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

Tuesday, June 26, 2007
[ Links on a Tuesday. ]

+ ABC New's 100 top Blogs - which they sadly forgot to link. Dumb. Especially since there are some good blogs on their list.

MediaBoom.com.

Find the 25 design terms.

Tyson Foods to turn animal fat into fuel. Guess their ad campaign (Fueled by Tyson) isn't too far off!

Full text of CAN-SPAM Act.

Apple vs Microsoft font rendering

The Beastie Boys blog and flickr!

Labels: adgruntie, branding, creative, interactive, work

[ Spawning of youth culture online ]

+ Children of the web - How the second-generation Internet is spawning a global youth culture--and what business can do to cash in.

Flying blind is the unavoidable consequence of coming to terms with today's most important demographic group: the tens of millions of digital elite who are in the vanguard of a fast-emerging global youth culture. Because of smartphones, blogs, instant messaging, Flickr, MySpace, Skype, YouTube, digg, and de.lic.ious, young people scattered all over are instantly aware of what's happening to others like them everywhere else. This highly influential group, many of whom are also well-heeled, is sharing ideas and information across borders and driving demand for consumer electronics, entertainment, autos, food, and fashion. Think of it as a virtual melting pot. As the population of the young and Web-savvy grows into the hundreds of millions, the pot is going to boil. "This kind of globalization is happening. It's still a young phenomenon, but it's growing fast, and it's going to take a lot of companies by surprise," says Soumitra Dutta, a professor at graduate management school INSEAD in France.

We're now at the busy crossroads where globalization meets Web 2.0. This presents both a challenge to the old ways of doing business and an opportunity to gain tremendous leverage via the right goods and services. To thrive in this era, companies will have to figure out how to engage young people from all over the world when they conceive of products and services. Businesses need their help in turning concepts into finished products and, especially, in marketing them. Another angle: Companies can follow the trail of blogs and social networking sites to find and recruit young employees all over the world.

The target customer for major brands is someone like Malini Agarwal, a 30-year-old radio deejay in Mumbai. After growing up all over as the daughter of an Indian diplomat, Agarwal settled down in the city and two years ago launched Friday Club, which organizes social gatherings and now has branches in four Indian cities plus Hong Kong, London, New York, and Toronto. The club's multinational members make plans, keep in touch, and share photos via social networking sites. "It's a global family," Agarwal says.

Or consider Brazilian Fabricio Zuardi, 27. He grew up 180 miles from São Paulo and found a job via the Web with Silicon Valley tech startup Ning Inc. Zuardi now lives in Palo Alto, Calif., in an apartment he located on craigslist.org. He has no traditional phone, preferring Skype Internet-based service. He doesn't own a TV. In his spare time he posts items on his blog or writes software that he contributes to open-source development projects. His taste in music is eclectic: Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra, The Pogues. His friends are from all over, including Australia, Britain, Germany, and Slovenia. He has never met some of them face to face. "This is a generational shift," says Ning co-founder and Web browser pioneer Marc Andreessen. "A whole new generation grows up used to new technologies, and they're just different."

Zuardi and Agarwal represent the demise of the one-way globalization of American culture that reached its zenith in the 1970s and '80s. Then, U.S. marketers simply fed the worldwide appetite for Levi's, Coke, Madonna, and all things American. Now it's a two-way street. Americans are learning Bollywood dance steps at their local health clubs. M.I.A., an up-and-coming pop singer who has Sri Lankan roots and was brought up in London, intermingles hip-hop, reggae, and South Asian influences. And Japanese anime has swept the globe. One of the hottest anime properties is a Japanese TV series, Le Chevalier D'Eon, set in 18th century France. Within hours of each episode's airing in Japan, it's translated by fans into dozens of languages and posted illegally on the Web.

