workmen playing twister: traffic ahead

This is a fun campaign to promote Touring Mobilis GPS to Belgian drivers.

They actually created hilarious traffic slowing stunts and then incorporated them into traffic reports. Funny (unless of course, you're late for a meeting and stuck in traffic because of two vikings playing Badminton.) From @gchicago.

google: let us follow you around

Google Latitude just launched a new feature that some will find outrageously awesome and others will see as totally creepy: they're letting you track your place through time, creating a nice stream of your travels.

This opens up a world of opportunities for location based promotions and events. A history dashboard could easily be integrated into promotional tours, treasure hunts, and so many other scenarios. Possibilities = awesome.

(Not to worry - it's strictly opt-in. You can go to the strip club or porno shack and we won't know or tell.)

see london through the eyes of history

The Museum of London just launched a beautiful new augmented reality app that lets visitors tour London while getting a real picture of the city's past. Amazing.

fun with fans

If you buy a truckload of Dyson bladeless fans, you could set up a balloon riding course in your house.

Dyson engineers show exactly what's cool about their product, while perfectly illustrating it's unique selling proposition.

your dog's poop isn't cool on our shoes

Artist Jay Shells must be sick of people not curbing their dogs. He created a street art installation that promotes proper poop pickup. Then he took it a step further and included a doggie doodoo baggie dispenser, too. Nice.

alone time: more important than ever

Want to be more creative? Schedule more "me" time.

Leo Babauta interviews some fantastically creative people from a multitude of careers, and looks back at some of history's most notable creative greats, and found one habit they all have in common: the need for solitude.

The second most important habit of creative people might leave you confused, after you've locked yourself in a closet for solitude: participation. Leo spells it all out in a wonderful post exploring what makes super creative people super creative.

You can test it out this Memorial Day weekend: show up at a family bbq party, and then lock yourself in a room claiming you need privacy.

don't try this in the employee lot

To show what's possible with Dunlop tires, they hired professional stunt drivers to take a few cars on a reverse trip out of a parking garage. Suhweet.

something for you to do with your beer cans this weekend

Let your spouse know now that you plan a massive project this weekend. And then start drinking Heineken.

You can do so much with cans. In this video clip, they've re-produced the Santiago Bernabéu stadium in George Enescu Square, Bucharest.

You should just use them to put on a small addition to your house. Or a bathroom remodel. Drink up.

where people are shooting pics

Info artist/photographer Eric Fischer has taken geotagging data from photographs that have been uploaded to the internet and plotted them on city maps.

The resulting art reflects where people shoot photos in cities across the world. Maybe the most hauntingly beautiful data realization you've seen this week. From YesButNoButYes.

bic: will you sign this?

The Bic Crystal is the best selling pen in all of the world. Except Germany. So they launched a fun promotion to show what a pen can accomplish...asking celebrities for their autographs, and then having them (unknowingly) sign something they would never, ever sign in real life.

Great concept, and now it has taken on a life of its own, as fans are creating their own versions. Love this.

a skater's paradise

I Ride, I Recycle takes old skateboards (from manufacturers, skate shops and skaters) and turns them into kick ass coffee tables, wall coverings and other desirable objects. Proof that anything can be art, and anything can be recycled. Don't trash your old boards.

your desk, alive in 8 bit

If you didn't have so much work to do, you could play out a video game one frame at a time on your desk. Maybe your boss would really dig this.

That's exactly what Alex Varanese did, and it looks pretty awesome.

how velcro changes everything

Sure, the iPad is a wonderous, magical device. But it's missing one thing: velcro.

Put two strips of the magic fabric on your iPad, and all of a sudden everything's changed. Nice.

your phone as a room key

Holiday Inn is implementing a test program that allows guests to use their smart phones instead of key cards. We've been hearing about this for years - but it's cool to see a chain actually testing it.

No more fumbling for key cards, remembering room numbers, or standing outside your door in a drunken stupor trying to figure out which way the card goes in the slot. (Not that that's ever happened.)

a lesson in branding from kiss

Paul Stanley, lead singer of KISS tells the LA Times how branding helped create the image of success, long before the band could sell out arenas.

