Kudos and Kaplan Thaler in the same sentence....

I shit you not. But good for them for this amazing piece of generosity to ALL their employees. The holiday spirit lives! And now talk amongst yourselves while I send over my resume.

Spot of the now.

It's actually not now, rather earlier in the year. But it has just been voted Australia's most-complained-about commercial of the year so it's obviously deserving of our attention.

Having worked on the Viagra I must confess that this kind of thinking would never have entered my head. Clearly, they don't call me hack for nothing.

Kudos to the creative folks involved as well as the Advanced Medical Institute for showing major balls.

Cheers Leslie Nielsen.

In tribute to a very funny guy. This campaign for Red Rock Cider starring Leslie Nielsen was created way back in the 1990's and featured, perhaps, the greatest tagline in adverting history, "It's not red, and there's no rocks in it."

Kudos to Gold Greenless Trott, director John Lloyd and especially the great Leslie Nielsen.

Made up tagline of the now.

Kudos to 'The Simpsons". Wonder if they're hiring.

Can your cat do this?

btw The Siamese cat bears a striking resemblance to one Manson.

It's my blog so I'll self-promote my sister if I want to.

"Stories, articles, recommendations and beautiful books from extraordinary writers. What will you read next?"

That's the premise behind "Untitled Books" a website for bookworms, bibliophiles and possibly logophiles. Kudos to F. for managing and editing the site.

Someone had to do it...

So why not Maxime Luere, a CG artist. True it is very derivative of Google's campaign, but I find the story of Alex Droner far more substantial and wittier that its Google counterpart.

That said it still feels a little conformist for my tastes. Alex's life seems to follow a typical Facebook life, i.e. getting drunk, traveling, eating at restaurants, getting drunk, showing off baby.

Much like with a movie, I would have preferred viewing a life less ordinary. Where was the sex change? Or the night spent in a hotel room with Charlie Sheen and a porn star? Or the two months spent in Pakistan at an "Islamic School" with an emphasis on chemistry.

Mind you, Maxime does confirm the old adage, "nothing stimulates a budding relationship like a good poke". So kudos for that.

Still one of the best ever....

Alka Setzer: Lifeboat

Re | Myspace Video

There's been a lot of buzz and fainting lately over "127 Minutes", Danny Boyle's new survival movie. It brings back fond memories of this brilliant survival spot for Alka Seltzer, without doubt the greatest Alka Seltzer commercial ever made.

Kudos to Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO.

Friday afternoon giggle.

In a November 18th, 2009 posting titled, "Wish there was an app for that"   I mused about the kinds of "exotic" mobile apps we could hope for in the near future.

One example I imagined was an app that could identify transsexuals so there wouldn't be any "Crying Game" incidents at the singles bar.

Well the folks at CollegeHumor.com have one-upped me with a funny collection of their own must have imaginary mobile apps.

Kudos to Kevin Corrigan, one of the college humorists.


(Sharing credit to psfk)

I went to see a film and a cool ad broke out.

These days the most engaging creative you experience at the cinema may not be the film.

Heineken and 13th Street are just two brands that have recently sought to engage the audience in an unexpected but very strategic way.

Make that three with this great live stunt for St John Ambulance. Who says talking about first aid has to be boring



Kudos to BBH/London and St John Ambulance.

Website of the now.

I have to confess I'm a sucker for world maps and stats. I knew the capital cities of every country in the world when I was nine.

So it is with uncontrollable glee that I feast my eyes all over this new interactive site from Federal Express.

It delivers (I had to go there) a wealth of information regarding our changing world, but done in a simple yet insightful and at times witty way.

Kudos to BBDO Guerrero, BBDO/NY and Grow Interactive.

Political ad of the now.

Whack. Zapp. Pow. I can hear Meg Whitman squealing from here. Which reminds me I must watch "Deliverance" again.

I imagine one of the first things they teach in political campaigning school is to make sure your candidate doesn't suffer any self-inflicted wounds. Major kudos then to the Brown team for turning Whitman's words against her and creating, maybe, the cleverest, most devastating ad of the political season.

