Four years after first serving as city host for the Los Angeles installment of Portfolio Night, which in essence is a speed-recruiting/networking event for young art directors, copywriters and designers, 180LA is back in the mix yet again. In the 2008 version, the agency fulfilled its promise that whoever presented the best portfolio that evening would be offered a full-time gig immediately (this is guy they chose).

In the video above, 180LA ECD William Gelner explains that with the economic downturn in the ensuing years after their first Portfolio Night collab, such an opportunity won’t come so easy nowadays. But he does have a solution, which reminds us somewhat of the intern-firing ploy pulled by San Francisco shop Mortar. Anyhow, the 180-hosted Portfolio Night 10 Los Angeles takes place on May 23. Get ticket info here.

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Just when we thought we were done with the annual Movember coverage, along comes this image in the tips box, which appears to show 180 LA partner/ECD William Gelner (wait, is that him?) sans pants and doing his best Walter White/Breaking Bad parody. We’ll give it up to Gelner for showing some cojones, literally and figuratively, all while raising over $10,000 for the Movember movement. Anyhow, good on all of you who raised some scratch for the month of men’s health, even if you’re just in your skivvies.

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Two months after they first teased their deep-sea endeavor called “Project Shiphunt,” Sony, Intel and 180 LA have unveiled “Shipwreck Alley,” the first of two web films to be released this summer (the second arrives on July 13) that promotes the efforts of five Michigan students who are using Sony Vaio laptops to find a shipwreck within, yes, Lake Huron’s Shipwreck Alley. If only our school field trips were like this.

The young whippersnappers’ adventures are being captured by @radical.media director Paul Bozymowski, who says in a statement, “Over the course of just a few weeks, I saw a profound transformation in the students who participated in this project. I think this is not only a testament to the environment that was created for the students, but also a testament to engaging with technology through immersive project based learning.” From the looks of it, we’d just feel claustrophobic and get seasick. Anyhow, you can follow the project here and totally distract yourself and try to earn a million bucks by playing the Google Earth-based “Oceans of Treasure” game that ties into the “Shiphunt” effort. Credits after the jump…

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As our fear of heights gets worse with age, just watching images on the computer of Yungas Road–aka “Death Road”–in Bolivia makes one weak in the knees. But a few brave souls decided for whatever reason to test out the Mitsubishi Outlander Sport’s all-wheel drive system on what Inter-American Development bank apparently dubbed “the world’s most dangerous road” back in 1995. The automaker and agency 180 LA aren’t strangers to such crazy stunts, of course, as they just broke five Guinness world records in February for their 24-hour experiment on Canada’s frozen Ghost Lake.

This time around, the crew including production company Boxer and director Jordan Valenti (armed with a 360 cam) decided to head down to South America last month to take part in what’s being touted as the first commercial shot on Yungas, which is single-lane, lacks any guard rails and oh yeah, there’s that whole 1,800-foot cliff drop-off *shudder*. Well, fortunately it looks like they all lived to tell the tale. So what’s next gang, something involving the Burj Dubai? Credits after the jump.

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Your blood pressure probably has yet to drop since Kraft and CP+B turned tweets about Mac and Cheese into advertisements. That date, March 28, will go down in history books alongside events like the Spanish Armada, the Liberation of France and the Day that Music Died. Holy Cheeseasaurus Rex.

Well, 180LA and Boost Mobile (of “Where you at?” fame) are doing it again…but with a twist. Instead of turning complimentary/stupid tweets into advertising gold, Boost is using tweets of people complaining as the basis of its campaign. Who doesn’t love it when people complain over social networks? As 180 LA tells us, “The campaign is not just about ‘taking a tweet and making a spot.’ It’s about Boost taking the anger and frustration that people are hurling at the wireless industry on the web and making it the voice of a marketing campaign.”

“Working Man” is one of three television spots to air for the campaign, with a full launch scheduled for May 16. By the way, that awesome song in the background is Aloe Blacc’s “I Need a Dollar,” which was most famously used as the theme song for HBO’s terrible, vapid but somehow very enjoyable series How to Make it in America. Credits after the jump.

