While most general culture publications are using this week to run back-to-school features, The A.V. Club has been running a series about a much more influential part of the American experience–the mall. Reading it, it’s hard to not think about how my perspective of the local mall has changed over time. In middle school, I looked at the mall almost as an amusement park, a mini-EPCOT Center with different worlds mostly hidden behind showy storefronts. In high school, the mall became a place to kill time between minimum wage jobs, hoping to bump into your crush in the food-court during your 20-minute lunch break. In college, the mall became a place to avoid, a symbol of inflated consumerism and a reminder of how naive your worldview was in high school.

Now, I see the mall as an intimidatingly bizarre monolith, a place I feel horribly uncomfortable in whenever I’m forced to enter one for a quick errand. It’s hard to believe that a place where I spent an inordinate amount of time at 16 now seems so foreign. But, there are those people, who we’ll call “mall people,” that never change despite how much your perspective might. In fact, if I were to identify the polar opposite of myself among mall denizens, it would be the dude who works the remote-control helicopter kiosk. No one, not even the manager of the Gap, is more in his element than that guy. He’s the guy who gets free pretzels from Auntie Anne’s, dates that hot new girl who works at American Eagle, and the guy you hope will invite you to eat lunch at the cool table one day.

Well, W+K Portland is honoring that guy in a new TV campaign for Velveeta, “Eat Like That Guy You Know.” The guy in question here, who Bud Light would name “Mr. RC Helicopter Kiosk Employee,” has in my eyes gone from awesome to lame to actually kind of cool again as I grow up. Hey, he may not be pulling in six-figures, but he has the swagger of someone who pulls in seven.

On Kraft’s Velveeta website, visitors are encouraged to eat like many different archetypes they’re familiar with. Again, it has a “Real Men of Genius” vibe to it, but in classic Velveeta fashion, it’s just a little cheesier. Credits after the jump.

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-Ad folks fill the void before the holidays by creating “Agency Ryan Gosling.” Perhaps they too feel he was robbed by People. link

-Mashable serves up the “Evolution of Advertising” infographic. link

-A battle over Twitter account ownership heads to court in Cali. link

-Whirled Creative made some fans with its “Santa Dog” agency holiday card. link

-Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt says his company’s “iPad killer” will be ready in six months. link

-BBH and AKQA took home Campaign‘s Agency of the Year and Digital AOY honors, respectively. link

-Ex-Publicis Mojo creative Ruth Bellotti is heading to W+K Portland to serve as an art director on Old Spice and EA Sports. link

-CNN/Fortune online turns the spotlight on PSFK. link

Move over Eminem-biting Chrysler ads, as parent company/partner/whatever you call it Fiat is saying hello to the US of A and heralding its 2012 500 line with a nearly three-minute music video complete with nifty editing and effects as well as the centerpiece, which is a remix of Vivaldi’s “Concerto in D Major, Rv 228″ that comes to us courtesy of L.A.-based act Glitch Mob. The spot was created by Impatto Detroit, though there’ s no Motor City pride mantras floating about, just sheer, fun short attention span theater. Credits 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

-All eyes of the media world seem to be on the LinkedIn IPO, which reminds us to update our profile some time. link

-The global nightmare that is Lady GaGa will never be over. Thank you, Starbucks. link

-Ignited was named creative AOR for something called NOX Audio.

-Euro RSGC alums Alicia Johnson and Hal Wolverton launched an aptly name boutique called, yep, Johnson+Wolverton. link

-IPG launched a new, New York-based production unit called Pipeline. link

-BBDO Berlin and Shilo co-founder/director Jose Gomez live “for the city” (above). link

-Cannes named Google’s executive chairman Eric Schmidt as Media Person of the Year.

-The CDC is preparing for a zombie holocaust. Haven’t they read any Max Brooks books? link

-Meanwhile, Allstate is ready for the May 21 apocalypse. link

-Eric Schmidt is surrendering his CEO post to Google co-founder Larry Page. link

-Philly-based shop Red Tettemer celebrates Groundhog Day with a Foursquare badge. link

-TheLadders.com doesn’t do any favors for job seekers in its latest spot (above). link

-So much for that brief, nice union between Wendy’s and Arby’s. link

-Kellogg’s is rethinking its global marketing strategy with the help of Brand Learning. link