Ad Krispies

Machinarium

2009-11-15T10:22:00.006-05:00

An intricately and beautifully crafted 19th-century-czechoslovakia-inspired-steam-and-junk-world. An out-of-the-ordinary tale. A little robot. This is the premice of Machinarium, a wonderful adventure game created by Amanita Design, a czech republic independent games developer. If you're a web-based adventure game aficionado, you might know them from independant successes such as "Questionaut" (a point-and-click game developed for the BBC), or the widely acclaimed "Quest for the rest", developed for pop-rock band Polyphonic Spree.

Machinarium is among the winners of the 2009 Independant Games Festival, claiming an award for Excellence in Visual Arts, and not without reason: the game is a pure delight for the eyes, with a subtle blend of humor and adventure, it's suited for kids and adults alike looking for an original tale and an addictive game.

Only 20$ will buy you the full version (mac or pc), and trust me, it's a *very* good bang for your buck - some games selling at 60$ on popular consoles and computers wouldn't even compare at offering the level of "virtual vacation" Machinarium delivers.

Try out the free demo at www.machinarium.net. Like me, you will fall in love.

Short Movie Monday™: Alarm

2009-11-02T08:44:00.002-05:00

A nice 3D treat for you this monday morning: "Alarm", a masterfully rendered animation directed by Jang Moo-hyun from the independent team of MESAI. You will be drawn into it because of its soft visuals and life-like environment rendering. You'll be stuck to it because of the compelling storytelling. You will be caught by your boss, procrastinating and drooling over whatever you were doing. You can thank me later.

Alarm from Meteorix007 on Vimeo.

The Cat Piano

2009-10-21T07:27:00.001-04:00

Your little morning comic, courtesy of Ari White and Eddie Gibson, narrated by Nick Cave. Enjoy.

How To Shave Your Groin, by Gillette

2009-08-08T07:49:00.003-04:00

Dear readers, you're in for a royal treat. You know how we're into this trend of communication authenticity and how consumer-brand conversation is now ever important. Well, I guess after many "conversations" about the matter, the nice people at Gillette decided to finally let men in on "how to properly shave their groins" -- quite the edutainment, I'm telling you. I don't know about you, but I think it's great. I think they have balls (hah!). Whomever came up with the idea and actually had it produced, you're my hero of the day. Let's cut (wee!) to the chase and view this historic piece on the art of trimming your front yard.

Google Classic

2009-07-16T08:21:00.001-04:00

Brilliant.

Evian Live Young: 3D Babies For The Win!

2009-07-07T10:20:00.008-04:00

Nice TV ad for Evian's Live Young Campaign, directed by Michael Gracey and created by agency Euro RSCG. Music is "Rapper's Delight" by Dan the Automator.

Check out the Live Young website at http://evianliveyoung.com/

(Hey you people at Euro RSCG, let me know more often when you have good stuff like that! Write at latenightdave@hotmail.com).

Vuzix IWear AV230 XL+

2009-07-07T09:15:00.005-04:00

Folks, this is the kind of product that truly will propel you into...TEH FUTURE *insert echo here*

(and yes, I always say it this way. It provides somewhat of a dramatic yet slightly ironic tone to my tech news).

Discover the Vuzix iWear AV230 XL+, a lightweight pair of stereoscopic glasses which provide the same experience as watching a 44-inch screen viewed from 9 feet.

Short of getting yourself a $3000 flatscreen complete with THX sound or a $50,000 full-on VR headset with touch feedback, these glasses might provide a pretty awesome gaming or movie-watching experience. As mentioned on the site, the dual displays provide "crisp images and vivid colors through optics aligned to military specifications", and the glasses feature removable high-quality stereo headphones (altough when a product description features the words "removable" and "high-quality" in the same sentence, I always tend to read "removable quality". But that's just me. I like alphanumeric naming. Feed me XTX-2000 bran and nut flakes anytime, I'll feel like a superhero.)

I haven't had the chance to actually review these goggles yet, but I like the premice this new model offers, just from description. Just so you know, past reviews about these type of glasses featured rants about "annoying scan lines" affecting picture quality, average sound and tired eyes -- all for a steep price. But it seems the good folks at Vuzix heard the cries of our people, and came up with this product retailing for less than $200 bucks while providing a kickass-end experience.

If you own a pair and would like to give me your impressions, go ahead and let the readers know!

Emily

2009-06-11T08:24:00.003-04:00

I've introduced the incredible work of CG company Image Metrics in a past blog post. But I've recently stumbled across this incredible CG feat on the web: meet Emily: The Tech Demo. She's entirely 3D. Threeeeee-D, friends.

Watch and be amazed.

So You Think You're A "Social Media Expert"?

2009-06-08T13:53:00.002-04:00

Author and "personal brand" evangelist Dan Schawbel wrote a thoughtful piece about "Why you shouldn't brand yourself as a "Social Media Expert" on his blog, a mandatory read for anyone trying to figure out social media and giving themselves the title "expert" as they do it.

Read it here.

Inspiration Wednesdays™: Nick Bertke

2009-05-20T16:58:00.007-04:00

Yeah I know, it's usually "Inspiration Tuesdays", but this was so good I couldn't wait 'til next week to share.

Introducing Nick Bertke, some guy I discovered off YouTube. It appears our friend Nick is a natural talent at producing genius music and films, and if he keeps going at it, might make a decent living being a superstar. Scrounging inside some old Walt Disney animations, Nick came up with delicately crafted, otherworldy mellow tunes. Something Björk-like, with a hint of sweetened Chemical Brothers but with its own smooth flavour. Being a musician myself, I'm no music critic but I know talent when I hear it.

I first got blasted off by this page I stumbled upon, moving on to YouTube where I discovered his other productions. Homemade sights and sounds copyright Nick Bertke. Here are some of my favorites (keep reading after the break):

Nick also has excellent flair for storytelling and film photography. Take your eyes on a ride with Out With It (see at end of post), a short movie about a guy, a girl, and something real bad happening. M. Night Shyamalan could be red with envy on this one, if it was only pursued into a 2-hour flick. I know I was sucked into it instantly.

I don't know of Nick's other talents, but I truly hope he gets discovered by big cheeses - something great might happen. Check out Nick's work on YouTube: search for Fagottron (interesting choice of nickname), and look him up on Last.Fm as well. Google him, for all it's worth, things are getting interesting for our friend. I do expect this guy to get his 15 minutes of fame sometime soon.

Good luck with that, amigo.

Discover 1000+ web applications you've never heard of

2009-05-13T07:49:00.004-04:00

I just discovered Go2web20.net, a great place to discover some truly cool web 2.0 applications that'll change the way you use the web. Happy browsing!

Need a change? Create something.

2009-05-12T08:40:00.007-04:00

Being creative is about generating new opportunities for yourself, and for others.

Every day should be a new, empty slate allowing you to make use of your own creativity: Whether it is as about finding a new or better way to do your work, daring to go someplace you never would have in other times, inventing something you think could generally change your status quo.

It can be big, it can be small, but you never know how far an idea could go in creating some "new" in your life, generating new goals for yourself, and making you feel in charge.

Creation is change. And in the words of Winston Churchill: "Change is the essence of life. Be ready to surrender what you are, for what you could become."

Social Media: Right Now, It's Still All Talk.

2009-05-06T07:23:00.045-04:00

If you've been following marketing circles on Twitter recently, you're likely to admit there's a lot of talk about social media in business communications. I can't count all the "10 tips for this", "Tools for that" tweets, or various miracle uses of tweet-related 2.0 apps that abound in the worldwide nest.

It seems like the discussion around using social media in business has garnered more attention and spilled more digital ink than its actual use. Influent marketing Tweeters have taken upon themselves the responsibility of evangelizing their followers; said followers are on a del.icio.us bookmark craze on the subject; Bloggers flourish in profound studies and in-depth analytics on the phenomenon, and one doesn't have to look far to find a plethora of so-called social media experts on LinkedIn -- fighting to deliver the next great piece of insight.

Everyone's on the hunt for the great Social Media marketing ElDorado. And it's particularly true within marketing circles on Twitter.

What is behind this social media information-sharing craze in the Tweetosphere? Is it truly driven by the noble search to better serve one's clients, or rather by the need to build a personal brand? I guess the latter is the hidden truth. Twitter is about the need for one individual or corporation to stand out. Talking to a mass of followers. For marketers, Twitter is social media's social media.

Twitter is composed of thousands of individual mass mediums (the Tweeps) adressing their own communities of thousands, who most often are passive listeners. There's nothing truly "social" on Twitter - it's actually more like a cable TV of people selling their personal brand on their own channel. A lot of TV shows. By creating or hunting for information, these "show hosts", are trying to generate critical bits of information to use them as perceived advantage, contributing to building their own individual mass media potential, their own personal brand. The success of their daily show.

Which is to say that the current social media tweeting trend among professionals seems to be biased. It isn't really about "Social Media And How It Does Miracles For Your Company's Marketing". It's about "Social Media And How Talking About It Empowers Your Professional Credibility".

When Marshall McLuhan said the "medium is the message", he probably didn't realise how social this notion would become.

An Incredible Recyclable Trash Design

2009-05-05T21:14:00.003-04:00

...and a ton of other BRILLIANT ideas you wish you had, available at http://www.inewidea.com/

Twitalyzer

2009-05-05T16:35:00.002-04:00

"Measure your impact and success in Social Media".

In other terms, a fantastic tool for discovering if you're an influent twit, or not.

http://www.twitalyzer.com

Social Media in Plain English

2009-05-05T16:31:00.003-04:00

The simple vanilla facts. A repost from an earlier blog post that disappeared (?), back by popular demand.

The Hunt For Gollum

2009-05-05T15:40:00.004-04:00

Tolkien fans, you will go crazy on this one. The Hunt For Gollum is an entirely independent movie created by (very technically adept) fans and directed by writer-director Chris Bouchard. And this one will keep your stomachs full until (unafilliated) Peter Jackson goes crimson with envy and creates three more.

Production began in early 2007 when Chris started adapting the script from the Appendices of The Lord of the Rings, and was released on May 3rd for public viewing *entirely free* (most probably with the hope that some huge distributor will notice and buy the distribution rights).

I've watched it. It's surprisingly well done. All along you wonder, for every element that comes on scene, "will they get it right?". Well for an indepedent short that, as for every indepedent short, usually deals with limited budget and rests on the talent and passion of its makers, trust me, "they get it right". It hits the spot much more that anything George Lucas recently made, if I have to make the sorry comparison.

You be the judge. Click here to watch the movie for free.

New LinkedIn Policy Penalises User-Made Groups

2009-03-25T19:57:00.005-04:00

An open letter to my Social Media Marketing group on the LinkedIn network, from group moderator Michael Crosson (a typical user, not a LinkedIn employee). If you're on LinkedIn and are using groups, this concernts YOU. You be the judge.

"Hello, everyone - I am using a new feature on LinkedIn to contact you about something very important to all of us - social networking. I'm sure you joined in order to find information and resources, get feedback and network with other people interested in Social Media Marketing.

