The Sad Broker Blog

Check out this blog deemed The Brokers With Hands On Their Faces to see the reactions of those on the front lines of our national economic meltdown. Looks like they could use a hug.

Nike Soccer: "Blood, Sweat & Tears: Planting the Seed" Video

Check out Nike's latest video call "Blood, Sweat and Tears: Planting the Seed". The video shows interviews and footage of Giovani Dos Santos, Sergio Aguero, Park Ji Sung, Lucas Neill, Ryan Babel and Clint Dempsey speaking about what soccer was like for them as children.

In this, the first episode of Blood, Sweat and Tears, describe the moments that inspired them to devote their lives to the game. Check it out as it can be inspiring to any young player out there.

Terry Tate Is Back & Palin Feels It

The "Office Linebacker" is back and he's throwing the hard hits to politicians now. Palin gets "jacked up" in mid conversation with Katie Couric. Pretty funny.

You may remember Terry Tate for his hard hitting office antics a couple years ago. Now he's trying to show people where they can vote. But he still brings the paaaaaaaaain babaaaaaay. Whoooooooooo!

Oldest Living Has Palin on SNL

In case you missed Saturday Night Live this weekend, Sarah Palin was on it with some hilarity. Not from her of course but from the cast and various guests. Mark Wahlberg even made an appearance to go toe-to-toe with Andy Samberg following Samberg's skit about Wahlberg talking to animals.

You can find all these SNL goodies at Jim Nichols blog right here.

Catalyst:SF Presents: "Man On the Street"

Palin As President Landing Page Fun

If you like Sarah Palin or even if you don't, you will get a laugh out of this site I stumbled upon called PalinAsPresident. I have to think that this site is for the Palin bashers out there who feel she is a modern day political Teddy Ruxpin, regurgitating what she is told to say. I'm going to take the high road on this one but she sure is creating a lot of buzz. I mean Larry Flynt is already making a porn with a Palin look-a-like in it called "Nalin' Paylin". Oh what a country we live in.

But thats neither here nor there. At PalinAsPresident you can click around on most of the objects in the room and get a some cheeky Palin audio. (Try and click on everything you see as most objects are clickable). So turn your speakers up and play around. You just might learn how to speak Alaskan. (Wink)

P.S. Play with the door. Open and close it a few times until the deer shows up. Then click on the deer for some good ole Alaskan fun.

Firebox Sells the "WineRack"

This one is for the ladies. Online retailer Firebox has started selling a magical devise for women, the "WineRack". This little gem is the answer to female concert go-ers everywhere who struggle with the problem of sneaking in booze. Gotta love the tag line, "My cups runeth over!" Well i have a new one, "Very approachable". Get it. Wine is approachable. Ladies become more...Whatever.

For only $29.95, you too can own this music festival money saver. Check out this video to see live demo's :http://www.firebox.com/video/1365

Levi's, "Unbutton Your Beast"

Levi's has come out with a cheeky little website deemed "Unbutton Your Beast" to go along with their "Live Unbuttoned" slogan they are unning with. (Your beast being your phallic appendage). It's kinda funny. Go check out the site and select from a number of different trouser "beasts". I personally want "Saucy Sal" digging around in my pants. From here you can record a message to send out to people. It's good 6th grader humor.

Levi's branding play is kind of refreshing with the DR economy we now live in. Hopefully we can see more stuff like this from other brands in the near future. Maybe Victoria's Secret having "Bra Bandits" which are all different kinds of fruit. Eh, stretching things now aren't I. Wrist slap.

Steve Nash Is The Best

Obviously that statement in the title is up to debate. But besides Kobe, Steve Nash in my opinion is the best player in the NBA. I'm sure I'm exercising some favoritism to Nash because he loves playing soccer, but 2 MVP titles sort of gives me the backing for such statements. Maybe it's no coincidence that the 2 best players in the world play and are avid soccer fans. Hmmmmm.

Above is a Nike ad from the past that I just recently stumbled upon again. The spot is a first person narrative from Nash explaining how soccer influences his game on the basketball court and shows you just how talented he is on the pitch.

I've had the pleasure to play against his brother, Martin Nash, who is with the Vancouver Whitecaps. So it's easy to see how he could be such a talent. Bloody runs in the family. Once he was asked in an interview who he models his game (basketball) after and he responded, "Zinedine Zidane". I love it.

