Caffeinated posts from a copywriter/adgrunt. I write about advertising, design, astronomy, cooking, and pretty much anything else that strikes my fancy, including random bits of reference info for work purposes. You may also know me as 'that other gal' who helps run Adland. | make contact | RSS Feed | ATOM
Friday, August 29, 2003
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Skipping into the sunset
Artist creates a self-portrait a day. Wow.
Take a virtual tour of the Museo de Artes el Pais
A sweet mix of fonts related to movies/tv shows, bands, and name brand products at TypeNow.
Can you catch a fly with chopsticks? Give it a go and relive that famous Karate Kid scene.
Periodic table of Condiments could be useful. Print it out and make use of it.
Looking for a nice beer? Check out ratebeer.com and get feedback from others before plunking down your hard earned green. Neat.
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Dalai Lama, food and the Striper
Alcohol companies warned to tone down their raunchy ads- "In the UK, irresponsible drinking has been cited as a contributory factor in the recent increase in sexually transmitted diseases and underage pregnancies.
At a recent meeting of The Amsterdam Group (TAG), a European Union-wide drinks industry body, drinks company representatives were warned that brands must take a cold shower when it comes to advertising or face the kind of legal curbs currently imposed on tobacco advertising.
Adverts that have reportedly been criticised for their over-raunchy nature include Bacardi rum’s “Latin Quarter” campaign, a Smirnoff ad featuring a woman having a noisy orgasm in a theatre box and one for Carling depicting a man licking up beer that has been dribbled around a flat by a meagrely-dressed female."
"On the path to enlightenment, Salesforce.com has taken a detour. On Tuesday, the San Francisco dot-com mailed hundreds of letters apologizing for publicity posters that not only trumpeted its 100,000 subscribers but also featured the Dalai Lama, shown meditating under the slogan "There is no software on the path to enlightenment."
The poster had invited 500 guests to the Dalai Lama's speech, sponsored by the American Himalayan Foundation, on Sept. 5 at Davies Symphony Hall. Now, Salesforce.com, which sells a Web-based service for tracking sales and marketing, will not attend the event.
"We had no right to suggest that either the American Himalayan Foundation or His Holiness support us. We made a mistake. For any harm to the reputations of His Holiness and the American Himalayan Foundation, we apologize," the letter says. View the poster here.
This week Safeway, the UK supermarket chain, announced that it is to offer customers the opportunity to visit a local farm, allowing them to see just how their food is produced...Safeway argues that customers have become "divorced from their food". The new initiative is an attempt to re-unite them."
The largest American retailer of athletic shoes, Foot Locker Inc., is revamping the advertising and marketing for three of its retail chains. The ambitious overhaul, which includes the namesake flagship chain, is timed to coincide with the important back-to-school shopping season.
Two chains, Foot Locker, with from 1,400 to 1,500 stores, and Champs Sports, with about 600 stores, are getting new campaigns. The third, Lady Foot Locker, also with about 600 stores, is getting both new ads and a new look, intended to appeal to younger women. The new television, print and Internet campaigns, with budgets estimated to total more than $6 million, are from AKA Advertising in New York, which has worked for Foot Locker since 1999.
Thursday, August 28, 2003
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Vodka, Cars, Water, and Towels
Grey Goose won't back down - "At issue are ads for the French vodka Grey Goose. In the ads, Grey Goose calls itself the world's best-tasting vodka, based on the results of a 1998 taste test by the Beverage Testing Institute. The ads tout Grey Goose's winning score of 96 and list the scores of 31 competing vodkas. Among the brands that scored worse than Grey Goose is Belvedere, the Polish vodka that pioneered the luxury category in 1996.
Since that 1998 taste test, Belvedere has performed significantly better in two other taste tests by the same organization, posting scores of 90 and 91. Given those higher scores, Belvedere argues, it's not fair for Grey Goose to keep printing the results of its poor showing in 1998.
Belvedere took its case to an industry arbitrator, the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of the Better Business Bureaus. That group agreed that Grey Goose should stop running its ads. So did the National Advertising Review Board (NARB), another industry referee.
But Grey Goose this week said it won't abide by the nonbinding decisions of those agencies. Grey Goose, imported by Sidney Frank Importing Co. of New Rochelle, N.Y., plans to continue running its ads. That stance has angered Belvedere.
'I think it's a shame that Sidney Frank insists on continuing their game of deception,' said Steve Gill, president of Millennium Import. 'Two responsible organizations have found their Grey Goose ads to be false and deceptive. Grey Goose has been deceiving consumers who have believed these fraudulent and misleading ads. Whether they buy our vodka or not is not the issue. The issue is honesty and fairness and integrity.'
William Presti, chief legal counsel for Sidney Frank, said Grey Goose is within its rights to use the 1998 taste test results. 'We're pretty much sticking by our advertising statement,' he said. 'We're just proud that we're the highest-rated vodka of all time by the Beverage Testing Institute.'"
Um Hello??? Why are they using information from 1998? During the five years, hasn't a new study be done? One would think so. It seems sort of odd to cling to a result from testing done so long ago. Personally though, I don't really like Grey Goose.
New Chevy branding is on the way. Brent Dewar, general manager of Chevrolet, is pushing his marketing staff and advertising agency to create a single theme linking cars and trucks. The effort is part of General Motors' drive to push Chevrolet to 3 million sales in the United States by 2005.
Chevrolet sells its highly successful trucks with the tag line "Like a rock" and its less-successful cars with "We'll be there." "I've asked them to think different - not cars and trucks but Chevrolet," Dewar said.
Will your next brief include creating an ad for the divider sticks at the checkout counters? Floridian Ed Klopfer has started "Get-On-The- Stick" which sells ad space on blinking divider sticks that have penlight batteries and a circuit board inside, including four little light bulbs, a programmable chip and a motion sensor that turns the lights on.
"If a customer walks up to a register, it lights up," Klopfer said. "That brings attention to the advertisers. The sticks aren't unique. The lights aren't unique. But together they are a unique product."
Bottled Water Hype- "According to Co-op America, "as much as 40 percent of bottled water is actually bottled tap water, sometimes with additional treatment, sometimes not." So-called purified water can be drawn from any source as long as it is subsequently treated, which leaves some to wonder how that differs from good old tap water.
The number one (Aquafina) and two (Dasani) top-selling brands of bottled water in the U.S. both fall in the category of purified water. Dasani is sold by Coca-Cola, while Aquafina is a Pepsi product. As U.S. News & World Report explains, "Aquafina is municipal water from spots like Wichita, Kansas." The newsmagazine continues, "Coke's Dasani (with minerals added) is taken from the taps of Queens, New York, Jacksonville, Florida, and elsewhere." Everest bottled water originates from southern Texas, while Yosemite brand is drawn from the Los Angeles suburbs."
So I guess marketing and advertising *do* work to sell products. ;-)
Today is National Towel Amnesty Day. Holiday Inn is making use of the fact that many hotel guests take a token or two after their stay. They have decided to view the disappearance of its towels over the years as "affinity for a beloved brand" rather than petty theft. "Borrowed" towels from Holiday Inn hold a special place for our guests. The trademark script has shown up everywhere from bathroom floors to beach parties. However you got one and whatever reason... "About the towels, we forgive you." They are looking for people to sumbit stories of how they got their towels on their site here.
Wednesday, August 27, 2003
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Life on Earth
Travel campagins are created to bring in new business, tourists, and generally promote an area. Apparently the "What happens here, stays here" ads for Las Vegas are discouraging people from moving to the area. "They had no idea there was anything else here except for what they were seeing on the ads, which obviously are very provocative," Hollingsworth said. "A few of them have said they don't think the ads are in the best of taste."
