Sony Ericsson’s C905 Cyber-shot™ phone gets a starring role and stops the city in its tracks

The company commissioned professional photographer Matt Stuart to take photos, using the 8.1 megapixel C905 Cyber-shot™ camera phone, to use in the launch of its new campaign.

The Sony Ericsson C905 Cyber-Shot™ has a 8.1megapixel camera.

This social media news release contains photos of the C905 Cyber-Shot™ in action.

There's nobody (but me) there yet since I just started the group, but if you went to the School of Communication Arts in London and (or) had the honor to study under John Gillard - why not join the group: School of communication Arts on Linkedin ?
This way, perhaps us old schoolmates that scattered with the wind upon graduation may find each other again. ;)

More on John in Adland:
An interview with John Gillard
Gillard, "the pied piper of creative talent" dies

Global focus on local mobile search and advertising

Copenhagen, London – mobilePeople, the world leading local mobile search company, has today received $8million USD investment from Nordic based venture capitalist firm Via Venture Partners. The funding means that mobilePeople has the ability to expand its international reach and concentrate on affirming its leadership position within the global mobile search and advertising space.

Thierry Bezier has just joined the independent agency Fred & Farid (Paris) as the head of Fred & Farid Digital. He will be in charge of strategy, conception and development.

Thierry is a well-known actor of the web industry in which he has worked for over ten years. He first worked in France where he created a web agency to sell "ready to use" websites.

He then moved to Japan where he was in charge of the web development of special projects and of the monitoring of innovations at Dentsu for many years.

During this time, he imagined the concept of Intruders.tv, an international Web-TV. It was on his return to Europe that he launched www.intruders.tv at an international level, in association with Vincent Camara .

From a common agreement, He will keep a toehold in Intruders.tv, and develop as much synergy as possible between Intruders TV and Fred & Farid Digital.


He is already working on account such as Orangina, Schweppes, Wrangler, Van Cleef &Arpels, and his department has about ten collaborators (Web designers, experts on video, coders etcetera...)

Hey adgrunts. I dunno about you, but for me It's been a rough week. Hence the confusing covers playlist.

Monday began with some recaps of the Crispin campaign for the operating system known as Vista - Eric Karjaluoto at ideaondeas got nerdy and Apple/MS back-and-forth in their ad campaigns while I declared that Microsoft is a supermarket and Apple is a restaurant in The Microsoft Saga.

The Denver Egotist pointed us to what must be the "the most complex way to land a new client in history" - a full fledged viral campaign for stock photo, press release here.

As a newly formed design shop, General Projects launched with a self-assigned first project – to get the attention of Corbis and eventually turn that into a client relationship. This was done by launching a faux-viral campaign online with the intention of getting the Corbis name in front of as many members of their target audience as possible on a limited budget.

- so the site they designed went viral and all I'm wondering is did they pay for using the stock as well? In that case it might also be the most expensive pitch in history. Naah. I heard some agency took apart a car and rebuilt it in their lobby several floors up just to impress a potential client once.

Over at Good Kate Roberts is interviewed about AIDS-vertisements. "Todays youth never saw the shocking images of Freddie Mercury or Rock Hudson dying, or those really scary, in-your-face, aggressive public-service announcements" which makes selling social responsibility in sex more important than ever.

We had masses of print ads submitted, the Ikea short bedtime stories was popular, the puking Cadbury gorilla was gross, the hard on french fry was confusing, as was the steamy elevator scene while the Melanoma Foundation got straight to the (gun) point. Teppanyaki Food Fest was pretty, and Rok Vegas was juvenile. Meanwhile I learned how to say lingerie for your feet in french: Lingerie pour les pieds. BC Lottery Corporation found the end of the rainbow and the burning man giving out flyers is still haunting me.

We also had masses of print ads recalled, leading me to make a new rule: Deleting the ads dilute the resource we are trying to build here. Adland will no longer do it. The horrific school shooting in Kauhajoki brought out the worst in banners.

