I found this viral for Desjardins insurance on facebook. The viral directs you to geared4u.ca where there are some other cool elements from what looks like a print campaign targeting the youth marketing. One ad on the site reads, "Mom says her car insurance company is 'on the web'. She also thinks double-clicking makes it go faster." Cool work.

I have never played Sudoku, but I've seen my dad ponder over some difficult games. The Oregon State Lottery has jumped on the Sudoku craze, but made it easy to play, via a scratch-it lotto card. The Ninja in this spot illustrates how frustrating the game of Sudoku can be. Agency is Borders Perrin Norrander, Portland.

Here's a new global campaign for Absolut Vodka via TBWAChiatDay. Scoopd from Coolz0r - Marketing Thoughts.

Ever try to ask for something in a foreign language and have the person you are speaking to look at you like you've just said something like "the ice cream on the church goes to the bathroom with a beer"? Well here's a campaign, via Leo Burnett São Paulo, which attempts to illustrate that feeling using dialogue balloons in the shape of balloon animals. The client is Skill, language school for people who want to improve their English or Spanish.

Canadian writer and pop culture icon Douglas Coupland's feature film Everything's Gone Green premieres this Friday at Toronto's Varsity Theatre (Coupland coined the phrase "Generation X"). It is directed by Paul Fox and produced by Radke Films and True West Films with music by Vapor Music. View the trailer here, see the film poster and full sound track listing here and read a great interview with Coupland here.

The Three Legged Legs are back with this great web film for Havaianas. I actually watched it three times back-to-back. I love the Legs. Agency is BBDO New York.

Here are two new spots via TBWAChiatDay Los Angeles for Sony PlayStation's MLB 07 (that's baseball for us non-gaming types) directed by Tim Godsall of Biscuit Filmworks. View Cross Walk here and Fish Market here. Even though I'm sports illiterate, I once slid into first at a charity softball game, I like these.

My first question: did they have to go to a talent agency to get the ants? Were there in-depth discussions about what colour ant (red, brown, black) looked best next to the product? Rediffusion DYR,Bangalore, India used real ants to prove that Sugar Free tastes as good as real sugar. Scooped from Freddy at advertising/design goodness. Brilliant. See the campaign here.

The newly redesigned Marketing Magazine was released today and it looks amazing. It's full of the same great content, just in a smaller size (mine actually fit in my hand bag). Kudos to Marketing for all their hard work.

This spot began airing in Canada a month ago, but I've been waiting to get my hands on the agency cut from John St., Toronto. Finally, here it is. I liked this spot the moment I saw it. I think it reminds me of the whimsical spots I used to watch on Sesame Street as a child. Thanks to Elana for sending it to me.

Helvetica turns 50 this year and Trollbäck + Company pay tribute to the font in this piece which is part of the documentary, "Helvetica." Scooped from 'boards.

You can never really get enough Shatner, can you? (well, er, maybe). Caffeinegoddess at AdLand sent me this great link to this new Priceline Negotiator campaign starring the man himself & a falcon. Adland also received some great "b-roll" footage too (like Shatner comparing himself to the Travelocity gnome). Watch it all here.

The TVB (Television Bureau of Canada) has ruled that this Chanel ad is too risqué for Canadian television. In order for it to go an air they (the TVB) want part of the model's naked body to be pixilated or shadowed. Do you see nipples? I don't see any nipples. There are much naughtier things going on in most the TV shows airing after 8pm than there are in this commercial. Read the full story from Marketing Magazine here.

The new Volvo C30 has just been launched in Canada. Here are three TV spots, Eyes, Real Man & Mother, produced by Euro RSCG Fuel, London and Sharpe Blackmore Euro RSCG, Toronto. I love the 80s rocker look to Real Man. All the spots, which take a bit to load, are based on comments made by the general public on the new Volvo C30. You can leave your comments, see other films and play some cool games at thec30.ca. Good stuff.

Here's a simple and clever magazine ad for Hawaiian Tropic via Grey Stockholm. As the weather in Toronto has been absolute crap for the past three weeks, I'm sick of being the colour on the left page. Scooped from Freddy at advertising/design goodness.

Riot Event + Sponsorship, an experiential marketing agency, produced the MINI DNA event last Thursday for MINI at The Fermenting Cellar in Toronto. The event is part art installation (with sneakers, heels and Mini roofs as canvasses) and part Mini showroom. The Montreal party is tonight and in Vancouver on Thursday, April 19th at the Rocky Mountaineer Station. Via JeffRoach.com.

Yep, if you are this high you should not drive. I love this new spot for MTV Canada but the "brothers" comment reminded me of this ewy emo spot that is currently making the rounds on the the internnet (I digress).  Agency is Saatchi & Saatchi, Toronto who also did a similarly themed campaign for MADD a couple of years ago.

Oh I love the 80s look of this spot created to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Nike Air Force shoe. Nike Air Force 25, from R/GA/New York and Stardust Studios, features shots of Charles Barkley and other NBA stars taken from product photography from the past and is narrated by hip-hop star Rakim. Word.

Belgian directors Pic Pic Andre (Nexus Productions) just completed these two stop motion spots for Cravendale milk via W+K London. The characters in the spots started out as mass produced plastic toy figures which were cut apart and then reassembled into 30+ different poses. Watch Out of Stock here & The Last Glass here. Good fun & they made me want a cold glass of milk (serious).

Okay, I'm not sure how practical this item is, but it gets full points for cool. Shilo hooked up with Zoo York to print part of their motion reel on a skateboard. View it here. Found on Computerlove.

A robot takes a stroll through different movie genres in this spot for Comcast. Directed by Happy with amazing original music by Q Department (which sounds a bit like a Ladytron song to me). Scooped from Boards.

Another XBOX 360 spot has been banned. Cops and Robbers, directed by Anonymous Content's Garth Davis, has been pulled from the air in the UK. Read the full story here. You may remember that this amazing XBOX 360 spot, directed by Biscuit's Tim Godsall, never even went to air. Such a shame on both counts.

I just stumbled upon Elma Alt Shift, an ad blog run by advertising creatives out of Turkey featuring great international work. Check it out.

Taxi NY & Green Dot Films' The Center for Egalitarian Studies created this spot, loaded with US "ad celebrities", for Hank Music. Hank is an extensive music library of thousands of hand-selected licensable tracks from indie record labels -- think Source TV but for music. It was yesterday's AdCritic Spot of The Day.

The Michael Stich Foundation, which is headed by the 1991 Wimbledon champion, is campaigning to prevent children from contracting the HIV virus. Each of the seven images in the new campaign, created by the German advertising agency Jung von Matt, carries a warning about the dangers of the virus. View all seven ads here, read the full story here.

Boards magazine called these ads "military ads with a difference". They were created by Publicis Montreal and directed by David Tennant via Quatre Zero Un. Very nice. View Fight 1 here and Fight 2 here.