Hasta La Creative!

When the word “free” is involved, people will do anything. They’ll even stare at a new phone with eye-tracking software for an hour to win that phone for free. We can file this under the Must Be a European Thing Club, not because people will complete strange tasks to win free products, but because they did so as crowds of people cheered on the contestants. And it’s not as if they were just staring at a phone, they were staring at a phone secure in a tall box as chefs pretended to be on fire and motorcyclists drove by for distraction. If a contestant stayed focused on the phone for more than one minute, he/she received a 100 SFr (Swiss Franc) discount. If he/she looked away for a millisecond, their turn ended. One dude, looking very European in his sleek jacket with infinite pockets, won the grand prize, a Samsung S4, in the above video (go here for more). People cheered. He now has to pay for a monthly plan.

The campaign comes from Switzerland, where creative studio Perfect Fools and Swisscom agency Heimat incorporated the smartphone’s new eye-tracking abilities to generate some buzz. The original video was filmed in Zurich, and crews will also travel to Lucerne, Bern, and Lausanne for similar showcases. If you are a guy who owns a jacket with too many pockets, you may also be able to have an opportunity to stare at a smartphone for an hour. On your mark, get set, F-R-E-E.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

San Francisco shop Heat, who you may know best for their high-profile work on a bevy of EA Sports video game franchises, just launched a brand new agency website that reveals a new logo, in which the “e” in “Heat” is backwards because that’s how you know someone is hip to 2013, yo. But, you gotta keep dat ish lowercase, because you don’t want to end up like KoRn with a backwards capital “R” or you’ll look super 90s. You don’t want that.

Having worked in an agency during a full site redesign, I know the hard work and excitement that goes into the endeavor. Many times, almost every creative in the agency contributes to the finished product, which you’ll talk about at length to your friends in the weeks leading up to the launch. “Just wait until our new site launches,” you’ll say, eyes wide with excitement and wonder. “It looks amazing.” It’s hard to blame you for being so giddy, as it feels as though your employer’s site is representative of your own job. The cooler it looks, the more it validates you. “I work at ‘x’ agency,” you imagine saying to a hot young thing at a bar. Oh, what’s that? Bam, show them that sexy new site on your phone (it better be responsive), and explain how cool your job is.

Of course, the problem is, no one outside of your agency gives the slightest shit what your site looks like. Now, this SHOULD NOT make you feel you bad about being emotionally invested in a redesign. After all, even though your friends don’t care, it doesn’t mean that potential new business won’t. So go ahead, be like Heat. Hire a weird second-line style band confused if they should be from New Orleans or Germany to dance around your office for a little while. Film yourself looking at your new sign, backwards “e” and all. Get stoked and know that, for the record, I think your new (responsive!) site looks pretty frickin’ cool. So cool, in fact, that I’m going to link it again right here. Congrats!

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The veteran electronic music twosome from Scotland has been getting very Easter-eggy with the recent publicity for their upcoming album, which may be titled Cosecha. There are sequences of numbers and vague video clips that may have been shot on the Zapruder family camera, and the latest clip above premiered last night on Cartoon Network. But what does it all mean exactly? I’m not sure, but it may have to do with Thomas Pynchon and subliminal messaging.

There is no scheduled date for the album release, and some people aren’t even sure there will be an album. But there is a very, very hazy viral campaign for Boards of Canada that is getting fans hot and bothered and has provoked bloggers to plunge down the rabbit hole and delve into its meaning. So, let’s just assume there will be more puzzle pieces and snippets of new music in the near future.

Update: Well, mystery solved as Pitchfork reveals that there is indeed a new BoC album and it’s called Tomorrow’s Harvest.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

A friend sent us this and yes, we’re checking to see which agency was behind this clip (maybe Draftfcb’s doing?), but it is on the official Kmart YouTube page and the entrendres are abound in this new clip that promotes the shipping services of the retail chain. From what we’ve seen, Kmart will ship the bed, your pants and more. The retail chain, as you may know, is currently reviewing its creative business (down to a few now) and if this doesn’t sell it for DFCB (which may or not be involved in the spot), we don’t know what will. Stay tuned if we find out more.

Update: Yep, it’s Draftfcb Chicago.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

What the beep? is right. Venables Bell & Partners is teaming with gasoline company 76 to stop honkaholism, a vicious nonexistent affliction that doesn’t actually affect many people. If you happen to live in New York City, you may hear the occasional overzealous honker, but building an ad campaign around the concept of overhonking seems overzealous in and of itself. Not to mention the humor rooted in the idea of a gasoline company trying to stop noise pollution, which is like a drug dealer trying to stop people from taking Tylenol.

The campaign comes fully stocked with website, billboards, the above 30-second spot, and even a touring “Stop Honkaholism Bus.” If you’re compelled to dig deeper, you can receive a free Honk Suppressor for your dashboard, which means instead of hitting your car horn, you pound a fist into the suppressor instead. Kind of like a Nicotine patch for your vehicle. It is free, so VB&P and 76 should get points for that. Credits after the jump.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Creative multimedia resumes have been popping up all over the internet this year, including this Parisian who turned his resume into an Amazon product page as we all criticized ourselves for not thinking of it first. Selling yourself is never easy–except for those who work in the Red Light District; they’ve really simplified that process to perfection–but for the rest of us, we have to worry about including too much personal information, emphasizing the right amount of work experience, using an agreeable font. Eventually, you just come to the conclusion that there’s no such thing as an agreeable font and that almost all resumes are banal pieces of paper that carry too much meaning.

