Would Anyone Actually Cross Over To Animal Crossing?

A couple weeks ago, I saw this commercial and my jaw literally dropped. Seriously? Is this really a product on the market for Wii? Animal Crossing seems like a child-like video game version of Second Life. While that's not really my cup of tea, I guess I could see some people liking it—like kids. The weird thing is, this game does not seem remotely aimed at kids. The commercial features two 20-something women in nice houses discussing their activities of the day and then deciding to 'go watch the fireworks' together. Oops, but the catch is, they are doing all of these activities on the video game while talking to each other. They're actually sitting on their couches watching cartoon fireworks. Seriously? The whole thing seems bizarrely out of sync and their target market off base. Are they really getting a 20-something market for this product? Are they getting anyone for this product?

Maybe I just don't get it. Has anyone out there actually played this game? Maybe you can shed some light on the mystery.

Just in Time for Christmas: Men's Body Spray from Burger King

In its latest stunt, Burger King (yes, CP+B) has released a men's body spray called "Flame." For just $3.99, you can have your man smelling like "seduction with a hint of flame-broiled meat." But unless you live in NYC you'll have to order it online at the Web site dedicated to the spray. To see the fragrance make its debut on TODAY, visit this link.
Image: firemeetsdesire.com


If you weren't among the throngs of people terrified by the King before, you probably are now. That image is truly, truly horrifying.

We Are Fallon Plaque Is Complete

Because we blogged about this a few months ago, the good people at Fallon sent us an update on their We Are Fallon plaque. The idea was, they solicited former and current employees to donate awards they'd won at the agency to be melted together into a giant plaque to hang in Fallon's new office space. The idea is very cool, melting together awards to represent what's made the agency what it is today. They received over one hundred donated awards for the project! More than one from some ad greats like Bob Barrie. Speaking of which, you should check a few more of the promo videos that came out since we last blogged about this as well as the final making of the plaque videos at their website for the project.

It's all very well done, but would you expect any less from Fallon?

Nothing Scares More Than a Clown

Came across this video on an old friend's facebook page. He stars as the clown. I won't tell you what the ad is for, just that it's a fun three minutes.

Just Where They Like to Be: CP+B In Headlines Again

We're not the only ones talking about Crispin Porter + Bogusky lately (see BK's Whopper Virgins most recently). Turns out Steffan Postaer, Chairman and CCO at Euro RSCG Chicago, is weighing in on his blog as well.

In this post from Friday, Postaer sums it up nicely:

Crispin looks for work that will create buzz, urgency, relevance and drama.
They are willing to tip over bunches of sacred cows to get it.

And:

They are maddeningly consistent. They always delight or piss everyone off.
One of the two. Sometimes both. They are seldom, if ever,
middle-of-the-road.

He discusses CP+B's philosophy of making their clients "famous" and "relevant." And he calls them a sweatshop. (Heck, CP+B's own Web site admits they're a factory.) Postaer's post is a good read. The comments from his readers are insightful, too.

Today, in related news, Creativity has named CP+B 2008 Agency of the Year. Big surprise, right?

Charlie Brown As A Copywriter

Our agency is a much more friendly work environment than what's portrayed here, but I thought this little twist on a Charlie Brown Christmas is a fun little piece for anyone in the ad world.



(via AdFreak)

Happy Birthday To The Creative Cooler!

That's right, today the Creative Cooler turns one year old. We published our first post on 12/12/2007, a bit nervous with the knowledge that what we were writing was being broadcast across the internet for everyone to read. We shouldn't have been quite so nervous since, well, we didn't have any readers yet...

A year later we're blogging 'pros' and eagerly experimenting in all sorts of different social media outlets. We've sincerely enjoyed writing this blog for the past year and we hope you will continue to read through an even better second one!

In celebration of our first birthday, we've launched a little sideline to get some of our non-client related, fun ideas out in the world. If you've been following this blog, you've probably noticed I voice my opinions about fonts rather strongly. To the point where Megan, and other writers in the agency, can identify certain fonts and immediately know my approval rating of them. I am a known Helvetica opponent and in one of many discussions on the font, a little t-shirt idea sprung up and we ran with it. You can find it at our new Cafe Press store.

We promise there will be more tees and other goodies available soon. We have plenty of ideas floating around, but we wanted to get off the ground. We hope you enjoy our new little extension to the blog! Please let us know of anything you'd like to see on the blog in the coming year!

2009 Ford F150 Spots Impress

Every once in a great while there's a vehicle campaign that's actually kinda cool. And this time it's not Mini. It's Ford. Spend just one weekend watching football and you're bound to catch this ad or one of its counterparts.





This copywriter thinks the art direction on these new spots is super fun and exciting. Yes, 'super fun and exciting' is a technical term. I've always been a fan of seeing copy animated and love the thrilling twists, turns and drops these new Ford spots feature. They've extended the campaign with Web banner ads and a cool Web site with lots of interactivity and heavy duty videos.

Ford has used Mike Rowe from Discovery Channel's Dirty Jobs as its celebrity endorser. The 2009 F150 often has superb product placement in the episodes this season.

Truth In Advertising #71

People are often annoyed by advertising. They are even more annoyed by spam.

**We love comments on our blog, please comment about anything and everything, but if you spam our readers in your comments, they will be deleted. Sorry. Nobody likes a spammer.**

JC Penney Finally Hits Home With A Great Holiday Campaign

This mini-film and website seem to be making their way through marketing's unpredictable viral channels—I found out about it because the mini-film was forwarded to me. Viral is always tricky and unpredictable and I have no idea how well it's done so far, but I'm a fan and intend to forward it on—and blog about it of course.

The premise of the campaign is for JCP's jewelry department. Attention Men: Get Your Wives and Girlfriends Jewelry And Stay Out Of The Doghouse. It's a pretty cliché concept, but taken to a brilliant extreme by Saatchi & Saatchi. The Beware Of The Doghouse website houses the almost 5 minute mini-film as well as options to put someone in the doghouse (or warn them). The mini-film is entertaining enough to warrant 5 minutes of your time, while the simple web component ties in nicely and works well enough to get user participation. Meanwhile the site links directly and intelligently to the JCP jewelry website.

Considering some of JC Penney's campaign flops and PR nightmares this year, this is definitely a step in the right direction. Do you have anyone to send to the Doghouse?