Facebook is your life

Via Adfreak

News Roundup

Thanks to Naveed's Weekly Digest for all the links below.

• Tan Le demonstrates a headset that reads its user's brainwaves.


• Hello HTML5. Goodbye Flash.


• Some ground breaking news about the new health care reform bill: Children strongly oppose one aspect of it.


• Naveed gave a presentation about the effectiveness of the Old Spice campaign to a packed house.


• There are three types of happiness. Which one are you?

Two ways to make your brand really stand out

I enjoy reading the Brandchannel e-mail newsletters as they do a good job of keeping up and reporting on the latest branding news. Below are two brands they recently featured.



KIND snacks differentiates their brand by doing cause marketing using social media, random acts of kindness and other methods.

READ MORE...

The wisdom of John Wooden

While legendary UCLA head coach John Wooden (October 14, 1910 – June 4, 2010) is famous for winning ten NCAA championships, he is also known for his life lessons or "Woodenisms." My favorites are in bold.

"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."

"Never mistake activity for achievement."

"Adversity is the state in which man mostly easily becomes acquainted with himself, being especially free of admirers then."

"Be more concerned with your character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are."

"Be prepared and be honest."

"Be quick, but don't hurry."

"You can't let praise or criticism get to you. It's a weakness to get caught up in either one."

READ MORE...

World Cup 2010 ads

Which one do you like best? Which ones have hidden innuendo? Have any more ads?

Keep on scrolling down for a catchy surprise.

READ MORE...

What do you think of the new Tiger Woods ad?

The long-time AOR (Wieden + Kennedy) for Nike Inc. has debuted a new Tiger Woods ad in time for the Masters.

Similar to the defiant Kobe ad (opens as pdf. Does anyone have the larger size ad? I used to have a higher-resolution jpg and the body copy is really well-written.) released after Kobe's acquittal of sexual assault charges in 2003, this ad has shades of independence and does not mention Nike golf products at all.

Read more about the controversial ad here and here.

adidas and $1 training shoes

Adidas, in response from the idea of Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh, is going to make trainer shoes that cost about $1 for people around the world who cannot afford to buy shoes.

Via London Telegraph and Brand Channel.

Red Bull street marketing

While brilliant on Red Bull's part, I think that this would be more ideal for a NASCAR marketing move as it introduces the northeastern US and urban dwelling crowd to a mostly rural and Southern-based NASCAR product.

Via Bized.

Would this make you take the stairs?

"...in Stockholm’s Odenplan subway station, the staircase has been retrofitted to resemble giant piano keys, which produce real sound, to encourage commuters to climb the stairs rather than ride the escalator. According to this video — which seems to be part of a Volkswagen marketing initiative, though it’s unclear — it’s been a raging success."

Via Freakonomics.

The truth about bottled water

Bottled water is safer and more pure than tap water. True or False? According to Tappening and Start a Lie, it's false. Some facts from Tappening are below.

Bottled water often contains more bacteria and impurities than tap water, because the EPA regulates municipal water systems more stringently than the FDA regulates bottled water

Worldwide, 2.7 million tons of plastic are used each year to make water bottles, and in the United States, less than 20% of these bottles are recycled.

Via Adverblog.

The World’s Largest iPod

Jonathan Ive, the man behind the design of Apple iPhone and iPod, recently created a giant iPod model that he sent as a gift to British fashion designer Sir Paul Smith on his birthday.

Via Digital Inspiration.

37 pictures the world must see

“I’m working on a story that the world needs to know about. I wish for you to help me break it, in a way that provides spectacular proof of the power of news photography in the digital age.”
-James Nachtwey

from TED e-newsletter.

The Voice of God is gone

Don LaFontaine has passed away at age 68. He is famous for his phrase "in a world where..." and he was recently part of the catchy Geico commercials.

Time's 50 best websites of 2008

The 2008 edition of Time's 50 best websites is out. I always enjoy clicking through their choices and discovering obscure gems.

21st century story telling

Basically, advertising is story telling. And story telling is about communication. Both are about communicating to people a certain plot line, memory, or message. The internet and new technologies have allowed people to communicate even more effectively and interactively. More often than not, it has enhanced the conveyed message. In the case of Local Projects, it has also fostered community.

Below are some examples.


A very inspirational digital storytelling company called Local Projects. From Dwell.







An interactive twise on the traditional (especially in the Southern US) story telling quilt. Via Its Nice That.

New British Currency

The British have new money and it is gorgeous.

From Simplebits

Update: The new $5 bill is out too.

Modernista! angers Wikipedia gods

Modernista!'s new website, or whatever you want to call it, is making Wikipedia very mad. But before we get into why, I must explain that Modernista!'s website recently underwent a revamp and is no longer a website at all. In fact, when I went to Modernista.com, I was actually redirected to DARPA's website for no apparent reason. Anyway, the only thing that is consistent about Modernista!'s new site is a static, ugly red menu.

You see, Modernista! no longer has a proper "About" page. It just links to the Modernista! entry in Wikipedia. When you click this link, the red menu stays on top of the Wikipedia page after it loads.

Wikipedia's response:

The website for this company obscures our logo with their own, and may lead the viewer to believe that Wikipedia serves as their homepage provider. This is not correct. Wikipedia has no affiliation with Modernista and has requested that Modernista cease this use of our website.

Wikipedia is an encyclopedia written from a neutral point of view and does not endorse nor condemn Modernista, but is opposed to being used as a promotional mechanism in this manner for any third party.

