Payday: Time Machine

The video is hilarious (reminds me of Napoleon Dynamite). I'm missing the product tie in, but maybe that's the point.



(via Adverbox)

Erotika Films

(sound NSFW)



Translation (from Italian):
We don't hire them for their ability to speak.

The best hard films in circulation.

(via Adverbox)

Smart VW Guerilla from Brazil

This is smart, very smart. I love it.

Winner of the Doritos "You Make It" Contest

The winner, chosen from 900 entries. (via Adverganza)

Nike Football: Take it to the Next Level Directors Cut

See the original here, then be just as tickled when this one rocks your socks for a full three minutes.



(via Adverganza)

HBO Voyeur

This actually won the Grand Prix at Cannes and didn't get surrounded by controversy. That's a double win in my book.



(via Adverbox)

The Payoff

A lesson in payoff:



(via Adverbox)

Old Spice: It's two things in one!

It's an ad and it's funny!



(Adverganza via AdFreak)

Celebrate the Egotist's First Birthday

Get ready for the terrible twos...

Man vs. Banner Ad

This is hilarious.



(via AdFreak)

George Carlin 1937-2008

Pure, Powerful Copy

Gold Lion @ Cannes in the Press Category. From Contract India, Mumbai. (via The Denver Egotist)

Stop and think before you name your product

I was just about to toss a few of these in my salad when I noticed something interesting. The brand is "New York" croutons. The style is "The Original Texas Toast". If there's one thing advertising has taught me over the years, it's that New York City and anything in the west (Texas Toast, Pace Picante Sauce, etc.) don't mix. Seriously, these croutons aren't even that big like a piece of Texas Toast. How about Brooklyn Style? or Coney Island Croutons? Leave some suggestions for better crouton names in the comments, I know we can do better than New York - The Original Texas Toast Style.

Lego Digital Designer: Dreams do come true

I'd say a solid 60% of my time between the ages of 5 and 15 was spent playing with legos. Well, not just playing, but building the most bad-ass castles and airplanes and super off-road trucks the world has ever seen. Oh, and boats and cannons and spaceships and racecars. So when I say that my wildest dreams have come true, you will likely agree.

Legos Digital Designer lets you choose from 763 different brick types to build to your hearts content. And there's even kits too! While it's not quite the same as the real thing, it's still pretty amazing.

Download it here: Lego Digital Designer
(via Lifehacker)

Free Obama 2008 Posters

Looking to show your support for Obama with some unique and well made posters? Look no further than Changethethought's collections of free (to download and print-not sell) Obama posters he created himself. There's a number of different styles and various slogans available and even buttons too! So go find your favorite, print a few out, and help be a part of Change we can believe in!

Changethethought's Obama Posters

Stop it.

The trend stops here.

I saw this last night and almost threw up in my mouth:


Compare that to this VW ad:


As if you needed another sign, when Lay-z-boy uses a concept in an ad, it's done. Don't get me wrong, it was really cool for a while. As a matter of fact I really liked the VW ad above. I don't think it was the first ad to use this editing technique and unfortunately it probably won't be the last. In any case, forgetaboutit. If you have a "great" idea that uses this concept, toss it. Push yourself, and come up with the next great thing.

Consider yourself warned.

How much of advertising is really just chance?

Why do some great ads go unnoticed and other seemingly lesser ads win gold the world over?

That's the question posed by Lunar BBDO as they try to figure out why this ad didn't get much notice at all:



While another one (which is so basic and mundane I don't even feel like posting it) wins big.

It's an interesting thought, and makes you wonder just how much of this whole advertising thing is really just chance.

See their full take on these ad at: If this is a blog then what's Christmas?

Things Younger than John McCain

Do you ever look at John McCain and wonder, is Buddy Holly younger? Well now you don't have to wonder anymore because the site www.thingsyoungerthanmccain.com is here!
(via View from the Bottom)

And just in case you needed a little more McCain in your diet:

I love you cheetos

Even Copyranter is relatively speechless about this one:

More great VW advertising not happening in the US

From South Africa: "Dreaming of a GTI" (via AdPulp)

Can't go to Cannes? Have a Bake Sale

That's what these four students from Creative Circus in Atlanta did. They found out last week that they've won two future lions, but the trip to France would set them back $6000. So they did what any college student would do: have a bake sale. They sold cookies for $500 a piece and they got plenty of business from agencies and individuals around the country. Now they're on their way to Cannes. Of course the real question everyone's asking is: what's their recipe?

New Mercedes Benz Ads are Cadillac-esque

Dave over at AdFreak likes this Mercedes Ad:



While Dave over at Adpulp likes this one from the same campaign:



My name isn't Dave, and I'm lukewarm on them both. I like the cinematic feel they both have, but as Dave (at Adpulp) points out, they both feel similar to Cadillac's latest "Pursuit" campaign. Actually, after re-watching the Cadillac commercials I think you could swap the voice overs between the Mercedes and Cadillac ads and no one would ever know. In other words, neither makes any claims that it's competitors cannot. Some would argue that it's the beautiful cinematography of each that draws you in. Well, if I wanted beautiful cinematography I'd watch a movie, not a commercial.

