Hasta La Creative!

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Interpublic Group of Cos. and its global agency network McCann Erickson Worldwide today said it will pay $12 million to end a longtime accounting probe by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

It’s like Guitar Hero on your computer!

(TrendHunter.com) These baby car logos and emblems are too darn cute! The Minichamps campaign features the opulent Italian brands Jaguar, Lamborghini, Ferrari and Maserati in their imagined infant stages.

The adorable ads were created by Dentsu Brazil for Minichamps, a company that makes miniature Italian luxury car…

(TrendHunter.com) Believe it or not, this is a dog house that, in all likelihood, was patterned after the dog owner’s own house design.

Doggie Dream Homes will build a smaller version of a real home for dogs that may include furniture, curtains, air conditioning, satellite TV, internet and even a phone line.

“It …

Last week, Microsoft reported a 24% decline in Windows sales in the third quarter.

According to USA Today, Vista, Microsoft’s new operating system, is getting hammered in the press and corporate buyers are refusing to upgrade from XP. Hence, the poor numbers.

Microsoft rebuilt Windows from scratch to create Vista, which has a dazzling interface and improved security tools. But so much computing power is required to run it that many people find their new PCs run slower than older, less powerful XP machines. To spur sales, Microsoft earlier this month said consumers will no longer be able to purchase XP as of June 30. The announcement and pending date have unleashed a firestorm of Vista angst.

Online magazine InfoWorld is waging a Save XP campaign. More than 175,000 signatures have been gathered. “Why pull the plug on XP when there’s clearly a lot of people who still like it?” says Galen Gruman, InfoWorld executive editor.

Influential analyst Michael Silver at research firm Gartner calls the Vista launch a “disaster.” Other critics have been no kinder. CNet called Vista one of the “biggest blunders in technology.” PC magazine chronicles Vista’s “11 Pillars of Failure.” The Christian Science Monitor likened it to Coca-Cola’s disastrous New Coke experiment in the 1980s.

There’s an old saying in Adlandia. “You can’t polish a turd.” But, as Apple proves below, you sure as hell can ridicule the competition’s turd.

The government has today been ordered to disclose records of lobbying efforts by a business interest group in a precedent-setting case.

(TrendHunter.com) If you’ve got wicked graffiti skills, you know the real fun comes from showing off your art. Since scrawling on public buildings is generally considered vandalism, it makes it difficult to select an appropriate canvas. That’s where the Cans Film Festival comes in.

Instead of prohibiting street art…

What’s Arnold’s Chief Creative Officer, Pete Favat, up to? Last year the agency hired cognitive scientist Dr. Lisa Haverty to run an intuition analytics department. Now, the agency has announced a research and development lab tasked with creating new media channels.

“I think…I’m creating jobs I want to live vicariously though,” Favat told Creativity.

“I wanted to put a couple of people in place who are not concerned with or thinking about the day-to-day brand messages, with what we have to do for Jack Daniels, truth, or Tag, but are coming up with software, coming up with different technologies, whatever we can to dispense new ideas out in the world,” Favat says. “I told them ‘The day you guys think about certain brands is the day you lose your job.’ Their mantra is to just play; I don’t want them to ever worry about being attached to a client.”

Ryan Habbyshaw, 25, an agency art director/designer, and Todd Vanderlin, 23, who studied at Parsons School of Design are the two explorers. They report to creative director Meg Siegal.

LONDON – Comedian Paul Whitehouse lends his voice to the talents of Aardman, the award-winning animators behind Wallace and Gromit, for a new campaign for weed killer brand Resolva 24H.

AdFreak reports The American Social Health Association is using…what else…social media to educate people about the STD Chlamydia with a Facebook application,