-PJA Advertising CEO talk about the “dark side of agency life.” link

-Websites ally against Google in the local ad war. link

-10 tips on how to use the C-word, meaning crowdsourcing. link

-Groupon has closed about half of its $1 billion round of funding. link

-BP easily took the top spot in Consumerist’s biggest business debacle of 2010 list. link

-A U.S. district judge shoots down a Board of Health directive that requires displaying graphic anti-smoking ads in NYC. link

-Hey, look who’s accepting applications for a 2011 Summer internship. link

-Steve Hall makes the natural transition into writing about “sexy advertising” for Playboy’s SmokingJacket.com. link

Thanks everyone for a great 2010. Wishing all of you a Happy New Year. We are off tomorrow but will be back in full form on Monday, January 3. Onward to 2011!

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Art director Breno Costa and copywriter Guilherme Souza were given a fairly straightforward assignment when they left their native Brazil to join Brother Ad School in Buenos Aires: create an ad for Mattel brand, Matchbox. What resulted was something no one ever expected: a Matchbox calendar featuring stripped down Barbie dolls in some, uh, interesting poses.

Mattel cross-promotion aside, the product created a few ripples across the blogosphere and global media, with one of the main debates being whether this was porn or not (we’d go with ‘this is a silly debate’). Guess the lads were looking for a little extra credit with their homework. The case study above basically explains it all, and at least they give us a schmaltzy version of Aqua’s “Barbie Girl” rather than the poppy-as-hell original.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

It’s come down to this, people, the final two items that snagged more hits, page views, what have you than any others this year. We’d like to take a quick moment to thank you all for continuing to read AgencySpy and keep the site thriving. We’ve wavered at times, soldiered through staffing changes and got bombs lobbed at us in the comment threads (when bombs weren’t being lobbed at the subjects of the posts themselves) but we’re continuing to improve and trying to be a thorn in the industry’s side. We can’t win all the time, and we do take your suggestions/hate to heart, so we’ll do our best to be bigger and badder next year, hopefully uncovering more truths and poking fun at an industry that takes itself way too seriously in the process. Anyways, I digress. On with the show…

#2: Behold: The Social Media Sobriety Test

#1 after the jump…

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Though the sight of Jeff Goodby and Rich Silverstein in drag is a bit startling at first, you eventually warm up to the GS&P namesakes’ rendition/butchering of “I Got You Babe.” The iconic creative duo have quite the sense of humor, whether tweaking the lyrics to Sonny & Cher’s karaoke staple a tad, riding bikes together in Palm Springs or just getting naked. Yep, their bond is that bizarre. While they give it one hell of a shot, we think the pair faces some stiff competition from these ladies.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The six-year-old BSD seems to takes its name seriously as it was the digital firm behind 2008′s “Obama for America” online campaign and does work for the Edward R. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate among several others. In a statement regarding the acquisition of BSD, which will be housed within the WPP Digital arm, the holding company’s EVP, public relations and public affairs Howard Paster says, “I’ve witnessed first-hand Blue State Digital’s political prowess and I am very impressed by their ability to take their political and organizing skills and apply them to a wide array of challenges. Providing services that span the political, not-for-profit and commercial worlds is not always easy, but BSD masters it. They are a welcome addition to WPP Digital.”

BSD currently employs 130 people across offices in Washington DC, Boston, New York, Los Angeles and London.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

-Facebook usurps Google as “most visited site of the year.” link

-TBWA\Tequila parties like its 1985 (above). link

-Telegraph offers its own list, this one being top 10 biggest spending U.K. advertisers in 2010. link

-Crispin’s Matt O’Rourke goes into soliloquy about his bike. link

-The New York Times spotlights Seventh Generation, which ended its relationship with Carmichael Lynch earlier this year. link

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

-Forget D-Wade. Saatchi & Saatchi Prague taps Chuck Norris for its T-Mobile campaign. link

-Planters and Chevy are two of Forbes.com’s comeback brands of 2010. link

-Here’s one list of “most impressive” mobile advertising campaigns of the year. link

-How about the best and worst startup logos of 2010? link

-Buenos Aires-based digital agency Intacto wishes you a Happy New Year. link

-One Utah lawmaker is proposing ads on school buses to fund cash-strapped districts. link

-Groupon files to raise up to $950 million. Your move, Facebook. link

-Meanwhile, the aforementioned social network writes new rules for in-app ads. link

-iPad magazine sales are dropping. link

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

During the course of 2009-10, we did our fair share of coverage on Lemonade, the film made by PleaseFeedtheAnimals proprietor and former Arnold copywriter, Erik Proulx. But we’ve somewhat overlooked its upcoming sequel, Lemonade: Detroit, as well as Proulx’s approach to funding and getting word out about the film. It’s been going on for a few months now, but in case you weren’t aware, Proulx has been offering up individual frames of the film for $1, a second’s worth for $24 and a whole minute of Detroit for $1440, giving those who purchase IMDB credit as a producer on the project.

