Hasta La Creative!

Until I saw it on TV last night, I didn’t know there was an iPhone specific version of Facebook. But there is and Apple wants the MyFaceSpacers to know about it.

LONDON – Just one day remains for submissions to be made for the Clear Channel Outdoor Planning Awards, in association with Media Week.

LONDON – The Business List Audit, the scheme invented to tackle the high rates of decay in business-to-business data, has folded amid claims that its sponsor, the Direct Marketing Association, did not do enough to promote it.

Here’s another campaign from ad agency 2008scandinavia for the Norwegian Mac Support company Teknograd. This particular example reminded me of the excellent pass time blog Skull-A-Day. Must go make skulls now, ta-ta.

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John Deere is getting into the apparel business with a line of jeans. It’s a move I’ve long dreaded and prayed would never come to pass. Oh, I’ve got nothing against “trousers made especially for people who work the land,” as Brandweek puts it, in a line John Steinbeck might have coined after falling off a tractor following a long day in the hot sun. No, I fear it will be like 1993 all over again: a Clinton in the White House … and Joe Diffie on the radio, croaking out pro-pants platitudes to the tune of his country-crap classic “John Deere Green.” Reworked, of course, as “John Deere Jeans.” It writes itself: “They were farm kids who needed pants/For the Dixie harvest dance/They’ll sure look good in John Deere Jeans.” As for a Mr. Green Jeans tie-in, well, the brand would have to move a little upmarket for that.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Brands are fast jumping on the internet bandwagon to add oomph to their promotional campaigns.

Ho-kay, Taco Bell’s saucyscribe competition is “only open to current members of the Writers Guild of America (WGA)” and the winner who jots down a cute “sauce wisdom” not only gets to hone his craft of writing (gag!) but also free Taco Bell food (double gag!) – in the form of one $5 Taco Bell gift check per week for 52 weeks, redeemable at participating Taco Bell® locations). Approximate retail value of each prize is $260.00.

This is so backward. Taco Bell probably in all honesty just created this game meaning to show support for the striking writers. But listen, games where creatives of any kind (photographers, designers, writers, art directors etc) give away the craft that they would normally get paid to do, for the remote possibility of maybe perhaps winning something trivial are a big fat insult to our professions to begin with. Cut it the fuck out. This one is simply twice as insulting as it’s going on as support to a strike, which is about the pay all creatives have a hard time getting in the first place (because youknow, being creative isn’t really a job).

The backlash has begun, of course and MetroBlogging Los Angeles notes Taco Bell offer STILL better than AMPTP’s

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LONDON – Chorion, which holds the licensing rights to well-known children’s characters such as the Mr Men, has signed up Cocktail Marketing to develop promotional partnerships.

LONDON – Nivea is using integrated agency Space to run promotional activity around the launch of men’s deodorant Double Effect.

LONDON – Asda has launched its Valentine’s Day in-store promotion to encourage sales of merchandise related to the event.