This 30-second spot, produced by Venables Bell & Partners, attempts to show the audience how billionaire superheroes commute to work. The average worker takes the bus, the train, maybe drives an average car. Tony Stark drives an Audi R8 supercar. Of course, he could also just commute in his Iron Man suit, which would make the R8 seem irrelevant, but that wouldn’t be very good Audi product placement.

You’ve seen this type of spiel before: “It’s never a bad day at work when your commute looks like this.” I’ve never been a fan of this pitch to consumers. After enough time, a car becomes a car. And if your job still sucks, if you have that pontificating boss, or you work till 9 p.m., going home in an R8 won’t stop you from hating a job (but it might help you attract women). And with a minimum MSRP of $114,000 on last year’s model, you’ll most likely hate your bank account afterward, too. But at least it looks cool, right? Credits after the jump.

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What the beep? is right. Venables Bell & Partners is teaming with gasoline company 76 to stop honkaholism, a vicious nonexistent affliction that doesn’t actually affect many people. If you happen to live in New York City, you may hear the occasional overzealous honker, but building an ad campaign around the concept of overhonking seems overzealous in and of itself. Not to mention the humor rooted in the idea of a gasoline company trying to stop noise pollution, which is like a drug dealer trying to encourage people to take Tylenol.

The campaign comes fully stocked with website, billboards, the above 30-second spot, and even a touring “Stop Honkaholism Bus.” If you’re compelled to dig deeper, you can receive a free Honk Suppressor for your dashboard, which means instead of hitting your car horn, you pound a fist into the suppressor instead. Kind of like a Nicotine patch for your vehicle. It is free, so VB&P and 76 should get points for that. Credits after the jump.

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Audi and VB+P are traditionally all about appealing to consumers’ inner-adolescent with their Super Bowl ads. Remember when vampires were a big deal? Audi remembered, so they put vampires in their Super Bowl spot last year. However, as the Twilight film series has ended, Audi and VB+P are telling a bit more of a timeless story with this year’s installment, “Prom (Worth It).”

We open on a classic American pastime, a young lad about to go to prom who, judging by his lack of date, is a loser. His dad, in a surprising move, allows him to take his sleek Audi A6 to the big dance. This isn’t the only unrealistic part of the spot, as the boy ends up making out with his crush and getting a shiner from her boyfriend. It’s not exactly the kind of bold move I support, especially as the boy doesn’t seem to ask permission from his female victim. But, according to Audi, who cares? He took what he wanted, and was rewarded. There’s nothing more American than that.

The campaign, which uses the #BraveryWins hashtag, doesn’t seem to be targeting suburban high-schoolers like the protagonist in “Prom,” and instead aims at fathers who are fearful that their spawn may never get any action. In any case, it’s cute enough to be a crowd-pleaser, but I hesitate to think that this will be one of the Super Bowl’s most talked-about ads. Credits after the jump.

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Worlds collide in the latest spot from Venables Bell & Partners, as Google and Audi share in the stage in “Enhancing Navigation.” How significant is this pairing? Well, I want you to question that as you listen to this classic Powerman 5000 song from 1999. God, what a ridiculous song.

Anyway, the above spot follows an Audi A4-driving couple through a freeze-framed Google Street View rendering of San Francisco. As we watch the couple traverse a familiar blue line and arrive at various red checkpoints, it’s funny to think of how much Apple Maps made Americans pledge their undying allegiance to Google Maps. Perhaps it’s this rekindled fandom for Google (and the jangly soft indie folk track) that gives this spot a warm, almost nostalgic ambiance.

Finally, we see the couple arrive at (SPOILER) a sunny beach where we realize they’re using Google Maps (which pulls from Google Earth and Google Street View) to navigate to their own wedding. As an Easter egg, you may notice that the couple’s four pits stops along the way were to pick up something old, something new, something borrowed, and something blue. Yes, the thought of something that cloying is a bit gag-inducing, but somehow VB&P keeps this spot fun-cute as opposed to annoying-cute. Credits follow after the jump.

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During his time at AKQA, Perez also oversaw the creative internship program “FORGE,” as well as a small team of recruiters and coordinators in both San Francisco and Portland.  VB&P ECD Will McGinness sings the new hire’s praises in a statement, “We’re thrilled to have David at VB&P in this new role. His sustained track record of recruiting great talent and personality will add a lot to VB&P’s culture.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

From Venables Bell & Partners, the same agency whose larger-than-life contraptions for Google Maps and Google Fiber injected a third-dimension into the online world, comes two very different-looking spots for the new Google Search App.

