Russia’s abysmal track record for gay rights got unnecessarily worse last year, when a court ruling banned gay parades in the country for the next 100 years. Today, Stockholm Pride and M&C Saatchi Stockholm are fighting back with gowest2013.com, a digital campaign that lets Russians celebrate gay rights on Twitter for one well-intentioned thorn in the side of the Russian government: to get “Go West” trending in Russia. How are they going to accomplish this from a Swedish website, you ask? All tweets from the website automatically change location to a Russian city. Got to love technology.

If Stockholm Pride accomplishes their goal, I’d love to see the faces of Russian government officials after “Go West” starts trending. Stalin rolls in his grave, Putin rolls in his bed, Sting makes more music videos like this. If you’re interested in contributing, you can tweet from the website to help the cause and watch as Princeton, New Jersey turns into Ufa, Russia.

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And this, friends, is how an unlikely bond on the Twitters begins. Last Friday, digital agency Resource, which houses offices in Columbus, Cincinnati, Chicago, etc., decided to continue its habit of engaging/baiting Twitter celebs. Not sure Shawn Ries is quite a “celeb” per se, but the guy’s been a staff writer on Family Guy for a couple of years, so that at least says something. Anyhow, Resource, which handles all digital properties for the “It’s not delivery” pizza brand, DiGiorno, decided to strike up a Twitter convo, and above and below, you can see how the chat evolves from snippy to sappy in no time (and now, we’ve been told Ries follows DiGiorno..aww). Think we all learned something today, though we’re not sure what yet. You can check out larger, squint-free image after the jump…

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The first brief, according to the project website: “Mother want you come up with a concept for a Twitter feed and start it from scratch. The profile with the most followers and the best content in 10 weeks’ time wins.”  Now comes the cost-benefit analysis from potential applicants–at what point does buying fake followers from a social media service cost more than the potential earnings from winning the competition? Let’s hope the eventual winner doesn’t spend £1000 buying followers and winds up snagging the internship. Or let’s hope for it, because that would be ridiculous. Imagine the internship turns into a full-time position, all because an individual gamed the system.

Something makes me think Mother wouldn’t want that. But, according to a recent article in PC Mag, you can buy 1,000 Twitter followers for as little as $5. Let the games begin.

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Just in case you missed some coverage on Floyd Hayes, the “ideas man” has announced the first client for his Twitter-based “World’s Fastest Agency” project, that being U.S. online coupon site, RetailMeNot. According to WFA, which launched just two weeks ago, RetailMeNot sent a 140-character direct mail brief within six hours of the former’s launch (WFA responded in kind less than 24 hours later).

Here’s a statement from the coupon brand’s CEO, Cotter Cunningham: “A good marketing idea is worth its weight in gold, and I’ve paid a lot more in my day for  less than worthy ideas from other ad agencies. We like the return on our small investment in the World’s Fastest Agency on what turned out to be fun, creative thinking.” Cunningham adds, “RetailMeNot has always been on the cutting edge of sourcing content. Their business  model is somewhat reminiscent of how we have used the power of the Internet to  encourage our community of users to post coupons to our website. The World’s Fastest  Agency is an example of how the Internet is creating new business models that disrupt the  status quo.”

No update yet, though, on the client status of “Worst Fast Agency.”

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Meet Andy Williams, a 30-something bearded musician who shares a name with a recently deceased beloved pop singer/actor. Williams hails from Buffalo, New York, eschews the mere notion of a 9-to-5 office gig, and plays guitar in semi-popular hardcore band Every Time I Die.

It might seem to a naive person that Williams has it all: A cool job, musical chops, great friends, adoring fans and a magnificent beard. However, Williams suffers from a debilitating addiction. While his bandmates indulge in the clinically recommended rock star diet (drugs, fast food, booze), Williams battles every day with his 23-flavored soft drink crutch, Dr. Pepper. In fact, as the above video from Dr. Pepper and Code and Theory suggests, Williams cannot even take the stage some nights without receiving his fix.

As with most cases of substance abuse, Williams’ crippling habit has racked up quite the bill over the years. It’s become so bad, in fact, that Williams is now soliciting fans to buy him cans of Dr. Pepper via Twitter. More disconcerting still is that having heard of Williams’ unique problem, Dr. Pepper has decided not to encourage the guitarist to seek the medical attention he requires. Rather, Dr. Pepper is integrated Williams’ story into their “1 of a Kind” campaign, propping up his near lifeless body against a wall and making him pose with a guitar for a giveaway.

