marketingsuperhero@mac.com wants to share this video with you:
Personal Message
This is the most provocative ad campaign I have seen in a while. Borderline obscene, but pretty sexy.
Diesel: SFW XXX
Video:
Agency: The Viral Factory
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1370868150/bctid1819686724
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Watch Diesel: SFW XXX
Monday, September 29, 2008
Football musings
By now, the euphoria has subsided over the Redskins brilliant victory in Dallas over the previously undefeated Cowboys. What should be long lasting though, is the belief that Jim Zorn and Jason Campbell are for real. Campbell is thriving in the West Coast offense, and Zorn has managed to still stay true to the heritage of Redskins smash mouth, run first mentality. If the team can stay balanced on offense and stout on D, this has the makings of a very special year in DC.
Did anyone see the Brett Favre breakout performance coming? I certainly did which is why I look genius now for drafting him in my fantasy league as a backup to Tom Brady. Once Brady went down, my cohorts laughed at me. Who is laughing now after Brett put up 6 TDs and scored 46 fantasy points?! It has to be bittersweet for him to see the Packers look more and more hapless each week. And the injury prone Aaron Rodgers is living up to his fragile billing.
Finally, I want to focus on college for a bit. I must admit, that I was buying the hype that was USC after they smashed "The Ohio State University". But people, come on. We cannot write off the entire Big Ten because OSU laid an egg. I for one am happy to see the Penn State Nittany Lions bring joy again to Happy Valley. Could this be the year Joe Pa silences the haters and leaves on top? They look like they have as good a chance as anyone else. Did I mention that my Northwestern Wildcats are also 5-0?! The SEC is a class above everyone else, but after the feeble games played by Georgia, Florida, and narrow victory by LSU, you have to question if they are truly as dominant as people would have you believe. I am thinking right now that the National Championship may see Oklahoma against either Penn State or Alabama. Any 2 of those three would be tremendous.
Gen Y Threatens To Rewrite All The Retail Rules
Times are a changing...
Gen Y Threatens To Rewrite All The Retail Rules
Written by Evan Schuman
September 25, 2008
Gen Y, a loose term for younger shoppers ranging in age from about 14 through 28, is a demographic that most retailers are unprepared for. That's partially because this is the first segment that has never not known of the Internet and also because most retail executives have such a radically different worldview.
In addition, many Gen Y shoppers have never known—or believed they had—any privacy, so they are dramatically more willing to give up or sell personal data in exchange for something they see as having value. Their attention span is short, their multi-tasking skills are high and many find the idea of paying for software quaint and old-fashioned.
They can prioritize how they pay (Paypal's popular) over how much they pay as well as how they want to interact with businesses—in as many ways as possible: text on their phones, IM on their laptops, posts for them on MySpace, video pitches in YouTube and avatars in SecondLife.
John Hiraoka, the chief marketing officer at Epicor, has become an expert on Gen Y, partially because of a nearby teacher: his teenage daughter. During a speech at his company's user conference this week, Hiraoka told a room full of retail execs that they needed to look at the retail world through his 14-year-old's eyes for a moment. He was right.
He made a slide out of a picture of her desk in a remarkably neat and tidy room. (The neatness of the room, he said, was the result of a bribe that Hiraoka declined to specify. As the father of a girl in the same age range, I can confirm that the casual approach to room organization seems to be a younger Gen Y trait.)
The point of the picture was to display her personal electronics, which—CPU-wise—rival what NASA had just a few years ago. It included her desktop computer, an iPod, Game Boy, cell phone, digital camera, CD burner, DVD burner, six USB drives and two wireless devices. And a dolphin, although I'm not sure what the point of the dolphin was.
Hiraoka argued that retailers need to hire a lot more Gen Y employees and listen to them. He promised execs that it would be a very different perspective: "These are the so-called digital natives," he said. "They've grown up with no newspapers, catalogs or phonebooks."
That's all true, but prioritizing these consumers has many risks. How far can one go in communicating with them before alienating older demographics, many of which have a lot more money to spend?
Hiraoka counters that the Web theoretically allows retailers to communicate with many consumers individually, with a different approach and format for different demographics.
That is true and appropriate. But it's also very expensive and would require a very different approach. Will retail execs agree to this tactic, on the say so of much less experienced employees? If so, will those execs rename the demographic as Gen Y-oh-Why?
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Snickers Speedwalking Campaign. Insensitive or Over-Reaction?
I sometimes wonder if we have gone too soft. I am all for inclusion and diversity, but at times question the motives of advocacy groups. Snickers recently pulled a campaign that featured Mr. T off the air because gays felt it was a firect affront on them. I have put a link to the spot below, and would love to get your thoughts. I do not feel this is aimed at gays. I see it as an ad that makes fun of a sport that I have always thought was hilarious and unnecessary, speedwalking.
