January 2008
2007 Adland Roundup - A look back at the year in... →
Hello boys and girls of Adland! Yes, it’s that time of year again when we do the Adland roundup and list the year’s best and worst ads.
My, my, I can’t believe time flies when you’re having fun - can you believe we’ve been doing this since 2003. Nostalgics may start their tour of previous years Round Ups here: 2003 part 1 and 2003 part 2. Adland roundup 2004, the...
December 2007
Wired: Vote for the Sexiest Geeks of 2007 →
So, Researcher nominated me to the gender-unbiased third annual Wired News Sexiest Geeks contest - and since my exbf (who is a proper true wizard all hail his mighty strong kung fu übergeek) just emailed me with a laugh saying “guess who I’m voting for!”, I thought, what the hell - I might as well tell you all that I’m on that list.
Vote for the Sexiest Geeks of 2007 -...
NY Times: Innovative Minds Don’t Think Alike →
This NY Times article helps explain why it’s so hard to think outside of the box…the box that you created!
As our knowledge and expertise increase, our creativity and ability to innovate tend to taper off. Why? Because the walls of the proverbial box in which we think are thickening along with our experience.
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Insurers troubled by Toyota campaign which "incite... →
Something strange happens at this time of year. People begin to take ads literally.
Seems that not everyone is liking the new Toyota campaign where people are shown doing all sorts of silly things in order to get rid of their old car. They’re killing them off by pushing them off rooftop parkings, cutting them in half with the help of the snowplow guy, chainsawing down trees next to it...
Derren Brown dupes ad guys →
Ladies and gentlemen, this is how Badlanders are created, it’s a simple fact that input affects the output and if you see the same old stuff everyone else sees, you’ll come up with the same old stuff everyone else comes up with.
AMPU - A More Perfect Union - print 2007 →
The Martin Agency, in Richmond VA created this in order to address racial aand religious bias against Muslims in the United States. See full ad inside.
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“Best” “Internet” Marketing Blog Posts 2007(is there a noninternet kind?) http://tinyurl.com/2dvuyg
Top Ad Music of 2007 →
Adtunes.com just published the Top Ad Music of 2007 — our annual listing of ad music trends from the past year.
"I've got an idea for a commercial to sell...." →
I don’t know what has prompted this sudden influx of emails where people alert me to the fact that they have a commercial idea that they wish to sell, but something has happened recently to increase these emails to one or two a week rather than one or two every six months. Perhaps Adland is listed on some commercial producers site somewhere? Your guess is a good as mine. Winner of the most...
What do online video ads on video sites cost? →
webvideoreport.com has a bit on this - advertising on YouTube requires a $50,000 spend within 90 days for example. Other user generated content sites like Metacafe ranges between $10 CPM to $35 CPM, Break.com placements range from $10 CPM to $35 CPM and a pre-roll video in the music section of MySpace.com (15-second video with a 300x250 pixel ad unit) carries a $25 CPM. On “Telly...
Dutch fireworks ad featuring islamic terrorist... →
The Dutch government’s consumer safety institute firework safety message campaign featuring a spoof Islamist terrorist group has been critisized for being insensitive and depicting a negative stereotype of the muslim community reports The Guardian.
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Must get out and shop - afeared of the crowds.
TAXI creates coats for homeless people that... →
15 below project was born on Taxi’s 15th anniversary. With it TAXI want too create ideas that give back to the community. Their first initiative is survival gear for the homeless - a jacket lined with pockets that can be filled with newspaper which keeps people warn even when temperatures drop to -15 degrees. The coat is made from Aquamax, a waterproof, breathable fabric laminated with a...
Christmas campaign for Pause ljud och bild. →
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Polycell ambient stunt at the Tate. →
Considering that practically everyone has been talking about the huge gash in the floor of the Tate, Doris Salcedo’s 3ft deep and 584ft long installation called Shibboleth - affectively known as “Doris’ crack” - it was only a matter of time before someone hijacked it to try and crack into the papers with their brand.
London creative team Max Bugoyne and James Beswick did...
Folkway Music Guitar Store Holiday Plectrums -... →
Dressing up a guitar player’s best friend in Xmas gard makes a campaign. Ok, it’s kind of sweet, I’ll give them that.
