Having some trouble finding the right gift for your little lady this Christmas? Then give the Gordon’s Giftfinder a try! Does it sound like I’m shilling? Well, it should, they’re a client. Am I taking advantage? Probably. But, hey, why not?

Anyway, here’s a little holiday microsite we put together for Gordon’s Jewelers, which is a regional division of Zales. Basically, you can go in, enter different attributes about the women you’re buying the gift for, and it’ll tell you what her perfect gift will be. And for a little extra support, you can send that suggestion to your friends or her friends. They’ll be able to comment and rate each piece you’ve chosen so you can have all the reassurance you need.

Check it out at MyGordons.com.

Now back to our non-shilling material…

One of my favorite David Ogilvy quotes is the very famous, “I notice increasing reluctance on the part of marketing executives to use judgment; they are coming to rely too much on research, and they use it as a drunkard uses a lamp post for support, rather than for illumination.”

This video puts that sentiment in context like I’ve never really seen before. You’ll see actual clips from the pre-testing of the most famous advertisement of all time, Apple’s 1984. If consumers had their way, the soldiers would have been robot dancing and their might have been achimpanzee involved somehow. Anyway, great stuff.

Welp, the new Bravia spot is out. And, not surprising at all, we’ve got another big winner on our hands. I was ringing my hands a bit when it became apparent that it wouldn’t be real, but it turned out beautifully. Still not up to the high bar of the first one, but a step above paint, for sure. Enjoy!

Either way, nicely done recruitment video from BBH.

via BrandflakesforBreakfast

Fresh off the news of the nasty break-up of NBC and Apple, NBC has announced that they will offer up their shows for download from within their own platform, NBC Direct. The oddly named Vivi Zigler, EVP of NBC Digital Entertainment said, "With the creation of this new service, we are acknowledging that now,
more than ever, viewers want to be in control of how, when and where
they consume their favorite entertainment."

And Vivi continues non-verbally, "as long as we really remain in control of how, when and where more than they are." Of course, this new platform with also include no-skip ads because, well, you know how people love ads. And now the race is on until someone creates the "NBC Direct Ad Blocker." Good choice, though NBC. You were at least getting a couple bucks for the episode.

via MediaBuyerPlanner.

One of my favorite ad blogs was the now defunct Adjab. Last week one of its writers, Adam Finley, tragically died at the far too young age of 30. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Adam’s friends and family. Rest in peace, Adam.

Is that whole Filipino prisoner "Thriller" dance
routine as funny if you knew the prisoners were forced, sometimes brutally, to
get their groove on?

As NewTeeVee reports, that’s exactly what’s happening. The
CPDRC video is a creation of Byron Garcia, a security consultant with the
Filipino prison system, not to mention the brother of the governor and son of a
senator of the Philippine government.

A couple choice quotes…

"A segment on a leading Filipino television network
shows the organized dance routines as a powerfully positive force in the
rehabilitation process. However, the video, with it’s semi-coherent subtitles,
raises some suspicions.

The narrator explains: "The main reason why this gimmick
was created was Byron’s love of music, that’s why last year he thought of
having these people dance. At first, it was really hard to make them
dance." Mr. Garcia elaborates: "These prisoners were all hard-headed.
So, well we, we, did some, ya know, uh, some disciplinary measures."

And even better, "Garcia runs the jail like his
personal S&M dungeon, and he doesn’t care
if you know it."

Apparently, he’s also tattooing female prisoners with the
name Garcia. Seems the
video with more than 5 million views is just a little less
care free than we originally thought…

I have Time Warner cable, and I suffer every day. They really are horrible to deal with, and now I find that they’re even bigger swindlers than I previously thought.

The consumerist is reporting that they’re actually charging their customers for the ads that are enclosed with the bill. Just disgusting.

"Time Warner charged Nick $0.23 for the Home Shopping Network
coupon included in his monthly bill. The "Adhsn fee" listed on his bill
was an oversight, according to a Time Warner representative, who
defended the omnipresent charge as something that is usually ‘just
bundled somewhere else.’"

Wow. Just wow. This is just as bad as Best Buy’s secret website, and just as shady. I highly recommend that you call your congressman, or do what I do, just bitch and moan, then take no real action because it seems like a pain in the ass.

Well, I nearly threw a little parade around the office when I found out there would be a third in the series that began with one of my favorite ads of all time, the Bravia balls.

According to a Sony PR representative, the next installment will be called "clay" and will be shot in a secret location Monday, August 6th in New York. And, if the first two ads were any indication, it’ll probably be another huge production. I can’t friggin’ wait. Stay tuned for more details…

Just in case you’re the one person who hasn’t heard, the Age of Conversation has launched, and with it, the age of me not seeing fellow BMAer Sean Howard’s nipples has ended. That’s right, it’s been a bit of a roller coaster over the past week.

If you haven’t heard about the book, first, pull your head out of your ass. Second, read about it here. It’s actually pretty damn good, despite my unfortunate contribution. The book is ranked 2nd, 4th and 8th on Lulu (ebook, paperback, hard cover), and will raise to number one after you buy it here.

Wait, are we allowed to make viral sequels? At what point are they just episodes?

It’s a question for another time, I guess. But after the monstrous success of the first ray-ban viral, I guess it makes sense to swing for the fences at least another time.

