Bb major magic

This is one of those times where I'm reminded why I adore technology and how it relates to music. Get lost in this collaboration called In Bb 2.0 where a bunch of musicians play ambient sounds and tunes along the same tones. The results are glorious.

B is for B-cycle.

Alex Bogusky (CP+B), Humana and Trek have teamed up to create B-Cycle, which will be implemented for a pilot in Denver. The B-Cycle program is solar-powered and will be installed as stations all around the city. To use a B-cycle one can swipe either a credit card or a membership card. Watch the video below for more. Also note how nicely the video is executed. Look for B-cycle stations around Denver this summer.

Great use of Twitter - Tony Hawk Style

So there's this excellent twitter skateboard hunt that Tony Hawk started up where he plants a board somewhere then tweets a clue as to it's location. From there it's finders keepers. Now he has sent numerous boards to his contacts across the globe, they plant the board, then give him a clue to tweet to his twitter followers. See the full article here.

The Web "Tubes"

notcot.org posted a fascinating web trend map.

"The Web Trend Map 2009 by the Information Architects gives you the perfect overview of the internet, with the 333 most influential web domains and the 111 most influential internet people mapped onto the Tokyo Metro map."

My friends in Insight & Strategy (they get all the cool toys) printed out this map in a large format for me. I've been staring at it ever since. No, I'm not on mushrooms, it's really that cool.

muxtape relaunch

I was one of those music nerds who made hundreds of mixtapes growing up and loved receiving them from others. On the new Muxtape platform, bands can promote and market themselves, while people like me can discover new music and create a mix from the available music.

The hope of course is that the site's library of available music will grow and grow so the selection is always fresh.

Check out the interview Rocketboom did with the creators here.

Uniqlo - Try A New Approach to CRM

We usually moan and groan about working in the segmentation questions our CRM group develops. No doubt they're very important and we're playing pin the tail on the donkey without them. It's just that after collecting all the necessary information that a typical registration requires for a promotion, to ask even more of a consumer is painful for them and painful for the designer.

I came across this Uniqlo Try promotion to get the word out about their newly launched Bra Top. Hundreds of women participate in a video survey with a wide range of questions, many of them CRM types of questions. The site uses a filtration system so that visitors can see and sort through the videos that apply.

It was eyeopening for me to see those questions tackled in a fun way rather than viewing them as a necessary burden.

Totally Rad Newsreader

Just was turned onto this way to organize feeds. It's more visual.
It's cleaner. It's fresh. I likey.

Twistori is Rad

Thanks to a comment from Michael, I discovered Twistori and I can't stop! It's a filter for Twitter based on simple words: love, hate, think, believe, feel and wish. Fascinating. Imagine the applications for brands and people who have become a brand. Based on a filter of simple words, one could find out a lot.

Big Fan of this Vodafone Promo

This Vodafone promotion started awhile back, but I wanted to post about it because it's still alive. I'm still getting links from people with the streaker and it makes me giggle every time. Ideas like this one are simple brilliance. I wonder what kind of conversion rate a fat little red streaker gets you.

MySpace Finally Gets Clued In

Oh hey! Great idea guys! Let's not make our stuff look like a dumpster fire!

Get the deets on MySpace's plans for a redesign here.

It always surprises me how people don't realize the importance of good user interface design. Or how people don't realize the importance of good design period. In-store, online, product design or otherwise. People like things that are pleasing to the eye. It's an experience. Make it clean. Make it pretty. Make it hot.

"That's Why I'm a Card Member"

I'm sure you've seen these beautiful American Express spots and campaign over the last year. They've always caught my attention as they've casted interesting celebrities and professionals and they tell a great story with the perfect balance of glimpses into who this person is and what they do, rather than people we see in the tabloids all the time. I just saw this one and it has to be my favorite.



I have to ask, is the end line really necessary? I think showing the back of the card and leaving it alone would've been more powerful. I feel that way about all these American Express spots. They evoke an emotion and garner attention then they tack a tag line on at the end. It's a bummer they couldn't have branded these more elegantly.

Presidential Campaign Buzz

I love stuff like this. Similar to We Feel Fine and Coke's World Chill, Presidential Watch 2008 is a site that tracks public consciousness through the blogosphere. And it just looks cool.

I Heart Design.

Finally! No more low-rent looking web invites. While Evite has brilliantly monopolized the online invitation biz in the past, I have always yearned for something more sophisticated. Introducing Pingg. So clean and well designed.

I'm a Fan of your Brand.... For Now

Attention brands using Facebook. So you've added a brand page to Facebook and people have become a "fan" of your brand and they wear that badge on their profile pages. How easy is it to have a brand page on Facebook? You can create one in a minute or less. And it costs nothing. So congratulations, you have a brand page and you think you're a player in the space. Welcome to the party, the keg is in the garage.

*insert buzzer sound here* WRONG

This won't last for long. I've become fans of various brands and none of them have anything on their brand page that would make me revisit. Not one. Naturally, I consider the brands I vouch for to be pretty rad, and I'm sure everybody else does too for their chosen brands. But if you're going to play in this space that is interactive (which, last time I checked, pertains to a two-way means of communication) then you better figure out what you're going to offer us quickly.

I've become a fan of brands on my profile and I've opted in to communications. Not because your current brand pages are fantastical, but because I'm waiting to see if you get it. I cannot BELIEVE you're passing on this opportunity! I'm asking you to talk to me, consumers are pulling. Why are you ignoring the tug? Nevermind, don't answer that question, I'm sure you have a million excuses. Don't care. Just fix it.

Soon I'll realize that this relationship is one sided and I'll dump you. And all of my friends will see it in the feed. And then they're all going to laugh at you. But really, not a positive right? I'm willing to bet that the kinds of people who are up for vouching for your brand and displaying your logo as a badge on their profile page are either early adapters (important to any brand) or they are your loyalists (also important to any brand). Pretty influential types of people right? Those people wouldn't become fans of your brand if they weren't actively and voluntarily participating in word-of-mouth for you. We're seeking you out! Can you ASK for anything better after years of you talking at us? So please, if you're going to show up to the game then bring your strategy to win. Retain me and the others who are throwing you a bone.

FWA Site of the Year Award

The FWA (Favorite Website Awards) chose the Goodby Silverstein & Partners/North Kingdom site Get the Glass for their site of the year award. I have to say that I agree, that site is best in class from all angles. If you haven't spent much time with it, shame on you. Set aside 15 minutes and experience the site of the year.

