Ha!

Deeply religious people, rejoice! You now have something new to complain about.

From SF-based freelance art director Marcus Brown and W+K NY copywriter Nick Kaplan comes “Tweets from God,” a way to prank your friends by sending anonymous tweets from the alpha and omega, God. All you have to do is enter in the Twitter handle of the person you wish to message, write them something that will make them feel momentarily guilty about a crime or minor sin, and click “Do It.” Your victim will then receive a tweet from @Tweets_fromGod and have no way to tell who it’s actually from.

Thus far, the Tweets from God Twitter feed has been pretty PG-rated, with most messages along the lines of “I saw that.” But, surely you creative ad types can take it to the next level. I mean, these are anonymous tweets we’re talking about, so you can say pretty much anything and get away with it. Visit the Tweets from God website here to get started, and wonder how the owners of the Twitter handles @TweetsFromGod, @God and @TheTweetofGod will feel about this.

Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.

Ah yes, our old pal Alec Brownstein is at it once again in his post-agency career, this time tackling scripted comedy he’s dubbed “Forever Wrong.” Now that he’s played office mischief-maker, the former Y&R creative has moved on to write, direct and co-create a show that stars a half-goblin named “Bernie,” who’s been dealing with immortality for 400 years in all the wrong ways.

If you’re not a Sopranos diehard like yours truly, Bernie is played by Will Janowitz, the co-creator of the show who played Meadow Soprano’s boyfriend Finn on the HBO show. As you’ll see, even Meadow herself, or Jamie Lynn-Sigler rather, does her part in “Forever Wrong” as do other bit Sopranos players. Feel free to point them out if you can. Anyhow, it’s an interesting evolution for Brownstein, who after leaving his senior copywriting gig at Y&R New  York last summer, has evolved from t-shirt maker to TV show runner. Best of luck in the network pitches, dude.

Word on the Spy line is that Lacey Waterman, the gal behind the infamous “Partnerganger” effort, which even merited a Q+A as a result of our post, is deciding on higher learning as her next gig. Waterman has spent the last two years serving as an art director for McCann in this here New York area. We’ve been told by sources that Yale is her destination and she’s seeking an MFA in design. Kudos, if so, and we’ll let you know.

Here’s a note from Waterman herself, who tells us,  “I’ve decided to take a break from advertising and attend Yale for my MFA in Graphic Design to refine my craft and further develop as a creative thinker. Now that I have some work experience under my belt, I’m going back to school with a fresh perspective and I’m looking forward to applying what I’ve learned in advertising to my work at Yale. It’s sad to step away from the life I’ve built for myself in New York, but I’m excited for this new chapter in my life.”

 

You probably know by now that former Saatchi & Saatchi CCO Gerry Graf‘s new NY start-up agency, BFG 9000, has been turning a lot of heads in over the past year. In fact, some new work for travel site Kayak.com landed the agency, named after Gerry Graf’s father and the mega gun from Doom, in the #1 spot on Ad Age’s list “Agencies to Watch in 2012.”

However, you may not know that, according to a press release that started making rounds online on Monday, BFG 9000 has never hired a graduate from Miami Ad School. Yes, the press release states, there are employees at the agency from the VCU Brandcenter, but none from perhaps that world’s most famous school of corporate creativity and stuff (or whatever they do there). Well, one enterprising young Miami Ad School grad, Felicia Carr, decided to buck the trend, sending out a pretty authentic-looking press release to the ad community announcing that, egad, BFG 9000 had hired its first Miami Ad School graduate. Even Creativity was fooled by the press release. After all, BFG 9000 had sent out messages to the press announcing ridiculous things in the past. The addition of a junior art director sounded like something the agency would alert marketing journalists about.

Of course, BFG 9000 had no idea who Carr was prior to the press release. Though Carr has declared BFG 9000 her “dream agency” to work at, she still has yet to hear from Graff and his crew, despite Carr telling Creativity she sent, “35 cupcakes for the entire staff at BFG, 40 finger puppets and an apology letter explaining what I did and asking for an interview.” While most ad school students try to get hired by displaying technological prowess, Carr used an old communication medium to create some buzz. In doing so, she made BFG 9000 look like a desirable place to work while simultaneously making Graff and his crew look stuck up if they choose not to grant her an interview.

So, agencies, would you rather have an art director who can make your Facebook Timeline look pretty, or someone with balls? If you favor the latter, find Carr’s portfolio here.

Update: We asked Carr, who just completed an internship at Razorfish NY, a few questions about her stunt. Read on after the jump.

Update 2: BFG 9000 ECD Eric Kallman would like you to know that, contrary to the press release in question and Carr’s interview in Creativity, his agency does hire Miami Ad School alumni. In fact, he says, “Myself, the ECD, attended Miami Ad School as well as one of our creative directors and copywriters. Also, another one of our creative directors is an instructor at Miami Ad School. Roughly a quarter of our creative department has attended or is affiliated with Miami Ad School.”