Addressing this vast market of globally dispersed young people will force companies to become new kinds of multinationals—plugged into the digital grid and quick to respond to shifts in demand that begin as tremors halfway around the world. Already a handful of companies have successfully navigated the digital Silk Road. Each has its own approach to a hard-to-nail-down demographic group. Tapping into the global video-game craze, DirecTV (DTV ) and international partners organized a professional league, Championship Gaming Series, and this month began broadcast tournaments on satellite TV. Meanwhile, Red Bull does little traditional TV advertising in the 100 countries where it sells energy drinks. More typical: a Web-based contest, Red Bull Art of the Can, where youngsters create sculptures out of Red Bull cans and submit photos of their handiwork. The prize: a trip for two to Switzerland.

This global-youth path will be full of pitfalls, too. Digital fads born in Japan could flop in Germany. And just because you can make a video and post it on YouTube doesn't mean you should. Japan's Hitachi Data Systems featured faded TV action hero Mr. T in an online video in a misguided attempt to promote its corporate data-storage technologies. Viewers hated it. Some observers wondered what Hitachi executives were smoking, selling such an obvious business-oriented product to a YouTube audience. "They should have put down the Web 2.0 pipe," quips David Parmet, principal of Web-marketing consultant Marketing Begins at Home.
[snip]
In fact, a key to the global digital youth market is that, at least so far, the kids are in charge. They're used to being pitched products; many of them welcome it. But they're turned off by clumsy attempts to win their approval and pry away their money. In many cases, rather than being entertained by others, they'd prefer to do it themselves: Witness all those wacky videos on YouTube. This has major implications for how products and marketing programs are conceived, planned, and executed. "It's going to change business and culture," says Vicki Lynn, president of Satellite Events Enterprises, a company that stages online events. "The old hierarchical system is falling away. It's now about the power of the people."
[snip]
One of the dilemmas of global youth marketing is that you can't control your message the way you could in the predigital days. Once a viral video or an online game is posted in cyberspace, it can be viewed by anybody in the world. David Rubin, the North America brand development director for Axe, recalls a time when he was getting a lot of pressure from headquarters to run an animated online game created by the British marketing team. It involved a young woman, a bed, and a feather. You can imagine the rest. He checked and discovered that, without him so much as lifting a finger, 40% of the traffic to the British Web site came from the U.S. "The idea isn't done somewhere in particular. It's just done. And it suddenly just happens. There are no borders. You can't control who sees it and comes to it."

Labels: adgruntie, online advertising, social networking, web, work

Monday, June 25, 2007
[ Brand Camp Blog ]

+ Tom Fishburne of Brand Camp now has a blog on marketing, etc. He gives some background on the comics he creates.

Labels: adgruntie, fun

[ The difference between myspace and facebook? Class. ]

+ Apparently there is a class divide between teens that use MySpace and those that use Facebook.

A six-month research project has revealed a sharp division along class lines among the American teenagers flocking to the social network sites.

The research suggests those using Facebook come from wealthier homes and are more likely to attend college.

By contrast, MySpace users tend to get a job after finishing high school rather than continue their education.

Labels: adcreep, media, online advertising, social networking, work

Tuesday, June 19, 2007
[ Clutter in a Web 2.0 world ]

+ The Attention Crash by Steve Rubel.

The problem is that human attention, unlike technology, has limits. There are only so many digital inputs we can realistically pay quality attention to in our busy, multitasked lives. Demands for our attention have outstripped our finite supply of time. A crash is coming, folks. But this time it's not financial -- it's personal.

[snip]

The attention crisis is an epidemic. There's no more room at the inn. People will cut back. The key question is: What will they trim? Ad-supported media, or content from peers?

Some will crave the media's ability to edit; others will want to stay closer to their friends. What's unmistakable is that choices will be made. And while there seems to be no end in sight for the growth of social media, if this happens en masse, will ad revenue sag, causing a financial pullback? Possibly. There's no black-and-white answer here.

