Spark: Christmas carol torture, psychic t-shirts and the freakiest ads of the year

ADWEEK: 30 FREAKIEST ADS OF THE YEAR

You've watched the 10 Best Ads of 2011, now, it's time to slip into something less comfortable - the 30 Freakiest Ads of 2011. There's a wide variety this year - from the gross to the creepy, the goofy to the terrifying. We've got celebrity actors (Jean-Claude Van Damme, Kristen Schaal, Kate Moss) and celebrity directors, representatives from Japan to Norway and some seriously unsettling visuals. So, after the jump, sit back and soak up the weirdest commercials of the year. Then take a long, hot shower and try to forget about them.

YOUTUBE FOR SCHOOLS

Google has launched YouTube for schools, allowing teachers access to a vast bank of educational videos provided by 600 partners including TED and the Smithsonian. The vast repository also offers navigation help, providing teachers with over 300 playlists broken up into grade levels and various subjects. Teachers can also create their own channels from any video in the YouTube universe.

JWT INTELLIGENCE: 10 TRENDS FOR 2012 IN 2 MINUTES

In their seventh annual year-end forecast of trends for the near future, JWT Intelligence have created a 2 minute video which gives an overview of their 102-page trend report which covers off the key themes for 2012. Trends include ‘marriage optional’, ‘live a little’ and ‘re-engineering randomness’.

HEINEKEN: #MYSUNRISE

The latest Enjoy Heineken Responsibly initiative "Sunrise belongs to moderate drinkers" encourages you to stay within your limits to experience everything the night has to offer, right up to its awesome ending. The campaign launched in November via teasers in London, Ho Chi Minh, Rio de Janiero and San Francisco, with sofas featuring the hashtag #mysunrise placed in locations with spectacular sunrise views asking fans to post photos of their best sunrise moments, tagged #mysunrise on Twitter and pushing to Heineken’s related Facebook app.

MOTHER'S PSYCHIC TEES

Do you know what 2012 will bring? Then let the t-shirt tell you…

This Christmas, Mother (London-based ad agency) is launching Mother’s Psychic Tees. One hundred blank t-shirts have been given to Los Angeles-based psychic Lucinda Clare. Miss Clare has worked for Scotland Yard and the US police in solving crimes and lends her spiritual powers to major celebrities. She has now used her extraordinary talent to predict the destiny of each future t-shirt wearer. That prediction has been printed onto the t-shirt and now awaits its owner. Each tee is 100 pounds and every penny will go straight to Age UK, a charity for elderly people.

CHRISTMAS CAROL TORTURE

Jingle Bells your brain out in a new campaign from Swedish electronics store Pause. The campaign invites visitors to XmasCarolTorture.com to listen to the holiday tune for as long as possible. The longer they listen, the bigger the discount they get on a sound system.

OLD SPICE XMAS: DEVASTATING EXPLOSIONS AND MANTACLAUS

To all men … Merry Christmas from Old Spice! The Old Spice guy gives men and boys this as a Christmas treat. In his own words: “Do you like explosions? Of course you do. I feel stupid for even asking such a preposterous question. Here you go. Happy Holidays, The Old Spice Man.” Weird but really satisfying!

In addition, they have also created MANtaclaus with our favourite ‘Man Your Man Could Smell Like’ on a quest to give a gift to every single person on Earth this holiday season. So far he has promised an elegant pair of ladyshoes made out of necklaces, a promotion-promoting letter gift, 25 bear-shaped deodorant holders and highly accomplished moustache whiskers.

Check out the Old Spice YouTube channel for more.

NIKE: CATCH THE FLASH

Here is a nice twist on the increasingly popular trend towards mobile ARG (Augmented Reality) gaming for brands. Made famous by the Mini Getaway. Nike have created “Catch The Flash” ARG in Vienna, Austria. This time it wasn’t just a virtual challenge, more an integrated product experience, as Nike had real runners hooked up to GPS and wearing the “Flash” running jacket. With the aim for runners across Vienna to turn up and chase down the Nike Flash runners, who could be tracked via the mobile app. To Catch The Flash, runners would have to take a photo of the runner, which would reveal the special number as the flash hit the jacket (light reflective material to help runners be seen at night). The person to catch the most Flashes wins!

HEINEKEN SOCIAL CHRISTMAS TREE

With help from Facebook, Heineken Singapore has created a “social tree”. Use it to send special messages to friends, then from December 17-26, you can see any one of your wishes on a real digital tree erected on Clarke Quay. The digital tree stands at 11 metres and is composed of 48 LCD screens.

KNOW YOUR MEME: BEST MEMES OF 2011

Know Your Meme have just released their overview of the top memes of 2011 including Rebecca Black's “Friday”, First World Problems and “Nope, Chuck Testa”.

MUSICAL FITTING ROOMS

To promote Starhub's online music store, DDB Group Singapore found a whole new way to combine music and fashion through RFID technology. They tagged clothing items with RFID chips and installed readers in changing rooms so that when people tried different items on, they triggered different songs to be played. A ‘push SMS’ was then sent to their phones telling them about the song and providing a link to Starhub where they could download it for free. All different types of music from indie to rock to R&B were linked with clothing items.

COLOUR RWANDA

A colouring book to help children born from rape during the Rwandan genocide get an education, absolutely wonderful project.