And so, our conversation with Translation founder/CEO Steve Stoute continues. In Part II of our Media Beat interview with the advertising exec, the prevailing topic is stereotypes in advertising as Stoute touches on the controversial Mother NY-created, Mary J. Blige-starring Burger King commercial (the fallout of which later “crushed” the singer) as well as Ashton Kutcher‘s Popchips ad that was subsequently pulled. Stoute’s suggestion for ad agencies? Understand the nuances and perhaps have Mary J. “sell a salad.”

This and all MediabistroTV productions can also be viewed on our YouTube Channel. Be sure to check out Part III of our chat with Stoute tomorrow.

Part I | Monday: Translation’s Steve Stoute on Winning Bud Light: ‘A Sign That the Agency Had Grown Up’

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Just four episodes into its first season, is it possible that the days are already numbered for AMC’s advertising reality show, The Pitch? After two weeks in the Monday, 10pm/9c time slot, the cable network seems to have permanently shifted The Pitch, now scheduling it to air on Sundays at 11pm/10c.

Obviously, this is a strategic move to glean viewers from Mad Men, which airs an hour earlier. But, AMC must also be hoping that America will actually stay up watching TV until midnight before they have to go to work the next day. In any case, this abrupt scheduling change surely caused many fans of the show to miss maybe this season’s most anticipated episode, which featured one of the country’s most talked-about young agencies and a food brand that’s recently shown us it’s willing to take risks to get noticed. (SPOILERS AHEAD!!!)

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And now, a riddle: What do each of the men in the above dating video have in common? Stumped? Well, you’ll never believe this, but they’re all actually Two and a Half Men star and former Mr. Demi Moore, Ashton Kutcher! Oh, the headline of the article and the title of the video gave it away? Well, the press release we were sent along with this video said, “Viewers won’t believe it’s Ashton until they see his cameo!” We deeply apologize for ruining the surprise.

From L.A.-based agency Zambezi comes a series on online video spots advertising fake dating site WorldWideLovers.com. Interested viewers who follow the URL will actually find themselves at Popchips’ Facebook page, where a custom web app allows users to send personalized messages to their Facebook friends from each of Kutcher’s exaggerated stereotypes alter-egos. You can send a greeting from Raj, a 39-year-old Bollywood director, Nigel, a 24-year-old hippie stoner, Daryl, a German fashionista of unknown age, and Swordfish, a 29-year-old biker dude with a beard.

The “Play Matchmaker” campaign from Popchips follows last year’s popular and similarly vexing effort “Who Wants to be Ashton Kutcher’s VP?” where fans applied for a one-year gig and $50K salary to join Kutcher’s entourage. Watch each of the character’s personalized digital shorts on Popchips’ YouTube page. Credits after the jump.

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We know the world is still slowly getting over the crushing end of Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore‘s marriage, but that isn’t stopping this enterprising young lad from capitalizing on the actress’s newly restored single status with this two-minute clip called “What About Me, Demi?” As you can see, the goatee-sporting guy above who goes by the name of James is indeed one James Beikmohamadi, a copywriter at CP+B (which has nothing to do with this project) who’s been with the agency for just over a year and worked at EVB prior to that. Will his plea work? Well, you probably know the answer, but why not entertain the CW’s fantasy for a quick minute.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

-Following his Penn State-related tweeting debacle, Ashton Kutcher is handing over his Twitter account to his management team. And the world sheds a tear. link

-EuroRSCG and the Ad Council teamed up to launch what they claim is the “first-ever advertising campaign to address unplanned pregnancy among young women in the U.S.” link

-The 4A’s O’Toole Awards is now accepting entries. link

-Google apparently has no plans to run ads within Google+. link

-Just because, let’s watch some “behind-the-scenes” footage of Bert & Ernie’s recording sessions for TomTom GPS (above).

-R/GA continues its efforts for MasterCard’s Priceless New York campaign with a “Food Truck Feast.” link

-Final Cut New York welcomed Human Worldwide alum Lauren Bleiweiss as executive producer.

-Production company Arts & Sciences added documentary director Todd Krolczyk to its roster.

