Here are some great links brought to you by Marina del Rey-based boutique recruiting/staffing agency Eleventh Hour. You heard about that one movie called Inception?
That’s what’s going on in Los Angeles, home of boutique recruiting/staffing agency Eleventh Hour, but here’s what’s going on around the “creative world”:
Shrekwon the weekend box office. (But, apparently, that’s not saying much.)
24finished it’s run last night, apparently on the low side of the ratings. (But, apparently, that’s saying much.)
New Facebook privacy controls arrive tomorrow. Are you ready? I’m sure you are. Not that you are looking forward to them, but I’m sure you are ready. Facebook makes functional changes seemingly weekly.
Brian Laesch is an independent blogger for the Marina del Rey-based boutique recruiting/staffing agency Eleventh Hour.
Tiger Woods is back at the Masters this weekend. (That was not supposed to be breaking news–just a point of reference for where this blog is heading.) And a lot of people this week talked about Nike’s new Tiger Woods ad, which features Tiger staring into the camera, while we hear the voice his father, Earl Woods. A respectable attempt by Nike, although, personally, I feel it missed the mark. Why should I care? As Jimmy Kimmel said on his show this week, “that really makes me want to go out and buy shoes.” It’s too much. But I guess Nike felt the need to put something out there to confirm they are standing behind Tiger.
The ad is what it is. But the parodies (most of which are listed in the Huffington Post) are great:
Brian Laesch wants to find out what your feelings are, and, did you learn anything?
Regency Theaters has purchased the historical Westwood Village’s Bruin and Village theaters. Both theaters were built in the 30s–a time before Perez Hilton, but not the concept of gossip as entertainment.
Ready for “The Hangover 2″? The cast is finally in place. They are all cashing in this time.
Tom Cruise gets ready to cash in on this whole crazy “act” he put on a few years ago. Who knew it was all part of his Method, and on big set-up for Knight and Day.
Speaking of iPads, Seton Hall will supply one, and a 13″ MacBook to all full-time students arriving on campus next fall. Gimmicky…but a good kind of gimmicky.
Brian Laesch has compiled this list of links for Eleventh Hour.
Not sure how we are halfway through March. Time always flies, but in this case, it seems especially fast. It must be the excitement of spring…or the aftereffects of two very long weekends.
Here are your links for March’s hump day. I think SXSW is going on, or something. I haven’t been cool enough to go, so I have no frame of reference, but I’ll act as if I do.
SXSW kicked off this weekend. It is so awesome. It’s, like, the coolest festival that any generation in the history of the world has ever put together. (See?)
Alice in Wonderlandwon the Box Office this weekend, taking home a cool (because Johnny Depp is in the movie) $62 mill. The quote from one of my Facebook friends? “Johnny Depp is a b****!” Uh, OK then… Although, I’m assuming she isn’t a certified Rotten Tomatoes critic, so I wouldn’t put too much stock into her “review.”
The Hollywood Reporter: Jay Roach to receive “Director of the Decade” award at ShoWest 2010.
Sony Pictures chairman/CEO Michael Lynton wants movie theater concessions stands to health it up. I agree, it’s a noble effort, but…good luck with that.
In case you haven’t heard, March Madness is here. Sobe is letting you face off in a “Sobe Lifewater Zero Inhibitions Bracket Challenge” against a celebrity. The prize? You get to meet said celebrity. I’m playing against Kendra. Although, I’m not really sure what I would gain from meeting her since she’s married.
Advertising Age’s “Ad of the Day” is the new Muscle Milk spot entitled “Katie.” I saw this ad about 10 times over the weekend, while watching NCAA basketball conference tournaments. And, personally, I completely agree with this ad being the ad of any day.
James Cameron is bringing Titanic back to the big screens in 3D. Seems like a joke, right? It’s not.
According to an article on AdvertisingAge today, Coca-Cola’s memorable sleepwalking spot that aired during Super Bowl XLIV may have been a complete rip-off of an Israeli dairy commercial from eight years ago. In fact, if you watch the video, it looks like they used the same script. It’s pretty unbelievable:
The ad in question, dubbed “Sleepwalker,” was one of two created by Coke’s longtime agency, Wieden & Kennedy, Portland, Ore., for the Super Bowl broadcast on CBS last weekend. In it, a young man sleepwalks for miles through the African savanna, narrowly missing deadly encounters with herds of elephants and hippos before finally quenching his subconscious thirst with a cold Coke he finds in a tribal village.
