So we’re in new business mode, diligently working on an RFP for a client we’d all give up our firstborn/left leg/dog to win. That means a lot of late nights. (Keurig, thank you for existing.)

While burning the midnight candle at BG may not be as scandalous as some agencies, taking a short break here and there does afford profound moments of reflection.

Here are three things that caught my attention. What do you think, should I flip the switch?

While companies around the country are learning how to engage in social media, we really appreciate the ones that can have fun with the fact that they may not know everything about it.  And Big Bear Mountain Resort’s new radio spot illustrates this perfectly.  Not to mention, this spot really is AWESOME-SAUCE!

(click the link below to hear radio spot)

BBMRRadioSpot

So our holiday caroling video was a bit of a hit. Feedback has been good for our purposely “bad” execution.

When I first presented the idea of all of us butchering a song, there was a lot of nervous laughter in the room. Everyone at Bailey Gardiner seemed to think it was funny. But an important question remained. Would we all be willing to make asses out of ourselves? Well… clearly that was well within our skill set.

Nothing teaches like the act of doing. And in the course of filming, I learned a few things. I learned that…

- Sticking a camcorder in front of someone can severely limit motor skills.

- Some of us can actually sing (Katy and Jason). Yo, Susan Boyle- watch your back.

- Exiting a bathroom stall – while singing and eating a candy cane – wasn’t nearly as cool as I thought it would be. Perhaps bathroom humor is best left to the experts.

Without much further ado, here’s a short clip of outtakes and bloopers, as well as the original, just in case you missed it. Enjoy.

With the latest news about Tiger Woods being dropped by huge brands like Gatorade and Accenture, it begs the question… are celebrity advertising endorsements just too big of a financial risk?

Current advertising trends would suggest the answer is “yes.”

In the past, there has been a lot of money made on celebrity advertising endorsements. But along with the successes, there have been an equal number of heartbreaks.

One such heartbreak was Michael Vick. After being convicted on dog fighting charges, not only did Reebok stop production of his jersey, Nike pulled his contract and had to cancel the release of his shoe, “Air Zoom Vick V” which was already in production.

Another celebrity endorsement gone wrong was between Celine Dion and Chrysler. After signing a three year, $14 million dollar deal with the singer (which their ad agency BBDO advised against), Chrysler dumped Celine from their ad campaign. Turns out the only sales that increased were for the singer and not for the Chrysler Pacifica she was endorsing.

On the other hand, sometimes, despite a scandal, a celebrity endorsement can still be lucrative. Take Michael Jordan as an example. His partnership with Nike and production of “Air Jordans” brought in millions of dollars for the company despite his many indiscretions including both adultery and gambling.

So, you ask, what will happen to Tiger Woods? Is he too big of a risk to keep as a brand ambassador? According to a poll by Bloomberg, since the fall-out, Tiger Woods has dropped from 6th to 24th in popularity among consumers. Along with Gatorade and Accenture, both AT&T and Gillette have distanced themselves from the famous golfer.

However, Nike is sticking with Woods (for the moment). In the words of Nike Chairman and co-founder Phil Knight, “I think [Tiger]’s been really great. When his career is over, you’ll look back on these indiscretions as a minor blip.”

Perhaps they recognize that the only thing better than a good celebrity endorsement is a great comeback story.

Captain Morgan Rum launched their new campaign, Calling All Captains, in May. This campaign is primarily aimed at reaching young adult males. Well, I’m a 26 year-old female and this campaign has definitely reached me as well. It’s fun, humorous and catches your attention.

In yesterday’s MediaPost Marketing Daily article by Karlene Lukovitz, I learned about the second phase of this campaign. All I can say is, I love it!

They have incorporated a “crazy nights begin and end with a good call” portion where people can select a prankster character, customize a voice message and then send it to a friend’s phone. People can choose from being an angry bartender that yells at you for stiffing him on a tab, a cute girl in a bar or an angry boyfriend.

This is a great way to get people to directly interact with your brand. I especially love how you can customize your message by including your friend’s name, what that person was wearing in the bar that night and your name. This does make it a lot more believable. And, this message automatically goes into a person’s voicemail, so you are guaranteed it gets there. Don’t worry, the message informs the recipient that this is a joke at the end of the message. We don’t want any angry boyfriends beating some guy up for no reason.