Unlike the Maps and Fiber work, which relied on large, custom-built machines to explain the functionality of the Google’s tools, VB+P is relying on a more traditional mode of storytelling for the Search App, focusing on how the voice-activated tool assists regular people in daily life. Yes, a young girl being forced to dress like Martin Van Buren for a school project is a bit improbable. But, still, mom goes into mom-mode with the help of the Search App, and creates something pretty amazing in just a matter of minutes.

A second spot, “Umpire,” is just as pleasant. What I like about these spots is their simplicity. Unlike Siri, Apple’s voice tool which, due to its terrible functionality most iPhone users avoid like the plague, the Google Search app functions as an easy on-the-go reference tool that seems to actually work. While neither of the real world situations depicted in the spots is all that likely, imagine the wonders the Search App could perform on bar bets. Why, you don’t even have to go to Wikipedia first anymore! Credits after the jump.

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Yes, the holiday advertising season is upon us, and with it comes glad tidings of great consumer spending.

Taking the lead for Christmas 2012 is eBay, that magical monolith of online shopping, who in this spot for VB+P is reminding idiotic, out-of-touch wealthy parents that buying your young daughter a pony is a fucking stupid idea. Sorry, dumb parents, but ponies are terrible pets that do not cope well with being indoors. Also, it’s been proven that ponies will most certainly turn on their young female owners, stomping them to death in protest for being plucked from their wild environs for a life of servitude (not really).

But, really, if you’re even slightly considering buying your daughter a pony for Christmas, you need to stop. This will not make you a good parent, and in two years, your daughter will neglect her tiny horse and force you to have to lure it into a field off the highway to put down. And, do you really think one bullet will kill that thing? Any way you look at it, it will be more expensive than buying a stuffed pony on eBay. Credits after the jump.

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Initially, Venables Bell & Partners’ latest campaign for Conoco gas reminds me of Yahoo’s giant “Purple People Greeter” mailbox. Both are sassy talking objects that attract dogs, love hugs and give gifts. But while Yahoo’s chubby mailbox handed out an assortment of presents to New Yorkers (a dog bone, Yankee tickets, a giant lollipop), Conoco’s vocal car is filled with outdoor gear, designed to delight nature-loving Denverites.

“The Great Conoco Fill-Up” is specifically tailored to the adventurous people of Colorado’s capitol, inspiring them to “fill up and get out there.” After the talking car–which is, what else, an Audi–catches passersby off guard, they’re told to take their pick from ski boots and water bottles, a kayak or a mountain bike. Of course they’re stoked, and will go home to tell their family and friends about their good fortune. But will they start choosing Conoco gas? Is one good deed enough to get a brand some new, dedicated users? Credits after the jump.

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“For years I thought I hated children’s laughter. I had no idea, I was just hungry.” In VB&P’s first work for Healthy Choice since winning the business for the ConAgra brand back in May, one woman recounts her days with hardcore dieting gang the “No-Carb Queens.” They destroy chicken wings and break baguettes in the super market. In a second spot, a man laments his time with a juice fast cult. “Bruce likes solids too,” he reassures himself.

The “online manifesto” video in this series (below) collages together every piece of diet advice you’ve ever been given. Healthy Choice’s point? “Don’t diet. Live healthy.”

Thank you, VB&P, for not going the infomercial route and instead making fun of saccharine, overly dramatic diet ads. I still wish you’d excluded close-ups of (undoubtedly disgusting) microwave-melted parmesan, but can forgive those because of the solid concept and funny writing. Healthy Choice is still a kind of diet, but these videos make it seem like a cool sarcastic best friend food, not the annoying nagging one who invites herself over and drinks all your wine (that’s South Beach).

Credits after the jump.

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Ladies be lovin’ handbags, amirite guys? I mean, what woman in America can’t totally relate to how absolutely insane this purse-coveting psychopath becomes upon seeing the item of her dreams?

To be honest, I only recently became aware that the target demographic of Venables Bell & Partners’ and prodco Arts and Sciences’ new spot for eBay, “Frenzy,” is actually all too real. My ladyfriend works for a luxury consignment store in Chicago, and I find it absolutely fascinating how closely her company is tied to eBay. In my uninformed mind, selling second-hand apparel online means finding the strengths (or surpluses) in your company’s inventory and writing Google Ads to move product. However, I’ve come to learn that a highly-rated eBay account is the best advertising for a company that sells high-end designer products. If the game is to sell a $40,000 python skin purse, eBay can actually make all the difference.

The new campaign from VB&P consists of two other TV spots. The second of which (above) finds parents indulging in their conspicuous consuming habits in order to ease the transition into new parenthood. Hey, if you can’t sleep at night, it might as well be the fault of a crying baby AND a brand new speaker system. Yes, these people are terrible. Credits and the third spot follow after the jump.

