11.15.06

Blog Dinner With Nice People

Posted in Blogging, Social Networks, Blogs at 7:16 am by Coolz0r

There’s a bloggers dinner on the 17th of November, which is Friday (this week). Tom Raftery one of Europe’s better known podcasters (Jeven award winning) will be over and would love to meet with some Belgian bloggers… He has talked with a hell of a lot of big names in this space, those podcasts are available at www.podleaders.com and his blog is www.tomrafteryit.net.

Simon McDermott from Attentio.com will be your host, and he’s inviting Belgian bloggers to attend. If you have nothing planned or are able to switch some appointments, you’re welcome to join the group at the Strofilia restaurant, which is near Place St. Catherine (Brussels).

Check here for restaurant info

Drop a line to Simon asap if you’re planning to come. [simon at attentio dot com]

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Winters Aren’t Always Fun

Posted in General, Ethics, Advertising, Campaigns at 6:54 am by Coolz0r

This campaign made me feel a little unhappy. I can’t add more to the copy than they’ve already written. I’ll think I’ll give some extra cents to the beggars I meet in the streets this winter so they can have a nice coffee somewhere or some hot soup… Sometimes life’s just unfair to some people… Copy: “We see the heartbreaking effects of poverty, homelessness, abuse and addiction every day. And most importantly, we see the people who desperately need support and compassion. For us it’s impossible to turn a blind eye to suffering. Last year in Canada, the Salvation Army served 2.5 million meals to the hungry, helped 10.000 people with addictions, and provided one third of all shelter beds each night. This Christmas, we ask you to open your eyes and your heart. And give. - SalvationArmy.ca - 1.800.SAL.ARMY - Give hope today”

There also a clip that’s part of this campaign. See it here.

Title: Invisible
Agency: ACLC Inc., Toronto
Client: Salvation Army
Copywriter: Steve Conover
Art Director: Howard Beauchamp
Creative Director: Tony Miller
Producer: Mark Siversky
Director: Christina Hodnet
Production Company: The Partners’ Film Company, Toronto
Editor: Jason Grebski, Flashand3rd, Toronto
Transfer: Notch, Toronto
Music: The Hive, Toronto
Audio: Wanted Studios, Toronto
Re-toucher: Steve Cribben

Thanks, Shannon

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11.14.06

Nike Juice Ball Viral

Posted in Marketing, Advertising, Campaigns, Video at 12:15 pm by Coolz0r

After seeing what kind of weird stuff you can do with a blender, one might take it a step further and see what fun there is to be made with a golf ball spitting machine. These days, almost everything can go viral as long as it includes monkeys are scientists acting out the weirdest fantasies of little boys. Ah, yeah, I almost forgot: there’s a poll that asks you what the two techies should take on next with the Juice ball machine. I voted for the bunny. I must say they’ve made it look very arty with the slow motion footage of the ball’s impact. Besides the three snapshots below (of a lava lamp, birthday cake and jello mold) a jar of mayonnaise, a gumball machine and cantaloupe will be exploding very smoothly, all for the promotional attention of the lauch of NikeGolf’s long awaited high quality Juice ball.

Check it out the Juice Ball clips at NikeGolf | Thanks, Frank

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Drowning Kids

Posted in Marketing, Advertising, Campaigns at 12:15 pm by Coolz0r

I have very mixed feelings when it comes to awareness-creating messages like the one below. I’ll be the last one to understate the importance of decent awareness campaigns, but there are some limits to the ‘where and hows’ when you run the campaign. If you look at the little kid in the water next to the ad, you’ll understand why I’m saying this. I think it can be quite traumatic for kids to play around in a pool when there’s a simulated drowned kid on the bottom of the pool. I think it’s frightening and very much beyond acceptable. Alerts for parents can be placed at the side of the pool as well, there’s no need to make it this spooky. It’s still better then stepping in your car after picking up your kids at school and seeing a poster placed face down on your windshield with the picture of a child that’s been run over, but still.

Via SeaSpace

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Warming Pleasure Condoms

Posted in Marketing, Advertising, Campaigns at 7:26 am by Coolz0r

Durex came up with the ‘warming pleasure’ series of condoms. Instead of your good old trusted rubbers, there’s been a slight modification and a soothing warm experience is being evoke by mean of a ’sensual warming lubricant’. What better way to promote this product then by upgrading ye olde hand-dryer-machine in the restrooms by making it look like a giant replica of the 3-pack condom box, the ones you’re most likely to find in vending machines in those same restrooms. Certainly an eye-catcher for every man who washes his hands after the wizz. Maybe even for those dirty souls that simply refuse to do that. This looks a little too photoshopped (very much in fact), especially with the hot air streams, so it might be just a pitch for an ambient setup. I like the idea though, and if I’d seen it somewhere, it would be top of mind for a rather long time.

