bigger isn't always better

When is a park a park and a pothole a pothole? Well, we can tell you that the 2 foot space in the middle of Front Street in Portland, Oregon is most certainly NOT a pothole. It is, infact, the smallest park on record. Mill Ends Park was created in 1946 when a journalist decided to plant flowers where a light post used to live and recorded all the "happenings" in the park for the Oregon Journal. The itty bitty park, owned by the city, is maintained and even the site of art installations.

We’re just wondering if they have a no dog rule, 'cause, well, you know...

clean and simple wins the race

Finding the proverbial “white space” can be critically important when trying to gain share and Spontex, a cleaning brand, has taken this to heart - literally. They’ve done their work in making their social media pages so spotless that their Twitter feed is filled with blocks of clean white spaces! When intrigued consumers clicked on the unexpected posts, a hidden image and/or message appeared. This is a great example of simple and clean being the biggest and loudest way to get the attention of consumers.

put a little muscle into your media

Passively engaging consumers with traditional mass reach vehicles is no longer the most effective way to make a lasting impression on consumers. Brands like Powerade are responding by getting creative and using technology to reinvent media to be more engaging. Powerade’s street level billboard supports their new tagline, “you have more power than you think” by encouraging consumers to test their physical limits with interactive fitness installments! Now that’s what we call, an active engagement.

What? Who doesn’t enjoy a little marketing humor?!

taco bell knocking at the dorm room door

It's the day after midterms. You're sitting in your apartment with your 5 roommates enjoying a few carbonated beverages. After about 4 or 5 of those drinks you probably got hungry, but this time you wanted something other than pizza. Too bad no one else delivers... Until now! That's right, Taco Bell is testing out delivery, but only near some college campuses. Well played.

game of thrones the musical

Good causes that need your help and dollars are not hard to come by these days. It's sad, but true. And these organizations know it, so they need to stand out. What better way than to get the actors from the worlds most bloody, sex filled, dragon loving show out there to turn their talents to musical theatre. Yep, Game of Thrones The Musical is coming to NBC's Red Nose day.

vine bikini history lesson

Social media moves fast. So fast that there were no Vine stars 2 years ago. Now brands are taking notice of the influence that a niche social network media personality can have and are pulling them in to big, corporate advertising. Amanda Cerny joined up with Breathless Resorts to give a history lesson on women's beach ware fashion trends all for the good of the brand. Is getting social stars to endorse a brand a win-win?

soldiers on different type of battlefield

This past Memorial Day you likely took a moment to honor those brave soldiers that died in the battlefield fighting for our freedom, which is exactly what the holiday is about. Sadly though, many of us don't know about the 22 soldiers a day die on a different type of battlefield: their home, due to suicide. To raise awareness for this unnecessarily high statistic, nonprofit Mission 22 and Crispin Porter + Bogusky launched this incredibly heartbreaking campaign showcasing the homes where some of these soldiers committed suicide. But they don't want you to stop at just knowing about it, you can help too. If you know a soldier struggling with the experiences of their service, the campaign website features a list of vetted organizations where they can get help. Powerful work, tastefully done.

a whole new way to do pizza & a movie

Pizza Hut in Hong Kong knows nothing goes better with pizza delivery than a movie (well, maybe a good craft beer). But instead of doing the traditional partnership marketing stuff like "order a pizza, get a free Netflix or Hulu month, or an OnDemand rental," they took it up a whole lotta notches with a pizza box that turns into a movie projector. Yep, that little plastic piece that holds the box top up from your precious cheese has a projector lens that plugs into the front of the box, you then insert your phone, close the lid, and BOOM you have free movies! Cool!

this “new beginning” gets us “feeeeeeeling gooooood”

In the past Volvo was known for safety, stability and frankly, being less than sexy. Not exactly the car someone dreams about, but rather the type of car one may feel obligated to buy. A valiant effort on Volvo’s part has brought forth a brand transformation of epic proportions - bringing Volvo, as they've coined, into the light of a "New Beginning". In partnership with the music artist Avicii (yes, you read that right), the two unlikely partners have launched a long-form commercial featuring Avicii's new arrangement of the song "Feeling Good" that focuses on their transformation and renewal. Volvo's new campaign is sure to turn heads and gain interest from a younger segment. Way to take a risk Volvo - it paid off!

fur-bulous fashion innovation

We know what you were thinking – why don’t they have a sweatshirt that keeps me warm while my cat purrs away in the front pocket? Right on – fair question. We've asked ourselves the same thing time and again. Wait no more because all of our fashion dreams have come true – the new Mewgaroo Hoodie is here and it’s 100% fur-bulous. The fashion forward garment includes a lined, washable wedge shaped front pocket large enough for a small animal (cat) to snuggle in, long sleeves with paw print design and thumb hole access AND ears on the hood. Get yours TODAY. Meow!

read a book. grow a tree.

