Hasta La Creative!

(TrendHunter.com) De-Noted is a website dedicated to bank notes that have been printed with messages, thoughts or random drawings.

The site features bills from various global currencies and by a plethora of artists. They…

(TrendHunter.com) Trendelacreme.com recently recommended five easy ways to get a butt-lift without surgery – butt-bras. When gravity gets you down, head to the lingerie department! There is quite a range.

If overall slimming…

I read an interesting article in WebProNews that suggests that a fifth of marketers have purchased advertising in exchange for a news story about their products. And according to the story, another 10% had a nonverbal agreement with a reporter or editor for favorable coverage and 1 in 12 provided gifts in exchange for coverage.

This is not a new story, so the shocker here is not the idea that money is exchanging hands for favors. It’s expected that some palm greasing goes on behind the scenes. What is shocking is the regularity at which it’s happening. The numbers are up and many expect it to increase. And the ease of engaging in unethical practices is being attributed to the online world. I suppose the contention is that consumers are less likely to question tactics or credibilty online because it’s such a quickly absorbed medium. We are skimming information and then quickly moving on. Oftentimes not digesting much more than the surface information. So subliminal messages are easily weaved into our online news stories.

There has been talk about product placement making its way to newcast in recent months and the trend is expected to continue in an effort to “equalize the cost of production”. The story says that the “number of senior marketers admitting to pay-per-play schemes is actually up two percent from last year”. That puts consumers in a tough position of not knowing who to trust when it comes to getting information about out products. Do we need to worry that recalls will be overlooked? Or that harmful products will be promoted as if they are safe? And what of products that will benefit consumers the most? Will they be ignored if they don’t offer the big bucks? If the source that we look to for honest and unbiased information about things that affect our everyday lives can be paid off, the biggest question is- Who is protecting the consumer?

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media

I love the new George Clooney Martini ad. Momentum did a great job with this one. It’s funny and witty. And making the drink and logo the only thing in color in the spot really highlights the brand.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media

This Will.i.am video is an ad for Blackberry mostly because it contains an ad for Blackberry, as in a literal outdoor bus stop ad that the Black Eyed Peas front-man seems invisibly tethered to most of the first minute — roughly all you need to see of the video before you can switch it off.

(TrendHunter.com) The Hysek Colosso limited edition watch is aptly named – it is a colossal watch both in size and in price tag ($550,000).

Hysek, the watch company says it is the most complex watch ever. The case is…

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — AOL and Time Inc. continue to track behind Time Warner's expectations, CEO Jeff Bewkes admitted this morning on the company's second-quarter earnings call. But what's particularly worrisome is the weakness at AOL's owned-and-operated sites.

I sometimes call myself a content machine. Yet, Ground Zero’s Court Crandall deserves a higher distinction. We can call him a content god.

According to Adweek, Crandall–whose second film, A Lobster Tale, is released on DVD this week–sees a bright future for content in the agency world.

“I have no intention of jumping ship [for Hollywood],” said Crandall. “My hope is that divisions in other agencies starting with branded content and making a big PR deal out of little content will realize that agencies can do more. There are opportunities to build brands not just around product placement. I’d like to play a large part in the movement.”

“If anything, the connection between agencies and Hollywood is getting easier,” Crandall said. “There are more outlets for content.” Studios and networks “now see us as tapped into culture and more understanding that you have to deliver an audience.”

I know brand teams will debate this to no end. A marketer of tomato soup, for instance, might ask what business they have making films, or even videos they hope to see go viral. But the answer to this question and others like it, is right in front of our noses. Either it makes sense here, in this interactive soup, or it doesn’t. As an industry, we need to stop asking if it’ll play in Peoria, and start asking if it’ll play on the web.

David Duchovny’s appearance in a fashion ad campaign comes as little surprise, as he continues to spiral downward from his ’90s X-Files fame. George Clooney, however, is a different coconut entirely. Isn’t he a megastar? I see his face a lot on the Captivate screen in the elevator at work, so I assume he’s still a hot property. Yet here he is, the Cloonster, looking a bit like Raul Julia, slumming in yet another ad for Martini. Maybe he’s giving a deft, classy performance, mocking his celebrity with that oddball mustache and Shatner-esque delivery. If so, there’s a first time for everything. Maybe when Shats (it’s OK, his friends call him that) retires, Clooney could take his place in the Priceline campaign. Actually, that’s probably a better gig for Duchovny, who could use a great price on the long and winding road to obscurity.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Publicis Groupe has purchased Performics, the search agency Google inherited in its acquisition of DoubleClick. The deal gives Publicis a big boost in search-marketing capabilities.