Adland

Milk Men: The Mad Men parody

Dabitch — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:58:06 +0000

Milk men: Get ready for history, style, passion and drama, all delivered right to your doorstep.
Milk Men - A Mad Men Parody

Atom.com: Funny Videos | Spoofs | TV & Movie Spoofs

Milk Men parodies mad men to a teet. (sorry).

Forget Proposition 8 - lets make divorce illegal.

Dabitch — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:35:32 +0000

You said “Til death do us part.” You’re not dead yet.
http://rescuemarriage.org/ have decided to tackle the issue raised by last years Proposition 8 by doing the classic "zig-zag" Luke Sullivan favors. If those who argued for Proposition 8 last year were saying that gay marriage should be banned because it ruins the sanctity of marriage and the family unit - then clearly divorce must be made illegal in California. Zing! In order to get this proposed voter initiative on the 2010 ballot, supporters of the initiative must collect nearly 700,000 signatures in order to qualify it for a vote.

Two talking head PSA's in the style we're so used to have been created and are currently making the rounds. On the site rescuemarriage.org you can pick up banners, t-shirts and help rally support in various ways as well as keep up with all the press mentions. The site is done entirely with a straight face, and I must say: well played sir.

2010 California Marriage Protection Act PSA - (2009) :72 (USA)

RescueMarriage.org is the brain-child of concerned Christian and political activist John Marcotte, who felt strongly that Prop 8 did not go far enough in protecting traditional marriage. With the help of attorney’s and friends, Marcotte is attempting to ban divorce in the State of California.

2010 California Marriage Protection Act PSA 0x2 - (2009) :76 (USA)

Daffy's - “Fitting Dance" - (2009) 3:26 (USA)

robert — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 13:19:21 +0000

Paranoid US Directors AB/CD/CD Create the First In-Theater Live Advertisement
AB/CD/CD collaborated with agency Johannes Leonardo NY on an ad that paired a live performance with live action footage for the retailer, Daffy’s. The directorial collective, a recent addition to the Paranoid US roster, conceived an entertaining scenario that encompassed the agency’s vision in relation to the screen.
“The agency wanted direction that captured a new, fresh style. AB/CD/CD was a perfect choice as they pulled from their extensive music video background and trendsetting lifestyle”, said Producer Janice Biggs. The collective recently directed Lily Allen’s “Fuck You” and brought a similar upbeat mindset with strong color palette, scheme, and casting.
This new take on an advertisement was a challenge in more ways than one. While the production crew was given a two-month execution time, they ended up with three jobs on their hands: a stage production, a multi-camera shoot and the task of synthesizing the two.
Additionally, costume and choreography played an essential role in AB/CD/CD’s cutting-edge concept. With a synchronized dance arrangement incorporating layers of clothing, the directors and designers paid significant attention to costumes that impacted the way the dancers moved. Choreographer Noemie Lafrance, a frequent contributor on Feist’s music videos, brought a professional artistry, concentrating significantly on timing and demanding rehearsals.
The performance ran at The Ziegfeld Theater in Manhattan in late October, most recently October 30 and 31.

Paranoid US is a production company and design studio specializing in live action, graphic design and animation. With an extensive roster of European talent, Paranoid US brings a distinct aesthetic to the advertising landscape for such prominent brands as Playstation, Nike, Coke and Citroen. One of the most awarded production companies, Paranoid’s artists and directors have created winning projects for numerous Cannes Lions, Art Directors Club and AICP awards. The company began in Paris in 1995, branching stateside in 2003 with Paranoid US in Los Angeles. The Paranoid brand has extensive global reach, with offices in Paris, Los Angeles, London and Sao Paulo and representation in Hamburg and Sydney. www.paranoidus.com

Killer Hamster Trend

Dabitch — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 12:31:47 +0000

To be honest, I don't think this is much of a Badlander, but I hafta keep up my title of most hated person on the ad-intarwebs in order to keep my rightful place on your dart boards, so here ya go.

