Outdoor

From the Animal Humane Society and Carmichael Lynch comes “Law of the Paw,” a new campaign that seeks to persuade pet owners to adopt, spay/neuter, and tag their animal companions.

To support the campaign’s launch this week, Carmichael Lynch created the above video titled “Magpie’s Story,” which uses POV filming with a PENTAX Q camera to capture the hard life of a stray on the mean streets. Watching this will undoubtedly be a gut-wrenching experience for pet owners, who will immediately consider how frightened and confused their pet would be should it get loose and have to survive in the urban jungle, where deceptively deep water and homeless guy kicks are prevalent. Luckily, Maggie’s story is a happy one, where a trip to the shelter results in her getting adopted by a very enthusiastic boy. In a statement, Laurie Brickley, director of marketing for the Animal Humane Society, says “The story of Magpie is a rare look into the life of a homeless dog. This piece will hit home for so many animal lovers and encourage them to help save a life and that’s the heart of the Law of the Paw movement.”

Also included in the campaign are outdoor installations which will appear around the Minneapolis area, including “FOUND” animal posters near humane societies and cardboard doghouses with signs that encourage passerby to end pet homelessness. Credits follow after the jump, and view the campaign website here.

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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.

You might remember Jenna Livingston as the mastermind of the “Starbucks Spelling” Tumblr from last summer, and over the weekend, the New York-based copywriter returned with a more ambitious side project/stunt that involves, who else, meme darling Ryan Gosling. Several sites have been following Livingston’s amusing viral effort in which 200 Easter eggs were hidden throughout NYC. Each egg came with a note that included a picture a Gosling as well as an Easter-themed message and signature, and those who found one could tweet their images to @GoslingEaster to prove it. Livingston, though, says she is not connected to the actual Ryan Gosling in any way, though we’re curious to see how the actor feels about this (she tells us he has yet to respond).

Anyhow, Mashable posted some stats and images from Twitter last night, which can you can check out here and peep a larger image from the outdoor effort after the jump.

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So, this publicity stunt and resulting viral video from Nivea and DraftFCB Paris isn’t exactly a “flash mob,” we guess. Instead, we’re told it’s a combination “flashmob, street theatre, block-party, fairytale.” Add “bachelorette party” to the mix, and that pretty much covers it.

Yes, a little dab of Nivea lotion to your wrist and face can attract a bevy of male strippers in an instant. As Nivea puts in at the end of the video, ““Wake up your wow factor with Nivea Q10.” We can only assume she didn’t jump on the horse for liability reasons. Comments are currently disabled on the YouTube video (which garnered over 60,000 views in two weeks), but feel free to dispel your two Euros below.

We haven’t got a clue yet as to who was behind this latest Intel effort called “Temptations” (Amsterdam Worldwide? VB&P? P&O’D?) since this was sent to us via some viral seeding/PR machine, which we are checking with as we speak. Anyhow, the overall idea behind the campaign is how far someone will go to gain access to an Intel Ultrabook. The clip above is centered on the theme of “Persuasive” and was shot in Melbourne’s Federation Square, while the spot below embodies the “Powerful” theme and was filmed in Bangkok. As far as the video below goes, we know for sure Ivan Drago could rock it.

Following 2012′s most topless Super Bowl spot, H&M’s in-house marketing team continues to roll out ads featuring David Beckham in his underwear. Though the 36-year-old international soccer star’s career is in its twilight, Becks must be comforted in knowing that a lucrative second career as an underwear model/designer awaits him once he leaves the pitch for the last time.

The above 220-foot tall Penn Station-area billboard took over two weeks for workers to hand paint. Beckham, who’s bodywear line was quickly snatched up by H&M shortly after its announcement, is thus far ecstatic about his relationship with the international clothing retailer. As he said in an interview with Ryan Seacrest, “H&M has really marketed this whole collection unbelievably.” Add to the unbelievability a mural unlike one we’ve seen in outdoor advertising in quite a while.

Those looking to add some $14.95 undergarments to their wardrobe (or looking for some more picks of Beckham sans clothing) can scope out the David Beckham Bodywear collection here. Chiseled physique and posh wife sold separately.

From Absolut and SapientNitro India comes a new, interactive experience that turns empty liquor bottles into audible art.

Now, we know it hasn’t been long since we covered an Absolut campaign that aimed to align the popular vodka brand with a distinct culture. But, while EVB took Absolut Miami to the web for an interactive experience, SapientNitro India settled on a more tangible means of bringing India to life. The art installation, which debuted during the India Art Fair at NSIC Grounds Okhla from Jan. 25 to Jan. 29, emits sound when a person “eavesdrops” onto  a bottle.

As the release suggests, one’s experience with the installation is dependent on what cultural norms they bring with them. “The work draws inspiration from the ‘unseen’. The Indian ideal of a spiritual quest that is not visual or outward looking, but seeks to create an experience within.”

For those techies wondering how they did it, SapientNitro used “open source micro controllers with custom electronics, ultra-sonic range sensors and monaural speakers. The bottles, ten in all, are mounted on a 17.3 ft 1.2ft shelving structure of wood, glass and resin.” Now that you have the specs, feel free you create your own similar empty bottle display in your garage. After all, it’s art. Credits after the jump.