"A mysterious crate labeled "Wild Animals" and blasting out lions' roars in a German town had locals running scared and animal lovers up in arms before it was revealed as an advertising stunt, police said.
"The crate was right in the town center and people thought there were real lions inside," a spokesman for police in the southwestern town of Darmstadt said. "It was loud. A lot of people were really scared." Police came to investigate after two women complained about the treatment of the animals apparently locked in the crate.
Gingerly approaching the crate, they ventured a look through a slit in its side but, instead of discovering caged beasts angrily stalking in the container, they saw a promotional video for Land Rover vehicles intercut with shots of roaring lions."
Timex takes a lickin' and changes it's famous tagline for the worse. They've gone from a line "Takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'" which is great and shows they make quality products to "Life is Ticking" which makes no sense and doesn't imply one thing about the company, product or type of consumers who buy it. Good god...there are people out there creating crap like this and I'm stuck working for piss poor pay writing cruise itineraries?!?!!? *sigh*
Monday, August 25, 2003
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Twist of lemon
Advertisers have long been searching for the answer to what makes their consumers tick and how to get their message to be the most memorable and attractive. An article in Forbes by Melanie Wells called In Search of the Buy Button takes a look at the use of neuroscience by advertisers and market researchers.
Exerpt from the article: "So far, researchers are figuring out which brain states facilitate product recognition and choice; they're related to primal urges like those for power, sex and sustenance. As for brand loyalty, it turns out that memory and emotion play a big role.
'In the not-too-distant future, firms will be able to tell precisely if an advertising campaign or product redesign triggers the brain activity and neurochemical release associated with memory and action,' predicts James Bailey, professor of organizational behavior at George Washington University."
There's something somewhat freaky about this. I guess I find it interesting but at the same time it's disturbing too.
Who trademarked "22"? "No one has so far actually, but clothing retailer Hollister is suing rival chain American Eagle Outfitters for using the number "22" on their apparel." Gotta love these PR ploys. Whee.
AOL launches blog service in the hopes it will help save thier sinking ship. I wish them luck- they need it.
Check out the design gallery at commarts.com. There's some great stuff.
Sunday, August 24, 2003
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Closing in on the Red Planet
Mars is closest to Earth since 57,617 BC, according to a computer model. Sweet. There's even more information at space.com with graphs and charts. This event officially occurs at 5:51am ET on Wednesday, August 27th. Check it out. And if you don't know where to look, look here for information and history of the Red Planet.
Addy
Is business ignoring marketing to women? Martha Barletta looks at this issue in her new book, "Marketing to Women," which looks at studies from evolutionary biology, genetics, neuroscience, and elsewhere. Barletta suggests there are real differences between men and women when it comes to perception, behavior, and communication.
Satirists claim ad slogan suits are a real joke- they are all around from FauxNews vs. Al Franken, to Verizon and the Communication Workers Union of America.
Friday, August 22, 2003
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Fried eggs and ham
The Gender Genie susses out if you're male or female by the way you write. Interesting.
Taco Bell gets in on the recall frenzy. Purchase specific items at any Californian TB and it will count as a vote towards either Arnold, Davis, or the other 134 canidates. Funny how they just lump all the others together.
Sunday, August 17, 2003
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Sunday Silly Sunday
Unconcious Mutterings::I say … and you think … ?
1. Only you:: alone
2. 33:: prime
3. Foundation:: basis
4. Accidents:: whoops
5. Hometown:: born
6. Natural:: organic
7. Bombastic:: Shaggy
8. Bachelor:: Pad
9. Far away:: yonder
10. Tony:: awards
Friday, August 08, 2003
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Fried fun
Happy, singing horses.
How much do you know about your senses? Find out with this quiz.
This cowfighter game is really a Red Bull viral net game.
Stop Motion Studies is some really funky stuff.
Fun games from bowling to breakout to pong.
Connect Four!- play against the computer or a fellow human. Sweet.
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In a meme minute
Weekly Wrap-Up#66 - Disney Movies
1. What was the first Disney movie you remember seeing? How did you like it? I think it was either Snow White or The Fox and The Hound. I'm not sure though. I remember being in the movie theatre watching them. I think I liked them both, except for the sad and scary parts.
2. What was your favorite Disney movie as a child? Why? Um...as a kid, probably Cinderella. Why I'm not quite sure but she got to play with cute animals and her wishes came true, so for a kid that's rather attractive.
3. What is your favorite Disney movie now? Why? Sleeping Beauty. I love that movie and I really can't say why. The story is just well done I guess. And I think it has one of the better looking storybook princes ;-)
4. What Disney character(s) do you most identify with? Why? This is a toughy. I really don't know. A lot of them are either too goody-goody or evil. I can't think of one that's more in the middle.
5. Describe your ideas for the next Disney movie (animated or live-action). I'd rather not. I wouldn't want anyone stealing my big ideas ;-) (kidding.)
3 for Thursday
1. What are the 3 driving laws you see broken most often? Not using signals, not stopping or yielding at designated areas, and speeding.
2. What are 3 things that drive you nuts about other drivers? Few around here turn on their head lights when it's downpouring or grey out. Just because it's not nighttime, doesn't mean people can see you! Not following marked signage. There's a few places where I drive regularly where no one coming into the roundabout (roadary) yields like they are supposed to! Another example is a one way street where there are two lanes for turning either left or right and there are too many morons who make a right from the left turn lane, often just barely escaping from an accident. And of course when you honk at them for being fuckwits, they get pissed off at you. Huh? Whateveer...if you can't tell a left arrow from a right arrow you shouldn't have a license! And thirdly, um, people who get pissed off when they are in the wrong...either wrong marked lane, nearly driving into you, etc.
3. What are 3 things you do while driving that you shouldn’t – or if you’re a perfect driver, what are 3 things you think others shouldn’t be doing while driving? Um, I tend to be rather dilligent on the road, for the most part. I guess looking at the passenger while speaking, paying more attention to the cell phone, etc than the road, and reading shouldn't be done.
Bonus: Have you ever experienced or seen a bad case of road rage? Yeah. *shudder*
Thursday Threesome::Two Day Sale::
Onesome: Two- Hey, we did 'threes' last week; let's try 'twos' this week. When you think of pairs, what comes to mind? Shoes.
Twosome: Day- Which day of the week do you live for? Is it getting back to work on Monday (right!) or maybe Friday, so you're gone! One of the weekend days? Which day works for you? Saturdays or Sundays...since I usually get to sleep in one of those days. :)
Threesome: Sale- Are you one of those people who will wait until something is on sale before you buy it? ...even if it's like forever? ...or do you just haul on down to the store whenever the urge hits? Hmmm? Planner, immediate or impulse? What type of buyer are you? Depends on my cash flow. Lately I've been a sale stalker. But if I need it, I'll buy it there and then.
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Freaky Friday
Cadbury gets competition from Nestle with the new Double Creme coming out next Easter. I'd say there's plenty of room for another Creme Egg type product. Heck, there's always room for c-h-o-c-o-l-a-t-e! oh, wait that's jello. ;-)
Levi's pulls commerical after complaints from the non-profit rail saftey group.
Sciency
You are what your mother ate according to a recent study. Very interesting stuff.
Thursday, August 07, 2003
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Randomness
JW's M*A*S*H 4077th Page and The 4077th Home Page. Sweet.
Toughpigs.com for all your muppet news.
Sweet Python stuff! from plush killer rabbits to a plush penguin on telly!
Simpson-rific!
Dude, I used to own these! ha!
Wednesday, August 06, 2003
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That's the sweet stuff
Go from binary to text or text to binary with a click! Sweet.
