The Ex Files

What Elena Said!

Here's what Panasonic and agency Renegade, N.Y., have been up to. I'd write a story for Ex Files, but our Web editor beat me to it! Becky (bebenkamp@brandweek.com)

Viva la Diva!

To protest the arrest of the character Susan Lucci plays on All My Children, ABC Daytime shot a "Free Erica Kane" rally complete with a performance by boy band B5. Hence the Che Guevara-inspired poster in the post below. B5 wrote a song called "Erika Cain" (kids are down with typos, y'all) with La Lucci's siren standing in as inspiration for that "ideal girl" who ends up driving you bonkers.  The ep featuring the rally will air later this month.
bebenkamp@brandweek.com

The Silent Pepsi Generation

Here's a vying-to-be-viral vid on the making of a Pepsi Super Bowl commercial, which was filmed entirely in American Sign Language. (It'll be captioned for those who don't "speak" ASL.) Created by agency BBDO, the silent, 60-second ad chronicles a joke that is well-known in the deaf community. On the Scene, Los Angeles, is in charge of the YouTubery. Becky (bebenkamp@brandweek.com)

It's Not Just TV...

I've seen mentions of this HBO Video/Virgin Megastore holiday display at a few Web sites, but not any actual footage. It's kinda neat to watch. Interacting with the screen "unwraps" the presents to reveal DVDs of The Sopranos, Oz, The Wire and other shows. The work was created by Monster Media and appears at 11 Virgin stores. Note: About 50 seconds in, the vid switches from the demo to a bunch of man-on-the-street testimonials.

Where are those members of the Lollipop Guild when we need them?

Last week, "witch legs" festively dressed with striped stockings and sparkly shoes could be seen dangling out from the perimeters of prominent buildings in New York and Los Angeles as if a tornado had plopped the shops down on the unfortunate gals. The street effort supported Sci Fi Channel's original miniseries Tin Man, an on-acid reimagined take on the already on-acid Wizard of Oz. If there's a sequel, I sure hope the marketing involves flying monkeys. (Top photo by Evans Vestal Ward)

PS: If you're not a leg man, below is some "disarming" imagery of a street campaign (this shot was purportedly taken in Amsterdam) for the DVD launch of Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof flick. I found it here and you can also read about it here, which is Sam Ewen's new blog.

Becky