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Around midnight EST tomorrow, those within view of a television will watch a giant glowing ball shimmy slowly down a pole, ushering in 2012 AD (CE if you want to get weird about it). Some will cheer, some will toast, some will mumble made-up lyrics to “Auld Lang Syne,” and many will grab a significant other or stranger and engage them in a full-on lip-lock. Each of these, the last especially, is unavoidable. Why? Because it is tradition, so deal with it.

So, what better time for gay social network site Manhunt to drum up some publicity by placing the above billboard in Times Square? Located at the corner of Broadway and 47th Street, Manhunt’s billboard, which will be up through Jan. 6, was described to us in an email as “raising some eyebrows” and featuring “two sweaty guys in dog tags about to make out.” In the days since the “Zero Feet Away” campaign rolled out, it’s already greatly offended one L.A. mom, despite the fact that a similar Michael Kors billboard (depicting a woman placing her hand inside a man’s briefs) has been the subject of no such controversy. Most curiously will be how much (if any) airtime the Manhunt ad gets during the broadcast of ABC’s “New Year’s Rockin’ Eve,” where the American public will be subjected to performances by Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber, and (new mother?) Beyonce.

Thanks for tuning in this year, spies, and let’s look forward to these final few months as we plunge headlong into the Apocalypse. Have an awesome New Year’s Eve, click here for the actual lyrics to “Auld Lang Syne,” and watch Mariah Carey do whatever it is she does below.

No digitally savvy shopaholic’s visit to his or her local mall over the next month is complete without a new holiday-themed mobile app for download. Fortunately for patrons of Westfield Malls, they now have access to the “LOLiday App,” courtesy of the minds at EVB, who are no strangers to holiday projects.

After downloading the app for iPhone, Android or iPad2,  shoppers can then visit the “LOLiday Card Set” at their local participating Westfield Mall. Here, using the magic of mobile technology and augmented reality, shoppers can insert images of themselves into wacky holiday scenes. Why would the nation’s consumers want to insert themselves into a photo that depicts them kissing a buff, shirtless Santa Claus? Well, ladies and gentlemen, they do it for the LOLZ (see also: “lulz”). And, for those avoiding the mall completely or still incapacitated after suffering injuries from a Black Friday Wal-Mart stampede, a completely new silly photo experience awaits on the LOLiday Cards website.

Remember, a new iPad starts at $499 retail, but LOLZ are free. So, this holiday season, give the gift of laughter, and you might even win $10,000 as part of Westfield Mall’s “Laughing All the Way Sweepstakes.” Participating malls and credits follow after the jump.

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It’s hard to believe that it’s been over 13 years since we were introduced to VW’s “New Beetle,” aka the vehicle that saved Volkswagen from years of declining sales. Boosted by a worldwide ad blitz that featured work from, among others, the agency that introduced the original Beetle 30 years prior (DDB), the “New Beetle” continued on its predecessor’s legacy of being a vehicle that found great success as a direct result of focused, innovative marketing.

The new challenge for VW’s numerous agencies around the world is re-introducing a Beetle with a new, “aggressive” look. As we can see in the above spot, the 2012 Beetle comes with a spoiler and a leather racing-style interior, an attempt at making it more appealing to testosterone-riddled men who wince whenever they see a bright yellow Beetle with a vanity plate that reads “MI BUG” in the next lane over. For Omincom-owned Red Urban Canada, this meant marrying new technology with high-flying stunts in a campaign called “Juiced Up.”

Of course, an augmented reality campaign in an outdoor space needs an environment where people aren’t risking being knifed to death and robbed every time they whip out their iPads in public. So, good thing Red Urban had friendly urban environments like Toronto’s Dundas Square and various places in Montreal and Vancouver to make their “Juiced Up” happen. With a campaign of this magnitude happening up north, something that no doubt has agency creatives across the globe scrambling to come up with the next great augmented reality campaign, it’s going to be interesting to see if Deutsch can match Red Urban for the Beetle’s U.S. launch (after all, the “Black Beetle” teaser from the Super Bowl can’t be everything, right?). Until then, this will be the campaign that everyone will be talking about–well, that and the Jetta “Art Heist” work. Credits after the jump.

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Omnicom-owned Red Urban is behind this latest project for Volkswagen Canada, which not only promotes the 2012 Jetta GLI, but serves as somewhat of a social experiment as well. Dubbed the “Great Volkswagen Art Heist,” the effort consists of pop-up “performance art” galleries that have sprouted up all over Canada which feature hand-numbered, framed light painting photos created by the light trails of the GLI. Motion and long-exposure stills cameras were used to film the trails and the end result is the paintings, which as you see above, have been coveted by a variety of people over the course of the last two weeks.

It helps that the artwork, place in random locations, isn’t hung so securely, but that’s the point of it all. VW wants you to steal the art and share it, which people have done via Facebook. But wouldn’t you feel the least bit guilty jacking the work if you had no idea what this was all about? Guess not, according to the clip. Anyhow, the second phase of “Art Heist” is rolling out in a matter of weeks and takes the hunt online and into social media territory.