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Drawing inspiration from the world’s first online test drive, in which the Mitsubishi Outlander Sport was awarded its first Guinness World Record for the longest distance driven by a vehicle operated online, 180LA took the automaker’s Outlander and Outlander Sport to Alberta Canada’s Ghost Lake to showcase the tech wares of said vehicles and break as many world records possible within 24 hours.

Driven by stuntman Garvin Cross, the SUV and CUV broke five world records: Greatest distance driven by a vehicle in reverse on snow in 30 seconds, shortest braking distance by a vehicle on ice, most vehicle figure eights on ice in two minutes, fastest vehicle slalom relay on ice and fastest driven square lap, which all in all dubbed Mitsubishi the most awarded family of all-wheel drive vehicles in its class, so the automaker claims.

Digital marketing includes homepage takeovers, online banners as well as a strong social media push all leading consumers to their website to find out more.

Check out the “See How We Did It” video and full credits after the jump.

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180 LA has rocked the interactive scene with their latest creation for Mitsubishi, proclaiming that it’s the world’s first “real” interactive driving test, giving the online user the ability to actually drive a car online by simply using the arrow keys.

Spoiler: Just don’t think about trying to get all fast and furious, though. You must stay inside the course or the car turns off and you lose your turn, which is a downer because it takes a while to finally get to do the actual test drive and the car that’s basically running idle. Also, the Guinness Book of World’s Records is validating it. Check out the “Mitsubishi Live Drive” and give it a spin yourself. Agency credits after the jump.

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To create awareness and excitement for Sony’s new in-dash A/V navigation systems with TomTom technology, 180LA brings us a digital campaign that includes two music videos (one rock-themed, seen above, and another R&B-based after the jump) featuring a mash-up of music and navigation. Directed by Grammy Award Winner, Trish Sie, I kind of love these. They’re funny, they acknowledge the annoyance of not knowing where you are, and the casting is spot on. Also, I dig that one of the videos is set in LA as anyone who’s driven there knows what a fuckmare it is to get around.

Gavin Lester, creative director at 180LA says, “The videos target 22-49 year-old women and men who take their digital music everywhere but are looking for a dependable, quality way to play their music and videos in the car.”

Credits and R&B video after the jump

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Check out this new Boost Mobile spot from 180LA, which features a a 20-foot tall giant who’s having a rough go at life and touts the mobile brand’s “Shrinkage” plan. In my world, shrinkage is never a good thing. And with the amount that it’s said in this spot, the point of it is completely lost on me.  How come they’ve gotta say it over and over again sooo many times? Welcome to the world of see, say, kids.

In a statement, Ari Weiss, CD at 180LA, had this to say about the clip (which was directed by MJZ’s Dante Ariola): “Giants have always been glamorized in the public eye, but the truth is being that large comes with obvious setbacks. Giants seemed to be the perfect spokespeople for a campaign featuring the upside of shrinking.”

Umm ya. It’s a whatever spot. Wouldn’t watch it again, wouldn’t necessarily talk about it again. But hey, some of you might actually have some shit to talk about it, so why not, right? Knock yourselves out. Happy November. Credits after the jump.

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A few weeks ago, Adidas and 180LA turned heads with a decidedly strange music video for “Fast Don’t Lie,” the anthem for its new basketball campaign. Featuring NBA stars Derrick Rose and Dwight Howard along with comedian Ken Jeong moonlighting as nutty rich tycoon “Slim Chin,” we had a feeling we weren’t seeing the last of the trio (or Jeong’s pet cheetah).

As it turns out, Adidas and has an entire YouTube channel dedicated to the misadventures of Slim Chin and his lightning-fast, musically inclined athletic friends. Along with the videos, there’s an interactive portion (co-created with 180 Amsterdam) where fans can step into Derrick Rose’s Adidas kicks to drive to the hoop on Slim Chin’s own lavish court, performing aerial dunking maneuvers from an interactive, first-person perspective.

180LA copywriter Eric Helin says the campaign uses Jeong’s popularity to “grab basketball crazed kids attention.” While stars like Rose and Howard can probably do that on their own, watching Ken Jeong ride a jet-ski around his massive pool is pretty hard for anyone to ignore.

Full credits for the spots after the jump.

More: “Adidas Uses NBA Talent for Bizarre ‘Fast Don’t Lie’ Slow Jam”

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