They set up their own equipment at shows (like any indie band), but did so hours before the show, so fans wouldn't see them lugging gear. They put up their own flyers (like any indie band) but did so in the middle of the night.

Much of this lead to the illusion that their band was bigger and more successful than they really were. "There's no substitute for hard work, for lonely hours and sleepless nights," says the man with a star on his face.

There's another gem of a quote about how their music was polarizing, and the wasted energy of trying to convert haters into lovers: " Life's too short to try to convert people who don't like you." That's something that every brand (or social media user) can take as rock hard advice.

From @cullmann Photo: Lawrence K. Ho, Los Angeles Times

direct marketing hits the ipad

If you've played with an iPad, you probably already know how beautiful ads can look when designed and viewed on a hand held glass screen.

Macy's is taking full advantage of this and has released their summer catalog in iPad version. Let the direct marketing revolution begin. From @rogerslinda

bikes that can change a neighborhood

This has been around the internet for a bit, but if you haven't already seen Scraperbikes, check it out. You'll be inspired to create, inspired to be a part of something, and inspired to ride. Scraperbikes rock.

let's paint the grey away

This clip is a beautiful documentation of a campaign that shows the power of paint and color. How color can change a community.

The Let's Colour Project is working together with local communities across the globe, and painting streets, houses, schools and squares. All while raising brand awareness for the Dulux brand. Super genius.

this is a blog post about a blog post about an ad

The online ads for the new Black Keys release is nothing short of beautious.

Creative, fun and completely aligned with the brand identity. You should be jealous of this work.

when you get a boat, you'll need this list

A collection of fantastically creative boat names. Cue song.

play farmville at 7-11

If you thought that Farmville was annoying when your friends were playing on Facebook, then you're going to love it while drinking a Slurpee.

Zynga, makers of Farmville, Mafia Wars and other social games has put together a promotion that puts Zynga branded product into 7-11 retail storess.

The joint promotion will let you buy a real Big Gulp, and then enjoy one in the game, too. You can also earn gifts by purchasing at retail and then playing components of the game in Facebook.

Everyone wins except your friends who don't play the games, and are tired of your Mafia Wars status updates. From the ECA.

target gets lost

If you caught some of the Target spots during the season finale of LOST, you've witnessed some of the most creative, targeted 15 second ads ever ever produced.

Whoever said you can't be creative in 15 seconds, or speak to a niche audience, or have fun with a meme can shut their pie hole now.

the unreal BP tweet stream

You can count on the fact that some people can find humor in any situation. And someone's having a ton of fun at BP's expense, while they pour oil into the gulf at the environment's expense.

Enjoy the BPGlobalPR stream before it's taken down, and hope a tragedy of this magnitude never happens to your brand.

it's safe to go outside now

People in NYC are being told that it's ok to leave their computers, abandon the internet, and come outside and play. While you might think it's all a trick, it's actually a super nice program that's been happening for a few years.

(You go first, and if it's safe out there, come get the rest of us, ok?) From @lbbinc

stuff you hear all the time

Stupid stuff happens every day in every industry, but thankfully our industry has a Facebook page that's documenting it all.

Sh*t The Creative Director/CEO/Account Guy/Client/Intern Says will have you laughing, crying and saying "yep, I've heard that one."

the ultimate tv party

If you were on the edge of your seat last night with the season finale of LOST, then you'll love these over the top party invites to season finale parties. From @guykawasaki

your typewriter is not welcome here.

The Writer's Room is an age old coworking environment for writers in NYC. Pay an annual fee, and you've got a space to hang, work and collaborate. As long as you don't use a typewriter.

Longtime Writer's Room member Skye Ferrante returned from some time off and was politely told that his typewriter was no longer welcome. "No one wants to work around the clacking of a typewriter."

Don't they know that typewriters are cool again?

tweet the pounds away

Trying to lose weight but you don't want to leave the internet for the gym? Not to worry. Tweet more. Yes, even tweeting burns calories, and now you can track your fat-burning tweets with a new handy tool called TweetCalories.

Finally, a diet plan that allows you to eat cupcakes, tweet about eating cupcakes, and lose weight in the process.

