Here in Italy Coca-Cola Light has launched a karaoke website which invites women to sing a Duffy song in front of a webcam in order to share it with the world. Even if my very first reaction was pretty negative,... martina http://www.adverblog.com martina@adverblog.com Advertainment

(Thanks, G.)

Must be something in the air.



Anyway, I kind of like this because it's fun and I was getting bored of the other Pimm's guy.

Then I'm less keen because it features the age-old anthropomorphising of inanimate objects that was seriously dated in 2002, after the same agency made this ad:



Ah, they don't make 'em like that anymore.

Or rather they do! Geddit?!!!???

...Because it's different, positive without being cheesy, well-shot, very re-watchable and makes you feel quite nice about the idea of drinking fizzy piss.


Parts of it remind me of this:


(By the way, I'm quite thick. I first saw the Star Guitar video in a hotel room in Rome and didn't get the whole 'beats as the things through the window' thing. I just thought Michel Gondry and the Chemical Brothers had broken with tradition and made the dullest promo ever. See? Quite thick.)

Is it adorably charming or Satan-jumping-out-of-the-loo-while-you're-taking-a-dump fucking creepy?

You decide:

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

UPDATE: Sorry, just to clarify, I'm so bored of Lance. He's a real hero, I've read the autobiography, I have nothing but respect for his resilience in the face of cancer, but could he by any chance shut the fuck up about it? Especially when his thoughts are being translated by Hank. P. Nike-Copywriter who seems to think that same old platitudinous dog toss is like the finest work of Dylan Thomas as long as it's broken up into small sentences and read like someone really needs a shit.

Aside from being a self-hating black man and a predatory paedo, MJ was also a pioneer of the YouTube theft that is now so prevalent in advertising.

Back in 1981, before YouTube even existed, he checked out some dancing on YouTube and STOLE it.



And I really got my ladies version of the poll wrong. What was I thinking? Who wants to be Carly Simon right now, singing 'You're So Vain' into a hairbrush while the memories of Warren Beatty blush your loins?

Three of you, that's who.

World tennis no. 1 Rafael Nadal withdrew from this year’s Wimbledon due to “tendonitis” in his knees. A plausible story. But the real explanation for his no-show has now been revealed: the star has been hiding out in his hotel room ever since getting embarrassing tattoos on both knees.

The bashful star revealed his tattoos to Spanish magazine ‘Hola a todos’ yesterday before immediately covering them up again and turning bright red. Reporters were tactful at first, asking what the tattoos (clearly penises) were supposed to symbolise. One journalist asked if the circular parts (testicles) were tennis balls, and if the protruding elements (penile shafts) were meant to be grandslam trophies. Nadal tittered like a schoolboy and said that the willies would be their special secret. His manager then whispered in his ear and Nadal’s manner became serious. “Seriously,” he added. “Don’t tell anyone.”

Asked why he had got the tattoos, said to be based closely on the anatomy of Boris Becker (left) and Pete Sampras (right), Nadal looked confused and close to tears. “I thought they would be lucky but then my girlfriend saw them and told me they were very embarrassing and it would not be acceptable for me to play in front of big crowds – sometimes with children and members of the royal family watching. Also I realise now it is not fair on Boris and Pete. It’s a shame for me because Wimbledon is a very special tournament, but when you have cocks on your knees it’s impossible to take part.”

Reporters remain unsure if Nadal is embarrassed or secretly proud of the tattoos, but he hasn’t worn shorts in public since early June.

...read the bumper sticker on my parents camper van. A stomach churning thought but a positive message i think we'd all agree. For a more contemporary adornment for your 'ride' look no further than Tweet My Bumper. A simple way... geoffg geoff.gower@aislondon.com

Crispin Porter + Bogusky launched a beta version of their new site. Being aware of how much buzz CPB and their works produce i found the approach really fresh and interesting, trying to capture it all into the site,... daniel http://www.grupow.com dgranatta@grupow.com Agencies & people

"Cowboys are your dad's generation, so we went back to the animal."

Etc...

(By the way, you can skip to 2:30 and still get all the info your brain can handle. And this particular F (Fred) seems surprisingly normal. I was expecting frogs to jump out of his ears and eat the Palais Du Festival. Maybe eet eez Farid who eez, 'ow you say, ze whacky one.)

