Nokia and Spike Lee invite consumers to contribute to ads

— -- Moviemaker Spike Lee will do a short film for cellphone company Nokia that will be created entirely from material contributed by consumers at nokiaproductions.com. Through Aug. 21, would-be collaborators can upload original text, music, images or video. Lee will decide what makes the cut for the final 9- to 12-minute film to be shown this fall at the soon-to-open Club Nokia auditorium in Los Angeles.

The deal will help Nokia "connect with consumers" as well as raise brand awareness, says Craig Coffey, vice president of marketing for North America.

Lee's now testing Nokia's newest multimedia handset but admits he's behind on cutting-edge technology. His home is filled with "lots of different remotes," and his kids often have to help him figure out which ones work which devices. "I've got major work to do," he says.

Fire up the shredder.

A new report confirmed what the Ad Team has suspected: Junk mail is on the rise. There was a 17% increase in mailings by businesses to current customers last year vs. 2006, according to Mintel Comperemedia. Companies with more mailings included: autos (up 52%), insurance (29%), telecom (22%), and credit cards (18%). The only decline: Mortgage and loan company mailings fell 3% amid the real estate slump.

With postage rates rising and people spending more online, Mintel expects marketers to use less paper and more e-mail. That's a good thing, since the industry was tweaked in an April 18 Forrester Research report titled "Direct Marketing Needs a Green Wake-up Call." After surveying 55 direct marketers, Forrester said, "Most largely neglect green issues and rarely consider their environmental impact."

Cadbury gets wacky.

First, a March 26 press release from Cadbury Schweppes beverage unit promised every American a free can of its Dr Pepper if Guns N' Roses releases its long-awaited Chinese Democracy album in 2008.

Then, last week, the company suggested that the strange, UFO-like lights over Phoenix on April 21 were hostile aliens "here to eat us" and that "the best thing to do to appease these creatures" is give them 7Up. Worst case: "They'll have something naturally delicious to wash us down with."