Friday Odds and Ends

-Who wants to play Super Bowl ad bingo? link

-So who topped the One Club’s Super Bowl commercial list? link

-Audi tops Super Bowl relevance according to one firm. link

-Facebook’s ad business: A $3 billion mystery? link

-Nate Naylor is getting no love for dating ScarJo. link

-And a little bit of Super Bowl love from Samsung (above). link

MEDIABISTRO EVENTS

Get Social Media Marketing Secrets from Experts

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including Morin Oluwole (Facebook), Michael Brito (Edelman Digital), and Tim Devane (bitly). Register now.

Most Popular Stories on AgencySpy from the Last 7 Days

-And Finally, The Shit Ad Agencies Say

-Presenting Matthew Broderick’s Day Off

-Saatchi NY Cuts Some Staff

-CP+B CEO Andrew Keller Confirms, Responds to Layoffs

-Op-Ed: How to Work in Advertising and Still Enjoy the Super Bowl Party

-So, How Does the Ad World Perceive Itself?

-And Now, the Thrilling Conclusion to the Draftfcb Pony Saga

The Best Ad-Related Videos of the Week

Each week, we’re sent hundreds of pieces of advertisement-y work that falls into the fun-to-watch-video category. There’s not enough time in the day to think up copy for all of them so here’s a round-up of the best ad-related video we’ve seen in the last 7 days. You’re welcome.

11. Just four days after the internet found out about people flying over New York City, 6 million views have been racked up on the YouTube clip for this campaign for the upcoming film Chronicle.

10. The second season of HBO’s Game of Thrones is coming on April 1, and this trailer gave more than a few of the show’s fans something to look forward to.

9. Augmented Reality flashed its toothy head this week in this AR world tour for National Geographic from Appshaker.

8. Acura is pushing its new NSX super car with the help of Jerry Seinfeld and Jay Leno, the car world’s biggest celebs.

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The E*Trade Baby Offers Parenting Advice

The E*Ttrade baby has been a divisive figure in advertising. As marketers, it can be easy to hate the cocky, talking infant. But, many in the financial industry can’t seem to get enough of the little guy (close relatives of mine included). It must be working for E*Trade and Grey NY, because five years after the baby’s first appearance, he’s still being used at the company spokesperson in all-important Super Bowl ads. It seems much longer than five years, doesn’t it?

Anyway, one of two Super Bowl spots for E*Trade from Grey NY finds the baby giving his father advice about planning for the future. It’s part of a push from E*Trade to highlight the company’s other, non-trading products and services. As the baby reps his favorite brand’s new offering of financial consultants, he’s interrupted to see a toddler acquaintance “speed-dating” newborns. It’s kind of an unsettling image, no?

In a statement, E*Trade Financial Corporation CMO Nick Utton previews the baby’s new direction away from pixelated webcams. “We’re focused on building on our momentum by ensuring the campaign remains memorable and iconic, and also says something new about E*Trade’s offerings,” he says. “This year’s approach features the Baby interacting with people facing important real-life events that trigger a need to consider investing.”

E*Trade’s second Super Bowl spot, “Best Man,” follows after the jump.

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Op-Ed: ‘Svper Bowl Svnday’ – Our Invented Ancient Tradition

Our Super Bowl series continues as we top the week off with a piece from John Maxham, who has spent the past two years as partner, ECD at Seattle’s own Cole & Weber United.

As we get ready to watch the Super Bowl and, of course, dissect the ads that go along with it, I’d like to call attention to a subtle form of marketing that is (almost) as old as the big game itself. Because when we gather together on Sunday, beers in hands, remotes at the ready, we will be sitting down to watch Super Bowl XLVI, not Super Bowl 46.

The use of Roman numerals in Super Bowl titles has become a widely accepted, if not often discussed part of the season finale. It dates back to Super Bowl 5, excuse me, Super Bowl V, when the championship game was a relatively new concoction.

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Op-Ed: CES is a Waste of Time for Agencies

Our old pal Josh Siefert, senior marketing strategist at Brooklyn-based, IPG-owned digital shop HUGE, has returned. Let him regale you with a tale about CES. Take it away, sir.

I cannot for the life of me understand why anybody outside of the electronics industry goes to the consumer electronics show, least of all, ad agency people, digital or otherwise. Sure, everyone loves gadgets and using them may change consumer behavior over time, but walking the floors taking in the 20,000 different products that electronics giants are shilling strikes me as a colossal waste of time. Agencies perhaps have finally realized that digital actually changes the way consumers behave in their lives and subsequently interact with brands. But, showing up to a gadget show in an attempt to be more relevant? Bizarro.

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Friday Morning Stir

-Jacksonville-based advertising/PR firm Dalton Agency merged with Atlanta shop Kilgannon.

-The Denver Zoo selected local shop Cactus as its AOR.

-Sir Elton feels competitive in a Super Bowl spot from TBWA\Chiat\Day LA. link

-Does Facebook’s IPO spell the end for advertisers’ “free ride?” link

-Who’s feeling a Super Bowl ad mashup? link

 

Thursday Odds and Ends

-Is marketing dead? Kevin Roberts thinks so. link

-McKinney kicks off its Social Bowl 2012. link

-DDB Chicago and State Farm will help predict your future. link

-Budweiser unveils a big game ad (above). link

-Dallia Herrtage will split from the U.K. to join as MEC’s North American communications director.

-W+K’s Iain Tait will serve as president of this year’s Cyber Lions. link

-So who is powering USA Today‘s Ad Meter? link

-So what is Facebook’s business exactly? link

-Complex gives us its top 50 Super Bowl auto ads. link

-Is Facebook’s valuation justified? link

-Indy operation Miller Brooks was named AOR for Rinnai America Corporation.

 

Brian Williams: My First Big Break

MediabistroTV debuts a new series today, “My First Big Break” where we talk to media heavyweights about that break that got them to where they are today. Our first episode features Brian Williams, the anchor and managing editor of “NBC Nightly News.” You know what he’s doing now, and you may know a bit about his past. But did you know he maxed out his credit cards and finally went bankrupt? Williams then took a job in technical operations until that First Big Break came along. He tells us who gave it to him, and how it changed the course of his career.

For more videos, check out our YouTube channel and follow us on Twitter: @mediabistroTV

Terry Crews Now Invades Other P&G Ads

We guess our pal Isiah Mustafa is on vaca, as Terry Crews takes over once again for Old Spice. Dude is jacked and he’s ready to jet ski into the most mundane of adverts for Procter & Gamble from W+K’s Portland HQ. We thought Kenny Loggins‘ “Danger Zone” was diabolical on its own, but today marks the agency’s first-ever co-branded television advertisements with P&G brands Bounce and Charmin.

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