Insensitive or Over-Reaction? You be the judge.
Snickers: Speedwalker
Video:
Agency: AMV BBDO
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1370868150/bctid1674033081
Is Mobile truly the rebirth of the Internet? I think so!
Can Google's G1 Smart Phone Be More Than an Apple Knockoff?
Search Giant Hopes to Get the Masses (and Advertisers Who Court Them) Onboard With Mobile Internet
By Abbey Klaassen
Published: September 23, 2008
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- With a touch screen, a 3G high-speed network and an application store full of third-party-developed tools, the new "Google phone" has elicited numerous comparisons to Apple's iPhone. But for Google's Android mobile-operating system to be successful, it needs its phones to be much more than the first viable iPhone competitor.
The goal with Android is to simplify the mobile market and get wireless subscribers to buy smart phones and use the mobile internet.
Google, T-Mobile and Taiwan-based handset manufacturer HTC today announced the first phone created with Google's Android operating system. The HTC Dream -- which goes on sale Oct. 22 in the U.S. through T-Mobile under the name G1 -- generally got high marks from bloggers and analysts, who praised the high-resolution screen (like the iPhone, web pages can be viewed horizontally or vertically), tight integration with Google products such as Gmail and Maps, and a flip-out keyboard for those who never got used to the iPhone's virtual type pad.
Simplifying the mobile market
Google's real goal with Android is to simplify the mobile market and allow handset makers and developers to more easily create great devices with useful applications -- in turn persuading some of the 82% of mobile subscribers who don't use smart phones to buy such devices and use the internet. Google sees mobile devices as being far more ubiquitous than computers, and the more consumers it can get to go online via their phones, the better, arguably, for companies who make money via online advertising. (Google CEO Eric Schmidt is so bullish on this he called mobile "the re-creation of the internet.")
Such phones are also good for marketers, explained Dean McRobie, exec director of technology at Organic. Mobile today, he said, is "not easy to work with. We have a huge, multifaceted community of devices. ... Where Android starts to become interesting is in bringing together this community and saying it's in everyone's benefit to have open standards and capabilities for mobile device."
But the phone is still relatively expensive for the average Joe, at $179 plus a voice and data plan. That's a scant $20 cheaper than the iPhone and, by adding on iPhone-comparable memory, for instance, could actually make the G1 more expensive than the iPhone and leads to questions of just how much impact Google's move into mobile will have.
The G1 has flip-out keyboard for those who never got used to the iPhone's virtual type pad.
As Google Mobile Product Manager Sumit Agarwal explained Android earlier to Ad Age: "Google's interest is in getting people to use the net more. We want people to have access to our services. We want the world to have access to the world's information. There are 3 billion mobile phones out there, far more than the number of PCs. ... We view it not as a 'nice to have' but as a survival imperative to provide our services to users via whatever device they want."
What others have done
Other big web players have gone different routes: Microsoft offers a mobile version of its popular Windows operating system, while Yahoo has shunned the OS model, instead creating a development language that can modify websites and applications to fit the device on which they're being used. And AOL last year bought a third-party mobile ad network.
Research firm Strategy Analytics estimated that Google's Android smart phones would reach 400,000 units in the quarter, for a 4% market share. According to ComScore M:Metrics, 19.9 million Americans have a smart phone, up 121% since July 2007, led by Apple's iPhone. Of course, the focus for Google is not just the G1 but the many other Android phones that Google hopes will come after it.
That's also the focus for early Android developers.
"We're big fans of the open nature of Android and the ability it gives us to know our application will work anywhere," said Alexander Muse, CEO of Big in Japan, which created a comparison-shopping Android app called Shop Savvy. "This particular device from HTC is nice and we like it. But at end of day we're programming for Android, not for a particular phone or handset."
Are you a Text-a-holic too?
For Mobile Users, Texting Tops Talking
Nielsen: Number of Messages Eclipses Calls for Second Straight Quarter
By Max Lakin
Published: September 23, 2008
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- The typical U.S. mobile subscriber sends and receives more text messages than phone calls.
The trend toward texting has several roots, not the least of which is an inundation of new devices with integrated keyboards, like Nokia's N810.
In a finding that might benefit mobile marketing, Nielsen Mobile found that during the second quarter of this year, domestic wireless subscribers sent or received an average of 357 text messages each month, compared with an average of 204 phone calls placed or received. It was the second consecutive quarter in which mobile texting significantly eclipsed the number of phone calls.
