We recently considered the heretofore blasphemous notion that QR codes are not, in all instances, a complete waste of time. Here's more evidence that they can sometimes be interesting and useful-the Monmouthpedia project. The town on Monmouth in Wales (pop. 8,877) recently embarked on the "Monmouthpedia" project-a huge communal six-month initiative to affix QR codes to its notable landmarks, organizations and even people, and write Wikipedia entries on each of them, which the codes link to. The idea came from a TEDx talk in Bristol, where a Wikipedia editor suggested that Wikimedia's U.K. chapter should "do a whole town" using QR codes. Residents and businesses in Monmouth stepped up, did all the legwork (there are more than 1,000 QR codes in total), and introduced Monmouthpedia this weekend. The advantages for tourism are obvious. It's like a giant museum tour-everything of note in the town is immediately illuminated online. (Plus, of course, there's the publicity of the whole project itself.) "Lest you think this is a passing interest, the town of Monmouth is in it for the long haul," says a Wikimedia blog entry about the project. "Many of the QRpedia codes are printed on ceramic plaques that should last for decades. The information in articles is backed by the Wikipedia community and will be continually improved and expanded. Physical guides and maps will become outdated, but the Wikipedia articles will always be able to be updated. This potential for on-site access to up-to-date information in any language is what makes the Monmouthpedia model so exciting." I'll drink a QR-coded Guinness to that. More images after the jump. Via PSFK.

San Francisco, a beleaguered market for industry creatives, is getting a vote of confidence from across the country. Mullen is opening a Bay Area talent hub to work on marketers at the agency's Boston headquarters as well as chip in on local Mountain View client Google, which is also handled out of Mullen's Boston and N.Y. offices.

The initiative is being launched by Mullen chief creative officer Mark Wenneker and Alex Leikikh, the former top Fallon account exec who was promoted to president of the Boston flagship last September. Wenneker is no stranger to the West Coast. He joined Mullen in 2008 as an ecd from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, S.F., where he had spent 13 years before moving east.

"This has been something that I've dreamt about over the last year and a half," Wenneker wrote to employees in an internal memo. "The San Francisco area is legendary for producing great creative talent and is obviously a hotbed of innovation in the technology space."

The S.F. office will operate as an extension of Mullen Boston under the oversight of Wenneker and Leikikh. Some Boston account execs will make the move to the West Coast while Mullen looks for creative talent. Local hiring will involve a small number initially but is expected to increase as the agency grows its business. Mullen is close to signing its first creative hire and expects to close on downtown space next week.

The S.F. ad market has been rocked by layoffs this year after GS&P parted ways with Hewlett-Packard and lost Sprint. Earlier this month, Publicis & Hal Riney also laid off staff after it lost a major client, U.S. Cellular, to Mullen.

With Mullen, Wenneker, in his note to staff, said it was the success of the agency's Boston office that made the S.F. startup possible. In addition to U.S. Cellular, this year Mullen has won global creative duties on Grey Goose; media for National Geographic Channels; and creative, media and digital for Benjamin Moore paints. Last year, Mullen added accounts like the Barnes & Noble brand and its e-reader Nook as well as work for Google's mobile technology and services unit.

Febreze air fresheners can mask some serious odors-like that fishy old shipping-container smell you're always trying to get out of your carpet. Below, check out a case-study video in which Grey New York makes a little mobile home out of a shipping container, drops it in NYC's meatpacking district, and then asks blindfolded people where they think they are. Without fail, they believe they are in a lovely-smelling Eden full of puppies and rainbows. It's impressive-though it makes you wonder if Febreze wouldn't completely overpower your less-rancid living room with its powerful fresh stench.

Nascar executives visited several agencies-some with as few as 10 employees-in its search for finalists to pitch its advertising business. In the end, however, the racing giant opted for the deep resources of global agency networks.

The four finalists-Ogilvy & Mather, Young & Rubicam, Leo Burnett and McCann Erickson-will be briefed this afternoon at Nascar's offices in Charlotte, N.C.

Media spending on the brand exceeded $50 million last year, up from about $35 million in 2010, according to Nielsen.

Each contender will meet again with Nascar executives next month for a series of work sessions a few weeks before final presentations, which are slated for June 26 and 27 at another Nascar office in Daytona, Fla., according to Kim Brink, director of brand, consumer and series marketing.

The final four emerged from a field of eight shops that Nascar visited in April. Brink declined to identify the other agencies. The winner of the review will succeed longtime lead agency Jump Co. in St. Louis.

Nascar racing is the largest spectator sport in the U.S., with some of its tracks seating up to 170,000 fans. Its core fans are also incredibly loyal. That said, Nascar needs to attract its next generation of fans and expand its multicultural audience, according to Brink.

