Wow. Was that the most sensational Adland headline ever? Probably not. Still, the story is true.

In Van Nuys a couple weeks ago, a shark used during a Kmart shoot died.

A 5-foot-long white-tipped shark died March 6 after being shipped from New York to Los Angeles and placed in an above-ground pool in a Van Nuys backyard for a commercial for Kmart, according to a letter sent to the American Humane Assn.

Earlier this month, "Vikings,” History Channel's first full-length, scripted series premiered, arriving on the heels of the massively successful miniseries "Hatfields & McCoys,” starring Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton. To accompany such an insightful and engaging series, King and Country (K&C) designed a logo that captured the spirit of both the civilization and the show: embodying the different facets of “Vikings” in a way that is simple and memorable.

K&C used the letter “V” and elevated it to symbolic status by creating a logo that is bold and iconic at first glance, while also layered with great storytelling detail on closer inspection. The two sides of the letter utilize intricate, yet readable, designs that show the multiple dimensions of the characters.

How fun. Tobacco, (who for some reason a lot of people insist on calling an enigmatic frontman) of Black Moth Super Rainbow, now has a petition set up on the We The People site via The White House.

At press time, the total number of backers is less than fifty. But that's okay. It'll work for fans of Tobacco solo albums, Black Moth Super Rainbow, and fans of digital indie rock made on analog instruments everywhere.

Washington post has opened up its platform so that advertisers may create their own blog posts, or advertorials if you will, that are then distributed throughout WP's site. Advertorials have been around in printed papers for quite some time, but on the web such experiments haven't always gone down well. Recall the Scientology ad in the Atlantic? The Washington Post reported that the Atlantic were even carefully pruning the comments there, they probably learned from Atlantics mistake.

First they put Like buttons on every last page on the internet, because hey, why just track you behind the scenes with cookies when we can brand ourselves everywhere, too? Now it is rumored that Zuckerberg and company, who have already destroyed engagement with twitter (and other third party apps) before, "well everyone likes the hashtag and so let's just use it for our own purposes.

Proposed German Copyright Law Is Just a ‘Snippet’ of What’s Ahead for Search Engines reports that Germany’s proposed “ancillary copyright law” may actually allow news orgs and other content creators to charge companies like Google for reproducing their content in search engine snippets (I don't think this is why Google killed their RSS reader btw.. )

But what will really happen if it passes? We asked Andowah Newton, a litigation associate at Mintz Levin in New York City, to walk us through the possibilites.

As if borne of a dream, Poetica’s beautifully monochromatic spec film for Trek Bicycles bares the distinct look and feel of a surreal mindscape. The piece, conceptualized by Poetica Creative Director Steve Tozzi and brought to life with the help of CG Director, Lead Animator John Clausing and Senior Flame Artist Aaron Vasquez, is an expressive 3D ode to the rider’s unique connection to the Trek brand.

The film revolves around a cyclist traveling through a menagerie of hyper-stylized landscapes, each populated with phantasmagorical cranes, flowers, and more, made up of bicycle parts. However, it also functions as a case study on the capabilities of Softimage, and Arnold, a powerful new 3D CG-rendering program. Poetica rendered some 200-plus passes of CG to bring the stunning images to life with a quick turnaround. Additionally, programs such as Exocortex, Slipstream, and ICE were employed to give the VFX a singularly natural and organic look.

Big Al's Creative Emporium, created these ads that were promptly banned on the grounds that they had breached the CAP code and were "misleading" and lacking in "substantiation". The ASA ruled the ads must not appear in their current form and told JTI not to claim the Government had rejected the policy of plan packaging and not state or imply it had not been introduced because of a lack of evidence.

Text in one of the ads stated: "This same policy was rejected in 2008 because there was no credible evidence."

Today brings the news that The Los Angeles Better Business Bureau chapter has been expelled by the national organization and can no longer use the name or logo.

This comes after a two year investigation in which the BBB was caught with its pants down, i.e. "of accrediting new members and awarding them inflated ratings in exchange for cash," according to the L.A. Times.

