[Idiots of Ants comedy sketch via WSJ's Buzzwatch]

What's Arnold's Chief Creative Officer, Pete Favat, up to? Last year the agency hired cognitive scientist Dr. Lisa Haverty to run an intuition analytics department. Now, the agency has announced a research and development lab tasked with creating new media channels.

"I think...I'm creating jobs I want to live vicariously though," Favat told Creativity.

"I wanted to put a couple of people in place who are not concerned with or thinking about the day-to-day brand messages, with what we have to do for Jack Daniels, truth, or Tag, but are coming up with software, coming up with different technologies, whatever we can to dispense new ideas out in the world," Favat says. "I told them 'The day you guys think about certain brands is the day you lose your job.' Their mantra is to just play; I don't want them to ever worry about being attached to a client."

Ryan Habbyshaw, 25, an agency art director/designer, and Todd Vanderlin, 23, who studied at Parsons School of Design are the two explorers. They report to creative director Meg Siegal.

Last week, Microsoft reported a 24% decline in Windows sales in the third quarter.

According to USA Today, Vista, Microsoft's new operating system, is getting hammered in the press and corporate buyers are refusing to upgrade from XP. Hence, the poor numbers.

Microsoft rebuilt Windows from scratch to create Vista, which has a dazzling interface and improved security tools. But so much computing power is required to run it that many people find their new PCs run slower than older, less powerful XP machines. To spur sales, Microsoft earlier this month said consumers will no longer be able to purchase XP as of June 30. The announcement and pending date have unleashed a firestorm of Vista angst.

Online magazine InfoWorld is waging a Save XP campaign. More than 175,000 signatures have been gathered. "Why pull the plug on XP when there's clearly a lot of people who still like it?" says Galen Gruman, InfoWorld executive editor.

Influential analyst Michael Silver at research firm Gartner calls the Vista launch a "disaster." Other critics have been no kinder. CNet called Vista one of the "biggest blunders in technology." PC magazine chronicles Vista's "11 Pillars of Failure." The Christian Science Monitor likened it to Coca-Cola's disastrous New Coke experiment in the 1980s.

There's an old saying in Adlandia. "You can't polish a turd." But, as Apple proves below, you sure as hell can ridicule the competition's turd.

Might you look good in Reece's hair? According to Media Week millions of women are answering that question, and others like it, at InStyle.

The magainze's "Hollywood Hair Application" has caught on. Users have uploaded 1.7 million of their personal photos to the application, which let’s them see what they might look like with popular celebrity hairstyles - such as Katie Holmes’ much-discussed bob.

To date, users have conducted 40 million “try-ons” with the application – which last month became available on Facebook as well. That application has already been installed on over 200,000 Facebook profiles.

InStyle is also planning to launch a weekly, celebrity-related video series sometime in the fourth quarter, after the recent success of a content initiative which drove readers to InStyle.com to view original video material.

According to The Wall Street Journal, both activists and the corporations they rail against are moving at internet speed.

Just last week we took note of the Greenpeace campaign against Unilever, a company they accused of Indonesian deforestation.

Speaking at a climate change conference in London Thursday, Unilever Chief Executive Patrick Cescau said his firm will buy palm oil (an ingredient in Dove soap) only from suppliers who can demonstrate they haven't cut down forests.

The speed of the campaign marks a big moment for activist groups. One Greenpeace ad has been watched more than 250,000 times in the week it has been on YouTube.com. Just as the world's biggest marketers have used such Internet sites to get their video ads to consumers, pressure groups are now using the technique to cheaply and quickly spread their message.

A Unilever spokesman said the Greenpeace protests "had some bearing" but little influence on Unilever's decision to source palm oil. He said the company's policy has been in the works since November.

Palm oil is produced mainly in Indonesia and Malaysia by farmers who squeeze the oil from small flowers found on oil palms. Surging prices for the oil have contributed to deforestation, especially in Indonesia, where farmers have cut down rain forests for palm plantations.

Here's an earlier video from Greenpeace on the same issue:

Rolling Stone has an in-depth interview with Dr. Larry Brilliant, the man running Google DotOrg, the philanthropic arm of the search giant.

