Anyone who has read this blog for a while knows I am very well aware that my portfolio site and this blog are in a lot of ways a temple to my ego and to give me some feelings of self worth. All of that was put in perspective today as I was strolling through the famous hippie town of Woodstock and stopped in the local candy and novelty store. As my wife waited in line to buy something I mindlessly wondered the store browsing their collection of sweets and kitschy knick knacks. We were about to leave the store when something caught my eye and after closer inspection I about laughed myself to tears. There on the rack was the Seth Godin Marketing Guru action figure.

I don't even know where to start on this one. First for the fact that the rack had action figures of Jesus, Einstein, Michelangelo and Seth Godin. I don't think it is going out on a limb to say one of these things is not the other. Second was the fact that the "Marketing Guru" hadn't been able to scare up enough marketing to convince one person who buy one of the figure and I was told they had been there for "some time". That being said he has to have some genius since he talked someone into the fact that it was a good idea to make an action figure of a guy 99.75% of the general public has never heard of. When it comes to action figures based on online marketing I will stick with stick with Tokyo Plastic.

Labels: Digital culture

I was talking with one of my co-workers today who had been using of the big online dating sites because she noticed something that just seemed wrong. She has been a member of the site for a while and had gone out on some dates but hadn't found anyone she clicked with and was getting frustrated and considering canceling her membership. About that time she got an email from a good looking guy, we will call him Bob, who she thought was cute but his email was kind of generic. She replied to it anyway but never heard anything back and finally canceled her membership. She moved on down the road until a few weeks later when the site emailed her about a free communication weekend where former members could go on to the site and talk with other members for free to try and get them to join again. Within minutes of receiving that email from the site, low and behold Bob emailed her again with yet another nice but completely generic email that didn't reference anything from her email. Now suspicious that this person may be a plant, she replied again with a more pointed email that even included her Gmail email address trying to get a response from him with some information that wold show it was from a real person. As of the date of this posting that response has not come.

This all may have been a series of really convenient coincidences or my cynical nature may be running wild but it just feels too much like behavioral targeting to me. I have used it on a lot of online campaigns but to create a false sense of hope and take more money from people who are looking for a real connection is just sleazy. This is one of those things were I hope someone who has more time than me investigates this to see if it is really true and expose any sites that would do anything this slimy.

Labels: Digital culture

If you would have told me someone would have done an interesting and well design ad unit for ambulance company I probably wouldn't have believed you but here we are with just that for Germany's Malteser Ambulance Service. The ads work like a slot machine so when it is clicked the various reels made up of slivers of various alcohol labels each with one letter centered on the reel. They spin and come to rest spelling out various words like 'whiplash' or 'skullfracture'. Like all good ad units it is simple, interactive and leaves you wanting just a bit more.

Labels: Online advertising review

Sheraton recently launched a new initiative called The Link which is a new communication and business hub created with Microsoft that will roll out to the brands 408 hotels across 75 countries. About a year ago I was asked to attend a brainstorm to figure out how we could do to promote the launch and I came up with the concept of Global Out of Office Day (G.O.O.D.) which is a one day event that recolonizes that successful people can work outside of the office and be productive from anywhere when they are able to use The Link. That concept of being productive anywhere will be brought to life tomorrow as Starwood's corporate offices along with Pepsi and Microsoft here in New York will be doing business from a giant pop-up Link at Mineral Springs in Central Park. To kick off the day we will have the first ever 'out of the office' remote ringing of the New York Stock Exchange opening bell and will continue with speakers like Seth Godin and Mike Gamson from LinkedIn. G.O.O.D. will then move globally to also take place in Lisbon, Shanghai and Sydney. I am excited abut it all because I have never had one of my concepts come to life in such a large and global way so if you are in the area tomorrow stop by and see us.

Labels: Shameless self promotion

The guys over at Firstborn Multimedia have launched another great site and this time it is for XM satellite radio. The site is called Wild Ride and follows the adventures of a group of animals taking a road trips through a landscape drawn in the XM illustration style. You navigate the site by using the arrows keys to steer their car from an over the shoulder perspective. You can change lanes to avoid traffic on the road or take an exit off the highway to get to the site content. I fspent 10 minutes just driving down the road exploring the world which is beautifully create and populated by imaginatively themed towns based on XM channels like rock or country music and sports. It brings their advertising style to life in a way their commercials never did and makes it a fun and compelling experience that works seamlessly works as the site navigation. The site content is made up of games and videos that are interesting but don't match the unique experience of exploring the world. This site proves that a simple but good idea that is well executed can create a fun and compelling experience.

Labels: Design and user experience, Exceptional creative, Exceptional Flash, Site review

I know I am in the minority in my option that Crispin Porter didn't hang the moon when it comes to advertising. I think that for they either really hit a home run or they really miss and their usually isn't much in the middle. A few months back everyone waited with baited breath for their new Nike work and that gave way to waiting for their new $300 million dollar work for Microsoft. Could they one up Apple and Chiat/Day? All those question were answered when it landed last week and it got my friends talking. It got us talking about what the hell were they thinking and how much we admire the salesmanship of Cripsin to be able to get work that mediocre and expensive past a client. I just don't understand the strategy in creating advertising that doesn't talk about the product or fix their image problem. Help me here - am I missing something or is it really this pointless?