The recently released HiFi-klubben hamster ad created by Lowe Brindfors, Stockholm and shot by Bacon, Copenhagen has been accused in emails to the hostmaster of borrowing its murderous hamster legs from G4/Midnight Spank. Lets watch, shall we. Get the the popcorn.

Hifi Klubben - Hamster - (2009) :40 (Sweden)

And, as it aired back in April, the G4 midnight spank from BBDO/ New York and shot by Daniel Kleinman at Kleinman Productions.

G4/Midnight Spank - Bedroom / Kidney - (2009) :30 (USA)

Fair enough, they both have deadly hamsters in it. Had they been white bunny rabbits with pointy teeth the Rabbit of Caerbannog comparisons would never end. What do you think, total coincidence or borrowed idea?

International Olympic Committee - Olympic Spirit - (2009) :30 (USA)

Dabitch — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:57:04 +0000

This spot , directed by Johnny Kelly of Nexus for Cole & Weber United & IOC, uses stop motion to animate hundreds of individual paper collages, each hand-cut and torn. In one continuous shot, we are taken on a journey as each Olympic symbol seamlessly segues into the other. Plus the flute music reminded me of the whistling in "Five Years Time" from Noah and the whale so now I'm humming that song. damn earring that one

Scamville: the social gaming ecosystem from hell must not go unchecked.

Dabitch — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:40:31 +0000

Techcrunch sounds the alarm regarding those shady shady games online: Scamville: The Social Gaming Ecosystem Of Hell

....And some users aren’t dumb, either. For every user who gets tricked into some fake mobile subscription, there’s another who can beat the system. That’s where the legitimate advertisers, like Netflix and Blockbuster, get hit. Users sign up for a free trial with a credit card, get their game currency, then cancel the membership and start over. Netflix has a policy of only paying for a user once. But game developers use a complex set of partner chains to launder these leads and try to get them through for payment. Netflix sees an overall lowering of quality and pays less for leads. Game developers, desperate to monetize, then search for ever more questionable offers to make up the difference. In the end, the decent advertisers are out, and only the worst of the worst remain.
Left alone, the system really will slide into a full blown disaster.

Techcrunch is right, and advertisers should take a good long look at this before we "let it go" unchecked like we did with email marketing in the nineties. We all know how well that turned out. The techcrunch post has many updates and extra links - check it.

Watch Anu Shukla from Offerpal Media responds to Michael Arrington's questions that were challenges the ethics of virtual goods offer providers at the VG summit Oct. 24th 2009. "We should get some advertisers here next year" they say, yes, they should.

BARS+TONE Productions - Most Explosive Movie ever made - (2009) :60 (USA)

Dabitch — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 07:57:50 +0000

When BARS+TONE Productions were set to change locations, they decided to leave not with a whimper but with a proper KABLOOEY-bang, and blew up their old offices.

"The office building at 550 Bryant Street exploded after charges were set off. In the wake of the destruction it was discovered that BARS+TONE, the former tenant of the building, demolished the property to leave no trace of its move to a new location. The explosion and escape were caught on film, but no charges have been filed at this time."

Of course, it's all the magic of film and not real, but the people of Bars+Tone are strutting their stuff in sleek black outfits and riding motorcycles in mock Hollywood chases down the streets. Makes you wish you worked there doesn't it?

Guinness - Bring It To Life - (2009) :90 (UK)

Dabitch — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 20:33:31 +0000

This evening a new 90 Guinness spot premiered on UK telly. A spot that had a "rocket scientist" on set working with the special effects team. A shoot that got so cold at one point while shooting the forest scenes in Canada, -30 degrees Celsius, that some of the trees actually snapped. "It took 45 women, 6 days to hand stitch the artificial grass" the trivia sheet doesn't mention how long it would have taken had they used men. (hardyharhar).

Yes, it's a move away from ‘Good Things Come to Those Who Wait’, and it's not Noitulove, in ‘World’ hard working men bring the world to life in visuals that echo that surge and settle motion seen in a glass of the black gold after its poured.
Marketing Manager, Paul Cornell said; “To mark the start of the Bring it to Life era, we wanted to create a truly amazing campaign which will graphically illustrate the life, energy and passion of the brand, its drinkers and found within every great tasting pint of Guinness.”.