Commercials flooded in, and Diesel's "worldwide Dirty 30 party" might not be safe for work even if they used the SFW porn concept of covering things up. Axe meanwhile did a sexier version of hiding all the naughty bits with Squares. Frucor V Lemon mocked soda ads, Wrangler asked Why?, and Quercus showed us suicidal animals depressed about global warming. Famous Dave's cows went people-tipping, Tina Fey and Martin Scorsese talked about a time share in Boca, and ground zero showed us Alpha males and their side-kicks in CopStache and Pier (ouch). We had strange giant eyes, mouths and extra hands in Freaks like us for the Australian Director's Guild Conference 2008.

Best this week was that new members uploaded their work to the Radio ads section. You should do it too. Radio ads are fun!

Good morning Monday.

Nama Sutra asks How creative can ad agency names get? and lists oh-so-many nutty named. He missed Wexley School for Girls and uh.. Wow, there are are lot of crazy names out there, but my favorite is probably still Umovoacavalo because I have no idea how that egg got on top of the horse.

Last week was fun, Extended stay hotels new ad is a breath of fresh air, and I might even forget that horrid viral where some girl licks everything in sight, also Pfizer (of all clients) wowed me with some nice graffitti, while Aliens invaded ESPN and white-out can abort babies from teenage mothers life. We concluded that dust is revolting, Flash banners can hijack your clipboard and these Audi side assist posters deserve a second look.

I really liked the woman whisperer, bonus points for the actress' perfect impression of a nervous filly, I hated the Arby's thought ballons and I was really impressed by the stuntman who walked around giving out flyers while on fire. The whole Microsoft debacle deserves its own post. We talked like pirates for a full day as well.

Thanks modernmechanics for telling us "your car is well stacked" (Via easydreamer)

NCH, the UK’s largest children’s charity that helps the most vulnerable and excluded children achieve their full potential, is launching a revamped identity and powerful new fundraising as it re-brands to Action for Children.

As part of a multi million pound overhaul, London-based creative agency Baby Creative has devised the charity’s first advertising campaign in its 140-year history. The campaign will launch in 2009, aiming to drive awareness of what Action for Children does.

Baby Creative was briefed to handle the entire creative process following a pitch against six branding and design consultancies.

It is the Telegraph that brings us the headline: Charles Darwin to receive apology from the Church of England for rejecting evolution.

The apology, which has been written by the Rev Dr Malcolm Brown, the Church's director of mission and public affairs, says that Christians, in their response to Darwin's theory of natural selection, repeated the mistakes they made in doubting Galileo's astronomy in the 17th century.
"The statement will read: Charles Darwin: 200 years from your birth, the Church of England owes you an apology for misunderstanding you and, by getting our first reaction wrong, encouraging others to misunderstand you still. We try to practise the old virtues of 'faith seeking understanding' and hope that makes some amends."

You can read the full text from Rev Dr Malcolm Brown, Director of Mission and Public Affairs here on the Church of England website Good religion needs good science he notes (in bold) Nothing in scientific method contradicts Christian teaching which is sure to piss off some christian creationists out there.

Charles Darwin: 200 years from your birth, the Church of England owes you an apology for misunderstanding you and, by getting our first reaction wrong, encouraging others to misunderstand you still. We try to practice the old virtues of 'faith seeking understanding' and hope that makes some amends. But the struggle for your reputation is not over yet, and the problem is not just your religious opponents but those who falsely claim you in support of their own interests. Good religion needs to work constructively with good science – and I dare to suggest that the opposite may be true as well.

Still, this is progress. It only took 200 years this time for the church to catch up, unlike in the case with Galileo's works, where the official opposition to heliocentrism by the Church disappeared in 1835, and it wasn't until 31 October 1992 that Pope John Paul II expressed regret for how the Galileo affair was handled - a whopping 382 years later. Christian PR is moving faster these days.

This is really upsetting news to me, Nagi Noda was a uniquely talented creative artist / designer / director and a talent we hadn't even begun to know - you may recall her D&AD winning work for Japanese pop star Yuki in the video "sentimental journey" that was featured in the Saatchi new directors showcase of 2006. The exact cause of death has not been specified but it's known that she has suffered ongoing complications after a car accident last year.