DotOrg is not just another corporate philanthropy — it's a bold experiment in philanthropy itself. Its uniqueness begins with its structure. Unlike most foundations, DotOrg has no endowment in the traditional sense and no external board. It was funded with an initial grant of 3 million shares of Google stock, currently valued at $1.3 billion, and a promise of one percent of the company's profits each year. Its goal is not simply to give away traditional grants like the nonprofits of yore but also to allow Google to invest money in projects that have the potential to do good and turn a profit at the same time. "We have a tremendous amount of flexibility," Brilliant says. "We can give away grants like a traditional foundation, or we can invest in new companies or even start companies of our own."

Brilliant calls this approach a "hybrid philanthropy." In the Old World, the essential dynamic of corporate giving was extract, exploit, get rich, then pass out nickels to charity to atone for past sins. In the New World, Google wants to sink those nickels into clean-energy ventures and promising entrepreneurs in the developing world. "Yes, there may be profit from that," Brilliant acknowledged recently. "But the real reason for doing it isn't to make a profit. It's because business is a better engine for creating jobs than aid."

Brilliant offered medical services to the Native Americans who occupied Alcatraz in 1969, he helped eradicate smallpox in India, co-founded Seva and The Well and was close friends with Jerry Garcia.

I'm a creative. Accounting might as well be rocket science, because that's about how familiar I am with it. Despite this personal inadequacy, I bring you this from Ad Age, a story on accounting practices gone wrong at McCann.

Interpublic Group of Cos. and its global agency network McCann Erickson Worldwide today said it will pay $12 million to end a longtime accounting probe by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Resolution of the charges, while anticipated, brings to a close a long-running federal investigation into the company's accounting practices that began in the fall of 2002 and prompted turmoil including a slew of financial restatements to fix its improper bookkeeping and a revolving door of senior leadership.

"We are very pleased to have settled with the SEC and we believe this matter is now behind us," said Interpublic Chairman-CEO Michael I. Roth.

Okay, now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

Andy Stanford-Clark is a master inventor at IBM. His house, which sends automated messages regarding its energy use to Twitter, is located in Isle of Wight, UK.

[via Earth2Tech]

I don't know about you, but I have some clients that love to put trademarks, copyrights, and service marks on anything they can. It's obnoxious. So I had to laugh when I saw this press release:

'got House?®' Launches New Real Estate Advertising Network Website

The "got House?®" Real Estate Network offers a new forum for advertising real estate for sale by agents, brokers, developers, investors and private property owners. Buyers can search for properties listed for sale Nationwide for free, without being required to enter personal information with a login.

I think it's a little silly to trademark this phrase, right down to the lowercase 'got'. I only wish Goodby could've gotten royalties on the thousands of people who've used "got ______?" in some form.

I've been looking at lifeiscarbon, from ad man Nicholas McLean, for a few weeks now. I wasn't entirely sure what was going on there, but this post helps spell it out.

For less regular readers of lifeiscarbon® or those who may be new to the website, we thought it worth quickly restating what we do and why we do it. At it’s simplest, lifeiscarbon® is a way for us to raise awareness and interest in Scandinavian Aesthetics and particularly in the art, design, fashion and music from the region that we happen to love. Why? Partly because it provides useful research for a number of The Carbon Foundation’s own ventures (ie carbonislife® –retail concept, carbonphotography® - commercial photography, ordinaryeverday® - fashion brand and lifeiscarbon® - print edition) but more importantly because we want to help local talent. Sadly, we’ve had the privilege of knowing too many talented individuals and companies from the region who simply don’t get the critical and financial return that they deserve. This website is one of the many small ways in which we try to help them.

One reason I'm taking note of this is the geo-cultural nature of McLean's focus. As the world becomes more global and exchange happens on the personal and community level, we see how important local culture is. That, in turn, says to us maybe our own local culture is also important, and worth supporting. What do you think, is your local culture worth supporting?

Earlier this week Kraft - which makes its namesake cheese singles, Philadelphia cream cheese and Oscar Mayer meats - posted a 13% drop in first- quarter net income amid surging costs for dairy, wheat and other commodities.

According to Dow Jones, food manufacturers like Kraft Foods are blaming ethanol producers for cost increases.

Kraft's Chief Executive Irene Rosenfeld has been in Washington in recent weeks to talk to key decision makers on the diversion of corn for biofuels. "This was a policy that was well intentioned but has had some unintended consequences that have exacerbated commodity increases in certain parts of the world causing people to go hungry," she said.

