TruTV

This commercial for TruTV is humorous, although I'm not really sure why the neighbors all thought the man was yelling at them. Guilty consciences, I guess. I personally don't see anything wrong with cheating on your diet with custom snacks (mostly because I don't believe in diets), but there is definitely something a little weird with taking pictures of a dog wearing promotional apparel-- a bikini no less! He had a whole photo album of those pictures. I don't even want to know what he's doing with them.

"Sports Skills are Life Skills"

Via Ad Freak

This PSA for KidSport BC (that's British Columbia-- yup, a Canadian ad)suggests that rather than establishing good exercise habits from a young age, it's important to get involved with sports for the social aspect. And not for team building and cooperation, as you may expect. Rather, so that you can catch post-it notes from the office hottie or keep up with all talk sports related. A little superficial, but the organization is still for a good cause.

Keep Beaches Clean!

Even though summer is almost over, I figured I would still post this PSA I stumbled upon for keeping the beaches of California clean. It's important not to pollute the beach, wherever you are! Don't litter by throwing your plastic bottles and debris from your coolers around the beach. And especially don't leave your personal belongings, like sunglasses. We should all aim to leave the beach as pristine as we found it, so that we can all enjoy it as much next summer, and in years to come.

ICE CREAM CAKE

It's Monday, so here's a quick video about my one true love: promotional food, specifically, ice cream. This video is full of joy and deliciousness. Look at the candles! And the dancing toys! Isn't this a wondrous way to start off the week?! You're welcome.

A Musical Ruler?

Dan Wieden, one of the founders of advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy, has just created a musical ruler. Who knew there was a market for novelty office supplies? Apparently the ruler will be for sale at Urban Outfitters in England-- hopefully it won't be as overpriced as their apparel.

The Salvation Army

The Salvation Army of Northern New England ran a completely guerrilla advertising campaign this past May in order both raise awareness about The Salvation Army and demonstrate that all donations go directly to the needy, and not on superfluous extras-- like advertising. This teaser video was put on YouTube to raise awareness about the campaign. They did things like write on dirty cars, paint rocks to use as paperweights, put up banners and wrote with art supplies. Overall, it was the truth definition of a guerrilla campaign because it cost next to nothing but got The Salvation Army a lot of publicity.

United Breaks Guitars

This video is a great example of why it's increasingly important for brands to treat their customers properly. Last year, musician Dave Carroll was on a United flight where he witnessed airline employees mishandling his guitar. When he discovered that his guitar was in fact damaged, he went through customer service hell with United with no one taking responsibility or offering compensation, so he retaliated by making this promotional video (the first in a three part series). The video is pretty entertaining, from Carroll lamenting upon a set of custom luggage to the men in sombreros. Carroll's band, Sons of Maxwell has gotten a lot of free publicity for this (you can see him wearing a promotional T-shirt at one point in the video), as is the Taylor guitar brand-- but United is getting killed. If they had handled the situation better, maybe Carroll would have made a viral appreciation video. But instead they're getting a ton of bad press that their public relations department is continuing to handle poorly.

Olympus Pen

This is one strong promotional tool, because I'll admit after watching this video (and reading some product descriptions on the Wired blogs) I totally want this camera. From the promotional toy fish in the fish tank to the fancy photo frames, this video warms my heart. There was no post production-- it's just a stop motion film created from the photos taken by the camera. A camera this nice needs a good camera case-- since it costs $800, you don't want it getting damaged.

Robots!

This is a really neat video I just came across about a 2007 competition in Japan to promote robot innovation. It had a lot of neat entries, like the promotional toy robot that behaves like a scorpion-- it actually reminded me a lot of the neat products Kikkerland makes. There was also a stereo robot who could "dance". But the winning robot was actually pretty useful. It was a super fast and accurate industrial robot that could package food products and pharmaceuticals. In the video they show it packaging chocolate-- yum!

You Can Say Anything With a Smile

I saw this commercial for Crest at a conference I went to back in November, and it's pretty funny. Apparently with the right combination of floss, toothpaste and other personal hygiene products, you can get away with saying anything!

Fresh Fish!

To be fair, I haven't watched this video with the sound on so I'm not sure if it's in English or German, BUT a German ad agency put this "living" promotional poster up around Frankfurt to promote the brand Fisch Franke. People have expressed concern over the treatment of the fish, but the video shows they are being treated well. Either way, the ad wouldn't work if they had put toy fish or something in there instead.

If This Billboard Won't Catch Your Attention, Nothing Will

I came across this billboard on I Believe in Advertising and it's truly kind of disturbing. The billboard has the appearance of bleeding when it gets wet, urging New Zealanders to "drive to the conditions" to prevent fatal traffic accidents in the rain. I was afraid the billboard would be distracting and cause more accidents, but it appears it's been very effective. People always bash billboards as not a very effective form of advertising, but in this case it's definitely more effective than a print ad or another trite PSA. Even if something had been given to drivers so that they could take the message with them, like a promotional keychain or sticker for their car, I don't think it would have been as effective as seeing that boy's face.

It's Hammer Time

I stumbled upon this video here, and it's pretty comical-- just take a look at those custom pants! A flashmob invaded a trendy store in Los Angeles about a month ago to promote A&E's new reality show about MC Hammer. The contrast is perfect between the skinny jeans and the hammer pants. They're all wearing different shirts anda few even have on some sweet sunglasses-- overall, it's truly a flash mob at its finest.

True Life: I'm From Lawn Guyland

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Long Island Wants to Secede
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Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Jason Jones in Iran

This video is just too funny not to post-- Samantha Bee interviews some of Long Island's finest. I'm sure she left with a promotional shot glass or two for Jaegermeister and a custom wife beater for her husband, Jason Jones.