In selecting the finalists, Brink and her colleagues considered the agencies' experience with youth and sports brands, their Hispanic marketing credentials and their ability to grow brands long term. They also sought an agency that would connect with Nascar's culture.

Interest in the account has been significant. A whopping 75 agencies submitted credentials to Nascar after it launched its search in March, Brink said. Part of the appeal was indirect. Nascar's sponsors represent a Who's Who among Fortune 500 companies, including Coca-Cola, General Motors (Chevrolet), Toyota and Goodyear.

General Motors has decided to punt on its annual Super Bowl investment, saying the price of admission to this year's broadcast is simply too high.

"We understand the reach the Super Bowl provides, but with the significant increase in price, we simply can't justify the expense," Joel Ewanick, vp and global chief marketing officer of General Motors, said in a statement.

CBS is carrying the upcoming NFL championship tilt, set to kick off in New Orleans on Feb. 3, 2013. Earlier this year, CBS Corp. CEO Les Moonves told investors that he anticipated commanding as much as $4 million for a single spot in this year's broadcast, a 14 percent increase from NBC's asking price in Super Bowl XLVI.

GM last year purchased four in-game spots, a buy that included a 30-second ad during the two-minute warning of the fourth quarter. Per Nielsen, that Cadillac ad coincided with peak viewership, reaching some 117.7 million viewers.

The GM Super Bowl buy was augmented by two postgame ads. All told, the company spent an estimated $21 million on inventory in and around the Giants-Patriots showdown.

While GM's announcement may have caught CBS off guard, the automaker did not have a formal commitment with the network. And while only Anheuser-Busch InBev and PepsiCo have spent more money on the Super Bowl in the past decade-per Kantar Media estimates, GM purchased $82.8 million on the game between 2002 and 2011-the decision is not without precedent. In 2009, the company passed up the opportunity to invest in the broadcast, a call it reiterated the following year.

As was the case three years ago, GM's decision to sit out the CBS broadcast was prefaced by a major revision of its TV ad strategy. Just days before its ads aired in Super Bowl XLVI, GM acknowledged that it had opted out of 50 percent of its second-quarter upfront commitments, the maximum allowable under the terms of network ad sales contracts.

While significant, GM's defection shouldn't leave CBS shorthanded. For one thing, the network began selling inventory for the big game back in January. Moreover, the last two years have seen unprecedented demand from the automotive category; in Fox's broadcast of Super Bowl XLV, a record nine brands spent a staggering $77.5 million on in-game ads. (Previously, the most robust auto spend was $29.74 million, in 2010.)

NBC's 2012 broadcast was also marked by a glut of auto spots. Among the manufacturers that suited up for the Giants-Pats contest were GM, Chrysler, Toyota, Volkswagen, Honda and Hyundai.

At any rate, CBS still has a solid eight-and-a-half months to find a replacement for GM. Barring some unprecedented and unforeseen catastrophe, it's extremely unlikely that GM's absence will prevent CBS from selling out.

GM's announcement was made just days after the company pulled out of some $10 million in Facebook ads.

In January, GM consolidated its global media planning and buying services with Carat, a move that Ewanick said will save the company as much as $2 billion over the course of the next five years.

In 2011, GM spent $4.48 billion on advertising, marking an increase of 5 percent from $4.26 billion in the year-ago period.

Quick cuts and compressed action drive Saatchi & Saatchi's first ads for Kraft Foods' Capri Sun, which break today and play like movie trailers, down to the basso-profundo voiceovers.

One ad features a mom who protectively shields her son from the "dangers" of a typical school day, including a flying dodgeball and a teacher's question about genetics. "If Paula Ebert had her way," the voiceover explains, "she would help her child … with everything." On second thought, however, she buys him a new vegetable-infused version of the juice drink called Super V instead.

Another ad gets inside the head of Jake McClure, a tween who sits at his computer and lets his imagination run wild, à la Calvin in Calvin & Hobbs. You see, Jake doesn't fear a cyber attack on his PC but rather a "cy-bear" attack in his backyard. To fell the furry monster with the glowing red eyes, he pierces its back with the pointy side of a Capri Sun straw. "Bravo, Jake, bravo," the voiceover intones.

A third ad, still in production, tells the story of a girl named Lisa who gets crowned by aliens, according to Kraft brand manager Wilfred de Guzman. Why? Because she drinks out of a space-aged foil pouch. Bravo, Saatchi, bravo.

The Publicis Groupe shop landed Capri Sun and sister brand Kool-Aid earlier this year at the expense of longtime lead agency Ogilvy & Mather.