But LinkedIn has just made some policy changes that have severely restricted what group managers can do and makes the functionality of this group much more limited.

What they have done:

1. Taken away my ability to send you the monthly email newsletter that I have produced in the past. I can no longer access the group's email list.

2. Taken away my ability to send you individual welcome letters or direct correspondence. I can't even view who is a member of this group, it is limited to seeing only 500, not the entire 15,000+.

3. Forced advertising onto profile and other pages - but the group managers do not profit. There is no revenue share. I don't make a dime from any of the work I put into LinkedIn. [Note from Ed: This is just like you creating a web page, and some company putting web banners on your page without you getting any money from the advertising. Cheap.]

4. By disabling the email list download, I now have ZERO visibility into group performance reports that I used to have through my email management system. I can't tell how many people are unsubscribing, how many undeliverable emails there are, etc. etc. LinkedIn has NO reporting capabilities whatsoever.

They claim they had to do this because some unscrupulous managers were building lists for spam. Their response is penalize all the legitimate group managers for the actions of a few bad apples. There are far better ways to deal with this issue.

I pride myself in moderating and managing this group to the best of my ability. For almost a year, we have grown at 25% a month. LinkedIn overall has grown almost at much. The fact is, it is groups like ours that makes LinkedIn successful. But now they are biting the hand that feeds them. My ability to interact and network with you as individual members has been completely hamstrung. This is the only way to reach you individually.

I URGE YOU TO TAKE ACTION AND VOICE YOUR OPINION. Ask them to rescind this heavy-handed and totally unnecessary tactic. Send an email directly to the Founder, Chairman and CEO of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman, directly on his LinkedIn page: http://snipr.com/eke5g

Thanks for taking the time and for participating in Social Media Marketing. Let's keep growing and improving it, and that means growing and improving LinkedIn, too."

Comment away.

Lost Generation

2009-03-16T15:48:00.003-04:00

Powerful video about change, created by a Chicago student for the American Association of Retired Persons's U@50 challenge (it placed 2nd! I'd like to see what came first...). It was based on "Recrear", a message created by agency Savaglio\TBWA that won a silver lion in 2006.

But that's besides the point: the adaptation is simply outstanding. Well chosen, and well done my Windy City friend -- you chose the right vehicle to get a powerful message across.

Enjoy. (Thanks, Virginie!)

Sexy Motion Graphicky Goodness

2009-03-15T13:19:00.003-04:00

Delicious homemade promo by motion graphics and 3D mighty house Buzz Image, here in Montreal. Enjoy!

Way too sexy... lipdub from Buzz Image on Vimeo.

Awesome

2009-03-10T12:08:00.001-04:00

(Thanks, Personal Branding Blog!)

Inspiration Tuesdays: 512k.net

2009-03-10T11:57:00.006-04:00

Inspiration Tuesdays are back! To start off easy, I want you to see these guys: 512k.net

I'm not sure what they do exactly, because my Japanese skills can be summed up in my ability to politely request an adequate lunch at the nearest sushi bar. My guess is they are a regroupment of flash motion graphics experts, able to create eye-catching presentations in a 512k file. Or maybe a public challenge, requiring flash artists and normal people to shell out their best flash animations in a 512k max file.

At any rate, they held my full attention for the complete showing of this:

http://512kb.net/flash5.htm

Enjoy.

Social Media: Lots of Talk, Not Enough Walk

2009-03-09T14:12:00.004-04:00

Scouring the web these days you can find a plethora of blogs, tweets and web sites on which marketing consultants tell you how to "optimize your campaign using social media", or how "Twitter can be a great complement to your integrated advertising campaign". And AdKrispies is no exception. The search for the next great way to market to consumers has spilled much digital ink.

But while this is great from a theoretical point of view, I still fail to see concrete applications of social media inside actual campaigns. Companies are still tip-toeing in social media and emergent communication, and on rare instances will you actually see an actual campaign that's entirely wrapped around social media.

I'm not saying I find this disappointing, but I'm honestly getting a bit fed off with the fact that the hunt for social media information seems to be more important than its actual application. People seem to be on a Twitter craze, posting and reposting everything they find on the matter.
As I mentioned before, blogs are eloquent on the matter. There are five to ten 2.0 social media startups sprouting everyday on the web, "helping me better connect to people and places".

Well, it seems the more I spend time getting connected to people, things and places these days, the less I actually see them. My time hunting for social media is taking too much time, and not generating enough money. If social media is going to be an important part of the communications business, well it should start acting as such.

Monetize, don't just theorize.

Edit: I personally congratulate the people at Skittles for coming up with their new website and its brilliant use of social media. Bold move, yet full of win.

The challenges of monetizing your online service, part two

2009-02-20T08:10:00.015-05:00

In my last essay about this subject I've introduced the possibility of the User Prerogative Factor, or UPF, as an important constraint to take in account when trying to monetize an existing online business or social media.

As a reminder, the UPF (high or low) is the notion that a user's web usage habits always override the value of a website's contents. Hence a previously free, high-UPF site before will be very hard to monetize, while a previously free, low-UPF site stands better chances.

Now, we're going to look at solutions towards keeping a low UPF, or in other words, we'll try to discover what could possibly get users to adopt your service without being able to own it -- the key to any successful online venture.

First, let's look at some of the motivations to use an online service:

- Self-improvement (possibilities of)
- Proximity (or convenience)
- Anonymity
- Connection (to communities)
- Entertainment
- Control (of actions, of information)

Now, once users have benefitted from any of these advantages for free on your website, the High UPF factor brought therein means it'll be quite hard to bring anything new on the site that would be offered in payable form, because you're already fulfilling the basic usage motivations of users with your service.

Now, two important steps towards a solution. First, you must:

- Examine current usage of your services by users, and extract some insights. For example (something that's close to me, in this case): Employers currently examine a job candidate's Facebook profile before hiring. That's a usage insight. How could Facebook take this insight, and monetize it?

- Turn to your userbase, and ask them what they think, what they do. Most online businesses spend tremendous amounts of money in research to come up with the next great idea to raise the value of their online service. Why do so, when they could just ask users what they want instead? If you have a community, use it. Chances are all your answers could be there.

Once you have two or three basic usage insights in hand, you have real precious info. You now have to find out how to convert these insights into products or services that raise web usage habits one notch up. Sounds hard? Nope. The thing is, you don't necessarily have to twist your brains to find innovation on the web: thousands of brilliant and revolutionary 2.0 startups abound.

The idea is to learn how you can integrate these ideas with your own, creating a whole new service. That's called a mashup, and it's the future of the web as we know it.

I strongly believe that, once we're passed the "scattering of innovations" that's standard currency on the web nowadays, we will witness the regrouping of these innovations inside broader integrated services. Facebook is free. Yellow-pages are free. Should an application that mashes Facebook and Yellow-Pages together be free? Would people pay for that? What's an acceptable value for such a service?

What's for sure, your new mashed-up service could certainly bring user interaction on your site to a whole new level. But still the question remains: will people pay for it? Which form should my new offer take? Should it be a freemium? Should it be subscription-based? Paid by advertising?

To be continued.

In the next article, we'll look at options to integrate payment into your new service. In the meanwhile, please comment on my essay at will, add your ideas, and don't hesitate to criticize!

_______________________________
Summing things up, we've seen:

- Gathering insights from site usage;
- Gathering information from your community;
- Convert these insights into tools, products of services by blending in other 2.0 services: Mashing Up.

Honda: The Power of Dreams

2009-02-20T07:47:00.005-05:00

Iwantmyflashtv.com is to my knowledge, the only place where you'll find animated shorts *entirely made in flash*, and of *very high quality* while you're at it. Boy will you see talent in there, trust me.

Now, about the "entirely made in flash" and "you will see talent in there" parts of my sentence: Yesterday evening I was struck by flash genius, while at the same time, being struck by animation genius. And while getting maimed by all that striking, I was also struck by storytelling genius, and music genius. Now either that's real bad weather, or I have fantastic genius conductivity.

The source of all that thunderous striking? A short movie titled Honda, The Power of Dreams, by Michele d'Auria Animation Studio. Basically, the story of Soichiro Honda, the founder of Honda Motor Company. Told for the first time. And entirely made in Flash only.

Watch it now. And wear some protection.

15 Conceptual Designs You Wish Existed

2009-02-20T07:34:00.004-05:00

An awesome post by blog Creative Closeup, a place I love to visit when I feel like getting schooled in innovation and creativity. Your reactions will be (in sequence):

1) Man, that's just awesome! I want this!
2) How come this has never been made? How can a manufacturer not see the genius behind this?
3) Makeitmakeitmakeitmakeitmakeit. Now.

You can't say I haven't warned you. Now go check it out.

The challenges of monetizing your online service, part one

2009-02-18T15:32:00.023-05:00

"What is the value of my service? How much should I charge? Can I charge (without feeling guilty or being scolded by my userbase)? Will users be willing to pay for it? Or will they think it's not worth the value or worse, the effort? A lot of these questions are racing around inside many an online entrepreneur's mind.

Chris Anderson, in a recent article on the realities of the online economy (read "The Economics of Giving It Away") summed up the problem into one sentence: "For the Google Generation, the Internet is the land of the free.".

How very true. You can't count all the major services, widgets and apps that are emerging online, that struggle at finding a way to monetize themselves, yet offer brilliant, well-planned and worthy products that are used by millions. Major names among these include Meebo, Twitter, Facebook, Friendster, Joost -- all of them, barenaked free.

Of course you can't complain about this openly without being touted as a capitalist pig. Because the web was built as a place for freedom and democracy in the sharing of information. Or was it?

Well, that's the whole question. It seems the basic rules of "offline" commerce, when applied to "online" businesses, become obscured by the powerful influence of installed web culture, a phenomenon which I call the User Prerogative Factor (UPF). I believe this factor to be an unavoidable presence to consider when building or improving (read 'trying to monetize') an online business.

Basically, the UPF could be given the following definition: "Web usage habits always override the value of a website's contents". Which is to say that, to a generic user, your website's product or service offer is always worth less than how the web is being used at the moment. Not following? Here are short concrete examples:

- Chat Communities were 'the thing' until MySpace came.

- MySpace was 'the thing' until Facebook came. People's usage shifted.

- Facebook was 'the thing' until..? Who knows. But they're coming.

Because these online entities weren't imagined to be pay-per-use from the getgo, they have generated a "for free" usage habit within consumers. As time passed, this usage habit came to dictate the value of their contents - zero. Now that the Facebooks and Twitters of this world are looking at ways to monetize themselves, their are left trying to fight the User Prerogative Factor -- or, trying to find how to create "new usage that is worth something, because it moves the current web habits up a notch.

While "paid or free" could be a UPF, you might also have the "private or public" UPF, or the "static or animated" UPF, and so on.

A High UPF index would mean that people would not agree to lose the prerogative they have gained over common usage, while a low UPF index would mean that people wouldn't mind losing their prerogative in favor of something better -- for example, a product or service which hasn't been democratized yet, or with added features, or which is very niched.