But wait! Get a load of this:

Over on Lifehacker they're talking about a new web app designed to enhance your creativity.

Coffitivity, research shows a silent office kills creativity and a loud office is distracting. But now, thanks to Coffitivity, you can create authentic coffeehouse noises whilst you work. Chances are however, your agency isn't very good at authentic coffeehouse coffee, so you'll have to improvise or get take out.

Finland’s Minister of Culture and Sport recently joined dozens of Helsinki- and NYC-based creative professionals for the launch of New Cut!, a Finnish program promoting global creative collaboration and fostering Finnish arts and culture initiatives over the course of the next year. Top-level professionals from the film, fashion, music, technology, food, advertising, and design industries assembled for a full day of exploration, collaboration, and open discussion – laying the groundwork for a year-long agenda of exciting new collaborative projects and events.

jumP has teamed up once again with supermodel Coco Rocha and White House Black Market, showcasing the brand’s impeccable business wear in a playful new spot. “The Heart of Workwear,” directed by famed fashion photographer Ellen Von Unwerth at Serial and concepted by ceft and company new york, matches Rocha’s exuberant dance moves with a series of colorful ensembles.

SVT and Chanel 4 in Sweden have signed deals with Epidemic sound, where your rights as a musician are gone forever (googletranslate), if you sign with them. Yep, you can sell your music to them for X bucks, but you have to give up all rights to the music when doing so.

While everyone's been on Vine a few months ago the first proper rival launched. I'm talking about Pheed. It's gaining in popularity and is apparently a big deal among teens and those who live in France as well as the usual famous-for-fame's sake celebrities. But don't let that deter you.

First off, Pheed allows users to post photos. Of any size. And videos. Up to four hours. It also allows users to charge others to see their content.

According to this linkedin article:

Well, there's been boobvertising, assvertising, your skin as ad media, pregverts and even tattooed forehead ads so I guess teenage girls' thighs are next - and we all know this is the perfect media if you are targeting leg-men.

Production company King and Country (K&C) recently worked with ad agency RPA to direct and produce a new campaign for the 2013 Honda Civic, which has been widely lauded by the media and drivers alike.

In the first spot, “More to Love,” the camera moves through the inside of the Civic as blue and white metallic mylar balloons inflate containing kudos from major trade magazines, newspapers and websites. Cut to the outside, where the doors burst open and hundreds of quote-filled balloons spill out of the car, joining others that float together to comprise a heart-shaped cloud, as the voiceover concludes, “It’s the best Civic yet.”

Similarly, “Civic Love” showers the love on the outside of the Civic, as the text balloons pop up and animatedly form into a heart above the car.

Starting at 4PM on Wednesday, February 20, Click 3X gets social, opening its Flatiron studio to a gathering of A-list marketing, advertising, and social media experts for Social Media Week 2013. The company continues its years-long tradition of hosting thought-provoking Social Media Week panels with a knockout double feature – “The Second Coming of the 30 Second Spot,” moderated by Click 3X CD Nick Agderian, and “What Is Branded Content?” led by Magnet Media GM Paul Kotonis.

Microsoft are dumping the name "Hotmail" in favor for the brand new Outlook.com name. Hotmail was once synonymous with "webmail" and to stop using a name like that is quite the bold move. In LA Times Microsoft announce that Microsoft opens Outlook.com to the public, and this is why Hotmail.com won't be the brand name anymore. Hotmail users will still be able to use their hotmail.com email address, but the brand is now Outlook.

Israel just passed a law banning models with a BMI (body mass index) level below 18.5.

The Israeli government joins a number of other organizations like Milan Fashion Week, Vogue and the Council of Fashion Designers of America in setting minimum BMI limits. However this is the first time that a country has set down legislation for a wholesale ban on what are viewed by some as unhealthily skinny models.

Yup that's all I got to say about that. Except, I was hoping it was gonna be more Patrick Carney pranking. :(