Yuki - "Sentimental Journey" - (2005) 5:00 (Japan)

"The Voice" - real name Don LaFontaine has passed away at the age of 68 - was the worlds most recognizable announcer. He was the voice that all other voices tried to be. Voiceover artist Ashton Smith once remarked "When you die, the voice you hear in heaven is not Don's. It's God trying to sound like Don." When rereading that quote Tuesday, Smith said "I guess God is going to lose that gig when Don gets up there because Don is just that good." Source:AP - Hat Tip BAP

C|net says: "Be sure to read Chrome's fine print" - which you should be doing all the time anyway. There are two things stick out in the terms of service in Chrome.

This one, while not stating directly they will throw Google-ads around wherever they please, doesn't exactly exclude the idea. Traditionally, ads on the web are served by the page you are visiting not the browser that you use. This paragraph seems to indicate that it'll change in the near future.....

"Some of the services are supported by advertising revenue and may display advertisements and promotions. These advertisements may be targeted to the content of information stored on the services, queries made through the services or other information.
The manner, mode and extent of advertising by Google on the services are subject to change without specific notice to you."

Then there's this - who owns what now? They're not saying that they will automagically gain the copyrigt of your stuff, but they are saying that they will have right to display some of your content, in conjunction with promoting its services. Come again?

"By submitting, posting or displaying the content you give Google a perpetual, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, and non-exclusive license to reproduce, adapt, modify, translate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute any content which you submit, post or display on or through, the services. This license is for the sole purpose of enabling Google to display, distribute and promote the services and may be revoked for certain services as defined in the additional terms of those services."

Hat tip to Claes Magnusson in my Jaiku-posse.

Adgrunts may remember the spotlight on 86thenions (part two) and you've seen their work for upshot and the upshot music tour, not to forget the NEC campaign and the Project Hello work.

Well, it's been quiet around 86theonions for a while - because they've been busy metamorphing into something else.

The former ad agency has reinvented itself as "a social brand innovations collective, merging ecology and pop culture with products, art, branded content." Hello Ecopop "Ideas too good to waste"! More inside folks -

So a rumour was started earlier this week saying Bernie Mac had died after being hospitalized with pneumonia - and then it was denied by his agent. But now Bernie mac is dead says the Chicago Sun Times Obituary. See also: Cicago Tribune, and TMZ that both report Bernie Mac died this morning.
Bernie Mac is known as the King of Comedy - but here in Adland, we know him best from the "Nike The Chosen one" commercial from 2003.
R.I.P. Bernie... 50 years is way too young. What if Madonna, Prince and Michael Jackson all bought the farm tomorrow (they all turn 50 this year) wouldn't that be a shocker.

Nike - LeBron "King" James - Passion / The Chosen One (2003) - 0:60 (USA)

Titled "Fantastic news" Mother sent us a press release about their new 10 cane films. It is creative director Linus Karlsson who shot the ads in the US Virgin Islands - but honestly this release is a rarity in funny so I'll let you read it for yourselves.

ps - previously in the Motherverse of 10 cane rum the Vanity Fair & other press ads from March this year and wild poster campaign of bikiniclad gals in May.

By this point in the history of the world we, as a people, have learned many things. One of these things is that 10 Cane is the world’s best rum. We have learned this through advertising, PR, print, word of mouth, word of bartender, word of friend, word of stranger and word of 10 Cane Super Premium Films. 
 
With the initial release of 10 Cane’s Super Premium Films three years ago, we learned how 10 Cane is made. It’s truly an amazing process that includes accordions, first press Trinidadian cane juice, love, three really cool dudes, and never under any circumstances molasses. Everyone walked away from these films much the wiser.
But there is much more to be learned.
 
With the latest edition of Super Premium Films, 10 Cane is now teaching us not how the rum is made, since they have already taught us this, but rather a glimpse into how 10 Cane is to be enjoyed when properly living the 10 Cane lifestyle. The films will make you laugh and they will make you cry. But mostly they will make you laugh because laughing is more fun than crying and rum is the most fun spirit around.