The Onion takes a look at the Gigli focus groups. hahahha! So good, so very good.
Groaners used in newswriting. Some good points, and some great ones. (via metafilter)
English to American dictionary. nice!
Pseudodictionary and it's randomizer
Urban Dictionary has some good and bad definitions, but some are amusing.
Cooks Thesaurus looks neat. Will need to spend more time going thorugh it. And Getty and RhymeZone and Bartleby.com
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Salacious Sayings
Pepsi rolls out Vanilla Pepsi- "Starting Saturday, Pepsi-Cola North America and its bottling partners will begin distributing Pepsi Vanilla, the company announced yesterday. The company is rolling out bottles and cans of both regular and Diet Pepsi Vanilla simultaneously into supermarkets, drug stores, mass merchandise outlets, convenience-and-gas stores and vending machines. Pepsi said aggressive introductory marketing support will begin in coming weeks and will include national television advertising, radio, Internet and outdoor advertising, sampling and point-of-purchase materials." Now that's all fine and dandy, although I really didn't like Vanilla Coke (maybe this will better), I wish Pepsi would do diet versions of their Pepsi Blue and Cherry Pepsi. Annoying that this oen gets rolled out with diet too.
How do you break through the clutter of a client's industry? Simple - Disruption. What is disruption? It's where you determine the conventions of an industry then deliberately break them. It's a great idea, and it should be done at all agencies for every client, IMHO.
Hahahahaha! "Multi-million dollar advertisements for flop flick Gigli are being pulled by disappointed studio Sony Pictures. The Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck starring movie has been a complete box office disaster and Sony has replaced the pre-booked TV ad slots with teasers for its more successful film Bad Boys II. One TV executive confides, "They're making every effort to pull advertising." Cinema chains are obliged to show Gigli for the next two weeks, but have already relegated to it to the smallest screens at the multiplexes." Yay!
Advertising on my fruit is odd. But being "in the biz" I do tend to check out the sites they are advertising. This time my pear had an ad for a farm in California. Only thing is "gotfruit" is a bit of a cop-out. Get a little more creative there guys.
Tuesday, August 05, 2003
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Lighten up and laugh
An amiga sent these to me. Thought I'd share.
In a crowded city at a busy bus stop, a beautiful young woman wearing a tight mini skirt was waiting for a bus. As the bus stopped and it was her turn to get on, she became aware that her skirt was too tight to allow her leg to come up to the height of the first step of the bus.
Slightly embarrassed and with a quick smile to the bus driver, she reached behind her to unzip her skirt a little, thinking that this would give her enough slack to raise her leg. She tried to take the step, only to discover that she couldn't.
So, a little more embarrassed, she once again reached behind her to unzip her skirt a little more, and for the second time attempted the step. Once again, much to her chagrin, she could not raise her leg. With a little smile to the driver, she again reached behind to unzip a little more and again was unable to take the step.
About this time, a large Texan who was standing behind her picked her up easily by the
waist and placed her gently on the step of the bus. She went ballistic and turned to the would-be Samaritan and yelled, "How dare you touch my body! I don't even know who you are!"
The Texan smiled and drawled, "Well, ma'am, normally I would agree with you, but after you unzipped my fly three times, I kinda figured we was friends."
MURPHY'S OTHER LAWS
1. Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.
2. He who laughs last, thinks slowest.
3. A day without sunshine is like, well, night.
4. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.
5. Back up my hard drive? How do I put it in reverse?
6. I just got lost in thought. It was unfamiliar territory.
7. When the chips are down, the buffalo is empty.
8. Seen it all, done it all. Can't remember most of it.
9. Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don't.
10. I feel like I'm diagonally parked in a parallel universe.
11. He's not dead. He's electroencephalographically challenged.
12. She's always late. In fact, her ancestors arrived on the "June flower."
13. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted and used against you.
14. I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be without sponges.
15. Honk if you love peace and quiet.
16. Pardon my driving, I'm reloading.
17. Despite the cost of living, have you noticed how it remains so popular?
18. Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.
19. It is hard to understand how a cemetery can raise its burial costs and blame it on the higher cost of living.
20. Just remember . if the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off.
21. The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability you'll get it wrong.
22. It is said that if you line up all the cars in the world end to end, someone would be stupid enough to try and pass them.
23. You can't have everything. Where would you put it?
24. Latest survey shows that 3 out of 4 people make up 75% of the world population.
25. If the shoe fits, get another one just like it.
26. The things that come to those that wait may be the things left by those who got there first.
27. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will sit in a boat all day drinking beer.
28. Flashlight: A case for holding dead batteries.
29. The shin bone is a device for finding furniture.
30. A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.
31. It was recently discovered that research causes cancer in rats.
32. Everybody lies, but it doesn't matter since nobody listens.
33. I wished the buck stopped here, as I could use a few.
34. I started out with nothing, and I still have most of it.
35. When you go into court, you are putting yourself in the hands of 12 people that weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty.
36. Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
[ ]
There there, here here
A row has broken out between Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Mobile and the Times over the newspaper's refusal to run an advertisement attacking Orange after its rival bought out all the advertising space in Friday's edition of the paper. The decision to dump the ad, which was slated to appear the day after Orange's sponsored edition of the paper, has prompted Virgin to withdraw all future advertising worth several million pounds.
Stefano Hatfield has some great points. Funny that many don't seem to see what seems so logical. This morning I caught part of a KFC ad. They just used the old footage they had with Mr. Alexander edited out. Splice. Dice. Reuse. Repeat.
USA Today takes a look at those awful Vegas ads. I guess I'm slightly jaded since I think of Vegas as a bit of a pit. Gambling, hookers, drugs, and endless buffets don't really appeal to me.
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I love "insert word here"
London Underground and Transport for London launched a joint TV ad campaign at the end of July to remind Londoners of one of the quickest and most convenient ways to enjoy the many and diverse attractions available in their world class city. "It’s easy to forget what is so readily accessible on our own doorstep. People travel from all over the world to visit these wonderful places while for us they are just a Tube ride away," said LU marketing spokesman Paul Amlani-Hatcher. At present just 15pc of Tube passengers account for 60pc of journeys, so the priority is to fill the thousands of seats that remain empty outside the daily rush hour. Ken Livingstone, London's mayor, recently assumed control of London Underground along with Transport for London. TFL says the campaign has been two years in development and its timing has nothing to do with this change.
Links have images of the campaign for those of you who want to see.
Related link: Advertising on the London Underground- has some interesting stuff to stare at.
Brand Messages and Loyal Viewers- Research undertaken by Interpublic Group's Initiative Media and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology shows that "engaged audiences" (comprising viewers who are devoted to a particular TV show) make especially receptive targets for marketers' messages. For example, for respondents who try "never to miss a show" compared with "casual viewers," brand recall increased to 30 percent from 17 percent, and for viewers who watch the entire show comapred with those who "flip back and forth," brand recall jumped to 25 percent from 12 percent."
"Someone in the industry needs to lead the way by launching an all-new beer aimed at women - the world's first fem-ale," said Ms Waters, who was elected chairman of the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) in April this year."
Personal Branding- How have you branded yourself? Can you change it...or do you even care?
New ads show bad habits hurt babies. It's a scene that seldom needs to be staged: Two women in jeans, puffing and sipping away in a crowded bar. But this time, it's staged. The two 20-something actresses are players in a local commercial that will begin airing in late summer with a warning to women of childbearing age: Prepare your body for pregnancy even if you aren't planning one. That means giving up cigarettes and alcohol, two habits that present well known but commonly ignored risks to a fetus, said Penny Womeldorff, director of the Healthy Start program at West Virginia University. Womeldorff and her staff have tried to educate women through family planning clinics, but mainly found people who were trying to prevent a pregnancy, not plan one." Um, yeah. Whatever. If they are talking childbearing age...that starts at like 13 or something doesn't it? Although I guess they wouldn't be drinking (legally). Still. Get out of my face dammit.
