vinyarb- you just have to read it

On 25th Oct 2009, on a field outside the town of Mazsalaca in Latvia, a student reported a meteor-like object blazing across the evening sky, and crashing to the ground. As with all important discoveries, it was accompanied with amateur footage complete with Cloverfield-isque shaky-cam work, approaching the smoking crater and revealing a burning mass at the bottom of the crater.

The video was posted on youtube, spread on twitter, and news sites around the world picked up on the story.Military units were immediately despatched to cordon off the area and test for radioactivity, while scientists eager to verify the find scampered across the seas to get first dibs. First scientist to the site, Uldis Nulle, concluded that it was a fake upon examination of the site in daylight. Other scientists confirmed the fakery, and declared it a hoax; that the crater was a man-made hole with a burning substance poured in it.

Then, on 27th October, Telecommunications company Tele2 admitted to perpetuating the hoax, intended to draw attention away from the gloom and doom of the economic crisis, toward something more interesting. The Latvian government was not pleased at all with the stunt, even though Tele2 later apologised and offered to compensate for costs incurred by the government in terms of military resources used.

Oh, also, the Latvian government cut its contract with Tele2.

On the bright side, because of this campaign, Tele2 won a Gold for Best use of Guerilla Marketing at the Golden Hammer awards!

Watch the "discovery" of the crater by the student on youtube here:

The Great Orchard Flood happened yesterday. Today, this ad appeared.

Done by BBH for NTUC Income, they must win the agency-client fastest fingers award for being sooo opportunistic.

When you think about the logistics at work; having to conceptualise, lay it out, write the copy, get the client's approval, and send it to the press.

And all in a day's work.

Great job, guys!

We busted Castle Grayskull and stumbled upon Skeletor's porn collection.

This campaign actually won a Gold Pencil at the New York One Show.

Awesome stuff.

Luxury Swiss Watchmaker Hublot has gone into sponsorship overdrive this year. Specifically into sports.

Led by the legendary Jean-Claude Biver (who had previously conjured the resurrection of Blancpain and Omega) since 2004, it has seen a fivefold increase in sales from 2004 - 2007.

He also set up the introduction of Hublot's flagship model, The Big Bang. An immediate success in terms of both sales and accolades, its trophy cabinet includes "2005 Design Prize" at the "Geneva Watchmaking Grand Prix", "Sports Watch Prize" at "Watch of the Year" in Japan, and "Best Oversized Watch" at "Watch of the Year" in Bahrain.

With turning Omega around, Biver looked into specifically product placements (Bond films) and celeb sponsorships (Cindy Crawford, Michael Schumacher and Pierce Brosnan)

With Hublot, it was the introduction of The Big Bang.

Seeing the masculinity of The Big Bang collection, it made perfect sense to be associated with sports. In 2008, Hublot became the official timekeeper for Manchester United, signing a four year deal. A Red Devil Bang was created for Manchester United, and a Hublot clock installed at Old Trafford. In return, Hublot will be able to use the Red Devil's logo in its promotions.

Red Devil Bang

Not content to rest on that laurel, they have further secured:

• Official Timekeeper for 2010 and 2014 World Cup

Classic Fusion Gold World Cup

• Official Watchmaker - Formula1^TM (For which they have created F1^TM King, a limited edition series of watches)

F1 King Power

• Sponsorship of World's Fastest Man, Usain Bolt
• Brand Ambassador Diego Maradona (For with they've also created a special edition Big Bang Maradona)

Big Bang Maradona

Like it or not... we'll be seeing more of Hublot for sure!

In Your Face, Casio!

Images from Hublot

Everybody hates mondays, and any brand that manages to change that is definitely gonna get on my "like" list. Heineken tries to change our perception of mondays with their latest campaign "Know What's Good". The basic idea is to have a slew of events on monday, and with a monday survival kit, hopefully change the perception of mondays and associate mondays with good times chugging back bottle after bottle.

So I received a Monday Survival Kit from them, and lo and behold, its really chock full of good stuff!

While it wouldn't really change the world, I'd say it really does make mondays a little more bearable, especially the *burp* bottle of Heineken, which i'm nursing as i'm writing. (Sure, its a wednesday night, but any night with a bottle's a good night!)

Let's see what there is in there:

- There's a monday survival guide, with very invaluable tips such as wearing work clothes to sleep so you can snooze an hour longer, or thinking really hard that its tuesday. (It comes complete with bubblewrap for all you nervy poppers)

- A post-it pad where you can paste it on things you should put off till tomorrow (can i have more of those please? Impressed that it was printed with my name!)

- A table stand that tells you what mondays make you feel like. (See, you don't even need to feel it. It tells you what to feel.)

- An eye pillow to rest those blearies

- A Stress Bottle

- A bottle opener

- An actual bottle of Heineken

But now that the bottle's gone. I have only the stress bottle to get by all other mondays.

But fret not, TGIM's here to stay for a while more, as Heineken seeks to have more events on monday to help us unwind after a long hard day of pretending to work, while secretly sobbing over the passing of yet another weekend.

Go to http://heineken.com.sg/tgim to find out more!