It doesn’t have Javier Bardem on a West Texas spree of violence or the songs of the Soggy Bottom Boys, but the Coen brothers directed this humorous ad, which satirizes clean coal using the classic old TV pitchman technique. You know, the ones where some guy in a suit just happens to be walking through some family’s living room and the invaded family doesn’t seem to care?

And here is the requisite “making of” video (you don’t snag the Coen brothers and not put out a making of video):

Shake The World from Shake The World on Vimeo.

Do something small and be a part of something big. Take part in Shake the World’s great idea and see the whole world through a small window in time.

Ford is looking for a few good Millennials to promote its new subcompact, the Fiesta. Already available in Europe, the Fiesta and its 2010 U.S. launch have already been generating some buzz in the car community, but the automaker is banking on a social media approach to really getting the word out to young people. They’re seeking 100 “agents” to drive the German-built Fiestas this year, perform “missions” and capture their experiences for distribution on Facebook, Flickr and YouTube.

We’re looking for an elite crop of drivers to take the wheel: people with a strong presence on the web, an ability to craft a compelling story through video, and a hunger for adventure. As a driver, you’ll receive monthly secret assignments from Ford Mission Control that will take you to places you’ve never been, to meet people you’ve never met, and to experiences you’ll never forget. And you’ll bring your friends and followers along for the ride.

It’s an interesting approach and could prove to be a more cost-effective marketing tool than the traditional media the cash-strapped Big Three tends to rely upon. Where the campaign may fall short, however, is in its authenticity within social media. When consumers fall in love with a product and cross the threshold into brand advocacy, it happens organically. They spread the word out of a genuine appreciation for the brand, not because a company gave them a free ride (and the gas and insurance to go along with it). Sometimes the best approach is to support the community rather than construct one.

Ford is right on when it comes to noting the power of social media, particularly for this demographic. But this age group can also be tough on brands that play on their turf. In any case, it’ll be interesting to see how Ford’s foray into social media marketing plays out.

It looks like they won’t have any trouble recruiting folks to join the “movement.” They’ve already received 1,500 applications thus far and will be accepting them through March 13th.

The Scottish Government has a new campaign out to get Scottish kids to “Do something creative. Do science.” Four agencies—The Bridge (lead creative), TenNine (posters), Civic (website), and Mediacom (outdoor and new media)—are behind the work, which aims to increase the number of kids majoring in science.

The website lets you take a little quiz to determine your science prowess, which mostly consists of asking if you’re an idiot. If you’re not an idiot, science is in your future. If you answer like me, science MAY be in your future, so maybe you should check out the science career path finder just in case. So I checked mine and discovered that pilates and fashion design are both sciences. Did you know that? Neither did I!

Poster executions push the future of fashion science further by suggesting that girls could create a leg wax that doesn’t hurt or heels that never break. A second execution suggests that boys could make a fabric that helps you run faster or a shoe that helps you kick a soccer ball more accurately. Part of the reason for using fashion and football to appeal to the kids is that the campaign is trying to change science’s “geeky image.” I would have laughed about that a few weeks ago, but now that Gatorade has somehow taken Monty Python from geek chic to jock schlock, I’m not so sure.

Wired has an interesting article on the SuperSmoker electronic cigarette, a device that delivers a small dose of nicotine and tobacco-like flavoring without any real smoke and purportedly no second-hand side effects. Though it’s being promoted as a way to get around smoking bans, particularly on planes, let’s put the practical use of the product aside for a moment and check out the amusing British promotional video.

My favorite part is where the fake news headline fades into women in shiny, skin-tight costumes who demonstrate the product by dancing with it. Or maybe it’s the poorly-drawn smoking stick-figure logo. Or maybe it’s when they throw the cigs into a tiny coffin at the beginning. Whatever it is, there’s something glorious about low budget promos, like the one for Gamucci, another e-cig available in the U.K., whose video contains delightfully unnecessary CGI. Unfortunately, our own U.S. brands, NJOY electronic cigarettes, ePuffer and Crown7, don’t even have promotional videos of which to speak. C’mon guys! Can we at least muster up a flyer with a starburst or two?

Art begets art ad infinitum.

A couple of weeks ago we told you about how the MoMA in NYC was spreading some art love in Brooklyn at the Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Street subway station. The museum placed 57 reproductions of Warhol, Picasso and a host of other lauded artists all over the walls in order to advertise the MoMA and bring some much needed good cheer to busy commuters.

Over the weekend, the installation was “attacked” by a band of underground street artists, most notably a self-styled guerrilla street artist named Poster Boy, though he was accompanied by Doug Jaeger, the advertising gent whose agency came up with the whole campaign for MoMA in the first place. Really?

The duo showed up around 2 a.m. dressed in MoMA jackets and even brought along fashion models to pose in front of the defaced works as they documented the whole wild art remix party.

According to the story in New York Magazine, the art attack was staged without the consent of MoMA, who had paid the MTA to use all the space in the station - what MTA calls “station domination.”