Arrogant at Fallon?- "In the shadow of this giant lay the rest of the Twin Cities ad agencies. Executives at those firms recognize Fallon's contributions to this market's visibity and respect the agency's work, but the adoration is tinged with accusations of aloofness and arrogance. Local leaders say Fallon has been so focused on polishing its national image for the past decade, it has failed to invest in the local marketing communications industry."
Monday, August 04, 2003
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Some other foodie info
Local Harvest is another useful site for finding locally grown produce and CSA farms. Nice.
And take a peek at the Mount Horeb Mustard Museum Online. Funky.
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Unconscious Mutterings: I say … and you think … ?
Hook:: Line and sinker
Greg:: Proops
Sixty:: Six (trombones :) )
Breakfast:: buffet
Dollar:: store
Unpredictable:: wild
O:: Hole
Bathing suit:: evil lighting and mirrors in stores
Inconsiderate:: rude
Marx:: ism
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Meteor Showers bring August Fireballs
August is usually regarded as "meteor month" in the Northern Hemisphere, as one of the best shooting star displays of the year reaches its peak near midmonth. The annual Perseid meteor shower is beloved by everyone from meteor enthusiasts to summer campers. The Perseids are predicted to peak overnight on Aug. 12-13, when Earth travels through the middle of a belt of debris laid down in space by comet Swift-Tuttle. But a major obstacle, the Moon, will work against attempts to spot the fiery space dust this year. The Moon will turn full on Aug. 12, severely hampering observations just at the wrong time. Bright moonlight will flood the sky all through that entire night. three "windows" of dark skies will be available between moonset and the first light of dawn on the mornings of Aug. 8, 9 and 10 (conveniently on the weekend)."
Two University of Toronto astronomers and a U.S. colleague have made the first-ever measurements of the size and shape of massive dark matter halos that surround galaxies. "Our findings give us the clearest picture yet of a very mysterious part of our universe," says principal investigator Henk Hoekstra, a post-doctoral fellow at U of T's Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics. "Using relatively simple physics, we can get our first direct glimpse of the size and shape of these halos which are more than fifty times more massive than the light-producing part of galaxies that we can see." He and his team presented their findings July 25 at the 25th general assembly of the International Astronomical Union in Sydney, Australia."
"The search for life on other planets could soon extend to solar systems that are very different from our own, according to a new study by an Ohio State University astronomer and his colleagues. In fact, finding a terrestrial planet in such a solar system would offer unique scientific opportunities to test evolution, said Andrew Gould, professor of astronomy here. In a recent issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters, he and his coauthors calculated that NASA's upcoming Space Interferometry Mission (SIM) would be able to detect habitable planets near stars significantly more massive than the sun. Scientists have typically thought that the search for life should focus on finding planets like Earth that orbit stars like the sun, but this new finding shows that "the field is wide open," Gould said."
[ ]
To a stale piece of toast
Advertisiers aren't trying very hard according to this commentary on mascots for Arby's and Red Roof Inn. I think there are some good points brought up and the characters do live in the shadows of other great icons, but, it's not always easy to create pop culture icons either.
Sexually explicit ads arouse UK anger. "In a survey that confirms the bottom and the breast as the UK's two most ubiquitous marketing tools, the ASA has revealed that the number of advertisements criticised as "sexist" has more than trebled since the mid-1990s. By the end of June this year, 668 complaints about 135 ads had already been received - 186 of them over the current easyJet poster featuring a pair of bulging breasts under the strapline "Discover weapons of mass distraction"."
In the latest attempt to boost its core condensed-soup business, the Campbell's Soup replaces its trademark homespun ads ads with edgier ones. Commercials show the Australian-born Mr. Elliott bursting into the homes of real families at mealtime to suggest they "Make it Campbell's instead." In three scripted spots, Mr. Elliott enters the homes of 16-year-old rap star Bow Wow, TV hostess B. Smith and celebrity chef Sandra Lee."
Eight ways to fix creative departments- "Ad people are in a rut -- primarily because they're unable to think of themselves as anything other than ad people. For all the excitement surrounding new communications technologies, fresh programming and innovative measurement tools, when agency people gather, their tendency is to wax nostalgically about the '60s Creative Revolution, wonder why clients no longer respect them and talk about ways to make 30-second network TV commercials more entertaining." Hmm. Interesting.
Viral campaigns - from hoaxes to funny videos. "Seeding viral campaigns may be a science, but creating the content is more of an art. "You never know if something will work until you've tried it," says Kirby. "And it may not happen when you want it to happen." No matter how well-planned the strategy is, if the content isn't up to scratch - or if it simply doesn't appeal to internet users - then the campaign is doomed."
Friday, August 01, 2003
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Friday fun stuff
Plastic Martians website has some games to play. Check them out. Plastic Balls is a modern version of breakaway...it's different.
Watch the economists groove as the stocks rise and fall.
Mancala Snails is just like mancala but using snails instead of shells or beads. Fun.
Cute kitty follows your mouse. It's funky that he's breathing too. Nice touch.
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What's that smell?
New campaign for Old Spice's new deodorant, which P.& G. says uses new technology that provides 24-hour odor protection, is the first extension of Old Spice's Red Zone line. "Gary Stibel, founder and principal of the New England Consulting Group in Westport, Conn., called Procter & Gamble's introduction of the new deodorant a smart move. 'It's for people who are really athletic, who sweat, who are into the outdoors,' he said. 'This is the ultimate in terms of protection, and it may go beyond protection to attraction, because that's what Axe is trying to do for Unilever. This is an offensive response on P.& G.'s part.' One skeptic of the introduction was Irma Zandl, a consultant who focuses on consumers under the age of 30. 'It is not clear to me why anybody would want a deodorant and not an antiperspirant,' she said. 'The only thing I can think is that this is supposed to go against Axe," she added. "But I can't see people switching from Axe to this, because they use Axe the same way they use spray-on cologne.' "
Designer shades for dogs! Yup. That's right. It started as a product to protect the eyes of rescue dogs from the glare of the sun on snow fields. Now they're the "hottest" thing for dog owners.
"Germany said on Friday, August 1st, it would take legal action against a decision to extend a European Union ban on tobacco advertising to radio, newspapers and the Internet, in an effort to help its cash-strapped press.But Germany wants national newspapers and magazines that are not sold in other countries to be excluded from the ban.
"We intend to take legal action," a spokesman for the German finance ministry said, adding the complaint was being prepared now and could be handed to the European Court of Justice in the next few weeks.
Asked about Germany's intention to contest the ban, EU Commission spokesman Thorsten Muench said: "I would not be surprised, but nevertheless disappointed as the German government speaks out in favour of tobacco control measures."
Not all chains kill off local shops business- "When Krispy Kreme recently opened its first Massachusetts store in Medford's Wellington Circle, its opening day sales total was a company-record $73,813.
And with Dunkin' Donuts already firmly entrenched in the area Lowell alone has 10 of them small-time doughnut shops must be on the verge extinction, right? Hardly. Dozens of mom 'n' pop doughnut shops thrive in Greater Lowell today, relying on everything from concocting a superior recipe, to holding the line on prices and down-home neighborliness."
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Skipping into the sunset
Artist creates a self-portrait a day. Wow.
Take a virtual tour of the Museo de Artes el Pais
A sweet mix of fonts related to movies/tv shows, bands, and name brand products at TypeNow.