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For those who don’t know, Richard Exon and Damon Collins, who served as CEO and ECD, respectively, at London’s Rainey Kelly Campbell Roalfe/Y&R, left said agency last fall to launch their own startup. The only problem is that they still haven’t come up with a name for their new venture, so now the dynamic duo is asking for the public’s help via a new site they’re dubbing appropriately enough the “Startup Name Chooser.” Though they’ve already come up with 100+ names with ready-to-go logos, Exon and Collins are still soliciting feedback from users, whether they tweet the pair their favorites or come up with suggestions of their own. Let the crowdsourcing commence.

 

From the minds that brought you “What Happens in Media Planning“….or maybe not, here’s another GIF-heavy look into the industry dubbed “This Advertising Life,” which seems to touch upon basically every frustrating facet of the agency world. Hey, who needs Ira Glass when you can just slap a series of amusing images and a bit of rather fitting text on to a Tumblr site to provide some proper perspective? We sincerely welcome an influx of these Tumblrs. Below are a couple of our other faves from “Advertising Life.”

When the designer writes a headline that’s better than mine

 

 

When the client says, “Make this go viral.”

 

Whew, let’s lighten the mood for a minute, shall we? Those mischief-makers toiling away in W+K Portland’s design studio follow up their cheeky Valentine’s Day effort with another timely letterpress greeting card project for, what else, Mothers Day (and Fathers, but to a minimum–dads never get as much props). The snarky/artsy approach remains in tow, with cards carrying titles like “Cradle to the Grave” (from studio artist Matthew Carroll) sure to warm the hearts of moms everywhere come May 13. See for yourself below:

Front:

Inside:

 

Sure, dad gets some love to0 but just like Fathers Day compared to Mothers Day, the result is rather underwhelming. We do appreciate, though, how W+K’s designers tried to at least kill two birds with one stone here:

Anyhow, if you’d rather not do the usual thing and pick up a card at the last minute for Moms at Duane Reade or CVS, you can order one of these from W+K Studio Goodness store.

 

In agencies, the ol’ buddy system has its benefits. From agency head honchos to creative director teams to the traditional copywriter/art director duo, working in close quarters with someone ensures that strategies and ideas meld together in a cohesive who. Of course, sharing a creative brain with someone else can have different, unexpected consequences.

TBWA/Chiat/Day art director Lacey Waterman is documenting an interesting phenomenon occurring in agencies across the globe. Yes, agency partners are going so far as dressing in a similar fashion, and Waterman is compiling photos of these instances, done purposefully or coincidentally, on her Tumblr, “Partnerganger.” Above, you’ll see that McCann Erikson’s Linus Karlsson and Andreas Dahlqvist opt for a never-out-of-style black sweater/rolled-sleeved dress shirt combo, and my, do those gentleman look dashing!

See what happens when “TWINSIES!” goes wrong here. Really, did they call each other before work to coordinate their wardrobes or what?

You may have seen this ad bouncing around Jalopnik, Digg and a host of other sites lately. But, we figure a digital ad of this quality deserves applause from the advertising industry. In fact, the tipster who recently sent us this said, “Everyone who’s in advertising should quit. The best ad that will ever be created … has just been created.” Maybe that’s a little extreme, but we encourage you to one-up this work of art.

The ad posted on Craigslist has it all, from engaging header copy (“Jesus Tap-Dancing Christ”) to a compelling price point (over $199K off the original asking price) to compelling statistics (1995 was a banner year for Pontiac). Jalopnik has an interview with the two men behind the ad, the car’s seller Joe Strachila and the art director/copywriter Kyle Miller. According to the interview, Miller is in marketing, but declined to disclose his employer “to protect my company from the blasphemy that’s been blasted all over the Internet.” The number on the ad is a suburban Seattle area code, so feel free to speculate who this Kyle Miller fellow might be. He’s due a Cannes Cyber Lion.

Strachila’s mailbox is understandably full, but as of yesterday, he’s been weeding through the various calls and texts he’s received to see who actually wants to buy the car. Looks like the broken gasket isn’t going to be much of a problem. See the full-sized ad after the jump, and be humbled at what a host of other agencies with a giant budget can’t seem to do with their own auto accounts.

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Is a Pencil worth dying for? We have had no idea that the One Club prize was worth so much, but we’ll applaud the 8-bit nostalgia provided to us by Mullen and said organization. This effort, which was built on HTML5 and was one of the most recent efforts led by  recently departed chief digital officer Mauro Cavalletti. The clip provides us the story of “vigilante” Jon Scraper, a man without a cause, but knowing the ad industry, one who has his balls in the vice of a client. Credits after the jump.

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