Seattle shop Creature really loves their window space. We’ve covered some of their pane projects before, like the motion-sensor-triggered mirror installed in April. There’s also the pop-up window shop from last winter. And now recently, as part of Seattle’s Capitol Hill Block Party that ran from July 26-28, Creature used their window space to chute out creative fortunes to festival-goers and set up cameras, so they could see who had what fortune and then make that fortune come true.

Creative Director Pam Fujimoto blogged about the whole experience and described the project as “pure Creature,” which aside from being lyrically fun, also sounds like the name of a bad 80s rock band. Makes you wonder what impure Creature would look like. A sample fortune was: “Someone will tell you you look like a younger Tony Danza.” Others involved $2 bills and Mike & Ike’s. The fortunes themselves aren’t that important, but the execution from staffers who spent their weekend on the venture is not only good free publicity, but just a cool bit to cover on a rainy Thursday.

The new Charles Saatchi devil sculpture, currently on display at London’s Jealous Gallery in Crouch End, could choke some people the wrong way. The sculpture alludes to a domestic assault incident between Saatchi and his soon-to-be ex-wife, British cooking personality Nigella Lawson, when Saatchi was photographed with his hands around Lawson’s neck. Saatchi later described the act as a “playful tiff,” and an anonymous British artist (now is the time to be skeptical, considering artists never want to be anonymous) created the sculpture/interactive art for anyone interested in being playfully choked by the likeness of an ad man with horns and red skin.

The original choking incident took place about a month ago, which means the wheels were turning pretty quickly on this sculpture/publicity stunt. But now I’m writing about it, as will others, which also means that someone – possibly Saatchi himself, will successfully capitalize on the divorce. Some might say that’s frugal, tasteless, dumb, or a combination of the three.

Check out larger image after the jump.

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I was just a kid when Charley Steiner yelled “Follow me! Follow me to freedom!” at the end of the “Y2K” This is Sportscenter ad. ESPN was a much simpler network then, before screaming heads led by Messers Bayless and A. Smith really damaged the reputation of everyone’s go-to sports network. Back then, the anchors of Sportscenter, like Steiner, were the stars, and the audience got to see anchor personalities shine through during these 30-second spots. Sometimes the spots featured professional athletes; sometimes they didn’t. But the spots were almost always funny and ripe with self-deprecation.

More than a decade later, Steiner is gone from the network. ESPN has chosen to count down the 50 greatest “This is Sportscenter” commercials from the past 18 years on August 1, with irrelevant host/SNL member Jason Sudeikis. As always, W+K New York ran point on this project with “the worldwide leader in sports.” I’m not sure why the network has chosen to unroll the countdown now, but we’re told that there will be bonus footage and interviews with the actors, athletes, and producers who helped shape the commercials. So for one last day, we can all follow Charley Steiner to freedom.

You can watch a few of the top spots after the jump, including a great bit featuring the entire Manning family from a few years ago.

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CP+B originally ran with the idea of a blow-up doll lunch decoy last year, suggesting that people could secure more time at Applebee’s by tricking their bosses. In 2013, the same old bag of tricks comes in the form of a longer ad – 102 seconds – showing various worker bees running out of the office to indulge in some Applebee’s. I’ve never been a fan of the fine dining cuisine at such establishments, but I’m told customers can enjoy hundreds of lunch combos starting at $6.99. If you can get a restaurant combo for that cheap, you may want to think twice.

The spot itself isn’t digging much into new ground. There is one interesting bit, when a black construction worker uses a white lunch decoy. I’m not sure what that is trying to say, if anything at all, but the man’s boss must not pay very good attention to his staff if the lunch decoy can be effective while using a different skin color than the man who is jolting to Applebee’s (Ed. update: CP+B clarifies that it did use the likeness that most resembles of its construction worker as part of the campaign. Go here). Maybe the man’s boss is using his own lunch decoy, at which point the men would run into each other at an Applebee’s and ruin the trick for everyone. Credits after the jump.

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HelloFlo has nothing to do with Progressive Insurance or Binghamton alumnus and commercial superstar Flo. Considering that there aren’t too many other common uses for the word “flo,” what we are about to describe may be one of the strangest advancements in teen health education you’ve ever come across. Or it may be genius. I haven’t decided yet.

HelloFlo is a company that offers specific packages for women based on their individual menstruation needs. Each month, a woman can choose from the Low Flo, Medium Flo, or Heavy Flo packages that arrive at her doorstep without any awkward trips to the drugstore, assuming a cycle doesn’t start early. I’m not sure how practical it is to order these materials online, but if you are that uncomfortable buying tampons and pads in public, who am I to judge?

To reach out to younger girls, HelloFlo has recently released a promotional video, “The Camp Gyno,” a nearly two-minute comedic ad created by freelance copywriter Pete Marquis (who’s doing some work for W+K at the moment) and art director Jamie Mccelland (who once worked with the former at BBDO) with production duties going to Hayden 5. The video could’ve used some more direct mentions of the HelloFlo products, but it’s funny. If girls saying the word “vag” makes you uncomfortable, you might want to mute this. Also, watch out for Joan of Arc metaphors. 12 year-olds can be strange creatures.

