Author: AdweekMedia

It used to be the foulest-mouth kids around were the fourth graders on South Park. No more. Now we have 11-year-old Hit Girl, one of the stars of the upcoming indie movie Kick-Ass, and she’s causing quite a dustup with her salty language in the movie’s red-band trailer. (She’s knows the C-word, people, and she’s not afraid to use it.) The promo, dubbed too-hot-for-TV-and-theaters, has become quite the viral phenom, even though it’s supposed to be available only to those over 17. Because, of course, nothing on the Internet ever spreads past its target demo, and no one knows how to get around those age barriers. And no studio would ever sell an R-rated flick to the young ‘uns, right, Lionsgate? Naughty, naughty. One of the few remaining indie distributors in Hollywood, Lionsgate is the brilliant marketing machine behind the Saw and Hostel franchises. For Kick-Ass, it’s succeeded in creating and stoking months’ worth of buzz for a violent, low-budget film that’s a hybrid of teen coming-of-age, black comedy, action, crime and a few other genres tossed in for good measure. Kick-Ass, based on the comic from fan favorite Mark Millar and starring Nicolas Cage, Christopher Mintz-Plasse and Chloe "Hit Girl" Moretz, opens April 16. Leave the children at home.

—Posted by T.L. Stanley

Svedka vodka is launching its first-ever TV commercial on Monday, part of a larger campaign that includes an online component and out-of-home ads. The fast-growing spirits brand said it approached the TV spot like a big-budget music video. It uses special effects and professional dancers, who groove to a remake of the Jackson 5 classic "Dancing Machine." The brand clearly tried hard to keep the futuristic/retro theme going throughout the campaign, and tapped creative house Eight VFX to produce a CGI version of its spokes-bot, Svedka_Grl. In addition to the spot, the female robot will appear across Svedka ads that pose the question: "R U Bot or Not?" Those ads include billboards, bus shelters, bus sides, taxi tops and phone kiosks. The fembot is also invading Facebook and bars in several major U.S. cities. So, the next time you’re out, order a signature Svedka cocktail like a Hot_Bot or a Celeb_U_Bot and bust a dance move from the new commercial.

—Posted by Elena Malykhina

Eek! BrandFreak woke up this morning to find that Zooey (yes, that unpotty-trained dog again) had peed all over the place. We’re so frustrated that we’ve decided to try (yes, we’re desperate) Kimberly-Clark’s tried-and-true potty dance. We wrote about the potty dance last year. Now, JWT New York has refreshed the campaign for K-C’s Pull-Ups brand with TV, print, online and in-store ads and even house parties where moms and kids (that’s right) do the potty dance. (It’s kind of like the chicken dance, except you do it when you gotta go, you know?) Pull-Ups tapped children’s songwriter Ralph Covert as the face of the campaign, and he’s also encouraging families to drop off unused diapers at local women’s and children’s centers. We went online to Pull-Ups.com to try to learn the dance ourselves, and hey, we’ve almost got it. Do we "feel the rhythm"? We do! Oh no, the pooch just went on the couch! (We’ll be back.)

—Posted by Elaine Wong

This ad from Sears, for its newly relaunched Kenmore brand, had us dancing in our seats. (Thank goodness no one was watching.) The department store is revamping its Kenmore household appliances line, and first up comes this new spot for the Kenmore Elite Multi-Motion washer. Instead of boringly explaining the machine’s benefits to an interested couple, a clerk asks her dance troupe to "Hit it!" (Not the machine.) The group uses a break-dancing routine to demonstrate the machine’s functions. Even the husband in the spot gets grooving. "Better than just circles," he says, then tries to be all hip like the dancers, with unimpressive results. OK, back to dancing … I mean, typing.