Can you catch a fly with chopsticks? Give it a go and relive that famous Karate Kid scene.
Periodic table of Condiments could be useful. Print it out and make use of it.
Looking for a nice beer? Check out ratebeer.com and get feedback from others before plunking down your hard earned green. Neat.
posted @ 12:34 PM | Link to This | 
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1 comments
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1 comments
Comments:
A little off topic, Guys... I have a question. A week ago I trapped on this site:
[url=http://www.rivalspot.com]Rivalspot.com - Ps3 Live Tournaments[/url]
They say you can play online sports game tournaments on any console for cash... had anyone tried that before? Looks like a cool idea...
Are there any other sites where you can play sports games for real moneys? I Googled and found only Bringit.com and Worldgaming.com but it looks these guys don't specialize in sport gamez. Any suggestions?
By 
, at
12:18 PM
[ ]
Dalai Lama, food and the Striper
Alcohol companies warned to tone down their raunchy ads- "In the UK, irresponsible drinking has been cited as a contributory factor in the recent increase in sexually transmitted diseases and underage pregnancies.
At a recent meeting of The Amsterdam Group (TAG), a European Union-wide drinks industry body, drinks company representatives were warned that brands must take a cold shower when it comes to advertising or face the kind of legal curbs currently imposed on tobacco advertising.
Adverts that have reportedly been criticised for their over-raunchy nature include Bacardi rum’s “Latin Quarter” campaign, a Smirnoff ad featuring a woman having a noisy orgasm in a theatre box and one for Carling depicting a man licking up beer that has been dribbled around a flat by a meagrely-dressed female."
"On the path to enlightenment, Salesforce.com has taken a detour. On Tuesday, the San Francisco dot-com mailed hundreds of letters apologizing for publicity posters that not only trumpeted its 100,000 subscribers but also featured the Dalai Lama, shown meditating under the slogan "There is no software on the path to enlightenment."
The poster had invited 500 guests to the Dalai Lama's speech, sponsored by the American Himalayan Foundation, on Sept. 5 at Davies Symphony Hall. Now, Salesforce.com, which sells a Web-based service for tracking sales and marketing, will not attend the event.
"We had no right to suggest that either the American Himalayan Foundation or His Holiness support us. We made a mistake. For any harm to the reputations of His Holiness and the American Himalayan Foundation, we apologize," the letter says. View the poster here.
This week Safeway, the UK supermarket chain, announced that it is to offer customers the opportunity to visit a local farm, allowing them to see just how their food is produced...Safeway argues that customers have become "divorced from their food". The new initiative is an attempt to re-unite them."
The largest American retailer of athletic shoes, Foot Locker Inc., is revamping the advertising and marketing for three of its retail chains. The ambitious overhaul, which includes the namesake flagship chain, is timed to coincide with the important back-to-school shopping season.
Two chains, Foot Locker, with from 1,400 to 1,500 stores, and Champs Sports, with about 600 stores, are getting new campaigns. The third, Lady Foot Locker, also with about 600 stores, is getting both new ads and a new look, intended to appeal to younger women. The new television, print and Internet campaigns, with budgets estimated to total more than $6 million, are from AKA Advertising in New York, which has worked for Foot Locker since 1999.
Thursday, August 28, 2003
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Vodka, Cars, Water, and Towels
Grey Goose won't back down - "At issue are ads for the French vodka Grey Goose. In the ads, Grey Goose calls itself the world's best-tasting vodka, based on the results of a 1998 taste test by the Beverage Testing Institute. The ads tout Grey Goose's winning score of 96 and list the scores of 31 competing vodkas. Among the brands that scored worse than Grey Goose is Belvedere, the Polish vodka that pioneered the luxury category in 1996.
Since that 1998 taste test, Belvedere has performed significantly better in two other taste tests by the same organization, posting scores of 90 and 91. Given those higher scores, Belvedere argues, it's not fair for Grey Goose to keep printing the results of its poor showing in 1998.
Belvedere took its case to an industry arbitrator, the National Advertising Division (NAD) of the Council of the Better Business Bureaus. That group agreed that Grey Goose should stop running its ads. So did the National Advertising Review Board (NARB), another industry referee.
But Grey Goose this week said it won't abide by the nonbinding decisions of those agencies. Grey Goose, imported by Sidney Frank Importing Co. of New Rochelle, N.Y., plans to continue running its ads. That stance has angered Belvedere.
'I think it's a shame that Sidney Frank insists on continuing their game of deception,' said Steve Gill, president of Millennium Import. 'Two responsible organizations have found their Grey Goose ads to be false and deceptive. Grey Goose has been deceiving consumers who have believed these fraudulent and misleading ads. Whether they buy our vodka or not is not the issue. The issue is honesty and fairness and integrity.'
William Presti, chief legal counsel for Sidney Frank, said Grey Goose is within its rights to use the 1998 taste test results. 'We're pretty much sticking by our advertising statement,' he said. 'We're just proud that we're the highest-rated vodka of all time by the Beverage Testing Institute.'"
Um Hello??? Why are they using information from 1998? During the five years, hasn't a new study be done? One would think so. It seems sort of odd to cling to a result from testing done so long ago. Personally though, I don't really like Grey Goose.
New Chevy branding is on the way. Brent Dewar, general manager of Chevrolet, is pushing his marketing staff and advertising agency to create a single theme linking cars and trucks. The effort is part of General Motors' drive to push Chevrolet to 3 million sales in the United States by 2005.
Chevrolet sells its highly successful trucks with the tag line "Like a rock" and its less-successful cars with "We'll be there." "I've asked them to think different - not cars and trucks but Chevrolet," Dewar said.
Will your next brief include creating an ad for the divider sticks at the checkout counters? Floridian Ed Klopfer has started "Get-On-The- Stick" which sells ad space on blinking divider sticks that have penlight batteries and a circuit board inside, including four little light bulbs, a programmable chip and a motion sensor that turns the lights on.
"If a customer walks up to a register, it lights up," Klopfer said. "That brings attention to the advertisers. The sticks aren't unique. The lights aren't unique. But together they are a unique product."
Bottled Water Hype- "According to Co-op America, "as much as 40 percent of bottled water is actually bottled tap water, sometimes with additional treatment, sometimes not." So-called purified water can be drawn from any source as long as it is subsequently treated, which leaves some to wonder how that differs from good old tap water.
The number one (Aquafina) and two (Dasani) top-selling brands of bottled water in the U.S. both fall in the category of purified water. Dasani is sold by Coca-Cola, while Aquafina is a Pepsi product. As U.S. News & World Report explains, "Aquafina is municipal water from spots like Wichita, Kansas." The newsmagazine continues, "Coke's Dasani (with minerals added) is taken from the taps of Queens, New York, Jacksonville, Florida, and elsewhere." Everest bottled water originates from southern Texas, while Yosemite brand is drawn from the Los Angeles suburbs."
So I guess marketing and advertising *do* work to sell products. ;-)
Today is National Towel Amnesty Day. Holiday Inn is making use of the fact that many hotel guests take a token or two after their stay. They have decided to view the disappearance of its towels over the years as "affinity for a beloved brand" rather than petty theft. "Borrowed" towels from Holiday Inn hold a special place for our guests. The trademark script has shown up everywhere from bathroom floors to beach parties. However you got one and whatever reason... "About the towels, we forgive you." They are looking for people to sumbit stories of how they got their towels on their site here.
Wednesday, August 27, 2003
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Life on Earth
Travel campagins are created to bring in new business, tourists, and generally promote an area. Apparently the "What happens here, stays here" ads for Las Vegas are discouraging people from moving to the area. "They had no idea there was anything else here except for what they were seeing on the ads, which obviously are very provocative," Hollingsworth said. "A few of them have said they don't think the ads are in the best of taste."