High UPF example: Twitter
Low UPF example: FireEagle

A freemium would be low UPF, because the core principle is to provide "paid-for" added value that is niched within an already "free service". People would consider paying because it brings their usage habit up a notch.

Twitter giving companies money to sell their premium-content tweets and taking a cut from sales, would raise a very high UPF -- people are currently doing this for free, regardless of content.

In summing things up: are you doomed if you extra-popular site has a high UPF? Of course not. (Google knows something about that). But it means you have to dig up a lot of usage insights about your service, in order to find solutions that will lower your UPF.

We'll talk more about solutions in the next article. In the meanwhile and as always, let me know your thoughts.

Eyes have value

2009-02-11T16:23:00.005-05:00

"We're sorry, this content can only be viewed by residents of the United States".

Being in Canada, this is the phrase I got when I first tried to view Hulu.com content.

It's there because understandably, media moguls have signed agreements with Hulu to control distribution. They've known since the dawn of mass communications that eyes, or "views", have value.

Now a lot of web 2.0 startups have great community-building ideas, but fail when it comes to monetize the value of these communities. However, a lot of people in these communities would readily pay for the content if it brought a certain level of "value" to their eyes.

How can the two meet? Is it possible to bring the notion of pay-per-view in web 2.0 content? Would you pay minute amounts of money for viewing Facebook profiles? Would you charge people 99 cents to view your corporate Tweets?

Can something belonging to the information category be monetized in this web 2.0 era? Or is entertainment the only thing which holds real value on the web currently?

UserVoice (see below post) seems to have found a model in selling "subscriptions" to their service right off the bat, because the product they're offering provides ROI to its benefactor.
However, people giving feedbacks inside the application, aren't paid to do so: they're doing it voluntarily. This being said, they do get something back in the long run because they get free active participation in making something they're using much better.

Would they pay to provide the feedback? No. Could they get paid to provide their ideas and insights? Yes. In UserVoice's current model they're not, but still it doesn't mean that their feedback doesn't have individual value. That value is a notion in itself which was certainly used by UserVoice creators in evaluating the average cost of a UserVoice package.

Now, isn't content found within a web application like LinkedIn of equal value? Doesn't it provide you with ROI because of the contacts you make and the businesses you develop? So why isn't LinkedIn taking advantage of this and selling this service?

Is "eye value" an applicable notion to community-based services? Are there ways that can be found to monetize or otherwise generate return from this eye value, without ruining the authenticity and efficiency of the community itself ?

UserVoice, The Awesome Feedback Management Tool

2009-01-30T12:11:00.005-05:00

Today's market is made of conversations.

Managing and participating in these conversations is not only a great way to build a relationship with the public, it's also a great way to help your brand or product innovate.

Discover UserVoice, "the fastest way to turn feedback into innovation" as they put it themselves, but moreover -- a damn brilliant 2.0 application.

What UserVoice does is very simple. It opens up a channel for people to give feedback on your company's product or service, offering ideas and improvements. Just like you had your own little private (or public) customer management tool.

The UserVoice creators put it this way (from the UserVoice website):

"On other projects we were left frustrated and overwhelmed when trying to grasp what our users really wanted. Unorganized inboxes and clogged ticket systems ruled the day. Forums were awash with duplication, user support was impossible to determine, and valuable ideas were lost in the shuffle."

And this great insight led the way to a very flexible online application. The system is pretty much a cross between Digg and Twitter, but applied to feedback usage -- which is one heck of an idea in itself. People can rate the submissions, a function which helps you recognize which parts of your product or service are worth improving first, or down right changing completely.

UserVoice was created less than a year ago, has its roots in lovelay California and is led by a team of 6. They have a very interesting and scalable subscription model , which starts from *completely free* moving up to *more bang for your buck*, and have already been subject to a number of articles and praises from the online community.

If you want to see an example of UserVoice in action, take a peek at TweetDeck's UserVoice (TweetDeck is a standalone Twitter aggregator application in its beta phase). I'm using TweetDeck and had a few ideas for improvements, and was trying to email TweetDeck directly to let them know. Upon landing on their page and looking for contact info, I decided instead to click their "TweetDeck Feedback" button, and I was directly sent to their UserVoice account -- that was 10 minutes ago, and also the reason I'm now blogging this post. You'll get the idea pretty quickly, and like me, you'll probably by amazed by the idea.

This is one of the best 2.0 ventures I've seen in awhile, and a potential massive success we'll be hearing about shortly.

Awesome mini-turntable mixer

2009-01-29T15:49:00.005-05:00

Get mini-scratching those mp3s with this mini turntable speaker/mixer, which can connect to your iPhone or mp3-playing device.

Great fun at the office when you wanna show off your mad skills. Available at your local crazy Urban Outfitters.

(Thanks, Notcot.org!)

Mobile Marketing: Righting The Wrong

2009-01-27T09:58:00.004-05:00

Did you happen to hear about Deloitte's latest TMT Predictions for 2009? Every year since 2006, Deloitte produces this interesting study debrief on what movements to expect in the fields of Technology, Media and Telecommunications -- and their impact on canadian businesses. It's usually very insightful and well-documented, and indeed -- as they say -- it "...provides a diverse selection of views and thoughts that challenge, inform and engage industry leaders and executives."

Well, case in hand, they truly did challenge me. A friend of mine posted a Tweet that attracted my attention on point 8 in their “2009 Canadian TMT Predictions” PDF : "Mobile advertising finds its meaning: cellphones are the new billboards". Wow. I read on with more attention, making sure I wasn’t distracted by all the dinosaur roaring behind me. I read on, thinking there had to be a deeper thought or explanation hiding somewhere in the body copy.

“Monetizing the screen you look at 50 times a day. (...) But higher smartphone penetration, higher network speeds, better mobile operating systems and, in some cases, a better understanding of the medium means that mobile ads are likely to be the only category of advertising that grows in 2009."

Are you for real? This prediction is no better than what we've been hearing for the last 5 years or so. Once again this is an analysis that's only based on media sales numbers, much more than qualitative research. That's not what I call a prediction, it's a historic account of failed hopes.
In Canada, mobile marketing is still in its infancy. Worse, it hasn’t really been born yet. Advertisers are still at experimentation level with the media, and haven't really bought into it enough for anyone to come up with such a prediction for 2009. Indeed, mobile marketing represented less than 0,4% of all advertising investments as recently as 2008, as Deloitte reports themselves. I don't see a sudden boom happening this year, and frankly, I especially don't see "cellphones turning into virtual billboards".

So what's happening? Why such a low investment in the medium?

Reason #1: no one could come up with a viable advertising model, hence announcers with cold feet and a small budget failed to see the possibilities.

Reason #2: The consumer receptivity factor. It's common knowledge that people just don't respond well to unsollicited advertising, and this is particularly true on their cellphones. I have yet to hear about a mobile advertising campaign success in Canada, that's didn't use "reach" but "sales" as its benchmark for evaluation.

So how can we be talking about potential "better understanding of the medium" when the rules of the game have yet to be written? And how can Deloitte attribute potential success of mobile marketing to technologies evolving, without even the smallest mention of a very mandatory condition: consumer behavior?

Kindly allow me to make my own prediction: In 2009, marketers will take some time to study people's mobile usage, and then come up with a viable mobile marketing model. Taking in account a context of economic crisis, we know without a doubt 2009 won't be a big year in terms of traditional advertising investment generally. Which means announcers will be quick in investigating the communication possibilities offered by emergent media like cellphones, and ad agencies should quickly turnaround and try developing communication models for these emergent media to generate conversion.

Having powerful technology at hand is one thing: making good use of it is another. Deloitte does have a much better take on this notion in their 2009 Global Media Predictions document. (See "Mobile advertising finds its meaning"), to the point where it feels like both documents have been written by different people with different opinions. But unfortunately it's still not quite there yet -- I find Deloitte analysis is too one-sided, speaking only of "the industry", "technology" or "understanding of the medium".

In my own early personal analysis, I came up with five factors to consider in building a viable communication model for mobile advertising. They're mostly thought-starters, but I feel nevertheless that they take in account more human realities:

1) Mobile marketing should not use traditional communication methods: This includes unsollicited text messages, videos or pictures, or anything that forces a "push" upon the consumer. Mobile marketing should not be a static "show and tell" media, but incite users to take action, whether it is playing, sharing, or talking.

2) We have to find out what the mobile culture is in Canada. In a little chat I had yesterday morning with Serge (Upperkut's president), he pointed out how Japanese users crave QR codes (Quick Response codes) , and we were left both wondering if it'd ever work here in Canada. Who knows? Could this be compatible with the usage we're making of our cellphones here? Is there something to be learned from this usage? There's a huge cellphone culture in Japan, France and Korea. But what's the cellphone culture in Canada? Is there any insight to pull from there, in order to help us construct relevant mobile marketing tools?

3) Mobile marketing should thrive on instantaneity: Cellphones are "hot publishing" devices. Satellite crashing in your backyard? Pic taken and posted on Twitter or Facebook within seconds. As marketers, we should take advantage of this "high turnaround rate" and indeed turn it to our advantage.

4) Mobile marketing should be generous: Being generous in marketing doesn't necessarily mean giving out rebate coupons on your next IPurchase. Generosity in marketing means giving a communication experience of value to the consumer.

5) Mobile marketing should empower online communities: Let's stop using mobile marketing as a message-generating medium. It should rather become a driving force to strengthen the bonds between users in a brand's community. With web 3.0 in the works, I have a feeling location-based social networks like Brightkite or FireEagle, or geocaching games will have an important role to play in providing engaging experiences with mobile media.

At any rate, I'd like to hear anyone's take on this. Do you agree with Deloitte's prediction or, like me, believe that it's misguided -- only taking media sales in account? While markets are conversations, don't you think that mobile marketing should concentrate on stimulating and encouraging these conversations?

The New AdKrispies

2009-01-23T19:08:00.003-05:00

I've taken the time to finally move AdKrispies to the latest Blogger platform. About time you say? Heck yeah.

Hope you like the new platform. I should make good use of it in the weeks to come, so stay tuned.

Thanks for reading!

Yours truly,

David

Adkrispies undergoing a facelift

2009-01-15T14:41:00.005-05:00

Yes folks, Adkrispies will be under maintenance for the next two weeks at least; since I can't really hide it from the public eye you'll probably be barging in as the actress is getting made up.

In the meanwhile, please take 5 minutes to subscribe to the community using the tab on the right, and check back older posts!

You regular kosmic krunchies should be back after the changes, in a newfound beauty.

Cheers,

David @ Adkrispies

10 Tips For Complete And Guaranteed Advertising Failure in 2009

2008-12-16T11:15:00.018-05:00

This year again, I fail at honoring the great tradition of pre-Xmas "instant success" book launches, as I have no "instant marketing success" books to launch. I'm not even sure there's a tradition about that, but I do remark that these books tend to emerge towards the holidays because they're having a hard time selling otherwise. Oh, the irony.

