Here's a fun Twitter stunt from Germany for Fiat's Abarth 500 turbocharged hatchback. If you try to follow the vehicle's official Twitter page, you get a direct message saying that no one can follow the Abarth 500, because it's just too fast. (Its follower count, which briefly clicks up to 1 when you follow, soon goes back down to 0.) Clever. The upside, of course, is all the earned media. The downside? You know—no Twitter followers.

Fox's Family Guy has a new "For Your Consideration" ad for this year's Emmy Awards, because Seth MacFarlane's unfunny Rat Pack schtick hasn't ruined enough award shows yet. The latest ad references an episode of HBO's Girls in which someone received a pearl necklace. Hence the Family Guy headline: "Here's a load of comedy to shoot on your chest." Groan. It's better than the lazy Jew-baiting that MacFarlane and company have been relying on lately, but that Girls episode was beaten to death long before they got to it. But that's to be expected from a show that hasn't been funny since I was in college.

If you are male, the moment you have a child you are required to drastically alter your sense of humor in ways both profound and irreversible. Where before you were witty and sharp, you must now become broad and pun-heavy. This is mostly so you can embarrass your offspring, although, counterintuitively, it is also guaranteed to make them love you more. (The whole thing is probably evolutionary in some complex way.) This Sunday, for Father's Day, Heineken will celebrate this oddity of the human condition with a #dadjokes campaign from Wieden + Kennedy in New York. You submit your cheesiest dad joke with that hashtag to @Heineken_US, and the brewer will meme-ify its favorites—posting your joke next to stock photos of awesome dads through the ages. Heineken will add its own #dadjokes throughout the day, too, and all of them will be archived on a special #dadjokes Tumblr. Join in Sunday, and make it the most groan-inducing site on the Internet. Credits below.

CREDITS
Client: Heineken
Project: #dadjokes
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, New York
Executive Creative Directors: Scott Vitrone, Ian Reichenthal
Creative Directors: Erik Norin, Eric Steele
Creatives: Mike Vitiello, Jessica Abercrombie
Designer: Cory Everett
Account Team: Patrick Cahill, Jacqueline Ventura
Brand Strategist: Jeremy Daly
Art Producer: Michelle Chant
Interactive Producers: Mutaurwa Mapondera, Victoria Krueger
Director of Integrated Production: Lora Schulson
Director of Interactive Production: Brandon Kaplan
Business Affairs: Quentin Perry

A year ago this week, Max Page—known to ad geeks as the 8-year-old actor who played Little Vader in Volkswagen's 2011 Super Bowl ad—had open-heart surgery for a congenital heart defect. He's had eight surgeries in all at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. Now, People magazine has an update on how he's doing. In short, he's healthy—and making a difference. "He's doing remarkably well," his mom, Jennifer Page, says. "He's a full-throttle kid who loves doing charity work, making appearances in hospitals nationwide, raising funds and cheering up other kids." Max serves as a junior ambassador for Children's, and has raised more than $50,000 for the hospital. "I love being able to help kids who are less fortunate," he says. "It's all about giving back." It looks like the Vader suit comes along with him, too. "It was fun filming it," he says. "It's never going to get old to me."

The only downside to Steve Lovelace's Corporate States of America map, showing the most famous brands founded in each of the 50 states, was that there wasn't enough liquor involved. Only two were alcohol brands: Coors and Anheuser-Busch. Thrillist has decided to rectify that with its Red, White & Booze map, "plotting the biggest/most high-profile liquor or beer companies" in each of the 50 states. Check out it out above, and see a much larger PDF on the Thrillist site. Let the debates begin. First of all, why not Magic Hat in Vermont?

Not pictured and/or hard to read:

Alaska: Alaskan Brewing
Hawaii: Kona
Vermont: Hill Farmstead
New Hampshire: Smuttynose
Connecticut: Willimantic
Rhode Island: Narragansett
New Jersey: Jagermeister
Delaware: Dogfish Head
Maryland: Flying Dog

The Jack Daniel's biker bee is back in this new spot from Arnold in Boston, and this time he brought a whole swarm of friends to tear through a weirdly empty city to find a bottle of Tennessee Honey. The music is less bikery than last time, and I can't say the overall vibe is as effective, but it's short enough to still work. Kinda wish they had to weave through traffic or chase people off the sidewalk, though. The agency says the ad was "pre-released" on Twitter and Facebook and generated more than 10 million impressions before hitting TV. Credits below.