Both companies should take a cue from Volvo who ran this fantastic print ad that rips Cadillac up and down while staying just as classy as these ads wish they were. Who says copywriting is dead?

Fiji Greenwashing Continues

I'll say it again: bottled water isn't green. Period. (via Ask a Copywriter)

Download Firefox Today and set a World Record

UPDATE: Downloading starts at 10am Pacific, so get ready.

Comcast Rabbit. With Turbines. On Ice. With a Tailwind.

Comcast may leave something to be desired from a customer service standpoint (see Comcast Must Die), but this commercial is downright awesome. It leaves the slowsky's behind. Way behind. (via Adrants)

Smart Car Vending Machine is, well, Smart

Here's a giant vending machine with a Smart Car inside. You can't actually buy the car, but rather get packets of information on it instead. (via Gizmodo)

Getting Caught Up...

Sorry for the infrequent posts the last week or so, I've been pretty busy spending time at work, seeing my girlfriend off to Vermont for the summer and enjoying my recently upgraded Netflix movies. Tomorrow I'll be back full force, but for now a few quick movie reviews:

The Wendell Baker Story: Crap, but maybe because I expect so much from the Wilson brothers.

Walk Hard: Ridiculous, and borderline stupid at times, but Tim Meadows steals every scene he's in. Watch it for him alone.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead: Good, not great. It's hard to watch in a Requem for a Dream kinda way, it's just people destroying themselves and everything/one around them. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is absolutely brilliant though, but in a much darker way than his brilliance in Charlie Wilson's War. Don't start your day with this movie.

Singin' in the Rain

It's a few years old, but good nonetheless.

The Entire Democratic Primary Race in 8 Minutes

(via Why Advertising Sucks)

On a side note...

Because you needed a break anyway:

A man is given a DUI for driving his "cruzin' cooler" while drunk. To clarify, a "cruzin' cooler" is a cooler and a scooter combined to make the sort of vehicle that will some day save mankind. See pictures and read the full deal at Gizmodo.

Energy Fiend: Caffeine Content Database

It's Monday morning and you need to jump start your brain, do you grab a coffee or an energy drink? Espresso or drip coffee? Which will give you the bigger boost? Find out over at Energy Fiend which is not only a nearly comprehensive caffeine content database (they had everything I've ever seen that has caffeine plus a bunch of things I've never heard of) but also a blog with reviews of new caffeinated concoctions. And if you're worried about cracking open that 5th energy drink of the day worry no more. There's also a Death by Caffeine calculator that allows you to put in your body size and spits out how many servings of a drink you would have to have to die from caffeine (it's a lot).

If that's not enough energy for your Monday morning then try this:


Still not enough energy for you? (I couldn't resist)

New Links

If you look over to my blogroll on the right hand side you'll see some new faces (well actually just text). Matt Ingwalson is one of them, the writer from Karsh / Hagan (whom I had the pleasure of actually meeting yesterday). Another is Sukle's blog "Lunchmeat Underpants" of which I'd love to hear the story of how that name came to be.

I want to extend my thanks out to these sites for deeming me worthy enough to add to their own blogrolls. If you decide add a link to my site let me know at justinmccammblog [at] gmail [dot] com and I'll return the favor.

This has been stuck in my head lately

Every time I hear this song I think of this commercial. To me it's probably my most memorable commercial of, well, recent memory. One problem though: I was sure that it was for DHL. Then I thought it was for FedEx. The I just searched for the name of the song and the word commercial and I found it. It's for Nextel. Maybe it's just me, but that seems like problem for this ad. It's super memorable, but the brand isn't. Oh well, it's Saturday so just enjoy:

A Polaroid Every Day for 41 Years

This is truly amazing. A man named Jamie Livingston (on the left in above picture) decided to take a Polaroid every day, and he did so until he died 41 years later. If you can't get through to the actual site the pictures and commentary over at Mental Floss will surely give you an idea of story of Jamie's life. There's something very haunting and inspiring at the same time to see something like this. Sort of like watching a life flash before your eyes, which it quite literally is.

Jamie Livingstons Life: 6,697 Polaroids

Here's what one of his friends who's hosting the site now says about Jamie's project:

When that itch surfaces to revisit all the big moments in our lives (the proms, weddings, births, European vacations), we naturally reach for the photo album. But where are all those other days — that Tuesday in March, say, when, as far as we can recall, nothing happened? The New York–based cinematographer Jamie Livingston found something worth photographing that day, and the next, as he meticulously (and miraculously) chronicled twenty years of his life in Polaroids before succumbing to cancer in 1997, on his 41st birthday.

Photo of the Day is the beautifully sad website erected by Livingston’s friends to catalogue his prodigious output, with 6,697 captured moments ranging from the mundane to the sublime. There he is napping in one, and newly engaged in another. His lovely gesture of toting around a camera to immortalize the everyday, every day, feels oddly prescient. After all, that cell-phone camera you carry everywhere? Maybe use it or lose it, forever.