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Within 24 hours of the spot airing on the Super Bowl, the video below — a split-screen comparison of the Coke ad and a 2002 spot for Yotvata by Shalmor Avnon Amichay/Young & Rubicam, Tel Aviv, both with similar storylines and set to the music of Ravel’s “Bolero” — had been loaded onto YouTube. Subsequently the video was covered by news outlets in Israel and circulated on Twitter and e-mails among the international and U.S. creative community.
Yotvata Dairy, which markets milk, yogurts and flavored-milk drinks, doesn’t appear to have officially complained to anyone, though.
If this truly is a coincidence, as Coke claims, it’s by far the craziest coincidence I haver ever seen (in terms of intellectual property). It looks like someone found the script for the Yotvata Dairy ad online and made some minor tweaks. You know, like a college student, in a hurry, doing a project last minute, the night before it’s due? Even the shots and music and acting are the same. Wow.
Or, maybe, the writer of this spot simply saw the ad 8 years ago, memorized it, and was sleepwalking when they were writing it. Yeah, that’s it. They had no idea…
Welcome back to Around the Creative World. “We’re like fire and ice, taking over the whole world.” Today is Tuesday, December 8th, 2009.
I kind of feel like Conan O’Brien doing a monologue right now. Why? Because, unlike some past “shows,” I know today’s list of links is good. Not that others have been bad…but, I’m especially excited about today’s crop of URLs.
As Diddy always says, annoyingly, on Twitter, “LET’S GO PEOPLE!!!!”
Let’s start this morning off right with a little Rhianna featuring Shy Ronnie. (I can’t believe how sick this track is, bro.)
That’s not doing it for you? OK, watch this new UPS White Board ad while I find a better link.
The United States government has deployed Lil Wayne to Mexico to battle Mexican drug cartels. Operation “Weezy F. Baby” is in full effect. Nancy Reagan must be so proud.
NBC Universal’s Jeff Zucker praises the Comcast deal. (I didn’t really read this article. I just wanted to namedrop Jeff Zucker.)
North American Breweries is planning to display the world’s largest beers at their headquarters in Rochester, NY. (Is Tuesday morning too early to be thinking about beer?)
Anybody else notice the cool Popeye logo on Google today? For that matter, does anyone in the world have a day where they don’t use Google?
Russell Simmons and Global Grind have acquired CelebrityTweet. I’m guessing that the name Russell Simmons is what makes this acquisition a story.
On that note, I leave you with the latest effort from the newly-signed Def Jam artist (not really) Shy Ronnie. (Yes, again.)
Brian Laesch will someday retire from the link-compiling game. But until that day, he’s known as the “Best Link Compiler Alive.”
The Balloon Boy’s father (a.k.a. the poor man’s Bruce Jenner) just called me. He said he wanted to be mentioned in this post. Geez. Some people just can’t get enough publicity. I’ll let the lesser, CNN, cover him. We will continue to tackle the real, pressing issues.
Here are your links for the 21st day in August in the year 2009:
The Lebron James movie, “More Than A Game,” may be in 33rd place (with limited release) on Daily Variety’s Box Office list, but I think it should be first. I saw it this weekend. Great documentary. Of course, maybe everybody didn’t played high school basketball like I did.
Here’s another weird ad that will never be on television but is featured on CREATIVITY. I’m a big fan of New Balance shoes, so I won’t hold them accountable for this stupid advertisement. (Do I get a free pair now?)
Here’s an interesting interview with Twitter Co-Founder, Dom Sagolla. He answers every question in 140 characters or less. Hey-oh! (No? Nothing on that one? OK.)
Barnes & Noble has launched it competitor to Amazon’s Kindle: Nook.
Burger King has added the quarter-pound double cheeseburger to it’s $1 Menu. I guess it’s not really “creative” but it does make me hungry.
Adidas is making a push with their “Basketball is a Brotherhood” campaign to remind fans (and kids who remind their parents to buy basketball shoes) that they have NBA All-Stars on their roster too. It’s not all Nike.
Bing has signed a deal with Twitter and Facebook to include status updates in their results. Wow. I can’t wait to see more status updates! (Not really.)
