Dabitch.net - Everything is so random there must be a pattern

The Advertising Show used to be announced every week on Adland, and they also had me on the show once. "New Liberal Radio Network & Advertising Rag Site"

Want to see the European Pepsi ad, “Gladiator”? Go to Adland’s website http://ad-rag.com and see advertising addicts discuss their favorite and not so favorite commercials and ad campaigns from across the globe. Åsk Wäppling, CEO and creator of Adland, explains the difference between European and American advertising and the “we'd never get away with that in the states” rationale. Ad-rag.com has been around since 1996 and has grown to become a multi-user system and blog site. Åsk is a freelance art director in advertising who graduated from Parsons School of Design in New York. She has worked with top agencies such as BBDO, Publicis, Euro RSCG and Saatchi & Saatchi in Copenhagen, London and Amsterdam.

Link to Variety.com's article - and archive link.

If you use TiVo to skip the show and watch the commercials, you ought to visit Adland, also sometimes known as Commercial Archive, ad-rag.com and Badland (those are also now the names of Adland sections.)

The site is a center for ad-related news and discussion, posting suggestions from visitors who also offers commentary on each entry in Slashdot-like style.

Ads come from all over the globe, and for a modest $2 donation per month, you can watch the videos -- cheapskates can only get a screen capture thumbnails.

If paying to see current ads doesn't seem right, perhaps you'll be swayed by The Claymore Project, a twenty-six year archive of Superbowl advertising.

The ad blogging phenomenon got a writeup at Shootonline.

They don't know how to spell my name - but hey all press is good press right? (or is that just as long as they spell your name right? I forget.. ;))

More focused on television commercials is the Adland web log run by Sweden based freelancer Åsk Wäppling better known by her screen name; Dabitch. Adland contains an extensive commercial database and being a communal blog (other users are free to post content) it sparks a debate every now and then.

Link to the Shootonline article

Baby, a social and networking club for creatives in Amsterdam wanted to attract people to the club in the evenings for socializing and networking back in 1998. The invite, in shape of an earl grey teabag, invited you to a dinner on Friday, November 27, 1998.

An evening of home-made food, like Dutch classic "stamppot", spiked tea cocktails and family fun was arranged. There were doilies everywhere, the man who played "Dad" got drunk on genever and sang opera, the woman who played "Mom" knitted all night while listening to the young-uns troubles. Much fun was had, and Baby creative club members felt very close, like siblings, after they left the dinner party.

It's my birthday!

My demands are simple, a picnic and some art with my turtle, Graham. Here Graham demonstrates how to tickle mum silly. And leave little scratch marks.

To add to this, I had to have art. Graham likes art too. Gramham's favorite color is red. Trivia: This Warhol portrait of Mao was painted the same year as I was born.

Graham liked it. Despite it not being red. See? Graham does appreciate art.

Internetworld magazine in Sweden honoured Adland with the site of the month title in their extra-big summer issue 2003, where the top 100 sites were listed.

The article reads:

Playground for advertising people
At Adland advertising people from all over the world meet
Over 10000 commercials crowd the site Adland, which is both an archive and a community for advertising people and people interested in ads. The commercials are submitted by the visitors. The founder of the site is Åsk Wäppling who works as a freelance Art Director.

• "There were no fun advertising sites when I started in 1996. I begun by putting up campaigns that were "separated at birth" and supply excerpts from advertising books that I thought were good. Many started to send in tips about their own badlander ads and soon it was time to build something bigger."
  How many members do you have today?
• "Right now it's 14558. I will celebrate with a little bubbly when we pass 15000, it's gonna be a little virtual party here that day.
  Åsk thinks that the best thing about Adland is that he met and spoke to so many interesting advertising people from around the world. - "But if you ask any member I'm sure they'll say that the archive is the best part. We have loads of fun films, 10169 right this minute. It's a great way to waste time and if the boss catches you, you can always call it "research"."
  To become a member is free, but to be able to view the films requires a small donation.

The Propaganda article has been archived here, as it's no longer online.

15 kroner for 10,000 commercials

A Danish ad freelancer is behind one website that offers industry professionals access to 10,000 commercials for two dollars a month.

Danish ad freelancer Åsk Wäppling is behind the website ad-rag.com, which has collected over 10,000 commercial films on a non-profit basis. All she needs is two dollars a month to cover running expenses. Anyone who signs up for the site will have the opportunity to participate in the design of the site.

• Ad-rag should be a playground for anyone who works with advertising. People want to see these movies, especially those from other countries. I was even annoyed that there was no such site easily accessible, so I made one myself, says Åsk Wäppling to Swedish resume.se.

The oldest films on the site are from 1958, but the selection is the largest from 1979 until today. Every day, between 10 and 15 films are posted.

Ad-rag started as a community site in 1996. But the commercials came on the scene only in 2000. Today the site has 12,000 members. Of these, 3,000 paid their two dollars to gain free access to the commercials for a month. Each month, the site has about 50,000 unique visitors.

Ad-rag charges two dollars a month to avoid having a banner.

http://bit.ch shows us a nice poster questioning where Bush was in 1972. There is something so nicely retro-classic over the art direction. No, I LIKE it... really - don't you?
What I don't like is the way the text is so obviously photoshopped onto that card. One day people will get better at that, I suppose. Also, I wish they had used a 1972 font that wasn't currently trendy. Like a newspaper font, there instead.

Source: http://www.awolbush.com/wherewasbush.asp