Labels: Offline advertising

If you head over to the tech section of the newly re-design CNN.com you can see the latest video ad units from Apple.com. Their last one that ran on CNET.com last year was one of the best uses of video and a surround session I had seen and this one is just as good. The new ads take advantage of context of running on a news site and has PC posting his own article to get people to stop switching and then runs through different tabloid like expressions for the photo. Check it out while you still can.

Labels: Exceptional creative, Integrated advertising, Online advertising review

If you find yourself in Pittsburgh in the next few weeks I highly recommend dropping by the Society for Contemporary Crafts gallery space at One Melon Center to check out the new "Out of the Box" exhibition by David Gates. I think the work is awesome but then again I am biased - he's my dad.

Labels: Shameless self promotion

Since I wrote about Ralph Lauren being the first major U.S. retailer to bring QR codes to the mass market I have been keeping my eye on them to see what else they are doing with it beyond the stores here in NYC. The catalog for their Rugby brand showed up at my house last night and there on the back cover the QR code for their mobile Rugby store. For the U.S. Open their ads prominently featured their QR code with an up sell that the mobile site would give you access to their US Open clothing collection, their RL Magazine stories and video. I really admire the fact that they have jumped in with both feet and and really giving this a realistic shot to catch on. I haven't seen any other brands jump on the bandwagon yet but you can hear the footsteps.

Labels: Digital culture

About 11 months ago a gamer who goes by Levinator25 posted the following video to YouTube show a glitch in the EA game Tiger Woods 08 called the "Jesus shot" since you can hit the ball standing in the middle of a lake.

The video made the rounds with gamers all over the world having a good laugh at this interesting gaming opportunity. 11 months later the launch of Tiger Woods 09 comes around and EA posts this video in response to the Levinator25 video.

By all accounts Levinator25 is really a gamer and wasn't paid by EA for the original video. I believe this since it took them 11 months to respond to it and I have to believe that if they were linked then the response would have been much faster. This as an interesting event as it is the first time I have seen any part of an advertising campaign respond to a medium like YouTube and the passionate people who post these videos for or against certain brands and products. Given the original video by Levinator25 was fun and harmless so it made good fodder for the response but it is the acknowledgment that it existed that I think most interesting. It will also be interesting to watch to see what other brands follow suite and if they are able to respond in a more timely manner than a year later.

Labels: Branding, Consumer generated content, Design and user experience, Exceptional creative, Integrated advertising, Viral

EA Games has created a new advertising installation for their upcoming Will Wright Game called Spore. The game is a simulation where you start with tiny single-cell organisms and work to design and create life with ever more complexity. To promote the game they installed a billboard in San Francisco's Union Square that is the equivalent of the advertising single celled organism at 14" by 6" . The only way to see it is with a telescope and luckily they installed one aimed directly at it so anyone passing by can see it.

Labels: Offline advertising

I wanted to let everyone know about some upgrades I have been doing to the blog to make reading it easier than ever before. First, I have installed a completely new subscription service so you can get updates sent to your email, Skype, AOL IM, Twitter (as a public or private post), Microsoft Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger. You can sign up for any or all of it in the right hand column right above the Facebook banner. Speaking of Facebook, I have added the blog to the Facebook Blog Network so you can keep up with everything through your Facebook page. Hope you like it and that it makes reading easier.

Labels: Great resource

Behance.com is far and away my favorite online creative community for the quality of their content and their members. They recently published an article to their online magazine called "10 Realizations For Productivity & Making Ideas Happen" that explores the concept that there are too many ideas in the world and not enough action. It then goes through ten tips they put together from interviewing hundreds of the most productive individuals and teams in the world. It's worth the read no matter what your experience.

Labels: Good read, Great resource

Scion probably does digital better than any other car company out there right now and their latest entry is called United by Individuality. It follows on the heels of Scion Speaks and Scion Little Deviants which were both very well done and also stayed consistent to their core values of creativity, personalization, authenticity, and community.

This new site asked owners to submit images of their stock to wildly customized Scion's and the 300 chosen vehicles are the stars of their new campaign which is supported by this new site. The centerpiece of the site is their new tv commercial that is broken down into numerous large blocks and shows a pixelated version of the commercial with each block represented by one of the 300 chosen vehicles. You can turn this pixelated grid on and off so you can flip between this mosaic and the real commercial. The rest of the site is made up of behind the scenes commercial, photos of the cars, copies of the advertising and various downloads.

In the end the site falls flat for me for me because the site doesn't do anything but play a supporting role to the print and tv. Their last two outings have been smart, robust and engaging experiences but here all the content is either the ad campaign, it's supporting assets or behind the scenes content. The video mosaic of the TV commercial is an interesting presentation and use of the assets but I've seen it on a number of other sites. I don't know if it because of tightening budgets or because the model year has pretty much come to a close but I hope their next effort brings them back to form.

Labels: Design and user experience, Digital culture, Integrated advertising