CREDITS
Client: Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey
Spot: "Swarm"

Agency: Arnold, Boston
Chief Creative Officer: Pete Favat
Executive Creative Director: Wade Devers
Group Creative Director: Pete Johnson
Director of Global Marketing, Jack Daniel's: Carmen D'Ascendis
Creative Director: Jose Luis Martinez
Art Director: Alyssa Wilson
Copywriter: Peter Hughes
Producer: William Near
Assistant Producer: Alex Saevitz
Business Affairs: Maria Rougvie
Planners: Lisa Borden and Angus McCoubrey
Marketing Producers: Paul Nelson, Emily Brooks & Shannon Coletti

Production Company: Smuggler
Production Company Executive Producer: Allison Kunzman
Production Company Line Producer: Michael Schlenker
Director: Laurent Ledru - Psyop
Cinematographer: Robert Elswit
Editorial Company: Lost Planet
Editor: Max Koepke
Colorist: Tom Poole
Sound Designer: Max Koepke, Mike Secher
Sound Engineer: Mike Secher
Animation - Psyop

It was only a matter of time. YouTube's gurus of gluttony, the EpicMealTime guys, have partnered with the burger pornographers at Carl's Jr./Hardee's to promote the chain's new Super Bacon Cheeseburger. EpicMealTime host Harley Morenstein, fresh off a stint as AdFreak's guest judge of the world's grossest fast-food abominations, joins costar "Muscles Glasses" (aka Alex Perrault) in a series of TV and Web-only clips from 72andSunny unveiling the new burger. The promotion will also feature placement on EpicMealTime's YouTube channel, and customers can reportedly request an "epic" upgrade that ratchets up the bacon count from six strips to 12. The burger's actually pretty wimpy by EpicMealTime standards, but it's good to see that at least one chain was willing to embrace the show's gleeful gluttony. Check out one spot below and another, plus credits, after the jump.

CREDITS
Client: Carl's Jr./Hardee's
Campaign: "Bacon to the 6th Power"

AGENCY: 72andSunny
Glenn Cole - Chief Creative Officer/Partner
Matt Jarvis - Chief Strategic Officer/Partner
Mick DiMaria - Creative Director
Justin Hooper - Creative Director
Rebecca Ullman - Jr. Writer
Sarah Herron - Designer
Sam Baerwald - Director of Film Production
Molly McFarland - Senior Film Producer
Brooke Horne - Film Producer
Matt Johnson - Group Strategy Director
Josh Hughes - Strategist
Latanya Ware - Business Affairs Manager
Sherri Chambers - Group Brand Director
Alexis Varian - Brand Director
Mandy Hein - Brand Manager
Tim Sekiguchi - Brand Coordinator
Melissa Harris - Sr. Print Producer
Emily Hodkins - Communications Manager

Production Company: Christina Productions
Justin Hooper - Director
Christina Ritzmann- EP
Jenny Lenz- Line Producer

Editorial: NO6
Chan Hatcher- Editor
Crissy DeSimone - EP
Yole Barrera- Producer

Online/VFX: Brickyard VFX
George Fitz - Lead VFX Artist
Diana Young Head of Production - VFX Producer

Telecine: Co3
Mike Pethel – Artist
Matt Moran - Producer

Sound Design/Mix: On Music and Sound
Chris Winston – Sound Design and Mixer

Music:
"The Bacon Song"
As performed by Harley Morenstein of Epic Meal Time
Courtesy of Next Time Productions

Young & Rubicam placed an "Upper Class Bench" on Broadway and Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, in the pedestrian park near the Flatiron Building, as the centerpiece of its experiential campaign designed to show people what it's like to fly Virgin Atlantic. Passersby who sat on the bench were serenaded by a string quartet and served champagne and haute cuisine by flight attendants. A period costume drama was performed, complete with noble steed (representing in-flight movies), and a flashmob of shiny-suited "aliens" acted out a video game. This stunt won a Silver Lion in PR at Cannes, but I'm not sure if I'm a fan. If I collapse on a public bench, it's because I've been busting my hump all day and need a few minutes to clear my head, without assaultive brand-boosting street theater breaking out around me. (That horse took a nasty dump on the sidewalk—you just know it did. That's what horses do.) On the plus side, Virgin's bench appears to be clear of gum and vomit—a rarity in the city—and I could surely use a drink before resuming my soul-crushing day. Screw the fancy glasses, just leave the bottle with me.

