Hasta La Creative!

Once again humor is trumped by those who love to bitch about ads with animals in them.

After a goof six years ago which kept the iconic red umbrella with Citigroup as it spun off the Travelers unit, Travelers has won it back and has gone BIG (literally) in a new commercial celebrating the umbrella’s return.

Think you’re having a rough time of it in the ad biz?

Well, you might feel better by peeking at AngryJournalist.com.

According to the awesome journalists at Breitbart.com:

The website was created by a former journalist who cut short his young career in the news business to work in political communications in Illinois. But he insists his decision to change paths was not driven by anger.

Kiyoshi Martinez, 23, who worked as Web editor for Chicago area community newspapers, said he was “disappointed” in his young journalism career about the direction of the industry.

In early February, the same month he quit journalism, Martinez launched his website after reading a study on burnout among newspaper journalists, which sparked his interest in knowing what was on reporters’ minds.

It’s not every day we comes across an ad whose headline includes the word “lunker,” so we tip our cap to St. Louis-based agency Rodgers Townsend for using it here for Ardent fishing reels. Our desk edition of Webster’s defines lunker as “something large of its kind—used esp. of a game fish.” My computer’s spellcheck challenged the word, suggesting “lurker,” “lanker” and “linker” as more plausible alternatives. The Webster’s Online Dictionary site (which includes a “specialty definition” of the word as used in mining) yields the info-nugget that there are an estimated 21 online searches using “lunker” on an average day. We live in a world of wonders. (A Google search for the phrase “lunker butt” yielded zero hits, by the way.) Meanwhile, if the phrase “Kick lunker butt” doesn’t exactly sing, you must admit it’s distinctive. It almost has the ring of a license-plate motto, like New Hampshire’s “Live free or die.”

—Posted by Mark Dolliver

Look! Look! Look! It’s consumer-generated media! That’s right.

(TrendHunter.com) Almost every hobby has the potential to become a tournament these days, and the pen spinning tournament is the latest addition.

I’ve known how to do this neat little parlor trick since high school. We picked it up from the ROTC kids, and soon everyone with deft enough digits was doing it in class. …

Apparently the old adage “bigger isn’t always better” got tossed out the window with this one. Just meters from Kremlin in Moscow City, BMW has created one of the biggest billboards in Europe. Measuring in at 65,000 sq. ft., it’s large enough that the five full-size BMW M-class models look like ants.

The 450 lb. life-size car models were constructed by We R.Signs International using wheels, body panels, lighting, and a few other parts from BMW. Cars on walls isn’t new, but this magnitude makes it a bit different. Very cool from a construction and installation standpoint. Will it sell more Ms?

full size photos @ englishrussia

M&Ms;is rolling three enw TV spots to promote the qualities of an M&Ms;: how irresistible they taste, their creativity and sense of wonder.

My absolute favorite is the “Taste.” It shows a blue M&M;that can not resist but lick himself while he is in the living room, because “when you are an M&M;, you …

Here’s the latest U.K. commercial to generate large numbers of complaints: a Volkswagen spot from DDB London showing a dog cowering and shivering—except when he’s riding in a VW Polo, when suddenly he’s brimming with confidence. The RSPCA says: “We have asked how it was filmed and have been told the dog was acting. But we are very disappointed that Volkswagen feel it necessary to portray a dog suffering to sell cars, whether it was genuine or staged.” The Ad Standards Authority says it’s gotten almost 500 complaints since the spot broke two weeks ago, but says the commercial doesn’t break any rules and won’t be pulled.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

(TrendHunter.com) The motivation behind designer’s Philippe Malouin’s The Unit is the fact that the average European flat ranges from 30 to 50 square meters.

Since space has become a luxury, the furniture must be ultra compact and accomplish a maximum amount of tasks.

With this design, Malouin wanted to comprise …