Hasta La Creative!

LONDON – BASF, the chemicals giant, has appointed Wieden & Kennedy Amsterdam and Universal McCann to handle its global advertising and media planning and buying accounts respectively.

LONDON – USwitch, the price comparison website, has kicked off a review of its £3.5 million creative account, bringing an end to its three-year relationship with the incumbent on the business, Miles Calcraft Briginshaw Duffy.

For more than a century, Coke has fiercely guarded its recipe. But in an advertising campaign introduced last month in Britain, the company divulged a few facts.

In the style of classic vacation advertising, the at folks at Echo Park Time Travel Mart have put together some posters (scroll down a screen or two) recalling those heady early days of time travel — remember your first trip to the Ice Age? Ah, good times.

Proceeds are going to benefit 826LA, the latest Dave Eggers “creative writing think tank.”

Via io9.

(TrendHunter.com) Banking on the current recession, this cluster aims to examine some of the ways people are managing their money around the world today.

The following 31 articles highlight some of the most fascinating…

(TrendHunter.com) What looks like a plastic, inflatable teapot is in reality a fun pot made of glazed porcelain. It is hard to believe it’s not actually soft and squishy. It really looks like there is no way it could hold…

(TrendHunter.com) Bodies in Urban Spaces is a unique photography project by art director Willi Dorner and photographer Lisa Rastl that uses human bodies to give more meaning to spaces and architecture. They use the body…

(TrendHunter.com) Japan: always about 100 years in the future; remember, they invented modern art in the 17th century! Now they bring us the cutest little thing ever bolted together — Sony’s (sadly discontinued) QRio…

(TrendHunter.com) People LOVE Eva Mendes Photos, galleries, photoshoots and the banned Eva Mendes Calvin Klein commercial.  Searches for “Eva Mendes” have been #1 on Yahoo all day.  In fact, Trend Hunter is currently being…

As you’ve probably heard by now, the first advertising response to John McCain’s much-maligned campaign ad comparing Barack Obama to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears has come from Ms. Hilton herself (not Mrs. Hilton, who spoke out earlier). As amusing as the Funny Or Die video is, it’s even more amusing how the media is responding to it. McCain spokesman Tucker Bounds says Hilton is clearly supporting McCain’s “all of the above” energy policy, while The New Republic put her energy plan through a fact-check and found it lacking. As long as we’re considering the feasibility of Prez. Paris, I’d like to point out that Rihanna, whom she wants as her vice president, was born in Barbados and is therefore ineligible. Further complicating the matter, Rihanna is currently a captive of some Goths in denial who want to bring the world back to the ’90s via a remake of Reznor’s “Closer.” Paris would do better choosing Rihanna’s boyfriend, Chris Brown—a good Virginia boy from Tappahannock. UPDATE: Gianatasio weighs in after the jump.

—Posted by Rebecca Cullers

Somehow, John McCain has managed to accomplish what most of us believed impossible: He’s transformed Paris Hilton, at least for the current news cycle, into the most sympathetic, influential and articulate political figure in the nation. In the process, he’s branded himself a buffoon. Forget debating Barack Obama, he’s already lost a war of words to Paris Hilton! If Big Mac and Blonde Ambition met in a debate, McCain would be toast the first time Paris purred, “I’m hot.” In his ad dismissing Barack Obama as a celebrity with little substance, McCain forgot one vital point: Americans love celebrities! And the shockingly on-point Hilton response ad underscores just how clueless McCain appears to be. Look: Barack’s got Obama Girl and Paris Hilton! It’s time for McCain change his media tactics. As Paris points out, Johnny Mac isn’t remotely “hot,” so a sex tape is out. Way out. However, if Ms. Hilton has any more of those lying around, well … that’s what YouTube’s for. God bless America!

—Posted by David Gianatasio