Forget what you might have heard about already-cracked DRMs, ethically questionable blogger relations or any other problems surrounding the new Microsoft Vista operating system. The software has finally arrived and its launch is being accompanied by a $500 million marketing push. That includes not only TV, print and online buys but also sponsored games and huge publicity events like the one featuring Microsoft's Steve Ballmer and, of course, Bill Gates. Everyone is out to make this the biggest product launch in Microsoft history, which in their mind equals best.

Microsoft is just one of a number of companies who have decided to eschew ad campaigns with celebrities in favor of ad campaigns with some not-quite celebrities. They're using a relatively unknown comedian named Demetri Martin to promote Vista to the tech-savvy, Comedy Central watching crowd. More and more companies are using non-celebs for their campaigns as a way to break through the ad clutter in a more down-to-earth way.

In an effort to ratchet up the allure of its theme parks, Disney has embraced the power of celebrities. Specifically, beautifully shot celebrities in fantasy settings. (And no, I'm not just talking about high-production value porn. At least I'm not talking about it now. See me later about that - it's all quite tasteful.) Disney has had famed photographer Annie Leibovitz shoot famous folks from David Beckham to Scarlett Johansson as they recreate Disney characters in a series of ads that will run in high-end lifestyle magazines such as W, Vogue and The New Yorker as well as Cookie, the Disney-owned parenting title. In one ad, Johansson plays Cinderella as she runs down a staircase in full formal wear.

My favorite, though, features Beyonce Knowles as Alice, Lyle Lovett as the March Hare and Oliver Platt as the Mad Hatter. The casting of the latter two is inspired enough to make me wish for a live action Alice in Wonderland film.

This is just the first wave in this particular campaign. Later ads will have other celebs recreating Peter Pan, Tinker Bell and Ariel from the Little Mermaid. The ads are part of Disney's "Year of a Million Dreams" campaign.

The Disney Blog has some behind the scenes pictures from the shoots.

No, it's not a new game show on NBC featuring a celebrity host and a bunch of girls with giant noses that might contain money, it's a new advertising idea from the folks at the financial paper.

As Chris mentioned earlier, they're a new version of the old "scratch and sniff" ads called "rub and sniff," which actually sounds like some sex position, or maybe a play that will be run in the Super Bowl coming up in February. These ads will use a technology different from the typical peel and smell ads (like cologne ads) you see in mags like GQ and Esquire. It's a rub, not a scratch.

For now the ads will just be included in newspaper inserts, not as part of the newspaper itself.

A new campaign from the Ad Council aimed at curbing teenage car wreck fatalities is highlighting the responsibility others in the car have. The campaign urges those who feel uncomfortable with someone's driving habits to "speak up" and overcome their fear of being ridiculed by the group. A series of spots shows situations where someone in the back of the car is encouraged by a narrator character to voice their concerns over the driver's irresponsible behavior.

All of the Super Bowl commercials that Budweiser will run have been posted to YouTube. You can see snippets of all 8 of them on this page, or you can check out the video below. It condenses all the ads into 3 minutes and 9 seconds. The ads this year feature crabs, Clydesdales, a space station, and a hitchhiker with an axe.

One of them, "Rock, Paper, Scissors," has already run on television (at least I think it has, or did I see it online?), so it's not new or special for this Super Bowl. As for the other ads, again I say...eh. I've never been a fan of the Budweiser commercials, and I can never understand why they seem to win ad critic and viewer polls for best ads every year.

I like the one with the dog though. Dogs are cool.

The newest ad from Cisco jumps on the viral video craze, but I wonder if it confuses as many viewers who it attracts.

It's the one that shows the kid in the kitchen dancing, and he's filmed via cell phone camera by his dad. The video is put online and it becomes a sensation, a la that Star Wars kid on the "Lazy Sunday" video. Kids are watching it, the entire population of China is watching it, it's even broadcast on the big screen in Times Square.

First of all, I don't think any viral video has gotten that kind of attention. Second, the video seems to be perfect and flawless, on every screen it is shown on. And the way the ad is edited it seems like it's going over the web live, straight from cell phone to the web.

Will most people even know what Cisco is and why they are advertising?

So many dumb moments in business, so little time. But Business 2.0 mag has their picks for the 101 dumbest of 2006.

