- The FWA has announced its 2008 Site of the Year judging panel. Some idiot named Steve Hall will be one of the judges.

- Chuck McCarthy has a few ideas for those of us in advertising. Not to overlooked a missed ad opportunity, Chuck thinks branded background images on those distorted login codes would be a great medium, Justin Timberlake's Sexy Back could be turned into Snackin' Back for a cracker brand and energy drink product placement in porn would be hot.

- A dude thinks the back of pennies are a great medium. He was right. After affixing his URL to the back of fifty pennies and distributing them around New York, business boomed.

Antiperspirant company Mitchum is using space on dry cleaner hangers to offer $1 coupons to potential customers.

Considering the brand has soiled at least 10 my blouses with virtually-irremovable white shadows, I wouldn't feel very receptive to a Mitchum message so soon after paying the dry cleaning bill.

But one lonely experience isn't enough to sway the hordes of women that haven't yet found a dream deodorant. (I wonder, do you ever?) Mitchum says the campaign, which launched early this month, has already boosted purchase intent by 30 percent.

AMV BBDO, those apparently horrible people who Bob Garfield hates for making a Snicker's commercial that, OMFG, is homophobic, or so he says, have created two commercials for Wrigley's Extra gum. In the two spots, produced by Biscuit@Independent, couples in love do what couples in love do. They roll down grassy hills while embracing each other and they share a jacket while waiting for the bus. What's not to love? Bob? Bob?

From the look of these new Gossip Girl promotional posters, you'd think all they do on the show is have sex. Oddly (or not), that's not the case. The show is entertaining, witty and juicy. And who doesn't like to watch pretty people prance around the screen and whine about their difficult lives...even if they all come from multi-millionaire households? Besides, sex sells so the more we can show Blake Lively and Leighton Meester get it on with their boy toys, the better.

September 1, people.

Plaid sent over an envelope loaded with swag (which Heehaw Marketing took a picture of so we wouldn't have to) to remind us the Plaid Nation 2008 West Coast Tour is CURRENTLY IN PROGRESS.

The Plaid van's current location: Vancouver. It'll be creeping its way south toward Los Angeles as the weeks progress.

Now that you know, hit the website -- less of a site, really, than a social media orgy -- and try getting the Plaid crew to pay your ailing agency (or your best friend's engagement-impaired company) a visit. Also check out the Van Cam tab where you can play van voyeur from the driver's seat, or the passenger's seat, or roadside, if that's the way you roll.

The creators of this Mini John Cooper video must have been watching all those fake Nike videos while concepting. This joke is so lame and so stupid, it's amazing those charged with approving it didn't simultaneously barf and yawn at the same time. Even stupid people know the physics of this would kill the guy (and/or break the board) before anyone got off the ground.

Stupid trick videos are funny. But they have to be at least a tiny bit believable to work. And can we stop with the psuedo-amateurish, wobbly camera stuff? Even a five year old with a Flip video can hold a camera more steadily than the idiot who filmed this disaster.

In her quest to figure out just why, why, why Boing Boing did what it did, Violet Blue has turned to Metafilter commenters for answers with a video in which she reads all the comments left on a Metafilter post about the debacle.

Cheaper than a trip to Disney's Haunted Mansion -- and the souvenir is free.

Here's mine! (For such an emotionally unrewarding effect, it takes bloody days to load.)

To note: some of your creations will probably appear in PointRoll banner ads advertising the DVD release of Fox's Shutter, an objectively crappy movie. If you'd prefer to avoid being associated with it ALL OVER THE INTERNET!, I'd suggest using a picture you're not featured in.

Some people are more dedicated than others. Or more stupid, depending upon how you look at it. If all it takes to appear in a McDonald's promotion is to rob one at gun point and then spend 12 year in prison, than Tamien Bain is one smart man.

After having held up a McDonald's in 1994 when he was a teenager 14 years ago, Bain spent 12 years in prison. now, he's among five finalists in a MySpace BigMacChant jingle competition for the Big Mac. While he was in prison, he took a liking to music and now, at 29, he just may see some glory after his 12 years of hard work.

Now that's dedication.

Fletcher Martin VP PR & Social Media Strategy and author of SpeakMediaBlog Jennifer Jones has written a contributing article on the topic of viral marketing in which she takes a look at four viral marketing campaigns and tells us what's right and what's wrong with them.

These days one cannot go two clicks without reading about viral marketing. Some say it's the greatest notion since the four P's (product, pricing, promotion and placement). Others say it's an over-hyped waste of time that will burn itself out.