At this time MoMA has made no public comment concerning its reaction that the person they paid to create the museums campaign is also the person responsible for defacing it. The defaced pieces were summarily taken down. I wonder what they are worth now and where we might see them again?

“Early on we saw Poster Boy’s work, and we realized it was inevitable that if we did this project, his crew would likely see it as an opportunity. Whenever you create something, you want to make sure you’re prepared for that,” Jaeger says. “What I would hope is that it would cause debate and generate some argument, at a minimum.”

Jaeger says he’s nervous about the museum’s response, but stands by his actions. “I don’t know if they like for me to be saluting it,” he says of Poster Boy’s work. “But if someone who is getting acclaim as an artist does something to your campaign, does it make it less valuable or more valuable?”

In our YouTube world of “viral” everything, where nothing is really what it seems (Joaquin Phoenix the rapper comes to mind), I don’t know how convinced I am that this surgical art strike wasn’t part of the strategy all along?

Ahhhh, there’s nothing like starting your morning off with a little Jamaican pot…of coffee.

Bob Marley continues to live on through his music, style and message and now, coffee.

Led by the reggae singer’s daughter, Cedella, the Marley clan plans to bring consumers a new line of organic coffees and foods inspired by their family’s Caribbean-island home of Jamaica.

The line is set to begin with Marley Coffee, a variety of single origin and blended coffees from a handful of the “top growing regions in the world.”

Appropriately named after some of Bob’s most popular songs—including “One Love,” “Simmer Down” and “Jammin’ Java”—the family’s dive into the coffee business has evolved as an extension of the late singer’s unfulfilled dream to one day return to farming.

Today, with a portion of coffee beans grown by Marley’s son, Rohan, near the Marleys’ estate in Jamaica’s Blue Mountains, their father’s dream is being honored by this new venture.

The coffees, which are not yet available in market, are to be followed by line of foods—all under the Marley umbrella. A recent deal with Hilco Consumer Capital—set to manage the Bob Marley brand portfolio—will help make that happen, according to a report by AOL Food.

“We have been diligent about protecting our father’s legacy over the years,” stated Cedella Marley. “There is enormous demand for products that allow his legend to live on. This partnership with Jamie and the Hilco team will allow us to grow his legacy, while maintaining his integrity and artistic DNA in a quality manner.”

Welcome to a strategic acquisition, mon!

The extended line of Bob Marley products is scheduled to hit the shelves in February 2010—just in time for what would’ve been his 65th birthday.

Great Deals, just try and beat it!

Gonna be selling something, gonna be selling something.

Never say Never(land)

If you want to own something of Jacko’s go here to register.

Gatorade, which recently rebranded their drink as “G,” has released a more comedic vision of what exactly G is in The Quest for G. The campaign is, for reasons that escape me, an homage to Monty Python and the Hold Grail. And by “homage,” I mean that all the famous parts of the film are ripped-off (or lovingly and reverently remixed, if you like) along with a slew of other pop culture references to give it that special “you had to be there” feel.

So the thing stars Kevin Garnett, Derek Jeter, Jimmie Johnson, Usain Bolt (twice), Alicia Sacramone, the JabbaWockeez, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordan (voice only), Misty May and Keri Walsh. An impressive lineup of stars—most of whom I didn’t recognize in medieval garb. It broke as a viral campaign two weeks ago, but it’s also showing in little 30 second bites on TV.

I think it’s just a high-budget, low-payoff film parody, but judging by the lack of nasty comments on YouTube, G’s target audience thinks this whole deal is tight.

$99dollarmusicvideo.com is a new online music video channel dedicated to showing music videos made for, you guessed it, $99 or less.

The site is owned by web studio NextNewNetworks - home of Obama Girl - and is the brainchild of Fred Seibert, who back in 1981 was the first employee and creative director at MTV.

The idea is that filmmakers will go out, hook up with a band or bands, shoot a cheap music video in one day, edit it in one day (it doesn’t have to be the same day) and make sure the budget doesn’t exceed $99. Then, all they need to do is upload it to $99 Dollar Music Video website and with any luck, it’ll rise above and get noticed. They deal is that the network gets an exclusive three month window to show your video and after three months the band/filmmaker/label can do whatever they want with it. With Verizon FiOS Internet signed on, it is hoped the DIY vids, with some marketing muscle behind them, will grab the eyeballs currently glued to the zillions of videos over on YouTube and MySpace.

It used to cost tens of thousands, or millions, of dollars to shoot just about anything, so making a music video was not much of a reality for many small, unsigned bands unless they had some money behind them or one of the members was a slumming trustafarian. But now, anyone with a decent camcorder, a laptop and some easy to use editing software like Apple’s iMovie, can go out and shoot a video or even a full length movie and with some web savvy, get it noticed.

Still, all the web savvy and cool gear won’t replace the prime ingredient needed to make something good. The only thing they don’t sell at Best Buy is creativity and talent and a quick scan of YouTube will tell you two ingredients are still quite rare and valuable commodities.

[via Adage]