If you’re sick of incessantly staring at your mobile while madly pushing buttons to virtually chuck wingless birds at pigs in various structures with giant slingshots, Angry Birds Live is here.

If you were lucky enough to be in Singapore over the weekend, you may have caught the debut of the Angry Birds live crowd game. Rovio, in partnership with Singapore telco SingTel, worked with Uplause Ltd. to turn 50,000 Formula 1 Grand Prix fans into live controllers in a gigantic game of Angry Birds.

The co-branded event (see shaky video footage here) was the first in an ongoing partnership between Rovio and Uplause that's coming to major events around the world. Rovio CMO Peter Vesterbacka commented, “We think this new form of gaming will give fans a great opportunity to form a strong emotional connection with the characters.”

And on the unlicensed live Angry Birds front, trust China to take this to a new level.Continue reading...

For readers of comic books, 2011 may go down as the year that big business figured out that it might be worth sticking its massive hand into an industry that’s been more aligned with outsiders than the mainstream.

Earlier this year we saw the introduction of big-brand product placement in comics when Nike’s logo appeared on a Marvel character’s T-shirt. Now Marvel has taken another step and struck a licensing deal with the University of Southern California to have its characters appear on gear alongside the university’s mascot and logo.Continue reading...

Can Angry Birds be stopped?

The mobile game that has reduced worker productivity in America by half (at least in my household) was already global, but now it's "glocalizing" as well to meet those new markets. For China's Autumn Festival, Rovio released a special "Moon Festival" theme for the game.Continue reading...

“Can Progressive's perky Flo make mincemeat out of the Jolly Green Giant? For that matter, can the Old Spice dude clean Mr. Clean's clock?” That’s the question being crowdsourced via social media to determine winners in the eighth annual online competition for the top two U.S. ad icons and slogans. 

Voting kicks off this week on event sponsor Buzzfeed.com, and runs through September 30.

The winners will be permanently installed on New York's Madison Avenue Advertising Walk of Fame, located between 42nd and 50th Streets and already adorned with the likes of Juan Valdez, Orville Redenbacher, Mr. Peanut, the M&Ms, Tony the Tiger and the Budweiser Clydesdales. 

Leveraging Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, 20 icons are in the running, but only two will be immortalized during Advertising Week 2011 in New York, October 3-7.

2011 icon contenders include General Mills' Jolly Green Giant, the Kia Hamsters, P&G's Mr. Clean, the Energizer Bunny, Old Spice Man (aka The Man Your Man Could Smell Like, or Isaiah Mustafa), and Flo, Progressive’s perky/pesky insurance clerk.

"It's the ultimate seal of approval from consumers," comments Matt Scheckner, executive director of sponsor Advertising Week, to USA Today. "This will become viral," he says, fully (and ambitiously) expecting at least one million consumers to vote.Continue reading...

One part Old Spice Guy, one part that guy your parents told you to stay away from, Keystone Light spokesidiot "Keith Stone" is ineffably appealing. For over two years, Keith Stone has been reaping the breakfast of the kinds of champions who drink beer for breakfast, in the process winning a bit of a cult fanbase.

He's irreverent, but then so is audibly passing gas in polite company. The question is, does he work for the brand?

"In developing the Keith Stone campaign, we wanted to literally bring the brand’s 'Always Smooth' essence to life in a way that is impactful and relatable to our Keystone Light drinker. We did this through the creation of an ownable brand hero," Brand Manager Elina Vives told brandchannel, adding, "Keith Stone is the MC of Smoothness."Continue reading...

Tony the Tiger is changing roles with the times, and so is advertising for the Kellogg's Frosted Flakes that he has so distinctively represented for 60 years. The cereal giant is asking its venerable mascot to play offense instead of defense in a new approach to advertising its so-non-PC sugary cereal.

Kellogg's TV ad features an athletic Tony clowning around in the back yard with a father, his young son, and playing baseball.

With the noose tightening around Kellogg's freedom to advertise Frosted Flakes to kids, because regulators and activists are trying to further throttle promotion of suspect foods directly to children, the company has decided to try some new tactics.

Instead of targeting moms, Kellogg's is aiming directly at fathers. As Ad Age notes, more dads are buying groceries these days, and more fathers say they're eating Frosted Flakes along with their children.Continue reading...

Old Spice is trying a variety of spokesmen in the wake of Old Spice Guy Isaiah Mustafa's face-off (then sign-off, though the character's still tweeting) with Fabio this summer. Here, the sea captain for its Swagger line, described as: "Here's a video about a man who smells better than normal and a wife that wants to kiss his lips more than normal. Nothing is normal." The tagline: "Smell better than yourself." (h/t Mashable)

Fashion's Night Out revellers can tag along with two dolls with social moxie as they navigate the FNO mayhem tomorrow night. (Who said fashion-lovers are plastic?)

Shoppers/partiers in NYC may catch the Mattel-sponsored Barbie double-decker bus between the stores of five brands (Alexis Bittar, Alice and Olivia, Loomstate Organic, Rogan, and Tracy Reese) as part of a virtual and in-person game dubbed Barbie Loves FNO. (Fans can also play along on Twitter @BarbieStyle.)

Barbie's not the only doll working FNO on September 8th — meet Marina.Continue reading...