What has Donny Deutsch been up to lately? (1)
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It doesn't include any swimsuit pics, but an article about Donny Deutsch in the new issue of Success magazine is revealing in its own way. Among the tidbits: In his current role at Deutsch Inc., he "considers himself more of a 'spiritual leader' " than a "buttoned-up company chairman"; while doling out tough advice to would-be entrepreneurs who watch his CNBC show, The Big Idea, he "believes in being honest, not mean"; his "very specific ...
Some waterslides are more fun than others (1)
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With a Barclaycard, you zip through life with ease. There you are at the library, picking up some DVDs—then suddenly you're at the supermarket, snagging a banana. At least, this is what BBH London spent a load of money trying to convey in the commercial above. (See the making-of video here.) But jetting around on a waterslide isn't that easy—you never know where you'll end up. This is the theme of the cheeky homage below ...
Anti-drug ad campaign is now also anti-bug (1)
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McKinney has whipped up a handful of new Above the Influence anti-drug ads for the ONDCP starring oversized animals and insects dressed as humans. See all three ads here. The one above shows a pair of slug buddies about to do some serious lines of salt. In the others, a couple of rat-girls prepare to pop some Rat-X, and some slacker wasps get set to inhale some bug spray. The headline on each ad reads, ...
42 Below vodka gives up on sense entirely (1)
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When you work at Kraft Foods and your boss tells you Kool-Aid is better than freshly squeezed orange juice, he's trying to get you to "drink the Kool-Aid." When an agency called The Glue Society makes an incredibly esoteric spot for the most generic of products (vodka—aka, pure alcohol mixed with water), and they tell you (in the inane tagline) they did it "Because we can," are they trying to get us to "sniff the ...
'Simpsons' gets crazy cool with crosswords (1)
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On Sunday, in the sixth episode of its 20th (!) season, The Simpsons went crossword crazy in a cross-promotion with The New York Times and the Hartford Courant. The episode featured the voices of renowned crossword creators Merl Reagle (whose puzzles appear in the Courant and elsewhere) and Will Shortz, puzzle master of the Times. The crossword in Sunday's Times featured a special message "crucial to the episode" (though the episode was not crucial for ...
Motrin targets moms but shoots self in foot (2)
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If you're going to launch an online ad on a Saturday and spark outrage among your target audience, you might want to plan to work the weekend. Motrin caused the aforementioned fuss with an ad aimed at moms who practice "baby wearing," the fine art of carrying your kid in a sling or backpack. The spot comes off sounding pretty insulting to these moms, whom it implies are treating their babies like fashion accessories. When ...
R/GA channels Mao with its little red books (1)
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During a quick trip to R/GA yesterday, I was offered a flu shot (don't ask) and a copy of the first in a series of "monographs" that the digital shop is producing on subjects that are important to it. Naturally, subject No. 1 is ... R/GA itself. What is unusual is the theme R/GA is borrowing. It calls the series "Little Red Books" and is distributing them to all employees. This is, of course, the ...
Nature thanks you for unscrewing America (1)
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How many arms does it take to screw in an environmentally friendly light bulb? In this Unscrew America spot, the answer is one, and it belongs to Zack and Miri Make a Porno star Elizabeth Banks. But she has eight backups on hand, so to speak, in the form of perhaps the most adorable and disturbing special-effects octopus ever created. John Lutz of 30 Rock does a good job voicing the creature, whose gestures and ...
U.S. getting its own atheism bus campaign (3)
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Atheists seem to have a thing for buses. We recently wrote about the bus ads in London which proclaimed, "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life." Along these same lines, Washington, D.C., is now getting its own atheist bus campaign, headlined, "Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake." The advertiser is the American Humanist Association, which is putting $40,000 into the holiday campaign. An AHA rep says ...
'Sopranos' does pretty well on election map (1)
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Venables Bell & Partners created this election-themed ad touting Tuesday's release of the complete-series DVD set of HBO's The Sopranos. On the map, Obama and McCain are represented by blue and red. They haven't won a state, but the show, represented by black, has run the board. Maybe the agency should have gone with some other color—any other color—to brighten things up. How about plaid? Gangsters like plaid, right? Look, there was no reason to ...
Wipe your backside with Mr. Alec Baldwin (2)
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Modernista! is rolling out (ha ha!) a toilet-paper-based promo for 30 Rock in The Netherlands, where it airs on Comedy Central. I dunno. I'm holding out for Tina Fey. —Posted by David Gianatasio
Inter-utensil romance blooms at Kona Grill (1)
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AdFreak's top honors this week in the Kinkiest Restaurant Ad category go to the Kona Grill chain (and its Minneapolis-based agency, Gabriel deGrood Bendt) for this blackmailesque photo of fork and chopsticks in bed together. The idea is that Kona Grill is "a place where opposites attract," though it's not self-evidently obvious that forks and chopsticks are opposites (rather than, say, variations on the same theme). Another ad in the series pursues the illicit-affair theme ...
'Dirty Jobs' really rubbing off on Mike Rowe (1)
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Sometimes I wonder if I could be doing more with my life professionally. All my performance reviews say no, as have numerous recruiters. Still, it's just human nature to kick back in the cube and imagine the thrill and excitement of the "road not taken." At such times, I find it comforting to consult this poster touting Dirty Jobs With Mike Rowe on the Discovery Channel. See the full, disgusting poster here. It reminds me ...
He'll save the day right after this cigarette (1)
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Utah's Department of Health has a new anti-smoking campaign courtesy of Crowell Advertising that targets boys 12 and under. To appeal to these pre-teens, Crowell created a superhero called Smokerman. A pack-a-day kinda guy, Smokerman is "the one who can't." In the five low-budget but fairly amusing spots, Smokerman fails to save the world again and again due to his unfortunate habit. The press release says the goal is to appeal to kids without spouting ...
Pomegranate Phone: the new iPhone killer? (2)
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To say it slices and dices might be a stretch, even for this amazing little device. No, all the Pomegranate Phone does is make coffee, project movies and business presentations in HD, and translate from any language into any other language. It's also an electric razor and a harmonica. Impressed? Well, OK, it doesn't exist. You can't have everything. But actually, in Nova Scotia you can have (mostly) everything. Yes, this is the charming non-sequitur ...
Don't drive as obliviously as you watch TV (1)
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Back in March, Transport for London decided that the road wasn't safe for motorcycles because other drivers aren't observant enough to share it with them. Apparently this is still an issue, if the group's latest spot (above) from agency WCRS is any indication. I didn't catch all 21 changes, but one thing I did notice is that the opening piano ditty is way too cheerful for a murder scene. Were they trying to play The ...
Don't let your kids watch that German porn (1)
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The tagline on this NSFW animated spot for a German adult-movie channel roughly translates to something like: "They see it. Their children don't." That's meant to be a reference to the channel's evidently strident parental controls. In the ad, it's illustrated by those familiar and beloved children's cartoon characters Vagina Chicken, Sodomy Horse and Penis Snowman, the latter of which gives me new respect for Frosty's magic hat. This is a nice ad, creatively speaking, ...