—Posted by Elaine Wong

BrandFreak should not have gotten a dog. Not only is the creature not potty trained, but it’s hyper active and keeps us up all night! Thank goodness for Kimberly-Clark’s GoodNites bedtime stories. (OK, they’re meant for toddlers, but so what?) The maker of Huggies and Kleenex has launched "a series of 20, five-minute audio bedtime stories that will fill each night with a new, fantastical adventure," thus making bedtime less stressful for bedwetting kids and their parents. For instance, there’s the story of Iggy, a boy who "embarks on wild adventures with his Wiggy Bed, building self-confidence along the way." Parents can download the series for free at BedtimeTheater.com. The brand is also running a contest to pick the best consumer-generated Iggy story. (The winning pick will be recorded in a video segment.) No, it’s not recommended for dogs, but Zooey, our puppy, did go to sleep listening to it. Might just put a diaper on that dog next.

—Posted by Elaine Wong

Although Apple doesn’t need any help with marketing, its flagship Fifth Avenue store in New York City got some nice exposure following a real wedding that took place there on Valentine’s Day. A guest captured most of the ceremony in this video, which shows a couple exchanging their vows but also gets Apple sales clerks and curious store visitors in the shot. Most people want their privacy on such an important day, but these devoted Apple fans don’t seem to mind the outsiders. Not only are they getting married in an Apple store, but the guy marrying them is wearing Apple founder Steve Jobs’ signature outfit: a black turtleneck and jeans. As if that weren’t enough, he quotes Jobs in the vows (which he reads off an iPhone) and states that, in addition to the wedding, everyone is "gathered here today to look for new iPhone cases." It seems our culture of computers, smartphones and social networks has created a generation that assigns too much significance to gadgets. Way too much.

—Posted by Elena Malykhina

CEOs go incognito to ferret out trouble and unfairness in their own companies in the CBS reality show Undercover Boss. What could possibly go wrong? So far, not much, and marketers like Hooters, Waste Management and 7-Eleven have seen their brands buffed and polished for a national prime-time audience. The ratings for the series, which launched in the plum post-Super Bowl slot, have been stellar. The show even beat NBC’s Winter Olympics on Sunday night with 13.6 million viewers, making it the highest-rated entertainment program against stiff competition. Not that everyone watching is sold on the concept. "The PR for these shows is amazing," wrote one commenter on Entertainment Weekly‘s episode recap, while others point out that careful editing and story selection is probably keeping us from seeing the real corporate problems. But some viewers are hooked on watching bosses in the trenches championing the little guys. Fans say Sunday’s episode with 7-Eleven’s Joe DePinto had some real heart-tugging moments. Watch it here. Next up: Behind the scenes at White Castle.

—Posted by T.L. Stanley

An article in the March issue of GQ magazine (which isn’t online yet) is worth checking out, and not just because it quotes Brandweek twice. The piece, titled "Meet the Happy New Me, Same as the Crappy Old Me," chronicles the attempts of writer Shalom Auslander, an author and NPR contributor who’s often compared to David Sedaris, to rebrand himself. Auslander, who writes copy for an unnamed ad agency, consults other, anonymous branding experts to decide what his personal brand should be. They never really come to a conclusion, but along the way we get copious one-liners ("I prefer writing fiction and occasional journalism, but the Dark Lord pays well, and there’s free coffee on the 23rd floor" and "If the Cow-schwitz bovine death camp known as Burger King can be a barrel of laughs, what’s stopping me?"), and the article casts much-needed doubt on the idea of personal branding. But the reason the piece is a must-read for ad types is a cameo by Alex Bogusky. In the story, Auslander is en route to Denver to meet with the man Fast Company calls "the mechanic of cool" only to find that Bogusky has canceled the meeting, leaving the author no choice but to fly back from his stopover in Chicago. Auslander brands Bogusky a "glorified shoe salesman" and considers flying to Denver anyway to excrete on the doorstep of Crispin Porter + Bogusky’s headquarters. The only problem with that plan is, knowing the agency, they’d probably film that and turn it into a hot viral video.