2 of my Favorite Things

iPhone and Starbucks = a good match. "iPhone/iPod Touch application that allows the users to purchase their favorite Starbucks drink without waiting in line. This application also includes QuickPay, a swipe transaction system using semacode technology." Check it out.

Microsoft + Digital Cart Displays

Microsoft and MediaCart will be serving up ads to supermarket shoppers based on their shopping lists, past behaviors and purchases via the shopping cart.
Sounds pretty rad to me.
Read about it here.

Classic.

This isn't new or anything, but it just crossed my path again.
And I love it.

Radiohead - Democratic Payment Experiment

My friends and I were curious as to how this would work out for Radiohead. However, speculating that it would be a success.

Some background: Radiohead released their latest album, In Rainbows, as a download from their website. It's pay-as-you-wish. And it worked out well for them. Read more about the deets here.

Cool Branding Elements Table

Rollover each branding element to discover each definition. Groups include: Advertising, Direct, Branding, Marketing Communications, M&A, Misc.

Built by Kolbrener, branding experts

HOT, JUICY BURGER!!

I spent some time on Wendy's "Hot, Juicy Burgers for Life (that's right)" site. Let me tell you, it's cracking me up. Wendy's thinks that everyone deserves a hot, juicy burger and invites you to join the cause. The more you interact, the more points you get, the more rewards you reap. The CRM model is nicely intertwined with the content, it's so much more seamless than just standard data-collection.


Find out Why - Join the Cause

Dove Beauty Campaign Continued.... "Onslaught"

This is a brilliant follow up to "evolution". Take a look at "onslaught". I was wondering what they were going to do next, this is even more moving to me than the evolution spot.

More funnies from CareerBuilder.com

CareerBuilder.com has done some really humorous advertising over the last year. Monk E-mail is one of my favorites and their tv spots are funny EVERY TIME. I saw this Facebook posting in the newsfeed the other day and it cracked me up. The first two thumbnail pics are irreverent but clever. Good all-around holistic campaigning. For a long time monster.com would be at the forefront when thinking of job searching websites. It would be interesting to see if Career Builders efforts over the last year has won them some of that mind share.

Throw Food at a Ninja

My friend Paul sent me this recipe for spinach filled fish rolls. In my mind I was thinking, "that sounds vile, WTF". I entertained the link anyway. At this site you can grab food items and throw them at this mini ninja who jumps all around the content and talks smack to you while launching his own food items at you. Hilarious, and a great use of Flash video.

How to Make a Beer Website Sexy...

... without "twins". Enter the Leffe Abbey and discover the world of this 800 year old beer brand.

cool marketing use of twitter

Chuck Bartowski is the main character of this highly anticipated show on ABC called "Chuck" (naturally). Chuck is twittering as a lead up to the show. When it comes to twittering, I myself am more of a voyeur. I found this to be pretty engaging and funny. Thanks for the tip Armand.

Tired of all the social networking?

Arsebook is an anti-social utility that connects you with the people YOU HATE.
...Unfortunately it's fake.

Good post from Advergirl

I frequent this blog and thought this posting was solid gold. It's all about important tips for getting into the ad/marketing biz.

Local Review Meeting Places

I've been trying to use yelp.com lately to read, post and research local joints. It's very thorough and informative but I'm here to cast my vote for Tupalo.com. At yelp there is a stock photo of some chick in her late twenties that we're all supposed to relate to striking a pose. The design and compartmentalization of the site isn't intuitive and after using Tupalo for so long Yelp just feels low rent. It's kind of like buying the Method soap and never going back to your basic Dial. Good design goes a long way for me.

What site do you use when looking up new spots around town?

Something I knew all along...

Web designers are the new rock stars. The site DESIGNCHARTS scans traffic from their network of websites that award web design... then they push the top 40 every week. The FWA seems to be missing from their network list (and I'm sure there are others missing) but it's a good aggregator all the same. Check it out here.

Tracking brainwaves for testing

I'm not a huge fan of testing concepts, it always feels so CYA to me. But this is pretty interesting. A company called Emsense has developed a solution for reading consumers' intellectual and emotional reactions to advertisements and video games. Read more about it here.

Smirnoff's Tea Partay follow up

Watch Boyz N The Hillz claim the west side. It's not bad, but as per usual, sophomore attempts are never as good as the original.

Widget Madness

Internet-enabled democracy

Mash up Survivor, Second Life and a Florida timeshare and you get Tribewanted.com. For about $230 a year, you get a membership in a global tribe located on the undeveloped island of Vorovoro (Fiji). The fee entitles you to a weeklong stay on the 200-acre paradise (travel costs not included) but what's more is access to the tribe's online presence. You can participate via email and forums to make consensus decisions, select leaders, and even designate holidays.

The Complete 2.0 Web Directory

Discovered this site, Go2Web20.net, courtesy of Paul and I think it's so well put together. Here's the gist:

+ As a visitor, you are probably active in the web 2.0 community and you are one of those labeled as 'early adapters'. Are you?
+ A directory of web 2.0 applications and services
+ Converges both Flash and AJAX technologies

Let's Get Physical

In recent years Flash has broadened as an Interactive tool offering more than just a platform for animations, websites, games and RIA's but a whole new world of Interactive possibilities.

Dig: Engaging Installations. Alternative Interfaces. Calm Computing. Interactive Environments. Making things and Exploring the User as the Interface.

At FITC in Toronto I saw a session by Craig Swann (CRASH!MEDIA, check out their labs) and it blew my mind the way he was bending the technology. Trippy almost. I won't geek out too much, I'll just encourage you to take a look at the work and open your mind to the possible applications.

FACE2FACE2FACE
ONEWORD
Light Tracer
Wrong Plug
Mossalibra

Click Here!! Learn More!! Enter to Win!!

Do these calls to action (or, CTA, I'm kind of an acronym whore) really work? I'm usually too close to the creative to tell whether they garner more clicks or if they are there purely to ruin my life. We have this debate on our team all the time. I also feel like we've been talking about this for years.

How necessary is it to tell people what to do? Since most people on the web are just scanning information anyway perhaps it is important to tag everything with obnoxious CTA for the user's subconscious. Personally, I can't stand it. In fact, the only thing I hate more is when every sentence ends with a slammer (AKA exclamation mark)!

This post touches on the subject and also has entertaining comments.

What kind of geek are you?

I'm an omnivore. Click here to find out.

