Tequila Sydney obviously need more work as they have had time to put together a Political Hot Air Balloon race :) Good to see agencies being proactive and having some fun on their own backs and not waiting for clients.

Here's Tequila's words on the project;

"Taking live feeds from Google news quotes service, the balloons rise and fall graphically showing who's generating the most virtual column inches each day. You also get the chance to stick a pin in the balloon of a candidate acting as a sort of opinion poll."

I would have liked to have seen it an actual race over the days. Not just rise and fall based on the most recent mentions in the news. They missed a big opportunity with some sexy data visualisation but they definitely got in at the right time for a "presidential viral" piece. I like the Google News mentions metric but it's hard to know if the news is positive or negative (which would be impossible to tell).

They were also responsible for the Slap the Candidate viral a few years back.

Another take on this is Avenue Fighter which takes Twitter mentions of either candidate checks whether they are positive or negative and then uses that to form an attack to either fighter.

Which viral will reign supreme? Both subscribe the to the "viral = ugly" doctrine of design but they are funny enough not to need much polish.

An RSS feed I always take notice of is the Viral Blog's Viral Friday. Which this week had this gem (Take on Me the Literal Version) as their #1. We can't stop laughing. I can see more in this series being rolled out soon.

The creator has his own Youtube channel as site Dust FIlms. This is how the new bread of directors are getitng their start. With the funding for music film clips going as low as $2,000 for semi-mainstream artists (according to the talk I heard last year from TDB) it's these guys who offer something that the bigger directors cant. Slave wages with unlimited enthusiasm.

Oh look Dan Aykroyd is promoting his new line of Crystal Head Vodka. He must be trying to capitalise on the release of Indy 4 on DVD on Oct 14. Or is it for Ghostbusters 3 a franchise Dan has much more vested interest in.

Dan did have a bit part in Temple of Doom so it's not too much of a stretch to see that he'd be pimping a fake product to promote a movie. What is weird is that Dan actually has his own winery, aptly named Dan Aykroyd Wines and from various reports like on Notcot the Crystal Skull Vodka is actually real. That said it might be PR gifts which would make more sense and would explain why Notcot did such a big post about it. Check out the products website. No where to buy page though which seems like a waste if it was real.

Update: Jean from NOTCOT replied to say no PR gift and you can buy it here. It's sold out though.

Either way it's brought to light that Dan Aykroyd is still alive and kicking (even if Bill Murray is taking the spotlight), there's talks of Ghostbusters 3 brewing and that until now I never realised "Aykroyd" sounds rude.

Oh and if you think Dan is faking it when it comes to the Paranormal check him out talimg about how the "Men in Black" cancelled his show about UFO's. (This is not a SNL sketch)

It's hard to take what ever he says seriously as his usual delivery is so deadpan.

These look to be official Muppet videos. Will there be a Muppet film coming soon? They are all over Youtube as well. Each character has just one video with limited cross linking. I look forward to seeing if they continue with this or if it's leading up to some bigger Muppet related announcement. Considering the amount of cash Alvin and the Chipmunks made recently Disney would be stupid not to pump out a new Muppets movie.

Ode To Joy from Beaker on Vimeo.

Habanera from The Swedish Chef on Vimeo.

These videos are not only fun but right on the Muppet brand. It's extending the Mahnahmahnah! song which went mental when I was in highscool. It was on the Triple J Hottest 100 or something.

There are quite a few Muppet Videos done by fans. Plenty of gansta rap videos and movie mashups as seen below.

My fav Muppets were Beaker and the Swedish Chef.

Having trouble coming up with the next award winning idea? Try one of these to get the creative ideas flowing.
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