People are going hungry? Or companies aren't making their numbers and "people" aren't getting their bonuses? Either way, it's bad news.

Microsoft badly wants a piece of the online services and advertising action, estimated to be worth $80 billion a year by 2010. But not bad enough to pay $35 a share for Yahoo.

Microsoft's bid to acquire Yahoo ended yesterday at 4:00 p.m. in a letter from Steve Balmer to Jerry Yang.

"I still believe, even today, that our offer remains the only alternative put forward that provides your stockholders full and fair value for their shares. By failing to reach an agreement with us, you and your stockholders have left significant value on the table. But clearly a deal is not to be."

My translation: What, our money isn't good enough? Up yours, Yang.

"This process has underscored our unique and valuable strategic position," Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang said.

"Yahoo is not a strategy; it's a part of a strategy," Ballmer told employees on Thursday.

[via The Seattle Times]

In today's New York Times Magazine, "Consumed" columnist Rob Walker takes a look at the real-life marketing of Brawndo, which was made up for the movie "Idiocracy."

This happened not because of a movie-studio marketing brainstorm. It happened because of an “Idiocracy” fan in Oakland named Pete Hottelet. A graphic designer with very particular pop-culture tastes, Hottelet has started a business devoted to bringing to life certain products from movies. His business is called Omni Consumer Products, a name borrowed from the fictional megacorporation in “Robocop.” In addition to Brawndo, Omni has acquired from Paramount the license to market Sex Panther, a made-up cologne from the Will Ferrell vehicle “Anchorman” (“150% More Awesome Than Any Other Cologne. Ever.”).

Hottelet’s manufacturing partner is Redux Beverages. Redux was founded in 2006 by Jamey Kirby, a former software engineer, and is best known for a real energy drink called Cocaine. Cocaine received a lot of attention before “we had some issues with the F.D.A.,” Kirby says. He pulled it out of stores, and while he was retooling the marketing to address F.D.A. objections (he says it went back on the market in February), he heard from Hottelet — “an absolutely brilliant guy.” Hottelet explained the pitch: the drink had to contain electrolytes and had to be an alarmingly bright green, as in the movie.

“I watched ‘Idiocracy,’ and I was like, ‘O.K., we’re in,’ ” Kirby says. “Based on how things are going on in the world, and especially our country right now, this is a shoo-in.” He laughs as he says this, so I wasn’t sure what he meant. Are we already living “Idiocracy”? “Absolutely,” he says. “It’s all about overcommercialization.” The video ads on the Brawndo site, commissioned by Hottelet, feature members of Picnicface, a Canadian comedy troop, shouting hilariously over-the-top pitches: “It’s like a monster truck you pour into your face!” (The pitches actually owe quite a bit to videos Picnicface has made for a drink called Powerthirst — which doesn’t exist. I don’t think.)

There's nothin' stupid about capitalizing on a fake brand, I suppose.

The Wall Street Journal has an article this morning about banner blindness on soc nets and steps companies are taking to be seen in these environments. One example I took note of was Slide's Facebook "Top Friends" campaign.

Slide, which sells programs that people can use to decorate their pages on sites such as Facebook, has launched campaigns with advertisers including Energy Brands' Glaceau Vitaminwater and Estée Lauder.

One campaign lets Slide users send virtual representations of different-flavored bottles of Vitaminwater to friends online through an application called "Top Friends." In eight days, Slide says, users sent 10 million "bottles" of Vitaminwater.

I just installed the application. If the Vitaminwater campaign is still up and running, I'll report back.

According to Ad Age, revenue for U.S. agencies -- advertising, marketing services and media -- jumped 8.6% in 2007 despite a tepid ad market. And for that, you can thank digital.

While it comes as no surprise that revenue at digital specialty agencies rocketed last year (up 26.8% in the U.S.), it's clear that digital services have become a way of life (or a way to avoid death) for agencies of all disciplines. In fact, U.S. ad agencies reported an average 10.2% of revenue from digital in 2007.

And in some cases, it was a lot more. Goodby, Silverstein & Partners -- Ad Age's 2008 Agency of the Year -- said digital services last year generated 52% of its revenue. The San Francisco agency works for such digitally connected clients as Hewlett-Packard Co.