Outstanding promo for a chain of fitness centers. Total awesomeness with chocolate on top. Thanks, Devon!

nike goes more epic than epic

Everyone's wetting their pants over the new Nike spot short film. (I love the 300 kabillion word explanation that accompanies the spot on Vimeo.)

It debuts on TV this weekend, so if you want to be cooler than your friends, you should watch it now.

facebook knows who you're going to have sex with

If you're in a tizzy about privacy and Facebook, then you'll love this piece on Valleywag, talking about how Mark Zuckerberg dives into data on users, and analyzes their behavior. By examining friend relationships and communications patterns, he was able to predict breakups and hookups in advance, with about 33% accuracy. (Personally, I don't think that's much better than a Magic Eight Ball.)

Anyway, for a better more sane view on Facebook privacy ridiculousness, we suggest you consider Robert Scoble's view or enjoy Bill Baker's exploration.

lost in nyc

Before hunkering down for an entire day/night of LOST on Sunday, you might want to make a trip to the upper east side for a visit to the Vilcek Foundation. They've got a LOST exhibit that features photography, art and props from the now iconic show. Gothamist has pics.

get hotties, cougars and players to call your friends

This new Facebook app for Captain Morgan lets you setup a prank call to your friend's cell phone, with a semi-custom message that will leave him confused about some sexy, freaky girl that's calling him.

These have been done before, but internet apps that connect to phones never get tired, when done well. Implementation within Facebook is smart, so users don't have to leave the comfort of their Facebook environment just to visit a useless campaign site. Hotties + phones + friends = loads of fun.

films in 140 characters

"A lizard has a bad day."
That's how you could describe the film Godzilla, in 140 characters or less.

Efficient Films is part of a new promotion for Audi. Simple, easy, efficient. And surprisingly, nearly brand-free. From @davidselikow

magical technology shown with stop motion

To promote their interactive whiteboards, SMART Technologies created this beautiful stop motion piece that captures the magic that's possible with an interactive whiteboard in a classroom.

The video is part of an overall campaign that includes a campaign site, Facebook page and other elements and asks viewers "Who do you think is the best teacher in the world?" Nice.

a church with swagger

Church blogger Eric Seiberling points to the Toyota "swagger" campaign and asks "can a church have swagger?"

An excellent point and great illustration that no matter who your audience is, they're probably...humans. And humans typically connect with content that is real, has humor and is engaging.

Church people, non-profits and brand managers with "serious" marketing messages, listen up! Just because it's serious, doesn't mean it has to be boring.

light your coworkers on fire, for fun

Outdoor team building trips are soooo yesterday. All the cool, badass companies are jumping off buildings and lighting people on fire.

Hollywood Stunts is a stunt person training school in NYC, and they have corporate events and birthday parties.

Forget birthday candles on a boring cake. How about lighting that dude in the analytics department on fire instead? We so need to do this.

what your friends are doing this week

Hotlist culls through your Facebook friends and tells you what's happening in any of a handful of major cities.

Wondering what your friends (or their friends) are up to this week? Want to know where the cool parties are? The Hotlist is here to tell all.

the sun chips marketing plan

Hopefully you've seen the new compostable Sun Chips packaging.

If you're more curious about how it all came together and what they're doing, Chief Marketing Officer Thomas Oh outlines it all in detail for you. (Yes, it's long - but it's only keeping you from work. Take a few minutes and learn something.) From @mvellandi.

ghostbusters save the ny public library

The New York Public Library brought in Improv Everywhere to help raise awareness about their Don't Close the Book fundraising campaign.

Yet another wonderous example:
+ Non-profit doesn't have to mean boring.
+ Non-profit doesn't have to be serious.
+ Non-profits can associate with fun.
If you cater to an audience of humans, they like to laugh every once in a while. It's ok to let your brand associate with that, too.

I really hope the marshmallow man can make a visit. From @acebmg

don't be an ass in foursquare

Now that Starbucks has announced a chain-wide promotion rewarding "Mayors" in FourSquare, you can expect every other chain in the nation to follow suit. Get ready for the FourSquare explosion. This is like Twitter, late 2008.

And as the masses begin to adopt and start "checking in" on FourSquare, we're going to need to establish common etiquette for what's appropriate. (At our office, there's a lot of discussion around this very topic.)

