I have a Droid, and like it a lot, but I'm a little concerned that these ads are alienating buyers by making the phone seem a lot more complex and threatening than it really is. To a first-time buyer, smartphones are a pretty intimidating purchase, and while I understand the impulse to differentiate the Droid from the cute-as-a-button, simple-as-can-be iPhone commercials, the Droid commercials may be going too far in the opposite direction with the whole DROID SMASH aesthetic. But that's just me, and, well, I bought one anyway—what do you guys think? [YouTube]

Sprint isn't giving in to the request and is proceeding to argue independent test results. I quite frankly don't care whether they give in, keep the claim, or change it to say that they're the best thing since sliced bread. I just want reliable service and calls that actually go through. [Electronista]

Google's game here is obvious: by analyzing this anonymized sea of TiVo viewer data, they can help customers target their ads more accurately. Ad buyers also win, because they have a better sense of exactly how many people are actually seeing their ads. Guess who doesn't like this plan!:

Now, with TiVo's data, collected from millions of digital video recorders across the country, Google can tell exactly which of those commercials are being bypassed. If all the commercials are being skipped, the channel gets no money. It's easy to see why TV executives get heartburn over this.

Between my cable box's DVR function and my computer, I rarely watch live TV. And when I do, I usually end up flipping around during commercials. I know I'm not alone, and I know this is causing problems for networks, who are pushing more and more of their advertising into show, instead of between them.

Google, which already licenses similar data from Dish Network, is giving us a preview of how this kind of thing will work for everyone in the future—soon, data detailing what people are and aren't watching will be too present, too obvious to ignore, and networks will have to acknowledge that hey, nobody is watching ads anymore. In the long term this will make advertising more effective and efficient, but it could also kneecap TV ad sales as a whole. Or not! Says Google:

Our system makes it easy for people to buy TV ads. We're lowering the barriers to entry, which has the effect of growing the market.

Somehow I imagine "lowering the barriers for entry" isn't on the top of NBC's to-do list right now. Google will kill all. [LAT]

(Click image for big-i-fied version.)

For a few thousand dollars, Japanese design firm D-Barcode will make your business a custom barcode, incorporating these simple vertical lines into pretty much any type of scene you can imagine (the code serves as everything from noodles to trees to rain to strands of melty cheese in the work we've seen)...which makes us ask, why is our packaging so lame?

If you'd like to see more D-Barcode work, hit these links: [Bar Code Revolution and TheDieline via FastCompany via NewLaunches]

The ads were designed to highlight the better grip the new bottles offer. They placed them in bus stop shelters in Paris, ready to rip cashmere sweaters and expensive clothes. But instead of hating them, the French bought 3.8% more of their sugar water.

What I want to see is an image of one of these ads after a week of being there. I can imagine giant balls of dust with cats and drunk people inside. [Daily]

If you don't feel like watching the whole ad, jump to about 1:50. It's where the truth is revealed. It's also the moment when I began to daydream about the days when ads actually showed the product for more than a few seconds. [Thanks, GitEmSteveDave!]

AdMob is one of the most dominant players in the mobile advertising arena—you've probably seen their ads in iPhone apps and things like that, as a bar on the top or bottom of the screen. AdMob isn't restricted to one platform; they're on pretty much all of the major consumer mobile OSes, including both iPhone and Android. What does this mean for you? Nothing, yet, since it's going to take at least a few months for the deal to go through. But it means that Google will have a huge influence in mobile advertising, way beyond Android. [Google]

According to this note he supposedly wrote and sent to his staff, Lee's figuring out other people's positions, not his own:

Hey Everyone:

So we tried to promote Duncan Milner because of the great job he's been doing leading the Media Arts Lab and look at how the blogosphere decided to make it a conversation about me.

As you all know, I'm here every day meddling in everything that goes on, pushing the creative on many brands including keeping an eye on Apple.

I remain Chairman of MAL, Global Creative Director of Media Arts and Chief Creative Officer of TBWA Worldwide.

I'm not going anywhere.

Love, Lee

There you have it. We can stop fearing that Apple ads will start sucking. [Media Bistro via All Things D]

So, while he's probably not a household name with the Apple faithful like Steve Jobs, or even Jonathan Ive, Clow left an indelible stamp on the company.

From its "1984" TV ad to the current Mac vs. PC ads, Clow has played a huge part in shaping the public perception of Apple.