I know I'm feeling this already myself and I'm not of the Crackberry ilk. With new web apps and social sites and the like popping up daily - there is so much information to play with, it's becoming a bit overwhelming. I do think at some point there will be a crash of some sort - how that will play out is yet to be determined though. From my own experience I know I play regularly with some sites and less so with others - or until I get some email reminding me that, yes, I belong to X and I should do something with it. I would assume for most sites there is a drop off rate of a certain time where the line between heavy users becomes much more established over the infrequent users. I wonder what that time period is...there must be an average. :)

Labels: adgruntie, culture, social networking, web

Monday, June 18, 2007
[ Cannes gets started ]

+ Cannes Lions shortlists are up for Direct, Promo, Media, Outdoor, Radio, and Press. Here's the rest of the schedule:

TUESDAY 19 JUNE AM
Winners:
Direct Lions, Promo Lions, Direct Agency of the Year
Shortlists:
Cyber Lions

WEDNESDAY 20 JUNE AM
Winners:
Radio Lions, Outdoor Lions, Media Lions,
Media Agency of the Year

THURSDAY 21 JUNE AM
Winners:
Cyber Lions, Press Lions, Cyber Young Creatives, Print Young Creatives, Interactive Agency of the Year

FRIDAY 22 JUNE AM
Shortlists:
Film Lions, Titanium and Integrated Lions

SATURDAY 23 JUNE PM
Winners:
Film Lions, Titanium and Integrated Lions, Film Young Creatives, Network of the Year, Agency of the Year, Palme d'Or

Labels: ad award, adgruntie

[ Some linkage for a Monday morning ]

+Photoshop lasso tool cheat sheet.

CoolMacApps.

Marketers, Meet the Millennial Generation - go here to get a password, etc to log in to read.

Cannes illustrates how ad industry is adapting.

Cannes Opens Door to the Internet World.

The newcomers hope to use the festival to preach the digital mantra. That includes lobbying long-established creative ad firms to embrace the Web. "You have to get the agencies who control at least two-thirds of the money that gets spent on digital to be real believers in your platform and your offering," says Mr. Mehdi at Microsoft.

Microsoft will also talk to marketers visiting the festival about the value of the Web in brand building, he says. Right now most marketers spend less than 10% of their overall marketing budget on the Internet, with traditional media such as television and print still dominating.

To reinforce its message, Microsoft -- in conjunction with Starcom MediaVest Group, a media buyer owned by Publicis Groupe -- will unveil a survey today about how young people use new technology to skip ads. The recent survey of 2,000 young adults, dubbed "Ad Avoiders," found that one in three avoids advertising. Devices such as digital video recorders make it easy for people to speed through TV commercials.

Traditional ad agencies also plan to use Cannes to boost their Web expertise. "My executive team from around the world...will be there scouting the digital talent" and looking for acquisitions, adds Bob Jeffrey, CEO of WPP Group's JWT.

"I am looking to recruit there heavily," says Tom Bedecarré, CEO of AKQA, a digital-ad shop in San Francisco. Mr. Bedecarré finds the setting a perfect place for digital recruiting because of the influx of talent from around the world. He points out that in the digital sector, U.S. agencies are increasingly looking to hire talent from different countries where some technologies have been embraced on a bigger scale.

Some ad executives say the digital hordes as well as the influx of marketing clients have, over time, changed the nature of the festival.

"Years ago when I went to Cannes it was a Hollywood kind of environment with creative people from all around the world; it felt like the Oscars," says JWT's Mr. Jeffrey. "The dynamics have changed."

Labels: adgruntie, design, online advertising, web, work

Wednesday, June 13, 2007
[ Random links to things ]

+ Spontaneous Human Combustion - watch out!

BeachShowerCam for AXE.

Want to get really pimped out? Check out GlowFur.

RIP Mr. Wizard.

Labels: life, sidetracks

[ Bud.tv: Swear Jar ]

Labels: adgruntie, commercial, watch

Tuesday, June 12, 2007
[ Links and some interactive news ]

+ Here's a "what the..." for you today. Anheuser-Busch will distribute Vermont Spirits' vodka made from maple syrup and milk sugar, Vermont Gold, Vermont Gold Vintage and Vermont White. Currently, the regional brands are available only in the Northeast. Now, Anheuser-Busch wholesalers in New England will begin distributing the brands, initially focusing on licensed states. Now I have a friend who drinks maple syrup (and yes he's a Vermonter) but, still. Kinda strange, but I'd give it a try.

