Morning Conference Call With London

I’m sure my counterpart in the London office loves these status calls just as much as I do. Takes me 5 minutes just to get acclimated to his Manc accent and him to my non-descript American accent that ends every sentence with a question mark.

I Love Glue. Gluey, Glue, Glue.

Glue London‘s a pretty talented bunch. I like them. And I don’t like anyone, so that’s something. Another cute banner for the Mini Clubman  – very, very nice video work.

(via BannerBlog)

A Holiday Ad I Actually Like

I’m so sick of Christmas advertising. If you work in an agency, you’ve probably been sick of it since May, when you had 5 kickoff meetings in a row for holiday campaigns. Or was that just me? This spot for a UK retailer, John Lewis, is both cleverly created and memorable. I can totally see an interactive component for this, but there’s not. Bah humbug. But in the spirit of the holidays, I do want to encourage you to make a little cocktail I call “JagNog” – 80% nog, 20% Jager. Sounds gross, but it’s sooooo damn good. Really.

(via Brand Flakes for Breakfast)

A Gorilla, Chocolate and a Pounding Headache

I thought the loud drumming noises were coming from inside my head (how many car bombs are too much? one.), but it’s actually from this very weird, but very cool spot for Cadbury Dairy Milk (by Fallon and A Glass and a Half Full Productions).

(via Adrants)

Strange and Beautiful

Looooooong loading time on this site, but it’s worth the wait – Fingal did an excellent job for the Aston Martin DBS. The Flash backgrounds are subtle but beautiful – very impressive.

Music Always Sounds Better..

..in your car when it’s dark. I don’t know why that is. VW has a nice microsite called Night Driving by DDB London. Really deep and very elegant video production. I especially like the mapped Great Night Drives section – I’m saving the ones in Germany for next month. What am I saying – I’ll be too drunk to see, much less drive. Although I do see pretty well with one hand over my eye.

(via AdverBlog)

Blindfolds and Virgins

Well, not really.  Smartly done interactive video banner by Lean Mean Fighting Machine for Virgin Bets.

(via BannerBlog)

Head Like An Orange

Karl Pilkington’s new site is genius. The simplicity, the illustrations, the seamless video, I love it. Interactive agencies keep trying to outdo each other on how many bells and whistles their site has, and it’s getting embarrassing. I mean, look at the hot mess of a site Dunkin Donuts is doing for their iced coffee push. The K-Man’s got the right idea, as always.

Naked People + Trampolines = Fun

Confetti. 2006. Never saw it (though I am a total geek when it comes to UK comedies), but I’m putting it on my Netflix queue for one reason – I love an advergame with naked trampolining. By Tequila.

Patio days are here again

It’s 78 and sunny today so that can only mean one thing – overindulging on a patio somewhere. This is the absolute best time of year – drinking and skin cancer. Love it!!! In the spirit (hehe) of my favorite hobby, here’s two interactive banners working together for Jacob’s Creek wine (created by Dare, courtesy of BannerBlog).

Dangerous Dancing and Banking

Things are slow at the office today – our traffic manager is keeping herself busy by making M&M characters at Planet M&M. She sends them to me every five minutes, which is getting old fast, but there was a funny one she made to look like Sanjaya Malakar.

I just saw an interactive viral site glue London did for Virgin Money with a incredibly daring dancer who begins as a sedate ballerina and ends with a power tool sparking in a dangerous area of her costume – hot! Very different take on a typical financial ad.

atWWW Banner Ad for Dyson

This is the most fun interactive banner ad I’ve seen in a long time – two skyscraper Dyson ads in which you can play Pong done by atWWW in the UK. I have always sucked at this game. But still fun. Courtesy of bannerblog.