Is this the world's best bench? A very @virginatlantic surprise in New York http://t.co/SxVzHMS15I#FITFOO

— richardbranson (@richardbranson) July 2, 2013

British brands, understandably, don't have much to say around the Fourth of July—until now. Newcastle Brown Ale, among the cheekiest of U.K. marketers, has turned America's most patriotic holiday to its advantage by inventing a new, completely made-up holiday: Independence Eve on July 3. The idea of the tongue-in-cheek campaign, created by Droga5, is to "honor all things British that Americans gave up when they signed the Declaration of Independence," Newcastle says.

To mark the new holiday, the brewer is introducing the "Revolutionary Koozie," which will be handed out at bars around the country this evening. It features the British flag on one side and the American flag on the other. At the stroke of midnight, you're encouraged to turn your beer 180 degrees and go "from honorary British subject to proud American with the twist of a fist." The campaign extends to digital with a transformation of the brand's Facebook page and a series of daily GIFs highlighting the differences "between British America and American America."

"Newcastle is a very British beer, and needless to say, it doesn't sell that well on July 4. So why not establish it as the beer you drink on July 3?" says Charles van Es, senior director of marketing for Heineken USA portfolio brands. "Unlike the Redcoats in the 18th century, we're picking our battles a little more wisely. By celebrating Independence Eve, we're taking liberties with America's liberty to create a new drinking occasion and ensuring freedom on July 4 tastes sweeter than ever."

Van Es adds: "Like Cinco de Mayo or Thanksgiving Wednesday, Independence Eve is just another excuse to enjoy good times with good friends, but now with a new purpose. On July 3, we're lifting a Newcastle to our British heritage and the American freedom we all appreciate."

William and Kate's incoming royal baby has been a hot topic of conversation in England for a while now, but apparently it's also the subject of high-stakes betting. In fact, gambling website Paddy Power is still taking bets on pretty much everything about the baby's life, and dressed up four people as ugly babies to reflect the current hair-color odds as a weird and somewhat tasteless promotional tactic. The babies even made a stop at Buckingham Palace, so at least Paddy Power is as gutsy as it is coarse. Via Copyranter.

Britain had to wait 77 years—until Sunday's win by Andy Murray—to celebrate another British male singles champion at Wimbledon. So, BBH London should feel fortunate that it had to wait only four years to add the proper ending to its now-famous Wimbledon commercial for Robinsons drinks. The spot, which dreams of the day when a British player would once again win the prestigious London tennis tournament, was originally put together in 2009. Murray made it to the semifinals that year, losing to Andy Roddick. He made it to the semifinals in each of the following two years as well, reaching the final in 2012, only to fall to Roger Federer. This year, finally, he triumphed—over Novak Djokovic. "Worth the wait, wasn't it?" says BBH's newly added voiceover at the end.

I did not. Maybe the trophy will get lucky tonight! RT @jode_d@andy_murray did you go to sleep with the trophy in bed next to you? #AskAndy

— Andy Murray (@andy_murray) July 8, 2013

CREDITS
Client: Britvic Robinsons
Campaign Name: Wimbledon "Imagine"
Original Client: Lesley Davey, Brand Director
Current Client: Helen Gorman, Brand Director

Original Launch: June 1, 2009
Updated Film: July 7, 2013

Original BBH Team:
TV Producer: Ben Davies
Account Director: Sylvia Pelzer

Account Manager: Corina Cuddihy
Account Planner: Nina Rahmatallah
Engagement Planner: Darius Karbassion
Creative Director: Nick Gill
Creative Team: Daniel Schafer, Copywriter; Szymon Rose, Art Director

Original Production Team:
Production Company: Blink
Director: Benito Montorio
Director of Photography: Antonio Paladino
Postproduction: Phil Oldham @ Absolute Post
Editor, Editing House: Andy Mcgraw @ Cut and Run
Sound: Aaron Reynolds @ Wave