Encouraging children to read is critically important to their development. Encouraging children to help save the environment is well, critically important to the world! Combining the two initiatives, successfully, is of brilliant! The Tree Book Tree program publishes children’s books that grow into trees when planted! The books are made out of acid-free paper, silk screened and printed with ecological ink. Now that’s bringing something full circle!

this billboard's not for men

Beer brands rarely (if ever) market themselves specifically to women. Women, however, are the fastest growing beer drinking demographic. Astra beer in Germany knows this, so they created the first digital billboard ONLY for women. Using gender recognition technology, the billboard only serves up its funny advertising videos to women. If you're a man it tells you there's nothing here for you. Underage? It knows that too and serves you up a message saying you're too young. In fact, there are over 70 very quick, funny videos you can be served depending on the situation detected. Now if it could only serve women a real beer, it would be the best beer billboard ever.

Free wi-fi can motivate people to hang around . . . just look at any Starbucks in any city on any given day. Dare we say it's more motivating, than oh, I don't know, the threat of cancer? Apparently so, because The Peruvian League Against Cancer's giant tower at Playa Agua Dulce was a huge success in drawing sun worshippers in to its shade for free wi-fi. So, it seems free wi-fi can do what many many years of cancer PSAs cannot. Hey, whatever it takes!

you don't have to be rich to have fun

Which makes you want to vomit more? Downing an entire bucket of KFC yourself, or scrolling through #RickKidsofInstagram for a few minutes? Tough call, but KFC Romania would say it's the rich kids, so they created their own parody hashtag, #LittleMoneyBigFun encouraging KFC lovers to show those spoiled brats you don't have to be rich to have fun . . . or eat food you love of course. The campaign was not only clever, it worked, boosting sales by 21%!

3d van gough will trip you out

Have you ever tried to get inside the mind of an artist without the assistance of mind altering substances? It is challenging. Now you have to look no farther than the work of Animator Mackenzie Cauley who has turned Van Gough's work in to 3d environments. It feels slightly uncomfortable and surreal, which is probably a lot like how Van Gough himself felt most of the time.

it's the cops, hide the ads

Russia is a wacky place where the vodka flows free and the meats and cheese are absolutely not from the EU. So, how does one advertise authentic Italian meats and cheeses? Hide the ads from the po-po. Does it work perfectly? No, but it uses some cool visual identification software to switch up the ads when a cop walks by. Check out the whole project over at adfreak. Now if we could just make cars appear to be moving slower than than they actually are...

ketchup's old mustard gets a new ketchup

Hold on to your weiner, because things are heating up in the condiment game. Heinz shot first with their ad touting their new yellow mustard that is made from 100% natural ingredients and developed specifically with Heinz ketchup in mind. Well, French's isn't taking things lying down and have announced their new ketchup! Is this the new Coke vs. Pepsi? We can only hope. This has the makings for an amazing social battle. Get to it!

more non-sexual Groupon products

They’re at it again. This time with the Bike Chain Wash and Scrub Kit. It is not sexual in nature at all. Well until you look at it, but the functionality of the product has nothing to do with sex, or does it? I'm so confused! Well Groupon is here to help clarify, just like they did with the Banana Bunker. A+.

the perfect ad every time

Whether you watch this Volkswagon ad for 5 seconds or 60, you will get a complete story every time. This is fantastic on so many levels. People don't want to wait anymore, they just want to skip right to the end. What better way to get a win-win ad? None, that's what way.

IKEAflakes for breakfast

Toast or pastry? Soft or hard pillow? These are the questions you’ll need to answer when attending the IKEA Breakfast in Bed pop-up cafe. In an effort to promote their bedding options, they’ve decided to create an intimate brand experience that ties these two amazing things together. Rather than sitting at a table, you get to sit in one of their beds and get served by trained staff. Just don't spill the OJ!

shop with your eyes shut!