But all is not lost. At least I've decided to write 10 soulful tips in honor of the great marketing minds of our time who've "summed it all up" in-between 250 pages of grey gooish matter. I give you my "10 Tips For Complete, Guaranteed Advertising Failure in 2009". Complete with caps on every letter.

If you have ideas to add to the list, feel free to comment away!

10) Rely Only On Traditional Media

Mess communications are truly fantastic. There's nothing like overpaying an agency's media department to fill every living space with your uber-cool message, built from the test results you wanted to hear, targeting precise age groups and demographics with relevant consumer insight people can identify with. Once you get those TV spots and billboard ads rolling and the GRPs start flying, you'll really by able to link all that exposure with actual sale results. Who needs micro-sites, social media or that gorilla marketing thing ? It's much funner to send your favorite marketing execs out supervising film shoots in South Africa.

9) Cut back on Budget and Tell Your Agency To Come Up With Great Viral

Face it: Times are tough. The powers that be cut back half your cookies for the year: exit those cool TV ads, exit South Africa. What do you do? Tap the power of the Interwebs™ and mandate your agency to create the next round-the-earth viral. Everyone knows virality is not an effect, it's a method: with budget under $5,000, your agency will work all its contacts and resources available to come up with the next recipe for creating BUZZ™. Boy will they be crazy excited for this shot at your company's new "creativity first" philosophy. After all, they wouldn't just leave all that money for some guy in his basement who's read all about your brand.

8) While You're At It, Generally Cut Back Your Advertising Spending Because The Economy Sucks, And Expect The Same Results

What do you do when the consumer loses his buying power? Cut back on the ads! Never mind rethinking your advertising strategy, people are fighting over milk and eggs and their local superstore. Time to give space to your competitors and safely retract yourself in the comfort of retail strategies, heck, your Sales department will come up with something brilliant. Give the Marketing department a break, these two can't work together anyways. But, no compromises! You want results and you want them yesterday.

7) Use web banners to keep that click-through rate high

Feel free to spend all online advertising money in web banners to bring consumers on your site! God knows if they didn't find anything fun in there the first time, they'll rush back now. Nevermind interactive content, CTR is everything: it confirms that your consumer has no idea where he's going on the web, randomly clicking fun-looking leaderboards. It confirms that, for really really sure, people browsing online for digital camera reviews really do get influenced by your latest "no hidden fees" cellphone rants. It confirms that CTR is Da Shit™ for determining whether that three-month micro-site campaign you're launching really works after two weeks.

6) Keep Fluffing Your Brand, That's What Gets People Buying Your Product

Nothing gets in the way of a good awareness ad. This page, this magazine spread, this awesome 30-seconds TV spot will really get people throwing themselves into stores. Never mind reviewing or changing your product - don't fix what's not broken. Your are the iPod of your category and you know it. When stores backorder on your product, people line up in sleeping bags waiting for the next shipment, just because of the sheer power of "those cool ads". Washing machines have never been so hawt. What's that thing about product experience? What's that about product innovation? That's for monkeys, 'cause when monkeys innovate, you really notice.

5) Keep Your Advertising Money In One Agency: All Your Friends Are There, They Know Your Brand And It's Been Going Great Since The Last 20 Years

Friendship in business is a businessperson's best friend. And this especially applies in advertising, where stability and tradition are symbols of success. You would trade your 20 years of marriage for that hot new account exec, but sure as hell you wouldn't dare cheating on your agency. They will have your head. After all, it is written in the much respected Book Of Advertising Agency Laws that "Thou shalt not change your mind, ever, ever, you client you. Even if we don't deliver as much, and are desperately trying to prove we haven't lost our touch".

4) Force your agency into creating advertising they're not comfortable with.

You've always liked horses. And when time comes to fly one, you won't let anyone show you how.
You have numbers. You have research. You have years of marketing the same old product. You have people paid full time to make things work. And then you have that good old ad agency, ready to abide by your will when you raise the old' pinkay. You control everything. Nothing wrong in being master and commander of your ship. Let agencies know who's da boss, nevermind that they have the cumulated experience of people who themselves gathered years of advertising experience with all brands and products, that they're writing funnies about marketing on blogs, and that their other "crazy" clients are letting them do audacious stuff. You're the one who's paying, you're the one who's deciding. The client is always right.

3) Don't be Generous to your Consumers: if you give a Thumb, they take the Hand

Don't give free stuff. Don't throw parties. Don't do special sales. Don't create fun community events. Don't go crazy and let your consumer play with your brand. Don't touch social media. You're not a person, you're a company. Don't let consumers change your product. Actually, don't produce (or think about producing) new products. Being nice to consumers or otherwise putting a little magic in their lives WILL. GET. YOU. IN. TROUBLE. You don't want legal walking all over you. You don't want your bosses going crazy because you had an idea. If you're going to make a difference this year, you're going to make sure nobody's watching you.

2) Wait Before Resorting to Emergent Media Ideas: Your business leaders are "Not There Yet", And Being Safe Will Save Your Company.

Was the light bulb invented in the context of an economic crisis? Nope. You would remember. Experimentation and innovation in media have brought nothing but mere flashes, and you're not one to flash too often. You have a big ship to steer, and big ships move slowly. When your agency comes up with new media solutions, always wait two years by default to make sure it's not a passing fad. Let me remind you that advertising is a symbol of stability, and that consumers rarely change their minds or their habits. People could think you've gone daft if you come up with a blog about your product. But if you think you could take the risk of considering such solutions, run it through a 12-person committee first. No sudden moves, no sudden moves.

1) Advertise.

An announcer should never talk normally. As we said before, you're not a person. You are a company. You always must use generic slogans, puns, delicately crafted visuals and finicky presentations. You should always test everything you say, generously invest in the same media buys year after year and not go all YouTubey or risk ending up on one of those crazy bloggers' filthy web page. Keep pumping cash in those GRPs, and don't forget the fundamental, universal law of advertising: If you say it, then it must be true.

Wow, I haven't blogged in such a long time.

2008-12-12T11:34:00.006-05:00

Hello dear loyal cereal readers.

I'm sorry I haven't posted in such a long time, but I must say I've recently been through a period where I sorta grew tired of blogging about "ads". My blog being titled AdKrispies, this newly formed state of mind caused prejudice to my filling your head with daily advertising and creativity news (yes I did talk about other stuff, but you get my point). While I salute presenting creative ideas and productions, I'm getting at a point where I'd rather communicate my own personal opinions on advertising and communications rather than simply presenting what others do or create.

What's more, there are simply too many advertising blogs. And too many blogs, period. I'm so not unique, I feel like channel 21 on cable. Or 52. You know, that one channel on which you never stop on because you know it's going to have some badly filmed community-interest stuff that's clearly uninteresting (or even if it was you wouldn't stop because of the sheer ugliness), and that you'll most certainly find a good movie on channel 4. Or 22. Now these are hawt little numbers.

I read a recent blog post by Seth Godin, warning us that the "Internet was almost full", and I have to say I smiled at the delicately crafted irony. But reading between the lines, the man is right. We can't follow everything that's going on, simply because there's too much going on. The Internet's full, and so are we. I for one, feel like there are so many advancements online in communications and social media I'm missing - I'm frustrated. I'm having a hard time tracking down and "experiencing" everything, even though I'd want to. I could do this full time, and still be skipping precious breakthroughs.

That's why I'll be shifting AdKrispies' focus: content will shift towards informing you and launching thoughts in the universe. A place for opinions, essays and discussions over the advertising and communications business. Starting next year.

Is this going to differentiate me from other blogs of the genre? No. Am I going to have a kick out of this new format? Yes. Fun over function.

You'll still have those krunchy creativity bits and plump ideas you love throughout, but featuring more vitamins and less sugar.

David

Stride Gum

2008-07-29T17:07:00.005-04:00

Here's something for you all to chew on: Stride Gum's latest commercials. So long-lasting, that you can actually enjoy this post until I come back from vacation...bah-hahaha.

What verve, what humour.

(Kudos to JWT New York and director John O'Hagan from RSA Los Angeles)

Mountain Dew Glows In The Dark.

2008-05-21T13:56:00.005-04:00

Yes friends. Tried, tested and true. Be amazed.

(Thanks, Tony!)

Greenpeace Lashes Out Against Dove

2008-04-22T09:15:00.005-04:00

It was bound to happen. As you may not know, Unilever (the company responsible for making Dove products) is a huge buyer of palm oil - one of the essential ingredients in some of Dove's skin care products. Problem is, palm oil suppliers in Indonesia (Dove's main palm oil supplier) have little (if no) respect at all for equitable practices in cutting down palm trees inside Indonesia's rainforest. Simply said, it's pure forest slaughter. By supporting these suppliers and buying palm oil from them, Dove directly contributes to killing this precious ecosystem, menacing its rare animal and flower species and accelerating the climate change.

Wow, how about a little "evolution", Dove?

Greenpeace has launched an aggressive viral campaign aimed at having Dove upgrade its environment politics and stop rainforest slaughter. "Aggressive" in that, in pure Greenpeace tradition, it parodies Dove's recent "Onslaught" commercial against the commercialised vision of beauty.

First, you can visit the webpage and sign the petition here.

Then watch the Dove ad,

And then watch the Greenpeace ad. Draw your own conclusions.

Image Metrics: Performance Driven Facial Animations

2008-04-17T07:50:00.004-04:00

This is simply amazing. Santa Monica-based Image Metrics proposes an incredibly flexible -- so to speak -- kind of facial animation technology that captures an actor's live performance an translates it onto a digital actor's face - in real time.

You probably never heard about them, but these guys have been around for awhile. They boast an impressive client portfolio, featuring work for major video game companies (EA, Eidos, Rockstar and Capcom among others) and feature film-related companies (Sony Imageworks, The Mill production house). You can see their engine at work in the latest Rockstar Grand Theft Auto IV game.

Check out Image Metrics's web site.

Ford Ka Gets Big, Furry Love

2008-04-12T11:58:00.004-04:00

I salute you, JWT Argentina and production house Gizmo, for coming up with these ingenious and very furry concepts for Ford Ka.

(Amigos, yo gusto mucho todos esos TV spots. Muchas gracias a elmaaltshift blog).

Ford KA -Baby
by firat

Ford KA - Duck
by firat

Ford KA - Ball
by firat

Zune: Piece of Me, Piece of You

2008-04-12T11:37:00.006-04:00

Here's a scrumptious video contrrraption devised by machiavelicious studios Three Legged Legs (one of my fave post-production houses) and brrrilliant agency 72andsunny for Microsoft's Zune. It features zombie puppets and breakdance, which is a damn good thing in my book.

You can check out an exclusive behind-the-scenes featurette at Zune Arts.

Zune Arts - Zombie Funk
Uploaded by firat

Axe: Chocolate Man

2008-04-09T13:49:00.002-04:00

New Axe scent: Chocolate. Look at the guy's face. Priceless.
Kudos to agency VegaOlmosPonce, Buenos Aires and (do they need presenting),post-production powerhouse The Mill.