Charlie from Curve has produced one of the best guides to FourSquare etiquette that we've seen so far. While I don't agree with everything he says (like checking in at the grocery store), this is a great guide. Send it to your coworker who wants to check in at the employee bathroom.

how to make cpr training sexy

Technically, this is an ad for Fortnight Lingerie, but I think it's ok for you to watch this a few times while at work.

Because it's not really an ad with sexy lingerie models. It's actually a lesson on how to give CPR. Even Human Resources would agree that CPR instruction is acceptable content to watch repeatedly from the comfort of your cubicle, right??

what can you say with advertising?

This promo for the upcoming Portfolio Night is advertising genius.

A message that the ad industry is calling - all told through advertising slogans. Fresh.

art meets community activism

Frustrated about a little annoyance in your town? Think that the city government system is ridiculous and impossible to move?

Artist Jason Eppink got sick of a leak from a viaduct that created a puddle of scum for pedestrians to maneuver around. So he created the Astoria Scum River Bridge. The installation provided a service to pedestrians and called attention to a problem in an entertaining way. (And shortly thereafter, city officials actually solved the problem.)

Art making change is a beautious thing.

what the producers of lost can teach you about the creative process

David Deal has a glorious post about the creative process and the team of writers, producers and studio executives at Lost. David reviews the oral history of the development of the pilot episode, as told in an Entertainment Weekly article.

David points out what we all experience in our jobs each and every day: ideas from multiple directions, challenges from management and/or clients, and ideation from the most unexpected places. Are you making the most of these interactions?

Great post, and a must read for anyone on any side of our business.

anti-facebook raising money, gaining momentum

Everytime Facebook makes a change to their product, thousands of people who can't handle change get themselves in a tizzy with "bring back the old Facebook" groups and petitions.

This time, it's a little different. Some prominent people are registering their discontent with the social media megalopolis, and have suggested that someone create an open source version of Facebook.

A group of NYU students have taken Wired Magazine's request seriously, and have already raised $115K in crowdsourced funding to pay their way to the build. They say they're going to start as soon as they graduate, this summer. (Now that's the way into social media entrepreneurship.)

sneaker freaks get funky

Foot Locker has released an ad geared specifically to the sneaker freak.

There have been hundreds of spots that play on the fandom of cars, sports and food, but this may be the first that celebrates sneaker love. (Let's go shopping now, ok?)

think social media tools are a little silly?

Then you'll love Gink.

(Watch this, and realize this is exactly how you sound when talking about FourSquare in front of your mom.)

this is how your grandma tweeted when she was your age.

Did you ever tweet something magnificent and say to yourself "this would be so awesome if I had a copy of this tweet typed on paper for future reference"? Of course you have. And now, there's a service that will do all of this for you.

Simply enter your tweet, pay $5 (plus $1 shipping), and Typed Tweets will hand type your tweet onto actual paper, and then mail it to you. Social media goes old school.

new dress code: space suits

Is there anything better than a series of posts devoted to space suits? I don't think so.

true viral success

Liquid Mountaineering launched a couple of weeks ago, and has now generated over TWO MILLION views for shoe maker Hi-Tec. Here's the thing: they produced this so well, that even (some) news stations can't tell it's an ad.

Still think you need your logo plastered all over that video you're producing?

shop everywhere

In the future, you'll be able to snap a photo of anyone on the street, and your phone will be able to tell you where you can buy the same outfit.

The future is almost here! Westfield London Mall claims to have produced a tool that can identify product from online photos or cell phone photos, and point you to the store to buy it.

We can't find the actual tool anywhere on the internets (not even on the mall's website), so we're pretty sure this is still in the "idea" phase (or the mall just forgot to actually market the technology they created). Bring on the future, now.

how to create a successful WOM campaign

If you're from the agency side, you might want to watch Saul Colt as a refresher to what actually works in word of mouth campaigns.

If you're from the client side, you'll want to watch Saul Colt so you can tell your agency to "shut it" when they pitch you lame ideas that have already been done a hundred kabillion times by other promotional campaigns.

What we believe is the most important reminder here: A successful campaign doesn't need to be about your product. (Most of the best aren't.) It DOES have to be engaging content that connects and provides some value to the audience you're trying to reach.

