Awesome viral campaign for TomTom for all you Star Wars nerds out there. This one got quite a few laughs in the office today. Hilarious!

Check out Verizon’s new commercial here. Definitely worth a view.

Anyone that’s been to Busch Stadium for a Cardinals game knows you’re going to see advertisements — everywhere. There are so many logo boards or sponsored messages that it can be overwhelming. I usually try to shut most of it out, enjoy the game and “people watch”. Well, there I was, sitting there with my wife, minding my own business when the grounds crew came out to smooth the dirt between innings. It’s just a simple, interesting thing to watch – dragging the screens across the dirt infield. Then, as they left the field, it hit me – a big Scotts® logo. It was pasted on the back of the screens the grounds crew uses. I immediately started thinking about fertilizing my yard and using Scotts products. I also thought about how Scotts is a well recognized and trusted brand. Then I thought about what had just happened – a company was able to get a customer to think about their product without the use of any high-tech gadgetry.

I’m going to try a little something new. Every week or so I am going to post some of my favorite ads that are running currently. Could be TV, Print, whatever. We’ll see how long I can stick to it…

For the first entry I chose a recent spot for the New 2011 Jeep Grand Cherokee. This thing gave me the chills the first time I saw it. The VO and music are sick. Enjoy.

So PBS finally released Art & Copy on DVD a couple weeks ago. After watching it a few times within the span of 24 hours and feeling completely energized about why I made this career choice, I began to delve deeper into information about all of these influential figures. Coming from a traditional design curriculum, I was not exposed to the history and significance of a lot of the agencies and campaigns the documentary discusses. (Before you scoff at me, I always knew the groundbreaking nature of DDB’s VW campaign and what 1984 meant to this industry.)

Having only done this for a little short of two years, I have come to really value to importance of concept over execution and all of the great things that make this industry so challenging and rewarding. After further investigation, no figure advocates harder for these things than Lee Clow. I’m sure most are aware of his significance, but I stumbled across a great resource that makes for good laughs and ammunition for debates in the office.

It’s his twitter feed, @leeclowsbeard. It has garnered quite a following and the little tidbits of wisdom are awesome. Here are some of my favorites:

It’s okay to show a client what they asked for in hopes they’ll see how wrong it is. As long as you like producing crap.

It’s the little compromises that add up to a giant bucket of suck.

Making anticipated client changes before actually presenting the work does not count as proactive thinking.

Every client wants something new. And three examples of where it’s worked before.

Never ask a client what they want an ad to say. Ask what they want it to accomplish. Then ask why. Repeat as needed.

More meetings do not equate to increased communication. At least not the good kind.

We have nothing to fear but fearful clients.

We’re happy to make the logo bigger if you’re happy making the ad’s impact smaller.

Genius I tell you! Happy reading.

Maybe it is just the nature of our industry, but lately I have found the kinds of observations a five-year-old makes absolutely hilarious. There is something appealing in pointing out the absurdity of the everyday. Comedian Nick Thune takes these simple plays on words and logical fallacies and builds an entire act upon the contradictions we overlook. Think of him as a modern-day Lewis Carroll. With a guitar.

Hit him up Here

Largest LED screens popped up in Johannesburg (half as big as a football pitch!) displaying user contributed Facebook msgs, Mxit msgs (local South African social network), QQ msgs (Chinese social network) and Tweets in support of their favorite player(s) from the World Cup!

Just genius. Read more here

I’ve seen dancing robots on YouTube before, but the ones that debuted at Expo 2010 in Shanghai recently seem even more lifelike — maybe it’s the sleek design or maybe it’s those cartoon eyes. Check out this video. Beware, it may be hypnotizing. Also check out the Expo website — it’s pretty cool too.

Great animal cracker packaging from student Meg Eaton, but arguably we love anything that involves animal pop-ups and cookies.

If your children are anything like mine, this new product will be particularly useful. Edible Crayons from Luxirare have flavors based on food colors — for example the white ones taste of melted marshmallow and nuts.