Hasta La Creative!

In keeping with current trends, Brazilian modeling agency Star Models is using illustrations to address body image issues. But its effort is more grim and cautionary than Dove's hotly debated Real Beauty Sketches. The Star Models ads, from agency Revolution Brasil, are meant to fight anorexia by comparing fashion illustrations to images of "real" models Photoshopped to have the same measurements as the drawings. The results are downright ghoulish. The models look more like David Johansen than anything recognizably human, leaving me to wonder if campaigns like these are meant more for the fashion industry than the general public. The problems of unnecessary digital retouching and overemphasis on skinny bodies are awfully relevant to the runway these days. More images below.

Editor's note: Appsolute Genius founder and CEO Brian Cauble recently began posting a daily list on Facebook of five lessons he's learned since launching his Alabama-based mobile-app development studio in 2009. Although the list was intended for friends, family and colleagues, Cauble agreed to let Adweek publish the full list of 50 lessons that have shaped his personal and professional life.

1. Your significant other's support is hugely important. They can hold you up or pull you down.

2. Building a powerful business network is 100 percent essential. Much of your business will come from being known.

3. This job is really, really hard, and you just won't know the answers some days.

4. Being passionate about at least a few things is very important, but you don't have to be passionate about every aspect of running a business.

5. You aren't good at everything, no matter how smart you are.

6. People will help you … if you ask.

7. Partnerships can seem like a good idea, but they take a long time to really pan out, and differences between companies can still cause them to fail.

8. Caring about your business partner and your employees can really help your company.

9. Sales is so important. If you don't figure out your sales, you will fail.

10. Picking a growing, flourishing market is just as important as your product and talent. If your market is good, it improves your margin for error quite a bit.

11. Being an entrepreneur can make you feel bipolar. You will have good days, bad days, good afternoons, bad mornings and vice versa.

12. Building a strong team is critical. A strong team isn't just smart people; it's a group of people who complement each other's strengths and weaknesses.

13. Admitting and understanding your strengths and weaknesses is a must. Take every personality and strengths assessment you can find.

14. You have to learn to balance work, family and taking care of yourself. You will probably let one of them slip a bit, and it will suffer.

15. The best characteristic I've seen for success is pure determination.

16. The second best characteristic I've seen that predicts success is determination to learn and ask questions.

17. You will feel really stupid some days.

18. Each stage of a company's growth will bring different challenges.

19. You will truly understand what "busy" means. And then you will find that there is another level of busy that you didn't think was possible.

20. The purpose of your business, your passion and your support system will carry you through the bad times.

21. The best way to build a strong network is to really get to know a lot of people and help them however you can.

22. You will be burned by at least one person you help. Don't let your temptation to stop helping people take over.

23. You will feel very lonely at certain times because it will feel like no one really gets what you are going through.

24. Your salary will go way down before it goes up. The financial payoff of being an entrepreneur doesn't come for a long time for most (even really smart) people.

25. It is a tough balance to know when to change your strategy or be determined.

26. Generally understanding every area of your business is very important, but you don't have to have your hands on everything.

27. The word payroll takes on a new meaning.

28. Hiring is VERY hard. You will try your best but you will still make mistakes.

29. Firing is also VERY hard, but it is necessary. Once you know in your gut you've made a bad hire, just end it. It will be tempting to keep the person on, but don't do it.

30. Understanding what kinds of customers you can best help (industry, size of company, personality type, etc.) will really help you grow your company. If you haven't learned about niches and segmenting, learn about them now.

31. You will feel like a proud parent certain days, and you won't believe what you've accomplished.

32. Everything takes soooo much longer than you think it will.

33. Starting and running a company will be terrifying at times. That is OK!

34. The amount of mistakes you make will be humbling. However, just don't make catastrophic mistakes that cause you to go out of business.

35. Learn to manage your cash flow. If you don't know what a rolling cash flow forecast is, you'd better learn what it is.

36. Fire really bad customers. You will be worried about losing the revenue, but they aren't worth it. Finish the job you started if you can, but discontinue the relationship as soon as you can.

37. Get a good CRM and use it. Seeing the deals you get and don't get will tell you a lot about your business.

38. Offering a product and offering a service are very different. It will be tempting to do both, but it is difficult, and you should be wary.

39. Be focused on doing one thing great. Every opportunity you look at will dilute your focus.

40. Your business can do different things like not having standard hours or having work-at-home employees. You don't have to do it the same as everyone else.

41. You will truly hate at least one thing about running a business. (For me, that's doing taxes.) Find someone else to do most of this for you.

42. Having a business partner feels a lot like being married. You will spend a ton of time with this person. It better be someone you genuinely care about and trust. But you don't have to like each other all the time.

43. It really helps if you and your business partner are good at different things.

44. You will not be able to be there for all of your family and friends as much as you like, and they will have a hard time understanding.

45. Selling your products and services becomes easier as you show a track record of being successful.

46. Good employees make your life easier. Bad employees make your life harder. There is no middle ground.

47. You will think about your business a lot. You will probably even dream about it.

48. Paying yourself a smaller (but regular paycheck) is better. You can always give yourself bonuses and raises when you have a surplus of money.

