Category Archives: adweek

You're tired, hungry, barreling along a dank, fog-shrouded Vancouver highway at 3 a.m. (We'll assume you took a wrong turn at Seattle.) Your tires screech as you round a corner, headlights slicing through the gloom, when suddenly, out of the … Continue reading →

Samsung rolled out an Olympic-themed Facebook app today, which lets users connect with past and current Olympians as though they were Kevin Bacon. The new app, dubbed the Olympic Genome Project, was first unveiled in beta form at SXSWi. Via … Continue reading →

The advertising industry is suffering from an image problem that threatens to make careers unattractive to new, young talent. As such, rebranding the industry for the younger set is no easy feat—and it was clear to the 4A’s and Arnold … Continue reading →

Southwest Airlines’ search for strategic and creative help has reached the final four stage. The remaining contenders, which sources identified as TBWA\Chiat\Day in Playa del Rey, Calif.; Deutsch LA in Marina del Rey, Calif.; Leo Burnett in Chicago; and Arnold … Continue reading →

Shane Final

And the award for best entrance into a scene in a commercial this year goes to … Aziz Ansari for American Express. The Parks and Recreation actor and comedian goes to great lengths to impress a girl in this humorous … Continue reading →

Now that Sir Charles Barkley isn't fat anymore, he's got way more time to dress in drag. Barkley put on a halter dress and wig for Weight Watchers' upcoming "Lose Like A Man" TV spot—apparently doing his best Jennifer Hudson … Continue reading →

After 23 years in the ad business, mostly working as a freelance producer, John Benet, the star of Sunshine, a short documentary by his friend, director Mike Nichol, doesn't have the sunniest disposition. In Shanghai to make commercials for McDonald's, … Continue reading →

Like any good consumer product loathe to alienate half the population, Etch A Sketch has released new ads addressing its recent cameo in the country's political conversation—by saying it's basically apolitical. "We have a left knob and a right knob … Continue reading →

Adweek’s editors, reporters and designers spend a lot of our time thinking, writing and talking about the transformational impact digital technology is having on the businesses and people we cover. Since we also live in that world, though, and are … Continue reading →

Google has long been accused of being a content stealer and/or a value destroyer in certain publishing circles. Mark Cuban, the outspoken head of HD Network and the Dallas Mavericks, has referred to Google derisively as a “vampire,” going as … Continue reading →

One night in 1920 in the New Jersey town of New Brunswick, Earle Dickson was tending to his wife Josephine who’d cut herself while preparing dinner. Dickson worked as a cotton buyer for Johnson & Johnson, and his job gave … Continue reading →

Specs Who Bob Cutler, CEO, C3  What Family and kids marketing agency Where Overland Park, Kan. C3 stands squarely at the intersection of food and families, creating toys, place settings and packaging for restaurant chains seeking to bond with children. … Continue reading →

Lee Clow came to reminisce about Chiat\Day's legendary "1984" ad for Apple, but wound up using his appearance today at the 4A's Transformation Conference to speak passionately about the transformative power of brands.  It was a memorable moment punctuated by … Continue reading →

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Dow is all about putting a human face on its technical solutions to some of the world's problems. The company's latest spot, from Draftfcb Chicago, certainly has humanity to spare—it's clinging blissfully to the exterior of a moving train. The … Continue reading →

The mid-'60s was an anxious and uncertain period. Like Don Draper's tumbling silhouette, those years were suspended between Eisenhower's monochrome Americana and the kaleidoscopic revolution of the Woodstock generation. At its best, Mad Men, which returns Sunday to AMC after … Continue reading →

A German Reebok ad that advised patrons of the brand's partner gyms to "Cheat on your girlfriend, not on your workout" has been pulled after complaints from probably every woman in Germany. And rightfully so. The ad makes Reebok look … Continue reading →

Specs Age 34 Accomplishments Plays Harry Crane on Mad Men, returning to AMC this Sunday, March 25; appearing on Broadway in Harvey beginning in May; avid board gamer (visit his blog Rich Likes Games at games.richsommer.com) Base Los Angeles What’s the first … Continue reading →

Innovation is all the rage at Nissan, as the Japanese carmaker preps for one of its busiest model launch years ever in the U.S. Starting with the Altima, the company will bow new versions of five models in the next … Continue reading →

The day after NBC’s new road-trip competition Escape Routes hits TVs on March 31, show sponsor Ford will debut a live-streaming online game show on its dedicated site EscapeRoutes.com. The online show—which will let users earn points and prizes by … Continue reading →

Absolut vodka loves its video collaborations. So far, the spirits brand has teamed up with Spike Jonze to produce a bizarre short film about a man with a PC console for a head; documented a Jay-Z benefit concert at Madison … Continue reading →

Doing ads for adult-television networks—not an easy job. You can't use the channel's content, for one thing. Yet Amour, an XXX station in Canada, consistently does amusing work. A couple of years ago, they did a funny series of promos … Continue reading →

Brand strategist Andrew Miller is on a mission: "Every day for 100 days, I will paint one branded object white, removing all visual branding, reducing the object to its purest form." I'm thinking most CMOs would veto that particular brand … Continue reading →

Call it bribery or call it brilliant. Either way, it looks like paying people to watch online video ads (with virtual currency, not cash) is getting bigger. About a year ago, the social commerce vendor TrialPay introduced a social video … Continue reading →

Michael Allen, the managing partner and president of 180 Los Angeles, is the agency’s new global chief executive officer. He succeeds the agency’s remaining co-founder, Chris Mendola, who will continue as chairman at 180, the shop originally started in Amsterdam … Continue reading →

The 10 most-read AdFreak stories of the past week: 1. Google Takes 4 Classic Ads and Reimagines Them for the Web 2. McDonald's Fabricates Awkward Internet Meme, #Shamrocking 3. Fanta Fans Go Timeline Traveling on Facebook 4. Feed Your Inner … Continue reading →

Cathy Saidiner, president of McCann Erickson’s L.A. office since November 2008, has resigned from the agency. She joined McCann in late 2008 from TBWA\Chiat\Day where she was global account director for Pioneer Electronics. She started at the Omnicom agency in … Continue reading →

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It's back to school with Adrien Brody, Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill in this week's unlikely mashup of Detachment and that 21 Jump Street remake everyone's been dreaming of for years. Below, 10 of this week's new releases are judged … Continue reading →

Diet soda is one of the few substances scientifically known to be ingested by fashion models. So, it's not completely off the wall that Jean Paul Gaultier has been named creative director for Diet Coke in Europe. (He replaces Karl … Continue reading →

And then there were three. American Eagle Outfitters today briefed a trio of agency teams that advanced to the final round of the retailer’s global creative and media review. Each team includes a creative and media shop. Sources identified the … Continue reading →

David Ogilvy once called Guinness ads "part of the warp and woof of English life." Today, 80 years after John Gilroy first sketched his pint-balancing toucan, Guinness advertising is a global phenomenon. To celebrate St. Patrick's Day, Unruly Media has … Continue reading →

It's the little details that make this "Irish Eyes" spot (by Fitzgerald + Co.) for Atlanta's 2012 St. Patrick's Day Parade so effective. Not only is ginger Elvis here singing along with the mouths that form in his eye sockets, … Continue reading →

Virgin Mobile usually hits up the SXSW Music festival to scout up-and-coming bands for its Virgin Mobile FreeFest concert or Virgin Mobile Live Radio, "but now the new rock stars are these mobile app developers," Ron Faris, head of brand … Continue reading →