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Wolf Greenfield, a 60-lawyer intellectual property law in Boston, has once again created a clever holiday greeting -- a sheet of flexible holiday magnets that combines marketing with fun.

Drawing on the talents of Sally (only the cops call her Sara) Crocker, Director of Client Services, and Jay Wager, Senior Manager of Business Development, the firm sent out a 7" by 9" sheet with 110 individual words that can be pulled apart and rearranged.

The sheet's arrangement already spells out their uniform selling proposition, including synonyms: "We are IP counsel in Boston and protect defend enforce your valuable new technology and innovation." Sally said the firm added the word "pony" as one of the words, to counterbalance the word "wolf," illustrating the firm's offbeat sense of humor.

It includes several industries the firm serves: "biotech chemical cleantech electrical mechanical pharmaceutical."  And there are blank rectangles where you can write in your own word. 

Adroitly, the late line of words spells out "but what a magnetic winter present you have from ... Wolf Greenfield."

Click on the picture to see it full size.

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SymetriColour has mystically transformed this benign plastic toy into a creepy electronic jack-o-lantern with flashing eyes and creaking theremin sounds, sure to scare away those pesky trick-or-treaters. Halloween for audio-hackers never looked (and sounded) so good.

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In a delightful guerrilla marketing campaign, phone company Telus placed hundreds of gecko-shaped magnets over 18 high-traffic transit shelter ads in downtown Vancouver. The magnetic side of the geckos read "Bundle and save on the sure-footed network." All the magnets were gone the next day, as expected. Targeting young families, the amphibian campaign aims to encourage consumers to purchase their Internet and phone plans with the company.

In case you’re not from Canada, Telus picks a new animal every advertising season, and makes cute ads on a white background anchored with the tag line: The Future Is Friendly. The premise: if you bundle my services with Telus, you will be able to relax.

TAXI Vancouver created the campaign and Media Experts handled the media buy. 

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I just found the website of artist Richard Stergulz, who will create funny custom drawings featuring lawyers at www.yournameherecartoons.com.  You choose the person’s name (or law firm name) to be inserted into the cartoon caption.

A small cartoon unframed is $75, and the largest cartoon framed is $350. (Note: I get no compensation out of this, I just think it's a fun website).

My personal favorite is the "Mt. Rushmore" cartoon.  There are also cartoons with giant bulldogs, enormous cats and a jury holding up cards that say "10" in front of the smiling lawyer in the courtroom.  Take a look at the site and let me know which cartoon is your favorite.

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From "goofs, glitches, gotchas" on the inside back cover of Consumer Reportes:

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From the Collateral Damage blog:

• Ford features “Space Oddity” — a song about astronaut suicide — in new car campaign.
• Framingham State College  uses the word blah 137 times in a 312-word fundraising letter.
• Disney (multiple entries): Bans kids from DisneyWorld restaurant; Changes “It’s A Small World” to “A Salute to All Nations, But Mostly America”; and Sells “High School Musical” panties for tween girls with the phrase “Dive In” on them.
• Woolworths (UK) launches Lolita brand of beds for young girl
• JetBlue lives up to Southwest’s parody ad by charging for pillows.
• Russia uses smiling kids in tourism ad for war zone
• Residents of Lesbos sue those other lesbians over brand name
• Motrin gets headache from viral moms video
• Butcher’s ads feature “Meat Products, Fresh Service” on naked woman
• Hershey asks if you’ve found Mr. Goodbar

Special Jury Awards

Co-Branding That Shouldn’t Have Been

• Windows Vista toilet paper
• The Muppets appear on DVD for Law & Order: SVU
  
• Barbie® Rice Krispies® Treats
• P&G starts hip-hop record label (Bounce® and Beyonce? Jay Z and Oral B®? 50 Cent and Febreze®? Snoop Dogg and Eukanuba®? Ghostface Killah and Ghost®? Lil Wayne & Pampers®?)

The Alpha & Omega of Over-reaching

• God’s chosen racing team loses at the Indy 500
• “Pope’s Cologne Provides Solace to Grieving Widow”
• “Can Batman Teach Spiritual Truth?”
• Email service lets you taunt friends after The Rapture
• McDonalds compares Ray Kroc to Martin Luther King Jr.

Product Failure

• LifeLock ID protection service fails to protect CEO’s identity
• Anti-shark device found to attract sharks

The Penguins Of Irony “Oh NO You Din’t” Awards

• Publisher says bankruptcy puts magazine chain in “a position poised for wonderful growth
• WaMu continues to send credit card offers after going out of business

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Here are some samples:

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Audra Callanan has done it again. Following in her tradition of creating Mad magazine holiday cards and prescription-style candy pills to comprehend a Boston accent, she convinced her firm to send out wicked funny Thanksgiving cards featuring Abraham Lincoln holding a chunk of pumpkin pie on a gigantic fork.  Kudos to Audra, the Marketing Director of Hamilton Brook Smith & Reynolds in Concord, MA, for using humor and creativity to break out from the clutter of holiday greeting cards.

The firm engaged C.F. Payne, who has been called America's best-known contemporary illustrator, to create the jocular knockoff of Grant Wood's famous 1930 painting, "American Gothic."  HBS&R has 50 attorneys, patent agents and technology specialists who represent independent inventors, start-up companies and Fortune 500 companies, as well as academic and research institutions.  The firm is fully equipped with a sense of humor, a refreshing quality in these hard times.

How much of the symbolism can you figure out? Can you identity of the lamb-holding wife, comprehend the meaning of the house address "9" (right above the giant piece of pie), or know why a goggle-eyed Abe Lincoln is in the picture? What is the meaning of the giant windmills on the hills? Where is the firm logo?

For the answers, visit the LawMarketing Portal at http://www.lawmarketing.com/pages/articles.asp?Action=Article&ArticleCategoryID=58&ArticleID=830

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There's some buzz about a new client-lawyer matching service called "WhoCanISue.com." Some have called it a terrible idea that brings disrepute upon the profession, on the other hand, others say it borders on barratry, which is the unethical stirring up of quarrels and lawsuits.

My viewpoint of WhoCanISue.com is summed up by a hilarious video on YouTube that satirizes bad lawyer advertising, brought to you by the fictional law firm of Swindel & Scheister.  "We will sue everybody," says the ad, if you've ever been misunderstood, stung by a bee or annoyed by pop-up advertisements.

As somber music plays, the actors wear dress shirts, ties -- and shorts. Their buzz haircuts are right out of middle school, and one guy could sure use a shave.  But the mock-u-tisement says you can call them at 1-800-We-Will-Sue. 

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Quote from a dissent by Chief Justice Roberts in a Supreme Court decision issued June 23:

The absence of any right to the substantive recovery means that respondents cannot benefit from the judgment they seek and thus lack Article III standing. "When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose." Bob Dylan, "Like A Rolling Stone," on Highway 61 Revisited (Columbia Records, 1965).

The coolness of quoting Dylan is dissipated when you realize that Roberts -- like an English teach school marm -- tidied up what Dylan actually sang: “When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose.”

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