Tom Costello, account exec for Microsoft, has decided to make his own video resume that shows off his good-humored personality. We’ll let you decide whether the humor is good or bad. Costello does make fun of those annoying Microsoft tablet commercials, so we’ll give him that. The strange part is, he never really talks about specific experience or metrics of success. He throws a football into a box and pounds the pavement with a Wiffle ball bat.

Costello’s Linkedin page implies that he’s currently employed. Maybe he’s blindly reaching out to other brands? If not, who exactly is this guy pitching to if he already works for Microsoft? And for this post, let’s try to have commenters=nice.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Since last week, we’ve been hearing about a certain “test” that Crispin Porter + Bogusky’s executive director of creative development, Evan Fry, laid upon certain creatives in recent weeks at the Boulder hub. Fry, if you recall, rejoined his old shop last fall after co-founding crowdsourcing-loving Victors & Spoils.

According to those in the know, Fry’s test did not in turn eliminate staff–though we’re hearing otherwise. The questionnaire we received, which contained a handful of inquiries, via tipsters was apparently inaccurate, save for those regarding how one would redesign an ad for a certain client among other things. Sources familiar with the matter would not elaborate on which client it was as it’s being protected for time being. We were told initially that approximately 10 creatives were let go as a result of the test, but CP+B sent us this statement:

“We are constantly assessing that the right people are working on the right things and this series of questions was one way to do that. No one was terminated or will be terminated due to their answers and that was never the intention of these exercises.”

We have some names, but will spare the innocent and not reveal those who were allegedly let go.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Korey wants you to know that his dancing is perfect for your brand or next agency campaign. In fact, his dancing will “Make Your Ad Campaign an Outrageous Success!!!” At 1:03 minutes, Korey begins showing you his stuff. Around 2:47, he asks you to get up from your desk and crank up the volume. By 7:52, we cut to Korey showing us what he “does for fun on weekends.” That’s right. It’s more erratic dancing. This time at a beach party.

Here’s the thing – you have got to admire the fact that dude does not give two poops what you think. He just knows his shit is fly. He’s out there, balls to the wall, takin’ his mushrooms and rocking out to some Goa trance. And really, who hasn’t done a little acid and flailed their bodies around regardless of the actual rhythm?

Clearly, Korey is trying to be the next Matt of Stride Gum fame. But, you know, Matt already had a YouTube following when Stride picked him up. His dance was also pretty darn charming. Come on. It was. Methinks that Korey is a very far cry from chubby, smiling, bring the world together, Matt.

More: An Agency Spy PSA: The McCain And Obama Dance-Off

Comments (View)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media

In the most serious case of “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me” marketing we’ve ever seen or heard, Melrose Jewlers wrote a post on their Web site claiming that Rolex watches “played a major role in Owen Wilson’s recovery … wearing a Rolex Submariner and attending Rolex Benefits helped Owen Wilson realize his life was valuable and worth living.”

Remember that time Wilson slit his wrists in an alleged attempt to take his own life? Apparently, whoever wrote the post thinks that when you’re at the end of your rope, fancy material goods will bring you back. What?

Another amazing blurb: “Whatever the hawks of the media choose to write, it is clear that Rolex played a major role in Owen Wilson’s recovery. Back in good form, the actor is nothing less than a comic genius in a time when comedy is a necessity. Wearing a Rolex Submariner and attending Rolex Benefits helped Owen Wilson realize his life was valuable and worth living. Once again, the precision and quality of a Rolex proves to be a lifesaver in more ways than one.”

MelroseJewlers.com is a Web site for the Melrose Jewlers, which claims to be the largest importer of Rolex time pieces in the world. A December 15th post on the site contains the audacious claim, along with a number of photos with Wilson wearing various Rolex pieces.

Here’s a short list of more likely reasons why Wilson wears the time pieces:

A. He’s paid to, by Rolex
B. They were gifts
C. He bought them with his millions of dollars
D. They’re fakes he bought in New York
E. He won them in a bet where if he faked suicide, his friend Matthew McConaughey would give him like, 12 of them.
F. They cover the marks on his arms
G. A magical leprechaun popped out of his ass while he was in the hospital and told him that wearing a Rolex would lead him to the end of the nearest rainbow.
H. He robbed Melrose Jewelers

Any of these options would be more plausible for Wilson’s Rolex preference. There is no way in hot hell that dude slaps one on because it gives him a reason to live. If anything, watches are a reminder of life’s brevity, so we should probably all stop wasting our time and money on useless expensive shit like Rolex time pieces and give up our vapid ways. Where’s my whiskey?

Thanks to the Denver Egotist for sharing this with us. We agree with them that this will be a contender for the dirtiest marketing attempt of the year award. And today is January 7th.

Original post/Image

More: “Critical Mass Creates Their Own Voltron“

Comments (View)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media

Well, at least someone on Madison Ave. has got some ching in the bank. Apparently, this was found on the street. Stop tossing crap on the ground, you rich jackass!

Via ImNotBoredAnymore

Comments (View)

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media