Hasta La Creative!

Raise a giant Cherry Coke and toast Denny's for this great tweet after the BCS title game—offering distraught Auburn fans a road map for where they can comfort-eat their miseries away on the long drive back home to Alabama. It's great partly because it could have so easily been killed, for perhaps being a tad scornful and for sort of making fun of Denny's as well. In other BCS news, Charmin posted the tweet below—apparently having made peace with almost-profanity after getting spooked by its own famous "Asgard" tweet back in November.

Wow. We have a feeling there are lots of college football fans about to sheet their pants right about now..

— Charmin (@Charmin) January 7, 2014

Today in crazy Russian advertising news: A restaurant in Yekaterinburg decided to promote its flame-broiled steaks by flame-broiling its billboard as well. It is a pretty hot idea, if maybe overly literal. Russians, of course, love insane outdoor advertising, from horrifying drunk-driving billboards to parasailing donkeys. They also get pretty worked up about cooked meat generally, as we saw in this classic Burger King ad. Via The Denver Egotist.

You've got to hand it to "Finger Cleaner" for nailing an edgy, icky tone that really sticks out among the five finalists in Doritos' annual "Crash the Super Bowl" contest for consumer-generated commercials.

In the spot, created by Thomas Noakes of Sydney, Australia, a frizzy-haired, greasy-cheesy-fingered Doritos eater is encouraged by his auto-shop co-workers to clean his fingers using a hole in the wall. The results are impressive, and unnerving.

Two of the five finalists, one picked by Doritos and another by fans in an online poll through Jan. 29, will air during Fox's Super Bowl broadcast on Feb. 2. There's also a $1 million grand prize for the ad that receives the most votes.

"Cowboy Kid" should do well, if only because it has two elements that always score in this particular competition: cute kids and a lovable dog. One kid actually rides the dog. We've also got a pair of so-so stolen Doritos/office-humor scenarios—one features an ostrich, which thankfully nobody rides—and a time-machine spot, which, despite the presence of a cute kid and a canine, probably has no future.

But only "Cleaner" merits a big thumbs-up, and I sincerely hope Doritos gives us all the finger on game day.

No good deed comes without a little punishment. That's Newcastle Brown Ale's "No Bollocks" take on responsibility messaging, judging by a recent stunt in Los Angeles orchestrated by Droga5.

The brand is introducing a new beer, Newcastle Cabbie Black Ale, and decided to promote it by driving drinkers home in black British taxis, on one condition—that they advertise the new brew through an enormous taxi-top megaphone for the entire ride. You can see footage from the rides below. The passengers are seen largely reading from a script, although there's some improvising going on, so perhaps the driver was also a copywriter.

Newcastle somewhat proudly declares that there were 67 noise complaints, but it was worth it to get 54 beer drinkers home safely. ("Don't be a wanker. Take a bloody cab," says copy on the back of the taxi.) The brand is also taking the taxi campaign further through a partnership with Taxi Magic, the nation's leading taxi app. In the more than 60 cities where Taxi Magic rides are available, Newcastle Cabbie point-of-sale displays will offer $5 toward a cab fare booked through the app.

"We're not exactly pioneers in declaring drinking and driving to be utter bollocks, but we're proud of the fact that we're putting our money where our mouth is and offering people a tangible incentive to enjoy our product safely," says Brett Steen, brand manager at Newcastle Brown Ale.

Starbucks wants you to think it's just like your neighborhood cafe from 100 years ago. The coffee mega-chain has opened a New Orleans location with an interior design inspired by what the coffee giant thinks a Louisiana apothecary's shop at the turn of the 20th century would have looked like. It's part of the company's attempts to create "locally relevant" stores—as opposed to the same old cookie-cutter atmosphere.

Apart from the fact that it's totally absurd for a giant corporation to try to feel like a small business, the design does look nice, and seems to mean some extra work for artists, usually a good thing. The strategy, clever in a mercenary sort of way, stretches from Seattle—where there are apparently some jarring anecdotes about members of Starbucks research team hanging out at the local competition and taking extensive notes—to Tokyo, where one store's design reportedly pays homage to traditional tea houses.

The concept even comes with a cringeworthy oxymoron of a portmanteau (not the sole purview of Starbucks), which really only emphasizes how ridiculous the whole thing is. Plus, no matter how the inside of the store looks, the coffee will remain mediocre.

Via PSFK.

On Thursday night, as millions tuned in to see Carrie Underwood ambitiously take on the role of Maria von Trapp, croon about the hills being alive, and make children's clothing out of drapes in NBC's The Sound of Music Live, DiGiorno Pizza was also watching—and live-tweeted the whole thing. The Nestlé brand's tweets were funny and hilariously pizza-related. Let's have a moment of appreciation for how difficult a task that must have been, considering The Sound of Music heavily features a convent and also the Third Reich. Also, a solid nod of respect to whomever came up with the hashtag #DiGiorNOYOUDIDNT.

