As he says in the interview, “Every generation has a moment.” To that point, we dive deeper past Elliot Spitzer’s CNN segment on him to where this all started. Salem was thrown into prison last Thursday for carrying medical equipment to injured protesters at Tahrir Square in Egypt. That same morning, he'd published this incendiary piece of blogging magic, and his blog was consequently shut down most of that day. After a hefty beating and the destruction of his goods (including his car), he was released when the police failed to put two and two together identity-wise.

Here’s what happens when...

You piss off your ex-...

 
















(Via.)