We're slowly becoming convinced that Saul Colt really is what he says: The smartest man in the word.

twitter art that ashton could ruin

Just in case you haven't been paying attention to your tweetstream, we wouldn't want you to miss this super fun Twitter art experiment.

Tweet about Don't Tell Ashton and your mug gets featured in the first ever piece of Twitter art, at a size based on the number of your followers. Only Ashton Kutcher has enough followers to plaster his face all over the piece. So let's keep it quiet, ok?

want a job in advertising? target the right audience.

This is the single best job hunting tactic that I believe I've ever seen. Super genius.

it's vader time.

Holy, sweet mother of Star Wars. It's that time of year again. It's time for the annual Vader Project, where some of the world's hottest artists customize a 1:1 scale authentic prop replica of the actual Darth Vader helmet.

If It's Hip It's Here has a spacetacularly exclusive peek at the pieces to be featured. If you live near Los Angeles, you can check them out in a gallery preview.

Otherwise, you can order a catalog, or bank all of your paychecks between now and July and then snag one of these beauties at the auction.

hurry: we have a magazine to publish

Everyone's blogging, tweeting and chatting about 48HR, a magazine that's written, shot, put together and published within the span of 48 hours. They've done so with a masterful use of crowdsourcing - and have managed to wrangle some of the best writers, editors and photographers in the business.

The piece looks to be a beautiful print piece, if you enjoy reading things printed on paper. (Sadly, not available online or in iPad.)

2011 will bring many tweets

Someone who really likes math has forecast how much we'll be tweeting by next year.

You can put the graph into a PowerPoint deck, and really impress your boss. From @steverubel.

killing advertising, one mascot at a time

Barry Nelson and Tom Schecker are killing off advertising icons, one at a time in a new book Mr. Ed: Dead!

The book features imagined obituaries of famous fictional characters, including many of our favorites from the ad industry.

Anyone who can take on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles must be pretty badass, so we're not going to push it with these guys. But that said, we're pretty upset that they killed Mrs. Butterworth. Loved that woman.

lady gaga: good for everything

Lady Gaga: not just for making music and selling products and amazing teen talent shows. Now you can use the Gaga power in protest, too. Genius.

thought you'd never see a dead person in a restaurant ad?

Two great things that go great together: Day of the Dead and great Mexican food. We need to find one of these Quesada places, pronto.

for you, this may be epic

I'm not from England, and I don't really get soccer/football, so the emotional impact on this ad is mostly lost in my head.

But maybe you're from England. And maybe you like kicking a ball around. And if you are and if you do, then this spot for Carlsberg Beer will be epic.

Oh, and it has an effing lion in it - and we now know that this is what makes ANY ad a legendarily awesome ad.

the way we pay, changed forever.

Selling a mountain bike to a friend this weekend? Now you can take Mastercard.

Square is the company from Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey that lets anyone with a smart phone accept a credit card. You've read about Square on BrandFlakes months ago - but it just got better:

They're giving away Square card readers.

Doing so eliminates any barrier for any person or business to take credit cards. You're in business, in minutes. This changes everything.

stop the bad internet

You will LOL all over your cube this morning when you review Oatmeal's list of 8 Websites You Need to Stop Building. All true.

look at this effing lion

If you're a student with plans on making a living in this creative business, you'll want to watch this because you can learn so much from your elders. Luke Sullivan giving a presentation to the Miami Ad School in Minneapolis. (That's in Minnesota.)

If you're already in the agency business, you'll want to watch this as proof that presentations don't have to be boring PowerPointerbations. Presentations can be fun, conversational, and targeted to your audience. Nice job, Luke. From @travishines

robots doing creepy things

At our agency, we've long held Never Trust a Robot as sort of an unofficial company anthem. So we understand that you need to be wary of robotic creatures.

If you don't already maintain the same caution, then you'll want to read the Creepy Robots blog. Nothing but posts of robots doing creepy things. Mechanically creepified. (Thanks to the Twitter friend who pointed this out that I can't remember.)

don't steal microsoft products

We suppose that's the underlying message behind this street prank. Whatever the message, you'll just love it because watching people get startled out of their pants is always hilarious. Enjoy.

have you hugged a skittles executive today?

