Windows just opened up on creativity...and also on us attention-deficient-unless-hollered-by-a-female-species-artificial-intelligence-thingie-called-Ms.Dewey- male crowd. Introducing Ms. Dewey, an artificial intelligence thingie for Windows Live Search.
Ms. Dewey is actually quite the funny, ironic, obnoxious, modern woman, who will comment your searches on Windows Live and help you through the whole experience. And it actually makes it fun. I left Google today, to play with Ms. Dewey.
Of course, being a guy, you all suspect the first thing I was going to ask Ms. Dewey about. You try it yourself and see. I'll let you enjoy the surprise.
The next thing I asked Ms. Dewey, is about "Apple". So I type in A-P-P-L-E and press "enter". Ms. Dewey replies something like: "Zeros and ones, zeroes and ones, ones and zeroes, all this useless coding, underwear on your head, and you still couldn't create the woman of your dreams". Zing!Interestingly enough, I got the same answer after typing "Microsoft".
I like Ms. Dewey. I think searching while accompanied by someone puts more humanity on the face of the World Wide Web. In spite of what everyone says, I have to recognize it's a great idea. Yes the interface sucks. Yes, the AI needs work, and yes the loading times are tedious.
But not everyone using the WWW is a nerd, you know. I think normal people can appreciate creative ideas, as a step in the right direction to simple, enjoyable user experience.
There are a lot of steps to be taken before Ms. Dewey is made perfect. For a search engine anyway. I hope they keep at it, and push it further. I'm sure Ms. Dewey still has a lot into her.
Now this is quite the beer campaign. Or is it? Like me, you've probably never heard of Bishop's Finger, UK's oldest brewski (since 1698). A bit of info from the Bishop's Finger website: "The Bishops Finger Charter decrees that it is brewed only on Fridays and then only by the Head Brewer using an antique Russian teak mash tun. He takes mineral water from the brewery's own 200 ft deep artesian well and adds Kentish malt from Denne Hill Farm and East Kent Goldings hops". Wow.
Another interesting bit of info, is that Bishop's Finger ale is also referred to as the "Nun's Delight". Case in hand, the creatives didn't have to search too far for this most expected, yet "had-to-be-done" campaign.
Another finger-related ad, this time for Internet Explorer 7."Everyday tasks made easier", is the proposition on this one. I can hear the yells of outraged Firefox users from here. As someone pointed out on the YouTube comments section: " Exactly what Explorer is. Fat n' cheesy".
The music sounds familiar...I've been trying to figure out where I heard that tune before...maybe a Sesame Street sequence ? Help me out here.
Did you know that menstruation exists also in the male species ? Yes, friends. It does. I swear. If it didn't, why would they even call it "MENstruation"? Hello. If only women had it, it would be called "womanstruation", this cries for logic. Lots of men actually experience it, and suffer secludedly, crying in shame in the silence of their homes.
It's called "Cyclical Non-Uterine Dysmenorrhea" or CNUD. The gassy feeling, the tummy hurting, the pouty feeling, the weewee shrinking, the abandonment of regular activites such as drinking beer on poker night, washing your car, or playing with your tools. You think you have it? Don't know where to look for answers?
Among others on the site, you will find the most hilarious videos ever made for this absolutely ridiculous illness. I don't know who is behind Men With Cramps, or why it's even there, but I heard they even ran ads in the local Washington paper for men with "CNUD" looking to participate in a study. The point is: These guys had the whole web fooled.
This is not a joke. It's a real class in the school of "How Do To Real Working Viral" 101.
And not without reason: The whole writing is subtly off. If you lacked attention, or read a paragraph in "Z", you would think this is for real. The TV documentaries are just brilliantly odd and hilarious. Watch them all. For your comfort, I've added a few of them on the AdKrispies site, but you have to see the main "Men With Cramps" website, for the rest of the best. It's worth your time.
I don't know if this is a teaser for something else, but I'm impatiently waiting.
I usually like the TV commercials that ING's agency produces (while I couldn't get a hold of their name) - I think they're always very pertinent, believable, and well executed. Actually, I think most of ING's communication is a lot more pertinent and inviting than most banks (in Canada anyways), and I still don't understand why banks haven't thought of a way to competition such a consumer-worthy system.
