I've been very amused by Creative beef: Game Time idea for a ad agency based mmorpg, where Art Directors weild the xacto-knife of doom, Copywriters have smart-ass blogs, Account Execs have the super power suit, Producers weild unbreakable SAG contracts, Media Buyers wave Knicks' tickets about, and Traffic can pull out The lost creative brief from their arsenal.

Now, if we place this game in crazy open landscape agencies and famous buildings such as the Chiat/Day Venice of the nineties, Kesselskramer's church or the mushroom woods of Young & Rubicam in Portugal - I'm all set!

Can someone please get on making this game? Pretty please? It's my birthday today and that's all momma wants.

P.S. For droolworthy ad agency interiors, check out This Ain't No Disco.

He's got an MSI Wind, no wait, he's got an Asus Eee PC.... No, wait of course, it's none of the above but rather an iBook if you check the original Getty Image. What we know the ad creators did get was 'royalty free image'. Oh you silly silly people, don't let the suits do that to you.

Here's another one for you lot who love to giggle at phallic logos.

This is the new logo for the UK Office of Government Commerce.

This is the logo turned 90 degrees

The Register says that a spokesman gamely explained:

"The proposed version, which you have sent over, has been shared with staff, and is now going through final technical stages. It is true that it caused a few titters among some staff when viewed on its side, but on consideration we concluded that the effect was generic to the particular combination of the letters 'OGC' - and is not inappropriate to an organisation that's looking to have a firm grip on government spend!"

David Jones brings us another Adland cartoon. Dibs on the designery glasses!

Ah yes, those who have been paying attention know that I'm a tad preoccupied with phallic looking logos. Or things that sound dirty in another language in advertising. yes yes, I know, I'm such a child, and I won't grow up.

So Caff decided in her infinite wisdom when she saw this logo to snap it and send the shot to me. I'm sorry, but I can't stop laughing, is that a phallus symbol firmly planted with balls or a nicely streamlined design of a hand flipping the bird? I wonder if the receptionist ever answers the phone with "Good morning, The Fucker company Ltd".

This just in: Adland will kill us all!

And how apropos the news is reported from CHICAGO where at least ad agencies seem to be dying lately:

He said the first victim was a young man who had a web design job at a communications department, and worked for a well respected university. "He was perfectly fine when he went to work," Rathburg said in a telephone interview.
"After about 15 minutes, he had an acute case of gnarles barking cough and collapsed on the floor. The autopsy clearly indicates he died from exposure to adland," said Rathburg, who would not disclose the man's name or the precise place and time of his death for privacy reasons.

Contact with, or even being in the proximity of adland is known to trigger acute farty residue, screaming whoopers, and a deadly soup of bacteria called gumbo that shoots out of your nostrils

How's this for a pop-cultural meta-meta-meta-meta April Fools joke: Youtube has Rickrolled all the featured videos on their homepage.

No wai? Yes, wai! Srsly. Hat tip to adgrunt Brandon.

And somewhere in Denmark, Rick is laughing really loud.

Good Things Come to Those Who WHITE
A pint of the black stuff becomes a pint of the white stuff with the launch of a creamier new version: "Guinness White".
Guinness is made from the same raw ingredients as regular Guinness Draught - hops, barley, water and yeast, but the barley is frozen instead of roasted, which provides the white colour.

I have to admit, this April Fools made me shriek in horror/delight (not even sure actually, I know I'd try it!) so they had me for a nano-second there, scaring the Guinness-purist in me and delighting my try-anything-new side.
Very cute. Announced at facebook, which I'm so not going to link to because, pshaw, pfft, facebook, how lame.
The joke however, fun-niiii.

David Jones sent us a message: I have goals...they're just not realistic.

Citrus have created this dear agency letter generator. You choose between three different things, such as monkeys, lizards or meerkats in response to the question "What animals have been suggested that "really take your brand to the next level"?" and click write letter to get a nice letter that you can send off to your agency when you want them to know you're letting them go. My only gripe with this is no matter what animal I pick that particular creature isn't mentioned in the letter, though the others might be. Fail.

Here's an example of what you might send to your agency. I got this when I picked meerkats. No cats at all in the letter (hehe) but cavemen and geckos are mentioned.

That's right. You heard me. Fired. As in axed. Let go. Canned. Sacked, as the Brits say.