-Is mobile search advertising on the rise? link

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

How do you show off a new Nikon camera (the COOLPIX AW100 to be exact) that’s water, shock and freeze-proof? Why using extreme sports-loving guys dressed as a camouflaged bear, of course. This is the premise of a new web film concocted by Stockholm/Amsterdam-based studio, Perfect Fools, which enlisted French freestyle skier Julien Lange, Portuguese BMX biker Daniel Americo and Lisbon-based surfer Miguel Fortes to play the film’s hero. What, was Shaun White busy? Well, seeing as it’s an international campaign that’s targeted at the U.K., France, Germany and Russia among other overseas nations, the casting is understandable. Hey, at least we’ll always have, er, Ashton Kutcher. After viewing this, we know you’re dying to see a making-of clip, and it’s ready for you after the jump.

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As Ashton Kutcher found out in the 2004 thriller The Butterfly Effect, small decisions can lead to huge consequences. Actually, I never saw that movie, so I don’t know if he found that out or if someone in Hollywood decided it was a nice title for a film, which it was. But, just as I assume Mr. Demi Moore‘s character learns about the intricacies of the paths we choose, so too does Toshiba assume Murphy’s Law when creating the perfect laptop.

The above spot is the first of two in a new branding effort from agency Goodness Mfg. As you can see, had Toshiba not included an “impact smart hard drive” in its laptops, a clumsy satellite custodian would have inevitably caused a city-wide blackout, sour milk and a zombie apocalypse. The ad never explains what an impact smart hard drive has, but apparently it had something to do with not causing outlets to short circuit after someone drops their laptop on the ground. See what happens when Toshiba doesn’t include a WiFi connection on a TV after the jump.

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-MRM/Team Detroit alum Richard Perry joined digital studio Speedshape as interactive group director.

-Social media guru/Charlie Sheen replacement Ashton Kutcher is ready to throw down in a new McCann-created spot for Nikon (above).

-Epsilon completed its acquisition of Aspen Marketing Services.

-Cheil North America CEO Buz Sawyer hired Omnicom alum Henry Dosch as CFO.

-Big Spaceship won digital AOR duties for The Rising Beverage Co.’s Activate brand.

-The Art Directors Club is unveiling a new exhibit next week called “Graphic Intervention,” which showcases 25 years’ worth of AIDS awareness posters link

-Ex-Google CEO Eric Schmidt admits he “screwed up” because he underestimated Facebook. link

-ArnoldNYC was named AOR for Florida-based apparel chain Stein Mart. There was no review. Fry Hammond Barr in Orlanda was the incumbent.

-Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney now has a digital director. link

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

-Urban Outfitters = ripoff artists. link

-Let the borough wars begin…again. link

-Chicago-based prodco Rascals & Rogues launched a series of spots for Culvers. link

-Who was Wunderman Zed Academy’s Marketer of the Year 2021? link

-Even the top advertising minds have to have a good cry sometimes. link

-Mark Zuckerberg channels his inner Ted Nugent. link

-Some company called Cooliris claims to have created the first 3D ad for the iPad. link

-NYT.com: Ashton Kutcher is an internet pioneer. link

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

-Mistress Creative and the Bandito Brothers team up for a global brand spot for Hot Wheels (above).

-BMB’s Neil Powell is tweeting live from Uganda until May 29 as he hand delivers the first 1,000 Information Blankets to Ugandan mothers. link

-Alex Bogusky: Spy camera pioneer. link

-McDonald’s CEO Jim Skinner: Ronald McDonald is an “ambassador for good.” link

-McCann NY/London’s online slideshow continues, this time with a salute from the Gipper. link

-Goodness Mfg. hired Rob Bajohr and Neal Desai as senior art director and art director, respectively.

-Aero Film opened New York-based CGI/animation unit, Aero Studios.

-In other prodco news, L.A.-based Duck signed Swedish animation studio Meindbender for U.S. commercial representation, thus forming the aptly titled Meindbender@Duck. link

-Beverly Hills Courier is trying to entice Manhattan area ad/marketing/PR folks with a contest to win a luxury weekend in its city. Cue the Weezer. (P.S. – password is “mediabistro”) link

-Did Ashton Kutcher launch a Twitter app to get back at Twitter? link

-Friendly’s tapped Portland, ME’s Via Group as its new AOR. link

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

This week, I thought I’d take a brief hiatus from my personal crusade against viral stunt videos and lighten things up.  Have a bit of a laugh.  Enjoy some blithe comedy while we explore the more hilarious aspects of child sex trafficking.