Anyway. Another day, another great Nike ad.

New Nike "Fate" Leave Nothing Ad

I know this is the wrong kind of football for this place but a good ad is a good ad. This is the latest Nike Football commercial which is directed by David Fincher.

The video shows life-long journey of pro football players LaDainian Tomlinson of the San Diego Chargers and Troy Polamalu of the Pittsburgh Steelers as their destinies collide in an NFL football game.

As you would expect, such quality could only come from the wizardry of Weiden + Kennedy. They just understand how to put together an excellent spot. I don't even play football or even watch it any more for that matter, and I still got chills watching it. I like baby Polamalu trying to surf his coffee table. I'm sure his mom was none to proud of him destroying furniture. Although, now she probably has marble coffee tables from the mines of Tenochtitlan. Not a bad trade off I say.

Cruzcampo Wants Spain To Be Happy

It's international weekend and if Spain have a bad performance, I think Cruzcampo could be to blame. The Spanish beer giants are the official sponsor of the Spanish National team and are in a generous mood.

For winning the 2008 European Championships Cruzcampo have decided to give each member of that championship side, their weight in beer. As you can see, Liverpool goalie Pepe Reina is trilled after weighing in at 211 pounds.

Europeans are more fun. I might just call up Cruzcampo and see what they are doing in online. Maybe they could benefit from some exchange buying. I hear there is a company called Catalyst:SF who does such a thing. So if you are listening, Cruzcampo, call me.

New Sim City Creator Ad

Create. Enjoy. Destroy. One of my childhood favorite video games, SimCity is back with it's latest installment SimCity Creator .

The best part about this game is that it is available for Nintendo Wii. So at the ripe age of 25, if I want to enjoy a little Sim action, I don't have to be glued to my computer. Somehow Wii just makes things less dorky and mainstream. You just might see me standing in line at Best Buy with SimCity Creator in my hand.

On a side note, the video you have watched, or will watch after reading, was done by Weiden + Kennedy up in Portland. If you think their work is good, wait util you see their site. The W+K timeline they have is quality. Shout-out to Renny Gleeson.

New Fall Extreme Sport: Golden Parachuting

Exactly Ronnie. What is that up there? That's right, it's another golden parachute for another hapless financial executive in this country. Makes me sick reading the following from the SFGate:

"Lawmakers also condemned Sullivan for urging AIG's board on March 11 to ignore the mounting loss in the unit that sold credit default swaps when issuing bonuses to 70 executives. Sullivan said he was trying to retain the company's top talent.

"Trust me, I was focusing more on them than me," he said. At the same meeting, the board approved a $15 million golden parachute for Sullivan.

"AIG officials on Tuesday said the $440,000 trip to the resort in Southern California was a reward for the firm's top insurance salespeople and was scheduled a year ago. But even the firm's former executives questioned employees for proceeding with the trip in light of the federal bailout."

Call me crazy, but when you do your job so poorly that you are losing billions of dollars, how does that equate to a $15 million departure. AAAAAAAHHHHHHH. Pisses me off so much I cannot write any more without going into a cursing tirade. You can read the full article of the bullshit practices that took place here.

FIFA '09 Is Out

FIFA '09 has been released on all formats in the U.K. and by the looks of things is a vast improvement on previous failures.

In my opinion the FIFA series has slumped dramatically as video game systems have improved. During that time, FIFA games always looked great, but the game play was utter dog excrement from a purist perspective. All you had to do was give the ball to Rooney or Ronaldo and press turbo and no one could stop you. Not so much fun. The last really good one was FIFA '99 for Nintendo 64. But that's just me.

Check out the site EA Sports has put together for the games U.K. release.

Glam Launches African-American Women's Network

Glam Media has announced that they have launched Glam Black Life, a collection of long-tail sites focused on beauty and fashion targeted to black women.

Among the 50 sites included in the new network-which Glam claims in aggregate reachs 4 million unique users-are Shake Your Beauty, Afrobella and The Fashion Bomb. To lead Glam Black Life, the company has tapped current Glam Beauty Editor India-Jewel Jackson to oversee all original editorial content, while Tamera Reynolds, formerly of Sahara Media’s Honey Magazine, will serve as director of the network. In addition, former BET director of national sales Asten Morgan Jr. will head up national sales efforts for new venture.