And boo to the Whitman team for being so strategically blind. One hundred and forty million dollars certainly buys you a lot. It seems political savvy ain't one of them.

Julie's back.

Julie Blackmon, one of my favorite photographers and American Photo's "Emerging photographer in 2008", has returned with a great new collection of work.  

"Line Up" does feature lots of kids, but that's okay when you see what she does with them.

Er Mom, your kid may be drowning.

Julie incorporates her stylized twist of color and wit to capture moments that give domesticity a beautifully creepy quality. But enough of my layman's view. Here's what the art guy at Village Voice has to say.

Image of the now.

Gottfried Helnwein: The Disasters of War 24, oil and acrylic on canvas

Gottfried Helnwein is an Austrian artist/photographer/visual provocateur. His stuff isn't for the easily offended.


(Sharing credit to Cosimo Urbano)

Campaign of the now.

France 24 is not a French drama series staring Kiefer Le Sutherland. It is a French News Television Channel that has just moved its Arabic news service to 24 hours a day.

And to get the word out it has launched this rather simple, funny campaign. Kudos to Marcel/Paris and directors Alexandre Vivet and Gabriel Malaprade.


(Sharing credit to theinspirationroom.com)

Brilliant song, shame about the ad.

Probably my favorite song of the year from one of my favorite bands. "Paradise Circus: Gui Boratto Remix" by Massive Attack for the 2011 Lincoln MKX.

I know what you're thinking. Massive Attack! How could you? Well calm down music lovers and read this. The boys from Bristol have donated all the proceeds to cleaning up the Gulf.

Interactive of the now.

Film + Interactive. Could there be a more engaging coupling? Okay, maybe The Captain & Tennille.

But still, please do check out this new branded-entertainment project by the Vancouver International Film Festival.

Together with TBWA/Vancouver they've created a short film, "The Warden",  which is cut up into sixteen segments that viewers and users have to piece together to create the complete story.

In effect, it's an uber-cool, highly creative brain-teaser where you have to unscramble scenes to create the film.

Kudos to TBWA/Vancouver and the folks at the Vancouver International Film Festival for finding a new way to actively engage the audience.


(Sharing credit to creativity)

Nice shoes.

More good stuff from Lernert & Sander. Take it away gentlemen.

"To help celebrate the launch of their epic new Shoe Galleries, Selfridges called on us to create 11 sculptural installations that take iconic shoe design to surreal extremes. We have taken the most mundane of household domestic appliances and comedically refashioned them into divine creations. A humorous take on fashion as an ideal escape from the daily grind."

On a graceless, self-promotional aside here is a print ad I did a few years ago for a Procter & Gamble product that also takes shoe design to a surreal extreme.

Do your parents know what you do?

I've long suspected that my parents don't really have a clue as to what it is that I've actually been doing all these years in advertising.

My suspicions arise from my mother's insistence that I'm somehow involved in show business, while my father thinks I'm a tool for the corporate state. Okay, so maybe my father's figured me out.

But to this day I'm still not sure they truly understand what advertising or rather what the creative process behind advertising is really all about. And needless to say it has been a source of major frustration.

At least now I know I'm not the only one who has been suffering. A new, charming documentary series called "How to explain it to my parents" explores this frustrating world of clueless parents and their very non-conventionally creative off-spring.


How to explain it to my parents - Bart Julius Peters from Lernert & Sander on Vimeo.

Kudos to the directing/artistic team of Lernert & Sander. And looking forward to their follow-up, "How to explain dressing up in women's underwear to my wife."


(Sharing credit to brainpickings.org)

The lowest of the low.

If the creatives at McCann Erickson who worked on Staples had set out to create the worst commercial of the year then kudos to them. They've just succeeded big time.

According to The Consumerist's reader poll the "Wow" guy beat out Quzinos's singing kittens to land the big shit prize. Now will they please just staple his mouth shut, once and for all.

On a retrospective note, let's take time to remember a brilliant Staples ad from a time when creative advertising was left to the experts.



Real kudos to Cliff Freeman & Partners. Gone, but certainly never forgotten.