(Thanks, Stellart Média!)

United Colors of Benetton Supports African Microcredit

2008-04-04T08:01:00.005-04:00

Benetton's global communications platform for 2008 promotes the Birima Micro-Credit program in Senegal, and features billboards showing senegalese workers who have used loans to build their own small businesses.

Photographer James Mollison portrays the workers in a most simple and effective manner, showing them carrying tools of their trade. A powerful image that promotes a multi-layered message: sustainable development, the fight against poverty, and the notion that people of Africa are personally taking matters in hand to work for Africa's future.

Benetton's own research center in communications Fabrica is responsible for developping the creative platform and the Microcredit Africa Works slogan, and also produced this video with world-reknowned singer Youssou N'Dour, titled Birima.

Alessandro Benetton, Executive Deputy Chairman of Benetton Group explains the conviction with which Benetton has backed the project: "We chose to support and promote this important project because, unlike traditional acts of solidarity, it offers tangible support to small local entrepreneurs through the efficient use of micro-credit. Precisely because it is based on entrepreneurial talent, hard work, optimism and interest for the future, this project effectively promotes the new face of Africa."

Read more about Benetton's campaign here.

The Infamous Red Square Test

2008-04-01T10:30:00.003-04:00

Here's a test that elite members of Special Forces pass to see if they could last inside a multi-layered situation. The test is also presented to advertising creative directors, to see how long they can last before being annoyed by distraught account service members. One way or another, average human beings can last up to 12 seconds. Can you beat your own time?

Capsulo: Apartment in a box

2008-04-01T10:18:00.002-04:00

Can you believe there's an entire room's furniture inside that box? Believe it or not, there’s an armoire, a desk, a height-adjustable stool, two more stools, a six-shelf bookcase, and a bed with a mattress. Check out Capsulo, a design by Marcel Krings & Sebastian Mühlhäuser.

(thanks, Hitslot.com!)

A Little Inspiration

2008-03-31T09:50:00.002-04:00

"What on earth would a man do with himself if something did not stand in his way?"

- H. G. Wells

Altoids: A Slap To The Cerebellum since 1780

2008-03-20T18:59:00.002-04:00

Altoids does it again with two refreshing spots, presenting us more unknown stories about the darker past of the Little Mint That Could. Booo for the 18th century. Thank God for Altoids.

Kudos to Energy BBDO and MJZ.

Pontiac: Spy Hunter

2008-03-20T18:55:00.003-04:00

Ah, the classic look and feel of 8-bit video games finally applied in advertising. It's about time. Thanks for that, Leo Burnett Detroit, and creative crew Jesse Rea and Regina Cesarz, director Mark Glazer and SWAY Studio for the effects. You kicked my pixel heart's butt.

Kamera - "Like A Drug"

2008-03-20T18:52:00.002-04:00

Treat yourselves to this cool video for indie band Kamera, produced by the label Nettwerk Music. I'd like credits for the production house please! Thanks.

Hulu.com

2008-03-13T09:08:00.006-04:00

As you probably read all over the interwebs, yesterday was the official launch (read: getting out of beta) for United States of America-only content provider Hulu.com.

Never heard of Hulu.com? Here's a short debrief:

First, Hulu.com is the joint venture of NBC and NewsCorp.

Second, Hulu.com has come to terms with major partners such as AOL, Warner and ABC to deliver sitcoms, movies and other screen favorites for FREE on your 'puter.

This means you can now watch past Lost episodes, those Saturday Night Live skits you love or movies like Ice Age or Me, Myself and Irene for zip. Zilch. Nada. Nothing. No cost.

Provided you live within the United States of America. Because no other country can have access to its content for now. "Anywhere, Anytime" is Hulu's slogan. Sorry, not for now.

It's all advertising supported. I can only begin to wonder about the cost of placing an ad in Hulu.com. All I can hope for is that they'll find ways to make it cheaper than TV, but I wouldn't hold my breath -- especially when you can drop the useless GRP measurements for precise stats on user visits, shows watched and interactive content.

Let me tell you this, friends: this is the beginning of a new era. Google called the company Clown Co. for months before it was launched, because Hulu.com had no name. But they are being jealous. Because Hulu is going to steal away a huge chunk out of YouTube.

Because Hulu is going to steal away a huge chunk out of TV, period.

Hulu is a menace to cable TV worldwide. A well-thought of, full of potential menace. Yes, that good of a menace. Over the past month during beta, Hulu reports that its videos have been streamed over 5 million times. All the content is professionally produced. Friends, this is no clone of YouTube. This is serious distribution business.

Our canadian CRTC will be quick to not let Hulu.com make its contents accessible to Canada, because if they do, canadian TV will receive a kick in the nads like they never did before.

But at the same time, Hulu is also a wake-up call: TV viewership is knowing a steady decrease, and TV advertising is losing efficiency in favor of e-marketing. TV has lots its power to convince, entertain or educate. The Internet doesn't try to convince you, or push its content. It lets you come. It lets you get a second, third or fourth opinion on information. From people like you. It lets you be in control of what you like to see, hear, do. And it lets you speak out.

And all of this is like gold to modern-thinking TV producers, because now they have better feedback from viewers, a new place to distribute and even produce content that is likely to please diverse yet precise communities, and not just mr. and mrs. mass audience. With Hulu.com, they have a powerful, selective outlet to engage dialogue with viewer communities.

If you ask me, in the years to come, YouTube will be like this nice add-on widget to have on Hulu.

I say Hulu is the next big thing. Everyone can laugh at the badly-thought distribution scheme for an Internet content provider. Everyone can blame the fact that they do not yet have full-length shows. You can bitch about this killing the DVD / Blu-Ray industry (although they were careful in not showing full seasons as to not cannibalize the DVD industry). You can rant about the big nasty giant networks invading the Internets.

But eventually, when the technology is uber-right, we all know how these big giant networks will just crunch the numbers and say how cost-efficient it is, how wonderfully tasty it is to produce and distribute only streaming HD content. And there will it be: TV and Internet merge into this nice, slick flatscreen device on your wall. You'll have a remote control with a keyboard and joystick on it. And you will be subscribed to Hulu Digital Network Service Worldwide Inc.

I said it first.

TokyoFlash Tibida LED Watches

2008-02-29T11:59:00.005-05:00

Sleek design, flashy colors, an audaciously-presented user interface. What more can you get out of a simple watch, ftw? Greatness. Witness these delicious Tibidi watch designs by TokyoFlash, available for a mere 14,900¥ ($140 canadian! Yummay). Time is displayed using white LED indicators (sleek!), hours on top and minutes on bottom. I would kill for one, but hopefully I can also just buy one.

(Thanks, BoingBoing.net!)

Durex Ribbed Condoms

2008-02-21T07:28:00.004-05:00

Durex Condoms has this history of being quite fond of publishing irrevent advertising creative, and folks, the spots you are about to see are no exception. Most material usually ends up getting banned in most prude countries (such as our great Canada), yet Durex keeps the flame alive. Condom people, I salute you. Also lots of luck and long life to Durex's agency Mortier Brigade Brussels.

The next two spots are full of win. Enjoy. (Thanks Karine & Marie!)

BRM - Bloggers Recommendation Management

2008-01-24T12:46:00.000-05:00

TriBeCa is a french company which I consider to be very avant-garde in terms of emergent communications or consumer-driven advertising (what some call "advertising 2.0"). In 2006 they came up with a new concept they titled "BRM" or Bloggers Recommendation Management, through which they would gather influencers (bloggers are, by definition, engines of influence because they are authentic, unbiased and trusted sources of information) and provide them with exclusive opportunities to try new products, events or services, in order to hopefully have them freely blog about their experience. As a second mission, BRM encourages the blogging community and the blogging lifestyle itself, through their own personal blogging involvement.

I wasn't aware of this system, but I think the idea is fantastic. I just registered AdKrispies and can't wait to see what this is all about. Dropping my advertising hat and putting on the blogger cap, the possibility of being an "early tester" or even "early adopter" sounds great to me, simply because it makes me want to share my exclusive experience with all of you who "didn't have my chance". If brands are being generous to me and allowing me exclusive access on stuff, it's only fair deal that I be generous to them and give them a presence on my blog.

That is modern advertising thinking. Instead of involving classic media buy and creative, WebPR with blogs only costs a company a few crates of product and generates a lot of awareness -- especially if its well done and generous. It's not a new system. PR companies have done this for years with journalists and magazine editors. But seeing this applied to blogs by advertising agencies, is a new system within our industry and the effectiveness of the system proves that blogs are perceived by some as a new way to democratize communication authentically.

Traditional media hasn't lost its power to reach, of course not. But it has lost or is losing its power to convince. Using blogs as notoriety channels is a brand's modern tool of gathering faithfulness and awareness through positive word-of-mouth. It's simple logic really: When building a brand, think about who the builders really are.

Teevee Tuesday: Sony Playstation Shows Us How To Fight Spies

2008-01-22T09:03:00.000-05:00

I don't know if you guys had some time to catch Sony Playstation's latest series of ads for the PS2 or PS3 game "Syphon Filter", titled "Advanced Spy Fighting Techniques". It's a hilarious parody featuring spokesperson and action hero "Agent_Kevin_78 a.k.a. Dramahawk", a kinda fat, military-obsessed 20-something kid giving us the low-down on the latest in counter-spy field ops. Great work by the folks over at TBWA/Chiat/Day L.A. and Epoch Films.

What's impressive is the shameless, blatant use of guns and aggressive military techniques depicted in there, which are now sure to spur outrage in the ranks of parents, pacifists, and people out there who think video games are already violent, let alone showing videos of kids handling guns. But Playstation has a track record for being outrageous, and I can only think these folks are the kind of people who would drop their pants and moon an entire audience of christian fundamentalists at the local mass, complete with hairy balls and whatnot. But taking in consideration the audience, let's put on our pimples for a minute and agree that there is some funny in there.

What's also impressive in these ads is that these days, you can produce video material with little budget, and still gather quite an impression -- the "authentic botched look" trend speaks. Some audiences like the authenticity more, the blunt comments and the raw feel. And if you can make a series such as this one, you don't want this on TV. This can only be on teh Internets because you won't fool any gamer by throwing this on TV and trying to give it the podcast look.

Authenticity+Trend Insight= A deadly combo. Now you know! And knowing is half the battle. Go Joe!

(Watch the 3rd one first. Yes, I'm random like that, making you do all those little annoying activities).

TeeVee Tuesday: Lobstermen

2008-01-22T08:54:00.000-05:00

On a scale of 1 to 10 on my weirdometer, this clearly hits a 16. This is an ad for Discovery Channel 's latest show "Lobstermen" which everyone says sucks ass. However I do admire the production values and artisanship of Justin Harder (I'm sorry but is. that. really. your. name, and if it is, your parents have a wicked sense of humor) who directed, animated and edited this entire spot by himself. Congrats Justin.