—Posted by Todd Wasserman

If the lead singer of a band wrote a song about me and it became a massive hit, you better believe I’d play that "rock muse" card at every opportunity. It’s no different for Sharona Alperin, who was the inspiration behind the Knack’s summer-of-’79 hit, "My Sharona." Alperin sells high-end real estate in Los Angeles these days, advertising her services with a Web site that plays the instantly recognizable rock anthem. It’s even called MySharona.com. Because her former boyfriend and Knack frontman Doug Fieger died last weekend, the spotlight’s been shining on the band’s most memorable tune—and, with it, the brunette beauty on the single’s cover. She still gets a lot of those covers in the mail, Alperin says in a Los Angeles Times story, and she sends them back autographed. Maybe she tucks in her business card, too, for those who might be looking for a luxury condo in Santa Monica. Now that’s catchy branding.

—Posted by T.L. Stanley

Could it be that these promotions, bits of new content, games and apps for The Crazies are infinitely more sophisticated than the horror flick they’re selling? Well, they’re way ahead of the original source material, that’s for sure. The Crazies, for non-cult fans, was first a 1973 B-movie about a bucolic Pennsylvania town where the folks just go plain loco and homicidal mania ensues. (Hint: It’s something in the water, and the government’s to blame). Written and directed by legendary horror maven George Romero, The Crazies had a reported micro-mini-budget of $275,000. The remake, from Overture Films and Participant Media, not only has a few stars on the bill—Timothy Olyphant as the town’s sheriff—but much better (read: more expensive) special effects. As for the surrounding hype, there are traditional comics, a four-part animated comic series, a Facebook game called The Crazies Tower Defense, an iPhone app dubbed "Beware the Infected" (where you can doctor photos of yourself and others to look like Ogden Marsh’s whacked-out inhabitants) and an online game that lets you make fight videos to share. That should be enough to keep you busy until the movie launches Feb. 26. Try to stay sane!

—Posted by T.L. Stanley

What’s a great way to whip Twihards into a new froth over Eclipse, the next movie in the Twilight series? Leak out some photos of the two main characters, dreamy vampire Edward and his randy girlfriend Bella, cavorting in bed. There’s chest hair! (His, not hers.) And then what’s the best way to stoke that flame? Yank the pictures down. Seems a number of Internet sites that had posted a handful of images from Eclipse received lawyerly cease-and-desist letters from studio distributor Summit Entertainment. They promptly removed the photos. Movieline, not so much. So, go take a look here while you can. The shots are incredibly tame, even by teen-flick standards, but they push further than anything yet seen in the movie series based on Stephenie Meyer’s best-selling novels. Plus, they’re incredible pieces of marketing. If execs at Summit didn’t engineer this entire episode, they certainly should have. 

—Posted by T.L. Stanley

Is Google the new Microsoft? This video from Comedy.com certainly seems to be channeling a kind of rage against the Google machine that harkens back to the late ’90s, when many thought Microsoft would soon control the world. Here, a putative Google spokesman responds to complaints about Google Buzz by reminding people that Google can kill you and then giving the camera the finger. ("Index this!") The script then lays out a very Microsoft-like indictment: "We have never had a single, original idea ever. Our business model is to find something successful that already exists and then use our trillions of dollars to make a Google version. MapQuest sure seems to be popular and profitable. Boom! Google Maps." He goes on to say that when Google can’t figure out how to copy something, like YouTube, it just buys it. "We may look innocent with our cutesy holiday logos and April Fool’s pranks, but we run your fucking lives," he explains. "We are fucking Google. If we tell you to buzz, you will buzz." On a related note, check out this Onion video in which Google offers to protect your privacy by relocating you to a remote village.