Wal-Mart is #1, for hiring a big firm to create their "Candidate Wal-Mart" campaign. #2 is Northwest Airlines, for giving their employees a "How To Save Money" booklet after laying them off. #3 is the contest McDonald's held in Japan, with the winners getting free mp3 players with a virus on them. The rest of the top 10 are GM, Kazakhstan, Steve Wynn, The New York Times, Spirit Air, Porter County, and Comcast.

There are 101 in all, so grab a hot beverage and get comfortable. You can't see the entire list on one page, which is a little annoying, but there is a handy scroll function at the bottom.

I always get a little bummed out after the holidays. I really love Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's, and it's always sort of a letdown when Jan 2 comes around and we're back to the same old grind and same old "feeling" to the year. I don't mind if there are holiday specials after January 2 or if people have their lights up after New Year's Day.

But I think that January 22 and beyond is a little too much.

There's a new commercial for Special K cereal that shows a mom dressed in red and white, next to her family's Christmas tree, and her daughter calls her "Santa!" She then realizes she's too fat and needs to lose weight so she goes to the cupboard to eat Special K (is that how dieting works, you're overweight so you go to the kitchen to get something to eat?). "Joy to the World" plays in the background, the family is under the tree, and the dad helps the kid with her toys.

Merry Christmas, it's almost Valentine's Day.

Funny satire of Second Life, the game that is sweeping the nation (though I've never played it once, gone to any sites about it once, or read much about it). It's called Get A First Life, and there really isn't much to the site (no links to click, etc). It's more of a one page parody of the entire Second Life genre, how people can actually access the real world outside of their homes.

"First Life is a 3-D analog world where server lag does not exist."

"Fornicate using your actual genitals."

Ha! You can get T-shirts too.

[via Boing Boing]

Insurance company Progressive is launching a new campaign that has it trying to grab market share away from Geico. The "Think" campaign will contain a number of spots, each meant at appealing to a different audience but all focused on getting people to at least check out what Progressive has to offer. Car drivers, boaters, motorcycle riders - they all get their own appeal. Most of the spots, aside from those that will be animated, will feature ESPN's Kenny Maine.

I like those Staples commercials that have the big red button. You can even buy the button in stores, though I keep forgetting to pick one up. Might be a cool thing to keep on my desk.

Now I've noticed that Office Depot has a new campaign, though I'd have to say it's a bit creepier than a button. In the new ads, the ones that feature the song "Whooooooa, Office Depot, Whoooooa!", employees and customers use a hand that pops out of a box to direct them to products around the store. Sort of like Thing from The Addams Family.

My question is, does every store get their own hand? Whose hands are they? Can the hands think and feel and dream about a life outside of the box?

I'll stick with the button. I don't want to think about severed limbs when I shop for pens.

Welcome to tonight's Main Event, pitting Colgate-Palmolive against Procter & Gamble.

In this corner we have P&G, which is preparing to launch a huge campaign that positions its Crest Pro-Health brand as an important tool in your personal health arsenal.

In the other corner C-P, sporting its Colgate Total line and using a campaign that tries to make us feel emotionally good about using Total by sporting Brooke Shields in a new commercial.

These two contenders for your toothbrushing needs have squared off in the past, leapfrogging each other occasionally as the market leader. This bout, pitting information against emotion, is sure to be an ugly one, albeit an ugly one with sparkling white teeth.

Food giant Kellogs has just launched a campaign that seeks to get people's attention by addressing their urge to snack during peak snacking hours. In addition to that, the ads are created to reference the exact time it's running so that it sounds even more like you're mother who's always nagging you to put down that bite of chocolately goodness because you really could stand to lose a few pounds because you'll never get a man if you look like that and that means she'll never have the grandchildren she's always wanted and which your sister certainly isn't going to give her after announcing her new lifestyle.

I may have wandered off-topic.

Starcom, the agency behind the campaign, created about 30 TV spots and a mess of radio ads as well as web ads, which after pestering you about your snacking then offer a more healthy (and Kelloggs created) alternative). The agency then specified to the media running the ads the time they were to run since that's obviously an important part of the campaign.

This is just a little bit more than the law will allow.

• Behavioral targeting networks are just going to get bigger as advertisers look to, well, track how people are behaving across a network of websites. For example, Dow Jones has switched to Tacoda to handle its profiling.
• Yes, the web is for entertainment as well as info and search. Anyone who has spent hours on YouTube watching "Robot Chicken" clips could have told you that.
• Memo to Apple: The iPhone still needs to have a marketing campaign behind it in order for it to be successful.