As Josh Warner of the feed company said, "As you know, one of this summer’s most successful viral brand videos
was from Never Hide Films sponsored by Ray-Ban. "Catch" or "Guy catches glasses
with face" as it was titled on YouTube featured two young filmmakers from Santa
Monica, CA throwing Wayfarer sunglasses at each other from increasingly
challenging distances. After 11 million views on multiple video share sites and
blogs; features on MSNBC, CNN, and the BBC; and over 11,000 comments on YouTube
alone, "Catch" filmmakers Steve and Benzo are back with a summertime sequel ‘Bobbing for glasses.’"

It’ll be tough to amass the same kind of success as the first one, but we’ll see…

Our good friends at BrandflakesforBreakfast and Make the Logo Bigger, as well as some other folks from Plaid, are set to embark on the first ever design and branding firm tour, an adventure that will see them criss-crossing 2,450 miles across the good ol’ USA.

Along the way, they’ll be proving their web 2.0-y credentials by using a live webcam, and blogging, twittering and youtube-ing the whole experience.

I must say, I love it. It’s nice to see an agency doing more than just a cool website to get noticed a bit. And for me, I get to see them on the last stop of the tour, August 3 in sweltering Dallas, Texas. Hopefully, with some other Dallas bloggers, as well.

See you then, boys!

It’s unfortunate that members only jackets aren’t really all that cool anymore. I admit, I own a white one. And I’m bringin’ that shit back. Nothing you can do about it.

Looks as though we may have another Viral hit on our hands from
Deutsch LA, with help from their seed company, the Feed
Company. This time, the campaign is for Cici’s pizza, named “Ultimate
Boomerang.’

As the founder of Feed Co. Josh Warner said in an email, “The
campaign features an energetic shaker boarder named Roto filmed outside
a CiCi’s Pizza doing break-dance moves and throwing his shaker board
like a boomerang and - amazingly - catching it. However what’s amazing
is how a campaign that seems so out-of-character for a family-style
restaurant started with basic, yet insightful, research at the
store-level. When CiCi’s Pizza managers used shaker boarders outside
their stores, sales jumped. So corporate and their agency went looking
for a brand ambassador who could shake-a-board with the best of ‘em and
found Roto. They’ve posted videos on YouTube and MySpace, created a
microsite at
www.yoroto.com,
and will soon have Roto appearing at special events. It’s tactics for
the new age but put under $5 and Endless Buffet on any sign and spin
it, you’re bound to get customers - and that’s smart marketing in any
era. Just ask the store managers.”

This one might be a little trickier than their RayBan effort. This
one has a more obvious brand message, which obviously can work against
them. But with 50k views on YouTube so far, they’re well on the way…

As most agencies are attempting to prove their new media chops by building offices and avatars in Second Life, DraftFCB decided to take the opposite approach. They’re bringing Second Life back into the first one. Watch out, it’s a giggle.

via AdFreak.

GSD&M in Austin, Texas just released their new viral effort for BMW with RelearntoDrive.com. It’s good to see how much work they’ve done in developing content for online video from bmw films to sponsoring ted talks, along with creating websites like this one. I would’ve liked to see them give me something to actually do, but at least they’ve got some funny stuff to watch.

What do you guys think? Will this get noticed?

BBH (and more importantly, our man Scamp) just released the new campaign for Vodaphone, airing the 90 second spot across 200 UK stations at 9:20pm last Sunday. You can catch the spot, complete with raining time (watches, etc.) included below.

Or you can go over to Scamp’s place, and as he says "slag off" the new ads. I’m not sure what that means, but it sure does make me wish I were British so I could say things like that without getting slapped.

Sometimes I just see something that makes me stand a little taller. I grin a little bigger and talk a little louder as I beam with pride. It’s the pride of a man in the advertising industry. It just feels good to hear something done right.

I wish I could just get the mp3, but I don’t know how. So, go to this website for Absolute Hyundai, click on “If You So Hyundai Click Here to Hear Our Famous Jingle.” Seriously, it’ll change your life, and probably the world.

I love me some me being right. So now, 5 million views later, I’ve
returned to gloat about it a bit. I said the Ray Ban viral (Catch) from
Cutwater and the Feed Company would be a viral sensation, and I
“caught” some shit.

I was asked, “How the hell could you predict that, know-it-all?”

Because I’m badass. That’s how.

But, enough about me. Josh Warner of the Feed Company was interviewed by adweek about the success of the video and his philosophy when it comes to viral. Lots of good stuff.

When asked about if there’s a recipe, Josh answered, “It begins with the creative, but extends to how you package it. One element is, “Is it real or not?” [You want people to] want to return to it again and again [to find out]. Another element is WTF [”What the Fuck!”] in a way that is quirky and engaging. For example, [Saatchi & Saatchi’s] Quiksilver ad with a gang of young people in a city throwing dynamite into a river to catch a wave. Or, on the other hand, the Dove “Evolution” campaign exhibited and spoke to our distorted concept of beauty through an entertaining and educational
brand message. That’s what I like to see.”

Read the whole thing here.

Microsoft calls out their own clients, the advertisers. Hey guys, you’re a bunch of ego-driven, pretentious assholes!

Fortunately, plenty of us in the industry feel that sort of self-loathing.

Great find from the brilliant David Armano.