Wook at the poochies! Wook at the widdle poochie-woochies! What else do I really need to say about Deep Focus's "Dog Goldberg Machine" commercial for Purina's Beneful dog-food brand? It's doggone adorable the way those mutts manipulate toys, food tins and tennis balls to operate a Rube Goldberg device that ultimately spells out the tagline, "Play. It's good for you," in dominoes. My jaw drops in a massive "Awww!" when I watch the ad, which has garnered nearly 1.5 million YouTube views in less than a week. You could never get cats to do this stuff. They'd claw the director's eyes and chew through the camera cords. But check out the choreographed canines. Oooh, does pooch-ums wike his Fwisbee? This is way cuter than the Honda "Cog" spot, which started the whole Goldberg trend in advertising. In fact, there wasn't a single dog in that commercial, though "Cog" spelled backward is … "Goc." So cuuute, I'm woozing my mind! Awww! Credits below.

CREDITS
Client: Purina Beneful
Agency: Deep Focus
Chief Executive Officer: Ian Schafer
Exeuctive Creative Director: Ken Kraemer
Creative Director: Matt Steinwald
Art Director: Scott Jones
Copywriter: Micky Treutlein
Producer: Sean Fleming
Account Director: Jamie Julian

Production Company: Quiet Man
Director: Johnie Semerad

Music: Yessian

Robinsons isn't the only British brand drafting off Andy Murray's historic win at Wimbledon yesterday. The Adidas ad above, posted to Twitter, is nice and simple and a worthy tribute. The tennis star's other sponsors, including Head and RBS, also congratulated their man on Twitter. Head even used the same headline.

Congratulations @andy_murray - 2013 Wimbledon Champion. pic.twitter.com/LfFO1m53C1

— Head Tennis (@head_tennis) July 7, 2013

Congratulations to @Andy_Murray for making history today. We're immensely proud to have supported you over the last 10 years #DecadeWithAndy

— RBS Group (@RBSGroup) July 7, 2013

Random YouTube person Chad Neidt put out a call on Twitter for classic advertising jingles and promised to include them in an epic acoustic-guitar mashup. I must say, he covers a lot of ground. Big Red, McDonald's, Skip-It, Juicy Fruit and even that "You don't always die from tobacco" song—complete with Neidt's best impression of a mechanical larynx—are featured here. I sense that Chad is That Guy with the Guitar at every party he's ever been to. He also reminds me of the girl who sang the Stanley Steemer jingle in a lot of different styles. They should date.

Hey, David Hasselhoff, want to make a cheesy video? That rhetorical question came from East Coast convenience-store chain Cumberland Farms. His answer? Well, what do you think? The Hoff, long past the drunken sad-clown days of eating burgers off the floor, is firmly rooted once again in a self-deprecating happy-jokester period. He worked with Cumberland Farms last summer, and according to reports from the brand's ad agency, Full Contact in Boston, increased the chain's iced-coffee sales by a whopping 147 percent. (Thieves also became quite enamored with the cardboard cutouts of the Hoff placed outside the New England/Florida chain's stores.) This new campaign—more of a goofball Lonely Island-style music video—has the Hoff hang-gliding, skiing with dolphins and vamping on the beach, all while singing (er, "singing") and holding a ginormous Cumberland Farms Farmhouse Blend iced java. The clip already has 150,000 YouTube views and earned the Hoff and the marketer a prime spot on CNN's morning news show. (He called in by "surprise" on Monday. Watch the clip after the jump and see him get New Day's "When You Wish Upon a Star Award" for making somebody's dream come true.) The ad hits all the Hoff's infamous marks, like shots of his bare, preternaturally tanned chest, melodramatic song lyrics, wind-blown hair and knowing winks at the camera. Thirsty yet?

Ikea is a family brand, except when it comes to showing dozens of Hot Malms in compromising positions.

A new website, HotMalm.com, shows loads of explicit (yet completely safe for work) photos of Malms—i.e., Malm beds sold by Ikea. The photos have captions like "Black Twin Malms Get Supermanned," "Hot Malm's Box Filled Up," "Check Out the Pussy on This Hot Malm" and (our personal favorite) "What a Little Tease." You can also search by category—Ebony Malms, Big Beautiful Malms (BBM), Mature Malms, Teen Malms, Blonde Malms, Animal on Malm, Exposed Malms and Twin Malms. All the photos link through to the Ikea site.

