VB&P ON THE AIR.

This week our very own Paul Venables and Lucy Farey-Jones had television appearances on ABC news, talking about the Super Bowl. Watch Paul here and Lucy here. As you’ll see, the camera loves them.

Additionally, Paul, “I hang out with Jerry Seinfeld,” Venables appeared on KGO radio with Ronn Owens to talk about the game. Listen to Paul’s thoughts about Sunday’s ads here.

QUICK, FIND THE COMMERCIAL.

These days, it’s not about when advertisers pre-release their Super Bowl commercial – it’s about how. To put a twist on this year’s Superbowl pre-release, we created an interactive game on Facebook called, “Race the Light,” where we release 60 one-second clips of our Audi Super Bowl commercial. The mission of the game is to find all 60 clips (which are hidden) before time is up. If you succeed, then you unlock the full commercial and can enter a contest for a trip to the Audi Sportscar Experience. So click here to see if you’re up to the challenge.

LABYRINTH.

This week we launched our first work for Google in the form of a video that re-imagines the game of labyrinth as a massive handcrafted version of Google Maps. The game-like structure of the piece showcases many fun things about Google Maps that you may not know existed, while also illustrating that getting from point A to B can be a journey of unexpected fun and exploration. In addition to breaking on Mashable, Adweek named it the “Top Spot” of the week and it earned “Ad of the Day” by Creativity.

CHEESEBURGERS.

Guess who from this agency can’t live without them by reading this article in I Have An Idea. Hint: this person also happens to have his name on the door.

IT’S MAGIC.

This week we launched a new TV spot for Orville Redenbacher’s Pop Up Bowl. To illustrate the concept of a microwave bag that actually become its own bowl, we employed the talents of Magician of the Century Criss Angel. Watch Criss work his magic here and check out our team in Vegas, where the local Las Vegas Sun caught wind of the act.

KENNY TELLS ALL.

Even though it’s been a month since Kenny G’s appearance in our Super Bowl commercial for Audi, the buzz continues. Check out this interview with the smooth-playing saxophonist in The New York Times. In it, Mr. G discusses what attracted him to being in a Super Bowl commercial and how he felt about being a riot suppressor in our viral video.

ARMED AND DANGEROUS.

That’s what Lucy Farey-Jones told TED in explaining how today’s consumers have more options than ever when it comes to tuning out advertising. Her advice? Simply, create work that is entertaining and useful. “You can’t manufacture viral,” she said. To see Lucy talk about our hit viral film “The Chase” that TED picked as an “Ad Worth Spreading,” click here.

STEP INSIDE.

The SF Egotist recently posted a tour of our agency on their blog. To explore our natural habitat, visit here.

OUR ADS ARE SPREADING.

Today, TED announced our Intel “The Chase” viral film as an “Ad Worth Spreading.”  Lucy Farey-Jones, partner and head of strategy, VB&P, was on hand to receive the award at the invitation only event that attracted luminaries like Bill Gates (Microsoft), Dave Brooks (columnist for The New York Times), Roger Ebert (film critic) and Jason Mraz (musician). We’re proud to say TED chose our film as one of ten finalists out of 1,000 submissions. It has been viewed more than 2 million times on YouTube and shared more than 60,000 times on social networks like Twitter and Facebook. To see the film on TED’s site, visit here.

AD MAN OF THE YEAR.

This weekend our agency’s namesake, Paul Venables, was honored as “Ad Person of the Year,” an award presented to an outstanding person each year in recognition of their accomplishments and unique service to the San Francisco ad community. In comments at the show, Paul’s former boss, Jeff Goodby, said, “Paul would be among the very smallest group – of the best creative people – ever to pass through here. He had a way of making clients love him, coming up with the best imaginable work, and still combining a lovability that makes him a great leader of the next generation of creative work in this city. Everything he has done since he left Goodby, Silverstein & Partners has only made us more sure of all of this. And, of course, it has totally pissed us off.” The award recognized Paul for growing VB&P from a start-up to the 171-person agency it is today, as well as for bringing major accounts to the San Francisco Bay area and for the nationally acclaimed, award-winning advertising the agency produces. Read about the news in The SF Egotist.