[BONUS CLICK] Ad Age's Agency Report.

David Armano, VP of Experience Design with Critical Mass, writing in Adweek says, "Many advertisers aren't focused on building the digital applications that people want to use; they're focused on somehow cramming marketing into them."

Armano's way out of the forest:

1) Usefulness.

2) Utility.

3) Ubiquity.

He calls them the "Three U's of Advertising in the Application Economy."

According to Ad Age's annual U.S. Ad Agencies Ranked By Revenue report, 537 U.S. ad agencies reported income in excess of one million dollars last year.

I must admit I've always enjoyed looking at this report. It's simple in structure, but it offers lots of things to ponder.

"Are these real numbers?" is one thing I ponder. I also like to read all the names and wonder what type of firms lurk behind them. Initials only doesn't offer much to go on. Whereas names like Avrett Free Ginsberg or Duffy & Shanley give a hint. Then there are the creative names like Periscope and Modernista.

Naturally, I also take note of the US headquarters column. Get past New York City at the top of the list and find cities like Akron (home of Malone Advertising), Oklahoma City (home of Ackerman McQueen), Little Rock (home of Cranford Johnson Robinson Woods) and El Paso (home of Sanders/Wingo). All good candidates for AdPulp's "Agencies in Strange Places" series.

Finally, it's daunting to think of starting one's own agency. At the same time, consider that 537 teams made more than a mil last year. Just in the ad agency category. There are many more agencies making good money in marketing services, digital, direct, search, promotions, healthcare, multicultural and media.

David Roberts writing for Fast Company questions American's zeal for overworking and measures the impact of this hyperactivity on the environment.

The United States leads the world in two categories: work and waste. American employees put in more hours and take fewer vacations than just about anyone else in the industrialized world, and our individual ecological "footprints" are much larger.

Coincidence? I think not. The way we work drives our habits of consumption and waste. The more we work, the more we drive, the more energy we burn, the more styrofoam to-go containers we use. At the end of the day, we're so tired, we devour more takeout and TV, often falling asleep in front of the latter. If we want to accelerate the recent trend of reducing waste, it may be time to consider the radical step of, well, relaxing more, consuming less, and living fuller lives. May the Wall Street Journal editorial board strike me down.

I'd love to hear your responses to this. The agency business isn't exactly known for lightweight workloads. In fact, I'd venture that some shops are proud of their sweatshop reputations (sick though it is, such reputations prevent laggards from even applying).

Little Rock, Arkansas is home to Cranford Johnson Robinson Woods, one of the largest and most established full-service communications firms in the Mid South.

According to the agency's blog, Wayne Cranford and Jim Johnson opened the doors to their new agency in 1961. In 1989, Cranford Johnson Robinson merged with Shelby and Wayne Woods' tourism marketing agency to form CJRW.

Keeping it in all the family, Wayne's son Jay Cranford, joined the firm last fall as VP and Creative Director. He had been wth TBWA/Chiat/Day in Los Angeles.

"I was raised by an advertising executive and began my career in advertising immediately after graduating from college," said Cranford. "However, this is the most exciting career opportunity for me both personally and professionally as I begin a new career at CJRW 46 years to the day that my father founded this agency."

Sadly I don't see much Chiat/Day in this sample of CJRW's work:

Driving innovation on the web is big news. So big, it tends to overshadow the nefarious sideshows which are fast becoming a daily threat.

According to the Los Angeles Times, scammers rebuffed by better email protections are now turning to soc nets to perpetrate their crimes.

Social networking sites, which let users create detailed profile pages and connect with friends, are becoming the hot new thing for identity thieves, both amateur and professional. As improved spam filters and skeptical consumers make bogus e-mail less successful, scam artists are taking advantage of the atmosphere of trust that exists within these online circles of friends.

Symantec Corp., a tech security firm, recently reported that 91% of the bogus U.S.-based websites used in so-called phishing attacks during the second half of 2007 imitated the log-in pages of two unnamed social networking sites -- believed by industry executives to be the two biggest, MySpace and Facebook. Phishing tries to trick recipients into visiting phony websites and disclosing account numbers, passwords and other personal data.

"The bad guys are very adaptable. If something doesn't work, they come up with something new," said Kevin Haley, a product executive at Symantec. "Users feel more comfortable surrounded by their friends online -- what could be safer?"