CREDITS
Client: Capri Sun
Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, New York

Chief Creative Officer: Con Williamson
Creative Director: Alex Lea
Creative Director: Justin Ebert
Executive Producer: John Doris
Art Director: Alex Lea
Copywriter: Justin Ebert

Production Company: SKUNK
Director: NE-O
Director of Photography: Benoit Delhomme
Executive Producers: Matt Factor, Shelly Townsend
Line Producer: Juliet Naylor

Editing House: Cosmo Street NYC
Editor: Dominic Leung
Assistant Editor: Mark Potter
Producer: Stacey Piculell
Executive Producer: Maura Woodward

Visual Effects: Moving Picture Company NYC
VFX Supervisor: Dean Robinson
Flame Artists: Aska Osaka
Producer: Derek Macleod - Vielleux
Colorist: Jean ­ Clement

Sound Mixer: Phillip Loeb @ Heard City

Music (for Cybear): Finger Music

Many's the night I've lain awake wondering how to sell more sponges to hipsters in Brazil. Grey 141 addresses this concern for Scotch-Brite, introducing the brand to twenty-somethings at various São Paulo eateries by offering them the chance to do dishes in lieu of paying their bills. These suntanned well-to-do's look like they're never scrubbed a plate in their lives. They giggle, flash goofy grins and give thumbs-up signs as they brag about dodging the check. It's like a working-class flantasy to them. (Yes, I said flan-tasy-deal with it!) Isn't avoiding dishwashing the whole point of going to a restaurant? Personally, when I'd rather not pay, I prefer the rush of sneaking out through the men's-room window and making a mad dash across the parking lot. Bite me, Sizzler! Via Adverblog.

Only an ad executive would look out on Lake Washington in Seattle and realize, as he drove away, that "there were no billboards." And then decide to put 14-foot-tall inflatable placards out on the water. They're the brainchild of adman Darren Bruce, whose signs can connect to make one giant 14-by-192-foot billboard. ("Seattle's Department of Planning and Development and the Seattle police both said there are no local regulations governing floating billboards.) The space will be sold to advertisers after Bruce breaks in the new location with public service announcements. Thanks, buddy. Maybe you can use the money from this venture to carve Pepsi into Abe Lincoln's head next time you're vacationing near Mount Rushmore.

Kevin Allen began his advertising career in account service but made his mark as a pitchman for McCann Erickson, helping win accounts such as Marriott, Lufthansa and, most famously, MasterCard. He also worked for Lowe before launching consultancy Kevin Allen Partners in 2010. In a new book, The Hidden Agenda, Allen, 58, asserts that emotional connections are the key to success-whether pitching accounts or restocking airplane bathrooms, which he did in college as the "TP man" (as flight crews called him) for Marriott In-Flight Services.

Adweek: What do you mean in the book when you urge people to "think like a shrink"?
When we get into a business environment, we think, right, OK, now, it's market share and brand this and blah blah that. And somehow the human element of the agency selection decision all kind of goes away. I've come to realize that the emotions that are tied up in the selection decision are even greater than what one person goes through as an individual. You don't suspend human desire just because you're in a business setting.

Are you surprised that MasterCard's "Priceless" campaign, which McCann created in a pitch battle, has lasted 15 years?
Yes. Very few of these things become part of popular culture. I don't think anybody could have predicted that. But I think perhaps we as an industry lose interest and patience with our own ideas a heck of a lot faster than the consumer does.

You called the old McCann gang an "eclectic group of loonies." What did you mean by that?
I meant that in the warmest, most affectionate way because I did and do love that team. What was remarkable about what [former CEO] Jim Heekin achieved was not this sort of cookie-cutter "McCann guy" but, rather, this extraordinary diversity. He always understood how to field a team: Nina [DiSesa] who was a larger-than-life yet warm person who brought humanity to the group; Jonathan [Cranin] and his crispness; Nat [Puccio] and his passion; and Margie [Altschuler] and her persistence. Everybody brought something very special, and yet everybody was so wildly different.

What do you think about McCann today?
In a hundred-year history, there are ups and downs. McCann has had its moments of blazing glory and moments of disaster, even going back to [ex-president/CEO Marion] Harper, when he was tossed out of the company. …What the company always needs to do in those [down] times is examine what the strength of that brand is among the sea of agencies. Grit, competitiveness and being a winner is what the DNA of that place has always been about, and I believe still is. You can never, ever be something you're not. You get found out really fast.

What did you learn from your college job as the "TP man" for Marriott?
I had this perception that the joy of work and the pride in what we do is obtained from having meaningful jobs. You know, "I'm an ad guy, I make ads," and all this other stuff. The people that I worked alongside of were all the same from the point of view of coming home and having what I call the 6 o'clock conversation, saying, "Guess what I did today?"

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5. Condom Maker Asks Women What They Won't Put in Their
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