This news wouldn’t feel right if we covered it on any day other than Friday. Andy Leek, former creative at Nothing and now-freelancer at the likes of Tribal DDB, decided to use his artistic skills to paint the first portrait of Prince George earlier this week. He’s now selling the painting on Ebay, with the current bid at £10.50 (just over $16) as of noon today. We can’t confirm whether this is actually the world’s first painted picture of the prince baby, but according to Leek, he “started painting minutes after Wills and Kate emerged on the steps of the Lido wing.”

Think of it as an investment? On the Ebay page, Leek admits to participating in shark wrestling and polar bear back riding, so he could die soon, and “this painting will skyrocket in value.” I’m not an art appreciation expert, but I’m pretty sure that’s not how it works, tongue-in-cheekiness aside. The painting isn’t bad, maybe Leek could give it to the royal family as a gift, but he might have to drop the £30 delivery fee.

Ted Mccagg describes himself as “a recovering ad man.” You may recognize him from the 2011 book Paper Doll Orgy, where Mccagg compiled doodles and drawings from his freelance time at places like Y&R and McCann (not to mention some juicy agency potshots in the book’s acknowledgements). Mccagg is back, now with a new film, Bloom, a John Hughes homage about two girls planning to lose their virginity the night before high school graduation.

While the film’s narrative covers standard ground in the teen-sex narrative, Mccagg has gone all out on the social media publicity front, briefly slipping back on his advertising hat. And all out might be an understatement. The movie’s promotional website includes detailed Proust questionnaires (28 questions) for the 10 main characters in their respective voices. There’s also a link to a blog where anyone can vote on who is more “V-Worthy” in head-to-head matchups. In addition to the site’s material, Mccagg has worked up an expansive world supplemental to the film: a character’s Tumblr dedicated to Neil Degrasse Tyson, another character’s book actually available for purchase on Amazon, etc. Once the movie premieres, Mccagg may want to look into a James Franco impersonation job.

Bloom will be released on August 5th.

This new Tumblr account comes from Avery Harrison, creative intern at Digitas and student at Miami Ad School, San Francisco. ‘Ads For Anything‘ was built under the premise of ideas that appeared brilliant in Harrison’s head at first-thought and not-so-brilliant once those ideas had a chance to roll around in his brain for a while. The dreaded creative letdown, an affliction that comes down like a thunderbolt after the initial honeymoon period. Been there myself, Mr. Harrison.

Scroll through the Tumblr, and you’ll see generic photos with blocks of generic fortune-cookie text that could be about any product. For example: “Live against the grain” is set over a wooden texture with a “Your Logo Here” block. Many of these genericisms could be early drafts of Mercedes spots, which probably doesn’t say a lot about Mercedes or Jon Hamm voice-overs. In fact, I’m somewhat surprised Mercedes hasn’t plucked Harrison for a job already – “To some people, passion is just a word” and ” There is always enough time to go for it” beg for Hamm’s voice to be played while a black SL zooms around a bend.

From time to time, we cover side projects on the site from ad folks who like to do things with their creative skills outside of the office. I’ve written about a number of short films myself, but “The Pixel Painter,” an 8:28 documentary about Hal Lasko, a 97 year-old man who has vision problems and uses Microsoft Paint to create impressive pixelated works of art, is definitively the best short movie I’ve covered for AgencySpy. You should watch it.

Most side-job short films that make it on the site are clever but lacking any sort of gravity. “The Pixel Painter” fills plenty of gravitational force into eight and a half minutes and sets up an interesting comparison between the new and the old, specifically when it comes to the intersection of art and technology. Most of us look at MS Paint as an outdated program built during the dinosaur age of computers, but Hal Lasko has used it to create legitimate works of art. One could even say Lasko is obsessed with MS Paint, and the documentary focuses in on his passion, something viewers may not typically associate with nonagenarians.

The movie was directed by Josh Bogdan (senior copywriter at Bay Area shop Muhtayzik Hoffer) and Ryan Lasko (Hal’s grandson).

Credits after the jump.

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Minnesota Twins fans don’t have much to cheer about these days. Their team is in 4th place in the AL Central, and they have a new outdoor stadium, which is problematic when you remember that playing baseball outdoors in Minnesota may not be fun in April or September. But, there is temporary relief. Today is National Hot Dog Day – I didn’t know, either – and Schweigert Meats, which produces the official hot dog of the Twins, has used the special occasion to release a couple of short video spots that show how the brand’s meat is “overly uncomplicated.” The brand is opting for a tongue-in-cheek tone with the videos and slogan as the campaign expands over the next few months with digital, print, and TV ads in the extended Minnesota region.

The campaign comes from Austin-based Proof Advertising and seems to appeal to a certain Northern blue-collar rural population that may find humor in the soft irony of things that are overly uncomplicated. But when it comes to Minnesota Twins advertising, Proof and Schweigert will have to step up their collective game to surpass the ability of the dandruffless Joe Mauer. Credits after the jump.

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