I just received an email phishing scam that purported to offer me a tax rebate. While I marked it as spam, I paused to consider how many people would be lured into this particular web of deceit. I get upset just thinking about it.

GSD&M Idea City took some punches but it isn't going to take a knee.

Adweek reports that the Austin-based agency has picked up duties on the $30 million L.L. Bean account.

The agency was also re-hired on the U.S. Air Force account last month following a review.

The Girl Riot is a first-year copywriter, with a style guide. Her blog, view from the bottom has an interesting pitch.

YOU COULD BE GETTING YOUR ADVERTISING COMMENTARY FROM A MORE EXPERIENCED, HIGHER-PAID, AND PRETTIER AD EXEC. BUT THE DOWNBEAT AND BASS LINE ARE IN OUR HANDS-- THE ADSTAR WANNABES CLIMBING THE CORPORATE LADDER. AS YET UNCORRUPTED, SOMEWHAT UNCOUTH, AND UTTERLY UNRESTRAINED, THIS IS THE VIEW FROM THE BOTTOM, LAID DOWN BY A FIRST-YEAR COPYWRITER. ADMIT IT. YOU'RE JEALOUS I JUST MIGHT BE PRETTIER. ACCORDING TO ADVERTISING TRADITION, THAT MAKES ME A MORE VIABLE SOURCE OF INFORMATION.

Winners in The 12th annual Webby Awards competition have been determined.

With nearly 70 categories, Web Site entries make up the majority of Webby Awards Winners, Nominees and Honorees. According to the Webby Awards, "Some are beautiful to look at and interact with. Others are a testament to usability and functionality. And a handful excel across the board. To be selected among the best is an incredible achievement worthy of praise -- and perhaps a little bragging."

I won't mention all 70 winners in the Web Site category here, but I will point to a few of interest.

BEST COPY/WRITING: Wired
BLOG - BUSINESS: FT.com Alphaville
BLOG - CULTURE/PERSONAL: PostSecret
CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS: UPM Forest Life
EVENTS: Got Character
FASHION: Louis Vuitton Core Values
GUIDES/RATINGS/REVIEWS: Yelp
REAL ESTATE: Zillow
SELF-PROMOTION/PORTFOLIO: RED Universe
SERVICES: Blurb
SOCIAL NETWORKING: Flock
PERSONAL WEB SITE: The Whale Hunt

The Webby's also feature the year's best Interactive Advertising, Online Film & Video and Mobile. One could spend many hours pouring over the content on webbyawards.com, and it would be time well spent.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Publicis reached into the archives for Citigroup.

Beginning this weekend, Citigroup will kick off a global ad campaign that reprises the tagline "The Citi Never Sleeps," which made its debut in 1978. In digging into its marketing vault, Citi is engaging in the popular ad strategy of using a familiar catchphrase as a tonic during periods of economic and other uncertainty.

(but) Some ad experts believe Citi is going in the wrong direction with its latest ads. "With the situation that our economy is in now, it's unrealistic to think that nostalgia will be comforting to people, because people are dealing with harsh realities," says Rita Rodriguez, chief executive of the U.S. division of the Brand Union, a branding company owned by WPP Group PLC.

I don't know. Whatever the economy's doing, people still have dreams they want to make realities of, and that often means having a friend at the bank. A friend who doesn't sleep "on the job."

Adam Werbach is the global CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi S. He formerly served as national president of the Sierra Club.

Here are some words he wrote for Ad Age:

Consumers are resisting the proliferation of "green" communications and products being pushed at them from all directions. The recent Cone/Boston College survey showed that more than half of American consumers are "overwhelmed" by the tsunami of environment-related messaging. Less than half trust companies to tell them the truth about sustainable practices and products. Even fewer consumers believe companies are accurately communicating their environmental impact.

We are witnessing green fatigue on a grand scale. This is a huge threat to everything the environmental movement has worked so hard for, that consumers have valued, and that manufacturers and marketers have struggled to deliver. It is also threatening the credibility -- and sustainability -- of the marketing industry itself. People with no technical expertise in the complex harmonies that sustainability demands, no capacity to help a company reinvent its products or processes, and no sense of urgency are promising quick fixes and cheap tricks.