Remember, the moment your friend gets a Dr. Pepper tattoo is the moment you start setting arrangements for an intervention. Credits after the jump.

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We’ve been told that Chicago’s Energy BBDO is behind this rather busy, yet timely site called “God Was Here,” which comes to us a ahead of one of the holiest of days and tracks mentions of “god” on social media–mainly Twitter–seemingly in real-time. We figure this is a good way to wind down Good Friday, so feel free to click around on this silly, but somewhat intriguing entry.

Update: We’ve been told the “God Was Here” site is actually a side project from folks across multiple agencies, not just Energy BBDO.

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Just one week ago, prolific guerrilla-marketer Floyd Hayes introduced us to his latest project, “World’s Fastest Agency.” The first (to our knowledge) Twitter-based creative agency, Hayes’ new shop answered creative briefs via Twitter within 24 hours for a cool $999. Well, we knew (maybe) that it would only be a matter of time before the World’s Fastest Agency spawned an imitator or two.

Enter “Worst Fast Agency“, an anonymously run Twitter-based creative shop that pledges to do what World’s Fastest Agency does in half the time for a fraction of the price. Oh, and did we mention that it gives terrible advice? Yes, in just 12 hours, Worst Fast Agency will tweet awful marketing strategies to you for the low price of $1. It sounds almost too awful to be true.

In an anonymous tip, the shadowy founder of WFA tells us, “I just launched this company the other day, and have already received loads of requests and interactions (have actually made $$$). Sure, it is somewhat of a joke/parody, but I believe there is a market for clear, bad advice, not just bad advice masquerading as good advice.” Think about it—it’s feasible that this person has made like $20 doing this! Peep WFA’s website to read some very plausible client reviews, and tweet @WorstFastAgency to receive your own terrible advice.

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Man, wasn’t SXSW Interactive just the best this year? What’s that? You didn’t get to go due to cost or an obligation to do actual work? Well, lucky for you, Havas Media is happily providing what they call a “Twitter Novella” to tell you about all the fun you missed. Because, wow, it was just so much fun, you guys!

I don’t quite knows what qualifies this as a “novella” per se, but I suppose if you have a bunch of character-based Twitter handles using the same hashtag, then that might as well be the definition. Again, advertisers, you can make any unsubstantiated claim about anything you so long as no one makes the claim before you. Bonus points if it’s somehow involved with social media.

Throughout SXSW, Havas sent a team of its employees around Austin to tweet about the festivities as walking stereotypes would. The Hero Worshipper tweeted about celebs, stalking Grumpy Cat to wherever Mashable had a branded tent. The Data Geek quoted Nate Silver and dispensed somewhat useless statistics. The Bar Fly partied and drank. The Cynical tried to be cynical, but found it difficult due to all the fun. The Optimist loved everything. And finally, The Loner tweeted about loneliness.

Put these tweets together, and it’s though you were actually there instead of sitting at your office wondering how people have the time to ignore work for a week. Catch the Havas tweeters in the upcoming sequel “Twitter Novella: Cannes Edition.”

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Singalongs can be messy affairs, like when that guy with the bad voice thinks he can hit soprano notes, or any Journey song comes on at a bar. A tweetalong, however, might be the perfect digital response to help us control our  unprofessional musical urges. Creatives from 360i and the Brooklyn band Rumors teamed up to create a website that might help promote “Slow Down,” a single off of the band’s album XOXO.

The site, essentially a digital singalong, compiles tweets from around the world that hashtag specific words in the song. As the song plays, different tweets pop up alongside the lyrics. And if you want to take a moment to read different tweets, scrolling over the hashtag automatically pauses the song. To continue the song, simply move the mouse again.

This isn’t the first time 360i took an innovative approach to ahead-of-the-curve content. During the Super Bowl blackout, the same Dentsu-owned firm’s creatives slid out some topical content for Oreo (more on it here). Brands have to use Twitter to stay relevant in our culture, but how they go about doing that has been hit-or-miss thus far (with more misses than hits). The success of Rumors will ultimately come down to the quality of music, but this blip on the social radar screen could earn them at least a fan or two.

FYI, Matt Wurst, director of digital communities at 360i, will be keynoting Mediabistro’s April Social Media Marketing Boot Camp. Go here for more info.

Credits:
Senior copywriter: Nick Panayotopoulos
Senior art director: Roberto Max Salas
Creative Technologist: Tore Holmberg from Your Majesty.

