Back, Jack

Sooo, work got busy. Oops.
Then I got sick. Ooops.

So my apologies to the loyal legions of readers who have been disappointed by my lack of posting.

Wait. What am I saying?

Here's something mildly amusing to stimulate you on this Thursday afternoon:

The recession has hit my brain

more posts to come.

Banksy Revealed. Sort of.

Cuber Culture

The more I delve into this crazy world of "cubing" the more I'm simultaneously scared and allured.

Like the flush of the toilet, I'm being sucked in.

But I still find solace that I have a ways to go before this:

Let me borrow that top

Another in a series from Liam Sullivan's comedic surge. "Let me Borrow That Top" follows "Shoes" - one of his first posts that made it to YouTube's top 10 most viewed of 2007 with over 18 million views.

The notable difference in this video is the appearance of celebrities. Seems like his wave of success is gaining momentum.

So, any 'viral' tips/tricks/formulas to be learned by Liam? Probably. But I wouldn't want to ruin the after-glow.

You can find all his songs on iTunes. And thanks to David Southerland for showing me "Shoes" last year and helping co-write "Let's make some ads". It changed my life.

(* many of Liam's music videos are prefaced by a little sketch comedy that sets it up. This one, I think, is worth watching.)

Jay-Z is dilluting his brand

by getting into branding.

Someone should start a campaign, slogan: "Jay-Z for Everything"

I haven't really weighed all the options, but I'm pretty sure this idea stinks.

Brands and things

So AdAge posted these brands as the top 50, indicating that in the world of branding, they did something right.

Take a look. If nothing else, it's a good place to find brands to do spec work for. Clearly, they've already got a great product.

(I would add farecast.com to that list.)

The 6th dimension: an ad ranting about ads

Craigslist, Antique Pianos, and Treadmills

Too bad I don't own a treadmill or that piano would be sitting in my bedroom.

A post for Jason

Visit

$1 Book Project

This site was set up to bring to life the dependence currency has on time and location.

Visitors are encouraged to submit pictures of items that they purchased for $1 US dollar. No more, no less.

It's a simple project that captures how the worth of items vary across the globe. Hopefully it'll capture some perspective along the way.

Here are some cool examples:





If you have an interesting one, submit.

Personal (Rubik's Cube) Jesus and Animation

Firebrand, the answer to TiVo?

I've been watching a good deal of Cops and Ninja Warrior (haven't seen it? you're missing out) on G4 lately. And in between the car chases, pavement tackles, and 'ninja killers' there's been this spot running that's promoting Super Bowl advertising brands. (Which is funny because many of the icons they show don't run Super Bowl spots).




So what is it?

This might help to explain:





The answer to TiVo? I don't know.






If you think about it, TiVo has created quite a conundrum for itself. On the one hand, it has been charged responsible for the demise of the traditional :30 spot, but on the other hand, it needs to advertise itself. Tricky trick.

I say, they aren't responsible for advertising's demise, but simply responsible for being a catalyst for change. And I don't think that's such a bad thing.

As long as there are brands, there will be demand for a means to promote it. It might not be called advertising anymore, but it's definitely something. Brandvertising?

On Focus Groups

Meant to post this a while back.
oops.

Tag. You're it.

Movie Trailer Makers

In many ways face the same issues we do as advertisers. When I was at AdCenter/BrandCenter/the VCU Ad Grad School thing, we even had a few very interesting speakers on the subject.

They have to condense what should be a longer story
into an unnatural :30 or :60.

They can't give too much away,
but have to give enough away to pique interest.

And they have to stand out in a sea of other options movie-goers might have.

Here are a few of my favorites-


Let the pictures tell the story:




Let the words tell the story:




Let the guy tell the story (in a different way):





I was just thinking the other day about the "movie-guy" voice over. The pros and the cons of him.

On the one hand, as soon as you hear his voice your brain automatically realizes (without much thinking) that you're probably listening to a movie trailer. That's good, right? It's a quasi-brand association. It distinguishes them from the Swiffer spot that just came on and subversively tells the listener "hey! you wanted to see that new movie, right? here it is. check it out."

But on the other hand, every other movie trailer uses that VO.

So it distinguishes you and makes you the same all in one VO. So good or bad? I don't know.

Thoughts?

Rubik's Cube Art

There's something about the Rubik's cube. Maybe it's the symmetry of it all. Or the bright, basic colors. Whatever it is, I've come to appreciated it for some reason these past few weeks.

I had one growing up but never really learned to solve it. I could usually get a side or two before it infuriated me and I moved on to something else. Who knows what happened to that cube. But just before Christmas a few weeks ago I got a brand new shiny one.

I was at a Walgreens in Plano buying a star for my Christmas tree when it caught my eye. It was hanging by the register - one of those last-ditch attempts to get you to buy something on your way out. I was feeling nostalgic so I grabbed it and added it to my tab. This time, I was bent on learning how to solve it.

I knew there were formulas to get cubes to move around the way you wanted them to, so I checked the ever-so-handy resource, YouTube and found this. (And a bunch of links to 3 year olds solving the cube in about 30 seconds - made me feel good.)



A few days later, I got it. It's a great time pass and makes you look smart in front of those who can't solve it. Which is dumb because really, anyone can solve it.

I began wishing I had hundreds of them so they could be stacked side by side and made into an image or some sort of art installation. So I used the other-ever-so-handy resource, Google and found this.



And I'm sure there's hundreds like it. So many interesting things can be done with this cube. For me, it was interesting even before I knew how to solve it.

It has a certain intrigue I don't know how to define. And it seems to have created a whole culture that's just as unique.

(And all this without any advertising of note, and THIS is their website. Man. Good thing they have a good product.)

Though it did appear in this Monster.com Flash on their home page. This guy must work in advertising.

New Six Sided Obsession

Chipmunks are fun

Especially when they do covers for over-played-on-the-radio songs.

Go to the iTunes store and check out #95 on the "top songs" for a laugh.