Church of Apple Gets Its Macbook Air

OK, Mac lovers. Here’s the new Macbook Air commercial for you to drool over. And, really, what else is there to say? It’s an Apple commercial. And, of course, we have Nalt’s spoof….

Reverse Graffiti Used To Reverse Homelessness

Another graffiti campaign to show how “street” the brand is, is not needed. But Crisis, a London outfit that helps the homeless and really is of the street has put a spin on street art, and with help from Rapp Collins/London have come up with an innovative way to advertise their cause.

Crisis estimates there are 400,000 homeless people ‘hidden’ in hostels, squats, B&Bs or sleeping on friend’s floors.

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To highlight this scandal they have used ‘Reverse Graffiti’. Instead of using spray cans, they clean the dirt from walls with water so, unlike normal graffiti, it doesn’t damage property. The designs are currently present in 15 London locations.

[via Brand Republic]

Unilever splits £150m ice-cream business between DDB and Lowe

LONDON – Unilever has split its £150m global ice-cream ad business, including Walls, between DDB and Lowe, which has also picked up the £104m global Magnum ad account.

Critter Gets Digitally Manipulated For Carlsberg Sport

Who doesn’t love a commercial featuring a cute, cuddly animal who waddles innocently out of thw woods and then, all of a sudden, is taken over by a bunch of digital manipulators and truned into a world class football…

Target board is deemed ‘sexualized ad slop’

Target_2 Pencil me in among the legions of people offended by this Target billboard in Times Square, featuring a woman lying spread-eagle on a giant bull’s-eye. Lisa Ray, founder of Parents for Ethical Marketing, says she “could not understand how anybody making an ad would put that together and not have one person in the room say, ‘Wait a minute.’ ” I agree. All those winter clothes get in the way of what could be a very titillating campaign. … What’s that? Oh, sorry. I guess the problem is the ad is too suggestive—one blogger calls it “sexualized ad slop.” It probably would have looked better in the old Times Square. Photo by Bennett 4 Senate.

—Posted by David Kiefaber

AMC’ Breaking Bad Does Customized Video Thing

If you like sending your friends those customized promotional videos, then here’s another one. It’s not anywhere near as freaky as that Dexter promotion that targeted the recipient with a personalized message from a serial killer but it’s not…

Hotcourses appoints Pure for eCRM project

Educational publisher Hotcourses has appointed email marketing company Pure to develop an eCRM programme for its members.

Different visions, but similar ad headaches

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What do Blender and Ms. have in common? They’re sharing the same bikini/hot-tub cover for their jointly produced “Summer Fling” issues. Just kidding. Both mags are involved in ad flaps. Blender stands accused of crossing the line between advertising and editorial in its “2008 Rock & Roll User’s Guide,” which I strongly suspect was not penned by Bob Woodward and probably didn’t require a whole lot of ethical vetting. Meanwhile, Ms. sought to sidestep a political “firestorm” by rejecting a full-page ad by the American Jewish Congress that features three prominent Israeli women. Needless to say, its refusal to run the piece has ignited the very “firestorm” it hoped to avoid. That’s how bad it’s gotten in the print-publishing game these days: You’re damned if you run the ads, and you’re damned if you don’t. My point: for the publicity alone, a “Summer Fling” team-up is the way to go.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Super Bowl: GoDaddy Teases, Victoria’s Secret Commits, Hyundai May Pull

OK, here we go. It’s Super Bowl time. As usual, we have GoDaddy foisting upon us its now very tired “boo hoo, FOX banned our commercial” routine. This time, it’s over the word “beaver.” Damn, it’s like an eighties…

Montreal explores ‘Nylon’ lifestyle

Lisa Caruso, VP, Laura Davidson Public Relations (New York) discusses the firm’s work for Tourisme Montreal.

City AM appoints WebAds to sell CityAM.com ad space

LONDON – Free business daily City AM has appointed online ad sales agency WebAds to sell all of the advertising on the CityAM.com website, which launches this week.

DeCourcy named Cyber Lions jury president

LONDON – Colleen DeCourcy, chief digital officer for TBWA\Worldwide, has been named Cyber Lions jury president at this year’s Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.

Fox uses viral force to promote Family Guy DVD launch

LONDON – Twentieth Century Fox is using a viral campaign on Bore Me to launch the DVD release of ‘Family Guy Presents Blue Harvest’, which retells the story of the original ‘Star Wars’ movie.

Discovery to launch TV channel with Oprah as partner

NEW YORK – Discovery Networks is joining forces with Oprah Winfrey to launch a TV channel and internet venture in the US next year.

ITV1’s Taggart scores narrow victory over BBC’s Mistresses

LONDON – The second episode of ITV1’s new series of ‘Taggart’ won its slot last night, narrowly beating BBC One’s drama ‘Mistresses’ with 4.9m viewers.

Bauer appoints new editor of Bella

LONDON – H Bauer has replaced Bella editor Jayne Marsden with Julia Davis, a former deputy editor of OK! Magazine.

Gruner & Jahr tipped to buy FT Deutschland

LONDON – Publisher Gruner & Jahr is reportedly close to finalising a takeover of the Financial Times Deutschland newspaper, of which it already owns 50%, by buying out UK publisher Pearson, according to German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Argos hands three-year brief to Iris

Argos has given a three year contract to Iris PR after work on a product sold at the store made popular by TV show Dragon’s Den.

Harpic Drain Opener: House 3

Harpic Drain Opener: House 3

Advertising Agency: EURO RSCG, India

Harpic Drain Opener: House 2

Harpic Drain Opener: House 2

Advertising Agency: EURO RSCG, India