Glam, which was recently named to AdweekMedia’s Digital Hot List, has landed Lexus as Glam Black Life’s initial sponsor. The auto company will roll out its Luxuryawaits.com campaign this October.

35 Minutes of Mayhem

The ULTIMATE COMPILATION!!!
by phillyblacklite

Thanks to YourDailyMedia and WithLeather I bring to you a 35 min video of the incredibly bored, incredibly stupid and just incredibly un-lucky (like the little baby @ 24:05 who gets snippered by the cat) individuals of the world. It's thanks to about 90% of the people in this video that us normal people watch and say, "Well I'll be sure to never do that."

There's even a couple of office tirades @ 9:30 in. Classy mental blow-ups. But the Steven Gerrard snub by the little Chelsea fan @ 15:53 takes the cake for me. Well played by the diminutive Blues supporter. I bet John Terry put him up to it.

The rest of the people in this video are idiots. But sometimes it's just fun to watch idiots do dumb things. I mean, a horse takes a dump on a woman's head @ 22:45. Hey lady, maybe you shouldn't crawl around down there. Lessoned learned I say.

ESPN Broadens Reach In Mexico, Europe

ESPN has announced its plans to increase its brand visibility in Mexico and Europe starting February 1, 2009. ESPN plans on executing this strategy through its North American Sports Network, or NASN.

NASN, which ESPN bought last year, is currently in 14 million European homes and 3 million in the Middle East. NASN currently carries the Super Bowl in several countries, including Germany and France. The plan is for NASN to take on the ESPN America moniker which will expand ESPN’s brand to a variety of different countries.

ESPN is also expanding brand awareness through credit cards in other countries. Currently they are part of a joint venture to launch a credit card in Mexico, with the Santander ESPN credit card. The card will offer customers the opportunity to earn points to be used for tickets to the X Games Mexico and the ESPY Awards.

While I'm At It, Another Cool Radiohead Video

Here is the "Thumbs Down Version" for Radiohead's "Jigsaw Falling Into Place". I'm not sure how they did it but I have to assume it has something to do with those snazzie cameras attached to those bike helmets. Check it out.

Radiohead - Jigsaw Falling Into Place (thumbs down version)

Radiohead Aniboom Video Contest

For those of you who missed it, Radiohead put on a competition for people to make animated videos from any one of their songs on their latest album "In Rainbows". In order to put on the contest Radiohead teamed up with animators Aniboom and Myspace. Although it's over, it is still a great example of getting consumers to interact with a brand via a contest. Check out the video below for the competition info.

RADIOHEAD + ANIBOOM + MYSPACE VIDEO COMPETITION


Here is an example of one of the videos put together during the competition. This video was done by Clement Picon to "Reckoner" and is a visual masterpiece. Enjoy.

Radiohead - Reckoner - by Clement Picon


UPDATE: Radiohead have actually asked if they can use this video as the official video for "Reckoner" because they love the way it flows with the song.

XBOX's New Great Britain Site

For those of you living the Great British Isles, this may be nothing new to you. But for the rest of us, the new XBOX Great Britain website is different class (as they say). It makes the US version look like a beta release.

Upon arrival at the British XBOX destination, you will see the aesthetically pleasing video they have in the background. This is really cool stuff. The video changes based on which category of games you select: Movie, Party, Family, Heroic, Sports or Music. This is a great way for Microsoft to display it's latest XBOX games for a, can't believe I am going to say this, great user experience. Well, I enjoy it. Maybe you will too.

If you didn't click above, check out the videos displayed in a their high definition form here.

P.S. Great work to whichever agency does XBOX Great Britain!

David Letterman's John McCain Rant

Recently John McCain canceled on "Late Show" host David Letterman and it really rubbed him the wrong way. McCain exlained to Letterman via phone call that he had to cancel on the host because he was postponing his presidential campaign and flying back to Washington D.C. because of the financial crisis the country was undertaking. This didn't sit well Letterman as he went on a 9 min rant about McCain's actions.

The icing on the cake for Letterman was when a feed of McCain on Katie Couric's show is patched over to him. This puts him over as he completely begins to ignore guest Keith Olbermann. Funny stuff. Have a look.