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Webster's word of the year: w00t! →
Congratulations all copywriters. Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year 2007 is w00t! so now you may use it. This means all other words have been done now that we’ve officially run out of alphabet and begun using numbers in spelling. N34t. The loosing lolcats could not be reached for comments but I suspect they are plotting revenge. Sneaky cats.
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Adland best of 2007 - the TV show titles. →
Honestly, there were some great shows this year, which means great titles and after a long hard think these are the two titles that Adland (and I) loved the mostest of them all.
Dexter main title design
A mundane morning turns sinister in the hands of Digital Kitchen with their design for Dexter which won a well deserved Emmy. Shaving, cooking eggs, making plunger coffee and even tying shoes...
Coca Cola - Pin Up posters - (2007) (New Zealand) →
Sure, FINE, damn you Kiwis just rub it in you have summer down there while we freeze our bums off up here. Just rub it in won’t you. In fact, rub it in with a series of coke pinup posters featuring bikini clad babes frolicking with giant bottles why don’t you? Go ahead. See if I care.
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Jack Zander narrowly misses 100 years age →
Sad news today as the man who introduced the ad world to animation, and enriched the 50’s 60s and 70s with stylishly animated commercials for brands such as Dime Savings Bank, Alka-Seltzer, Green Giant vegetables, Crest toothpaste and Jax Beer and many more - Jack Zander - has driven his BMW bike to the dirt road in the sky. The New York Times Obituary tells the tale of how Jack got his...
Turn your text (or tweets) into music: http://p22.com/musicfont/
P22 Music Text Composition Generator ( A free... →
Pew Internet: Teens and Social Media →
Pew Internet: Digital Footprints →
The number of networks and sites you join is inversely proportional to the time you have to participate in them.
Socially Adept →
poor dame judy dench! →
@Armano: http://tinyurl.com/2g8snx
About to be reviewed. Deep breath.
Cops pull over decent drivers just to give them... →
An update on that Starbucks Holiday cheer - presumably happens in drive-throughs - now we learn that cops in California pull over drivers who have done nothing wrong just to hand them a Starbucks coupon. Get the hell away, really? How would you react if a police car went all blinking lights on you, pulled you over and then handed you a coupon for a decaf latte?
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Laugh at the Web Clips, Then Buy the Gel - New... →
Widgets are the new ad kid on the block | CNET... →
Super Bowl Ad News →
The New York Post reports that Will Ferrell may team up with Budweiser for a spot during the upcoming Super Bowl XLII on February 3rd.
The comedian is talking to beer brewer and perennial Super Bowl advertiser Anheuser-Busch about appearing in a spot during the Feb. 6 game on Fox, sources told The Post.
Assuming the spot makes the cut, Ferrell would appear as his character from the upcoming...
Adnerdery - slogans and perl. →
There might only be a handful of adgrunts here who’ll love this combo - the Ad Code, psuedo perl code advertising slogans where you have to guess the brand. Everyone, give it try, you’ll score better than you think.
I got them all right, but the winary had me thinking there for a while, Imiust admit - that’s such an old tagline it took ages before it came to mind.
Your score:...
Burger king Whopper Freakout is freaking everyone... →
Hey kids! It’s yet another Crispin Porter + Bogusky Burger King campaign where we’re hotly divided on whether the commercials are brilliant, blah or a bucket of bullpucky! Yay! Watch and decide for yourself!
Other people have been calling them misgony King (marketingwhore), George Parker of adscam is wondering Why is the “Whopper Freakout” freaking me out?, Community guy...
Execs: Web Ad Spending Should Be Higher -... →
40 Customer Wins Mark LinkShare’s First Year in... →
Established UK Brands Join the LinkShare Affiliate Network
LONDON – December 18, 2007 – LinkShare, a global pay per action (PPA) affiliate, search and lead generation marketing company, is celebrating a successful first year in the UK, having gained a total of - 40 new customer partnerships (25 of them exclusive) since its official launch in August 2006.
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More Yuletide cheer - games, poop and decorating... →
Watch out for the game Polar Peril which has sucked the life out of the teeny amount of billable hours we have this week anyway, all the adlisters are currently wagering who might get the highest score. I think the top player in our posse right now is Marcus Engstrand with 441.
Then we got this steaming warm greeting dropped off by RobHo. Gee, thanks.
Decorate a stranger this on the other hand...