"A mysterious crate labeled "Wild Animals" and blasting out lions' roars in a German town had locals running scared and animal lovers up in arms before it was revealed as an advertising stunt, police said.
"The crate was right in the town center and people thought there were real lions inside," a spokesman for police in the southwestern town of Darmstadt said. "It was loud. A lot of people were really scared." Police came to investigate after two women complained about the treatment of the animals apparently locked in the crate.
Gingerly approaching the crate, they ventured a look through a slit in its side but, instead of discovering caged beasts angrily stalking in the container, they saw a promotional video for Land Rover vehicles intercut with shots of roaring lions."
Timex takes a lickin' and changes it's famous tagline for the worse. They've gone from a line "Takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'" which is great and shows they make quality products to "Life is Ticking" which makes no sense and doesn't imply one thing about the company, product or type of consumers who buy it. Good god...there are people out there creating crap like this and I'm stuck working for piss poor pay writing cruise itineraries?!?!!? *sigh*
Monday, August 25, 2003
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Twist of lemon
Advertisers have long been searching for the answer to what makes their consumers tick and how to get their message to be the most memorable and attractive. An article in Forbes by Melanie Wells called In Search of the Buy Button takes a look at the use of neuroscience by advertisers and market researchers.
Exerpt from the article: "So far, researchers are figuring out which brain states facilitate product recognition and choice; they're related to primal urges like those for power, sex and sustenance. As for brand loyalty, it turns out that memory and emotion play a big role.
'In the not-too-distant future, firms will be able to tell precisely if an advertising campaign or product redesign triggers the brain activity and neurochemical release associated with memory and action,' predicts James Bailey, professor of organizational behavior at George Washington University."
There's something somewhat freaky about this. I guess I find it interesting but at the same time it's disturbing too.
Who trademarked "22"? "No one has so far actually, but clothing retailer Hollister is suing rival chain American Eagle Outfitters for using the number "22" on their apparel." Gotta love these PR ploys. Whee.
AOL launches blog service in the hopes it will help save thier sinking ship. I wish them luck- they need it.
Check out the design gallery at commarts.com. There's some great stuff.
Sunday, August 24, 2003
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Closing in on the Red Planet
Mars is closest to Earth since 57,617 BC, according to a computer model. Sweet. There's even more information at space.com with graphs and charts. This event officially occurs at 5:51am ET on Wednesday, August 27th. Check it out. And if you don't know where to look, look here for information and history of the Red Planet.
Addy
Is business ignoring marketing to women? Martha Barletta looks at this issue in her new book, "Marketing to Women," which looks at studies from evolutionary biology, genetics, neuroscience, and elsewhere. Barletta suggests there are real differences between men and women when it comes to perception, behavior, and communication.
Satirists claim ad slogan suits are a real joke- they are all around from FauxNews vs. Al Franken, to Verizon and the Communication Workers Union of America.
Friday, August 22, 2003
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Fried eggs and ham
The Gender Genie susses out if you're male or female by the way you write. Interesting.
Taco Bell gets in on the recall frenzy. Purchase specific items at any Californian TB and it will count as a vote towards either Arnold, Davis, or the other 134 canidates. Funny how they just lump all the others together.
Sunday, August 17, 2003
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Sunday Silly Sunday
Unconcious Mutterings::I say … and you think … ?
1. Only you:: alone
2. 33:: prime
3. Foundation:: basis
4. Accidents:: whoops
5. Hometown:: born
6. Natural:: organic
7. Bombastic:: Shaggy
8. Bachelor:: Pad
9. Far away:: yonder
10. Tony:: awards
Friday, August 08, 2003
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Fried fun
Happy, singing horses.
How much do you know about your senses? Find out with this quiz.
This cowfighter game is really a Red Bull viral net game.
Stop Motion Studies is some really funky stuff.
Fun games from bowling to breakout to pong.
Connect Four!- play against the computer or a fellow human. Sweet.
[ ]
In a meme minute
Weekly Wrap-Up#66 - Disney Movies
1. What was the first Disney movie you remember seeing? How did you like it? I think it was either Snow White or The Fox and The Hound. I'm not sure though. I remember being in the movie theatre watching them. I think I liked them both, except for the sad and scary parts.
2. What was your favorite Disney movie as a child? Why? Um...as a kid, probably Cinderella. Why I'm not quite sure but she got to play with cute animals and her wishes came true, so for a kid that's rather attractive.
3. What is your favorite Disney movie now? Why? Sleeping Beauty. I love that movie and I really can't say why. The story is just well done I guess. And I think it has one of the better looking storybook princes ;-)
4. What Disney character(s) do you most identify with? Why? This is a toughy. I really don't know. A lot of them are either too goody-goody or evil. I can't think of one that's more in the middle.
5. Describe your ideas for the next Disney movie (animated or live-action). I'd rather not. I wouldn't want anyone stealing my big ideas ;-) (kidding.)
3 for Thursday
1. What are the 3 driving laws you see broken most often? Not using signals, not stopping or yielding at designated areas, and speeding.
2. What are 3 things that drive you nuts about other drivers? Few around here turn on their head lights when it's downpouring or grey out. Just because it's not nighttime, doesn't mean people can see you! Not following marked signage. There's a few places where I drive regularly where no one coming into the roundabout (roadary) yields like they are supposed to! Another example is a one way street where there are two lanes for turning either left or right and there are too many morons who make a right from the left turn lane, often just barely escaping from an accident. And of course when you honk at them for being fuckwits, they get pissed off at you. Huh? Whateveer...if you can't tell a left arrow from a right arrow you shouldn't have a license! And thirdly, um, people who get pissed off when they are in the wrong...either wrong marked lane, nearly driving into you, etc.
3. What are 3 things you do while driving that you shouldn’t – or if you’re a perfect driver, what are 3 things you think others shouldn’t be doing while driving? Um, I tend to be rather dilligent on the road, for the most part. I guess looking at the passenger while speaking, paying more attention to the cell phone, etc than the road, and reading shouldn't be done.
Bonus: Have you ever experienced or seen a bad case of road rage? Yeah. *shudder*
Thursday Threesome::Two Day Sale::
Onesome: Two- Hey, we did 'threes' last week; let's try 'twos' this week. When you think of pairs, what comes to mind? Shoes.
Twosome: Day- Which day of the week do you live for? Is it getting back to work on Monday (right!) or maybe Friday, so you're gone! One of the weekend days? Which day works for you? Saturdays or Sundays...since I usually get to sleep in one of those days. :)
Threesome: Sale- Are you one of those people who will wait until something is on sale before you buy it? ...even if it's like forever? ...or do you just haul on down to the store whenever the urge hits? Hmmm? Planner, immediate or impulse? What type of buyer are you? Depends on my cash flow. Lately I've been a sale stalker. But if I need it, I'll buy it there and then.
[ ]
Freaky Friday
Cadbury gets competition from Nestle with the new Double Creme coming out next Easter. I'd say there's plenty of room for another Creme Egg type product. Heck, there's always room for c-h-o-c-o-l-a-t-e! oh, wait that's jello. ;-)
Levi's pulls commerical after complaints from the non-profit rail saftey group.
Sciency
You are what your mother ate according to a recent study. Very interesting stuff.
Thursday, August 07, 2003
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Randomness
JW's M*A*S*H 4077th Page and The 4077th Home Page. Sweet.
Toughpigs.com for all your muppet news.
Sweet Python stuff! from plush killer rabbits to a plush penguin on telly!
Simpson-rific!
Dude, I used to own these! ha!