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Hayes latest project, World’s Fastest Agency, serves as a pleasant reminder to all marketers that, yes, you can make any unsubstantiated claim you want, so long as no one else has made the claim before you. Hayes’ business model works thusly:

1. Send him $999 via PayPal.
2. Direct message your short creative brief to @fastestagency on Twitter
3. Receive a creative pitch within 24 hours via Twitter direct message
4. Consider whether or not steps 1-3 were a wise use of your time and money

On the website for his new agency, which he also proclaims to be “the world’s first 100% Twitter based ad agency,”  Hayes has already a glowing review from Neil Davies (pitch judge and former partner at Naked Communications) who says, “Very fast, very good.” I mean, what else do you need to know?

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Yes folks, as the year winds down, this is going to be mostly what we’ll see as 2012 runs its course. This latest entry for the holiday season comes from Sausalito, CA’s own Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners, which has decided to hand it back to those throwing lumps of coals in stockings via Twitter with an online entry dubbed the “Cruel Log.” Yep, Twitter “stooges” will get the fiery treatment and we feel something like this won’t be the end of holiday-related agency work inspired by the microblogging service. Happy holidays!

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Apathy is the glove into which evil slips its hand, and what could be more evil than harming kittens? “Save the Kitten,” a joint-venture from Resn, Stinkdigital, and rehabstudios, attempts to raise awareness for Internet freedoms threatened by bills like SOPA and PIPA. “Save the Kitten,” which sounds too much like an unfavorable sexual position, asks users of the Interweb to sign the petition for the Declaration of Internet Freedom. Create positive awareness, and the cat lives. Stand idly by, and bad things happen. In other words, apathy kills kittens.

This is a one-day awareness campaign, so the creators have used all the tricks available to stir up viral success, including naming the cat Webster (humanization) and promising a special appearance from Lil Bub (celebrity endorsement). Personally, I dislike cats, because they make me sneeze, but I’m sure others will see the appeal of a digital feline in danger no matter how absurd the situation. There’s even a Twitter account for Webster to say things like “Finding myself thinking about my life in hour increments. This sucks. How do you humans do this? #save the kitten.”

The looming danger for us Interneters is a global meeting to discuss expanding the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). I imagine diplomats in expensive suits who influence international policy won’t give two licks about Webster, but “Save the Kitten” definitely gets an A for effort no matter how strange the campaign truly is. If you want to fight for your right to party (on the Internet), sign a petition, free Webster, and save the day.

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We’re not sure if it was RAPP VP/director of technology and digital solutions, Craig Elimeliah, who sent the tip to us himself, but whatever the case, his agency has basically said, “Fuck the bounds imposed by Instagram, let’s go freeform” with a new photo filter service dubbed “Pananorama” (cue “Cruel Summer” humming). Yes, folks, there’s no need for the ‘Gram as a tweet using a filter hashtag will do the trick, but it looks like the “non-app” is iPhone 5-friendlier. It’s still in beta form, but you can get a better idea of how Pananorama works here.

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In yesterday’s Odds and Ends, we posted a new clip from Crispin Porter + Bogusky’s Swedish branch for Sony Xperia that basically gave select Skyfall viewers in Stockholm a nice surprise in their soda (see below). Well, the campaign drew the almighty “MEH” as you see above from Max Lenderman, whose LinkedIn still bills him as director of OuterActive, CP+B’s experiential marketing practice. The only problem is that it appears Lenderman no longer works at CP+B as hinted by the tweet from the MDC agency’s CCO Rob Reilly, who took exception with his former colleague’s sentiment (according to spies as well, Lenderman is a “former” CP+B-er). It looks like Reilly has had the last word thus far in this mini-twatting battle, but we’re anxious to see how this plays out. Your move, Max.

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Now, this is democracy at work and it comes to us from of an agency outside the U.S. no less. Just six weeks after turning print ads into iPhone loudspeakers for Coca-Cola, Mauro Cavalletti and crew at JWT Brazil–specifically, the innovations lab at Agencia Casa JWT–have returned with a Twitter-centric effort just in time for Election Day called “Tweet Punch-Out.”

Not quite unlike what a couple of creatives from Dailey came up with back in August, Cavaletti and the JWT lab rats’ project pits Obama versus Romney in the form of blue and red Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots. The Agencia Casa camp hacked the scrappy bots and connected them to live Twitter feeds, which will trigger the toys to throw punches when either Obama or Romney is mentioned. Unlike the real-life debates, there’s no Candy Crowley or Bob Schieffer to rein things in, though judging from the score sheet, Obama’s camp might have to throw in the towel in this particular fight. Go here for all the streaming fun. Credits after the jump.

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