49. Having a master plan is important, but the details will change often.

50. It is all so worth it. Even if your business fails, you will be better for it.

—Brian Cauble is co-founder and CEO of Birmingham, Ala.-based mobile app studio Appsolute Genius. Since launching in 2009, his seven-person firm has developed more than 100 apps.

This self-promotional clip from The Ungar Group, a boutique agency in Chicago, shows what might happen if you crossed Mad Men with The Walking Dead. You'd get a dapper, cigar-smoking, brandy-sipping, scab-faced ghoul who warns, "If you're looking for an advertising agency and don't meet with The Ungar Group, you'll regret it for the rest of your lives." Major props for infusing the initial pitch with a threatening tone and aura of hopelessness and decay. Such elements usually take at least a week to permeate agency-client relationships. Actually, lots of ad guys look like the withered zombie in this video. Pitching new business sucks the life right out of them.

A guy named Ed stalks past the glum cubicles of a nondescript office suite, raises his gun and fires a single shot at a middle-aged managerial type, narrowly missing his target. He then begins the laborious process of cleaning and reloading his musket-style weapon—the type of firearm widely used when the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified—giving everyone in the room time to flee. The chilling spot, from States United to Prevent Gun Violence and Grey New York, closes with the lines: "Guns have changed. Shouldn't our gun laws?"

Moms Demand Action and Grey Toronto take a simpler approach with "How Many More Rounds?" That clip shows shells ejecting in slow motion as an assault weapon is fired, with each casing representing a high-profile shooting: Newtown, Aurora, Virginia Tech, Columbine. As the tragedies pile up, the ad asks, "How many more rounds are we going to let this go for?" The same client-agency team also crafted print ads (posted after the jump) that show two kids standing or sitting side by side, each holding a different item, one of which has been banned by federal or local authorities to protect youngsters. The banned items include a version of Little Red Riding Hood, Kinder Surprise chocolate eggs and dodge balls. In each case, the contrasting item is an assault-style AK-15 rifle.

All three efforts are restrained and thoughtful, and each makes a point in a memorable way without seeming gratuitous. That the cause inspires impassioned and noteworthy creative work is no surprise. It's just a shame this particular ad category has to exist at all.

CREDITS (top spot)
Client: States United to Prevent Gun Violence
Spot: "Ed—A Petition for Stronger Gun Laws"
Agency: Grey, New York
President, Chief Creative Officer: Tor Myhren
Executive Creative Directors: Steve Krauss, Ari Halper
Creative Director, Art Director: Eric Schutte
Associate Creative Director, Copywriter: Rob Carducci
Copywriter: Richard Bullock
Creative Reputation Manager: Rachel West
Vice President, Account Director: Elizabeth Gilchrist
Assistant Account Executive: Cassie Novick
Executive Vice President, Director of Broadcast Production: Bennett McCarroll
Producer: Floyd Russ
Associate Producer: Sam Howard
Production Company: Harvest
Director: Adam Goldstein
Executive Producers: Bonnie Goldfarb, Rob Sexton
Line Producer: Francie Moore
Director of Photography: Roman Jakobi
Editorial: Mackenzie Cutler
Editor: Gavin Cutler
Assistant Editor: Ryan Steele
Producer: Sasha Hirschfeld
Visual Effects: Method Studios
Lead Flame Artist: Jay Hawkins
Matte Painter: Stella Ampatci
Visual Effects Producer: Jenn Dewey
Sound Design: Vision Post
Sound Designer: Ryan Hobler
Producer: Lindsay Brzowski
Music: G&E Music

Hey, what better way for GE to tout its "brilliant machines" designed for the healthcare sector than to show Agent Smith, the villainous sentient AI from The Matrix, stalking the corridors of a bad-dreamy medical scenario? Actor Hugo Weaving dons the shades, suit and earpiece once more, reprising his famous role in this BBDO New York spot (which broke this weekend during Saturday Night Live) as he rides and pushes gurneys, watches himself get examined, flickers across a CT-scan monitor and hovers menacingly while observing an operation. Whoa. Obamacare is even worse than I'd imagined! Makes you long for the kindly Mr. Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation, who had a cameo earlier in the campaign. Weaving's an awesome presence, though he is sinister in the extreme, especially at the end, when he offers a kid the choice of a red or blue lollipop in a nod to the Matrix films. Heck, the overall tone is so sterile and creepy that even the real life-saving machines look a bit threatening. Somebody pull the plug!

The Transport Accident Commission of Victoria in Australia hits the road once again to promote safe driving. TAC has taken many different, well, tacks in its previous efforts—ranging from goofy humor to wretched depression and all-out shockvertising.

"Roadtrip Forever," created by media firm SCA, constitutes a change of direction in form, though not function, as safety education remains the goal, with teens and young adults the target. There are traditional elements, including TV and radio, but its centerpiece is an immersive, highly personalized Facebook experience that lets you log in and pick one of your FB friends to take on a three-minute virtual road trip. Well-crafted cinematic video storytelling is skillfully intercut with bogus status updates and chats involving your various friends. Men experience one trip; women another. Since TAC is the advertiser, it's not giving anything away to say that both journeys end in vehicular tragedy.