The bottom line is viral marketing can only be as good or bad as the campaign around it. Many would-be viral marketers seem to think calling something viral automatically makes it so. They fail to understand that viral marketing requires strategic planning at the start and ongoing promotion throughout the campaign. With this in mind, I have compiled a short list of what I feel are some of the best and worst viral marketing campaigns so far this year.

Viral Video With a Soft Touch: Stride Chewing Gum's Dancing Video
One of the greatest challenges with viral videos is deciding when and how to incorporate the brand. If the brand name is too present, your overt marketing will upset the viewer. If you don't include it enough, you risk being called out for deceptive practices.

Last week, we were sent a funny ad from AMV BBDO in which Mr. T guns down a speedwalker because it's just too goofy for Mr. T's style and, seemingly, for Snickers. Bob Garfield just reviewed it, gave it zero stars and called the thing...huh...homophobic? What a minute. What the fuck? Homophobic?? I'll be the first one to crap on an ad that is overtly homophobic but, seriously, WTF?? This is the furthest thing from homophobic. Homophobia NEVER crossed my mind when I reviewed this.

Most sobering situations could use an inappropriate joke. Contributing to Stand Up to Cancer's "This is where the end of cancer begins" campaign, celebrities use donated airtime to make laughter, not bummer. See spots:

"Cancer patients and their chemo-induced baldness have stolen the sympathy that is rightfully mine." And that's why Larry David can't get laid.

Meanwhile, Henry Winkler plays cancer in the style of Epuron's infuriating Wind guy. "Did I bite you? ... I didn't mean to." Ahh. That Fonzie's still a riot after all these years.

More videos at the Stand Up to Cancer website, including one where the Daily Show says FU to cancer, and one where Katie Couric ... well, "Katie Couric" should be enough to make you laugh, actually.

To nurture the creative minds of future filmmakers, Virgin's "What Happens Next?" campaign poses three unfinished scenarios: "Kidnap," "Police" and "UFO." Each starts at a nowhere-ville diner called the Rattle 'n' Hum.

The snapshots are only a few seconds each and have a Tarantino feel, so feel free to make use of your local leather-clad gimp. There's also a "designing" tool to help bring the pieces to their conclusions, which range from Devastatingly Minimal to Comic-Con.

Best entry wins TV time! Put together by Host/Sydney.

Tomorrow I'll be moderating a panel for Shoot! the Day, a stock photography conference put together by PhotoShelter. (See a recent study related to the topic.)

My panel is at 12:15pm. It will include:

• Belinda Lopez, Senior Art Buyer, Strawberry Frog
• Wanda Lau, Senior Art Director, Greater Than One
• Jen Santiago, Managing Art Buyer, G2 Direct & Digital
• Molly Aaker, Art Buyer, Unit7

My two biggest fears:

1) making a Twitter joke

2) boring my audience, which will consist of professional photographers. I'm clearly not one of them and I won't do justice to their angstiest stock photo/ad agency concerns, so I'll be leaving plenty of room for Audience Questions!.

Read about other Shoot! the Day panels at the PhotoShelter blog. And if you'd like to come watch me make awkward jokes and commit forehead-slapping faux-pas, here's how to volunteer for a free pass.

In what can only be described as supremely idiotic, the cigarette in the hand of the man who appears in the famed Mad Men promotional image was digitally removed when it was placed on iTunes to promote the sale of Mad Men Season 1. WTF? Does Apple think everyone who downloads this show will then run out to the store and buy a pack of smokes so they can smoke while watching the show? Are people actually this stupid? WTF?

Yesterday at San Francisco's Westin St. Francis, Room Full of People held the SWAT Summit, a one day conference which covered the topic of social networking. Topics such as metrics, best practices, user engagement and social advertising were covered.

After Room Full of People CEO Christian Perry gave an engaging overview of Obama's brilliant use of social media as compared to McCain's abysmal use, IDC Research Analysts Caroline Dangson gave an overview of people's outlook on social media and their willingness to allow advertisers mine personal information and online social behavior in order to provide more targeted advertising. Perhaps it was the way IDC asked the question but unsurprisingly, a very low percentage of people said they'd be OK with that.

MediaSmith CEO David Smith presented for the first time his Eight Levels of User Engagement, a detailed look at the buzzword du jour "engagement." It was one of those presentation that was so elaborate and so complete that no summary would do it justice. Besides, I can't remember the half of it but don't fret. He's taking it on the road for six months and there will be a book (or a paper).