What Hillary Clinton Will Be Doing in a Few Days

I pulled this one from deep inside the archives of From the Bottom of Everything, you probably missed it the first time (which is why you should dig through the archives, or check out my favorite posts of the first 100). Way back on February 21st I posted What Hillary Clinton will be doing in a few weeks. Well, my timing was off, but my prediction seems dead on.

Here's a brief look back:

Hillary's is a gift shop here in Hopkins [MN] I noticed as I was walking around. I didn't bother to go inside, since I figured it was just "more of the same."

See your favorite scenes in type

Film School Rejects has some great videos up of your favorite movie scenes recreated using only type. If you think that sounds dumb, watch this:


I think it's almost better than the original scene. (via The Denver Egotist)



I love the way the words create the shapes and motions in this.

Calling all Bloggers: Offset 350 Pounds of CO2 by Doing Almost Nothing

Hey you, yeah you. Wanna help out the environment? Great cause I got a sweet deal for ya. Just for doing (virtually) nothing you can offset 350 pounds of CO2. How much is that? It's like not driving your car for two weeks, or turning off 100 light bulbs. Not bad right? What's the catch? Ok, see that green badge on the right side of this page.

No, down further... further...further... there!

Ok, that's all you have to do, put it on your blog. See, I told you this was gonna be easy. So go to Brighter Planet's 350 Challenge and grab the code to put the badge on your blog, then let 'em know about it. Their goal is to get 350 bloggers to do this which would be 122,500 pounds of carbon for those of you following along at home, which is like turning off all the lights in Washington D.C. for five minutes. Simple, quick, solutions. It's not about the breakthrough developments it's about all the small things we do that add up over time, that's how we're gonna turn around global warming.

The analogy is king

Lunar BBDO puts forth an interesting thought: for much of recent history analogies have been looked down upon in ads, sort of a second class. But now they seem to be everywhere, winning awards and hearts left and right. Is this the result of globalization of brands or award shows (or both)? They also offer a few great examples of ads using analogy, including Cadbury's gorilla, which I bet you haven't yet watched today. I won't steal their thunder, so check it all out here: Analogy Schmanalogy.

Personally I see it as not only a reaction to globalization, but also a way to break through the clutter (pardon my cliche). It's seems easier to find a "I've never seen that before" kind of concept in the world of analogy (like a gorilla playing drums, for instance). What do you think?

Nomination for Douchebag of the Year

Note: this is an official call for entries in the first ever Douchebag of the Year contest hosted here on justinmccammon.com. If you have a Douchebag you'd like to nominate please send a story stating the Douchebaggery committed by the person to justinmccammonblog [at] gmail [dot] com. Obviously this contest will run until the end of the year.

I was driving with my girlfriend to get some ice cream when I saw the first sign of the douchebag...a bumper sticker with too many words on it to read from a safe distance. Luckily, we were at a stoplight so I was able to pull forward and read it.
It said:

If it's worth dying for in the middle east, it's worth drilling for in the US.

So let's examine this a bit closer. The "it" being referred to is obviously oil. So this person (and I consider all bumper stickers to be representative of their owners) says oil is worth dying for. I don't really care where he thinks it's worth dying for, because we have a problem right here. Oil is not worth DYING for. Under such logic the US could just give some poor souls to [fill in your favorite oil producing country here], they could kill them, and then we could get a few barrels of oil, say 100 barrels per person. Does that sound fair (it's not too far off from the current conflict in Iraq)? Of course it doesn't, because there are very few of us outside prison walls that believe trading human life for anything, especially oil, is an OK thing to do.

Now that second part of the bumper sticker, about drilling in the US. First off, this was on a full size Chevy truck. Not the biggest, but not the smallest either. This truck also had some aggressively treaded "off-road" tires on it. One could assume this person likes to enjoy our wonderful national parks and forests and the "off road" experiences they provide. In the same breath of air, this person is also calling for such places to be overrun by drilling operations is search for that ever elusive gusher. But back to the truck; and this is the part that really gets me: If this person believes that oil is worth dying for why aren't they driving a Prius? What this person is saying with the bumper sticker and vehicle combination is that not only is oil worth dying for, but I'm going to use up more oil than really necessary to get my ass around and if more people need to die to get me that oil than so be it.

In the end, what I really wanted to do was to walk up to the guys window and remind him that the army is still looking for volunteers. I mean, if oil is worth dying for, why the hell is he still over here?

Counterpoint:
OK, so maybe this bumper sticker is really tongue in cheek and this person is a huge environmentalist who is actually running their truck on biofuel. Not likely. There are few other ways to interpret the bumper sticker other than the way I have above.

On Free Speech:
Just to be clear, I'm not saying this person shouldn't be allowed to say what they're saying, but rather I'm upset that such a mindset has been adopted by one (and probably lots more) of my fellow countrymen.