PRNewser UnBeige LostRemote GalleyCat AdsoftheWorld BrandsoftheWorld

Online

Digital Copywriter Hopes ‘Mighty Boosh’ Impression Will Win Agencies Over

 

Sure, we’ve seen far more clever routes being taken by creatives in order to land an agency (we think this guy set the bar), but hey, we can always appreciate those taking more standard steps to sell themselves. Take for instance this enterprising Toronto guy/gal who among other things, boasts via Craigslist that he/she does one hell of an impression of characters from The Mighty Boosh, the U.K. comedy troupe that had a show on BBC years ago. Not sure if that will really help this digital copywriter’s cause, but hey, there’s this:

“Perks of working with me include:

-The submission of polished, timely work
-Full access to my knowledge of obscure rap music
-A delicious curry dish at every office potluck (it’s all I know how to cook)
- My impersonations of characters from The Mighty Boosh
-A two-week break from my Mighty Boosh impersonations at Christmas

Your duties will involve:

-Paying me every two weeks
-Occasionally supplying me with coffee
-Providing me with at least one healthcare benefit”

Not sure if this person’s looking locally, but if so, your move, Toronto agencies. Hey, we like the moxie.

 

Sponsored Post

Rich Gorman Lists 7 Ways to Get Ideas for Your Business Blog

By now, business owners have heard it said over and over again: If you want to engage your customers and potential clients—and if you want to achieve maximum visibility on Google—then you need to have a good business blog. Many of us are happy to agree with this, but not too sure of how, exactly, it is practically implemented. Read Full Article Here.

GE, Mekanism Get Dramatic with Big Data in ‘Datalandia’

You’ve never seen an episode of the fictional figurine drama “The Real Soccer Moms of Datalandia,” but you’ve probably seen a show just like it. And for anyone who has encountered the frustration of a malfunctioning TV signal or a storm-induced blackout, missing that crucial moment in whatever show you’re watching can make you want to punch your monitor until it breaks (side note: if you have Time Warner Cable, this process happens daily). Though we watch the shows, we, as consumers, don’t really pay attention to how the sausage gets made, that is: how the wires and signals connect to make sure that our real soccer moms stay on the screen.

For the past few weeks, General Electric and Mekanism have been using a series of online videos to explain this process to consumers. The newest spot, “Stormageddon,” is shown above. I’m not sure if consumers care much for big data explanations. They’d rather watch bad reality shows where women frequently toss glasses of pinot grigio on each other. Thinking about how General Electric makes the sausage feels a little like they are patting themselves on the back as their bank account gets smaller. If I liked sausage, I’d rather just eat it. Check out a second clip after the jump.

Read more

Jason Sudeikis Confuses American Football with Soccer for NBC Sports

If you live in either Chicago or Boston, you may have watched (or wanted to watch) the Stanley Cup Finals, in which case you realized that you don’t have access to NBC Sports. After some McGyver-ing and hooking you iPad to your TV, you got thousands about thousands of commercials advertising that NBC Sports would be broadcasting every game of England’s prestigious Barclays Premier League. After digesting this fact, you immediately stopped caring because 1.) You’re an American who likes ‘merican sports and 2.) Again, you don’t have access to NBC Sports.

But who better to make you, an American without access to NBC, care about this development than Jason Sudeikis, a former Saturday Night Live cast member who has appeared basically fucking everywhere in the last month? First, dude quits SNL. Then, he starts going on a press tour for his terrible-looking new movie, Meet The Millers, where he stars opposite Jennifer Aniston, who plays a middle-aged stripper. Then, he joined ESPN to count down the top 50 “This Is SportsCenter” ads last week. Then, he made cameo appearance in Drinking Buddies, a new film playing on Apple TV before it hits theaters at the end of the month and stars Sudeikis’ real-life fiance, Olivia Wilde. Then, Kiran shows me this and asks me to write about it, compelling me to start complaining about how Jason Sudeikis is fucking everywhere these days. Then, wouldn’t you know it, he releases a viral video YESTERDAY where he leads a parody version of Mumford & Sons, with Ed Helms, Jason Bateman and Will Forte starring as his bearded indie-folk backing band.

Seriously, it’s absolutely impossible to get rid of this guy. Watch him play a dumb American coach who doesn’t get soccer above in a new campaign from the Brooklyn Brothers (who you may remember from those kick-ass John Krasinski/Alec Baldwin New Era spots), and then don’t talk to me about Jason Sudeikis until you’ve developed some sort of Sudeikis repellant.

Read more

Run DMC, DJ A-Trak Spin Off New Launch for Adidas

Adidas and Sid Lee are framing the new “Unite All Originals” as Run DMC vs. DJ A-Trak, but the versus bit comes on too strong. The campaign is much more affable than combative, think of it as a buddy cop combo where there are three buddies instead of two and the buddies like to wear black felt hats.

Run DMC’s famed history with Adidas dates back to the 1980s, and they’ve been lending their benign street cred to the three stripes ever since. A-Trak may not be comparable as a household name, but he’s a worthy spokesman for the next generation, as you can see in some coverage from early March. For this new campaign, the two acts are combining for a fan-controlled music video that will be dictated user voice commands. A true embodiment of “My Adidas.”

Credits after the jump.