Ooo, burn! Wikipedia even left off the exclamation point in Modernista!'s name! DOUBLE WHAMMY.

EDIT: I should add: Modernista!'s new site is an attempt to show the world they understand Web 2.0 by using Flickr, Facebook, del.icio.us and YouTube (among others) as the various "sections" of their site. Some have called it bold and brilliant while others say it's just plain lazy. Check it out and decide for yourself.

Axiom.

Interesting conference and POV from the past annual planning conference, TED, held in San Diego, California.

edit: You can also download and watch this "Do schools kill creativity?" talk by Sir Ken Robinson at the TED conference official site.

Turn on Your Cell Phones!

During Intermission, Cellphones Are Brandished in a Promotion

By ANDREW ADAM NEWMAN
Published: June 18, 2007

Typically you are told to turn off your cellphone before a performance. But at a recent Saturday matinee of “Spring Awakening,” the Broadway musical that garnered eight Tony Awards last week, the audience was told to do just the opposite.

“Win Your Chance to Come Backstage!” said a flier inserted into the Playbill, which encouraged theatergoers to send the text message “bdway spring” to a five-digit number before the end of intermission.

After the show, Becky Mitchell, 18, received a text message that she had won, and she bounded onto the stage with Alyssa Navia, 19, a friend from Boston College, where both are freshmen. “This is my first Broadway show,” said Ms. Mitchell, who wore a rugby shirt and Ugg boots. “This is fantastic.”

The production’s company manager, John E. Gendron, showed them the trapdoors in the stage from which, only minutes before, two actors had risen from a dry-ice ground fog.

But what the play’s producers hope to make magically appear in the future are audiences. At the performance, 62 people sent text messages, which included their telephone numbers and e-mail addresses, in hopes of winning the contest. All of their information went into a database that will be used to pitch Broadway tickets and other promotions.

In exchange, contestants were sent a ring tone of a popular song in “Spring Awakening” and a photograph from the show to use as wallpaper on their phones. Both of the souvenirs are potential conversation starters with friends, whom the producers think of as would-be ticket buyers.

“Those are numbers talking to numbers talking to numbers,” said Damian Bazadona, president of Situation Marketing, who is working with the producers and the owner of the theater, Jujamcyn Theaters, on the pilot program. “A year or two years down the road, that’s how you’re talking to markets.”

Americans sent 18.7 billion text messages in December 2006, nearly double the 9.7 billion that were sent the previous December, according to CTIA, a wireless industry trade group. While various companies have tried to beat a path from consumers’ phones to their wallets, theater promoters, weary of phones ringing infuriatingly during denouements, have held back.

Until now.

“There’s a tendency for Broadway not to be an early adopter, but that’s changing,” said Jordan Roth, vice president of Jujamcyn, which owns five theaters in New York, including the Eugene O’Neill Theater, where “Spring Awakening” is being staged. “Most producers now are really looking for new ways to communicate with our audience.”

The musical’s producers are sharing data with Jujamcyn, which is signing up participants for Broadway Phone, its wireless service for ticket deals and show information. Since the production draws young audiences with its themes of adolescent angst, it was chosen for the maiden cellphone effort. “But our goal is to expand what we’re doing to many shows,” Mr. Roth said.

As for whether this will result in more ringing during performances, Mr. Roth said that it has not been a problem, but that the promotion might not suit every production. “Will it interfere with the show?” he said. “Yeah, that is one of the things that is open for discussion.”

About 8.5 percent of audience members have been sending text messages in the 14 contests that the production has done so far, but organizers expect participation to reach 10 percent.

For a similar promotion with a tour of the rock-oriented theatrical production Blue Man Group, an average of 16 percent of audience members sent text messages, Mr. Bazadona said.

In a tour that covered 60 cities in 90 days, about 50,000 people sent text messages. “This means that each night, 16 percent of the house is leaving the theater with Blue Man Group somehow represented on their mobile phone,” Mr. Bazadona said.

At the Eugene O’Neill Theater that afternoon, the two students were enjoying their behind-the-scenes access when Stephen Spinella, who plays several characters in the musical, strode onto the stage on his way out of the theater. He asked Ms. Mitchell what she had done to win the contest.

“I texted,” she replied. “One of my favorite things.”

Google buys DoubleClick for $3.1bn

Who makes huge decisions on Friday the 13th? Google does! DoubleClick, the online enabler between advertisers and agencies, was purchased yesterday by the googopoly in its biggest buyout yet--just six months after the $1.65bn YouTube acquisition. By my calculations, Google will own the entire Internet by the end of next year (really, the only things left are Wikipedia, MySpace and Facebook. And maybe Perez Hilton.).

"It has been our vision to make Internet advertising better -- less intrusive, more effective, and more useful . . . Together with Doubleclick, Google will make the Internet more efficient for end users, advertisers, and publishers." -Sergey Brin, Google co-founder and president

For some reason, antitrust laws don't apply to Google--but who's complaining? Google has made everyone's life easier by making Internet advertising--and the Internet--more relevant and less intrusive through, arguably, the best quality control systems on the planet (hehehe!). But seriously, I challenge you to give me a reason why Google Internet domination is a bad thing. Do it.

And what about after they've conquered the web? They'll begin purchasing third world countries, working their way up to the Big Seven--ultimately making the world less intrusive, more effective, and more useful! Shhh, just let it happen. It's inevitable.