Machinima! The Dumb Man

2008-01-16T12:00:00.001-05:00

Happy New Year! There, I said it. Now here's a fantastic machinima novel written by Sherwood Anderson, titled "The Dumb Man". Very Edgar Allan Poe-esque, if you love the genre. I know I do. Enjoy.

The Dumb Man from Lainy Voom on Vimeo.

Spellbound (Dream Sequence)

2007-12-12T09:07:00.001-05:00

To compensate my lack of time to devote to Ad Krispies, I treat you today to this excerpt of "Spellbound " -- a production that dates back to 1945, created and directed by one Alfred Hitchcock. This part features a dream sequence conceived by none other than Salvator Dali. Enjoy. (Thanks, boingboing!)

There Is No V in Wodka: Wyborowa

2007-11-21T08:42:00.000-05:00

I have to say I'm a sucker for independent films, black & white, polish accents, vodka and storytales. Needless to say, this online micro-site for Wyborowa vodka struck my chord. There is no V in Wodka is agency Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam's way of carrying the message that Wyborowa Wodka is *the* original, the one and only "Voice of Poland" (I'd remove the "o" in voice).

The experience takes you through many creative vignettes exploring the notion of "the unexistence of the W" in Wodka. If you can stand the long loading times (and I have high-speed internet), you're in for an original world which does a great job at positionning the brand and establishing the "Wyborowa" universe.

I only wish I could also have a glance at the rest of the campaign elements that accompany this online effort. I like to see how campaigns are integrated, and also how the experience translates in the point of purchase. Most likely, this one will translate like this: "Vonderful Sales of Wodka, Dahling".

(Thanks, Adverblog!)

Bowlful of Teevee: Vodafone - Cartwheel

2007-11-21T08:37:00.000-05:00

Powerful. Far fetched idea, but "far" is where you get 'em. Congrats to BBH London for this sure shot at Cannes.

Bowlful of Teevee: Orangina - Naturally Juicy

2007-11-21T08:30:00.000-05:00

Nature = animals, juice = Orangina. Hence, naturally juicy. If advertising was any easier, they'd call it Your Mom.

Agency: FFL Paris

Bowlful of Teevee: PineSol - Shame

2007-11-21T08:21:00.001-05:00

Dirty, dirty, dirty. Agency: Dieste Harmel, San Francisco

Amnesty International: Channel Hopping

2007-11-15T10:13:00.000-05:00

Allow me to repost a response I had made inside a previous post about the Unsubscribe Me campaign:

(...) I think we all agree that there is no debate around the fact that yes, human rights are broken everyday elsewhere in the world. Amnesty, stop hitting that nail.

Amnesty International's goal is to "work to protect human rights worldwide", not just "constantly try to gather worldwide agreement on being against injustice and violence".

Amnesty has a two-pronged mission: "preventing" and "ending".
"Voicing an opinion" is preventing. "Acting" on this opinion is ending.

That "preventing" part is only 50% of the solution, and they are only advertising that part. That's the problem I have.

The other 50% is "ending". My point was to say they are not advertising that part enough." And unquote.

To end massive problems, Amnesty needs the help of masses, and talks to us as a mass. But we are *not* a mass anymore. We were a mass in the 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s. Now, we are millions of individuals. Amnesty should realize that, and talk to us as individuals. Listen to the first fact stated in this TV ad: "There are 27 million people enslaved worlwide, generating annual profits of 9billion dollars". Massive. But I don't believe I , as an individual, can help put an END to this massive problem by myself, but I believe I can concretely act towards it if you present the problem to me in more accessible steps. There must be something that I alone can do to directly help at least *one* other human being like me. What is that thing, Amnesty? Get inspired by Kiva.org, and please find a good idea.

If "preventing" has a voice, "ending" should have ways. Amnesty, give us a voice to prevent, but give us ways to end as well. Show us more of the good we're doing.

And less of this:

"MomSpit" No-Rinse Cleaner For Hands And Face

2007-11-13T14:24:00.000-05:00

Yes they called it "MomSpit". "Inspired by the original". We have all been through this in our childhood, and I still cringe when recalling the combined feel of my mom's spit and the picnic napkin it was applied with.

Yet, brilliant branding insight. I'm a tad grossed out, but I'm impressed.

Now available (from the momspit website):

MomSpit Fig & Green Tea:

The spirit of fresh and fluffy white towels.

MomSpit Lemon & White Tea:

A shower of sunshine as you face the sky.

MomSpit Unscented:

When your present reality is total fulfillment.

Visit the official MomSpit website at http://www.momspit.com/

(Thanks, C00lz0r!)

Jake Brown dropping at X-Games

2007-11-13T14:01:00.000-05:00

No relation to advertising - just, sweet jeezus, that's gotta hurt.

Simpsons Accoustic One-Man Army

2007-11-11T09:27:00.000-05:00

I'm flabbergasted. Zack Kim is my new guitar hero. His dream is to perform around the world someday. Check out Zack's website at http://zackkim.blogspot.com/

Amnesty International - Unsubscribe Me

2007-11-08T23:54:00.000-05:00

I have problems with this campaign. As defined on their website, the "Unsubscribe" campaign is supposed to "...send out a clear message to the government that we will no longer tolerate the abuse of human rights in the name of 'the war on terror'. Most petitions ask you to sign up, we are asking to take your name off".

This short film is not powerful, it's boring. It feels commercial, artificial and composed. If you're going to show something that really happens in prison, don't say it's a performance, and shoot it to make it look believable, home-made and harsh. "This may offend viewers under 14". Heck - they've all seen James Bond naked on a chair getting his nuts whacked with a rope knot last summer. Next.

Next, I don't see how this effort "sends a clear message to the government". If there's anything, Teh Government is thinking "Oh, it's these people going at it again", with a sneer of discontempt hiding behind the kevlar of their indifference. This campaign is not sending a message to Teh Government, this campaign tries to be a people shocker. Again. I think we're thru with that -- we've seen it all. Unfortunately, we've become insensibilised.

While having little or no effect on Teh Governement, the campaign certainly succeeds in sending a clear message to people, though: spreading information can be a real hassle. I think they took every possibility of sharing things over the web, and made a website out of that. I think this is the first example I've ever seen where too much media came in the way of a good message.

And about the message: "unsubscribe"? Does Amnesty honestly think that the majority of us eats up the drivel that Teh Government feeds us with? Does Amnesty honestly think we're not informed and aware about what goes on? I know I wasn't "subscribed", for starters. And I truly don't see how "unsubscribing" or sharing my miscontentment with others will concretely help a political prisoner in the ultra-secret Alpha BaseX99 somewhere in the desert.

What I don't know is how Amnesty works. I see petitions, I see emails, I see photos of political prisoners and people suffering, I see a lot of turmoil and anger. But what mechanisms are behind the work that Amnesty is doing? How do they save people? Who's been saved? Is Amnesty something that actually works? Now *that* would be something I'd want to hear, and to share. Tell me how far can my actions go, tell me there is real potential in my participating. Tell me that my donations don't fall in the Black Hole of Funding, with extra No Reported Return On Investment on top. Because I don't know.

When does a Non-For-Profit Organization set simple, attainable goals for the public? Everything always seems *huge*, and there is always *so much to do*. Scary. The brilliant Kiva.org is the only organization I heard of that sets concrete, attainable goals and shows results. When does a Non-For-Profit Organization take the time to congratulate its supporters? I have yet to see the results of my giving or supporting. It's always "give-give-give, more-more-more".

Have they created Compulsive Humanitarian Capitalism?

When does a Non-For-Profit organization advertise the progress that has been done?Advertising is always about people-shocking strategies or kids with flies on their cheeks.

What Amnesty International needs to do is start a real conversation with us. About them. About their mechanics. And about the results that our supporting generate. Don't unsubscribe me, subscribe me.

Guinness - Tipping Point

2007-11-08T23:45:00.000-05:00

I don't know what to say. Volvo's greatest idea with Heinz's best signature ever. Come on guys, what's the point on this one? A little originality wouln't hurt when shelling out the big bucks on mega productions. Reported costs on the entire "Good Things Come To Those Who Wait" campaign: £10 million pounds (19 million canadian). And this doesn't even feel like Guinness at all.

Plus, for some unexplainable reason, watching this makes me thirsty for Coke.

Well. If there's anything to say, TheMill really did a great job on the CGI.

Inspiration Tuesdays: Julia Fullerton-Batten

2007-11-06T09:38:00.000-05:00

Julia Fullerton-Batten is a UK photographer with an incomparable universe. I discovered her through her "Teenage Stories" work, depicting young women inside minitatures universes - sometimes tragic, sometimes innocent, sometimes fashionably ingenuous. I would describe Julia's unique narrative vision as being constructed like a Russian Doll, a "Matryoshka-esque" vision: small elements/within a surreal world/where happens a surreal story/featuring young women.

You may admire Teenage Stories for its uniqueness, but you should also admire for its technical prowess: it's hard to distinguish what is constructed environment from what is real. The ambience, the inventive lighting, the model's carefully studies positions -- all of it makes for quite the disturbing Alice In Wonderland setting that you cannot look away from (if you have seen the Jan Svankmajer czech rendering of this story, you'll know what I'm talking about).

There is other impressive work to be discovered in the "New work" section of Julia's website:
The seemingly random activities of young girls inside public spaces. Sometimes expressing some kind of a visual rendition of emotions inside a young girl's mind as time passes (my take), or just simply rendering the eeriness of an surrealistic situation featuring young girls in a random space or parallel dimension.

I'm sure that by now I'm rambling by myself, as you are now outbound to discover Julia Fullerton-Batten by yourself. In case you're still reading, it's time to go my friend, I need to have breakfast. Check out Julia's website, at http://juliafullerton-batten.com/.

Google Is Getting Too Big For Me.

2007-11-06T09:00:00.000-05:00

Google recently announced that it would be jumping to mobiles, offering its Gmail application in a super-efficient, feature rich format for cellphones. Great idea? Yeah, great idea. And as of today, Google will now also be delving in cellphones with its new "Android" package.

Allow me to add an "It's just that"(tm)

I think Google has come up with functional and undoubtedly popular ideas up to now, and it wouldn't be adventurous to say that they started the wave responsible for generating what we now call Web 2.0. It's just that (tm) purely speaking on brand equity terms, my feeling is they need to take care of their image as well. Techwise, they're going a long way. But brandwise, I don't know what to think of Google right now. I just know that as a consumer, as The Shopper, I'm feeling less and less comfortable with them.

On the Microsoft vs. Apple scale (saying these two were extremes, and I guess they somewhat are), I wouldn't know where to place Google. Maybe in the middle. Maybe closer to Microsoft. Actually, quite close to Microsoft. Good for a business, bad for a brand. Popularizing the notion of dominating a category doesn't seem to be such a good thing these days. It is my perception that Shoppers are now actually looking for "micro-efficiency": very specialized things that do a lot. Small giants. And branding is in large part responsible for that.