Of all his big branding campaigns, it appears Clow thinks the most highly of the Apple store, saying, "The Apple Store was probably the best ad we ever did.... Everything a brand does is advertising," according to Print Mag. (via HuffPo).

Here's a look at some of his work.

My math teacher wasn't amused. And Carla was grossed out. A clear lose-lose-lose situation. German company Eichborn, however, thought it was the best way to promote themselves at the 2009 Frankfurt Book. Look Eichborn, it didn't work with me, it's not going to work with you. [Wired via Masahable]

Beezag's premise is to target 18-24 year olds—makes sense, since they're the poorest people with the most amount of free time to watch ads for cash—and give them prizes in return. The prizes?

Beezag then rewards them with discounts and cash which can be paid into accounts like iTunes, PayPal™, their favorite charity or even their personal bank account.

Unfortunately, payout rates were absolute garbage back then, and I don't imagine they're any better now. The best thing I got out of it was a shirt for GarageBand.com.

It's fine if you want to revisit an old business model that takes advantage of kids with no money, but don't pretend that it's some revolutionary thing you came up with now. The only thing new that we see is the Beezag bracelet they're giving away with an ID on it, plus an iPhone app that you can watch ads with on the go. [Beezag]

Created by Juan Cabral, the Sony Soundville campaign played music from the likes of Death in Vegas, Bob Dylan, and the Guillemots for a week. Cool stuff, Sony, but where's the Abba, the Chic, and the rest of the disco love? [Likecool]

This is one of those genius guerrilla advertising campaign that it's silly, absurd, and absolutely effective, increasing The North Face products sales by 38 percent. Of course, these weren't the products—which apparently many people still wanted to buy. They are actually products used as advertising for their brand, placed in retail racks and shelves. [Direct Daily]

The tagline is actually advertising Nokia's "Point and Find" service, which is a sort of user- or corporate-generated phototagging system combined with a barcode tagger. Take a picture of your shoes, or a painting, or whatever, add in a link to its Wikipedia page or shopping link, and then whenever anyone snaps a photo of that item, they'll see your links. But retail companies can also tag their own products, so the system can be used for any item in their stores, and if worse comes to worst, you can always just scan a 2D barcode.

The slogan idea is kind of a ripoff of those eBay ads from three years ago that used the tagline "Find Your It." Unfortunately, whoever decided on "TAG YOUR IT" evidently did not go to elementary school in an English-speaking country.

The service itself isn't nearly as useful as, say, a barcode scanner, and relying on users to supply those links (instead of just going all augmented reality with Google or Wikipedia) is sort of cheating in my book, but the service isn't really the point here. The point is that there's a box of macaroni and cheese that says TAG YOUR IT on it. [Point and Find]

First Place—Brian Garten

Second Place—Jairo Filho

Third Place

Create a twisted PlayStation 3 ad for Sony, and send it to me at contests@gizmodo.com with Sony Ad in the subject line. Save your files as JPGs or GIFs, and use a FirstnameLastname.jpg naming convention using whatever name you want to be credited with. Send your work to me by next Tuesday morning, and I'll pick three top winners and show off the rest of the best in our Gallery of Champions. Get to it! [Original image from Charlie White's "Understanding Joshua" series]

We've seen a large number of creepy as hell Sony ads, and these seem to be just about at the same level as the dude with a thumb for a penis. And gee whiz, the whole "creepy ad" strategy seems to be working, as Sony is absolutely dominating the gaming marketplace. Right? Keep on keeping on, Sony! [Copyranter]

Update: Sony sends along this note from the president of BBDO Chile, the ad house responsible for these things:

This creative design did not involve and was never approved by Sony Computer Entertainment or Sony. This "mock campaign" was developed by BBDO Chile staff and was submitted to various creative competitions/festivals without prior notification or approval from SCE/Sony, and it is not representative of the views or advertising policies of SCE/Sony. BBDO Chile apologizes for using this creative concept without authorization or prior approval, and for its misrepresentation of the PlayStation brand and its values.

Cristián Lehuedé B.
Presidente Ejecutivo
BBDO Chile

Oops! Sony can't be happy with BBDO over that one.

They focus on the new UI elements (Aero Shake, new Start Bar, themes), which is probably smart given that Windows 7's main competition, Snow Leopard, has barely any visible changes from its predecessor. I like the emphasis on Windows 7's bright shiny colors, too. Will the ads convince people to go out and buy the OS? Who knows; I'm not really sure there's a lot of mainstream enthusiasm or knowledge about upgrading an OS. But these ads probably won't hurt matters. Check out a couple more over at CNET. [CNET]

Give it a watch and see. My god. They're talking about having a party for Windows 7. And the cast? It looks like a guy, his mom, his sister, and his sister's rebellious college fling that turned into a long term relationship.