Wednesday, August 06, 2003
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That's the sweet stuff
Go from binary to text or text to binary with a click! Sweet.
The Onion takes a look at the Gigli focus groups. hahahha! So good, so very good.
Groaners used in newswriting. Some good points, and some great ones. (via metafilter)
English to American dictionary. nice!
Pseudodictionary and it's randomizer
Urban Dictionary has some good and bad definitions, but some are amusing.
Cooks Thesaurus looks neat. Will need to spend more time going thorugh it. And Getty and RhymeZone and Bartleby.com
[ ]
Salacious Sayings
Pepsi rolls out Vanilla Pepsi- "Starting Saturday, Pepsi-Cola North America and its bottling partners will begin distributing Pepsi Vanilla, the company announced yesterday. The company is rolling out bottles and cans of both regular and Diet Pepsi Vanilla simultaneously into supermarkets, drug stores, mass merchandise outlets, convenience-and-gas stores and vending machines. Pepsi said aggressive introductory marketing support will begin in coming weeks and will include national television advertising, radio, Internet and outdoor advertising, sampling and point-of-purchase materials." Now that's all fine and dandy, although I really didn't like Vanilla Coke (maybe this will better), I wish Pepsi would do diet versions of their Pepsi Blue and Cherry Pepsi. Annoying that this oen gets rolled out with diet too.
How do you break through the clutter of a client's industry? Simple - Disruption. What is disruption? It's where you determine the conventions of an industry then deliberately break them. It's a great idea, and it should be done at all agencies for every client, IMHO.
Hahahahaha! "Multi-million dollar advertisements for flop flick Gigli are being pulled by disappointed studio Sony Pictures. The Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck starring movie has been a complete box office disaster and Sony has replaced the pre-booked TV ad slots with teasers for its more successful film Bad Boys II. One TV executive confides, "They're making every effort to pull advertising." Cinema chains are obliged to show Gigli for the next two weeks, but have already relegated to it to the smallest screens at the multiplexes." Yay!
Advertising on my fruit is odd. But being "in the biz" I do tend to check out the sites they are advertising. This time my pear had an ad for a farm in California. Only thing is "gotfruit" is a bit of a cop-out. Get a little more creative there guys.
Tuesday, August 05, 2003
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Lighten up and laugh
An amiga sent these to me. Thought I'd share.
In a crowded city at a busy bus stop, a beautiful young woman wearing a tight mini skirt was waiting for a bus. As the bus stopped and it was her turn to get on, she became aware that her skirt was too tight to allow her leg to come up to the height of the first step of the bus.
Slightly embarrassed and with a quick smile to the bus driver, she reached behind her to unzip her skirt a little, thinking that this would give her enough slack to raise her leg. She tried to take the step, only to discover that she couldn't.
So, a little more embarrassed, she once again reached behind her to unzip her skirt a little more, and for the second time attempted the step. Once again, much to her chagrin, she could not raise her leg. With a little smile to the driver, she again reached behind to unzip a little more and again was unable to take the step.
About this time, a large Texan who was standing behind her picked her up easily by the
waist and placed her gently on the step of the bus. She went ballistic and turned to the would-be Samaritan and yelled, "How dare you touch my body! I don't even know who you are!"
The Texan smiled and drawled, "Well, ma'am, normally I would agree with you, but after you unzipped my fly three times, I kinda figured we was friends."
MURPHY'S OTHER LAWS
1. Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.
2. He who laughs last, thinks slowest.
3. A day without sunshine is like, well, night.
4. Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.
5. Back up my hard drive? How do I put it in reverse?
6. I just got lost in thought. It was unfamiliar territory.
7. When the chips are down, the buffalo is empty.
8. Seen it all, done it all. Can't remember most of it.
9. Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don't.
10. I feel like I'm diagonally parked in a parallel universe.
11. He's not dead. He's electroencephalographically challenged.
12. She's always late. In fact, her ancestors arrived on the "June flower."
13. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted and used against you.
14. I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be without sponges.
15. Honk if you love peace and quiet.
16. Pardon my driving, I'm reloading.
17. Despite the cost of living, have you noticed how it remains so popular?
18. Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.
19. It is hard to understand how a cemetery can raise its burial costs and blame it on the higher cost of living.
20. Just remember . if the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off.
21. The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability you'll get it wrong.
22. It is said that if you line up all the cars in the world end to end, someone would be stupid enough to try and pass them.
23. You can't have everything. Where would you put it?
24. Latest survey shows that 3 out of 4 people make up 75% of the world population.
25. If the shoe fits, get another one just like it.
26. The things that come to those that wait may be the things left by those who got there first.
27. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will sit in a boat all day drinking beer.
28. Flashlight: A case for holding dead batteries.
29. The shin bone is a device for finding furniture.
30. A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.
31. It was recently discovered that research causes cancer in rats.
32. Everybody lies, but it doesn't matter since nobody listens.
33. I wished the buck stopped here, as I could use a few.
34. I started out with nothing, and I still have most of it.
35. When you go into court, you are putting yourself in the hands of 12 people that weren't smart enough to get out of jury duty.
36. Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
[ ]
There there, here here
A row has broken out between Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Mobile and the Times over the newspaper's refusal to run an advertisement attacking Orange after its rival bought out all the advertising space in Friday's edition of the paper. The decision to dump the ad, which was slated to appear the day after Orange's sponsored edition of the paper, has prompted Virgin to withdraw all future advertising worth several million pounds.
Stefano Hatfield has some great points. Funny that many don't seem to see what seems so logical. This morning I caught part of a KFC ad. They just used the old footage they had with Mr. Alexander edited out. Splice. Dice. Reuse. Repeat.
USA Today takes a look at those awful Vegas ads. I guess I'm slightly jaded since I think of Vegas as a bit of a pit. Gambling, hookers, drugs, and endless buffets don't really appeal to me.
[ ]
I love "insert word here"
London Underground and Transport for London launched a joint TV ad campaign at the end of July to remind Londoners of one of the quickest and most convenient ways to enjoy the many and diverse attractions available in their world class city. "It’s easy to forget what is so readily accessible on our own doorstep. People travel from all over the world to visit these wonderful places while for us they are just a Tube ride away," said LU marketing spokesman Paul Amlani-Hatcher. At present just 15pc of Tube passengers account for 60pc of journeys, so the priority is to fill the thousands of seats that remain empty outside the daily rush hour. Ken Livingstone, London's mayor, recently assumed control of London Underground along with Transport for London. TFL says the campaign has been two years in development and its timing has nothing to do with this change.
Links have images of the campaign for those of you who want to see.
Related link: Advertising on the London Underground- has some interesting stuff to stare at.
Brand Messages and Loyal Viewers- Research undertaken by Interpublic Group's Initiative Media and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology shows that "engaged audiences" (comprising viewers who are devoted to a particular TV show) make especially receptive targets for marketers' messages. For example, for respondents who try "never to miss a show" compared with "casual viewers," brand recall increased to 30 percent from 17 percent, and for viewers who watch the entire show comapred with those who "flip back and forth," brand recall jumped to 25 percent from 12 percent."
"Someone in the industry needs to lead the way by launching an all-new beer aimed at women - the world's first fem-ale," said Ms Waters, who was elected chairman of the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) in April this year."
Personal Branding- How have you branded yourself? Can you change it...or do you even care?