Guinness launches its most ambitious ad yet. In a parallel with the way a pint of Guinness is created, the ad shows a group of men bringing "a world to life."
Taking on the extreme challenge of creating this epic ad, Director Johnny Green recruited an elite team including Oscar winning set designer Grant Major and Oscar nominated Director of Photography Wally Pfisher.

Green comments; “This was one of the toughest and most exciting shoots I have worked on. The locations were so remote and extreme that it took days to even get to the site. From high altitudes to underwater shoots, freezing temperatures of -30 combined with the burning glare of the sun off of the snow, every element brought its own unique challenge. With only three weeks of shooting the team pulled together to create this incredible piece of work.”

http://www.bringittolife.tv/ is the website for the campaign.

It took 3 months of preparation before any filming began in Canada
It took 45 women, 6 days to hand stitch the artificial grass
185 rolls of film were used for the NZ production, one of the largest uses of stock for a commercial filmed in NZ
The glacier shot was filmed at 8,500 feet in NZ
Driveable access to the river location in NZ was uninsurable for vehicles and it took 2.5 hours to cover 45km in 4WD vehicles
The underwater shoot in Fiji took 3 days to complete
It took 3-4 months to build the underwater fish scene and 2-3 weeks to build the winch which pulls up the trees
The NZ team brought in a 20 ton off road crane for the rain spinners and portable dams for the rain effects

Moms Against Climate Change - Kids vs Police / Demonstration - (2009) :30 (Canada)

Dabitch — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:09:33 +0000

This PSA is making waves in Canada as part of a new campaign to demand action from Canada’s Prime Minister at the United Nations Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen. I hate to say that kids joining en masse in demonstrations reminds me of the punk-soundtracked ad for KPA Pension stop talking, but there you go, it does. Not surprising that the same thought forms the base-idea for two ads, after all there is an old saying that we only borrow the earth from our children.

Environmental Defence Canada and ForestEthics, two of Canada’s most active environmental groups, have partnered to launch Moms Against Climate Change, a campaign to demand change at the United Nations Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen this December. The initiative is supported by a powerful marketing campaign created by communications company zig, which includes a robust web site and television and online public service announcements.
“If we are going to get the action we need from our government in Ottawa, we need Canadians to start feeling global warming as an emotional, personal issue, and not just an intellectual one. This is what we asked zig to help us do,” said Dr. Rick Smith, Executive Director, Environmental Defence Canada.
“Moms across Canada care passionately about their children, children who are set to inherit the worst impacts of climate change,” said Gillian McEachern of ForestEthics. “When moms use their voting power for stronger climate laws, they become a force government has to listen to.”
Moms Against Climate Change presents global warming in a compelling and relevant way, to reach beyond the scientific audience and speak directly to parents, to their emotions and their fundamental desire to protect their children. The initiative empowers parents by giving them the chance to make their children proud. The message is simple: tell our leaders to take tough action on global warming now.

X-Box Forza Motorsport 3 - An Open Door - (2009) :60 (USA)

Dabitch — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:22:17 +0000

Wanna drive your dream car? You can now.

In this spot you'll find a wide variety of beautiful cars waiting for you with an open door, in the end, all you have to do is pick one.

This ad airs in the following markets - US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Japan...Media Buying is handled by Universal McCann.

A unique opportunity to consummate the car lust that has been building up inside all of us since we were kids. It’s a siren song that calls us headfirst into the world of all things motorsport, and it must be answered. Because whether you’re a racer, tuner, painter, designer or just someone who straight up loves cars, there is something waiting inside this game that will fuel your passion.

Betfair - Pancho - 2009 Australia

PanchoThePinata — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 06:41:23 +0000

Avis - "Billy the Bear" - (2009) :60 (USA)

Dabitch — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:41:48 +0000

Billy the bear, the mascot, hates the smell of his mascot outfit, his lack of peripheral vision, and other downside to his job. He needs a day off. Avis, help him! Perhaps he can rent a getaway car.