Good post about "viral"

The Catch Up Lady blog. One of my favorites (thanks for the introduction Morgan). This is one of the better case studies for "viral" I've read in awhile. I would say 50% of the brainstorms/ideation meetings I've been to over the last year have tactics sectioned off on big sticky white pieces of paper for in-store, web, print, etc... then viral. And it doesn't feel right as "viral" isn't a medium, it's a result. My favorite part of the Catch Up Lady's post is the last sentence: "Just goes to show all those agencies and clients out there that you don't need a ton of money, or fancy microsites with flash components to make something go viral - just a die hard fan base and a really f'ing creative idea."

I think the thing we often forget about is that some of our products don't have a die hard fan base. We get to caught up in executing the tactics and we don't spend enough time on "a really f'ing creative idea". Things like Batman have die hard fans. Not things like batteries or coffee creamers. Sure there are brand zealots but we should reward them in relevant ways, not put "viral video" as a line item in our estimates because it's all rage.

Online ads mid-TV show

I just wanted to rap a little bit about the good, bad and the ugly of my favorite ad vehicle right now. Settle in, this is a long one. You won't be sorry, I've done all your homework for you. Read.

I've been catching up on some tv shows online lately (abc.com) and for the most part, I'm a fan of how they're treating the advertising throughout the show. So much that I can't tell you the last time I've watched a show I wanted to on the TV, even when available. I skip them on purpose so I can watch them online later.

Each show has a sponsor. They get their little logo up above the video player and the show is split into thirds. At each third of the ways into the show the sponsor of the show gets their 30 seconds of ad space.

The Good: Chase

I might be biased here because I'm a music lover and I adore the Stones. So I was somewhat excited to see 4 remixes I could listen to of "I'm Free". I say "somewhat excited" because clearly nobody should be remixing any music from the Rolling Stones. It will never get better than it already is (not even the Hot Chip version, sorry guys, love you, call me). I digress, I previewed all of the songs and it was so great to have something to do while I waited for the next portion of my show to load. Notice the links to iTunes for purchase. Also notice the "Click to continue" button in the upper-right. That means that the 30 seconds had already passed and I was still spending time with this ad because it was interactive relevant content. I would be interested to see the stats about how many people actually clicked the tab "tv spots".

More from The Good: Florida Orange Juice



Who wants a Pinata Party? I do! And Florida Orange Juice threw me one. I was provided with fun games while I waited for my show to load. I got to swing a virtual bat at a virtual pinata. Seriously. Good times. It was kind of hard too, took me a few swings. Once again, I was playing this game well over the 30 second break time.

Check out the last screen capture I posted for Florida OJ. A little less irreverent but a very good idea. I took the quiz about the health benefits of orange juice and I actually learned a little something. I mean, what the hell else am I going to do while I wait? I so appreciate the chance to interact especially after experiencing what some of the other sponsors are doing. Read on for the Bad and the Ugly.

The Bad: Advil



People used to think that if an idea can get brought to life in print than it can live in any medium. Now people think that if an idea can get brought to life in a tv spot than it can live anywhere. It's almost insulting. Why would I want to be bored out of my mind by some ad talking at me on my computer where I'm allowed to interact with everything else? So I can't tivo this ad, you win Advil. But I'm for sure pissed off that you haven't put any thought into how to garner the attention of this particular audience. While your TV spot runs in my browser window I will get up and walk away for 30 seconds. I would rather get up off my extremely comfortable couch then sit and mouth-breath and watch your ad. Notice the second screen capture. This was a link off the original boring page. Why not put that in there? Atrocious headline and all, interacting with that page is far better than a commercial.

The Ugly: Olay

First of all, I love that it's now just Olay, not "Oil of Olay". I always thought that having the word "oil" in the name of a beauty product was terrifying. Not sure when you changed that up but good call. Kind of like when Kentucky Fried Chicken went to just KFC. Moving on.

Not a lot to say here. Olay slaps a bad TV spot up there and it's painful. I'm probably more in the target for Olay than I am for Advil, Florida Orange Juice or Chase and they have managed to alienate me the most. I can't even tell you what the spot was about as I was that disinterested. But I'm sure it was something about how their Definity product will make me look like the supermodel in their ad. Where have I heard and seen that before? Oh, right. In almost every ad for a beauty product out there.

Take these examples and do what you will with them. Even with the bad examples, I'm much more open to these ads than the commercial breaks I'm bombarded with on television.

Advertising on Tokyo subway walls

Subway journeys are a little less mundane with advertising on the walls. Thousands of snapshots are taken from a TV advertising campaign, each one is put up on the subway wall in the order the ad plays out on TV, and that subway wall becomes a flicker book. I've seen this done in NYC as well. Pretty rad, click here to check it out.

Follow Your Folly

I came across the recent redesign of New Belgium's website via a print ad in Esquire magazine. The content of the site is basically the same content from the prior site (at least the navigation map is the same). There does appear to be more video content here now though. Very playful and fun site layout.

This Is Living by Sony

I'm not going to say much because I'm still not sure what is going on here. All I know is I've spent a lot of time on this site and I'm still confused. Yet I can't stop. Is it a game? Is it a movie? Is it both? I love the art direction. Set aside some time and play with this site from Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. Then tell me what you think it's all about.

No More Allnighters with FedEx/Kinkos

FedEx/Kinkos launched a promotion touting their Print Online product offering. The website features some nerd named Rick who welcomes you to the site and says you can either poke around his office on your own or just watch him use the Print Online feature. YAAAAAWWWWN.

It's too pushy. It's clunky. Everything is referenced back to selling the product to harshly. The internet as a medium isn't a good place to shove branding and product down potential consumer's throats. It's just rude. Creatively there are some holes too, the video jumps in places where it should stay smooth. And I feel like if you're going to cast a nerd to host the site he should at least be an endearing nerd. Rick is the bad kind of nerd. Full on dork. You bore me Rick.... I'm bored (as I throw my head back and rest the back of my hand on my forehead). It's just not enough. Not funny enough, not smart enough and not very entertaining. There are a lot of sites out there right now that include dropping you into an environment/experience with a site host and they are really really good. So I don't see why FedEx/Kinkos would launch something this drab.

One more thing. It's interesting how they don't tell you what can be won right up front. It's a 7 day trip to Maui, Hawaii. With Rick. Just kidding. But you have to click on the sweeps button to find that out.

Sunsilk Color Showdown

Sunsilk launched a campaign that pits brunettes against blondes called the Color Showdown. I can appreciate the idea of competitiveness but it's hard to get into it when it's over something petty like haircolor. Especially since the obvious answer to the better haircolor is brunette. Maybe I'm biased but the blonde model they're using for the site is wearing mom jeans so even if I were blonde, I wouldn't vote for that camp. Now who's petty?! Us girls can be quite caddy sometimes so I think they'll get some good response.