This summer the Swedish Red Cross Youth launched a campaign for human rights influenced by the upcoming olympics in Beijing. We are encouraging people around us to visit our webbsite and discuss such matters as:
• What can You do to promote human rights?
• Is it ever acceptable to violate human rights?
• What can each nation do for human rights?
• Do Sweden ever violate human rights?

We think it is extremely important to educate young people on human rights and to raise the issue whenever it´s possible. Our campaign should not be seen as anti-China, but pro-human rights.

The Swedish Red Cross Youth has chosen to make a campaign on human rights because:
• Human rights is a fundemental part of the Red Cross/Red Crescent society
• It is 60 years since the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
• The Chinese government promised an improved situation for human rights in their Olympic campaign
• There are several documented cases where the Chinese authorities have violated human rights, Amnesty presents four central areas in the Olympic campaign:
- Fair trials for all
- Freedom from censorship
- Respect the rights of activists
- Stop executions

Human rights are, and always has been, a vital part of the Red Cross/Red Crescent philosophy. With that in mind, We see this as the perfect time to manifest the importance of human rights.

BT launch new Home Hub with multi-layered media campaign

BT’s new ad campaign has a twist in store for viewers, with Adam, the character played by Kris Marshall, moving out of the home he shares with his on-screen partner Jane, for his dream job – putting the relationship under pressure and implying the couple’s separation.

I interrupt this Friday to bring you what I was tinkering on most of the night - Researcher DIGG. Researcher is a Swedish advertising/planning/strategy blog that's been around for a long time, but its founder Niclas is finding less and less time to spend there. I suggested that I'd make a Digg-clone + blog, and he (SUCKER) let me have at it. Now, any Swedish net-head (it helps if you know the language) can sign in and post links to the upcoming page - if they get enough votes from other users, they end up on the front page.

I know, it's not the prettiest at the moment, but it works, so bite me. Also, I managed to import every post Niclas has made since 2003 to it, and keep the URL's they were posted to (like this one) intact, so *raspberry*. I was originally working on this dealio to make Adland a digg-clone, but then jesus, this place is so big it gives me a headache already. ;9

London, UK and Helsinki, Finland: Xtract, the leader and innovator in social advertising intelligence today announced that it has closed its series B round of funding with EUR 7,5 Million ($11.74M) from leading early-stage technology investors Creandum, ETF III advised by Eqvitec Partners and InnovationsKapital.

Home insurance company Capital Insurance Group has started an imaginative new “Think Twice” advertising campaign in California magazines. The new creative uses the iconic two-finger cultural symbol to represent CIG’s unique “double coverage” for homeowners.

The two-finger sign is meant to resound with viewers on multiple levels, according to Harvey Kraft, Head of Marketing & Business Development for Capital Insurance Group. “It says peace, love, victory – and now it also represents ‘think twice.’"

Hermione Granger, sorry, Emma Watson - the eighteen year old starlet has been signed as the new face of the Chanel fragrance Coco Mademoiselle. Did the 23 year old Keira Knightley get too old for Coco? Perhaps, her contract ends this summer but Brandrepublic says "Knightley will be given a new role at Chanel when Watson takes over." Oooh, maybe she'll do Allure or Chance ads?
Making Emma Watson fit to be a Chanel icon has been in the works for some time already, and the stylish image on the left is from In Style magazine where Emma looks more lady than teen.:

“Chanel have been dressing Emma for film premieres and parties in recent months to integrate her into the brand”

The previous Coco girl was Kate Moss, who was replaced by Keira in 2007.

Just last month it was reported that Audrey Tautou, star of 'Amelie' and 'The Da Vinci Code', has been signed up to appear in the next Chanel No 5 perfume ad, due to air in 2009 - which makes total sense since she plays Chanel herself in the movie "Coco Before Chanel", directed by Anne Fontain. Expect big bucks four minute short film style advertising when that one comes out.