Hasta La Creative!

Not all agencies are located in a city where mass transit is the main means of transportation to and from work. In some cities, believe it or not, people actually get into their cars and drive to work. And because they do, they need a someplace to park.

Making sure its employees have plenty of space to park and working to insure :squatters” don’t occupy those spaces, Rochester-based Partners + Napier placed several witty no parking signs in its lot to ward off non-employees.

The signs take pot shots at shoppers, partiers, interviewees of competing agencies, coffee shop junkies, cheapskates with threats of “ginormous” fines and towing. Funny stuff. Give the signs a read.

Advertising Agency: JWT Kuwait Creative Director: Maher Awar Agency Producers: Gilbert Nahas, Edgard Jimbashian Production & Animation: ABL Executive Producer: Sandra Petsaridis Executive Director: Tony Srour Animation Director: Rappas Post Producer: Daniel Petsaridis Via [mediaME]

– Check out H&M’s new short film featuring Joel Kinnman that’s just dripping with attitude.

– Today JWT New York is launching the second music video in its digital series for Litter Genie. In “I Haz A Pie Row Tek Nic,” Walter and his band of cat friends, The Awful Pawfuls, rock out in an ode to the beloved heavy metal hair bands of our time.

– Who knew surfboards worked on land?

– Ford has just awarded the first of four customized Mustangs to the winners of its Mustang Customizer contest.

In advertising, we’re all familiar with the agency pitch process whereby brands put out RFPs and agencies come knocking on the door with their best ideas. Well, one agency, Blue Collar Interactive, is flipping that process on its head with JumpStart, an effort which will offer $100,000 in agency services to the small business that demonstrates the greatest need for a marketing jump start.

That’s right. $100,000 in agency services. Of the offering, Blue Coller Interactive Partner and Account Director Rob McCready said, “It has always been a goal for our agency to make connections with people who believe in hard work and have a clear vision and passion for their business. We realize that it hasn’t been the easiest of economic times for business owners and entrepreneurs, so we want to help energize a passionate business that needs our help by offering $100,000 in agency services. We’re looking for a unique and inspired business who offers a great product or service – a small dog with big fight.”

Business owners are invited to submit the most compelling pitch explaining why their company deserves the $100,000 in-kind prize by Oct. 26, 2012 at: http://www.bluecollarinteractive.com/jumpstart. After the judges select five finalists, the public will vote for their favorite JumpStart business. Entrants must share their business vision, and convey their passion.

So what are you waiting for? Head over to JumpStart and make your pitch.

With (now denied) rumors having swirled about the advertising industry a while back that giant advertising holding company Publicis Groupe would swallow up Interpublic Group, the notion of agency consolidation has become almost comical. It wasn’t so long ago that independent advertising agencies ruled the industry. Today behemoths like Publicis, MDC, Interpublic, Publicis WPP and Omnicom now control the lion’s share of ad agencies.

This consolidation has wreaked havoc in many areas of agency operations – not the least of which are the numerous client conflicts that arise when one agency buys another and then the two realize they now handle competing brands, a no-no in the ad world.

But an area of concern that receives much less press and attention is agency operations – the plain, old, boring notion to how an agency gets work done. It’s not sexy but, believe me, the fastest way to lose a client is complicated and confusing operational methodologies.

Read the rest on Central Desktop blog

Said to be a fusion between Madmen and Instagram, Instacreagram (that’s a stretch) is the work of two creative, Stephane and Alain Caviggia. The pair have created a fake iPhone app complete with download page. It’s all to drum up some business for the pair which, together, have worked at agencies such as Saatchi & Saatchi, Publicis, Grey and Ogilvy. On the app download page, you can check out their work.

WalkAbout NYC, a first-of-its-kind event bringing together New York’s independent ad agencies, will occur October 19 from 12PM to 6PM. Eighteen agencies will open their doors to the public for WalkaboutNYC 2012.

This event aims to offer an inside look at the designers, writers, and technologists currently shaping these new independent agencies. Although the four top creative agencies (Interpublic, Omnicom, Publicis, WPP) have in some cases cut staff sizes, independent agencies have been growing significantly. Just last year, WPP acquired independent digital agency AKQA in a deal valuing the company at $550 million.

The event is sponsored by time-tracking company, Harvest. Participating agencies include Alexander Interactive, AREA 17, Attention, Barrel, Big Spaceship, Blenderbox, Bureau Blank, Carrot Creative, Domani Studios, Fueled, Harvest, Huge, Hyperakt, Method, Moment, OpenPlans, Red Antler and ROKKAN.

Advertising Agency: TBWA/Egypt Creative Director: Bassem Sabry Art Director: Yamen Emad Copywriter: Rami Nassar Computer Graphics: Leap Studios Via [AdsOfTheWorld]

AMV BBDO has released a rather epic commercial for Guinness that features a rogue cloud that gains sentience and begins a journey from the sea to the city. On his travels, the cloud becomes witness to human life and, in the end, helps put out a fire with an on-command thunder shower.

As the Peter Thwaites-directed 1:30 pulls you in you might forget you are watching a beer commercial. But that’s OK. This work goes deeper. Deeper in the same way Peter Arnell might go when, say, developing a new Pepsi logo or Tropicana packaging. Which, to be clear, is not to say the work an unmitigated disaster. Rather, it brings to light the best parts of Arnell’s twisted mind and leaves the rest on the conference room table.

So just watch and enjoy. And try to ignore the epic puffery that surely dripped from the conference room walls during this ad’s “ideation” sessions.

Hubspot is one of our favorite companies. Not just because of the wonderful people who work there but also because of the amazing marketing software they make that helps marketers easily tackle the social media waters and beyond.

Since 2008, the company has been creating parody-style videos, some of which have won awards. Each time they release a video, the up the anti on both talent and and production style.

The company’s latest release, is, of course, a parody of PSY’s Gangnam Style and it’s funny. Give it a watch.