the inbox by month

News from December 2009

All in together now: zig’s Jingle Jam

I don’t know what it is, but we at ihaveanidea didn’t receive as many of those ever popular agency “Christmas cards” this year. Maybe everybody’s too busy to make any really good self-promos this year, or maybe nobody loves us. Whatever the case, we did receive one in the Inbox from Toronto/Chicago agency zig this afternoon that we thought was worth sharing.

AlmapBBDO takes a pause for Twix

Is an idea truly clichéd if you don’t see the cliché until the very end?

I had to ask myself that after seeing this 60 second spot for Twix from Sao Paulo’s perennial award winners AlmapBBDO. When it was finished, I knew I had seen the basic idea a dozen times before — usually with home entertainment products and other things with a PAUSE button — but because I didn’t pick up on it until the end, it was a pleasant surprise.

A mammoth dump… of snow that is, from David&Goliath

In Montreal, where the ihaveanidea Towers are located, it’s fairly easy to get an idea of what ski conditions are like in the winter. We just look out the window. Snow outside? Great, there will probably be snow up in the Laurentian Mountains too. If you live in a city like Los Angeles, however, it’s a little more difficult to determine snowfall, mainly because there isn’t any. It’s hard to get into a skiing or snowboarding frame of mind when you have year-round palm trees and sandy beaches.

Y&R Cape Town tells the harrowing story behind conflict diamonds

Every precious diamond has a story behind it, and in the case of ‘conflict’ or ‘blood’ diamonds, that story is filled with greed, corruption and death. Young & Rubicam Cape Town has created a stirring 60 second spot for the African Diamond Council, the governing body of Africa’s diamond producing countries.

Taxi: the eye of Rickard’s flavor storm is winking at you

Cold. Crisp. Easy drinking. Pick any or all of those descriptors and you’re halfway towards creating 99% of the beer commercials out there. For a product that is so heavily advertised, there sure aren’t a lot of ways used to describe it.

Collective London: “He’s taking your tweets, checking them twice…”

Have you been a good Twitterer this year?

Santa doesn’t need to see you when your sleeping or know when you’re awake anymore. The fine folk at London digital shop Collective have set up their site to do Kris Kringle’s dirty work, by scanning your Twitter account for acts of niceties or naughtiness. If you type happy thoughts or if you swear too fucking much, the Collective Santa will know.

Jack Watts Currie takes a bite out of the beach for Shark Week

I never expected The Discovery Channel’s ever popular Shark Week to be a big hit in Australia. It would be kinda like having Pigeon Week here in North America, so commonplace that nobody would really care.

But I was wrong; Shark Week is just as big on TV in the land down under as it is in less shark friendly climes, and Sydney agency Jack Watts Currie jacked up the interest for last week’s Aussie presentation by putting out a site for the Australian Coastal Watch.

W+K Amsterdam keep it up for FIFA ’10

You know, I can’t imagine what it would be like to work at Wieden + Kennedy Amsterdam and not be a sports fan. Maybe it’s a prerequisite. Not only would being one pay off in spades when it came to working on Nike stuff, but you’d have to love soccer — oops, football — to truly appreciate the agency’s latest effort for EA Sports’ FIFA ’10.

DDB NY: Getting lottery tickets is better than a mouthful of nuts

‘Tis the season for man-sized nutcrackers.

The other week we shared an ad for Garmin featuring a department store giant nutcracker come to life. Well it appears that our Tchaikovsky inspired friend got fed up with department store life. HE (presumably) drove to the Big Apple, called himself “Warren” and became an office temp in a DDB New York spot for the New York Lottery.

Toyota competition winner: “I’ll have her on her back by 11″.

Ah, here’s a classic ad situation: the oft filmed scenario of a young man meeting his date’s father on the doorstep before a night on the town. Only this time there are a hell of a lot more wink-wink nudge-nudge say-no-mores you’re used to seeing in an ad.

RECENTLY IN THE INBOX

DID YOU CATCH THESE STORIES?

One (very, very, long) last look at what CP+B has done for Burger King

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