:: adgruntie :: New VW ad, using WHOIS & Pepsi SB spot

+ VW's new Golf GTI advert by BMP DDB, features Gene Kelly rapping and breakdancing to a club-mix of Singin' in the Rain. It begins airing tonight and "was the result of months of negotiations with the star's family, the movie rights' owners and record label EMI. It remasters the scene using masks, wigs and a digital techniques to impose Kelly's face on the dancers." Shame on MediaGuardian making the ad only avaliable to view in crappy Real Player. Don't they know that most ad folk are on Macs and Macs and Real Player don't like each other very much. Grr.

The spot - 'Gene' was directed by Jake and Ryoko at Stink and was posted by the team at MPC.

+ This morning I discovered Bloggerheads had posted some of my comments on the VW Viral thing. I'd like to return the favor with something great that he posted on his blog.

Oh, and the last names of Lee and Dan that seem so elusive? It took me about 2 minutes to track this down:Lee Lockwood and Dan Brooks

FFS, Lockwood is easily revealed by a simple WHOIS lookup. What are they teaching journalists these days?

Fantastic! What are they teaching journalists? Apparently not much. Sort of amusing though, because doing a WHOIS lookup is a basic way of getting information and doing your research. Apparently none of the folks at VW have thought of this either, so the journalists reporting on the story shouldn't feel so horrible. ;)

In somewhat related news, AdLand's superslueth Dab reports CP&B site spoof has nothing to do with CP&B after talking with a CP&B rep as well as phoning the NY phone number listed in the WHOIS for theneep.com. Apparenlty none of the other journalists who reported on this story bothered to do so. But *please* don't call the number- it seems that someone used a fake number and some poor fella is getting calls about something he has no idea about.

+ Media Bulletin reports on one of the Diet Pepsi ads for the Super Bowl.

Rapper P Diddy is set to star in the latest Diet Pepsi ad alongside former supermodel Cindy Crawford and 'Desperate Housewives' actress Eva Longoria.
The 30-second spot, the first created by DDB New York since winning the account from BBDO last year, features the rapper on his way to an awards ceremony when his car breaks down.
Diddy has to hitch a ride to the awards in a Pepsi truck and as he pulls up to the red carpet a host of celebrities, including Crawford and Longoria, marvel at his "cool" method of transport.
The ad is due to premiere during the US Super Bowl on February 6, traditionally the time when Pepsi debuts a significant new campaign.

This will be the second time Crawford has been brought back to pitch for Diet Pepsi.Yet another sign that this year's Super Bowl will be the year of the celebs, instead of the animals, for a change. ;)