AN Atlas Institute study has found that almost 67% of Web ad conversions (sales confirmations, requests for information, or other advertiser-defined actions) came from users who saw ads across multiple sites.

While such "overlap" might seem like common sense, analysts at Atlas Solutions--the research and technology arm of Microsoft's aQuantive--said that online advertisers are only beginning to quantify the cumulative effects of user exposure to ads across multiple sites.

Predicting that U.S. spending on behavioral targeted online advertising will nearly double in 2008--from $575 million this year to $1 billion--and nearly quadruple to $3.8 billion in 2011, eMarketer's new report, "Behavioral Targeting: Advertising Gets Personal," nonetheless concludes that "more development is needed before it is a fully mainstream marketing method."

Eyeblaster on Monday went live with a new suite of campaign management tools. The new version of Eyeblaster's campaign management suite offers channel integration capabilities, global campaign support, and a proprietary analytics module for measuring and reporting on a campaign.

IAB has launched a database of advertising specs from 88 major publishers in the interactive space. "By creating this centralized resource we hope to simplify the ad delivery process for advertising agencies and marketers, allowing them to leverage the power of interactive media across multiple publishers with greater efficiency," said Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO of the IAB. All participating publishers will be asked to update their specs in the Creative Spec Database within 72 hours of making changes to their site.

Labels: adgruntie, branding, interactive, online advertising, work

Saturday, June 09, 2007
[ More online stuff ]

+Top-Ten Principles of Consumer-Generated Advertising Campaigns from Online Spin. They include:
1. Connect The Program To Larger Business Goals.
2. Keep It Authentic.
3. Be Transparent.
4. Encourage Advocacy.
5. Empower Syndication.
6. Tap The Long Tail.
7. Capture The Moment.
8. Be Consistent.
9. Embrace Criticism And Deprecation.
10. Move From Campaign To Platform.

Advertising Trust Varies by Medium and Viewer Age.

Multiple Images and Unidentifiable "From" Names Trigger Spam Filters.

Labels: adgruntie, consumer-generated, interactive, online advertising, web, work

[ Future of Online Advertising ]

+ Future of Interactive Advertising - Fast Company reports on the Future of Online Advertising Conference in New York. Some blips from the article/conference:

Advertisers see the Internet as an opportunity to create a more "gauging relationship;" it provides them with multiple options to develop a deep relationship with, and a richer understanding of, their consumers.
[snip]
Chan Suh's prophecies [on what interactive advertising will look like in 20 years] were the most eloquent, although perhaps the most hopeful: he explained that the face of interactive advertising will change to become "an incredible dance partner, who knows when you are going to take a sudden step, knows when you're going to dip, and who knows what state of mind you're in based just on your behavior." His take on the future is that advertisers will be able to provide stories and ads based on what consumers want, and not just on what the clients want.
[snip]
With the advance of Internet advertising will the TV become less important?

According to Hilmi Ozguc [with the advance of Internet advertising TV] will not [become less important]: he argued that television will continue to remain an extremely important medium, however the face of television will inevitably change, with internet TV coming to the forefront in a manner that blurs any and all boundaries that currently distinguish the internet as a separate platform.

Labels: adgruntie, interactive, online advertising, work

Friday, June 08, 2007
[ Random stuff for a Friday ]

+ Salad dressing cleans frescos.

Witricity - wireless electricity from MIT. Neat! Now if they could just get free wifi everywhere. ;)

Labels: life, science, sidetracks

Wednesday, June 06, 2007
[ 'Taches and Cowboys for Burger King ]

+ Crispin 's all about the 'tache for the BK Western Whopper. Microsite at PetMoustache.com.