Gimme a day to get body adjusted back to Sydney and I will respond to Martina's post. For now (via Digital Buzz) check this out. It's great to see brands doing something a little different with their online stores and... marka MarkA@lowehunt.com.au New websites

I was going to post this a couple of weeks ago when it would have looked really prescient, but instead I got side-tracked and now I'm just going to look like a lame band wagon-jumper..

No matter.

I think it's about time that someone pointed out just how brilliantly Philips is doing what we'd all like our dull, giant, international brands to do: it's becoming, for want of a better word, cool.

I won't put Carousel up again, but let's not forget this ad, which won a Cannes bronze last year:


I wrote a post at the time that expressed my surprise at a big, boring corporation promoting themselves with the whimsical musings of a tranny.

And this year, the bar has been well and truly raised again with Carousel taking the Film Grand Prix at Cannes.

It reminds me of Honda, and how it went from spewing out some of the worst advertising on earth to some of the best within the space of a couple of years. Philips appears to be doing the same (can you remember any of their advertising before these two?) and it has to be the mark of a good agency and a very good ECD.

Step forward Neil Dawson. Here's hoping you have even better ads up your sleeve.

And while we're on the subject of huge international corporations suddenly producing award-winning advertising, is that T-Mobile I see carrying several Lions away from Cannes?

T-Mobile used to be the most anonymous-bendy-world-generic-metaphor-shot-in-Cape-Town telco in the universe, until the most recent work came along.

Then it became talked about, famous and highly-awarded.

And all this has happened since Paul Silburn joined Saatchis London as the joint ECD.

Possibly not a coincidence.

My #interactivemonday from @realadverblog begins with an impressive use of Twitter to pay a tribute to Michael Jackson: Billie Tweets. And then a touch of freshness and energy: my second pick is a website from South Africa: Loaded 100% Natural... martina http://www.adverblog.com martina@adverblog.com Food and drinks

Gulp! I've been offline for a week or, better, I've been using the Web for a week only for work or to read news about Michael Jackson death (that was really a shock as I was a big fan of... martina http://www.adverblog.com martina@adverblog.com Advertising awards

Is it not enough to have elected someone president of the USA?

Do you really need yet another, far smaller pat on the back?

I mean, for crying out loud, that's like winning the Olympic Gold at swimming then claiming your 100m Butterfly Cub Scout badge.

And that's aside from the fact that the campaign was helped somewhat by the crapness and stupidity of the man who held the office before Obama. Will Dubya Get a credit for his part in electing his successor? What about Dick Cheney?

Super-Duper Platinum Lion award for dumbest comment of the year goes to Steve Mykolyn, chief creative officer of Toronto-based Taxi, who said: "We're going to get another copy of the award and send it to Bush."

Yeah, and the man who ignored international treaties to wage war and dismiss the importance of global warming is going to give a big old shit about that.

2009 Cannes CyberLions awarded (Mark will be posting a wrap-up for that in the next few days), now we are all waiting to know which entries will win Film category and the Grand Prix for Titanium and Integrated, which is... daniel http://www.grupow.com dgranatta@grupow.com Advertising awards

Michael Jackson, pictured here with close friend Uri Geller, was one of the most creative artists in the history of pop. It seemed he only had to have an idea for it to enter the public imagination. When we were children, we saw him as akin to a third brother, so cool he never even came to our house. We moonwalked so much it damaged our calf muscles and led to back pain.

Jacko was an expert child-stroker, but today it’s his music we remember. That’s why we are posting a minute’s silence (’A Moment for Michael’, Epic Records, available for 79p on iTunes). Please feel free to play it and remember his greatest hits. If you’re in an agency, why not unplug your headphones and let everyone share in the memory?

(For a two-minute silence, wait till the end of the first minute and press play again.)

If you had tickets to one of the Jacko gigs planned for the O2 don’t worry – Gunther Von Hagens’ Body World exhibition will be wheeled out on stage for a special live show.

This looks good (and RIP Farah Fawcett, and maybe Michael Jackson (he's not dead as I write this. UPDATE: He just popped his clogs. Time to get your money back on those O2 tickets. Look, I realise this is a Princess Diana moment for many of you, so feel free to use this blog as a focus for your tributes, grief, jokes about him being a pedlo and righteous ire at his getting away with all those terrible things he did)).



(Second Update: Apparently the O2 concerts are going to go ahead. He won't sing, but he will hum a bit.)