But seriously. You know how you're watching something that's so surprising that you can't believe what you're seeing that you literally have nothing to add to the visuals? This is it. It's like if you took a man from the 1400s and showed him a plasma TV.

If you want to kill another 3 hours at work today, there's a whole series of these videos about Windows 7. [YouTube - Thanks Adam and Kevin!]

This is especially disappointing not just because the Zune HD is a great device that deserves a great commercial but also because Microsoft is definitely capable of pumping out interesting, memorable advertising. This older Zune ad has great visuals, a killer soundtrack ("Lake Michigan" by Rogue Wave) and a high adorability factor. The new Zune HD ad glosses over the killer design of the device and very prominently (and mysteriously) features "Games," accompanied by a racing game that definitely isn't actually available.

The ad is so short that I'm sure it's just a teaser, to be upstaged by a legit ad soon, but seriously, Microsoft: The Zune HD has a ton of personality. Show it off. [YouTube via Engadget]

For $125 you get two coolers with a grill in the middle. Awesome, right? I mean, sure, you can toss a grill and two coolers in the back of your car for cheaper and with less lugging, but this is still a fun gimmick. Although if we're discussing practicality the real winner is the Foozie, which is a combo of a foam hand and a beer coozie. Only $10 for 2 of them! That's impulse purchase territory, folks. [Tailgate Approved]

As far as fumbles go, confusing people about your new product's name ranks pretty high, and that's exactly what they did—we were there, and at first we thought the phone was called the Blur, then the Click, then the Cliq, as did pretty much the entire internet. Exhibit A, above.

Lance Ulanoff at PCMag took particular offense to the whole show, and went so far as to pen a takedown piece on the entire event:

The keynote did convey Motorola's sense of urgency. In fact, the whole event felt rushed. Motorola never stopped long enough to give us a good look at the CLIQ. It was like the Cliffs Notes version of a product launch. Major product points were glossed over or never explained. I don't think anyone specifically said that the big touch screen phone was hiding a QWERTY keyboard. Instead, you just kind of noticed it as the presentation went along.

Implied QWERTY! This is one of the most brutal hatchet jobs I've ever seen inflicted on a non-human, but it's probably deserved. Which is a shame, because the Cliq turned out to be a pretty swell little phone, actually! [PCMag]

I don't know how it calculates the numbers. Maybe it's just a speed display, maybe it uses some logic to come up with the accident bills costs or the chance of a crash. I do know, however, that people respond to fear more than to fines. 46 days in the hospital won't be fun at all, so grab your steering wheel with both hands, and please drive safely. [Direct Daily]

The idea is to get people together in the week following Windows 7's launch to throw a party in which you "Pick a theme, then upload photos and videos, chat with other hosts, blog your experience, and download fun favors all from your personal House Party page." Lucky party-throwers selected by House Party will receive a "signature" version of Windows 7 Ultimate as well as a Windows 7 Party Pack, because those people really love to party. Get it?

It's a ridiculous advertising ploy, of course—you apply to be a party thrower in exchange for compensation from the companies in the form of free samples. But when we see what other House Party brand house parties are offered, a Windows 7 party sounds sort of appealing. I'd rather sit around and watch someone slowly install an OS than go to a Metabolife weight-loss party where there's guaranteed to be no good snacks. [House Party]

It's a lighthearted dig for those with a sense of humor. But comes after Bell seemingly ripped off Apple's iPhone ads last week. So friendly neighbors to the north, what gives, eh? [Thanks Denis!]

Now, I'm a Mac user (surprise!), but I think I'm starting to agree with Dan on these commercials. They're getting a bit long in the tooth and a bit forced, no? [Apple via CrunchGear]

Seriously. What are they selling here? [moko via NetbookReviews - Thanks, Matt!]

Maybe this might finally shake my nightmares of that freaky Sony devil baby.

Sony's corp-speak for its campaign is "It Does Everything". Yeah, it's got Blu-ray and Wi-Fi—but as Adam noted yesterday—it all depends on your setup. And anyway, the games are what's important. See: PS3 Slim Vs. Xbox 360 Elite Hardware: Pretty Cut and Dry. [Sony]