With the Harry Potter series of novels completed, the only products that can get weirdos to hang out in a store until midnight are video games. And, with the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops II coming next week, “America’s Chain,” Walmart, is trying to convince weirdos to specifically hang out in their store with this new spot from The Martin Agency.

Believe it or not, this spot was directed by Ruben Fleischer, better known to most as the director of Zombieland. For those that are unaware, a large portion of the Black Ops series is dedicated to killing and/or running from zombies. So, this selection actually makes a good amount of sense.

Perhaps even more shocking, Walmart enlisted the help of Academy Award-winning composer of The Social Network, Trent Reznor, to create the music playing in the background as our protagonist runs to safety. It’s strange to consider that Reznor, better known to most of you as that angry guy from Nine Inch Nails, is now having his “Theme from Call of Duty: Black Ops II” arrangement used to convince nerds to go to Walmart. But hey, Trent Reznor’s gotta eat just like everyone else. You don’t want Trent Reznor to starve to death, do you? Also, we can probably safely assume that Trent had no idea his music for the game would end up in a Walmart ad. Credits after the jump.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

For a company that specializes in mundane activities like box building and document copying, FedEx made some jazzy choices in their latest campaign. To sell FedEx as a company providing “solutions that matter,” BBDO NY worked with Caviar and Haus to show businesses what they won’t be getting.

It all takes place in the Jingle Studio Facebook app, where companies can create the cheesiest of jingles. They pick a band–possibilities include mariachi feat. singing cactus, hip hop ensemble, glam metal band. Then, using text-to-singing technology, they can insert their company name and info into an ad reminiscent of what you might see on a tiny town’s television channel (read: tacky).  Then, of course, the jingle-maker shares their fresh video along with its tacked-on FedEx promotion.

Maybe it’s just me, but the example video is going to be stuck in my head for the entire day. “Let’s fiesta like zillionaires!!” If FedEx’s strategy backfires and inspires a rise in bizarre singing ads, a ton of 90’s bands are going to have lucrative side-jobs.

Credits after the jump.

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Though they struggled through injury during most of the 2011-12 NBA season, the Chicago Bulls had a very positive outlook at the beginning of the post-season in late April. After all, the team’s star and best player, Derrick Rose, had just returned to the team after a series of afflictions had kept him sidelined for a good chunk of the year. Rose was looking in prime condition, and the Bulls had the NBA Championship in their sights.

But, we all know what happened next. With the Bulls comfortably ahead of the 76ers in the waning minutes of their first playoff game, Rose went down with a season-ending ACL tear. Some blamed Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau for leaving his star in the game too long. Some blamed Rose himself for taking too many risks while still recovering from injury. Some, like Nike designer Jason Petrie, famously blamed Rose’s choice of shoe sponsor for the injury. (#shouldasignedwithNike) In any case, as the following photo shows, it was very, very sad.

But, Adidas is getting everyone’s hopes with a new spot from (we think) from 180 LA Caviar and director (not to mention 180LA alum) Amir Farhang. “The Return of Derrick Rose” helps confirm what some are reporting: D-Rose’s rehabilitation is ahead of schedule. With Chicago’s “bench mob” broken up by trades, we’ll need Derrick Rose for as much as possible if we hope to make it to the playoffs. Without him, there’s basically no chance in hell for this team. It’s the truth, and hopefully, Adidas is being honest with us as well.

Oh, and in case you’re wondering, #thereturn is currently blowing up on the Twitterz. Production credits after the jump.

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Draftfcb San Francisco’s ongoing, testosterone-laden “Wear the Pants” campaign for Dockers continues, this time raising the question of how our superheroes will be able to change into their duds once the last phone booth bites the dust. Wait, hasn’t this happened already? Anyhow, agency and brand come up with the most logical conclusion by the end, though we imagine our superheroes, if they existed, would be a bit more fashion-forward by this point. Credits after the jump.

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During last night’s broadcast of AMC’s The Walking Dead, Electronic Arts debuted the above spot from DraftFCB SF for the new title coming to stores March 6, Mass Effect 3. Before you fret, realize that the spot aired after the Academy Awards ended, and many who felt like remaining on the couch (me included) flipped over just in time to see it.