List Lust baby - the countdown of 2007, in list... →
Time magazine lists the top ten ads of the year, in youtube-vision.
New York Times: A Year for Quick Hits and Fast Flops as Campaigns Broke New Ground
Adweek: Top ten adtrends 2007
Digital media wire: Analysis: The Top 10 Most Overused Metrics of 2007
And of course Campaign has a list of the top ten ad turkeys of 2007 - but if you’re not a subscriber Swedish tradepress Resumé has gone...
Pay it forward Starbucks Holiday cheer -... →
I didn’t even know that Starbucks had drive-throughs, I mean if they do then why the hell does Britney Trainwreck Spears keep stopping for her double-grande-3000-calorie grande-venti-fix with whip cream while hordes of paparazzi cover her every step? Oh. Nevermind.
I did know that Starbucks had a Cheer Pass promotion:
The cards were handed out at Starbucks locations last month, and this...
Link Lust: Been around the world and I, I, I I... →
So, boingboing has been tipped to yet-another-website ripped off story where the originator found the copy via the copies dumb-arse hotlinking of the original sites images. So what does the original site do? Replaces all of the images with color co-ordinated pictures of dildos. Oh how terribly original, not - but at least they bothered to make it stylish! you thought we wouldn’t notice is a...
Really silly ad for the Ukranian army - Tank... →
Please tell me this ad with its not so subtle “tank cannons are phallic!” symbolism isn’t for real. It does direct viewers to kontraktnik.mil.gov.ua at the end so it just might be though. If this is really how they lure young men to the Ukrainian army, those young men must be pretty disappointed that they aren’t roaming the country in their awesomely cool tanks picking up...
Asterisks hunters for Bright House Networks →
Brent Harris has directed two spooky spots for Fry Hammond Barr, Orlando where the common house-asterisks and the asterisks found in the wild are depicted as the plague that they really are…. Bright house says “We’re not big fans of the asterisk or any of the fine print surprises that go with it. And apparently you aren’t either.” There’s a cute website asteriskhunters.com...
DDB Malaysia "waterworld" ambient underwater... →
From Naga DDB Malaysia comes this interesting twist keeping Regional Environmental Awareness at the top of mind while taking a relaxing swim in a public pool. They’ve painted the poster straight on the tiles of pool. Or printed? I’m not actually sure how they did it, I just know they did.
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Zebra crossings as ad space in Italy →
we just got this note in our inbox:
Zebra Crossing is now one of the most popular element of guerilla marketing. This time, it has been used in order to draw attention to the “Settimane dell’Architettura e del Design”, an international appointment between designers, architets and passionates. MTN Company, a brave and innovative integrated communication agency of South Italy,...
Lowe Australia caught plagarising quantum... →
Two months ago, Scott Aaronson discovered that an Australian Ricoh advert from Lowe had taken it’s dialog straight from his quantum mechanics lecture.
Ricoh Printers - Smart Models - (2007) :30 (Australia)
Now Scott and Lowe have reached a settlement, to make good for their boo-boo, Lowe Australia are now donating $2,000 of the settlement to BrisScience and $3,000 to the Physics Demo...
Dexter viral campaign proves to be one of the most... →
That Dexter Viral campaign created by London agency Ralph which according to them “proved so controversial that Ralph received calls of complaint from the public and London’s Scotland Yard Police” is still quite sticky months after its release. The premise it the fun personalization trick, where you can type in a friends name and freak them the hell out used in many a viral campaign before...
well…damn. Need to contemplate the maximum levels of bandwidth that is realistic. :/
Malkovich campaign for Sony VAIO notebooks →
Cut + Run’s newly promoted editor, Ben Campbell, recently finished editing 36 short films for Sony Vaio notebooks, which are part of a unique project that captures the creative influences of a unique character: John Malkovich, the Academy Award - nominated actor, producer and director.
This collaboration captures the unique world of John Malkovich and the stimulation and creative thinking...
Link Lust: Linking around the worlds smallest xmas... →
Makethelogobigger has a story filled with hope for all of us, the video of the great art director escape. “Gimme a mac, I’ll do it myself!”
George Parker Interviews Missy founder of the suicide girls about what makes a community “sticky”, what makes a community work and what doesn’t, and other things.
These links brought to you by the worlds smallest Xmas...