Did it have to come to this? Let me put it to you in a way your tragically hip, bipolar, right-brained mind can understand: It was either this or I start torturing interns for fun.

You're confused, are you? Let me clarify. Over the past year, you've tried to sell me regurgitated award show ideas that no self-respecting agency would even put down on paper, let alone present. Do you really think a garrulous reptile is a new idea? Let alone a good one? Here's a tip: If it's been done as a failed ad campaign AND a failed TV show, it's not going to make my brand famous. Same goes with babies, cavemen and anything else that might require an on-location "wrangler."

The attitudes, the overcharging, the blown deadlines, the constant bitching and moaning like it's the end of the freaking world when I suggest you add my web address to an ad that I'm PAYING for...you should be paying me for putting up with it for so long.

this one and more stick figure comix at xkced.com

Mauseth Design 2008 self-promo, None of Your Business Cards, is an ingenious set of faux business cards, which upon close inspection contain fake names and numbers and a special not so subtle message: never call me again.

If you are ever given the gig to do a THX cinema sound trailer, please, pretty please with sugar on top hand it over to whomever created this so that I may go to the movie theatre and experience this at full impressive THX blast. Kthxbye!

If you can't figure this out by yourself, there's a simple test at http://yourclientfromhell.com/. I'd take the test but I currently have a client who keeps sending my mile-long forms with yes/no questions so I've developed an allergy to these things.

Oh yeah, David Jones has got our number. This is how we do it when we do it like that. Amirite? His latest toon on life in Adland.

Bad boys, bad boys, what'cha gonna do, what'cha gonna do when they come for you? The Design Police are here and they will cover your documents with screaming red alerts pointing out all the mistakes you've made. You too can be a design police deputy, download the visual enforcement kit and stick it to bad design. *

* sorry, my puns get worse the later it gets.

There might only be a handful of adgrunts here who'll love this combo - the Ad Code, psuedo perl code advertising slogans where you have to guess the brand. Everyone, give it try, you'll score better than you think.
I got them all right, but the winery had me thinking there for a while, I must admit - that's such an old tagline it took ages before it came to mind.

Your score: 6
You have an impressive knowledge of both programming and advertising slogans. Talk about a perfect date.

David Jones reckons that 2007 was the year that adland and the world as as a whole finally ran out of ideas, he makes a pretty good case too what with the third sequel to every Hollywood flick ever out there and all interestingly creative commercials cast in Badland suspicions. Name something original from 2007, go on, I dare ya. Hmm? Thought of anything yet?

Eric Karjaluoto over at Ideas on Ideas writes RFP, r.i.p - about the pain of pitching when you're a designer. This reminds me of an old ad joke, bear with me I tend to forget how they're told and do the punchline first. ;P

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A businessman walks out of his plush suburban home and notices that the neighbours are having their house repainted. "That looks very nice" he shouts over to the paint contractor, who immediately responds "You like it? We can paint your house too. We'll do it for free, and if you agree to hire us we'll do it again, in the colour you want."
-" Don't be absurd!" says the businessman "that's no way to do business."
As the businessman drives to work he notices that his car sounds funny, and decides to stop at a mechanic and have it checked out. "Something sounds wrong, how much will you charge for fixing it?" he asks the mechanic. "We'll take a look for you, and mend all things the way we think is best and if you like what we've done you can come back and have your car fixed the way you want it." responds the mechanic. "What are you nuts? You'd give me free parts and hope I come back? That's no way to do business, and I should know, I'm a businessman!"
In the city the businessman pops into a barber shop to inquire what a cut and shave costs. "We'll cut and shave you for free, and if you like it you can come back and do it for a small fee." says the barber. At this point the stumped businessman just shakes his head "You'll never earn a living giving cuts and shaves for free."
As soon as he enters his office, the businessman calls a meeting. "Listen up everyone, I want all hands on deck and our best talent working overtime. Spend everything from petty cash to our savings stash on creating a great campaign here - there's a big account out there looking for an agency and by golly, we're gonna pitch on it with all that we've got!"

Right, this is an ancient doodle from some old scrap book of mine that I totally forgotten about until I surfed what's available for Adland anno 1998 on the waybackmachine today and found it in the adrants section under rantcomic. I wonder what sort of meeting I was in to prompt this ad doodle.