Much has to be said in the same way, about their viral site, MoveOutMoveUp. The site's main proposition is to present "buying your first home" as something that's possible, and accessible.
Wow. Something that actually. Concerns. The consumer. No time wasted on trying to con the consumer with "Ooo, ahh, we have a human approach to banking" people pictorials this time.
Just one. Simple. Reality. "Paying rent isn't just getting old, it's getting expensive". Hello. Now THAT speaks to me, mr. early-thirties-guy-with-not-enough-savings-or-balls-for-a-decent-down-payment yet. But as always, ING uses its authentic, bullshitless communication strategy to convince me that there's a solution for that. And this solution is displayed inside an entertaining and clear experience. Now that is effective advertising, plain and simple.
I'll stop gabbing now, but promise you'll check out the ING site. It's worth the trip (Thanks, Ihaveanidea!)
The Dreameris a website revue of the coolest things the web has to offer these days in terms of branded content, music/entertainment, photography, corporate stuff and more. It's divided into categories for your comfortable use, and you can discover a lot of interesting stuff in there.
Just like I did for the following article, right above this one. Yay! Easy references.
There is a running debate in the ad industry (agencies and announcers alike) on whether ad agencies should allow the posting of ads that were initially made for TV only, on Internet sites. For example, yours truly, AdKrispies: I'm often posting TV ads of various announcers for your enjoyment, as (among other blogs of my type) I know the general public and agencies alike appreciate the artistic and communicational intelligences of these ads, and thus appreciate them being shared publicly.
But as I'm doing this, the following also happens:
- I become a new media channel for these ads. Let's say I'm displaying a recently-produced TV ad for a fictive company, Moca-Cola, then Moca-Cola gets some free advertising on a media channel they didn't pay for.
- This causes many media placement obligations to be infringed, among others this one: the agencies usually negociate actors appearing in ads depending on complex calculations, but basically withstanding reach (how many people see the ad) and frequency (how many times they see it). While you cannot control the internet posting of TV ads, there is no way to say how many additional times an ad will be seen, other than its original TV use. This means that the actors appearing in the ads you view on places like here are not being paid as per contract definition.
- The fact that Moca-Cola gets a free additional media channel means good news for their product placement and brand, yet somewhere, ad agencies lose money (oh I know, boo-hoo-hoo) for work they should normally be paid to do - media placement. But of course, they shut up because the client is happy.
So, as Moca-Cola's commercial is being featured on web sites, the following happens:instead of going even with their 1 million$ total placement/production costs on canadian TV...
- They now get maybe twice or three times much viewers than their originally intended TV viewership, - They get viewed in countries they never expected to reach, - They pay peanuts to the production house, actors and agencies for their now worldwide success, - Are winning over incredible word-of-mouth for their new product/ad.
So this brings the interesting question(s):
Do you think viral video will eventually kill media placement in television?
As announcers, should we be happy that viral video is a phenomenon that actually helps propel our work forward, or should we find a way to control internet propagation to the keep cost/revenue ratio balanced?
Please post your opinions and comments freely. In any language you like.
Here's a cool tool that brings something fresh to the world of viral video (for a good month or two, at least ;-) - Personiva. Personiva allows for the creation of branded content that can be personalized by the viewer, for the viewer. For example you might upload a photo of you, Personiva integrates it inside a specially-made commercial, and you get to watch a TV ad featuring you.
Check out HP's "Make computer personal again" and experience it yourself.
From the Personiva web site: "Personiva technology - recognizes faces, composites video, delivers dynamic imaging, creates interactive web interfaces, personalizes mobile messaging, drives e-commerce, measurable and ready-to-go."
While the experience is certainly new, its current application doesn't strike me as something that will last (the Levi's example on their site wasn't all that impressive), but I salute the idea. I do hope they find a way to push this a lot further.
Discover Gnoosic and it will discover you. Simple as that. Input three bands or artists you like listening to, and Gnoosic will come up with suggestions you might like to buy. Some ore old, some are new, but most of them are things you probably will enjoy.
When you find a band you don't know, you can click "Discuss This Band" and see what other users think about it. Fun, easy to use, and will broaden your musical frontiers.
I'm a freelancer and free thinker in the field of marketing and communications, trying to continually expand the known universe in my little mind -- and yours.