Quick fixes and cheap tricks. Isn't that the story of our industry's life? Yes, I believe it is.

At any rate, Werbach proposes we move to blue. He says, "Green puts the planet at the center of the dialogue; blue puts people -- consumers and shoppers -- at the center." Werbach's blue has three pillars: Price, Purpose and Process.

David Burn is the editor of AdPulp, and a writer with a plethora of caustic tales to tell.

Sean Howard, Director of Strategy and Innovation at Lift Communications, a brand experience studio in Toronto, Canada, has an interesting new mantra for his personal site, Craphammer.

I am not for sale.

Is not everything for sale? Does not everyone have their price?

I have a job yet no company owns my soul. I am paid for my insight yet not even I control my muse. I am paid to speak, yet my voice can remain free.

This online space is a privilege and a refuge for me. It is a place of others and more than me and my words. It is a conversation and as such it is not mine to sell.

There are those who wish influence and desire a candy coated portrayal of reality. This is not the place for these people. This is where I share how I see the world and that, like me, is not for sale.

I admire Sean Howard's purity. Almost as much as I covet the earnings of someone like Heather Armstrong, who allegedly makes $40,000/month from her site.

Earlier today, Valleywag reported that participation in Facebook's developer forum is down, most likely due to Facebook's new restrictions on Facebook-application spam. Valleywag praised these new rules, saying Facebook won't miss its lousiest apps.

Now an executive from a major, well-funded widgetmaker says:

Your post misses the point. FB's valuation is driven by the perception it can serve as a platform (or launching pad) for derivative businesses. Without that perception, FB is a $3-5 B company. Period. When developers lose enthusiasm for the "platform," every FB employee has their net worth cut by 67%.

When Zuck announced to the ad industry last winter that his company was ushering in a new day, I knew Facebook was in trouble. It seems to me that Zuck and Co. are living inside a gigantic bubble, a bubble so big it doesn't appear to be a bubble at all. Rather it's simply the rarefied atmosphere of a well-endowed Silicon Valley startup. For now.

Over at Nerve.com, you can dive into The 50 Greatest Commercial Parodies of All Time.

Granted, most of them are from Saturday Night Live, but there are some others, too.

What's your favorite?

According to The New York Times, MTV is having a lot of success with “podbusting,” sponsored content that is almost indistinguishable from the entertainment programming.

“The results are amazing,” Hank Close, the president for sales at MTV Networks, said. “In many of these messages we’re seeing 100 percent retention.”

“We are increasingly being asked by advertisers to create messages for audiences in our own voice,” Mr. Close said.

Examples of MTV's podbusting moves include a short chase movie called “Get Moe,” sponsored by Mountain Dew and a series of shorts called “Men of Action” which promotes the virtues of KFC and Kay Jewelers.

Dario Spina, who runs the integrated marketing division for MTV’s entertainment channels like Comedy Central and Spikea said, “good commercial content is good content.”

MoveOn.org is sponsoring Obama in 30 Seconds, a contest for its members.

I'm not sure I totally buy the implied message or ending of this (and I'm an Obama supporter), but I really like this spot:

Very, very clever.

According to Ad Age, "On the Road Again ... Spain," a new show from PBS starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Mario Batali, New York Times food critic Mark Bittman and Spanish actress/singer Claudia Bassols, will be sponsored by Chipotle Mexican Grill. The deal marks Chipolte's maiden voyage into TV.

Jim Adams, the chain's exec VP-marketing, said it was important Chipotle's sponsorship be more of an alignment of marketing messages than an effort to make any of the stars shill for the company. "We've been very careful not to do celebrity endorsements. We've been approached by a lot of sports figures, and we don't want to put anything on one person. No one's talking about Chipotle in this show, so it's sort of a reverse on that."

"On the Road Again" does, however, mark Chipotle's first venture into TV advertising, a medium the brand has strategically avoided in favor of local-store marketing and user-generated ad contests on YouTube. "Most of our marketing is to spur on word-of-mouth, whether that means an outdoor board that prompts discussion or a radio ad you can sing along to," Mr. Adams said. "We knew this show was a way for us to sort of dip our toe into TV. Even though it's public television, it could possibly prepare us for future forays into more mainstream TV."