Liaison dangereuse - Sexiness for everyone - (2009) :45 (Germany)

Dabitch — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:41:27 +0000

Sexiness for everyone indeed, in this German ad from Glow, a woman spends 40 seconds fixing her underwear before putting on her burqa. Bound to create controversy, though it's quite true that women will spend on nice frilly underwear that men never see. I'm wearing leopard spotted sheer stuff right now, underneath the frumpiest outfit I have 'cuz it's bloody cold outside today.

Swedish team Petter & Kaspar win D&AD 30-day challenge with "D&AD creative search"

Dabitch — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:56:27 +0000

The two Swedish graduates behind the D&AD Creative search, have won the 30 day D&AD challenge and with that a paid placement at London agency AMV.BBDO. Congrats adgrunt petterprinz, one half if the Petter & Kasper team bound for London.

The idea behind creative search, as demoed in this video, is an aggregated search engine that serves the results in form of images, video and even music, making the D&AD website one-stop shopping for inspiration.

D&AD Creative Search demo video

"Petter & Kasper did what creative thinkers should - they saw a problem and solved it," said D&AD President and AMV.BBDO ECD Paul Brazier. "The creativesear.ch positions D&AD where it belongs - as the first place to go for inspiration. Most importantly, they answered the brief."
He continues, "I was impressed by the fact that they understood the tone needed for D&AD and presented it in a clear and dynamic way. Well done to them, I'm looking forward to welcoming this team in to AMV for their work experience."

Over half of Student Awards 2010 briefs include a placement as part of the prize. The winner of the Nokia interactive design brief will land a 3 to 6 months paid placement in their creative department; Which? is offering a 12-week paid placement to one of the winners of the Integrated Communication brief; De Facto will offer a paid placement to a Viral brief winner, along with £1000 if they decide to use the idea. Finally, New British Design will create a prototype and help market at least one of the winning furniture designs.

Link Lust: Bird ad agency comic, wicked safe creative & the beancast

Dabitch — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 07:16:13 +0000

More on the sad demise from the agency that brought us "where's the beef" in Creativity online - Cliff Freeman shutters after 22 years. This is really quite sad.

Hear this? I, along with CC Chapman (@cc_chapman Digital Dads), Len Kendall (@lenkendall the 3 six 5 project) and Bill make the logo bigger Green (@mtlb) were talking about Victors and Spoils, procurement, death of DM and the total non surprise that Seth MacFarlane can be offensive on episode 77 of the beancast. Grab the mp3 right here, or subscribe via itunes. Meanwhile our host Bob Knorpp just got a column published in ad age this week.

Seen this? The Cuckoos "The Cuckoos is a comic strip about a small advertising agency called “Cuckoo Advertising Agency”. "... 'cept they're all birds, right? Not birds, birds as in hawks and crows and, just look at it. hat tip lordFredruk.

After watching this, I must now end everything I say with "wicked, safe, creative"

Windows 7 & Burger King in Japan, a heart stopping combination

Dabitch — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:52:43 +0000

I'm not sure if this brand-pairing and special menu item from BK Japan is for real or an elaborate hoax cooked up by a giggling team at CP+B. Either way it's a show-stopper (and likely a heart stopper), because who in the world would want to eat seven - count 'em, seven - beef patties between a sesame seed bun with BK special sauce? It's a steal at only 777 yen! I'm sure all seven deadly sins are committed by eating one of these.

Hat tip @amuraka

Cinemin Swivel - "Karaoke" - (2009) 0:30 (USA)

shardy — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:04:53 +0000

Twitters lists - and adding ad stuff to them.

Dabitch — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 10:24:32 +0000

When @adland got the twitter lists (weeks before @dabitch did so I had to keep the secret from myself, how confusing) twitter was currently in a wonky period and adding people was quickly becoming a pain. No wonder they waited a while before opening it up to everyone.