If you ever see any marketing executives from the Skittles brand, you should run up to them and smother them with hugs and kisses.

They deserve non-stop love for totally trusting in their agency and green lighting stuff like a giant living tube sock that provides tongue entertainment.

dark side of london

This is a few months old, but still awesome if you haven't seen it. A real projection of one of the best selling album covers of all time over the skies of London. Cool.

embed your tweets wherever you want

One of the most minimalist lobbies I've ever seen. than a minute ago via TweetDeck



how the robots will take over

Can robots sell deli meat? Yes. From @LarryTolpin

you deserve this

Steam punk lovers: today is the day that you can begin to write your Christmas wish list. Or your birthday wish list. Or your "I really deserve this" list.

Computers built in classic steam punk style. Thanks, Steph!

meet swoon

Swoon is a street artist that builds beautiful pieces of art from cut paper, and installs them in unlikely places across urban streetscapes.

Flavorwire has a sweet slide show of some of her work, and you can meet her in person tomorrow in NYC at her book signing.

creativity works even in the most mundane environments


video projection wherever you want it

This projection technology rig is so awesome that you'll want to leave your desk right now and find an experiential campaign to incorporate it into. This has possibilities beyond awesome.

meet the swagger family

You've probably already seen the best of example of great casting and direction in the new Toyota "swagger" spots.

Now you can enjoy the swagger family in all of their hipster swagger suburban glory with the full length music video. Swaggerlicious.

students quit media, and we learn in the process

Some professor at University of Maryland's Phillip Merrill College of Journalism put students through a grueling test - they went without media for 24 hours. No internet, news, ipods, cell phones, tv. Not even Facebook. Thankfully, they lived to tell the story.

What we've learned from their sacrifice is that students don't make fine distinctions between news and personal information. And that lack of distinction is likely because they're not visiting the content provider's site. From the study:

"...students don't care about newspapers or TV news broadcasts or even blogs, but covet the information that comes to them through a diverse and circuitous pathway of devices, platforms, applications and sites."

Here's more proof that content is king, and that your content had better be consumable from a variety of devices and formats. From @Dirktherabbit, pictured tweeting, above.

how many watts are you using?

Pentagram just completed work on a pretty sweet data visualization site for GE.

As a part of their Ecomagination campaign, their energy use calculator lets you quickly calculate how many watts you can save in your household by using EnergyStar appliances. Great design and information all coming together for Mother Nature and GE product sales. Everyone wins.

when you file your timesheet, put this under "research"

It's Thursday, you're bored from a week of calls, meetings and calls, and need a healthy distraction that you can call "creative research."

Here you go: Ten awesome webcam feeds from around the world. Enjoy.

what mario would look like today

You'll chuckle at If Mario Was Designed in 2010. There's a lot of truth to this, and somehow some of the magic is lost with the Facebook connect screen over 8 bit glory. ;)

uniqlo's ultimate twitter show

Uniqlo is up to some internet goodness again. They've produced the uTweet Show, a custom Twitter show that's animated based on your favorite keywords or username.

Brands, take notice: This is the simplest of concepts. Nothing at all complex about this. Yet it's entertaining and being shared by thousands. Or hundreds of thousands.

Here's proof that simple ideas with seemingly no real user value (other than entertainment), have real value, after all. No contests, no signups, no coupons. Just plain internet fun. From @halthomas.

mannequins invading nyc

If the art project Event Horizon wasn't enough sculpted man for you, rest easy. There's a new fake human sculpture parade getting ready to hit NYC.

Sidewalk Catwalk will put 31 female mannequins made by designer mannequin maker Ralph Pucci in Times Square at the end of June.

The mannequins will be wearing the latest weatherproof fashions from a host of designers like Calvin Klein, Diane Von Furstenberg, Michael Kors, Betsey Johnson, and others. And...we assume the honor system will keep the outfits on the mannequins and not in the purses and bags of Times Square visitors. We'll see.

the longest exposure

This photograph was taken with an exposure that lasted six months.

Photographer Justin Quinnell created a pinhole camera out of a soda can, used a single piece of photographic paper, and strapped it to a telephone pole. The stripes at the top of the photo show the position of the sun over the six month period. Patience.