A lot of people are up in arms about this unconventional effort from Ashton Kutcher and his cougar wife Demi Moore to heighten awareness of forced prostitution. What offends me the most, frankly, is that these videos are not terribly funny. It’s hard enough to make people laugh in general. Comedy writing is actually very difficult. One need only judge the radio category at any major award show to truly grasp this tragic truism.  So making people laugh while talking about the child sex trade is even more difficult. Ashton and Demi went with using A-list celebrities and the soon-to-be patented “Old Spice type” humor. In fact, the Old Spice guy even starred in one of the videos. Thanks to the fine folks at Wieden, we will all be subjected to this brand of “off-beat” humor in the coming years to sell everything from CPG products (“Look at your Swiffer mop, now back at me!”) to more hard hitting/comedic public service campaigns for issues like female genital mutilation.

I get what they are trying to do. It’s the Outpost.com hamster cannon all over again. If people are talking about it, even hating on it, then they are talking about this very important issue. And guys are the target and are more likely to pass along something crude and funny versus a more powerful, sobering message. And it’s working, is it not? I am writing about it. But it just doesn’t feel right. It’s like watching the clip of Michael Richards committing career suicide in front of your eyes. Still, I joined their Facebook page, found my photo embedded in the spot and witnessed Jessica Biel say directly to the camera as if she had inside knowledge- “Roger is a real man.”  Talk about uncomfortable comedy.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Zambezi, the agency most recently made famous (we think) thanks to the Jennifer Aniston/SmartWater funny has won creative AOR and digital AOR duties for Champs Sports and Popchips, respectively.

The indie shop, which also works with brands including 2K Sports, Nestea and the Los Angeles Lakers, will develop an integrated campaign for mall staple Champs that’s expected to break by early summer. In a statement, Champs’ VP of marketing Frank Bracken says, “The Zambezi team brings significant experience and insights in sports culture, coupled with a very collaborative work style.  We immediately connected on the consumer and brand positioning, and then the creative team delivered great work. They’ve become a very natural extension of our internal brand and in-store experience teams.”

As for its relationship with Popchips, which of course has crowned Ashton Kutcher as its “President of pop culture,” Zambezi had already worked with the brand on its web-based VP search prior to earning AOR status. According to sources, there was a Popchips review and Kraftworks was the incumbent.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

It might be Mardi Gras or something to that effect on 6th St. in downtown Austin, but we chose to settle in the confines of 4th St. for the evening, which had its fair share of Saturday night revelers. After attending the packed Razorfish happy hour event at the Phoenix, which had attractive bartenders and an open bar like most other agency-sponsored events as well as enough blaring techno to take us back to the rave days, we headed to the “exclusive” Mr. Youth party at 219 West that herald what they call the “S List.”

The New York-based Mr. Youth, a social media shop that has done work for clients ranging from Sony and HP to Starbucks and MSN, enlisted the hosting services of former NBA star Rick Fox and his lady friend, Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Dollhouse alum Eliza Dushku. The snazzy-looking pair have become social evangelists as of late and as we sat in the back lounge of the 219, the couple along with Mr. Youth CEO Matt Britton expanded on Fox’s panel discussion earlier in the day called Banking on Big Brands/Celebs for the Web.

Amidst the free food/booze, deep cuts provided by NY’s DJ Vikas and TV screens featuring real-time check-ins and social media stats, the trio described Fox’s recent team-up with Mr. Youth and HP on the Campus Legends basketball tournament. While no video, audio or pictures were allowed to be published, Fox and Dushku were cordial/engaging enough, discussing how celebrities can boost their respective “brands” on Twitter/Facebook, maintain a deeper relationship with fans, Charlie Sheen’s Twitter effect and the pair’s social media-related philanthropic activities including the Twitchange celebrity auction to benefit Haiti.

Yeah, we know it was a PR campaign of sorts, but it was refreshing to get some firsthand perspective from celebs who seem to be digging deeper with the service than just amassing followers and tweeting innocuous garbage. Insert snark here in the meanwhile, but we’ll have some pull quotes to add to this shortly.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Social media guru/Punk’d creator/lauded thespian Ashton Kutcher is the “president of pop culture” at Popchips in case you didn’t know, and the man who likely credits himself for bringing Twitter to the mainstream is now on the hunt for a VP. What’s the payoff, you ask? Well, a $50,000 one-year gig that includes responsibilities such as “creating unique digital content,” on-location reporting at three “top pop culture” events in the U.S. and of course, actively participating on the Popchips’ social media channels.

This effort, which stars the That 70′s Show alum and Guillermo from Jimmy Kimmel Live, comes to us courtesy of L.A.-based shop Zambezi, the creators of recent VitaminWater ads among other things. March 2 is deadline and you can find out more here, or just watch the sorta funny unfold above.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.