I did create two lists that I thought other ad folk might find useful though. ad agencies list contains a whole bunch of ad agencies that I found worldwide. If your agency isn't on here and should be, the new listorious service can tweet me to include you.
I also created adjobs list, because practically everyone i know is looking for work. Again, I could use a please include tweet if I missed a good source.

The other two lists are adpeeps, which are simply people who work in advertising and adgrunts which are people who have their twitter accounts listed here in their adgrunt profiles, and that you see tweeting past on the right hand side of the front page. Getting on the latter is obvious, make sure your twitter account is listed in your profile here.

Save the logos! Or rather, the animals in them.

Dabitch — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 22:36:27 +0000

Lots of animals are struggling to survive. Lots of animals lend their looks to logos. Save Your Logo wants to save all those animals in logos. WWF 2.0? Either way, it's a nice idea.

So far, Lacoste, MAAF and Val d´Isère has joined. There's more animal logo's out there, here's 60 pretty animal logos to feast your eyes on. It's too late for the Toronto Raptors to join.

The Pitch - Ad agency spoof by Cliff Freeman & Partners

Dabitch — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:18:24 +0000

While everyone is wondering what happened with Cliff Freeman and Partners, I thought it best to show you this skit from 2006 that they made. Perhaps there's clues in here.....

Thanks for the laughs, Cliff Freeman & Partners R.I.P.

Dabitch — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 12:03:08 +0000

Looks like the rumors are true, Cliff Freeman and partners is no more.

Adweek reports

The mystery surrounding the ongoing status of Cliff Freeman and Partners deepened as sources said CFP staffers in New York have been packing up boxes and selling equipment and chief financial officer Gail Hoffman Frusciante is leaving the shop today. She did not return calls.
The 22-year-old agency's namesake founder did not respond to Adweek inquiries.

Cliff brought us many great laughs in 30-second spots, and used to be a safe bet on Superbowl for delivering a fun ad. What a sad way to go, with a whimper.

Not strangers to a bang though, their client Quizno's with the rats in the subs* was one of those campaigns that was either loved or hated. Mainly hated. But Cliff Freeman's attempt to save Quizno's with the Baby Bob was another polarizing character (actually, she was baby babette) (* I should point out that the spongemonkeys are not made by Cliff Freeman, but it is a campaign from one of their biggest clients. Some turd keeps trying to comment about this in the rudest way possible so this clarification is for that dimwitted retard alone.)

Quiznos - Coupon (:30) (2004) (US)

But let's not forget, that Cliff Freeman also gave us Where's the Beef way back in 1984.

Wendy's - Where's the Beef x2 - Supervisor & Question - (1984) :60 (USA)

Update : B|Net has some screendumps of strange ongoings on various social media accounts belonging to Cliff people, like the breif moment of claytoncliffCEO account and former creative director Lee Seidenberg started an ad school - $350 for 10 Lessons

The New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation - blob - (2009) :60 (New Zealand)

Dabitch — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 15:09:01 +0000

Colenso BBDO, Auckland and The New Zealand Breast Cancer Foundation have translated breast cancer into a sinister growing blob - because if you ignore the problem, it only grows.

First, they ran a TVC where a seemingly harmless blob grows to take over the family home. The, as an ambient installation they did the same thing "live" so to speak. A rather harmless pinkish blob was ignored by pedestrians for hours, but it only grew... eventually blocking the entire street.

AMF - Butterfly - (2009) :50 (Sweden)

Dabitch — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 23:41:48 +0000

A sad story of a larva's life, until the future arrives. Tagline: The future - a good reason to save for your pension

Eichborn - Banners on flies (for real) - ambient, Germany

Dabitch — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 22:04:20 +0000

Jung von Matt just invented flyvertising. At the recent Frankfurt book convention they attached banners to 200 flies and set them loose to do their jobs as miniature sky ads around the convention center. In German, it's called a Fliegenbanner. Fliegenbanner, what a silly word.

No flies were harmed during this stunt. But a lot of people laughed.

