Anyone else have tickets for the opening of The Hobbit yet? Or is that just me?

Well, clearly it can’t be just me. After all, Air New Zealand, playing off the Hobbit excitement, has pulled in nearly 9 million views. That’s not just any 9 million views, though. It’s 9 million views for an air safety video.

The airline has always been fantastic at putting together entertaining safety videos, but this might be the best yet. There’s even a couple big cameos to spot in amongst all the hobbits, dwarves and elves.

I’m about as far as it gets from an extreme sports enthusiast, and it’s a miserable rainy day outside the SCW office. So when GoPro’s new ad for the HERO3 has me convinced it’s time to go out, buy some gear and hit the slopes, well, you’ve gotta know it’s effective.

So how did the camera company get nearly 6 million views and counting? By doing exactly what every one of its customers want to do: taking incredibly cool video. GoPro gathered athletes in a number of disciplines, strapped on the portable cameras and let them do what they do best. From ski BASE jumping at the highest peaks to swimming with the whales under the sea, the video encompasses some of the most exciting things people might do with a GoPro. It would be hard to come up with a more convincing argument that you really shouldn’t be doing anything exciting without one of these strapped to your helmet or your chest.

To top it all off, the video has a fantastic soundtrack. As we all know, music videos always win the views game, and this ad could well fit that description. Check it out, and in the meantime I’ll be over here convincing myself that BASE jumping really isn’t a hobby I need to get into.

How are your heartstrings doing? Anyone tugged on them recently? Allow me.

John Lewis just launched its Never Knowingly Undersold tv advert. It’s a heartbreaker of a short film, a whole love story in 90 short seconds.

It’s a story with a message. Two people falling in love, one in 1925, the year that John Lewis made its life long commitment to its Never Knowingly Undersold standard. The other is here in modern day. But some things never change—like love, or, apparently, John Lewis.

Who says there can’t be truth in advertising? After all, there’s nothing saying the truth can’t be used to your advantage.

McDonald’s Canada walks that fine line between transparency and self-aggrandizement with its latest campaign, ‘Our Food, Your Questions.’ McDonald’s fans ask questions on the brand’s YouTube page, and then a representative of the company digs into the answer.

The truth, it seems, is carefully massaged to still show the company in the best light even when the answers aren’t ideal. For example, to the question ‘why does your food look different in the advertising than what is in store?’ the slightly flattened and uninspiring store burger is explained away with steam. Probably not the whole story, but it sounds good. The videos even get into that nasty ‘pink sludge’ rumor.

Check it out:

Sometimes it’s the ads you don’t expect that go utterly viral—and that may not always be as good as it sounds. Case in point: Walmart and Sheets’ current promotion to send hip hop artist Pitbull to one lucky Wal-Mart location.

The promotion encourages Walmart fans to like their local Wal-Mart rather than lingering only on the brand’s main page. The location that gets the most new likes during the contest period will win a visit from the artist. All good so far, and really, a nice idea to encourage local loyalty.

Then the Internet at large got ahold of the promotion and everything changed. Deciding that Kodiak, Alaska would be the most remote location they could get Pitbull sent to, online pranksters swarmed the Walmart Kodiak Facebook page with likes. At the time of this writing, the page has over 59,000 likes—a little more ridiculous when you consider that Kodiak has a population of only 6000 or so.

There’s a tinge of cruelty to the campaign, led on Twitter, for one, with the hashtag #ExilePitbull. And some Alaskans are rightfully annoyed at being chosen as the least pleasant place the artist could be sent. But for Walmart Kodiak, it’s good news. And Pitbull seems to be taking it in stride; he’s been joking on Twitter about his upcoming trip. So maybe the way this whole thing has exploded isn’t so bad after all.

Now, lest we leave you without a video break this afternoon, here’s a look at Coke’s latest “Open Happiness” ad. Put your headphones in, turn ’em up and prepare to get all hopeful for humanity.