Agency: Arco Publicidad
Creative Director: Carlos Vazquez
Art director: Jerry Rivera
Copywriter: Nanel Rodríguez
Via: AdsOfTheWorld

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BBC Taxi Experience

Posted in Marketing, Advertising, Campaigns at 7:15 am by Coolz0r

I love this idea from the BBC World tv station. To promote their ‘hot and scoopy’ news speed, they’ve placed stickers on the windows of the back seat passenger in taxis. A grey frame makes the outer borders a bit less clear, while in the fully transparent zone in the center (which simulates a television screen) a ‘live’ button suggest that you’re looking at the world in real-time. This is a very clever campaign, and it fits with the BBC World’s image of being ‘right there when it’s happening’. Very cool, very simple and very powerful.

Agency unknown
Via 24

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11.13.06

Umbro Hurts

Posted in Marketing, Advertising, Campaigns at 6:25 pm by Coolz0r

These ads are pretty edgy. I don’t quite get the link between Vigo and Umbro. I know Celta Vigo is a soccer club, and Adidas has some Vigo shorts, but I can’t figure out the link here. I think there’s also a player called Vigo, but I’m not sure. Anyway, once again it’s proven that sex sells. Instead of playing with the hot sauce (check here for that post), this time it’s the soccer shoes that are used to ‘hurt’. Probably it’s also why the tagline is :”Umbro Vigo. It Hurts”. I don’t think the pics are actually stressing the brand’s identity. Pretty funny, good photography and retouching, but not really my cup of tea. If anyone knows the agency, feel free to drop a line in the comments

Via SeaSpace

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Update

Posted in General at 12:06 am by Coolz0r

We’re merging the entire blognewschannel (inside google, inside microsoft etc) to a new host and I’ve been bending over the import of the old database to the new SQL. Sorry for the lack of updates, but it took quite a while to get it all done, and we’re still not even near finished…

I’ve also moved the archives and categories from the sidebar of this blog to the footer of every post. It was getting way too long, that sidebar. I’m still working on a decent display here as well.

I’ll be back in full force soon. Thanks for your patience.

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11.10.06

FCUK Rabbits

Posted in Marketing, Advertising, Campaigns at 8:15 pm by Coolz0r

Nice visual for UK’s trendy clothing brand FCUK. The French Connection label has gained internation fame quite fast and it’s certainly not the first time they would produce ads that cause a stir. Last time I blogged about them, they had launched a kinky movie where two fashionistas were beating the crap out of each other, while at the same time demonstrating the collection. Seeing this ad for “eau de FCUK”, the brand’s perfume, I couldn’t resist to smile. I know it’s a cliché, but dammit, it’s a good one.

Agency unknown | Seen on SeaSpace

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Bill Gates Keynote In Brussels

Posted in Technology, Corporate News, Video at 2:26 pm by Coolz0r

Robin, my marketing-blogger/colleague over at marketingblog.eu sent me a file about the first video-project they did for Datanews. They (VNU) taped the keynote Bill Gates gave yesterday in Brussels at the Microsoft Business Innovation Event and in it he runs through a brief history of the most important IT developments of the past 10 years and he shares his vision on how software can be used as an instrument to simplofy business solutions. I’d normally have posted this on Inside Microsoft, but since Vizaweb’s still down, I’ll post it here.

Or see it at Soapbox

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Nathan’s Screwed - Looking For Help

Posted in General at 11:59 am by Coolz0r

Nathan Weinberg, the dude behind Inside Google and Inside Microsoft is in big, big, big troubles. His webhost Vizaweb had a catastrophic meltdown. Only one site hosted with them has so far posted about their success in migrating to a new host in the aftermath. Not much is known about the downtime, and whether Vizaweb will be back or not. All of you might now be saying “so what?” except for the fact that they hosted Nathan Weinberg’s entire Blog News Channel (a small dozen of blogs). I wrote over 300 posts for that network. Dammit. How can a host just disappear and not let anyone know about this?

All of his associated blogs are down, including InsideGoogle, InsideMicrosoft, and Jason’s AppleWatch blog. He has no backups. Right now he is in bad sorts as the blog is the only source of income for him and his wife, and if anyone can help he needs it right now.

“I need (a) money, if anyone is interested in donating (b) a job, if I can’t save the site, to start earning money and (c) free legal advice, if I can subpoena my data and sue these idiots.” -Nathan Weinberg

So if you have money to spare, a job for him to work his ass off at, know a way to restore a site in any capacity through the google cache, or can offer free legal advice please contact Nathan ASAP at montevino [AT] hotmail [DOT] com.

The man will be grateful. Incredibly grateful.

Digg the story! | thanks, Jason

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11.09.06

Know Why

Posted in Marketing, Ethics, Advertising, Campaigns at 6:45 pm by Coolz0r

This ad for Time Magazine is a very compelling illustration of how images can speak for themselves and maybe actually don’t even need a copy. Self-explanatory advertising, so to say. The point of the two-worded copy is in fact obvious: it plays on the same emotion as the BBC ads “see both sides of the story“, namely that even (or maybe ‘especially’) in news, images can be deceiving. Seeing a picture like this immediately causes your audience to divide in two groups. That is why it’s important to read ‘Time Magazine’, to know the background of the image, to get context… to know ‘why’. Moving away from the ad itself as a topic and looking to the image, I must say it’s a very strong picture. The depicted soldier in distress is a real issue starter. It’s a captive, impressing image. Most war pictures are, but this one is one of the few ones I’ve seen that causes a dilemma inside my mind. Did he lose a buddy? Is he just tired? Maybe he doesn’t want to go to war? Maybe his mother died in the US? The picture fits exactly in the goal of Time’s ad. Challenge people to know more. To know why.