Seriously though, this site is very content rich, lots to play with, but in my opinion it's over the top. It's sensory overload and I have no idea where to look or what to do first. There is a lot going on here. So if I'm having a hard time muddling through all this content I would imagine a blonde's brain might spontaneously combust. I joke, I kidd.

Coca Cola Zero microsite

I love the concept behind the Coke Zero site. The idea is that Coka Cola is suing Coke Zero because it tastes the same. Don't miss the videos. I could do without the "da da dada de daaaaa" at the end of all the vids though, super annoying.

If You Can't Beat'em...

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a quirky little viral game. Or, just take out some long-held frustrations with that little bastard who wouldn't let you near his Lucky Charms. Maybe someone should see if they want the beer bottles sponsored? Hmmm... Hmmm... Hmmm...

For more info, go here.

hanes wants to rock your socks off

Hanes is giving away three indie rock tracks a week through Rhapsody. The promotion has been going on for three weeks now. The best part is, you only have to watch one ad total - a :30 TV commercial that links to Hanes' online store - and then you can download any and all of the songs you want. (So my one view got me all nine of the songs posted to date.)

via [ themusicmademedoit ].

Jingles for Pringles

Yet another promotion involving user-generated content.

Pizza Hut Serves Up A Really Bad Slice

Pizza Hut's new UGC promotion made me throw up a little bit in my mouth. How bad is it? Find out here.

Wallstrip: stock culture meets pop culture

I came across a link to Wallstrip in my Springwise newsletter. The headline "Stock picking for generation YouTube" caught my eye. Wallstrip is described as "Rocketboom for Wall Street" and "Squawk Box meets Saturday Night Live", Wallstrip offers stock advice in a format that's second nature to viewers who would rather watch YouTube than CNBC. Hmmmmm... sounds like me. I start bobbing for apples at the shear mention of CNBC. The site and blog as a whole are a product of some good insights into the web 2.0 audience. The part of the site that interests me most is along the right side, there is a list of companies and products for which Wallstrip will give you their take on: JBX: Jack in the Box, MDT: Medtronic LOGI: Logitech Cramer's Comeback, CROX: Crocs, TM: Toyota, GOOG: Google, AAPL: Apple, ADBE: Adobe. Of course I click on the Crocs link. If you've been reading this blog then you are aware of my distaste for the ill-fitting plastic pieces of footwear.

Wallstrip reminds me of the French Maid TV site. In a way this Lindsay Campbell is giving publicity to certain products, although she's not bouncing around in a french maid uniform she is still very attractive. What I don't know is how the Wallstrip system works. But why shouldn't we send her some beer, diapers, batteries and hair color and see what happens. thoughts?

Bud Select + Hipster

So I get this e-newsletter called the JC Report. It's filled with reviews, features, articles and photos that have to do with global fashion trends. I noticed while reading that each section was separated by these really cool looking static banner designs. My eye is pretty trained to skip over online media when reading something in my email, unless I'm really looking for it. Once I took a closer look I realized that these sexy banners were for Bud Select. Talk about designing for placement. I clicked through to the Bud Select site and was blown away by unique movement and graphics that really made it clear where Bud Select wants to be positioned. It's hip, it has a rad logo, it's in places the youthful whipper-snapper sophisticates want to be. Here are some of the banners from my newsletter.




Now, stay with me here as I'm feeling a little chatty today. Explore the Bud Select site, it's fun and provocative in ways both hipster men and women can enjoy. They offer up a re-skin of Pandora, a very cool tool where you can enter music you enjoy listening to and it will stream it for you. Then, being the smart tool that it is, Pandora will start inserting some new music that according to your tastes, Pandora is certain you will enjoy. It's been a great tool for me personally to discover new music for quite awhile now. I love the idea of re-skinning it. I look at all of this stuff that Bud Select is doing and it makes me think of Zima. None of these tactics are as expensive as traditional marketing and are successful in their placements and targets.

One-Minute Media

The March issue of Wired gives us a look the growing landscape of short-form media/content and its antagonist - the lengthening of various forms of media. Here's a recap and a few thoughts.

bud tv is broken

I was just trying to figure out what all the hype is all about. You know, take a stance. And now that I've attempted to discover all that is Bud TV I can tell you that it ain't all that. In fact, it's nothing at all. It's broken, on multiple platforms. After unsuccessfully trying to watch some videos I thought I would try to sign in on Safari... no go. I guess data-capture for login wasn't a priority. I'm still trying to figure out the whole point of Bud TV but at least now I know what my stance is. It's a terd.

um, I think this is disaggregate...

If TurboTax can get into this then I'm thinking some of our conservative clients can climb out of their little safe snugglies and take a step outside of the traditional web world. TurboTax launches a rap battle, collecting user-submitted video entries. Vanilla Ice does the kick off video and will also be the judge for the winning video, giving him a reason to live post surreal life.

My personal favorite bell/whistle is DJ Doug Rassmusen, esq. Turn up your sound and give the boom box on the right a rollover to find him. Submit your rap here, look for mine in the near future.

Have A Slogan!

Site find courtesy of our uber-popular designer extraordinaire John Uhles. This is so simple and hysterical. I can't stop. And I don't want to give it away. Nor build it up too much. Oh and if you don't have a sense of humor then just don't bother.
Click here: http://www.haveaslogan.com/

Dirty Rolling

Fun, addicting and dirty game from Axe shower gel. What more could you ask for, I love it. I only scored 1360 and was told that a nun could get dirtier than I could. See how dirty you can get: http://dirtyrolling.com/
Watch the dirty tv as well.

Crack Open A Friendly

Fosters has kicked off a new integrated campaign from Ogilvy & Mather, changing their tagline from "Australian for beer" to accessible "Crack open a friendly". Their website is quite engaging, using some similar content types that we've tried to implement for Keystone Light and Zima.
And "Crack open a friendly" is just fun to say. Try it.
Check it out here: www.crackopenafriendly.com

A Bears Fan Gets Her Wish Courtesy of AXE

A woman's desparate search for Super Bowl tickets creates significant buzz. As it did, eBay pulled down her auctions. In comes AXE and not only does Sarah have a Super Bowl ticket in the lower section near the end zone, but she also gets to take two of her friends and some lucky schmoe who wins the AXE promotion.

The only thing that could have made this better is if AXE were to create a quick microsite for it. Still, way to go AXE. Wonderful job of jumping on a current buzz topic and turning it into a promotion that reinforces your brand position.