So far, 1,017 producers have funded over 25,000 frames, and until Dec. 31 (that’s this Friday if you’re without calendar), Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan will match every frame you fund. Yes, it’s technically crowdsourcing, but in this case, at least we don’t shudder after saying the dreaded C-word.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Ah yes, another day in the last week of 2010, another poll. We’ve seen several new chief creative officer appointments over the course of 2010, and as per usual, all of them were met with equal amounts of praise and derision (ok, well, mostly derision). But we’re curious as to see who was the best fit and most likely to succeed in their post come 2011, whether it be spearheading major account wins, adding notable creative to staff, etc.. So we ask you, AgencySpy readers, which agency won out in terms of the CCO hiring spree this year? We’ve picked out a handful (sorry if we missed some) and of course there’s always the “None of the above” option to make it easier on you. Click the link below to partake and of course, feel free to comment as to why you made your choice. (P.S. We picked CCO’s at specific locations, so hence the lack of a Steve Simpson type, etc..)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Don’t worry, people, it’s the second to last day of our most popular stories of ’10 countdown and this time, the inclusions were both expected and surprising (what, still no Bogusky resigning or Eric Silver post?) Anyhow, no need for drumroll, let’s just get this show on the road.

#4: MacGruber’s Nude Photo Shoot Reveals Tiniest of Tinies (NSFW)

Guess the hype didn’t pay off as the movie was a total bomb. Even still, the fact that this item cracked the top 5 left us kinda speechless.

#3: Ocean Spray Reams Arnold Creative in Insult-Laden Voicemail

“I’d like to address the unfortunate circumstances that led to this blog posting on Agency Spy. Ocean Spray would like to apologize to Dan for the voicemail left on his answering machine, which is not indicative of Ocean Spray’s values. We will, of course, also be contacting him directly to apologize in person….”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Despite the mostly negative feelings expressed by our commenters in various posts about Digitas, the Publicis/VivaKi agency has at least one fan in Artur Benchimol, a Miami Ad School student who spent this fall as a “greenhouse intern” at Digitas Boston and sends his appreciation to the shop and the “awesome people” he met via this clip. After effects, green screen, swaying tropicalia melodies and mermaids all play a part in Benchimol’s fond farewell. Say what you will about the production value or sentiment, it’s nice to see a young lad brimming with optimism before he eventually becomes another jaded industry creative.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Marie Osmond can only do so much after all. In an effort to change its own approach and of course, compete with the likes of Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem has tapped Santa Monica, CA-based DonatWald+Haque as its new agency of record. The 13-year-old shop bills itself as a “leader in accountable brand advertising” and it’s perhaps the “accountable” part that attracted the weight-loss brand, which says that it chose DW+H because the agency merges strategic long-term brand-building with ROI-positive results.

Though Nutrisystem spent $297 million in measured media in 2009, the most out of the three mentioned brands, revenue fell four percent in the most recent quarter according to Mediapost. So, perhaps a jolt was necessary. In a statement regarding Nutrisystem’s choice, the company’s CMO Chris Terrill says, “DW+H was a great fit for us as they understand how to balance ‘branded response’ with telling a compelling and emotional story. For us, that meant focusing on what makes a brand like Nutrisystem so special by crafting a memorable, fresh creative approach that connects with our consumers.  In this new campaign they’ve captured the spirit of transformation that our members experience when they lose weight – and that our entire company is experiencing as we make some big changes to our business.  I’m thrilled with the campaign and  excited about the new direction this takes the brand.”

DW+H has hit the ground running it seems as a new integrated campaign already launched on Dec. 26.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

-American Airlines takes over NYC subways. Feels a bit awkward, though. link

-Mark Zuckerberg makes his way to Bangkok. link

-72andSunny developed a GPS-enabled loyalty program for CKE Restaurants. link

-Fast Company offers its list of the 10 best (and worst) rebrandings of 2010. link

-Rasmussen: Only one in five Americans want the FCC to regulate the interwebs. link

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

-Spanair makes that long holiday flight from Barcelona kind of worth it (above). link

-McDonald’s promoted Edgardo A. Navarro Linares to VP, multicultural marketing for the U.S. link

-BBH Labs looks at what collaborative consumption means for marketers. link

-Another day, another social media trends in 2011 post. link

-Survey: Agencies are more optimistic about the economy than client execs. link

-AT&T puts ratings and reviews on its Facebook page. link

-Yeesh, Pomplamoose and Hyundai just can’t catch a break. link

-The iPad reigned supreme in terms of tablet demand during the holidays. link

-Is B2B social media marketing relevant? link

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.