Advertising Week, will be held in September in New York City. The event, which is part festival and part conference, "will include the unveiling a new advertising "walk of fame" along Madison Avenue, the symbolic center of the ad industry".

The Madison Avenue walk of fame will enshrine pop-culture brand icons such as the Energizer Bunny and the Coppertone Girl on the sidewalk. Members of the public will be able to vote for the icons and ad slogans through a contest run by Gannett Co.'s USA Today.

Internet News reports:

America Online is expected to announce Wednesday that it has signed on as official presenting sponsor of the "The AOL Super Bowl XXXVIII Halftime Show," to be produced by MTV.

The 'Perfect day' UK ad team Ian Ducker and Will Farquha are not freelancing anymore - instead they have set up an agency named after their mongrel bull terrier, Vinnie. They've teamed up with Graham Collis, who used to run maverick director Tony Kaye's production company K-Media, to launch the agency.

"We are determined to offer clients a way out of bland campaigns. We see Vinnie as a way that clients can achieve more innovative work beyond traditional advertising media," said Mr Collis.

North Carolina based ad agency Boone/Oakley are auctioning away a 'creatively brilliant' commercial to be screened during the Super Bowl on eBay auction, hurry if you want it as the auction is soon closing.

Asked why his agency would make such an unusual offer, creative director David Oakley explains, "we must be nuts."

Since we're talking about ads in schools, here's a little story from another campus. Illinios state University has an ad-littering problem. Chalked slogans and duct taped signs are against school policy, because they cannot be washed away with the rain and are hard to clean up, even the Town of Normal has found posters on light polls, buildings and stop signs. Still the campus is covered each morning with slogans and flyers from bars nearby in Bloomington.

David Bedford who broke the 10,000 meters world record in 1973, reckons the mustache clad running lads in the 118 118 adverts are modeled after him. His solicitors have demanded compensation from The Number for using his likeness in their advertising. The agency creatives on the other hand, claim the runners are modeled after Steve Prefontaine who died in a caraccident in 1975, and that the outfit worn by the two actors is in the style of the Great Britain athletic kit which was used during the seventies.

left to right: Steve, 118, David.

Ad people in Asia are paid handsomely...the rub is-- if you are "hot". A survey of marketing and creative people salary across seven cities in the Asia Pacific region revealed that salaries in ad agencies are still higher at the top management than counterpart positions in the corporate world but middle management income seems to be even.

"Overall it seems companies are still willing to pay high salaries to attract good people."

Perhaps agency people who have to contend with clients who are eternally in love with their company logo (bigger, bigger) and love screaming headlines should get more.
Yes, they still exist in Asia.

What do the creatives of Chicago ad agency Cramer-Krasselt do when they are bored senseless? Stealth Disco.

Go boogie to their best of stealth disco video

obligatory Simpsons reference as instructions:

1) act natural while positioning yourself behind a co-worker
2) STEALTH DISCO like mad.
3) ?????
4) PROFIT!

When Paul Malmström and Linus Karlsson of Jukka Brothers, Dick & Miller Lite, Virgin Mobile and Buddy Lee viral fame, left Fallon for the CD position at Mother New York adland already knew something big was brewing there.

Rob Deflorio is now joining the agency - Nike's ace card, their advertising director working in Portland Oregon for the past ten years. Another big name, Andrew Deitchman formerly at Red Cell is the fourth partner of Mother NYC - which by the way still doesn't have any offices yet, so if you have some space downtown...

Ads contrast the experience on Alaska Airlines with what has become the all-too-typical exasperating sojourn on other carriers.....

Alaska Airlines has taken its "The Spirit of Alaska" campaign to both television and the web, the latter in form of a parody site called Sky High Airlines.

Wong Doody is the agency behind the farcical humor ads, two commercials have already aired, the other two from the campaign will begin airing in early 2004. Each spot features a real Alaska Airline employee at the end, showing Alaska's famous customer service.

Creatives involved; Creative director Tracy Wong, Art Director: Pam Fujimoto, Copywriters: Matt McCain; John Schofield and Account Manager: Kari Connor

All commercials are directed by Jeff Gorman, edited by Alan Nay.
Executive Producer: Lilly LaBonge
Production Company: JGF of Hollywood, CA
Sound Designer: Vince Werner at Clatter & Din of Seattle
Online Editorial Company: Modern Digital of Seattle, WA

Here are two different products, but the same joke. And possibly the same bus.

Adgrunts, since you paid the fare, you can click read more to hop on both Badland buses.

Hans Blix on the War On Iraq:

"What in a way stands accused is the culture of spin, the culture of hyping... Advertisers will advertise a refrigerator in terms that we don't quite believe in, but we expect governments to be more serious and have more credibility," he said.

Swedens prince Carl Philip is doing his Internship at Storåkers advertising agency in Stockholm. (I hope he gets one at King next) as part of his studies in Graphic Design at Forsbergs skola.

He's not the only one in the family with designer genes, ;) his sister princess Madeleine did her internships at Lowe Brindfors and Sandell Sandberg last year. Lets not forget his fathers uncle, Sigvard Bernadotte who designed for Bang & Olufsen and the swirly M logo for Marabou.

A photo-album of unemployed art directors in Hamburg, that's the unconventional self-help idea by the freshly fired AD Dave Tiedemann and photographer Detlef Overmann. Together with Phoebe Schillinger and Nikolaus von Zitzewitz, creatives formely at Johannsen Hüttner Kersting, they're putting out a book with 25 portraits of unemployed art directors.

Tiedmann will distribute the work in 500 copies free of charge to agencies in Hamburg and to the ADC.

"It's a kind of self-marketing", Tiedmann says, "because the the situation for art directors in Hamburg is dramatic, jobs are hard to find."

The Geico commercial came first, but I'm a bigger fan of the Saturn spot.

click read more for a head on advertising collision in Badland.

Houston, Texas is the United States' fattest city the past three years according to Men's Fitness magazine. Now, their sponsoring their lean campaign: Get Lean Houston.

Their sponsor: McDonalds.

Sure, McDonalds has some foods that are low in fat, but still they serve burgers.

How can a big fast food chain sponsor a city to get even leaner when they serve burgers?!

Earth to Houston: Get a Reality Check!

Holiday Inn's most bizarre story: Offering Towel Amnesty.

Yahoo! News says that the hotel will donate $1 to their charity for every story told with a towel.

You can tell your story at this website .

Guests who tell their stories at the web will receive a series limited edition Holiday Inn towel. What kind of a prize is that?!?

Remember Karyn?
The girl who had gotten herself deep into credit card debt and asked people to donate money to help her at Savekaryn.com.

She not only paid off her debt in full, she also scored a book deal. The book "Save Karyn - One Shopaholic's Journey to Debt and Back" will be available in the US come September.

Cate Blanchett wears Donna's dresses in new fashion ads. The advertising deal will bring in six figures for Cate. She's one of a crop of celebrity models lately, Jennifer Lopez for Louis Vuitton, Adrian Brody for Zegna, Colin Farrell for Ralph Lauren while makeup is hawked by Catherine Zeta Jones for Estee Lauder and Nicole Kidman for Chanel.

Run to the Hills - Iron Maiden

We must admit that when we first laid eyes on RatherGoods animated viking kittens we laughed our heads off.
Don't miss what Destinys child would sound and apparantly look like, if they were kittens, male and from northen England. Rathergood has ventured out into the world of advertising, and here are four VH1 commercials made by Joel Veich of Rathergood.com.