If you follow the first link to adweek, you can view the sororiety girl's spot. I'm not sure what moustaches have to do with cowboys but, I suppose I'm not way up on cowboy knowledge.

Labels: adgruntie, campaign, online advertising, web, work

[ Things to read from my inbox ]

+ More on CSS in email.

A-B readies "Here's To Beer" Father's Day push.

"Father's Day has been an American tradition for nearly a century, but the tradition of celebrating good times, good friends and good family over a beer is as old as the country itself," says Bob Lachky, executive vice president/global industry development, Anheuser-Busch, Inc. in a release. "We're encouraging adult sons and daughters to raise a glass with dad; and if you can't have one with him, have one for him."

Should your pre-rolls be low-fi?

Brands need to give up the illusion of massiveness to survive.

Ask.com's new interface. Last night I caught a new musical-inspired spot for Ask.com which was a bit odd. Can't find it online yet.

Amp'd Mobile goes bankrupt.

The gold rush of specialized cell-phone companies targeting niche audiences took another hit on June 1 as Amp'd Mobile, an edgy upstart geared to free-spending youths, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Apparently, those free-spending youths don't care much for paying their cell-phone bills. A court motion filed on June 4 explains that Amp'd "experienced an unprecedented growth of subscribers" between November, 2006, and February after running ads on MTV (VIA) about the wireless phone company's lineup of mobile music and video content.

Collecting payments from these subscribers proved to be a challenge, however. "Approximately 90% of the debtor's customers were on 18-month service contracts," according to the filing. "The debtor began to find a host of credit and collections problems (that) contributed ultimately to a liquidity crisis." By May, the number of nonpaying customers reached 80,000. That's nearly half of Amp'd's current customer base of 175,000 subscribers.

P. Diddy Helps Burger King Launch Late-Night Hours:

Burger King is announcing its late-night campaign via an ad showing Sean "P. Diddy" Combs, the brand's spokesman as of last October, in a spot called "CEO to CEO."

In the spot, Combs, who is CEO of his own production company, craves a late-night BK meal. He drives to a Burger King but finds the restaurant closed. He then goes to the home of Burger King's CEO, who drives Diddy and his crew to a Burger King. The role of BK CEO John Chidsey is played by an actor. Crispin, Porter + Bogusky, Miami, handled.

In-store signage and packaging designed by Diddy, who also owns and designs the Sean Jean apparel label, will support the rollout.

The problem with sampling?

Free samples are one of the oldest tricks in the marketer's book, and consumers often try them. But people don't necessarily change their buying habits as a result, said Dan Howard, chairman of the marketing department at Southern Methodist University's Cox School of Business.

"You're expected to use the free sample and say 'You know what? This is better than what I'm using,' " Mr. Howard said. "But with one little miserable piece of paper towel, how the heck are you going to know?"

Dow Chemicals and National Geographic team up to create maps showing the shortage of safe drinking water in many countries.

The internet is a necessity, not luxury.

Defining Social Media at the Online Spin Blog.

Kids socialize in a world of avatars.

Widgets and their effect on the internet and advertising.

Agencies don lab coats to reach consumers. (wsj.com - sub. req)

Dunkin' Donuts launches trip planning site at MyIcedCoffee.com.

Labels: ad news, adgruntie, branding, campaign, creative, email

Tuesday, June 05, 2007
[ Things I've got open in tabs ]

+ A blog list at elmanco.com, which is sadly missing Adland. Tsk tsk.

What the world eats at Time.com.

Reactee - the shirt that txts back. Talk about being a walking billboard. Shame you can't change the message on the tee itself. Too futuristic I guess. ;)

Apple's free recycling program.

Foods and Herbs is a site about Chinese Food Therapy.

6 Myths of Creativity from Fast Company - from 2004.

How celebrity-related words like "muffin top" got into the Collins dictionary.

Pigasso super cute piglets that paint!

Warner Group in Deal to Offer Free Music via Internet Site

Kraft debuts jingle promotion for Oreo cookies.

Labels: ad news, adgruntie, branding