CBS and Google have been negotiating a deal to put CBS content on YouTube, which of course Google now owns. The CBS content will be paid for by local advertising, to compensate CBS for its shows. In the past their shows haven't been paid for, but were uploaded to YouTube without their permission. It is nice to know that CBS is willing to work out their differences with Google and YouTube for that matter. Viewers will benefit from the content being available for consumption. If this deal goes through, Google will most likely pay for "past transgressions" to appease the CBS gods, or something like that. CBS to Google, we've got our eye on you!

Weird, creative, creepy? Sure, but original too. At first you think, okay, this is a woman with dandruff, so that is an interesting ad, but then, you step a little closer, you look a bit closer, and the dandruff is actually made of clear plastic "coupons" (for lack of a better word) you can user to get 10% off the "Clear" shampoo product that the ad is for. Clearly, this ad wants to stick in your mind, knowing where you got this piece of dandruff. It makes me wonder, who is the woman, and does she care that you are taking her dandruff? Some people are really obsessive about that kind of thing. Also, does someone have to go out every week, every day even and replace the "dandruff?" I can hear it now, "okay folks, let's see, Roger, you are on dandruff detail, Marcy, you are on..." Despite the weirdness, this is one of my favorite ads so far this year. Click here to view the full ad.

Here's three for the triple-whammy. Apple's new ads are here. If you watched the Steve Jobs keynote from the MacWorld Expo 2007, you most likely saw them during Steve's presentation. If not, here they are, first two "new" iPod ads that features a bunch of colored people (not african-american, but purple, blue, green, yellow, etc.) dancing around like lunatics to iPods, you have seen them before, but these are supposedly "new." This commercial even had a special edition that may or may not be used in television advertising. I think this is overdone and boring by now. Apple is wearing that one out, and driving it into the ground. The other one is the next in the "Hi, I'm a Mac" series. This one pokes fun at the surgery needed to upgrade to Windows Vista. PC is all worried, and Mac is trying to reassure him it will be okay. To see this ad, click here, then click on "Surgery"

The Humane Society wants everyone to know that trapping is wrong, and they are doing so by airing a 15 second anti-trapping spot on Fox Sports Network (in December 2006). Fox even ran the ads at no charge. The U.S. Sportsmen's Alliance is urging all hunters, trappers, and anglers to voice their disapproval of the public service announcements by contacting News Corporation (Fox's parent company) and get them to take the ads off the air. This has already been tried once, to no avail.

Sadly, hunting, fishing, and the like isn't quite so important to me, it simply isn't my thing. The ads being run by Fox at no charge made me wonder if Fox has a reason for doing this, despite the sportsmen who are decrying this act. In the "stupid humor" portion of my brain, I wondered if Fox wants to help out their name's sake. You know, don't trap the foxes, etc. Nevermind. I said it was stupid you know.

This is an example of how a simple 15-second PSA can make the public (and by that I mean sportsmen) really mad and no one is now doing anyone any service. If the sportsmen need something to put out its misery, they should do the entire world a favor and aim at another one of New Corporation's businesses instead. That's right...MySpace.

I'm sorry, call me stuck-up, call me pious, call me midwesterner (I am in fact) but I don't like to drink me coffee right out of the street. You don't know where that cup of coffee has been, or rather what (or who) has been near that cup of coffee. What if bird poo lands in it from the sky in mid-sip? What if Professor von Hadtoomuchtodrink falls in and pukes all over, I don't want that in my coffee, not to mention the safety hazards for whats-his-name falling into hot liquid while inebriated. Nothing against the professor. Nothing against Folgers, I just would rather have my coffee handed to me by an employee of a coffee establishment where I know that because of the morning rush, they haven't had my coffee in hand for more than a half second or so. When will they have time to put anything weird into my coffee like bird poo, puke, or gravel? Last time I checked, coffee joints (who don't put the coffee in the street for you) don't employ birds indoors nor generally have a professor hanging around with a hangover. Sounds good to me.

Phillips' ad encourages you to write in your New Year's resolution, and they will "keep it for you." Whatever that means. The ad wasn't linked to anywhere, so I couldn't follow it to find out what the point of it was, but it made me want to know. This looks like a New Year's ad, especially since it mentions winning a trip to New York as part of the promotion.

Just out of curiosity, what is your New Year's resolution, if you have one? Do you have a conventional one, like losing weight, or watching less TV? How about something a bit less conventional? Like eating more SPAM for breakfast, kicking your cat more often, reading street signs to see which ones would make good ads more, anything like that? Just wondering.

Check out this part dumb, part funny, part cheesy ad from Ford. It is possibly a Super Bowl ad that just found its way to YouTube early, or it could just be a totally non-special ad too I guess. Either way it is a bit creative, despite its inflated ego, and is better than most of the "driving down the road to recycled music" car commercials I usually see all the time. Some wingnut from left field will probably complain about it looking too much like a hurricane (i.e. Katrina) and they will have to pull the ad anyway because everyone is upset. Check it out before somebody gets all antsy about it.