Discovered via Adrants.com

Help a Gnome Save His Dog

Samorost2 - The Plot Begins.

As we've seen with a few promotions for Keystone Light, online games can be a great way to engage the consumer with your brand for a good bit of time. This is generally considered a good thing. Provided of course that the game has something to do with your brand and the theme of the promotion and isn't just some random game with no meaning to your brand whatsoever.

When I saw this game, I thought it might provide a few of things. 1 - a good example of what is possible with games online now as far as animation, graphics and sound. C - there might be something to the plot of this game that could have relevance to something you are working on or will be working on. Even little gnomes love their dogs. 3 - the type of game - puzzle/strategy/hunt around for things - engages your brain and entertains you instead of just entertains you.

One of the things I found most fun was that as you click around trying to figure out what you need to do in order to move forward, you end up being surprised by some very creative thinking that went into a few pointless (as far as moving forward in the game goes) things you can click on. So, not only does your brain get a little stimulation in solving the puzzle but you also get a bit of extra entertainment out of it.

For more on this game, click here. If not, just go play it...

More Brand Enagement

I love whiteboarding, so the current campaign from UPS really speaks to me. I'm a little sick of the Whiteboarder guy, but I like how you can go to ups.com/whiteboard to send whiteboard messages to a friend. This campaign is all over football games and my BusinessWeek's.

Brand Engagement

Online promotions many times lack sufficient 'brand engagements' for the consumer - who, by the way, took the time to click on a link or type in a URL. In an attempt to reward the consumer effort brands are trying to develop Web 2.0 brand engagements for visitors - blogs, mash ups, videos, custom experiences, etc. The web landscape is litered with examples - and the latest is United's Mua Mua blog at micromuamua.com. This site catalog's a miniature ceramic cow's journeys from Denver's International Airport to destinations in Asia. United is the title sponsor of Denver's Cow Parade (and we're not a cow town anymore, right) and I suppose at the same time United is trying to demonstrate to Denver residents that there more to this world than domestic flights. There is no "promotion" per se, but it would be interesting if there were - imagine sitting in 17C on your way to Tokyo and finding a ceramic cow sitting next to you. Oh bother.

Crocs + NFL + NHL = Fugly Feet.

As if I needed a reason to hate these eyesores people call shoes even more. Hot athletes should not be wearing these. Nobody should. Maybe children... maybe. Under the age of 6. I look at them and I think of webbed, sweaty feet. They are just atrocious. Crocs, you are a great company, you really are. I appreciate your social responsibility, your community involvement and the way you run your biz... I just happen to hate your product.

Are you a Mitchum Man?

Meet Nina, the acid-tongued hottie who undresses all the while scolding you for your unmanly answers to her inquiries. Do well on her quiz and Nina gets excited. Either way she undresses and shows you her tattoos... does it get any better? Check out snarky Nina here.

A Kodak Moment

This video is just too good. I laugh harder the more I watch it. This is purportedly an internal Kodak rally video - you know, to get the marketing and sales force amp'ed up... We used to do these at AOL all the time. But this guys delivery is spectacular. As AdAge put it, its part Stripes and part Patton. Way to take a swipe at yourself, Kodak, all in the name of re-inventing yourself. I like.

Bloggers Leading the Web 2.0 Revolution

Must read. TIME's Person of the Year.

Plop Plop Fizz Fizz Oh What A Tired Idea This Is...

Alka-Seltzer is running a promotion now through December 22 asking bands, or those musically inclined I suppose, to remake their classic jingle and submit it for a chance to win $10,000 and possibly have the song appear in a TV commercial. According to Daily Candy, Cyndi Lauper is judging the entrants. Live tryouts are being held in Dallas, Philadelphia and Atlanta. Songs can also be uploaded at the web site. One online winner and the winner from each of the live events will win $1000 and become eligible for the grand prize.

Entrants are being encouraged to come up with their own song that incorporates the words, "plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is!" from Alka-Seltzer's famous jingle. Songs must be between 30-seconds and two minutes. So far they have 15 submissions posted. I wonder if that's all that have participated or if they think these are the best of the pack so far? And I'm even more curious if anyone has created a song or video that uses it in a negative light and they've not put it up.

I guess I understand what they're trying to do here, but why do so many brands try to force this? Remember McDonald's trying to buy their way into hip-hop lyrics? Well, I don't know if any known artists have done anything about it but there are some people are trying to get paid. My favorite of the bunch...



These guys have drawn 45,000+ views with their creation. I'll be curious to see if anyone picks this up at one of McD's agencies and tries to get them to do it in a commercial. And I wonder if they've been paid?

Anyway, back to the point... rather than try to force your brand on people and push consumer-generated content, why not work with what naturally bubbles up about your brand with consumers and encourage that behavior? Mentos did it and we all know how many of those videos have surfaced even beyond the deadlines of the contest. I guess what I'm saying is if your product doesn't inspire hip-hop lyrics on its own, then don't try to play here because your competitor's does. If your jingle has been dead for years, don't try to force it back to life.

All of the new opportunities brought to us via Web 2.0 are certainly exciting and nearly boundless. But a lot of what's going on here should be treated as a conversation between people with common interests and bonds. If there's a conversation going on around your brand that you want to leverage, then find a good way to enable that conversation further. And if you're NOT already part of a conversation, DON'T try to push your way into one. Nobody likes that guy. At least nobody that I know of.

Here Comes Starbucks Claus

From a post on my blog:

All those hard-earned dollars spent every morning at Starbucks are finally going to pay off. Well, maybe. Starbucks is spreading good cheer to their customers with the hopes that they will then pay it forward to someone else that day. According to sources, Starbucks isn't just giving out free coffee, tea, muffins, scones or other in-store items. They're also giving out movie tickets, subway rides and even lift tickets in Denver, CO. In addition to the handouts, they've also brought back the red cups for the season and built a nice site to support the entire holiday effort.

But will it work? Well, as luck would have it, a personal example of this happened earlier this week when a friend told me about how she was in the drive thru at a local Starbucks getting a cup of coffee and a scone. When she pulled up to the window to pay, the barista informed her that the person in front of her had already paid for it. So it at least works in principal as she told me and now I'm writing about it.

While it's not a new idea by any means, (And let's not kid ourselves, truly new ideas are few and far between.) it is a nice execution delivering on the promise of extraordinary customer service and rewarding your loyal customers. In today's hyper-competitive world you sometimes have to go beyond the expected to bring a point like this home. Especially if you're in the business of selling your product to people who are often not really awake in their first point of contact with your brand each day.