The weight of the banner itself, attached with a string and some sticky stuff that allowed it to eventually fall off without harming the fly, was so that the fly could fly with it, but not very high and they kept landing on visitors. Do flies get short of breath?

Pressrelease: Victors & Spoils Launches First Advertising Agency Built on Crowdsourcing Principles

Dabitch — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:22:38 +0000

OOoh, lookie here. Victor and Spoils just sent us a press release six hours after I posted this. It's pretty late here, so I'm going to go ahead and share it in full with you.

---
John Winsor, Claudia Batten and Evan Fry today announced the launch of a new advertising agency, Victors & Spoils, the world’s first creative ad agency built on crowdsourcing principles. Crowdsourcing is the act of digitally delegating a task to a crowd of people or community that passionately participates in developing a solution. The new agency will provide businesses with creative solutions to their marketing, advertising and product-design problems, by engaging their customers as well as a creative department made up of the world’s most talented people. Perceived crowdsourcing flaws will be addressed through world-class creative direction delivered through the use of the reputation-ranked Victors & Spoils crowd. Winsor will serve as Victors & Spoils’ Chief Executive Officer, Batten assumes the role of Chief Operating Officer and Fry comes on as Chief Creative Officer, effective immediately.

Victors & Spoils represents a fresh agency model that offers brands an alternative to ad agencies and current crowdsourcing platforms by offering the strategic direction, engagement and relationship management that brands rely upon their agencies to provide, as well as delivering the engagement, return on investment and results that marketers seek from crowdsourced solutions.

“The stage is set for a new model to rise up and permanently disrupt the traditional agency structure – whether that’s a digital agency, a traditional agency or some kind of hybrid,” said Fry. “And with the engagement, connectivity and creativity of communities today, this kind of shift is inevitable. Is crowdsourcing the answer? Maybe not in its current state. But if we build on its principles by including planning, strategy, insightful brief creation and great creative direction - while attracting and truly rewarding the best creatives - it can be a fundamental part of what we see as a potential revolution. But you still have to give your clients partnership, guidance and direction. And they still want and need a human face. Oh, and they also have to like you. We believe we can deliver this combination.”

“Claudia, Evan and I realized we were witnessing the perfect storm of digital transparency, consumer involvement, and a growing cost consciousness regarding clients’ budgets that has made crowdsourcing especially timely for today’s marketers,” said Winsor. “Crowdsourcing is not a passing fad, but until now, no crowdsourcing option has included a built-in method to guide clients through both the executional and strategic components.”

Winsor and Fry both come to the agency from Crispin, Porter + Bogusky (CP+B), where they pioneered innovative marketing programs for clients and pushed the boundaries on how “advertising” is defined. Winsor, after selling his company (Radar Communications) to CP+B, was made VP/Executive Director of Strategy and Innovation and led the effort to reinvent planning. He also launched CP+B’s lauded product-innovation department and is the author of three acclaimed innovation and branding books, the last, “Baked In,” co-authored with CP+B’s Alex Bogusky. Fry spent the last seven years entrenched in the creative department of CP+B as an integral part of the agency’s meteoric rise. He helped lead new business wins as well as award-winning campaigns and never-been-done ideas as VP/Creative Director on such brands as Domino’s, Miller, Nike, Burger King and Best Buy. Batten has more than a decade of experience in the technology sector, including four years as a corporate attorney specializing in commercial and technology law, and was a founder of Massive, the company bought by Microsoft in 2006 that launched the first-ever network for video game advertising in the world.

“The recession and the new reality of digital transparency will leave this industry forever changed,” said Batten. “Challenge upon challenge currently faces a marketer looking to take advantage of the increasingly connected digital world we now live in. Identifying who they need to interact with, how to sift through the ideas, how to edit them and identify which are on-brand, etc. Whether through crowdsourcing, social media or some other digital solution, there is no quick fix. Our plan is to paradigm shift, not give some kind of one-size-fits-all ‘stick a whatever label on it and automatically deliver results for cheaper solution.’ What marketers need is a real solution that allows brands to engage with their consumers and get the results they need to move their brand strategy forward. We will deliver that solution.”

