From Translation comes the second installment of the Chris Paul/Cliff Paul State Farm saga, which will make its TV debut tomorrow night.

If you recall, Episode I (the entire premise of which rested on a pun about the word “assist”) premiered during the NBA’s Christmas Day games. This obviously isn’t the first time we’ve seen a professional athlete star in State Farm campaigns, but what Translation realizes that DDB Chicago doesn’t is that having a professional athlete actually attempt to deliver lines and, well, “act” isn’t the best idea. I’m a Packers fan through and through, which is why it made me so unbelievably uncomfortable to watch Aaron Rodgers totally bomb during those “Discount Double-Check” ads. Seriously, the dude was out-acted by a bunch of preschoolers.

Unless you have Blake Griffin or Peyton Manning at your disposal, just dress up your professional athlete in funny clothes, offer 3-5 variations of the site gag, and don’t ever give them lines. Hey look, it’s Chris, er, Cliff Paul wearing funny glasses and a dapper suit and an argyle sweater. Haha, so silly. See how easy that was? Now I want to watch more. Credits after the jump.

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-Optimedia appointed former OMD exec Jason Hoffman to the newly created position of SVP, digital, which calls for him to oversee the agency’s New York digital ops and work with clients including the BBC, British Airways, Pizza Hut and Purina.

-Ex-Arc London managing director Diana Cawley has joined Cheil Worldwide as head of global retail.

-The makers of Spam have decided to fork over a cool $700 million to purchase Skippy peanut butter from Unilever. link

-The president of Argentina brings up the Falkland Islands in a strongly worded newspaper ad directed at British Prime Minister David Cameron. link

-For those who are tired of the “hilarious” banter between Peyton Manning and John Schnatter in those Papa John’s ads, there’s always the more fun Russian version featuring a couple of NBA ex-pats (above). link

-Mondelez, the company formed as the result of Kraft splitting into two, has announced the nine selected start-ups which will be participating in its Mobile Futures program. link

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Now that Peyton Manning is back in the spotlight after spending a year recovering from neck surgery, who knows if he’ll reclaim his title as advertisers’ Manning of choice. In the meantime, brother Eli continues to expand his acting oeuvre by starring in a series of ads for BankPlus, a chain of banks located throughout Mississippi (considering he did play ball at Ole Miss, we say it’s appropriate casting). The “aw shucks” charm we’ve come to know from his interviews and in ads for Toyota, Oreo Double Stuf and now DirecTV shines through in this campaign, which debuts on Sept. 1 and begs the question, “What if Eli Manning never played football?” Check out the second spot below and credits after the jump.

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On any other year, your credit card company offering you a trip to Indianapolis on February 5 might not seem like a big deal, or even appealing. This year, it’s a totally different story, as Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Stadium becomes the stage for Super Bowl XLVI on that very night. At the beginning of the year, who would’ve thought that by mid-season we would know that the hometown Colts have absolutely no shot of playing in the big game? Despite a Peyton Manning-less “lost year” for Colts fans, it’s nice to know that the city will still find a reason to celebrate on February 5 (and perhaps again in late April, when the Colts might have a shot at drafting 2012′s “sure thing,” Andrew Luck).

To celebrate, Visa is giving one lucky cardholder 10 tickets to the big game. And, if the above Wes Anderson-esque spot from TBWA (that’s actually directed by Stacy Wall) is any indication, that lucky winner could find opportunities for new friendships, embarrassing old friends, and eloping with the office crush in the “Racing Capital of the World.” Along with the gentle, calming narration of Morgan Freeman that America has come to value as much as apple pie, baseball and the Right to Bear Arms, it doesn’t get more red, white and blue than this spot from Visa. And, as residents of Baltimore surely know, there’s nothing quite as gratifying as making a die-hard Patriots fan wear the helmet of an opposing team. It would only be sweeter (and more timely), if that Patriots guy was a Redskins fan.

So, on this devastatingly sad and disheartening day for American football fans around the country, let’s find comfort in knowing that although college football is perhaps seeing its darkest hour ever, we still have the NFL to lift us up. And, hey, how ’bout them Packers? Check out more Ned-ventures here.

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With their shipwreck-hunting mission seemingly accomplished, 180LA and Sony have returned to the surface and are turning their advertising focus to some of the latter’s non-Vaio-related products, specifically Sony cameras including the Cyber Shot. Above and after the jump, you can see two different spots shot in two different countries by Biscuit Filmworks director Christopher Riggert.

From the looks of the top spot, “Family Vacation,” everyone in the motherland of yours truly is captivated by every move a Sony HD camera-wielding tourist and his brood make, and are even willing to sit through and enjoy their footage after. Sigh. Well, at least the authentic Mumbai, Pune and Nashik  landscapes are worth looking at. As for the second spot, dubbed “Take Control,” Riggert and company moved locations to Bangkok, which is hardly recognizable amidst the cover of darkness but a bit more intriguing than its counterpart nonetheless. So, with football season around the corner, is it safe to say we can expect Sony and 180 LA to shift gears again and bring back a recovering Peyton Manning for the next teamup?

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Is “I got my own spoons” the next advertising catch phrase to sweep America? Wheaties certainly hopes so, and who better to get this off the ground than Kevin Garnett and the face of all things that require a professional athlete endorsement, Peyton Manning.

Why does Peyton have his own spoons? We never really find out, but as one of the official “creators” of Wheaties FUEL, along with KG, Albert Pujols, Bryan Clay and Hunter Kemper, he gets free reign to do whatever he wants.

Okay, it’s a remix video, and anyone with a basic knowledge of Final Cut and a YouTube account can make these in under a day. But, hey, just as Muggles (non-ad folk) still think flash mobs are cool, so too do they find remix videos interesting. Look at the comments on the video and the over 52,000 views its racked up in little time. After all, this DJ Steve Porter chap is behind such viral remix classics as Allen Iverson‘s “Press Hop,” Randy Moss‘ “One Clap” and Vince Offer’s “Slap Chop Hop. “We’re just hoping Wheaties next remix video might feature Brett Favre and Anthony Weiner.

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Have you ever seen cricket look so cool? Better yet, have you ever seen cricket look so action-packed? Even better yet, have you ever seen cricket?

This spot, featuring Mahendra Singh Dhoni of the India National Cricket Team, is one of eight colorful new spots from DDB Berlin for the new Reebok ZigTech shoe. The spots focus on sports stars from around the world including go-to product endorser from the NFL, Peyton Manning, the Washington Wizards’ John Wall, British pro boxer Amir Khan and Spanish soccer player Iker Casillas of Real Madrid. Give Reebok some props for looking all around the globe for different faces to plug the ZigTech sneaker. Credits and another spot follow after the jump.

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