#TheSoundOfMusicLive Can't believe pizza isn't one of her favorite things smh

— DiGiorno Pizza (@DiGiornoPizza) December 6, 2013

DOUGH a crust an unbaked crust RAY, a guy that likes pizza ME a pizza liked by a guy named ray FAH no idea what fah is SO so LA a city T tee

— DiGiorno Pizza (@DiGiornoPizza) December 6, 2013

I don't think those mountains are real you guys #TheSoundOfMusicLive

— DiGiorno Pizza (@DiGiornoPizza) December 6, 2013

CLIMB EVERY MOUNTAIN, FORD EVERY STREAM, FOLLOW EVERY RAINBOW, UNTIL YOU FIND A SUPREME (PIZZA FROM DIGIORNOOOOOO) #TheSoundOfMusicLive

— DiGiorno Pizza (@DiGiornoPizza) December 6, 2013

YO ROLPH, I HAVEN'T SEEN AN OUTFIT THAT UGLY SINCE NEVER #ShortAndTie #DiGiorNOYOUDIDNT #TheSoundOfMusicLive

— DiGiorno Pizza (@DiGiornoPizza) December 6, 2013

THE KITCHEN IS ALIVE, WITH THE SMELL OF FRESH-BAKED PIZZA #TheSoundOfMusicLive

— DiGiorno Pizza (@DiGiornoPizza) December 6, 2013

GO HOME COUNTESS, YOU'RE SO AWKWARD #TheSoundOfMusicLive

— DiGiorno Pizza (@DiGiornoPizza) December 6, 2013

Oh yeah, definitely pizza at this party. Because you can't dance like that without pizza. #TheSoundOfMusicLive

— DiGiorno Pizza (@DiGiornoPizza) December 6, 2013

THANK YOU VERY MUCH, GOODNIGHT AND GOOD PIZZA TO YOU ALL!!! #AndWeOut #BuyDiGiorno #TheSoundOfMusicLive

— DiGiorno Pizza (@DiGiornoPizza) December 6, 2013

And the award for best disembodied mouth in a commercial goes to … Australian beer Tooheys Extra Dry for this memorably unnerving 45-second spot from BMF Sydney and director Hamish Rothwell.

Popping loose from a dude's jaws and plopping down on a countertop during a party, the garrulous gob promptly mouths off at its understandably speechless owner. "You made me do things, bad things, I can't forget," says the mouth, referring to things like sucking on women's toes, eating mystery meat and kissing dogs' mouths. "I need something back." That something, of course, is the taste of Tooheys Extra Dry.

"The new ad is sure to grab attention and drive talkability," says marketing director Matt Tapper. "It's provocative, but that is what's great about Tooheys Extra Dry as a brand. We can be a little more adventurous with our creative."

The White Agency assisted with digital elements, and the campaign stretches across TV, online and outdoor, with the animated mouth as its focus. That pugnacious piehole was created by Alt.VFX, which sent a horde of deer to a rave in a memorable Tooheys spot a while back. The mouth is like something out of a David Cronenberg film—amusing and disturbing at the same time. This is very dark humor, and whether praised or panned, I expect it will set tongues wagging.

A dreary rainstorm and a friend's apparent death might not seem like promising raw materials for an uplifting ad. But this one takes place in Ireland, so it all makes sense. The two-and-a-half minute spot for Tullamore Dew Irish Whiskey was made by New York ad agency Opperman Weiss and directed by Laurence Dunmore of RSA Films. It features four friends all dressed up and trudging through the gloriously bleak countryside of Ireland, bottle of booze in hand, seeming to eulogize a fallen friend by singing the Irish folk song "A Parting Glass." Lovely stuff. Fast Company has an interview with creative director Paul Opperman, who says the men recorded the song in Saint Kevin's, the stone church in the film, known for its great acoustics. The film tries to capture what Irish music is like, he adds—"that sense of both melancholy and victory at the same time."

CREDITS
William Grant & Sons Marketing Ltd
Shane Hoyne – Global Brand Director

Opperman Weiss
Paul Opperman – Writer
Jeff Weiss – Art Director
Mark Johnston – Executive Producer

Duotone
Creative Director/Arranger: Jack Livesey
Vocal Arranger: Eamon O'Leary
Executive Producer: David Leinheardt

Bug Edit
Andre Betz Editor
Caitlin Grady Executive Producer

Nice Shoes
Lez Rudge – Colorist
Melissa Dupre – Producer

Heard City
Philip Loeb – Mixer
Gloria Pitagorsky – Managing Director

Christmas is coming, and along with it comes the worst part of the year: ironic ugly sweater parties. Formerly the sole domain of grandmothers and Bill Cosby, ugly sweaters are some kind of awkward hipster mating plumage now, so it's only ill-fitting that Coke Zero has capitalized on it with the Coke Zero Sweater Generator, built by Droga5. You design a sweater with minimal Coke branding, and it goes into an online gallery where other people can vote on the best/worst designs. The top 100 will be made and sent to their creators, who will probably model them on Facebook. Above is the one I made.