About Victors & Spoils
Victors & Spoils is the first advertising agency built on crowdsourcing principles, with both curation and direction. Co-Founders John Winsor, Claudia Batten and Evan Fry launched Victors & Spoils as a strategic alternative to the current advertising landscape and as a marketing partner in crowdsourcing that offers the strategic direction, engagement and relationship management that brands rely on their agencies to provide. Victors & Spoils is located in Boulder, Colorado. For more information, visit: www.victorsandspoils.com.

CP+B players start their own crowdsourced ad agency Victor & Spoils

Dabitch — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 06:59:45 +0000

The Denver Egotist commentators are snarking NEW BOULDER AGENCY, VICTORS & SPOILS, WILL SPECIALIZE IN (GASP) CROWDSOURCING after having read the New York Times article on the CP+B breakaway Victor & Spoils. Welcome To Victors & Spoils. Let’s Change An Industry. "Calling all creatives. At least the ones with spirit."

One comment on TDE smirks: looks like they crowdsourced their website. I’ll give them 1 year to ride the latest little trend, before falling apart and resurfacing elsewhere in separate pieces.

A crowdsourced agency. How will this work in an industry where the inventory goes down the elevator every night? Will it work?

Calling Tarek Nour a copy-cat gets you arrested in Egypt.

Dabitch — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:09:59 +0000

Looks like I'll never set foot in Egypt again, as I did say Tareknour.tv copies pretty much everyone when I badlanded their series of rip-off films after a tip from Marketing 3.0

There was even a facebook group started in the rip-off artists honor, where it almost became an informal contest in finding originals for each film on Tareknour.tv - new pairings were added daily.

The Daily News Egypt reports Student Tamer Azab remains in police custody for allegedly defaming advertising mogul Tarek Nour.

Azab, a student at Misr University for Science and Technology (MUST), was arrested on Oct. 25 for creating a Facebook group accusing Nour of plagiarizing other commercials in promos for his TV channel Al-Qahera Wal Nas (Cairo Centric).
On the online group “Stolen Promos,” Azab claims that the promos for the channel were exact Arabic replicas of other international commercials, adding hyperlinks to the copied commercials.
“When he created this group he started receiving email threats from anonymous sources,” his brother, Maher Azab, told Daily News Egypt.
Last August, a legal representative of the channel filed an legal warning in which he accused Azab of defamation and libel against Nour, as well as violating the channel’s intellectual property rights.
According to his brother, Azab is not doing well. “He is eligible for release and yet they are still holding him…there is no legal justification for detaining him any longer,” he said.

A twitter-pal ( I'm not so sure I should mention his name) tells me that Azab has been released from prison now, after spending a day and a half in a holding cell. He also informs me that Tarek Nour is member of the ruling party and has both money & connections. In short, don't mess with the master copy-cat TV channel unless you want to get arrested in Egypt. Wouldn't it be easier just to use that money and hire some real creatives who can write their own scripts? Here's a tip for the Egyptian Police to ponder: Infringing intellectual property is a crime too, so why aren't you guys looking into that? The only thing Egypt doesn't recognize in the Berne convention is Israel - that's paragraph 1 article 33. You arrested the wrong guy.

I feel like ending this with one of those faboo "Come to Egypt" ads. Nothing compares to Egypt indeed. The Sun shines so bright you won't see the corruption.

Egypt - Come to Egypt / The sun treasure - (2009) :45 (Egypt)

ICA supermarket soap opera pokes at peoples prejudice with Jerry, the down's syndrome trainee

Dabitch — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:40:11 +0000

KING advertising agency and ICA supermarkets have had a longlasting relationship where new commercials in the soap opera story are produced each month, that both manage to hightlight the specials of the week and entertain the audience. People follow the ICA story the way you'd follow any soap opera (like my mom who calls me when a new ad is on asking if I've seen it yet). Most recently, ICA decided to promote tolerance by shaking up peoples mindset about people with down's syndrome. The background for these films is the project "we can do more" which has a goal to employ 1000 disabled people in the ICA stores around the country.