You know what this marketing campaign reminds me of? The “reject number” phase that was huge about 5 years ago. We’ve all had that uncomfortable experience when someone asks you for your number and you really don’t want to give it to them, but you just can’t say no. Well, they invented the rejection line for these instances. There are phone numbers for all the major US cities. When a poor person receives this phone number and calls it, they hear something along the following:

Hi, the person who gave you this number, does not wish to speak to you ever again. You have been rejected. To order business cards with this phone number press 1. To hear a cheer-up reject poem press 2.

The list goes on and on, but you get the point.

I know Captain Morgan’s campaign has a great strategy behind it and has helped their Facebook fan page reach about 111,000 fans. The reject line was just something fun that probably some high school kid came up with as a joke. I do wonder how much money he/she has made off reject business cards and swag though.

I love seeing how companies are constantly directly involving their consumers more and more. It’s the way the world is going. People don’t want to sit back and watch. They want to partake in what’s going on.

When opportunity strikes, you have to pounce.  Like a cougar.

At Bailey Gardiner the summer means Del Mar Racetrack season and Del Mar Racetrack Season means Cougars.  When we were told there would be a stakes race at Del Mar, the longest of the entire meet, and it would be called the Cougar II Handicap (after an old horse, Cougar II), we chuckled.  Then we pounced with the creation of the Miss Cougar Del Mar contest.  And what an opportunity it was!  Miss Cougar covered all the bases in local media with TV, radio, print and online interviews.  NBC San Diego has given her a shout out in their new TV commercial and just last week we got the call that she may be making an appearance on national TV.  The media coverage resulted in 28 submissions over only four days.  Now that’s success through the most obscure of marketing.

The week of Miss Cougar Del Mar was followed by yet another obscure opportunity.  The Travelocity Gnome was coming to San Diego and Del Mar was chosen as one of his destinations.  We were to coordinate the most quirky photo opportunities for the little wooden gnome, and that we did.

As our media is changing, we’re seeing a shift in what creates news.  No longer can we give the public information.  We must now give them something to talk about.  We love work like this because we value media opportunities outside of the traditional PR plan.  We value the opportunity to get people talking, to take a risk, and to have some fun.

Supplied by my friend Deborah Weinstein of Strategic Objectives in Toronto.

At a lot of advertising agencies, people usually hope for the corner office or the desk by the window. But for the people who know that won’t happen for awhile, they hope for the next best thing, a cubicle. When a cubicle became available a few months ago at our San Diego creative agency, everyone started to wonder, who would be the lucky person to get it?

Before we knew it, a battle (not a physical battle, but a battle of writing and crossing people out on a white board) had started for it.  Here is how it all went down:

* Lizzie’s Cube

* Becca wants to sit here

* Agency hot tub goes here

* Reserved for Deb

* Mac says it’s his or your computer won’t work

* Callan wants the desk. You can fight over the cube…

* Future site of BG Starbucks

* Jim Art’s Satellite Office

*Nik’s deer stand

*BG’s Bar-We just need to hire a bartender.

After all of that you want to know who finally won?

ME!!!!!!!!!

Now I need to figure out how to decorate it. I know Heather, our Traffic Coordinator (aka office decorator) will be helping me.

 Dear Audi,

I thought you were so bold when you came up with this:

Until BMW came out with this:

Audi … FAIL. Well, at least outdoor advertising isn’t hurting in Santa Monica.

Thanks for sharing, @MayaBY!

SkyMall – innovative gifts for innovative people. You never cease to amaze. Always there in the seatback pocket in front of me. And one solid reason print cannot die.Here are my current top five  six favorites from SkyMall:

1. Flair Hair Visor - A visor with fake hair connected. That’s not even his real hair. Fooled you, huh?

Is this what Ryan Seacrest will look like in oh, 7 years?Girls: ever wonder what it’s like to walk around with a shmullet? (She-mullet)

 2. Brightfeet Lighted Slippers – An adult version of light-up shoes.

COOL! I don’t think my parents allowed us to wear light-up LA Gears as kids. My sister and I were strictly the ruffly-socks/Ked-wearing type.

 3. Steripen Traveler -How Star Trek-esque. Like a phaser. Very cool.

4.  MemoryFoam MP3 Blackout Shades - Just wanted to point out she’s clearly sleeping on the job.

 5. Walk-O-Long – A $60 leash for your child. Not all children can be tamed…

6. Deluxe Prism Glasses – Are you sleeping? Oh! You’re reading? Are you sure? Why no ma’am, no one’s staring.

Ah, SkyMall… hours of entertainment while on a plane. If anyone’s flying anytime soon, please snag a SkyMall and send to me. Bonus points if you flag the items you like.