Read more

Smirnoff Ice Encourages Ladies to Start ‘Straight Primpin’

Here’s a 3-minute long music video for Smirnoff Ice from director Jon Jon Augustavo. From what we can tell, it encourages young women to pre-game their nights out with a substance commonly instilled on others as punishment.

Sure, the “Bros Icing Bros” phenomenon of 2010 may have jumped the shark when Coolio got “Iced” in someone’s back yard. But for anyone between the ages of 21 and 30 who either likes playing stupid jokes or regularly finds themselves as a spectator of others’ stupid jokes, Smirnoff Ice is known as something bros make their bros chug. In fact, in 2010, Smirnoff Ice even admitted that the stupid meme helped kickstart sluggish sales of the milky white beverage. The next step? Get the ladies involved with the aid of canine Tumblr superstar Tommy Pom.

Could young women nationwide start sizzurpin’ the SmirnIce as part of their “Straight Primpin’” ritual? If you encourage widespread use of celebrity Pomeranians to get the pre-party started, anything’s possible. Download “Straight Primpin’” here and view credits after the jump.

Read more

Digitas Associate Art Director Runs a One-Stop Shop for All Your Creative Needs

Stephen Icardi, associate art director at Digitas, and writer Catherine Penfold-Waxman, have assembled the ultimate shopping destination for the ad world. Because nothing is buyable yet, you may find yourself salivating at the possibility of the David Ogilvy Magical Tagline Pipe, or Talent Nurturing Breasts. (“Who knows when your junior help will become your future boss, so start them off right with some sweet nurturing.”)

Creative Miscellaneous Materials LLC stocks something for everyone: an Acronym Polishing Kit for account managers, a Meeting Fodder Detector for hungry interns, and Work Party Unmemory Drops for the CD who drinks the pain away. My favorite is the “Make it Digital” Powder, which is funny because it already seems to exist, in the form clients who refuse to acknowledge the possibilities of online advertising.

This is a fun little piece of gentle in-joking, and I hope that Icardi plans on making actual fake products, because they’ll be perfect Christmas gifts. I would like the Criticism-filtering Head Gear, please, to deal with some of the more uncouth commenters out there.

Oh Yeah, There Are Just a Few Days Left to Vote for ‘Internship King’

It’s that time again, interns of the world, to cast your votes for the best agency intern program in Internship King’s annual poll. Last year, we saw the likes of The Richards Group, McKinney and 22squared topping the list. This year, as you can see, it’s a whole different ballgame thus far, though voting will continue through end of Friday so who knows how this will turn out. Just to remind you students out there, the Internship King site not only allows you to vote but view ratings, reviews, and salaries of agency internships as well.

Pertinent Reddit Question of the Day: Do Advertising Agencies Drug Test?

And now for something completely different:

A tipster points us to a quaint little discussion in Reddit’s Advertising sub-reddit that asks: “Do agencies drug test? Or is it something that’s on an agency by agency basis? I’m more of a creative and about to start entering the field, just wondering what to look out for.” We figure it’s our duty to distract you from this whole Publicis/Omnicom thing with a few of our favorite responses.

User auto-didact imagined an employee having to break the drug test results with the boss:

“Well, the designers all showed up positive for marijuana. So we fired them. Most of the creative directors too. All the account honchos came up positive for opiates. Most likely coke. They’re gone. All our PLD’s and software engineers tripped up for speed. Not surprising. We’ll have to offshore that work now. Oh, and almost all the senior leadership was clean, but bloodwork showed liver failure in progress. We caught our IT guy huffing cans of spray paint.”

User panthur offers a different experience:

They did at my agency. It was a local agency but now we are owned by a giganto agency conglomerate. A lot of them are owned by big companies and testing unfortunately tends to come with that.

Finally, user pugofwar responded simply with:

Never. (I’m at W+K.)

You can read the whole thread here, and we invite you to share your own experience in the comments.

News Made for Friday: The World’s (Possibly) First Painting of Prince George

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.

Intel, Toshiba, Pereira & O’Dell Make Alien Movie to Sell Computer Processors

About a year ago, Intel and Toshiba partnered together with the help of Pereira & O’Dell to create “The Beauty Inside,” a so-called “social movie” that paired not-quite-movie stars Topher Grace and Mary Elizabeth Winstead as two young actors who can’t believe that this is where their careers have taken them thus far. The big budget online film was apparently effective enough at whatever it was trying to do to spawn a spiritual sequel, “The Power Inside,” starring Harvey Keitel as a guy you kind of feel sorry for until you you consider that he’s still finding work at his age.

As a press release tells us, the heavily product integrated plot will consist of “An alien invasion by a race of extraterrestrial moustaches and unibrows who take over the upper lips and eyes of people around the world. The main character is Neil, who together with his friends and the help of technology discovers his inner strength to defeat the moustache and unibrow invaders called Uricks. Intel-inspired Ultrabook™ devices by Toshiba play an important role in Neil’s journey of self-discovery.” We assume “inner strength” and “Intel-inspired Ultrabook™ devices by Toshiba” are pretty interchangeable in this scenario.

Similar to its predecessor, computer processor fans every can be part of the film by interacting with the protagonist via Facebook. Users can also upload a photo of themselves, edit that photo with a moustache and unibrow, and reach self-actualization after the process is completed. Credits after the jump.

Read more

NEXT PAGE >>