They hired actor Mats Melin, who has down's syndrome, to play "Jerry the trainee" in a series of ads. Mats works as an actor at Glada Hudik theatre, and quickly became a national phenomena in Sweden. In each one of the ads Jerry has the upper hand over the other characters. Lets begin with the introduction of Jerry.

ICA - Jerry 1 - Eng. sub. (2009) :30 (Sweden)

In the second ad, Stig the boss asks Ulf to show Jerry the ropes. Jerry and Stig conclude that Ulf can't be that bright. (The actor Paul Tilly's eyes are brighter than the light blue summer sky though, I rode a train from Stockholm to Malmö next to him and had the most difficult time trying to stop staring at the poor guy)

ICA - Jerry 2 Eng. Sub. - (2009) :30 (Sweden)

In the third ad, Jerry tricks Ulf, whom we've already concluded a long time ago, isn't the sharpest tool in the box.

ICA - Jerry 3 Eng. Sub. - (2009) :30 (Sweden)

Roygalan / Roy award show - Winners announcement 2009.

Dabitch — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:58:23 +0000

Nevermind if you don't know Swedish, some of these films are quite worth watching anyway (and in each individual post I do my best to explain things), because Roygalan is all about the perfect commercial, and like most short stories told with 30-60 seconds of film, ideas are universal. Plus, it wouldn't be a proper award celebrating commercials 2009 if it didn't hand something to "Carousel"... which it does.

....and the winners are.

BÄSTA REKLAMFILM /GULD - Best commercial, Gold

Systembolaget - Teenage Drinking (swe) - (2009) :45 (Sweden)

a.k.a Tonårsfesten by Esteban.

BÄSTA REKLAMFILM /SILVER - Best commercial / Silver

Telenor - Japan (swe) - (2009) :45 (Sweden)

By Camp David Film

BÄSTA REKLAMFILM/ SILVER - Best commercial / Silver

RadiotjÃ¤nst - MataffaffÃ¤ren / Supermarket - (2009) :55 (Sweden)

by Mister Krister AB

Best Director: Jesper Kouthoofd for films like Försvarsmakten “Teaser”, SJ “Resan mot ett bättre SJ”, and IKEA “Drömkök”.

SJ / Statens JÃ¤rnvÃ¤gar - Travel toward a better SJ - (2009) :50 (Sweden)

BÄSTA REKLAMFILMSFOTOGRAF / BEST DOP & BÄSTA ANIMATION OCH SPECIALEFFEKT / Best Special effects

PHILIPS CINEMA 21:9 - Carousel - (2009) 2:20 (The Netherlands)

Fredrik Bäckar & REDRUM för Philips ”Carousel”

BÄSTA ALTERNATIVA MEDIAPRODUKTION
Palladium för ”Mao-glasögon” Forum för levande historia

Dinner with Pol Pot / Middag med Pol Pot - (2009) 2:12 (Sweden)

FOLKETS PRIS ”Hålla käften” för Friends av Camp David - Voted best by the people.

Friends - HÃ¥lla KÃ¤ften - (2009) :70 (Sweden)

Family Supercooks “Talking Food” Idents - (2009) 16 x 10s (UK)

Dabitch — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:34:32 +0000

The brief in a line was to create a series of engaging sponsorship bumpers to promote the FSA’s association with new show “Family Supercooks” - this the talking food was born. There's the wigged out sausage who can't get his head around another talking sausage, the ever depressed and the super positive potato, the egg and salted peanuts. Some of the quirky characters the food has turned into are are loosely based on people at RKCR/Y&R.... Only four actors were used for the 17 characters, with post-production trickery used to create the illusion of completely different faces. The complex business of turning these performances into realistic food characters was in the hands of the geniuses at MPC, who have spent hours carefully crafting perfectly realised examples of actual talking food to great effect.