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Debuting tonight during the Giants vs. Cowboys NFL season kickoff, the above 60-second spot from Venables Bell & Partners titled “Suspect” marks the first time Audi is introducing its full line of S models to the U.S.

Despite the YouTube commentariat noting that the S8 is too overweight to be race-engineered, an accusation that sounds plausible though I am too unfamiliar with racing to confirm or deny the validity of it, Audi has selected the campaign tagline “Heighten Every Moment” to describe the intensity that waiting in your car for your girlfriend to pickup coffee will undoubtedly provide. Yes, most passerby will assume you stole the S8, and may have your sights set on that armored car as well. Just don’t be a minority driving the S8 (especially in Arizona), or you’ll most likely be shot by a rent-a-cop with a transistor radio.

Audi is also pleased to announce today that it will be returning to Super Bowl advertising for the sixth consecutive year in early 2013. Watch this year’s spot, “Vampire Party,” here and view credits for “Suspect” after the jump.

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Last year, Google chose Kansas City over a number of contenders to be the first place to get access to the Internet monolith’s new super-fast 1GB-per-second service, Google Fiber. Announced today, KC residents will have access to 1GB-per-second download times for a monthly fee of $70.

As is becoming tradition, Google tapped Venables Bell & Partners to create a new charmingly whimsical scale model spot to celebrate Fiber’s launch. The result, “The Next Chapter of the Internet,” depicts the evolution of the Internet through toy cars, where traffic jams are synonymous with the terrible days of dial-up modems. Hey, remember when stealing a song on Napster required at 45 minutes of download time? That sucked.

Set to a little synth cover of The Cars’ timeless (yeah, I said it) classic, “Just What I Needed,” the sad little cars start zipping around like Hot Wheels. How stoked is Kansas City for the arrival of Google Fiber? Here’s the brand’s community activation video from agency Enso of residents begging their fellow Kansas Citians to pre-order Fiber by Sept. 9. Remember guys, it’s for kids, science and, uh, Wendall Phillips (which is a high school by the way).

View credits and Google’s “thanks” to the people of Kansas City which VP+B released last week, after the jump.
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You may recall that in December of last year, we told you that San Francisco agency Venables Bell & Partners was leasing some of its office space to a lucky few for the rather economical price of $10/year as part of its 10th anniversary celebration.

Finally, after narrowing the competition down from 60 to 14 finalists for a sit-down, four Bay Area entrepreneurs were selected by a panel that included founder/ECD Paul Venables, president/co-founder Bob Molineaux, head of strategy Lucy Farey-Jones and ECD Will McGinness. After an eight-month process, the panel has picked Kalon Gutierrez and Luis Garcia, founders of Schoolbags for Kids, Patricia Compas-Markman, a CalPoly engineer who invented the water treatment device DayOne Waterbag and Christian Amundson, an engineer-turned-filmmaker. The video above should sum things up well enough for you. 

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

While we’re on the awards tip, might as well get this out of the way. Apparently, the One Club is feeling quite whimsical at the moment, which explains the theme of their 2012 One Show Call for Entries campaign. Yes, as you see above, everything’s “ONEderful” in the world of the One Show, which will take place the week of May 7, 2012 in NYC. It looks like the halcion kicked in judging by the ONEderful campaign poster above, which was created by D.C.-based Design Army. The deadline for all One Club award shows, as you can see, is January 31 (anyone want to bet we’ll see a deadline extension soon?). You can enter here.

As for your jury list, familiar names like Eric Silver, Steve Simpson, Jeff Benjamin and Will McGinness are all included. Peep it in full after the jump.

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“Mom jeans” are pretty bad, but as a young man frightened of losing all fashion sense with age, I have to say that I am personally more terrified of finding myself wearing a pair of dreaded “dad shorts.” At what average age do you think most women start hiking up their baggy pants as high as possible and most men think the that world wants to see their hairy thighs?

In Venables Bell & Partners’ first work for eBay, the San Francisco agency is introducing the online store’s new app for impulse shopping. The “When it’s on your mind, it’s on eBay” campaign debuts tonight with three spots from VB&P, each showing someone trying to keep up with today’s trends by instantly purchasing products from eBay. Says VB&P co-founder and ECD Paul Venables: “When the company that revolutionized how people shop asks you to do something big and new, you get excited. For this campaign, we tapped into the psyche of passionate shoppers and then demonstrated why eBay is the answer.”

In the announce, VB&G cites a statistic that says 60 percent of fashion enthusiasts and 65 percent of electronics enthusiasts own smartphones, compared to less than 30 percent of the general public. See two spots (one featuring an impulse fashion purchase and one featuring an impulse electronics purchase)  and credits after the jump

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