New ads show bad habits hurt babies. It's a scene that seldom needs to be staged: Two women in jeans, puffing and sipping away in a crowded bar. But this time, it's staged. The two 20-something actresses are players in a local commercial that will begin airing in late summer with a warning to women of childbearing age: Prepare your body for pregnancy even if you aren't planning one. That means giving up cigarettes and alcohol, two habits that present well known but commonly ignored risks to a fetus, said Penny Womeldorff, director of the Healthy Start program at West Virginia University. Womeldorff and her staff have tried to educate women through family planning clinics, but mainly found people who were trying to prevent a pregnancy, not plan one." Um, yeah. Whatever. If they are talking childbearing age...that starts at like 13 or something doesn't it? Although I guess they wouldn't be drinking (legally). Still. Get out of my face dammit.
Arrogant at Fallon?- "In the shadow of this giant lay the rest of the Twin Cities ad agencies. Executives at those firms recognize Fallon's contributions to this market's visibity and respect the agency's work, but the adoration is tinged with accusations of aloofness and arrogance. Local leaders say Fallon has been so focused on polishing its national image for the past decade, it has failed to invest in the local marketing communications industry."
Monday, August 04, 2003
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Some other foodie info
Local Harvest is another useful site for finding locally grown produce and CSA farms. Nice.
And take a peek at the Mount Horeb Mustard Museum Online. Funky.
[ ]
Unconscious Mutterings: I say … and you think … ?
Hook:: Line and sinker
Greg:: Proops
Sixty:: Six (trombones :) )
Breakfast:: buffet
Dollar:: store
Unpredictable:: wild
O:: Hole
Bathing suit:: evil lighting and mirrors in stores
Inconsiderate:: rude
Marx:: ism
[ ]
Meteor Showers bring August Fireballs
August is usually regarded as "meteor month" in the Northern Hemisphere, as one of the best shooting star displays of the year reaches its peak near midmonth. The annual Perseid meteor shower is beloved by everyone from meteor enthusiasts to summer campers. The Perseids are predicted to peak overnight on Aug. 12-13, when Earth travels through the middle of a belt of debris laid down in space by comet Swift-Tuttle. But a major obstacle, the Moon, will work against attempts to spot the fiery space dust this year. The Moon will turn full on Aug. 12, severely hampering observations just at the wrong time. Bright moonlight will flood the sky all through that entire night. three "windows" of dark skies will be available between moonset and the first light of dawn on the mornings of Aug. 8, 9 and 10 (conveniently on the weekend)."
Two University of Toronto astronomers and a U.S. colleague have made the first-ever measurements of the size and shape of massive dark matter halos that surround galaxies. "Our findings give us the clearest picture yet of a very mysterious part of our universe," says principal investigator Henk Hoekstra, a post-doctoral fellow at U of T's Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics. "Using relatively simple physics, we can get our first direct glimpse of the size and shape of these halos which are more than fifty times more massive than the light-producing part of galaxies that we can see." He and his team presented their findings July 25 at the 25th general assembly of the International Astronomical Union in Sydney, Australia."
"The search for life on other planets could soon extend to solar systems that are very different from our own, according to a new study by an Ohio State University astronomer and his colleagues. In fact, finding a terrestrial planet in such a solar system would offer unique scientific opportunities to test evolution, said Andrew Gould, professor of astronomy here. In a recent issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters, he and his coauthors calculated that NASA's upcoming Space Interferometry Mission (SIM) would be able to detect habitable planets near stars significantly more massive than the sun. Scientists have typically thought that the search for life should focus on finding planets like Earth that orbit stars like the sun, but this new finding shows that "the field is wide open," Gould said."
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To a stale piece of toast
Advertisiers aren't trying very hard according to this commentary on mascots for Arby's and Red Roof Inn. I think there are some good points brought up and the characters do live in the shadows of other great icons, but, it's not always easy to create pop culture icons either.
Sexually explicit ads arouse UK anger. "In a survey that confirms the bottom and the breast as the UK's two most ubiquitous marketing tools, the ASA has revealed that the number of advertisements criticised as "sexist" has more than trebled since the mid-1990s. By the end of June this year, 668 complaints about 135 ads had already been received - 186 of them over the current easyJet poster featuring a pair of bulging breasts under the strapline "Discover weapons of mass distraction"."
In the latest attempt to boost its core condensed-soup business, the Campbell's Soup replaces its trademark homespun ads ads with edgier ones. Commercials show the Australian-born Mr. Elliott bursting into the homes of real families at mealtime to suggest they "Make it Campbell's instead." In three scripted spots, Mr. Elliott enters the homes of 16-year-old rap star Bow Wow, TV hostess B. Smith and celebrity chef Sandra Lee."
Eight ways to fix creative departments- "Ad people are in a rut -- primarily because they're unable to think of themselves as anything other than ad people. For all the excitement surrounding new communications technologies, fresh programming and innovative measurement tools, when agency people gather, their tendency is to wax nostalgically about the '60s Creative Revolution, wonder why clients no longer respect them and talk about ways to make 30-second network TV commercials more entertaining." Hmm. Interesting.
Viral campaigns - from hoaxes to funny videos. "Seeding viral campaigns may be a science, but creating the content is more of an art. "You never know if something will work until you've tried it," says Kirby. "And it may not happen when you want it to happen." No matter how well-planned the strategy is, if the content isn't up to scratch - or if it simply doesn't appeal to internet users - then the campaign is doomed."
Friday, August 01, 2003
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Friday fun stuff
Plastic Martians website has some games to play. Check them out. Plastic Balls is a modern version of breakaway...it's different.
Watch the economists groove as the stocks rise and fall.
Mancala Snails is just like mancala but using snails instead of shells or beads. Fun.
Cute kitty follows your mouse. It's funky that he's breathing too. Nice touch.
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What's that smell?
New campaign for Old Spice's new deodorant, which P.& G. says uses new technology that provides 24-hour odor protection, is the first extension of Old Spice's Red Zone line. "Gary Stibel, founder and principal of the New England Consulting Group in Westport, Conn., called Procter & Gamble's introduction of the new deodorant a smart move. 'It's for people who are really athletic, who sweat, who are into the outdoors,' he said. 'This is the ultimate in terms of protection, and it may go beyond protection to attraction, because that's what Axe is trying to do for Unilever. This is an offensive response on P.& G.'s part.' One skeptic of the introduction was Irma Zandl, a consultant who focuses on consumers under the age of 30. 'It is not clear to me why anybody would want a deodorant and not an antiperspirant,' she said. 'The only thing I can think is that this is supposed to go against Axe," she added. "But I can't see people switching from Axe to this, because they use Axe the same way they use spray-on cologne.' "
Designer shades for dogs! Yup. That's right. It started as a product to protect the eyes of rescue dogs from the glare of the sun on snow fields. Now they're the "hottest" thing for dog owners.
"Germany said on Friday, August 1st, it would take legal action against a decision to extend a European Union ban on tobacco advertising to radio, newspapers and the Internet, in an effort to help its cash-strapped press.But Germany wants national newspapers and magazines that are not sold in other countries to be excluded from the ban.
"We intend to take legal action," a spokesman for the German finance ministry said, adding the complaint was being prepared now and could be handed to the European Court of Justice in the next few weeks.
Asked about Germany's intention to contest the ban, EU Commission spokesman Thorsten Muench said: "I would not be surprised, but nevertheless disappointed as the German government speaks out in favour of tobacco control measures."
Not all chains kill off local shops business- "When Krispy Kreme recently opened its first Massachusetts store in Medford's Wellington Circle, its opening day sales total was a company-record $73,813.
And with Dunkin' Donuts already firmly entrenched in the area Lowell alone has 10 of them small-time doughnut shops must be on the verge extinction, right? Hardly. Dozens of mom 'n' pop doughnut shops thrive in Greater Lowell today, relying on everything from concocting a superior recipe, to holding the line on prices and down-home neighborliness."
Cup of Java © 2002-2009
keep on using that brain.