HotMalm.com is "dedicated to bringing you the hottest Hot Malm action on the Web," the site says. "Our diverse and international team prides itself on curating and maintaining the Internet's most comprehensive collection of Hot Malm videos, images and content. Hot new Malms are being stripped down, screwed and laid by the thousands every day, and it's our mission to expose them."

HotMalm.com was created by some Droga5 creatives and their friends, and was tweeted out by David Droga on Monday. But it's not an official Ikea project and is meant purely for entertainment.

"The idea for HotMalm.com built up over a span of three years," says Asa Block, who worked with Droga5 colleagues Spencer Lavallee and Jen Lu and two freelancers on the site. "My roommate and I were on the obligatory post-collegiate Ikea trip and buying new beds. Of course, we started giggling at the Malm series and before long, every time someone said the word 'mom' we would reply 'HotMalm.com.' Fast-forward three years and we are both grown men, still living in an Ikea furnished apartment, and still thinking way too much about this stuff. Now, we just have a website to show for it."

Block adds: "We have never watched porn."

Ikea has yet to comment, though it now seems unlikely that it will be moving its account to Droga5 anytime in the near future. Credits below.

CREDITS
Asa Block, Spencer Lavallee and Jen Lu of Droga5
Graham Douglas, freelance creative director
Adrian Cabrero, freelance Web developer

Another little something built by our best and naughtiest. http://t.co/D3ypi9xxyy

— David Droga (@ddroga) July 8, 2013

Barton F. Graf 9000 just sent around this amusing case study outlining its social-media activity for Little Caesars during the week of July 4. Without giving too much away, let's just say the Twitter and Facebook campaign did very well—or, as the agency says in the email, achieved "astounding, almost Oreo-esque results."

We asked, and boy did you answer! Thanks for the 800 million+ fireworks set off last night in support of the DEEP!DEEP! Dish pizza!

— Little Caesars (@littlecaesars) July 5, 2013

Sure, I've tried to cross a dog with a cat. Who hasn't? All I got for my trouble was a face full of claws and another year in therapy. Ad agency VCCP does a better job of it for U.K. mobile telecom O2 in this commercial, in which a ginger Tom starts chasing cars, fetching sticks and generally behaving like Rover. I'm not sure why Queen's bellicose, bombastic theme from the campy 1980 version of Flash Gordon is used on the soundtrack. Maybe the song doesn't really suck, but only dogs have sharp enough hearing to tell? Anyway, Tabby's willingness to "Be more dog" (the spot's tagline) is supposed to inspire viewers to get out of their ruts and try new things, like products and services from O2. That stretches the leash a bit in terms of brand message. Even so, any pet that catches frisbees and can be trained to use a litter box is OK by me.

Surf and sports apparel brand Roxy's teaser ad for the Pro Biarritz 2013 surfing contest, which it's sponsoring, is more about butts than surfing, which hasn't sat well with some viewers. (See what I did there?) More than a few critics have sneered at the ad's focus on the surfer's body instead of her skills, and I have to say, I agree with them. The idea of not showing the woman's face was to have fans guess who she was—turns out it was Stephanie Gilmore, as you can see in the reveal video after the jump. But coming from a company that claims to speak to female athletes, the teaser video pretty much ignored athletics for blatant eye candy, and Roxy's official response to its critics was a non-committal word salad that didn't actually address the main complaint. Besides, it's not like Gilmore would be less attractive or marketable if they actually showed her surfing.

It was probably just a matter of time before Whit Hiler and Michael Dubin worked together. Hiler—the ass-kicking Kentucky adman, flier-making crazy person and mastermind of Beardvertising—has lured Dubin's Dollar Shave Club right into his sneaky trap. Yes, Dollar Shave Club, known for its own wacky marketing, has signed up for a Beardvertising program, in which 25 hairy dudes across the country will soon have tiny Dollar Shave Club billboards clipped to their beards. "We're excited to be building our business of beardlessness with these badass, bushy Beardboards," Dubin says in a statement. Hiler tells AdFreak: "For brands interested in joining A&W Restaurants and Dollar Shave Club in some hot and hairy 'Beardvertising' action, we've got over 1,400 eager guys ready and willing to place little advertisements in their epic beards." More photos below.