Coolspotters is a new site that caters to the celebrity and brand obsessed. Pepsi is running ads under an exclusive argreement. Tech Crunch is saying nice things. And the firm's CEO is blogging.

Coolspotters is new. The launch is beta. Features will come and go, parts of the site will change - all of which will be the result of feedback and ideas that we receive directly from you. Things on the site might even occasionally break. The point of all of this is: we will be working constantly to improve your experience.

Brier Dudley from the Seattle Times says, Coolspotters is "an outrageously materialistic online shopping/celebrity/social networking venture that could make a bundle for its Seattle investors." He adds, "It's like a reality TV show that leaves you wondering if the producers are being ironic."

Louis Vuitton and Ogilvy Interactive won a Webby for their "Countless Journeys" site, which is also supported in print and TV. The video above is content from the site. Catherine Deneuve shares her Paris with us, seducing us into thinking we'll need Louis Vuitton luggage when we arrive at Charles De Gaulle.

Before I went into advertising, I worked on Capitol Hill for American Rivers. So, this ad from New Belgium Brewing in Fort Collins appeals to me. It's the work of Cultivator Advertising & Design in Denver.

Here's more information on the decommissioning of Condit Hydroelectric Project.

[via The Denver Egotist]

This Ad Age article about Subaru caught my eye:

Subaru of America is moving its digital account from one of the industry's hottest specialists, R/GA, to its Interpublic Group of Cos. sibling, Carmichael Lynch, Minneapolis.

The business moved without a review and was part of a consolidation. Subaru had no issues with R/GA, a spokesman for the automaker said, noting that it makes sense to have the entire account in one place. Subaru handed Carmichael Lynch its estimated $150 million national media and creative account without a review last fall.

The spokesman said Carmichael Lynch wasn't equipped to handle the digital account a year ago, but it is now.

Are we going to see more of this? Will digital specialists like R/GA have trouble holding onto accounts if more general market agencies get their act together? Does it make sense to keep the entire account at one agency for integration purposes? Or can digital agencies start beefing up strategic thinking and take the lead on brands?

Look into your crystal ball and tell me what you see.

Microsoft wasn't willing to pay a premium for Yahoo, a company that would have helped them compete against Google, but the Redmond software titan still intends to move aggressively into online advertising.

BusinessWeek has the story :

It may be impossible to catch Google in search advertising. The company dominates the market, taking in 77% of the revenues from those little text ads that show up alongside the results for Internet search queries. Microsoft, after years of trying, is at 5% of U.S. search revenue, according to search marketing firm Efficient Frontier.

But Microsoft has a fighting chance on several other fronts. Perhaps most important is display advertising, the colorful banner and video ads that run at the top or along the side of Web pages. Microsoft is among the leaders in the fragmented field, while Google is a bit player. Although the display market is smaller than search, it's expected to grow faster over the next few years because of a surge in video ads. Market research firm IDC (IDC) figures that by 2012 the display market will double, to $15.1 billion; revenue from search will reach $17.6 billion.

"We're very persistent," said Ballmer at a wireless conference last year, "If we don't get it right, we'll keep coming and coming and coming."

Engagement Mapping is one of the better tools in Microsoft's shed.

The technology anonymously tracks cookies, those digital footprints left on PCs by Web sites, to see if a consumer saw display or video ads within a month of making that ultimate click. Then it places values on each related online ad, weighting things like videos more heavily, since they're likely to have more impact.

Ben Winkler is a believer. He's director of interactive media at the Ingenuity Media Group, part of ad firm The Martin Agency. He's been testing the Microsoft technology for one of his clients, wireless provider Alltel. The technology, he says, shows that display ads have an impact that had never been clear before. As a result, he plans to advise clients to spend a greater share of their ad dollars on display vs. search ads.

MySpace said Thursday it will enable users to quickly share profile data with Web sites operated by Yahoo Inc., eBay Inc. and others.

"There's this concept that social networks are walled gardens," said Amit Kapur, MySpace's chief operating officer. "We're taking those walls down."

MySpace will roll out the new feature in the next several weeks. Among other things, MySpace users could have their default photo and music interests appear in Yahoo Instant Messenger or enrich their eBay profiles to improve exchanges between buyers and sellers.

"By injecting MySpace data, you're able to get a little bit more context about that person. As a result of that, you can make a more informed purchase decision," Kapur said.

[via Wired]