In the hands of teens, young adults
Teens aged 13 to 17 had the highest levels of text messaging, sending and receiving an average of 1,742 text messages per month, while only logging 231 mobile phone calls in the same period. Not surprisingly, the next age group, adults 18-24, had the second-largest gap in text-to-call ratio, 790 to 265.
To come up with its tally, Nielsen tracks billing activity through an opt-in panel of more than 50,000 personally liable, postpaid U.S. mobile lines across the nation's top four carriers, AT&T, Sprint Nextel, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless.
Paul Okimoto, corporate VP for Nielsen Mobile, said the trend has several roots, not the least of which is an inundation of new devices with integrated keyboards. "If you look at where mobile phones were just 10 years ago, we've come a long way," he said.
Mr. Okimoto said that, in general, texting options are usually less expensive than their voice counterparts across carriers, which might explain the surge in texting behavior. And while he said Nielsen hadn't done any conclusive research to suggest it, Mr. Okimoto didn't rule out the role a shaky economy could have in consumers' growing proclivity to let their thumbs do the talking.
75M texts sent in June
This past June alone, 75 billion text messages were sent in the U.S., compared with 7.2 billion in June 2005, according to wireless industry trade group CTIA.
At a user base of around 200 million, Mr. Okimoto said the mobile market is rife for advertisers to tap into "who we are." He cited Sen. Barack Obama's campaign, which sent out a mass text message alerting his supporters to his choice of running mate, a text that, according to Nielsen numbers, reached 2.9 million mobile subscribers.
"The whole ecosystem of mobile has reached a critical mass," Mr. Okimoto said. "It's compelling to say the least."
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Obama, McCain, Palin and Biden
I ' m a little confused. Let me see if I have this straight.....
If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're
"exotic, different."
However, grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers, you're a quintessential
American story.
If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic "Muslim" (who, by
the way, is a Christian).
However, name your kids Willow, Trig and Track, you're a "maverick".
Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.
However, attend 5 different small colleges before graduating, you're
well grounded.
If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the
first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive
that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law
Professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with
over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and
Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate
representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on
the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs
Committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
However, if your total resume is: local weather girl, 4 years on the
city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with less than 7,000 people,
20 months as the governor of a state with only 650,000 people, then you're
qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive and
next in line behind a man in his eighth decade of life.
If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising
2 daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real
Christian.
However, if you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and then
left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a
true Christian.
If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including
the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
However, if, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only,
with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your
unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.
If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in
a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city
community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values
don't represent America's.
However, if your husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one
DWI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until
age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of
Alaska from the USA , your family is extremely admirable.
OK, much clearer now.
Sonya R. Paulk
Administrative Assistant to the Dean
University of South Carolina
School of Law
701 S. Main Street, Suite 202
Columbia, South Carolina 29208
Monday, September 22, 2008
Mac vs. PC Campaign
I find it laughable that Microsoft waited 2+ years to respond to Apple's very effective campaign. The damage has been done, and unfortunately, Mac has repositioned PC as a nerdy, inflexible, dinosaur.
Mac has had explosive sales growth, and their brand affinity is literally off the charts. People genuinely love their products. Bill Gates and the Microsoft crew sat in Redmond, Washington with lustful eyes and venom directed towards Apple when they should have been ensuring Vista was ready for primetime before launching an inferior "upgrade". Too bad the Seinfeld campaign was a non starter, and Microsoft has already changed course. Not to mention that Seinfeld was notorious on his own sitcom for having a Mac computer prominently displayed in his home office. Rumor has it that Pharrell, Eva Longorio, and other stars in the new PC campaign also all proudly carry iPhones and iPods. With friends like these, who needs enemies?
Click here for a great article on the debacle...
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Victory!
garage. We were siced but jive worried to drive through the throngs of
krazy lunatic Cleveland fans with our PA plates. Gigi and Godot were
both sleepy as heck. Sphere: Related Content
Monday, September 15, 2008
Cleveland went hard, but Steelers prevailed
blowing over 60 mph, but in the end the men of Steel played smashmouth
style and narrowly won 10-6.
Here we go baby.
Sphere: Related ContentFriday, September 12, 2008
Mercedes E-Class Commercial
This is pretty wild. I wish we ran commercials in the US like this. Pretty edgy for Mercedes.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Here we Go Steelers!
season opener against the Texans. Steelers look vicious again. Defense
is banging Bamas and offense has serious rhythm. 35-3 and Big Ben is
already on sideline resting. My man from DC Byron Leftwich is now out
showing his skills.
Can't wait for Cleveland trip next week. Here we Go baby!
Sphere: Related Content
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