I've always been one to believe and preach that brand loyalty and/or brand preference, is earned through repeated positive experiences with a brand. This program is a great example of how one can start a chain of positive experiences and positive emotions around their brand with consumers. The best part is, anyone can leverage this principal no matter how large or small their budget is. It only takes one small act of kindness to one customer or one stranger to start the chain.

I have a great idea for a web site

I like this...
http://lbtoronto.typepad.com/lbto/2006/11/i_have_a_great_.html

SATISFACTION SING-OFF

I love this promotion. Here at snickerssatisfies.com you can enter the Satisfaction Sing-Off. One of the great things Snickers has done lately is change out content on their website everyday. They have trained people to come to their site everyday for a new and quirky surprise, game or otherwise. Everyday it was something that didn't take longer than 30 seconds to experience, all very punchy, instant-gratification content. Awesome. So now that they have a promotion going on at the same URL all the people they've turned into repeat visitors will see this.

Here's the gist. Fame for Dummies!
1. Dream up a song of satisfaction devoted to the awesomeness of Snickers.
You MUST mention nougat, chocolate, caramel and peanuts. All music and lyrics should be original.
2. Shoot video, under 2 minutes, please.
3. Upload video to YouTube (at a specific location they provided)
4. Win and gain fame, fortune, groupies, rock star attitude.

The sky is the limit.
Here Morgan, click here to submit your tune and video.

BoobTube?

Since Suz and all y'all haven't been updating this blog with much frequency, I thought I'd lend you a post from my blog. Here 'tis:

I recognize that this post is a little off topic, but I just can't help myself. Google has bought YouTube for $1.6B - BILLION. The YouTube founders, clearly drunk with glee (and I would be too), can be seen here: Founders Flounder. Honestly, maybe they could have carved out $1500 for a PR person to script them a little bit before announcing the deal to the 300,000+ people that watched this video in its first 14 hours. They confirm for me in this video that we as "community members/builders/contributors" should collectively demand our share of the dough. $$$$$. Honestly, without the peeps these two yahoos (no pun intended) would not be wearing blazers. Let's start a class action movement and head to Revver. Someone should start a WheresMyCut.com site. As this social medium movement continues to explode don't you think that making a few "founders" billionaires could turn the communities against the original site (see Friendster) and drive us to new arenas. Good luck to Google, hopefully you didn't kill the Golden Goose. My 2 cents.

everyone wants a little VIRAL in their lives...

"Given the low variable cost of viral, it’s natural that advertisers would want to experiment with it." Take a look at this list of the Seven Deadly Sins of Advertising Viral Video. Not sure if I completely agree with all seven, but it's interesting perspective.

Kokanee calls out Coors

A Canadian beer company, Kokanee, has a site dedicated to the fact that Coors beer sold in Canada is not brewed in the Rocky Mtns as packaging and advertising say. You can even send an e-card to your friends spreading the truth.
Rocky Mountain Truth

Miller's Brew Blog

Miller recently launched this blog that posts industry-wide articles - not just about Miller. AdPulp notes the blog, because of it's coverage of the entire industry rather than just Miller news, positions the company as a thought leader. There's a posting about Blue Moon on the front Page.

www.brewblog.com

Create a 'Touching' Song

This Brazilian site for a sunscreen lotion let's you touch some hotties on beach towels. In doing so, each hottie makes a sound (musical note). If you figure out the right order to touch the hotties you'll create a song. You can also record your own music and send to your friends and submit it to the site's jukebox.
Compose Your Music Now

new french maid tv episode

In this episode, french maids show you how to barter online using barterbee.com. Oh and they also jump on beds, bend over a lot and slip'n'slide.
It's a must see, click here.

Altoids commercial

I mean, it's just one of those things that makes you laugh. Watch here.

VLOGGERS!

This is a must read, especially if you're on the Keystone Light team.
Click here.

I heart Orbitz online advertising

There are a couple of things I really like about this promo homepage. They make it very clear that there are 2 ways to win and I like how they've solved for this through their designs, and we always seem to struggle with multiple points of communication. Second, I really like the golfsmith banner ad above content and I could see this being a great vehicle for partnering specifically for KL, Killians and HP. Check it out here.

betterthanbeer.com

I like the concept behind this website,www.betterthanbeer.com, but the homepage photo actually grosses me out a little.

Snickers hires a "Roy" type blogger to reach skaters

I ripped this straight outta AdRants but wanted to post this because we've had this idea for the Coors Light/Maxim girl search and I still think it's a good one.
Jake Levine, who's from Cherryfield Maine, was selected by Snickers to become the an ambassador for the candy company and Burton. It's an effort by Snickers to smartly reach an audience immune to traditional media. Called The Rover, Jake will traverse the country for a year leading every sk8ter boi's dream; an all expenses paid position as board sports ambassador, hanging with riders and boarders, attending events and drooling over Gretchen Bleiler. Oh, and he'll be blogging the whole thing too. Unsupervised and Unedited we're told. They're will also be podcasts. And, in a bonus, mud wresting appears to be part of the deal too. There's more campaign info here.

Beef Jerky Promo - SASQUATCH

Jack Link's Beef Jerky campaign involving a sasquatch... you'll just have to check it out to see what in the hell a sasquatch has to do with beef jerky. This caught my attention because of the Sasquatch's MySpace profile. I mean, he has like 481 friends. We could get Kyle the Can way more friends than that. Also please note the song that plays when you get to his profile. Any votes for songs we could have playing for Kyle, the Dr. and our Hot4Hoopties chick who looks like she was hit with a hot bag of nickels? At any rate I drew some similarities to some of the efforts we're attempting with Keystone. Check out the campaign here, which, also involves some tv spots.

Wiener Mobile

So, who here doesn't love the Oscar Mayer Wiener Mobile. Honestly!

Anyway, these guys have demonstrated a seamless interaction between product on-shelf at grocery, event marketing in parking lots with the Wiener mobile, and an engaging website promotion.

You can buy some dogs, find the code, win an iPod on the website. Then you are exposed to the Sing A Jingle promotion where you can track down the Wiener mobile, show up, sing your jingle and have a chance of it being turned it to a TV ad. Or, minimally, it will be posted online for you and your friends to laugh at.

Did I mention Oscar Mayer is running TV to support this promotion? Go to singthejingle.com to check it out for yourself.

Hot dogs, wiener mobile, bad singing, website... how can this not be a great promotion?

Interview with Bogusky

There are a couple of cheesy parts to this but overall I really enjoyed this interview with Alex Bogusky. He touches on a lot of areas we've talked about here at Integer.
Click here to watch.