Are you ready for Google’s new music service? It will be interesting. But, are you ready for cragislist’s new music service, in which you download text files of the song lyrics and sing them yourself? It’s going to revolutionize the digital music industry. (I mean, Google. I made up the craigslist thing.)
After Chicago lost in the first round of the bidding for the 2016 Olympic Games, I spent the weekend entire weekend in deep though, sitting on the same rock and eating nothing. I didn’t sleep. I just pondered the meaning of life. And at the end of the weekend, I came away with a clearer conscience, and a view of the future eerily resembled ABC’s new one-hour drama, FlashForward.
Just kidding. None of that happened. But it does suck that Chicago lost.
Speaking of Hollywood, Zombieland won the weekend Box Office with $25 Million. And here’s a Twitter search that shows overall good comments about the film.
Have I mentioned in the past…and don’t stop me if you’ve heard this before…but have I mentioned that Eleventh Hour is on Twitter?
The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is starting to crack down on blogger payola and celebrity Tweets. Meaning, bloggers will be required to disclose any free money or stuff received in exchange for endorsing a product. I guess there goes my under-the-table endorsement deals with Ab Circle Pro, Time Life’s Golden Age of Country CD collection and the Snuggie. It was fun while it lasted.
Who else thinks Bud Light Wheat sounds pretty good for tailgating this fall? (Full disclosure for the FTC: I did not receive free Bud Light Wheat beer for posting this…unfortunately.)
BrandFreak.com: Twinkies are beating Coke and Pepsi in movie product placement as of late.
AwkwardFamilyPhotos.com is blowing up, with a book deal and a Universal Pictures deal. Does this mean they have to pay a percentage to every family member who appeared in a photograph on their site? That would be cool.
Are you ready to watch the end of the world, again, in a movie? From the Director of Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow (no…seriously) comes 2012. Maybe I’d find this more entertaining if I’d stop watching those history of the Earth shows on History Channel late at night. Here’s my tagline for the film: “Trust us, the special effects really do make it a good movie this time!”
Are you ready for the “Battle for Milkquarious”? (I actually saw this actor’s real band play at The Roxy on Sunset one time. Not surprisingly, it was just as weird as this commercial. But I give the guy props for getting paid, if nothing else.)
And, The Simpsons recently did a send-up to social media.
Welcome back to Around the Creative World. Today is 9/29/09. I really should have done that 9.9.9 joke this week. 9.29.09 works better than 9.23.09. Oh well. Live and learn. The next time one of these unique dates comes around, I’ll be ready to poke fun at the next preceding date that is best served for the purpose of a marketing phenomena to sell movies, etc. But for now…here are some links from around the creative worlds of advertising, marketing, entertainment, the Internet and more…
Burger joint Red Robin has had some success on Facebook. (Disclosure: I was moved to post this link due to a craving for Red Robin.)
Secret Service is investigating a Facebook poll regarding Obama. I won’t even repeat the question, but it’s horrible. What is wrong with people?
Here’s a cool new Gillette commercial featuring Atlanta Falcons’ Quarterback Matt Ryan. So glad that football is back. (What? Is Week 4 too late to say that?)
Are you ready for live CNN video news feeds via your iPhone? I know I am…but first I need the iPhone.
Here’s a weird/very creative way to visualize just how fast Comcast High-Speed Internet with PowerBoost is.
Apparently, I’m the only one who finds this Apple Store love song annoying. BrandFreak likes it, and it has a high rating on YouTube. It’s making me feel like I’m 60 years old, wondering what’s wrong with the youth today. Oh well. Gotta go tend the garden. I’ll be right back.
OK, I’m back from tending the garden. Speaking of gardening, Australia would not let me into their country if I really was. Good thing I just made that up for the purpose of illustrating that I’m feeling older.
Google Wave invitations (100,000) start going out tomorrow. Is it time for the next big shift in the technological plates that make up the Internet? Is this like a reverse-Pangaea effect? Am I getting too cute with this link? My bad.
Here is the entire pilot episode for The Cleveland Show on Hulu. I haven’t watched it yet, but I’m a fan of the Family Guy, and my brother interviewed to be a production assistant on this show, so I figured it was worth posting.
Have I mentioned that Eleventh Hour is on Twitter?