Ok, this is one of my favorite commercials. "Are you agitating my dots...?" Classic. I knew a guy at my last job who would have done exactly what the guy with the cake did in this spot, and he even looked like him. Enough about dots. Sprint/Nextel is thinking about combining their account at one agency, which puts $1 Billion at stake. They are hoping that by consolidating their dots and connecting those dots with the dots of only one other agency, they will inspire the dots to be fresher, to get the dots to think in new ways and maybe create a bunch more little dots to run around and pick things up over the push-to-talk service (and boost sales). For your enjoyment, one more time, and because I love it so much:

Are you getting burned by your browser. If you don't think so, you should read about the fact that Internet Explorer was vulnerable for 284 days out of last year. Firefox is a great browser, which oddly is not what this ad shows. It simply states the Firefox is an alternative if you are getting burned by your browser. I love the PC burning slowly, being a geek, I guess I like melting stuff. Firefox's ad is simple and leave the point somewhat up to your imagination. It ends up having a surreal effect since it doesn't directly sell you anything. Quite the subtle attempt at marketing a free product. If you can't view the video below, click here.

What, no agency? No client? No billion-dollar red carpet cigar-smoking creative suits to tie it all together. Nope, not a one. It has more to do with Time's person of the year, you. Power to the people! Mentos and Diet Coke and flying off the shelf because of a simple video you have most likely seen. The one with the guys in white coats who shoot off a bunch of mentos and diet coke rockets for "science." This form of non-advertising is boosting the sales for the products because people watching are having fun with the stuff. The other reason sales have gone up is that "it's cool." This explosive phenomenon gives people the feeling of danger, being a bit reckless, and does it all quite within the law (most times). As marketing professionals, we should take note of the simple yet powerful evidences in this video when we are creating advertising and trying to reach the masses. Here they are for those who are just joining us:

1. If it is clear that you can have fun with this product (perhaps in unconventional ways) people will buy it.
2. If people can do something themselves, hands-on to see how cool your product is, whether it is supposed to or not, they will buy it. This is a bit oldskool, like back in the fifties, when product demonstrations were all the rage. This example is just a bit more homegrown.
3. People crave adventure, danger, fun, and genuine excitement. Another movie explosion won't do it. A real-live backyard explosion will do it, and not just once. Several times. I can't imagine how many teenage kids (and dads) are outside in the yard right now shooting the next 100 videos of domino-type mentos explosions, because they can.
4. Obviously, don't encourage consumers to break the law, very bad idea. Since this doesn't break the law, you're good here.

In conclusion (yes, I am trying to write my ad thesis here, if you were wondering) if you can get your potential customers to see the adventure or fun in your product in a unique, creative, organic way via a medium that speaks to them (video, etc) you will win big in the ad game. Isn't that what we all are trying to do?

Stupid jingle that is stuck in my head, *singing* "call 1-800-GENERAL now!" Please tell me that your brain has not had the unfortunate displeasure of processing this dumb ad. A 3D (very poorly animated) character called the General (as in military general) answers the phone and claims he can help you save on car insurance. Give me the robo-dancing stylings of the smooth Geico lizard any day. First off, I have a problem with the fact that I am supposed to trust a stupid, very-weirdly moving 3D-animated character with my car insurance needs, much less my money. The not-so-well-done 3D implies that they didn't pay enough to have it done correctly, which also doesn't inspire much consumer confidence. The demeanor of the 3D General is one of a gruff and frankly ridiculous tone that I simply don't care for. I also don't like the fun this ad potentially pokes at our soldiers (though I am sure that was not the original intent). Not a very well done ad, if you ask me (not that you have to take my word for it). I've seen this ad both in TV commercials and online.

Wi-fi moochers are getting in trouble with the law in several scattered stories lying around the blogosphere lately. To our readers, do you think that mooching wi-fi is evil or simply fair game. If there was a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other, I think their views would be somewhat different. The devil would say "hey, they didn't secure their own wi-fi, so mooch away, what's the big deal?" The angel would say "is it right to mooch off someone's wi-fi if you aren't a customer?" No matter which viewpoint you agree with, I think business owners should look at these "freeloaders" as a potentially untapped market to reach with their products. This issue reminds me of the whole skateboarder's dilemma I see everywhere I go. Every shop and storefront has warnings posted: "No skateboarding allowed" or something to that effect. If someone would build a half-pipe nearby their place of business and simply post a "skate at your own risk" sign, inviting skateboarders to stop by for a quick smoothie, they will garner the business and respect of the local skater population. Wi-fi moochers are the same way, invite them, give them coupons or other codes to get discounts, since they are already there using your wi-fi. Today's business tip for you shop-owners: Turn potential problems (freeloaders) into unsolicited sales. Make the moochers like you! Seriously, don't you want the ninja-bookmarking-socially-contagious generation of wi-fi moochers advertising for you with their invaluable word of mouth? Yes, you do.

When the first flakes of snow descend on my head at the onset of winter, you know what I want to do? Pucker up to a frozen friend and smooch. Kiss a snowman for those of you who are confused. Of course I have to wait until the snow falls, and I can design and build my own Clifford the Snowman (my son named our last snowman Clifford, and I don't know why. Perhaps my son is a budding branding genius? Time will tell.) just to kiss him on the smacker. Netflix thinks this girl wants to kiss a snowman? I guess if she got to try Netflix for free, and loved it that much she would kiss the snowman. A bit of twisted logic? Maybe, but funny and cute none the less. Please, go find a lonely and unsuspecting snowman, and smooch the carrot off it okay? Have a little fun.