Addicting like crack

We love this new addition to the Keystone Light website. The C-Store Scramble is a very simple game that is guaranteed to keep you on the site longer than you had planned. Head to www.keystonelightbeer.com and click on the games link under 'free dirt'. There you'll find this little gem just waiting to eat up some time you couldn't spare.

Pimp My Pad Move Over

Now you can try "Pimp my Gran" by Capri Sun. Like Keystone it is just a crazy little game that gets you hooked into playing.

http://www.capri-sun.co.uk/bft/content.php?id=30

Similar to Keystone Hunting...

These Jeep ads from BBDO Detroit reminded me of what we do for Keystone Light hunting, morphing the can into the Keystolope, Keystotrout and Keystoduck. These Jeep ads are a great execution of a similar idea. Not to mention the renderings are tops. Click on a thumbnail to see a full size image.

TIM IS LEAVING | SUZ IS STAYING | LET'S DRINK

adidas Launches New Viral Videos

The below paragraph appeared this past week in Wednesday's (3/29) Creativity eNewsletter. Very interesting approach to a product relaunch. It's pretty amazing that they were able to convince the client to let the directors run free and not be forced into incorporating logos and/or products. This could be a cool way for ZIMA XXX to virally launch new flavors. Seems like a good fit anyway. Only instead of just giving directors free-reign to do as they please, we might want to put this out to teams of creative folks - DJs, artists, directors, etc. Seems to be something here that we could grab on to. Or take it and apply it to our other brands. It would definitely make a nice fit with/extension to the street art Coors Light equity advertising idea.

Anyway, enjoy and let the ideas flow freely ...
















BREAKING
adidas Customizes Films for Customized Feet

adicolor "White"
What would you do with freedom? Seven directors recently got to explore that opportunity in an adidas-sponsored podcast showcase promoting the new adicolor series, an updated revival of the sportswear manufacturer's customizable line of shoes, originally launched in 1983 (see www.adidas.com/us/adicolor). In collaboration with New York-based agency Idealogue, the brainchild of Jacqueline Bosnjak and Mark Beukes, and with executive producer Sara Seiferheld, formerly of The Directors Bureau, adidas will virally distribute a series of shorts based on the various color themes in the line. All the directors—Tronic, Charlie White of Furlined, Smuggler's Happy, Psyop, Transistor Studios' Saiman Chow, The Directors Bureau's Roman Coppola and Neill Blomkamp of RSA—got license to go creatively buck wild shooting something about a single color, with no obligation to include product or logos, save for a short Pong-inspired intro ID created by James Spindler. This first film, "White," launched virally at 3am today and on the site http://www.r255g255b255.net (which references the RGB makeup of the color white). Each short will also be available for free downloading from sites like Google Video and Apple's Video iTunes. Giving the series extra fuel for the viral push, the debut entry, directed by Tronic, conveniently stars a teensy white outfit-clad, hammer-wielding Jenna Jameson playing a futuristic game of Whack the Gopher with Teletubby-reminiscent munchkin men. Ann Christine Diaz

web site dev process - breaking it down

A VERY basic example of how we work in interactive. I think this is a creative way to illustrate the process. And I love that the client looks like a Michael Bolton pirate.
Click here to view

Gum or Creepy New Cult?

Join the Sing-along, download ringtones, upload a photo of your pearly whites. Nice integration of video into flash. Brought to you by EVB, the creators of the winterfresh mini-site.

http://www.friendsofbright.com/

Absolut Mixes With Lenny Kravitz

Absolut Kravitz

Following in the artistic footsteps of former Absolut collaborators like Andy Warhol, Tom Ford and Gianni Versace, rocker Lenny Kravitz wrote an original track inspired by the famous vodka brand, which was then reinterpreted by 10 of the hottest remix artists in the world. Absolut then turned to Swedish-based digital agency North Kingdom to create the Absolut Kravitz online experience, a digital hub where visitors could explore and download all 11 tracks, as well as music videos and interviews, for free. "We really wanted the project to have a global feel to it, but at the same time work on a local level," says art director Bjarne Melin. "To solve this, we created a personal environment for each artist, a unique 'room' that is a blend of the artist, the track and their geographical origin. On top of this, we let the environments blend into each other in a cool way when moving from one artist to another (which was hard because we had to work with 2D background images), creating a sort of remix of its own."

After downloading this exclusive content for themselves, users can share the Absolut Kravitz love by spreading the word to their friends. A worldwide map keeps track of all the connections you make, and those who share the most can secure a spot in the "most connected" hall of fame.

----

Interesting promotion from Absolut. Not new, but interesting nonetheless. It certainly fits with their history of being involved in fashion, music and arts. Vodka/Red Bull is certainly no stranger to the club scene, neither is the presence of a remix or two. Why not make it an Absolut/Red Bull I guess. (I'd suggest a Mandarin/Red Bull) I can't remember for certain who did this a few years ago just after DJ Danger Mouse broke the Gray Album, but I remember a car company doing something similar.

The "Spread The Word" feature is cool (maybe borrowing from Coke's World Chill site a bit?), but I think they are falling short on engaging the consumer to the max. Why not post the separated files for vocals and music and let anyone who wants to play around with the song create their own remix and submit it for voting. Consumers could vote or let the ten DJs who did the featured remixes and Lenny do the voting. The consumer created remixes would be considered to be featured on an on-pack CD of the original track, the ten professional remixes and then three to four consumer submitted remixes. Throw a giant Absolut Kravitz CD launch party at the Ice Hotel in Sweden and invite the most connected people from the "Spread The Word" feature to announce the CD offer.

There is also technology out there that lets you create a remix of a song on-line and then download it as a ringtone. I just think there is much more they could've done here for the audience of people who would really get into this. Consumers are becoming more and more the kings of content, so why not take this to a new level?

If we were to apply this to our brands, how could Keystone Light make this "Smooth" or Coors Light "refreshing"? Who would be the artist/artists? Maybe we give the separated tracks away to consumers at retail in an on-pack CD in addition to on-line downloading with instructions and have them post their original remix to an underground branded site. Feature the top DJ at an Elevation party? A Maxim party? Anyway, thought this was worth posting to trigger a thought or two.

Winterfresh microsite... WTF?

Check this out.
Song download, unicorns, randomness and slightly annoying rollovers. What more could you want from this microsite? This site would give a certain Keystone Light client of ours night terrors. Make sure to watch the Attraction Chronicles.