"The core idea is to make sure it has an impact, and that at the end of it the user goes, 'Whoa!' " SCA creative director Angus Stevens says in a behind-the-scenes clip. If the campaign alters the way they drive and inspires young people to share the Facebook experience with peers, all the better, he says.

I'm not sure any TCA effort could have as much impact, literally or figuratively, as the "Swap" commercial from a few years back. But "Roadtrip Forever" does pack a punch, albeit in an eerie, thoughtful, almost melancholy way, rather than through sudden shocks or blood and guts. (Sure, it's manipulative, but most PSA efforts of this type are, and the personalized Facebook approach gives "Roadtrip Forever" a more "realistic" immediacy that others lack.)

The first-view "Whoa!" factor does depend, to some extent, on surprise. Still, taking the trip a second time, even when you know what's coming, doesn't significantly dampen the effect. This particular drive delivers on multiple viewings and actually gains emotional resonance as details and nuances begin to register more deeply.

If there's a flaw, it's the basic concept of letting users choose their road-trip companions. Plugging in a beloved friend yields a sad, moving journey. Choosing a "friend" you don't know so well, or picking someone you don't really like—and we all have plenty of those among our FB connections—cushions the impact considerably.

Via Adverve.

Activision needed some high-impact firepower to tout its downloadable Black Ops 2: Uprising content, which is set for release next week on Xbox 360. Two riotous "replacers" answered the Call of Duty. Veteran movie tough guy Peter Stormare reprises his role as a nattily attired, ludicrously intense dude who substitutes for average Joes in their daily lives so they'll have more time to play the massively popular game. Stormare, just as insanely on edge as he was in his January debut, is joined by equally well-dressed, righteously kick-ass sidekick J.B. Smoove, aka actor-comedian Jerry Brooks.

The pitchmen wring every drop of humor from absurd "replacement" situations in this new three-minute clip from 72andSunny. They're both tightly wound, yet handle pressure differently. Stormare speaks softly and with great deliberation; it seems like his face might crack open from the tension building up inside. His barely repressed murderousness bubbles up as he tells a slow-choosing customer to "Pick a Sammmich" when he and Smoove substitute for counter help at an oddly named fast-food joint. (Note how he threateningly brandishes a knife, just as McDonald's crew members do in real life if you don't order fast enough.)

Smoove, conversely, lets it all hang out, and his loud, rapid-fire bursts of dialogue ricochet through the pair's adventures. Replacing an attorney, he delivers his closing argument: "Is my client guilty? Probably. Who cares?" When Stormare chides him from the defense table ("You're doing it wrong"), Smoove explodes, "I'm doin' it the way I'm gonna do it, OK? Let me do this, OK? … I'm in my zone right now! Did he do it? I DON'T KNOW!" He's also great as a happy-happy, hyperactive fill-in TV weatherman, emoting to the max as he warns, "There's a 45 percent chance of swamp ass today, New Orleans. Be careful out there!"

Sure, it's basically just a sendup of the familiar buddy-cop/action-flick formula—there's even a "Bad Cop, Bad Cop" bit where both actors smash every prop in an interrogation room. But these two elevate the material, which is superior to start with, to a stratospheric level. They share a rare chemistry, the kind attained by John Hodgman and Justin Long in Apple's "Get a Mac" campaign, or James Garner and Mariette Hartley in Polaroid commercials of yore—for those of a certain age who, like myself, have to bump up the point size to read these advertising reviews. Stormare, Smoove—what are you waiting for? Guys, for the love of God, replace me!

Few brands have mastered the marketing non sequitur quite as well as Old Spice, which just rolled out two new, fascinatingly bizarre ads for its Fiji Bar Soap. Parodying similar spots from the 1980s, the ads quickly take a surrealist turn. In the 15-second version, the singing narrator struggles to keep up with the ad's transition from shower to basketball-watermelon to soap. The 30-second execution follows a handsome doctor being stalked by his shower, even during surgery. A third spot will debut this summer. As always, Wieden + Kennedy manages to barrel past the line of absurdity while still somehow managing to keep the product front and center. Weirdness weirdness weirdness … buy soap.

Ad agency Sukle in Denver made this "Need Someone" spot promoting the Wyoming Department of Health's counseling services for people who want to quit smoking—hopefully before they go into full-on Harvey Dent mode like the guy in the ad. His professional side is more flattering, I think. The spot also links to Quitnet, the official website for the WDH's program. Judging by its online forums, that guy's problem is not unique to him. Two more new spots after the jump.

New York Presbyterian Hospital and ad agency Munn Rabôt recently made this video celebrating the life of Danion Jones, who was 3 years old when he was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. NYPH treated him until his death at age 7, and the video isn't an ad so much as a promise to find new and better ways to help kids like Danion. It's hard to use kids in videos like this without looking schmaltzy and insincere. But you're made of stone if you don't get a little misty watching Danion, who got to perform at the Apollo Theater before his death, sing "When You're Smiling."