Screen grab via WheelOfConcept

Once upon a time, someone said "I've got a great idea for a commercial - let's get Ridley Scott to direct it." These days, it's been replaced by "hip and trendy" tactics instead. "Hey, I've got a great idea for our brand - let's do a Facebook app!"

With that in mind, we come to this delicious piece of sarcasm. The WHEEL OF CONCEPT. I've tried it a few times today and got everything from talking fruit to iPad platforms. Go on, give it a try. You may just come up with something that saves your bacon, or at least saves you 8 hours of that tedious time spent concepting.

Note: Turn the volume down. After a wheel, the elevator muzak starts to do your head in.

Screengrab via YouTube

And a funny one, too. One of the first ads in a while to make me laugh out loud (oops, sorry tweens, I mean LOL). It's for a product called H2Oh!, but as they say in a Zucker Brothers movie, that's not important right now. What is great is the steady progression of the idea, to the point of ridiculousness. And the last scene, awesome and well executed. I think it's probably a better ad than the product itself, but I'm just guessing. Way to go, pulling something so fun out of something that could have been mundane.

One of my idols, a legend in the advertising industry, is leaving the business to head up the advertising program at SCAD in Georgia. While I envy the students of SCAD, a little too much for my own good, I fear the industry just became a little weaker today. Luke Sullivan is a true craftsman; a copywriter and creative director who understands strategy, knows how to produce highly compelling ads, and is still humble about it.

Even now, as he bows out, he's doing it in a way no other ad professional would dare to do. It's a world wide roast, and you're invited. So check this out and submit your videos. Give the man the props he deserves, in whatever sick and twisted manner you see fit.

Screen grab from Adland

Well, Cannes is barely over and already we have a controversy. A print ad for Kia that won a Silver has been called into questions. And not without good reason. One look at the ad, right here, is enough to make anyone scratch their head and wonder how it was ever printed, let alone how it won a Silver gong.

The problem is one of interpretation. The creatives who came up with this ad produced something interesting. I like the idea of two different temperatures relayed through two different stories. But when read together, it makes the teacher look like a dirty old man who's picturing a 5-year-old as some nubile porno star. Even the fake rip down the center of the ad, to suggest it came from two different sources, cannot save it.

That alone should have been enough to kill it before it ever saw a printer (and we're still not sure it's real). But for the judges to award this a Silver, well that shows some very questionable decision making. And all the agencies who entered and lost to this ad, at a cost of 350 Euros per entry, deserve a refund. Or, a new winner should be picked.