Since debuting yesterday, the emotional spot depicting the end of the world, an alien invasion, and the battle for humanity’s survival has already chalked up more than 75,000 views on YouTube. Filmed over six days in Prague, “Fight for Everything” is, in a word, cinematic, so much so that it’s initially quite difficult to tell what exactly the spot is advertising. But it succeeds where it aims to, making ME:3 look enticing to gamers and non-gamers alike. Sure, it’s a little bit Halo and a little bit Star Wars, but that doesn’t make images of people running for their lives any less moving.

Also, since the Vancouver hockey riots of 2011, it’s hard to imagine a scene of mass chaos that doesn’t include two young people making out. Maybe that’s the “better with Kinect” feature Electronic Arts is hinting at. Credits after the jump.

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Arrested Development star Will Arnett, who’s no stranger to commercial work having served as the VO on GMC truck ads and co-creator of those Orbit shorts along with Jason Bateman, hams it up in a new holiday campaign from BBDO for AT&T dubbed “You’ve Got a Case.” Here, the comedic actor plays a lawyer-for-hire named Kent Wesley and plugs the telecom giant’s 4G smartphone/Facebook app with a bit more cockiness, charm and pizazz than chubby Luke Wilson. It’s everything you’d expect from the man who’s resurrecting his classic role as Gob in the near future thanks to Netflix. Credits, which will tell you that is not the handiwork of new AT&T creatives Rick Ardito and Grant Smith, after the jump.

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From McCann Worldgroup and prodco Caviar LA comes a new round of spots for Sony Ericsson’s Xperia PLAY gaming platform. In March, we saw comedian Kristen Schaal debut as Xperia PLAY’s new emotionally unstable spokesperson, and, as evidenced above, her gaming-obsessed character doesn’t seem to be toning the crazy down any time soon.

The latest campaign for Xperia PLAY focuses on Minecraft, a game that allows players to build pretty much anything using pixels as though they were digital LEGOs. In a contest running through November 7, players can enter on Sony Ericsson’s Facebook page to compete for the opportunity of meeting Schaal in person by constructing the most impressive Minecraft creation. For the nerd who considers crushing on Zooey Deschanel or Lizzy Caplan “too mainstream,” it’s an opportunity that might be too good to pass up.

The spot is a bit of a departure from the series that debuted in March, leaning more toward Schaal’s uncomfortably creepy Flight of the Conchords character and away from the over-the-top gun-loving Satanic spokesperson that we were introduced to seven months ago. But, for those jonesing for some profane bloodlust from Schaal, see another new spot below. Credits after the jump.

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Basically, it comes down to next Monday’s meeting between the NBAPA, the owners and commish David Stern (yes, it seems these meetings are proving to be increasingly useless) to see whether an actual season will happen, so, in the meantime, why don’t you NBA fans and gamers take solace with this spot for NBA2K12 from 72andSunny. Basically, it’s a follow-up to Jordan’s “Kiss my rings, biyatch” spot and asks fans, whether they be celebs like Drake and the dork from Dodgeball or your average joe, to profess what they think is the greatest NBA team ever. What say you, audience? Damn, this impending lockout irks us. Credits after the jump and, thanks to a tipster’s heads up, a Samuel L. Jackson-starring Nike spot that aired during the last NBA lockout in 1998.

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The greatest hoopster of all time (in our humble opinion, at least) takes center stage in this new spot from 72andSunny for NBA2K12. Here, Air Jordan reflects on each of the six rings he won with the Chicago Bulls (let’s forget the Wizards era, please) and still argues that his game-winning shot in the ’98 finals against Utah was not aided by a push-off. But yeah, we agree with you MJ, it’s really hard to top the 95-96 era Bulls, complete with a 72-10 record and Dennis Rodman‘s multiple hairstyles. Are you one to disagree? Credits after the jump.

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Back in May, we posted a new spot from CP+B that featured Halo protagonist Master Chief receiving a diploma to a standing ovation from his fellow high school classmates. Today we received another spot in the campaign from Crispin for Microsoft’s bundled PC and XBOX 360 deal for college students, this time featuring the Spartan reacting to being hit by a disc thrown by some college bros hanging out in the quad.

While we think “Tour” is a bit of an improvement on its predecessor (Master Chief actually does more than walk across a stage), we still yearn for another Halo spot on the level of “Believe” from a few years back. Maybe we’ll get it when the fifth installment of XBOX’s flagship series drops next year. Credits after the jump.

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