Love that collapsing Parthenon!

Not sure what this spot is doing for General Electric, but the 10-year-old loves it. Via Funnyplace.org.

Look at the cute little Coke birdies!

Wondering if this Coke commercial—featuring little blobby birds making a bird's nest to replicate the Olympic stadium—is too cute by half, but it fits nicely in the "Happiness Factory" oeuvre. I've seen another version at this link (it starts about 1:45 in the link), where there are lyrics, but for some reason, it comes off to me as confusing. Via Wieden + Kennedy, methinks.

When am I going to be in a Gap ad?

So, was reading this morning in Ad Age about Gap's return to advertising. Reminded me that, the other day, whilst driving up the West Side Highway (travel advisory: if you miss the very confusing turn off on I-78 to get on the New Jersey Turnpike going north, you might end up at Chelsea Piers), I saw a ginormous billboard featuring four models wearing denim bell bottoms. The clothes actually looked cool--not at all conservative. Anyway, apparently the campaign is almost celebrity-free, featuring Liv Tyler and a few "lesser-known 'style makers'" per Ad Age. One of these is a blogger named Scott Schuman (right), who apparently runs something called The Sartorialist. It doesn't hurt that he's kinda good looking. Back here at Adverganza Estates, I still await my moment in the sun, but given my preference for t-shirts from dead dot-coms, and five-year-old shorts from Old Navy, it ain't happenin' anytime soon.

What if synchronized divers blogged?

So, David Churbuck of Lenovo pointed out on Twitter this morning that the company is hosting blogs from 100 Olympic athletes. I did the obvious—a search for Michael Phelps' posts—but apparently the guy ain't got time to blog. Still, good idea, in keeping with a company that is a Chinese sponsor of the Olympics that makes computers. You can also follow Olympians at lenovo2008 on Twitter. Unfortunately, no posts from synchronized divers. Really want to know if synchronized divers do everything in tandem. Like, if synchronized divers did blog, would they simultaneously type out the exact same posts? My head is exploding.

Redmond comes up lame, but not Visa

I like this Visa commercial airing on the Olympics featuring Derek Redmond because, well, the guy loses the race. Now you could get all treacly on me and go on about how, since his father comes out and helps him limp across the finish line he didn't really lose, but face it people, his hamstring popped. Good counterbalance to the usual Olympic hype.

Pepto-Bismol hopes stomaches are viral

Pepto-Bismol has just posted this with the intent of it going viral. It's not awful, but basically looks like a commercial that no one had the cojones to edit. Nice pink-themed office though. Created by Publicis.

Adverganza's Monday morning picks, 08.11.08

Wherein I scan the Monday morning headlines so you don't have to:

From Advertising Age:

—Inside the branding of Obama.
—BK franchisees aren't the party all night type.
—Ad-skipping via DVR is just getting warmed up.
—Time Warner rediscovers the joys of content.
—Ouch! General Motors to slash agency fees by 20 percent. (Why does this strike me as penny-wise and pound foolish?)
—Everyone's wearing black smog masks!
—R/GA rethinks branding by looking through the digital lens.
—Bob Garfield and why those Vista spots resemble making "a rose out of excrement." (Not his words, but good ones anyway.)

From Adweek:

—Apparently, Nike launched some very intense spots at the beginning of the Olympics. Didn't see 'em. I was out dancing.
—Cutwater, BBDO, still in Hyatt pitch, if you're paying any attention.
—Gerry Graf has started to move the creative chairs around at Saatchi, and yes, "Speed Dressing" played a role.
—Levi's unbuttons someone named Estelle. (Here she is with Kanye West.)
—In this week's utter shocker, Carat says it's better for clients to keep spending in recession.
—How come men housekeep but no one can target a lousy cleaning product to them? Sheesh. Talk about lack of respect.
—Barbara Lippert awards the gold to GE's Olympics spots.
—WPP's John O'Keeffe on why being good at crosswords means you can be a copywriter.
—Mark Wnek wishes creative directors would leave their egos at the door.
—Agencies continue pity-party concerning Google.

From Brandweek:

—Timberland launching a site called "Podium" but don't jump to the conclusion that the company is an Olympics sponsor.
—Energy drinks look like recession victims.
—As analog ends, a business opportunity begins.
—How the death of Heath Ledger might help teens not go to the medicine cabinet for fun.
—Here's your chance to think up a new Crest flavor's slogan.
—Do you know your car's Car Fun Footprint?

From Mediapost:

—Story about Lenovo's Olympic ads. If you want to see some, click here.
—Ads for Southern Comfort.
—Anyone in the market for Monopoly sneakers?
—Bernstein Research still predicting online ad growth of 20 percent.
—A traveling, glass-enclosed IKEA living space. Yes, really.
—Marketing professor chews over Wrigley's music marketing initiative. Spits it out.
—AOL super-sizes its home page ad.
—Ben & Jerry's launches a social site asking people to "Imagine Whirled Peace." That's not a typo, just a kind of dopey play on words.
—Despite high gas prices, people are seeing just as many out-of-home ads. Can't figure that one out.
—Not a good sign that The New York Times Magazine is now featuring cover wraps for advertisers for whom subtlety is not a core skillset.

From Mediaweek:

—No upset here: record numbers of people are following the Olympics on the Web.
—Rolling Stone to move to a standard-sized format.
—Sprout TV enlists Mommy bloggers. But not this one.
—New magazines from Reader's Digest.
—Anthony Crupi on the recession and those premium cable bills.

From The New York Post:

—Mel Karmazin's plan for world domination.

From The New York Times:

—Now it's time for the media companies to get paranoid about Google.
—Don't just blame the Internet for your lousy ad sales; you can blame Detroit too.
—Congress is getting serious about online privacy.
—Get Oedipus on the line: Martha Stewart's daughter to appear on show that skewers Martha Stewart.

From The Wall Street Journal:

—Magazine newsstand sales drop by 6.3 percent in the first half of 2008. Subscription required, but the headline says it all.
—Also in "Bad News in Magazines" ad pages for those big, glossy September titles are down. Free.
—Brown only advertising to Red this year. (OK, it's a UPS/Commie joke.) Free.

OK, I am so done with this post. See ya.



More to come ...