Hasta La Creative!

Some evil genius of an agency is getting global buzz for delivery service DHL with a endearingly cold prank on the brand's rivals. There's just one problem: DHL didn't have anything to do with it.

In a video that's exploded across the Web over the last two days, we see how delivery services like UPS were tricked into toting around large packages that were essentially mobile billboards saying, "DHL is faster." The stunt was supposedly accomplished by wrapping the boxes in thermo-active foil that, when cooled, hid the message until well after the packages had been picked up by the competition.

Many viewers debated whether the stunt was real or fake, which still isn't quite clear. What is certain, though, is that it's not an official ad for DHL.

In an email to Consumerist, DHL issued the following denial of responsibility:

"This was not something that was initiated by DHL. The video was created by an external agency for their own internal competition. We were aware in advance of the intention to use it for this purpose. We were not aware of any plans to share it externally."

Oops.

The brand stopped short of naming the agency behind the "Trojan Mailing," but the supposed video case study, already viewed more than 600,000 times, is hosted by German firm Jung von Matt/Neckar.

Real or staged, it's hard-hitting advertising at its best. Attention grabbing and not afraid to show its teeth, but also clever enough to avoid just being obnoxious.

Much bandwidth has been consumed discussing the effects of Facebook’s recent algorithm change to favor sites offering “high quality” content. It’s been said to hurt viral sites like Upworthy — a notion the site’s founders have denied — while rewarding other publishers including Mental Floss.

But little has been said on how publishers seeing a traffic bump actually make money from those additional eyeballs.

Social media referrals now account for nearly 50% of overall traffic to some publishers’ sites. Facebook is eclipsing all others as the top traffic driver, according to a report last year from Shareaholic, a company that makes social media sharing tools.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

If you own a car and live in Manhattan, you’ll have reason to celebrate this Monday, especially if you’re a fan of TNT’s Dallas reboot.

To celebrate the season 3 launch of Dallas, Grey New York is organizing a gas station takeover for TNT, with the mystery location being transformed to a Ewing Energies station with prices that will drastically undercut the competition (although 1978 prices may be a bit too much to hope for). The show’s star, Josh Henderson, will be on hand to cut the ribbon and announce the price.

Grey has launched the campaign with a video message from Henderson on the Dallas Facebook page. A multimedia campaign will lead up to the event on Monday, including “radio promotions, billboards, wrapped oil tankers,” more video messages from Henderson, and “a New York Times ad announcing the price cut.” The actual location of the Ewing Energies gas station will be kept secret until Monday, so a keep eye on this campaign, especially if you’re keen on getting some cheap gas after the weekend. This should be a fun way to launch the new season, and we’re guessing the slashed cost of gas at the station will draw quite the crowd and garner a lot of attention for the show.

“Producing a campaign for TNT that effectively showcases how the world’s most powerful fictional family, the Ewings, can blur the lines and wield enough power to change something in the real world is the type of work that Grey lives and breathes for,” says agency executive creative director, Lisa Topol. “Fans will just have to wait and see how generous the Ewings will be with the final price of gas.”

One thing is for sure, though, this guy is excited:

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

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Cadbury is following up last month's charming "Yes Sir, I Will Boogie in the Office" spot with another winner. U.K. actor James Corden, best known as the creator of hit BBC sitcom Gavin & Stacey but probably more familiar to Americans from his Doctor Who appearances, stars in the latest video for Cadbury's "Free the Joy" campaign.

It's a solid two minutes of dancing and lip-syncing. That length might seem tiresome, and Cadbury's product barely features in it, but it's so fun that I had no problem watching all the way through. Twice. And judging from the clip's 1.5 million views in two days, I think others might agree.

Le photographe Weerapong Chaipuck décrit dans ses photos l’Asie. Un beau et mystérieux continent avec des paysages à couper le souffle et des traditions profondément enracinées. Profitez du voyages et de son travail sur la lumière grâce à ces superbes photos disponible sur Fubiz dans la suite de l’article.

We’ve received confirmation that The Barbarian Group, they of recent “Superdesk” fame, has had to cut a handful of staffers. While the tips make the situation seem somewhat dire (what else is new), we’ve been told that TBG actually had to let to go of four staff members due to a small section of Samsung business being absorbed into parent company Cheil’s headquarters. We’ll of course keep you posted if anything else develops.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

We are all guilty of planting our faces in our phones in the middle of social situations. This sort of behavior would once be considered rude but, hey, since everyone’s doping it, it must be OK, right?

Your parents and grand parents would be horrified if they saw you planting your face in your phone in the middle of dinner or while you should be playing with your newborn baby. But we all still do it so it must be OK, right?

Coke asks that question in it’s hilarious Social Media Guard video which touts a dog cone-like product that aims to cure our rampant obsession with social media.

In the video’s description, Coke asks, “Did you know that the world spends 4 millions years online every month. If you’re watching this video on your mobile phone, it’s time to put it down. Look around you, there is probably someone special you can share a real moment with. Enjoy it with an ice-cold Coke :)”

Oh and the video is one of the best uses of the 2001 theme in a long time!