Mantime Money Shot

This takes beer.com and anything that's "choose your own adventure" to a whole new level. If you make it through to the final round it's well worth it. Trust me. Also there are different shoots if you play more than once. I'm not going to drone on and on about how we can apply this to what we do everyday, because after you direct your photo shoot and view your stills you won't remember anything I've said anyway. Good luck.

Click Here: www.mantowngame.com/

Creating our own place?

left pocket

Here's a thought that might fall out of our new positioning:

Could we create great beer drinking places/occasions where you escape technology and the stress that comes with it so you can truly unwind with an ice-cold beer and friends?

From a TrendCentral article:

AND BY THE WAY:
Tired of hearing mobile phones go off in the theater or overhearing loud talkers at a restaurant? NaturalNano could solve this problem with a new type of paint that stops mobile phone signals from passing through with nanotechnology. Because jamming signals is illegal, the system would include a filtering device which allows radio signals to pass through at appointed times.

AdLand Hosts Battle of the Ad Blogs

Don't have time to find all of the best Ad Blogs? No problem. The crew over at AdLand are doing everyone's homework for them, listing nominees for the Battle of the Ad Blogs over on their site. Until February 10, you can cast a vote for your favorite blogs, commentary sites and inspiration sources, or just bookmark your favorites so they're always easy to find.

Viral Blog Post: Marlboro Man Meets Brokeback Mountain

From Adcritc.com 1/6/06:

Blogger Andy Towle conducts what he calls, "a brief experiment in synergy" by superimposing the seemingly ubiquitous quote from Brokeback Mountain with a cigarette ad from 1980. The result is more than the sum of its parts, at once a funny insight and social commentary.

funny every time

Games like this are often more enticing, addicting and viral than the more complex that we sometimes try to accomplish (i.e. Getaway).
Go ahead, give it your best shot.



See if you can beat my record of 345.8, and make sure to turn up your speakers.

Viral Videos Get National TV Coverage

Just saw a feature on the TV show Inside Edition on a web site, www.wherethehellismatt.com, that is getting passed around virally. Apparently Matt's dance has caught on with people all over the world and his site is getting hit like crazy. In the segment, they also mentioned that it is nearly as popular as the video of the New Jersey kid lip syncing to the song 'Dragostea Din Tea' by the Romanian pop band 'O-Zone' (covered by CNN, MSNBC, The Today Show, VH1 and others). Naturally I had to look both of these up right away. Anyway, thought these were worth sharing as examples of what is catching on virally in BIG ways ...

1) wherethehellismatt.com






2) Gary Brolsma's 'Numa Numa Dance'

LYNX Gets Guys Into the Holiday Spirit

Regardless of what country it's in and what name it goes by, Axe delivers on their positioning every time. (Lynx is the U.K. name/brand for Unilever's Axe deodorant/body spray line.) They are truly all about 'The Mating Game' in every single thing they do.

This site, lynxmas.com, is a great example of a brand taking their position, the season and guy insights and giving guys something to get excited about. Guys don't send holiday cards. But guys will send holiday greetings to their friends if it involves half-clothed hot women posing in various positions to form the letters of the words.

Create Your Own Lynxmas Card Here

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From AdCritic.com Interactive:

Lynx Spells the Beauty of the Holidays

[12.20.05]




Sending out holiday greetings is no longer a one-man job, thanks to a message-sending site created by interactive agency Dare Digital for Lynx, the British incarnation of Axe male body spray. In fact, visitors to the site are lent a helping hand—and arm, and leg, and torso—by a pair of lovely ladies who form letters of the alphabet with their statuesque bodies, spelling out whatever unique message you type in. No penalties for bad spelling...but extra-long messages are sure to be appreciated by your recipients, if they're of the lonely male variety.

Bud Light's Ted Ferguson

I think I found something that Monster Outreach is maybe more funny than.... maybe. Actually, the episodes aren't very entertaining but the short stunts along the right side of the page are pretty funny. The third one is my personal favorite.

Click here for Ted Ferguson.

Silent Hill

Think you're a fan of Silent Hill? Prove it. Design your own movie poster! Everything you need is right here -- photos, titles, key guidelines, etc. The winning poster may be printed and may be distributed to theaters. So get those creative juices flowing, design and submit your poster by January 3, 2006. Then get all your friends to vote for your poster starting January 4, 2006 because the winning artist gets $2,500 cash, 25 passes to see the movie, and more.

M&M's are in high demand

Could it be that one of the hottest gifts this holiday season is the custom-printed M&M? Consumers can go online to M&M's online shop and order nearly any collection of colors and get what every one might want printed on the back. I choose to stick with my alter-ego's initials, WW.

Though one might have concerns due to an “important notice” on the M&Ms site saying that due to an “overwhelming demand the estimated delivery date on custom M&Ms is December 23rd. Still, it's another cool idea in the evolution of chocolate.

Emarketing Company Brings Back Short Shorts

Adrant
In some weird ode to the seventies (or was it the eighties), emarketing company eROI has created a silly little site called WearShortShorts on which office co-workers do, well, strange things while wearing short shorts. we guess this is some form of viral attempt at driving traffic to the company's website. Or, it's just a bunch of advertising wackos, sick of their client's ridiculous requests, letting off some steam. Other than that, we don't know. Oh wait, there;s a store that sells the short shorts, a t-shirt and a headband so you can fully don the idiocy of seventies cool.

http://www.wearshortshorts.com/

Mr. Mucus, meet Ricola’s Mr. E. Cougher

In a promotion that gives a whole new meaning to the term viral marketing, Ricola is encouraging people to seek out a certain Mr. E. Cougher (get it? Mystery Cougher?), who will be traveling to cities across the country and hacking away until someone offers her (yes, it’s a her) a Ricola lozenge. The doler-outers could win as much as $1 million. The company is offering hints online for those who want to take the chance that instead of winning prize money, they’ll be infected with some egregious disease. The Cougher herself, tracked down by the Boston Herald, was picked from among thousands for the job. “I went through some extensive cough training—releasing my nasal drip, nose blowing, extended exposure to the elements,” she says. Weird.

Snow Globe

Sears has put a huge snow globe smack in the middle of Time Square, . It has a complete apartment inside of it including a kitchen, a family room, and even a family living inside of it. Kind of cool, but I'm not even sure if there's a Sears in NY...

A great viral piece from AXE

What to do when there isnt enough women to go around??
http://www.eatmail.tv/_ravenstoke

rated 'N' for Nike

Nike's very cool and creative site is entertaining because of it's tight illustration style and the 'choose your own adventure' type of journey. And I don't even know the language the content is written in...
http://www.grupow.com/nike10/