The Force Is Strong In New Animated Lipton Brisk Iced Tea Ad

That's right folks! Yoda and Darth Maul are at it again - but this time we find them in hilarious miniature animated form. Not that Yoda was ever more than 2ft anyway. 

Brisk Iced Tea, part of the world renowned Lipton iced tea brand, have released their latest ad campaign, and it stars some of our favourite Star Wars characters. 

The 30-second ad shows Yoda and Darth Maul duelling, as you would expect the arch-enemies to do. However, Darth Maul’s lightsaber malfunctions several times, before he falls embarrassingly into a Brisk vending machine, much to Yoda's amusement.  

This latest ad is tied into the release of the new Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace 3D DVD release, which is due out on February 10. 

The brand is introducing new packaging and a new mobile game app featuring Star Wars characters Yoda, R2-D2, Jar Jar Binks and Darth Maul in a bid to engage Brisk's target market of young adults, "particularly males", aged between 18 to 29. 

The ad agency behind this comical ad is Mekanism, who specialise in storytelling for emerging media. 

If you're a fan of Star Wars, be sure to check out this latest addition to the ever growing list of Star War-related ads. 

Top 10 Most Shared Puppet Ads

Ford recently put its social media strategy in the hands of an obnoxious, misogynistic and sorry-looking orange puppet called Doug.

At first glance, it may not seem like the most logical step in the world, but then, the car giants are certainly not the first to use puppet power to try and generate interest in their ad campaigns.

Puppets, after all, can get away with things you or I cannot. For example, an obnoxious pig that hits people is not going to charm anyone. But stick a hand up its bum and a give it a blonde wig and you have the much-loved Miss Piggy.

It's the same with the Doug. Ask a male actor to deliver his lines and it would just cause offence. But because it's a puppet calling a female reporter 'Prettypants', it is OK.

In fact, Doug, voiced by comedian Paul F. Tompkins, even has his own YouTube channel, and an army of fans on Twitter and Facebook. Not that you will be seeing him on TV. Doug is intended purely for social video.

“We really developed these videos for the YouTube generation, if you will, that really enjoys entertainment,” says Jon Beebe, digital communications manager at Ford.

“The purpose of the videos is to make people take a left-hand turn from their daily web activities and pay attention to Doug the personality, but also the vehicle that he’s in and discussing.”

Doug is also 'a left-hand turn' for Ford, but - to continue the driving metaphor - it seems the car giants are at least steering in the right direction with this bold approach to social video. After all, social media allows brands to be a little bit more edgy and experimental in their content.

But which have been the most successful? Well, we have compiled a chart of the most shared puppet commercials of all time, based on the number of shares on Facebook, Twitter and the blogosphere.

But if you prefer, you can watch the top 10 below.

Is your favourite in there? Let us know.

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