ING Direct is my fave example of a small giant. It looks and sounds simple. It's clever. It doesn't give out the perception that it's trying to rule the world. It stays sympathetic, and on a people-level. It's communication and branding makes me believe that the banking services they are offering are simple to use, and are better (and different) than the competition's, on comparable grounds. Apple used to do that, now they're more product focused. Watch out Apple, watch out.

Will I use Google's Gmail mobile app? Maybe. But if a Flooz (tm) mail application ever comes out, with a big, bubbly, bold green icon and tells me something like Web Mail Has Never Been Smarter, I will most definitely jump on it. Because it gives me the perception that it's exclusive, simple, and specialized.

Conclusion? If you're going to take over the world with a great idea, do it and act big. But don't forget that being small will always be beautiful.

WonderBra:Now In India

2007-11-05T09:19:00.001-05:00

Clever little one. Agency unknown. The art director better stay unknown too.

ING Bank: Virtual Toilet

2007-10-30T09:33:00.000-04:00

This is the post that will have you piss yourself (Yowza! Call me promo man). Belgian agency Emakina created quite the brilliant (and scatologic) concept for ING Direct: The Virtual Toilet. Yes friends, it took a dutch bank to bring you the delight of relieving yourself on the web. The pertaining website, i-needtogo.com, is a buzz generator whose prophecy is to actually get the consumer to be interested in ING's online banking service.

Great idea, but I'm not sure about how there will be good payoff for the client on this one -- namely, actually getting people to sign into an e-account. It takes a certain amount of time to get to the point, and most of us attention-deficited disorderly might scramble out before the oh-I-get-it coitus point is reached. Nevertheless, the idea is quite well integrated (PayPauline(tm) - lovely), and this'll drop down on the web faster than...um, nevermind.

(Thanks C00lzor!)

Have a virtual number one or two right now.

The PhotoShelter Collection

2007-10-30T08:22:00.000-04:00

A fresh idea to renew the stagnant (and often costly) universe of stock photography. World, meet PhotoShelter -- it's the "first editorialized, rights-managed marketplace that welcomes photographers of all levels of experience to apply, whether hobbyist or pro". Sone sort of an online rep for anyone with a certain degree of talent, wanting to showcase (and potentially sell) stock photography.

It's pretty simple. Registration is free -- submit your best shots (from 3 to 10 pics) for photo editors there to review. If they get chosen, you are displayed for the world to see and to buy. You get 70%, Photoshelter gets 30% (you are paid on sales only). You retain complete artistic integrity and are able to set your own licensing terms.

PhotoShelter is currently in its pre-launch phase, and they're currently running an open casting call for photographers to apply now (and receive 85% transaction proceeds within the first six months on all work submitted before November 5).

Check it out! http://mp.photoshelter.com/

(Thanks, Krista!)

Sony: Music Pieces

2007-10-30T07:53:00.000-04:00

Sony recently ported their sucessful Bravia creative platform (remember the balls! THE BALLS!) to their Walkman brand, highlighting a new range of products coming out. Featuring a unified signature ("Music. Like No Other"), their latest spot Music Pieces brings together a "special orchestra" that features large groups of people playing the same instrument, playing each part of a different song to improvise one big piece. Some kind of an orchestral beat box, if you want. This concept symbolises the new Sony Walkman Project, which aims at bringing people online to play one small part of a track, then mixing these parts together to create four music pieces by four composers around the world.

Music Pieces

The concept is a realisation of Fallon London, the same agency who brought you the famous falling balls on the street, the colourful exploding buildings,and most recently The Rabbits (which sorta sucked, mates, sorry -- it's a graphic montage! Come on. Live preparation is more striking, that's what it's about), all for Bravia. Nice.

The Making Of

What Is Your Advertising Doing For You?

2007-10-15T11:05:00.001-04:00

(Note: This must-read article is pretty long. Print it out and save it for lunch hour fun. Just my recommendation.)

I got the idea of this article after watching the above ads, by Serviceplan Münche in Germany. They're nicely executed, great art direction, and convey the simple message that Magic Scotch Tape is ultra effective. It'll probably get the creative team something nice at Cannes, or in anyone of 50+ different award shows in our industry.

It's just that I'm thinking that somewhere in Germany, a client for 3M has objectives to attain with his brand/product. His agency-of-record presents a funny, clever approach that says exactly what the product does: it holds things together. O-kay. Said approach is presented to consumer inside a magazine. Consumer goes "Heh. funny", and flips the page.

Total bill (my estimation of course) for this process : from $60,000 and up. And what did 3M get for that money? The same thing that watching a Bugs Bunny cartoon produces: entertainment. I took print as example, but the same thing happens on TV and on radio. A marketing action that doesn't encourage a consumer reaction in response is empty information.

Where could be the return on investment on this marketing action? Doesn't it seem cavernous to say that, nowadays, simple exposure to a Scotch Tape ad will make a consumer feel good about the brand, hence it will be its #1 thought when buying tape? Nope. Will being a "top-of-mind" brand offer a product tighter guarantee for extra sales? Nope-nope. Will Scotch Tape develop a long lasting, faithful relationship with the consumer by showing him/her funny, clever ads and promotions? Nope-nope-nope. All of this is starting to smell rank. Even the term "consumer" smells rank. "Consumer" sounds like a mindless pig buying away gobs of everything without consideration for anything.

When speaking about someone performing the action of looking for something to buy, we should roll back to the word "shopper". Nowadays, The Shopper is in charge, because the shopper really shops. The Shopper is informed. The Shopper compares. The Shopper talks to shoppers, who talk to Shoppers. The Shopper searches for advice. The Shopper is more product-oriented than brand oriented. The Shopper doesn't want a product that "delivers more", the Shopper wants to find the product that "compares better". The shopper wants to find a product that's just perfect for what he needs, that fits his/her lifestyle or brings novelty to it. And still, The Shopper needs some brand-name love, some flag value. And all this doesn't mean The Shopper buys only products and goods ; he/she can "buy" a cause, "buy" a service. There are so many these days, people shop for these too.

Advertising is a motor of commerce in our economy. There's no denying it. But it's just not done very well anymore, or for the right reasons. Lots of ad agencies are being paid too much for campaigns that don't work, and couldn't work anyway. Not because the message is weak, mind you. More because the media is outdated. Lots of clients are currently throwing millions out the window, because they're afraid to move out of the grasp of traditional media, hiding behind numbers and patterns. Lots of agencies and clients still don't know how to speak with a Shopper.
The most recent womma.org newsletter, featured an article from the New York Times (clickable link) : Nike Backs Off Traditional Ads, Gets Closer to Consumers. Wow. And Nike's corporate vice president for global brand and category management doesn't have kind words for conservatism: “We’re not in the business of keeping the media companies alive,” Mr. Edwards says he tells many media executives. “We’re in the business of connecting with consumers.” Blunt, and brilliant. Read the whole article, it's an enlightening moment.

Advertising sometimes still treats people like its the Roman Empire: "Panem et Circenses" - Bread and Circuses (or games). But advertainment is not the way to go. It's not about creating 30 second, hair-raising TV moments anymore. It's not about creating clever print ads, or artsy layouts to satisfy the the eye and masturbate the mind.

Advertising nowadays is about creating conversation. Advertising nowadays is like this hot person you've been eyeing at a post-modern art exhibition, coming up to you suddenly, grabbing your hand and whispering in your ear "Let's blow this popstand. Let's jet and have fun out in the city. I'll present you to my friends". Advertising should be a constant motor for making people act, move, buy, see, talk, discover, play and react.

This doesn't mean that traditional media are dead. This means that they're not the main course anymore. They need to be used as gravy. Accompaniment for new, emerging ways to communicate, to generate conversation with The Shopper. All media need to form a chain that interacts, moving The Shopper around, encouraging him/her to take action - to "buy" into something, figuratively. Out with million-dollar TV-and-Billboard campaigns, in with budgets attributed to creative media that generate word-of-mouth, that generate concrete reaction, that let The Shopper be the vector of mass communication.

Is your advertising doing that right now? Great. It's not? Write me. I know a guy who can help you, hahah.

Sony Bravia: Rabbits

2007-10-12T14:30:00.000-04:00

A bit late maybe, yet here it is: the latest Sony Bravia ad on AdKrispies, featuring colorful blobs of rabbits and claymation, in the Big Apple.

Malteser Ambulance Service

2007-09-24T10:29:00.001-04:00

Brilliant. Counter-effective as a billboard, but great in a portfolio. Congrats to Christian Mommetz and Stephan Vogel at Ogilvy &Mather, Germany. I'll put this one on my fridge. (Thanks, AdArena!)

Vintage Ads

2007-09-24T10:23:00.001-04:00

Tasty vintage treats from YouTube, for your morning viewing pleasure. (Thanks, AdArena!)

"Down, down, down, the stomach thru
Down, down, down, the system too!
With Alka Seltzer they always say,
Relief is just a fart away!"

Yay.

World's Greatest Dice Roll

2007-09-24T10:00:00.000-04:00

An newcoming online casino service provider named Gnuf decided they needed a big idea to get people flocking in worldwide. Something viral, that would really roll up a into a huge snowball. (Snowball. Haha.) Well, they found the idea, made it happen and got it rollin' (drum fill).

Giant dice. Rolling down from the crest of a huge, snowy peak, after being dropped by helicopter. And you, lucky interneteer (internettist? webber?) get to bet on what the final results will be.

Have a peak (chinng!) at some of the shots from the event at The World's Greatest Dice Roll.

(Thanks, Adverblog!)

Schick Quattro: The Fight For Kisses

2007-09-21T07:57:00.001-04:00

Aside from being green with envy. Aside from the fact that I would definitely want to know how they sold this one to the client. Aside from the huge amount of budget involved in there.

THIS CAMPAIGN KICKS ASS.

My friends, let's celebrate my return to the world of blogging with this incredible campaign from JWT Paris for Schick Quattro Titanium. It has been awhile since I've seen an integrated campaign with real punch, and I can't say anything but KUDOS. Being the target audience I'm kinda biased of course, but comparing apples with apples, this is by far the best razor ad campaign ever.

The campaign also features a micro-website complete with a video game, character presentation, screensaver, desktop backgrounds, e-cards and more. I don't know if this is the fruit of research or pure gut and insight, but all I can say is that JWT and Schick are spot on. I would love to see that kind of creativity in our North American ads, instead of the proverbial jetplanes, steel walls and cheek-caressing chicks. Learn, Gillette! Stop the race for the most-bladed razor, and put your money in some customer love. (Thanks, Infopresse!)

Japanese Insurance Company Ad

2007-08-13T08:39:00.001-04:00

After watching this I felt the urge to throw myself out the window to buy insurance.

Harold And The Purple Crayon

2007-07-30T17:27:00.000-04:00

Here's a purely irrelevant post to break my month-long silence. I'm just so super-busy. Enjoy. More to come when I feel like it. Love, Dave.

Human Joysticks

2007-06-18T09:50:00.000-04:00

I don't know who thought about that, but he/she is my superhero of the day.
(Thanks, Boomblogue!)

Death of the GRP?