—Posted by Todd Wasserman

Everyone enjoys an adventure, even your cat. That’s the message in this new Friskies ad, which debuted on Valentine’s Day. It’s part of the first major campaign for the Purina cat-food brand in seven years. The ad shows a happy kitty (who resembles my own feline) running through a Friskies "Adventureland." The cat passes turkeys, cows and chickens and rides on a float in the shape of a fish—all of which represent the ingredients found in the cat food. According to a Friskies marketing rep, the jingle was written specifically for this TV spot. The brand hasn’t used music like this before. The animation and music remind me of a children’s program: vibrant colors and simple words that are meant to stick in your mind. "Excite your cat day and night with endless enchantment. It’s the magic Friskies makes happen every day in so many ways," the jingle goes. Given that we treat our pets like children, it makes sense why Friskies took this (somewhat gooey) direction.

—Posted by Elena Malykhina

This ad from Unilever for its Klondike bars, shown during yesterday’s Consumer Analyst Group of New York conference, definitely reminded us of Steve Carrell and his waxing scene in The 40 Year Old Virgin. Building on its "What would you do-o-o, for a Klondike bar jingle," the packaged-goods maker launched this ad, among others, in 2009, showing a man going through waxing extremes to celebrate the Klondike bar’s "thicker, more chocolately shell." The spot, which elicited giggles from yesterday’s gathering of analysts, marketers, investors and press, shows the guy first getting a chest wax (while eating a regular Klondike bar), and then attempting a, uh, bikini wax, upon learning his favorite ice-cream brand just got chocolatier. What will he have to do if the Klondike becomes triple chocolatier? Full-body wax? We cringe just thinking of it!

—Posted by Elaine Wong

When Starbucks introduced its Via instant coffee last September, it went all out to promote it, even to the point of supposedly instructing baristas to do anything to get people into try it, including using guilt as a motivator. All the strong-arming was worth it, though, since Starbucks recently reported that Via has been a hit. It’s not surprising, then, that Nestlé’s Nescafé, a competitor in the instant-coffee segment, is attempting to strike back. Outdoor ads from McCann Erickson’s Los Angeles office compare Nescafé to an unnamed competitor that just happens to have a green logo with the word "hype" in the middle of it. (Nescafé, for its part, is represented by a cup emblazoned with the word "Flavor.") This is just the latest salvo from the Nestlé brand. Last June, Nescafé greeted the looming introduction of Via with an ad that said: "Dear  Starbucks, imitation is flattery. Charging 400% more, not so much."

—Posted by Todd Wasserman

Gossip Girl has been a major influence on hot young things’ fashion choices since it launched three seasons ago, and now the CW show is getting into the rag trade itself with a line of branded frocks. That term seems appropriate because a) it’s a group of dresses and b) said garments will appear at a proper-sounding U.K. retailer called Miss Selfridge, via a deal with Warner Bros. Consumer Products. There will be eight outfits (yet to be unveiled) inspired by the show’s costume designer, Eric Daman, and based on four main female characters: Serena van der Woodsen, Blair Waldorf, Jenny Humphrey and Vanessa Abrams. The choices include a leopard-print boho maxi dress, a ruffle-front shift dress with floral skirt, a black body con bandage dress and a nude-and-black lace tutu. If you don’t know which design stems from which spoiled Upper East Sider, then you have some reruns to watch. The series, which has been on a scheduled hiatus, comes back March 8. (The CW said Tuesday that it’s ordered season 4.) No doubt the U.K. launch is a test. There’s no word yet if the clothes will make an appearance stateside.

—Posted by T.L. Stanley

Speaking of Vitaminwater, Cleveland-based ad agency Brokaw is giving the brand’s Winter Olympics creative a 3-D aspect with this bus shelter in downtown Vancouver. The company transformed the shelter into a ski lift, a move that recalls a stunt that Venture Communications pulled on behalf of Ski Alberta in 2008. Other ads in the campaign highlight Olympic athletes in Vitaminwater’s typically jocular style. "Don’t try challenging Michael Lambert," reads one, referring to the Canadian snowboarder. "You’ll lose. Even in your imagination."

—Posted by Todd Wasserman