There are many ways to poetically refer to your eyes: the windows to our souls – deep as pools and bright as the moon - and now, the source of the Benjamin’s, baby! Japan’s new smartphone, Arrows NXF-04G allows users to use their eyes as confirmation of their identity to make purchases. Puts new meaning to your eyes being too big for ones wallet…perhaps consumers should consider shopping with some shades…

inspiration in asphalt

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Likewise, when life gives you potholes – create art! Jim Bachor finds the silver lining in annoying and hazardous potholes and creates colorful and delicious looking mosaics. His series, “Sweet Treats” features colorful frozen treats throughout Chicago, IL and Lyaskyla, Finland.

pizza, pizza. pizza pizza pizza!

Ever talk in pizza slices? No? You should try it – it’s fun, but be warned that if you do, you may end up with a whole lotta cheese, sauce and dough!

Starting May 20th Domino’s will dominate Twitter with a tool that allows consumers to link their Twitter accounts to the pizza brand’s online ordering tool. Only thing cooler than that is their Twitter promotion where they Tweeted only in pepperoni slices.

Nom nom nom. Pizza please!

facebook is calling

Facebook is quickly becoming the one stop shop for businesses to reach their customers. Facebook is now letting customers reach out to them and actually talk to a person on the phone. This integration comes with a handy little button on posts that let the user tap a button and make a phone call. I guess Zuck saw the trend of their user base shifting older and realized that group still like to talk to people on the phone.

data optimized sex life

You use data to optimize all sorts of things, right? Campaigns, websites, search, your workout. Now it's time to learn to optimize your sex life with some life analytics. Dunlopillo offers a smart mattress with all kinds of sensors to collect your sleep data, along with other bed activities. That data will then translate to notifications on how to spice things up. Data is just making life better and better.

itunes social celebrities

Do you remember Ping? It was Apple's very short lived social network built in iTunes for music lovers. Well, it looks like Apple is trying to bring it back from the dead with a focus on only letting celebrities in on the game. It is reported to give musicians a way to put out tracks, videos, news and updates... because that doesn't exist currently. Oh, and rumor is that they'll have to pay to play. Good luck with that.

save the animals with emojis

Most of us use emojis pretty frequently, and many times they're of cute little animals . . . cute little animals that are endangered, like (certain breeds of) elephants, pandas, and whales. And, most of us would like to be able to do something to help save said endangered animals. Well, this WWF campaign, created by good folks at Wieden + Kennedy, uses your love of emojis and your desire to help to really make a difference. Just simply visit the WWF campaign page, retweet their tweet containing emojis of endangered animals and you'll get instructions on how your use of their endangered animal emojis will donate $0.10 to saving them.

will rent for sex

Can you count on Airbnb for a laid back weekend getaway, but really have a hard time finding a good place to host your weekend-long orgy? Yeah, we feel your struggle, and so do the people at KinkBNB, a new Airbnb style website that helps "sex positive" people find "fun locations and (shared) accommodations" that allow a variety of kinky sex activities such as S&M, orgies, partner swapping and so on. As of right now there are 20 locations worldwide for rent, all following the creepy sex dungeon theme, but founders are hopeful a variety of places perfect for all sorts of kinks and fantasies will be available soon. So yeah, go get yo' freak on.

followed by a billboard

Pamphlets with photos of adorable doggies in need of forever homes are a good start in spreading the word about dog adoption, but Battersea Dogs Home in London took in one awesomely giant step further. See, once you walk away with the brochure it's easy to forget the message and continue on with your business . . . unless one of the adorable doggies follows you as you walk through the mall to let you know they want to go home with you. How exactly? By embedding RFID chips in the pamphlet and rigging up a series of billboards throughout the mall to sense the brochure so it appears the dog is following you. Awwwwww, how can you resist that?!

hungry mistakes are amusing

People make mistakes all the time, which is why this campaign is so perfect for Snickers. Capitalizing on human nature, Snickers is calling out mistakes all over NYC with branded stickers that read "You make mistakes when you're hungry." Maybe they are right, people were probably just hungry...

Coke expands its product line

Not sure why this hasn't happened before, but Coca-Cola is now expanding its line to include cans with Braille. The idea came about during the "Share a Coke" campaign, as people with blindness were unable to see their names on the cans. The new cans allow them to feel their names and Share a Coke.

thank goodness for moms

Does your mom know what you do for a living? Probably, kinda, sorta-ish. Well, to celebrate Mother's Day, agency MRY got a few of their employee's mothers together to explain what their kids did. The results were fantastic. They explain it just as well as most industry professionals. Vaguely.

a deliciously fun way to quit your job

Got yourself a new jobby job but don’t want to burn a bridge with your current employer? No problem – just put your resignation letter on a delicious cake! The trend toward creatively applying and resigning for and from jobs is not only fun, but apparently it can be tasty too.

