It's Not New Years Day or Christmas Day, It's Better. It's MLB Opening Day!

In honor of the 2011 MLB season starting this Thursday afternoon. I have decided to start it early with ESPN's latest MLB opening day commercial. Take a look.  



If you haven't figured it out already, this spot was narrated by the one and only "Field of Dreams" Kevin Costner.

Also, in honor of the start to the 2011 MLB season, I have updated the Unemployed Ad Man's home page banner to commemorate this occasion. Enjoy!

What Would You Send Back?

Have you ever regretted buying something online that you later wished you could send back. This is the exact scenario that a family is forced to face in a TV spot for the United States Postal Service's Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes ad campaign.



While not everybody owns a weird possessed clown doll, what item have you purchased online recently, that you would like to send back. Let the Unemployed Ad Man know.

In Case You Missed It: Do Dogs Really Chase Cats?

For those of you who have wondered if dogs really chase cats, GEICO has come to your rescue. In their latest TV spot, GEICO shows why dogs chase cats. This ad features it staple spokesman (Mike McGlone) asking the question "Could switching to Geico really save you 15% or more on car insurance?" It is then followed by a comical "70s Starsky and Hutch-like" car chase with your new favorite GEICO stars. Take a look:    



The only thing that this commercial is missing is a dog or cat dressed like Snoop Dogg's character, Huggy Bear, from the Starsky and Hutch remake! Please take note of this GEICO.

The First Sign of Spring: Grilling Season!

Now that spring has finally arrived, according to the calendar, you know what that means..... Oh wait, you don't, well here it is:

We can finally get our charcoal or gas grills out and start grilling, without freezing our butts off.

In honor of this occasion, I have embedded below, the latest Kingsford Charcoal TV spot, for you to enjoy.

The New Late Night Snack

In case you missed it, Ben & Jerry's came out with a new ice cream flavor. Apparently, Ben & Jerry got their inspiration for this new flavor from late night television. Step aside Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, the host of  Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, has now joined the ranks of late night hosts who have inspired new flavors of Ben & Jerry's. Jimmy Fallon's Late Night Snack is a gooey confection of "vanilla bean ice cream with a salty caramel swirl & fudge covered potato chip clusters." Doesn't that sound tasty!

This new ice cream flavor which came about through a deal between NBC's consumer products division and Ben & Jerry's, apparently started hitting stores two week ago. Ben & Jerry's had already been mulling a potato chip mix-in when Fallon and his house band, the Roots, played an original song about Ben & Jerry's treats as the fictional group Ladysmith Snack Mambazo. From this in-show song sprang a piece of licensed swag for Jimmy Fallon, NBC and Ben & Jerry's. Late Night Snack joins Colbert's Americone Dream as the only other flavor to be based on a late night talk show.

Here is a clip from the unveiling of Late Night Snack on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon:

Nothing Says Sun Tan Like a Nuclear Crisis

As, many of you know and all media buyers have been taught, it is imperative that you confirm your ad placement before it goes to press, when it is positioned next to editorial content, especially when that content is emotionally charged. Apparently somebody forgot this step in Wednesday's Wall Street Journal. On Wednesday, Hilton ran a half page, 4-color ad promoting their "Hilton Honors" program, with the headline, "Work, work, work on your tan." What was the problem with this ad and its placement, you ask? Well I will let you take a look and see:

Nothing says sun tan, like the coverage about Japan's nuclear crisis. Call it insensitive or unfortunate. Somebody made a mistake. And if the publication is at fault, I have a feeling that Hilton will be getting an apology and possibly some free or severely discounted space in the WSJ. I guess we will have to wait and see.   

Time to pick the Brackets!

For college basketball fans (like myself), this is the time of the year that we have been waiting for. Its Bracket time! If you are like most of the country, you are probably already in the process of filling out at least one of your brackets this year, if not more.

Every year, someone comes up with a new and creative way to make their tournament picks. This year, ESPN decided to document it in their latest TV spot for their Tournament Challenge bracket game. Take a look:



This year I think I'm going to try the Plinko method for my brackets! What about you?

F-bomb dropped on Chrysler

For those of you who have been living under a rock this week, you missed a shocking tweet from Chrysler on Wednesday.

Apparently a now former employee at New Media Strategies decided to drop the f-bomb on the Chrysler Autos official Twitter page. According to reports, this person had a difficult commute into work that day and decided to voice their displeasure through Twitter. The only problem, they were logged into Chrysler Auto's Twitter account, instead of their own personal account, when they posted the above tweet. While this tweet has since been deleted, the original tweet caught the attention of several people who retweeted it on Twitter, making it impossible to be erased from the web. 

Until this week New Media Strategies was the agency of record for Chrysler's social media business. Within a day of this tweet, that employee had been fired and Chrysler had fired New Media Strategies as its agency of record for social media. As a result of this tweet, both Chrysler and New Media Strategies have been forced to play damage control over this incident.   

Here is some advice to all of you on Twitter, next time you want to tweet something that may be deemed incriminating, make sure you're logged into your own personal account, not your company's or client's account. Just saying!