Agency unknown.
Thanks, Wim L.

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Almost A Safe Volvo

Posted in Marketing, Advertising, Campaigns at 6:45 pm by Coolz0r

Very humoristic ads for Volvo’s US market. It’s a known fact Volvo is one of the safest cars on the market. There’s not much that can go wrong if it was up to Volvo, unless you do something stupid on purpose (like driving into a wall or so, and even then I bet Volvo has a prototype ‘object detector’ that makes the car brake in time). Obviously, they can’t control everything, and that includes wasp nests, bird poo and UFOs. Clever angles. Cool car. Funny ads. :) Not much more to say about it. Enjoy the roofless world!

Agency: EURO RSCG, New York, USA
Creative Director: Jeff kling
Art Director: Vladislav Ivangorodsky
Copywriter: Jason Miller
Via: Adverbox

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Another Tabloid In Second Life

Posted in Social Networks, Marketing, Trends, 2.0 + at 12:40 pm by Coolz0r

*** Update: I thought the Second Life Herald was a Press Agency. But I was wrong. They’re also a tabloid. ***

Yes, in come the media. Reuters and BigBrother have made their moves, now it’s time for the another tabloids to follow. Axel Springer, the publisher of Germany’s top-selling Bild newspaper, is poised to launch a weekly paper designed to sate the virtual population’s appetite for news and gossip.

Due to be launched in December, the paper will be written in English and is estimated to cost between 10 and 15 Linden dollars. It will likely be sold by subscription - posted into mailboxes across the virtual parallel universe. Mr Springer plans to construct an online editorial office for SL News. A real editor-in-chief will then recruit a team of roving reporters from among the avatar community.

It’s a good thing they’ll be scouting for stories within the community and that in fact a lot of the news will be produced by residents. It’ll be only a matter of filtering out the junk. Oh no wait. That’s exactly what a tabloid is going to publish. How long ’til we have paparazzi that’ll be stalking ‘famous’ avatars to take snapshots as they enter nudie bars?

“It will be a colourful tabloid, with snippets about showbusiness and human interest tales from the avatar world,” explained Dirk Meyer-Bosse, a spokesman for the German publishing giant.

Read more on The Guardian | via SmartMobs

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Search Update: Virtual Earth & Like

Posted in Marketing, Advertising, Technology, Search at 12:32 pm by Coolz0r

There’s quite a lot of stuff going on in searchland these days, and since I’m kind of really interested in that, I’ll do a write-up on the major things that have occured. First of all there’s Virtual Earth 3D, the upgrade of Live Maps - part of Live Search. What’s special about this release is that, as I’ve predicted in May when Microsoft’s acquired Massive, there’s now advertising in the virtual world, somewhat like the sort you have in Second Life, but this time for actual companies in real life. The maps aren’t a sim, they’re real and for now there’s already 15 cities that have been virtually digitized. In these cities you can see clickable billboards which open a new browser window and load the site of the advertiser. I’m not quite sure if there are rules to follow, but I imagine you can’t have a clickable billboard for 7/11 above a Wall-Mart location. Common sense will be regulated I think. It sounds logical that business owners should be able to advertise in the near surroundings of their business, most likely floating above the business location. What I do wonder about is the fact that you cruise the cities (streetlevel view) and most likely will see the existing billboards that have been photographed as well. It would be cool if Microsoft could cash out on that and have their own ads featuring on those locations, or block out that free and uncontroled advertising to master the essential part, namely those ads they approve of. Here’s an example image of a floating billboard for Zip Realty in Boston. (courtesy of AdverLab)

• Nice review on AdverLab
• Read more on C|Net
• Read more on Clickz
• Hat tip: ‘Cross The Breeze

Next:

Like.com Visual Search. What exactly is it? Like allows users to find products by appearance. That means as much as: if you see a picture with an object in it you fancy, the like engine is able to render ’similar’ things for you. Check out how that works with, for instance, Brad Pitt. Like scores some celeb pics, defines the ‘hot zones’ that feature accessories and then turns those items into shopable content. There seems to be a co-operation with Getty images, because practically all celeb images have a (c) Getty under them. What’s pretty neat is that when you’ve clicked on a celeb pick to start a search, a lot of items are being retrieved which can then be customized by the user. With a color picker you can set the right color, with a slidebar you can set a price range and eventually you can select a brand, a specific site and a few more options to narrow down your search. Pretty clever stuff for online shoppers. It seems that, for now, the search is limited to jewelry, shoes, handbags and watches, but normally that should be