Here’s to hoping that your co-workers have the decency to quit in such a celebratory and caloric fashion!

walking ain’t easy

Walking can be harrrrrrrd. Add intoxication or gum into the mix and well, it can be down right impossible. Such is our experience with Pussy Walk – the addictive game that encourages players to spend copious amounts of time trying to get the gentleman who we can only assume goes by the name of, Pussy, to walk. Sound easy? (loud audible snicker) Then try it!

when safety isn’t fashionable, laugh

Motorcyclists know that wearing a helmet could save their life, but what if said helmet gives bad hair? Is it even worth going through life like that?! Our answer to that question is (obviously), “YES!!!” – but maybe motorists can have their cake and eat it too (life with all their limbs AND awesome hair)! These brilliant ads for BMW helmets creates awareness of this vitally important safety precaution and helps to poke fun at the super duper serious result of wearing a helmet. Does it fix the pervasive “bad hair problem”, no. Does it remind consumers to wear (and buy) a helmet and give consumers a laugh? Yes.

call your mom on mother's day

Sunday is Mother's Day, just in case you forgot. Samsung wants to highlight just how inept your mom is at texting so that you will just call her instead. The video shows some of the best worst moments of texts from mom including the wall of text, improper use of hashtags, emoji misunderstandings, and the ever popular ALL CAPS TEXT. Yeah, it probably is better to just call, and it's not to late to go mail a card. Moms love cards.

clorox markets anti-marketing

Clorox takes a stab at marketing their bleach based products with a jab at how all the other cleaning solutions and sprays use their snazzy bottle designs as just another marketing tactic. So, it's a marketing strategy that says that they aren't using marketing? At least the writing is funny and you can clean up a crime scene with Clorox.

shaming cheaters in video game

Public shaming on the internet is not a new thing, but shaming a cheater in a video game? The game Guild Wars 2 took an account ban to a whole new level when they banned one of its players found to be hacking the game by stripping the in game character naked and then jumping it off a tall ledge to it's death. The developers then banned that character, and all other activity associated with the account holder. The internet's reaction is varied ranging from praise for the ban to criticism for the public shaming. One thing holds true... the internet is a weird, weird place.

your bathroom never forgets

Unspeakable things occur on the toilet. Nasty, smelly, unspeakable things. But such is life, and so long as your toilet paper (and room deodorizer) do their jobs, you move on with the rest of your day like nothing happened. If only the same were true for the other bathroom inhabitants that have to bear witness to your unspeakable toilet acts. This latest ad campaign from Quilted Northern shares their unfortunate perspective, and it's damn clever.

did Audi take a wrong turn?

It's one of the oldest gender stereotypes in the book: women labeled as bad drivers. Audi Ireland decided to latch onto that belief with their latest campaign featuring tweets containing images of women getting themselves into some pretty ridiculous predicaments that could only be a result of bad driving, complete with distasteful sexist digs and the hashtag #womendrivers. Before you ladies go worrying your pretty little heads (ahem, that's sarcasm), it's actually all a farce. The links in the tweets take you to stories about women being important drivers in fields like technology, sports, and science. Sure, it's a pleasant bait and switch surprise, but the whole thing is just a little off-putting.

don't rush it

We all fall for those click-bait video headlines like "you won't believe how much puss comes from this guys cyst" (bleeeeeeeehhhh), or "honeymoon goes all wrong when she poses for pic too close to edge". You don't REALLY want to watch the awfulness that ensures, but you just. can't. help. yourself.

Well, Intouch Insurance took advantage of your compelling need to watch by posting a video on YouTube entitled "MOST TERRIBLE FATAL CAR CRASH EVER". The spin is it's 10 mins, so of course, as any A.D.D. internet user would do, you fast forward (AKA speed up the car) to get to the good (read: horrific) part. But when you do, the thumbnails read "Don't Rush" and reveals it's a safe driving ad from Intouch Insurance.

Fantastic trickery.

this beer will lead you to the promise land

Looking for a beer that will take you to more beer? Have no fear, the GPS Heineken bottle is here. In effort to drive people to their brewery in Amsterdam, Heineken created a bottle with a special GPS system to take you there. Bottles were placed throughout the city to give lots of joy to the lucky people that found them.

May the 4th be with you

Brands were lighting up the social airwaves yesterday to celebrate May the 4th. A day dedicated to everything Star Wars. Lots of clever posts, tweets and grams. The force is strong with these brands.