2007-06-18T08:25:00.001-04:00

I have been thinking about this for a few days past, with no clear answer: How good is a GRP anymore, as a marketing measuring unit? Considering that traditional advertising is losing its grasp on the modern consumer in favor of experiential marketing, peer-2-peer networks and other emergent media, can we truly hope to meaningfully measure advertising effectiveness through reach and frequency anymore?

When Procter & Gamble's Chief Marketing Officer Jim Stengel says "show-and-tell advertising is over", I agree. When the industry says that modern advertising should be a dialogue rather than a one-way conversation, I agree. When trendwatchers consider that online communities are the new influencers, I agree. When my own agency thinks that the best mass communications are done through the mass itself, man are we right.

Word-of-mouth marketing. Guerilla marketing. Communities. Content creation. UGC. We seem to have found or identified new tools to permeate the consumer, and we are liking them because the consumer is liking them. But how do we know that what we're doing loops the marketing loop? How can we be sure that our "new and improved" marketing moves product?

We need to find new ways to track a campaign's success, and they need to be based on the value of interaction. Presenting a message to the consumer should generate another action, and not only an emotion. Non-traditional media should dictate how traditional media is used, because we don't just want people to see, we want people to act. "Come to my website", says the billboard. "Go see my web video", says the TV ad. Offline, to online. Encourage the consumer to go and get more. And to follow that chain until it leads him/her to the product or service.

That's why my little finger tells me that proper measurement of traditional media will now require that traditional media be used as gathering tools, rather than informative tools. If we can find a unit or ratio that measures the reactive power of "static" communication using the web ("dynamic" communication), we will have a better basis for effectiveness measurement.

Any thoughts?

Use A Condom: Hindustan Latex

2007-06-06T09:41:00.000-04:00

A series of public interest ads created by Percept Holdings' AMO Communications, India. I seriously doubt these were executed, considering that merely kissing in public is against the law in India -- let alone the public display of graphic interpretations of sexual activities.

Or maybe they were hung in a dark, dark corner. Like, no light at all. No, darker than that. "The devil might appear there" dark.

But hey - great art direction, fun idea, bravo. If you don't get it, write me.

Sapporo

2007-06-06T09:31:00.001-04:00

Yes. We all know how water can be so full of saturated fats.

Musicovery

2007-06-06T08:43:00.000-04:00

Check out this experimental music discovery engine, upon which I stumbled by pure chance. I think it's a great idea:

a) you start by selecting a mood (or a dance beat) on a cross chart,
b) select the musical genres you wish to hear,
c) choose the musical era (!) in which you wish to hear songs (if you wish to discover past hits, this is it!)

You results are presented using a link chart featuring full songs, according to your search criteria. I haven't been through the whole experience, but I think the songs are also classified by tempo, so one song flows to the other just as if it was mixed by a DJ. The interface is still very basic, but serves the experience well.

If you wish to purchase the songs, one click takes you to Amazon, ITunes, or Ebay. It's a fantastic idea, and a great tool to discover new musical horizons. I think it's now a matter of minutes before some big company calls this guy and he becomes insta-millionaire.

Visit Musicovery now, and you'll be able to say you were there in the golden days.

Stumble Upon's "Sponsored Stumblers" could beat Google AdWords

2007-05-30T12:52:00.000-04:00

Maybe you've heard about it, maybe you haven't. In either case, let me tell you: Stumble Upon is the best thing that happened to the web as a whole since Google, period.

Stumble Upon is a web browser plugin that allows a user to discover webpages and content based on other user's appreciation and rating, a notion that's called a "recommendation system".
It's basically web browsing "a la carte", where each of the webpages on the menu are something you should potentially enjoy.

You browsing is done by random selection inside a category. Say you like football, well, clicking the "Stumble!" button inside the football category will yield you one of the most interesting sites about football available on the net, everytime. Fantastic. But I already had reviewed that awhile ago on AdKrispies.

What's now interesting is SU's "Sponsored Stumblers" program, which seems to have a much more interesting structure than Google AdWords, and better yield. And not without arguments for it:

a) Target the exact audience you want (only qualified viewers come to your site)
b) No clickthrough required (SU pays for every visit to your site, instead of every click on a word)
c) Get feedback from visitors (Stumblers can rate your site in the SU system, possibly making you a destination of choice)

Allan Stern of CenterNetworks has posted an interesting review of SU's Sponsored Stumblers program v.s. Google AdWords. In his final comments he notedly says that"... StumbleUpon is a great alternative to click based traffic in the sense that you get a continuous stream of interested visitors. The traffic is qualified in the sense that the visitors said they were interested in your topic or category. I believe StumbleUpon ads are a better source of visitors than using interstitial ads since the users will be in your desired category."

I'm curious, I'll give it a shot.

Video game advertising: bad media or good media?

2007-05-30T11:12:00.000-04:00

Most people who know me, know that I am a huge fan of the general video game scene.

I recently purchased the excellent Trackmania United (which is all about creating wacky tracks and racing them), and apart from being highly satisfied of my overall experience, I was quite surprised to find local billboard ads for Bell on the racetracks. My reaction was threefold:

a) My gamer brain thought: "Mini ads for Bell. Looky that."

b) My ad industry brain thought: "Bell. The damn beavers again. What an idiotic campaign. I didn't even have time to read the ad, I was racing a high-speed car for pete's sake. Now, what was that billboard showing?? (I had to stop my car in front of the billboard, ruining my lap time) -- It was showing one of the 3D woodchucks saying "Too late. I've won". Too late, you've won what against whom? I don't get it."

c) My analytic brain said "What's the point of placing ads inside a video game, if they're not going to tell me something pertinent or informative, contribute to my gaming experience or give me special advantages inside the game?"

By extending their media placement within games, does Bell really believe that they're effectively engaging dialog with the gamer population? Placing billboard ads inside a video game, with no pertinent message, or anything that actually would call to action towards something that pursues the experience, is to me just another iteration of misemployed traditional media.

There are hundreds of ways to incorporate a brand experience inside a game, adding to the experience. But that's a notion marketers continue to struggle with...

New Brunswick Parks & Tourism

2007-05-02T08:02:00.000-04:00

You won't see this one coming. From agency LG2 in Montreal, and produced by Quatre Zero Un. The end VO says: "Hot water is in New Brunswick!" (Thanks, Infopresse!)

Darth Vader Being A Smartass

2007-05-01T12:45:00.000-04:00

Just thought this was hilarious.

Chasing Cool? Read further.

2007-05-01T08:47:00.000-04:00

If you're looking for something crunchy to sink your reading teeth in, here's Chasing Cool, a witty pop-and-consumer culture branding book that examines corporate America's quest to make its products and services seem 'cool'.

Written by Gene Pressman (former CEO, Creative Director and Head of Merchandising for Barney's New York) and Noah Kerner (former DJ for Jennifer Lopez and current CEO of noise marketing agency), the book "...digs beneath the surface and reveals how emphasizing long-lasting relevance trumps a fleeting preoccupation with what's hot and what's not".

Chasing Cool features an impressive list of over 70 contributors from entertainment, beauty/fashion, sport, media and design industries, with names such as Les Garland & Bob Pittman (founders of MTV), Marc Jacobs, Tiki Barber, Vera Wang, Tony Hawk, Christina Aguilera, Tommy Hilfiger, Scott Bedbury (Nike and Starbucks), Antonio Bertone (Puma), and many more.

From www.chasingcoolbook.com: "Cool isn't just a state of mind, a celebrity fad, or an American obsession -- it's a business. In boardrooms across America, product managers are examining vodka bottles and candy bars, tissue boxes and hamburgers, wondering how do we make this thing cool? How do we make this gadget into the iPod of our industry? How do we do what Nike did? How do we get what Target got? How do we infuse that product with that very desirable, nearly unattainable It factor?"

Chasing Cool is out today May 1st, published by Simon&Schuster.

Click here to buy this book on Amazon!

The Scratchpad

2007-05-01T08:46:00.000-04:00

I just thought this was kinda fun -- and addictive. It's basically a pad on which people can doodle simultaneously. Great fun if you have a Wacom pad, kind of a hassle if you use a mouse. Nevertheless you should try it out. Click here to visit the ScratchPad!

MSNBC: NewsBreaker

2007-04-30T22:21:00.000-04:00

A new take on the old Arkanoid-type game, where you must hit bricks to collect actual "breaking news". You can read the news once you collected them, and they are updated daily. Heeeey. A fun, fun way to stay informed. On my first run I got "Terrorist Attacks Increase in 2006" and "Clinton: Bush Unlikely to Pull Troops From Iraq". Wheee!! 250 points.

Nothing Wakes You Up As Nescafé

2007-04-30T22:18:00.000-04:00

Wrong. This did.

From McCann-Erikson, Chile. (Thanks, CreativeCriminal!)

Solo Mobile

2007-04-30T22:03:00.000-04:00

Talk about an awesome idea for launching the new Solo Walkie Talkie phone, courtesy of agency Rethink in Vancouver. They actually created signage featuring huge functional walkie-talkie phones which, when activated, transmitted from one bus stop to another, further away in the city. Seen in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver.

(Thanks, Marketing Alternatif!)

Kleenex Guerilla - Mexico

2007-04-30T21:29:00.000-04:00

Here's an interesting example of how well-applied guerilla marketing works better than traditional media: a campaign for special 180-tissue packages of Kleenex. "The package seems endless". A simple and powerful idea that most certainly didn't cost the price of TV or billboard ads, for something that'll get twice the gab power. Great work by JWT Mexico (whom obviously have audacious creatives and a very understanding media buying dept.)

As I write this, I'm certain that some media investors are already contemplating the potential of branding conveyor belt media, evaluating gross GRP return, building joint ventures with supermarkets and commercial centers and charging agencies "belt space by the foot".

Remember folks: if it happens, you read it here first.

(Thanks, BriefBlog!)

Life Magazine is dead

2007-03-28T11:28:00.000-04:00

...to be reborn on the web.

From cbc.ca: "Time Inc. said in a statement Monday that it would keep the Life brand going on the Internet, where it will launch a website with photos from its massive image collection, and by publishing books.

The company cited the "decline in the newspaper business" and poor advertising outlook as factors in its decision."

This is the 4th time that Time Inc. shuts down Life...maybe it's just temporary again. Or not. Hey, wow, somehow it all just sounds so very wrong. A sign of the times? Awaiting your comments.

Diet Coke: Corny Moments

2007-03-28T10:36:00.000-04:00

Holy smokes. This is one for the history books, folks. (Thanks Chorizo from Ihaveanidea!)

Axe

2007-03-28T10:30:00.000-04:00

Axe is a brand that's definitely on fire. But let me tell you, once they're through the whole sexual advertising romp, all that has to be done in that creative universe will. have. been. done. By agency Lowe Dubai. (Thanks, Vlan!)

Levi's: Dangerous Liaison

2007-03-28T10:23:00.000-04:00

Very nicely done and quite wistful, this ad presents the evolution of Levi's through generations. From agency BBH London. (Thanks, Altaidea!)