Hasta La Creative!

Yes. The famed Middle Eastern man is hawking a fashion line.

The New York Times is looking at the rise of “off-air reporters” armed with video cams on the campaign trail.

Originally hired to cut expenses — their cost is a fraction of a full television crew’s — these reporters, also called “embeds,” have produced a staggering amount of content, especially video. And in this election cycle, for the first time, they are able to edit and transmit video on the fly.

As a result, the embeds have changed the dynamic of this year’s election, making every unplugged and unscripted moment on the campaign trail available for all to see. One particular video shot of American flags tilting over behind Hillary Rodham Clinton last November has been viewed more than 300,000 times on the ABC News Web site. A video of the Fox News host Bill O’Reilly shoving a member of Barack Obama’s staff at a New Hampshire campaign rally has drawn almost 150,000 views on YouTube.

There’s a lesson here for Madison Avenue. Unscripted, off the cuff moments have a genuine appeal. So much so people will seek this kind of content out and share it with their friends, as I’m doing now.

How DIY is your shop seems like an increasingly important question in a mediascape that needs to be fed mass quantities of video.

Adland makes note of Will Ferrell’s appearance in not just that Super Bowl commercial for Bud Light but also a series of commercials for Old Spic

Following his appearance for Bud Light on the Super Bowl, Will Ferrell is lending his star power to Old Spice in the form of Ricky Bobby … um, I mean Chazz Michael Michaels … um, I mean Jackie Moon, whom he’ll be portraying in the upcoming movie Semi-Pro, which Old Spice is sponsoring and pretty much using as a giant promotional vehicle. Much like Ferrell’s career these days, these spots are funny but repetitive. Watch Jackie Moon miscalculate the metric system, the realities of primitive society, and his own authority as a scientist to see what I mean.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

Because no holiday is legitimate until it gets its own eco-spin, feast your eyes on Winterwarm by Superhero with assistance from photographer Richie Hopson.

LONDON – Virgin Media and Channel 4 have been rapped by Ofcom for prominent product references in recently broadcast TV shows.

Phone sex too confrontational? Put the work where it belongs — into your thumbs. Get into “promiscuous text.”

Australia is joining Scotland on the list of countries recovering from poor tourism slogans, as the Aussies have now officially dumped the “Where the bloody hell are you?” campaign. Tourism executives are unhappy that the two-year tagline, which was controversial from the start, didn’t catch on like Crocodile Dundee’s old line from the 1980s did: “Come and say G’day, and I’ll slip an extra shrimp on the barbie for ya.” Of course, “Where the bloody hell are you?” sounds less like an invitation and more like an outburst from your angry grandmother. Perhaps it’s time to give Goodby a shot.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

BARCELONA – O2 has launched a mobile advertising service allowing brands to launch targeted campaigns comprising banners, ad-funded video and games.

This morning my sister gave birth to a wonderful and super tiny young girl named Stella. I’m going to be the godfather, and I think I’m already totally in love 🙂 Welcome to the world, Stella! I went to the hospital during lunch and snapped these little images to share them with the world:

Stats: 48 cm large, 3 kilos heavy and the cutest face in the universe!
Yey!

(For John: 105.82 ounces and 18.89 inches)