• by Amy Corr , Staff Writer @MediaPostOTL, February 20, 2008

Mom, where do better jobs come from? Absolut Vodka uses only natural ingredients. Paging Dr. Freud. You are what you eat. Let's launch!

It's okay to cheat on your car, if only for a weekend. Avis is promoting car infidelity in a TV, print, online and outdoor campaign that uses a new tagline, "The Other Car." Because renting a car should be mysterious, exciting  -- and in some countries, punishable by death. Ads depict a jealous, dejected and vulnerable car that's desperate to have its owners be loyal to just one vehicle. An old, dirty Saab wonders what types of fancy tech gadgets its owner will receive with Avis in "Look Back." The owner begins to walk away and looks back at his car. "Did he just look back?" says the car. Unfortunately, the owner forgot his coffee atop the car's roof. See the ad here. "Three Days" is my favorite. A green car is left in a parking garage, wondering what its owner is doing in Miami. "Who does she think she's kidding... ...she has the gall to show up three days later and pretend she doesn't smell like new car," says the disgruntled vehicle. Watch it here. A minivan sits in a driveway, thinking about what its family did on vacation with a Hummer. Click here to watch. A snowed-in car, left by its owner to attend a conference in a warmer climate, describes being replaced by a red Cadillac... again. Click here to watch "Conference." Print ads hype luxury cars such as Corvettes and Hummers as ideal rental cars. See the ads here and here. McCann Erickson New York created the campaign and Mediacom handled the media buy.

Hotels.com launched a TV campaign demonstrating the special treatment consumers receive if they book a room through the Web site, since they're the ones who write reviews describing their stay. One ad features a man who's physically carried to his room by two bellhops. One man gets a fur robe rather than a terrycloth bathrobe in the next ad, seen here. Someone gets a little too excited about extra bottles of shampoo in another ad. A family that booked their hotel after reading good reviews on Hotels.com is given an unexpected surprise from their bellhop: a suitcase full of money. See it here. TBWA/Chiat/Day New York created the campaign and Targetcast handled the media buy.

Here's a set of ads to analyze. Print ads for Absolut Vodka highlight the brand's use of all-natural ingredients by equating this to natural childbirth. "Streams" features flowing colors (birth canal) surrounding fruit (baby), alongside copy that states: "In an Absolut World, true taste comes naturally." The pear ad looks eerily realistic. Not exactly the thought I want when I'm drinking a vodka tonic. You? See the ads here and here. Ads are running in US Weekly, Details and ESPN Magazine, to name a few. TBWA/Chiat/Day New York created the campaign and OMD handled the media buy.

Monster.com is drumming out great TV spots left and right. Its latest, "Stork," begins by educating viewers on where babies come from: the stork! An adorable baby is dropped off on a family's doorstep following an arduous journey. The baby yawns and the ad fast-forwards to the baby, now an adult, yawning at his desk, working at a dead-end job. The man receives a visitor, his carrier the stork. As the two stare at one another, the copy "are you reaching your potential" appears onscreen. Watch the ad here. BBDO New York created the campaign and Macglobal handled the media buy.

I stumbled upon Travel Channel's TV series "Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern" a few months ago and I'm now addicted, to say the least. Zimmern scours the world for ethnic treats that most people wouldn't touch unless stranded without other food. A series of TV and print ads launched this week using the tag line, "One man's weird is another man's wonderful." One TV spot shows Zimmern choosing a unique snack from a vending machine: a cow's heart. A woman passing by looks nauseated. Watch the ad here. Zimmern clears out the cafeteria in another ad with his still-living lunch. Print ads show Zimmern's version of a fully stocked vending machine and what living animal goes well with peas and carrots. See the ads here and here. Moroch created the campaign and  PHD handled the media buy.

Art has a new home in an ad for Mountain Dew. The brand teamed up with contemporary artists to create six limited edition aluminum bottles. In the ad, graffiti comes to life, a hillbilly roams the town with moonshine in hand, and a dragon slithers in dark alleys, each convening at a convenience store. A man sees a set of interesting reflections in the refrigerated section of the store. When he turns around to investigate, there's nothing to see but cases of Mountain Dew. The images are now found on aluminum bottles. See the ad here. The ad broke on Fox, MTV, YouTube and Facebook, among others. BBDO New York created the campaign and OMD handled the media buy.

Beer and rugby. Perfect together. That's the case in a print, poster, street, and POS campaign that connects New Zealand's Steinlager beer to USA Sevens, North America's largest rugby tournament. Steinlager is sponsoring the tournament. The main component of "Crack One Open" is an X-ray of a broken arm that's gripping a Steinlager. Ouch. The image appears in print ads found in local newspapers, tournament programs, posters and T-shirts. In addition, brand ambassadors gave away bandages that said "Crack One Open" and faux prescription pads that said "Open up and say Steinlager" and "Take two Steinlagers and call us in the morning." See creative here, here and here. Cenergy Communications created the campaign, and media buying was handled in-house.

Del Monte Corporation launched an online game for its Meaty Bone brand called "Mark Your Territory." The gist of the self-proclaimed "Greatest Game for Dogs. Ever" is self-explanatory: rack up as many points as possible by squirting targets such as tents, boots, trucks, fire hydrants and picnic baskets. Gamers lose half of their accumulated points if they squirt a cat. And beware of the heckler who's hoping to shake your game. Agency.com created the site.