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Following up on my post a few weeks ago — the new comedy sitcom In The Motherhood, based on the MSN web series that Plexipixel worked on the original site design and initial development for, is set to debut Thursday March 26 at 8/7c on ABC!

Mark your calendar, set your TiVo, and be ready to watch the first episode featuring hilarious stories inspired by real life viewer experiences.

Recently, the In the Motherhood web series was featured in a list of “14 hilariously effective online campaigns” on iMedia.

The people at Suave and Sprint are clearly much smarter than we were. Their “In the Motherhood” series generates millions of voluntary views, driven by the quality of the stories and the decidedly female POV. By humorizing the daily lives and situations mom faces, “In the Motherhood” rings the bell for brand relevance and fondness.

My Allbusiness.com blog post Xbox: Advertising Game-Changer? is being highlighted and syndicated across a number of sites including the SF Chronicle, CBS News, the Washington Post, and CareerBuilder. Cool… I just wish that the editing tools let me fix that ugly typo (and a few poor grammar choices made way too late at night).

A recent article on iMedia highlighted some solid numbers from the Sprite Obey campaign headed by MediaVest that we helped develop a few years back. Working in partnership with MSN, we brought their team’s design to life by developing a website that was integrating with both MSN’s backend system and ispott’s mobile scavenger hunt platform. Using our proprietary Flash 3D engine, we created a pseudo-3D experience that engaged teens in the online scavenger hunt and kept them coming back for more.

“MediaVest reports 1.5 million teens participated and spent more than 3.1 million minutes online with the brand during the campaign, in addition to time spent scavenging for photos and encouraging peers to participate. Campaign analysis shows Sprite Obey resulted in a 26 percent increase in teens’ weekly consumption of the soft drink.”

Check out the full article at iMedia Connection.

ABC has picked up the highly successful “In the Motherhood” web series to turn it into a network sitcom. Plexipixel was responsible for the original site design and initial development using our 3D engine, which launched on MSN back in 2007.

Premiering this spring, Megan Mullally and Cheryl Hines will star in the new comedy, featuring stories inspired by real life experiences of viewers shared online. Check out the “In the Motherhood” site on ABC.com for more details and previews of upcoming episodes.

Vicky’s new article on her “Stop Being So Pushy!” blog at AllBusiness.com: The Long-Tail of Elves, is up, and discusses the viral Holiday tour de force Elf Yourself, our own Flash and social networking phenomenon Twilight Pixie Glide, and how to extend the tail of your ROI:

It was once thought that viral marketing entertainment burned bright then burned out fast and was only good for grabbing folks’ attention and not much else. Campaigns like ElfYourself prove year after year that is just an old wives’ tale. A great idea with a strategic plan and great execution can not only get great attention, but can bring in both cash and good-will to your brand for many years.

Last month we brought you thrilling news of casual gaming, including our very own Hexic game for the Zune’s 3.0 release. “Rounding out this embarrassment of riches” (Engadget, “Zune 3.1 update out today – now featuring Sudoku!“), update 3.1 has been released and with it comes the addition of Checkers, Space Battle, and our very own Sudoku.

Sudoku!

What’s funnier than a turkey at a disco? A turkey at the disco doing the “kickin’ chicken” (patented move, trademarked)!

Dance Away your Turkey Day at Toon Disney by choosing your moves and your music. Don’t forget to tell the turkey what you’re thankful for the possibility of getting your message to flash on the disco wall!

Yes, it’s true… Plexipixel is a finalist for NWjob’s “favorite creative company” 2008. We were barely beat out by an architecture firm that has over 500 employees and 6 world-wide offices, and in the company of other hefty–as in staff number not in stature (yes, we’re calling you out for next year)–competitors like Zaaz, Filter and Big Fish.

We had a great visit the other week with some lovely people from Adobe who were looking for some design-house feedback for a future release of Creative Suite while they were in the Seattle area. We had a lot of fun and it was an honor being ask our opinion of what should be included in the next version of such a great and epic product. But we really enjoyed the compliment we were paid afterwards. They seemed really excited about how we embrace new technologies and express creativity, the collaborative way we do it and even said that we were in the “upper echelon”!

Sometimes it’s nice to have a reminder step back and admire our vision of working with great people to do great work.

Josh Lovison in Gaming Insider has been writing on developments in casual gamers’ gaming news (Bejeweled hits WoW: flash-based procrastination tools and night elves together at last! Plus: women play games while chatting on phone) which we found pretty interesting, including this little nugget:

Now Microsoft, feeling fairly secure with the core demographic for the Xbox 360, is pushing a multimillion marketing blitz to expand the console to casual players. Having dropped below the $200 price point for their Arcade version of the system, and with their Netflix exclusive, they are poised for solid sales this fall.

Also in casual gaming, a little repositioning news: Scott’s Blog notices Texas Hold ‘Em and a “mildly entertaining” Hexic have appeared on his Zune. These come with the 3.0 update, and let players use music from their own playlists to use as their game soundtrack. This would be the Hexic whose UX, design, and asset production work we had a hand in; a “quality title” and “a great way to kick off Zune gaming”.