UPDATE:  Here is the face the behind the tweet. Can't believe that this guys' misguided tweet cost 20 other people their jobs. Article is courtesy of freep.com.

Jen Aniston Sex Tape?

So apparently Jennifer Aniston is going all out in her efforts to promote SmartWater. In the latest TV spot for Glaceau SmartWater, Jen is instructed to do whatever possible to get this video to go viral.  So to help in these efforts, Jen enlists the talents of a handful of internet phenomenons, including the dancing babies, to achieve this goal. Take a look:    



Who knew a kick to the balls was worth around 100,000 hits on the internet!

A Winning Internship Opportunity!

Attention to all of you Vatican assassins and warlocks, put down your tiger blood and listen up. For those of you who have not heard the news, Charlie Sheen is looking to hire a winning intern. On March 7th, the new king of Twitter posted the following tweet advertising this unique winning internship opportunity:

In just 48 hours, Charlie already had over 400,000 clicks to his tweet. According to Internship.com, which is behind this unique sponsorship for the Charlie Sheen internship, almost 75,000 people have already applied to this 8 week internship as of late Wednesday. For those of you, who are interested in applying for this position, you need to hurry up and apply. The deadline to apply to be the social media intern for Team Sheen is today, March 11th. This internship is for 8 weeks during the summer of 2011 and is a full-time paid internship.

For those who are still interested in applying, here a short description of the position from the official Charlie Sheen Internship page on Internship.com:

Do you have #TigerBlood? Are you all about #Winning? Can you #PlanBetter than anyone else? If so, we want you on #TeamSheen as our social media #TigerBloodIntern!

This unique internship opportunity will allow a hard-working, self-motivated, creative, resourceful and social media savvy individual to work closely with Charlie Sheen in leveraging his social network. The internship will focus on executing a social media strategy that will build on the success Charlie Sheen has attained in setting the Guinness World Record for the fastest time to reach one million followers on Twitter. The #TigerBloodIntern is expected to be proactive, monitor the day-to-day activities on the major social media platforms, prepare for exciting online projects and increase Charlie’s base of followers.

You will learn how to promote and develop the social media network of Hollywood’s most trending celebrity.

Good luck to everyone who has already applied or who plans on applying.  Unfortunately, I don't think I have what it take to be Team Sheen's new Tiger Blood Intern. I do not have tiger blood running through my veins and I don't have Adonis DNA like Charlie Sheen. So I guess I will just return to my normal life and keep on Winning on my own.

Don't Cross these Cats!

Have you ever wondered what the world would be like if cats had opposable thumbs. Well, the folks over at Wieden + Kennedy London, decided to find out. In their new commercial for Cravendale milk, cats finally find out that having opposable thumbs has its advantages. Unfortunately, the human race better watch out!



Who knew cats had such a dark side to them. For those wondering, you can now follow the cats leader, Bertrum, on Twitter. Currently, Bertrum Thumbcat has over 1,200 followers.

Thanks goes out to AdFreak.com for posting this story, so that it could be brought to my attention.

The World's First Gay Beer

Apparently a small Mexican brewery called Minerva has developed the world's first beer targeted specifically towards the gay community. Minerva's new beers, which are named Purple Hand Beer and Salamandra, are currently available in some bars and restaurants in Guadalajara, Mexico City, and the resorts of Puerto Vallarta and Los Cabos. The "artisan honey-ales" are made with organic honey and malt, giving them an orange flavor, which the brewer believes appeals to gay communities. While the beer has already been introduced in Mexico, it is also being marketed in Columbia and Japan. Since launching the brands, Minerva has also received purchase requests from the US, Argentina, Ecuador and Chile. The company is also planning to launch a strawberry-flavored beer.

Having worked in the advertising industry, I am hesitant to believe that you can actually expect someone to like the flavor of a product based on whether they're straight or gay. If you like something, you are going to like it, no matter if you are gay or straight.

While this was an intriguing story. Unfortunately this beer company has nothing on the Scottish brewery, BrewDog, who packages its brew inside a taxidermied rodent. Now that's what I call a great idea! 

The Newest Craze In Advertising!

Just when you thought the advertising world had utilized every page in the book, comes the newest idea in advertising. What is it, you ask, well let me show you:

It's thigh advertising!

This unique and out of the box idea comes from DDB New Zealand for the fashion chain Superette. Apparently, Superette issued the challenge to DDB to come up with an idea to draw attention to their sale on short shorts. So DDB came up with the idea to place ads on the thighs of those who wear the trendy short shorts.

To create these ads DDB installed indented plates on benches in bus stops, mall seats and park benches across the inner city of Auckland and in the fashion district. These indented plates would then imprint the ad on the thighs of people who sat down on these benches. Apparently, people on these benches are instructed to squeeze their legs as hard as they can against the plate on the bench, ignoring the pain, so that they get a print that might be readable by others at a distance, while they are walking.

Thanks goes out to Adfreak.com for posting this story so that it could be brought to my attention.