Picture 2The Sept. 18 issue of Entertainment Weekly (LA and NY only) will preview the upcoming fall season on CBS. Ho-hum right? Well, not quite. In these two cities, there will be special editions that will have “paper-thin interactive video players” built into the article. It will have multiple videos that the reader can choose from. Pretty cool. <full AdAge article here>

The question is, do they get a good bang for their buck? This cannot be a cheap venture so what do the partnering parties get out of the deal? Besides the notoriety of trying something new and capturing buzz. Both brands benefit from having similar markets (25-39 male) but other than that how will they determine whether this is a successful campaign?

 

Picture 1Recently, a social media analytics company – Sysomos Inc. – analyzed over 11.5 million Twitter accounts and have come up with very detailed findings. I have collected the summarized version, but you can check out the full version of their findings here.

  • 72.5% of all users joining during the first five months of 2009
  • 85.3% of all Twitter users post less than one update/day
  • 21% of users have never posted a Tweet
  • 93.6% of users have less than 100 followers, while 92.4% follow less than 100 people
  • 5% of Twitter users account for 75% of all activity (see the report on analysis of top-5% users)
  • New York has the most Twitters users, followed by Los Angeles, Toronto, San Francisco and Boston; while Detroit was the fast-growing city over the first five months of 2009
  • More than 50% of all updates are published using tools, mobile and Web-based, other than Twitter.com. TweetDeck is the most popular non-Twitter.com tool with 19.7% market share.
  • There are more women on Twitter (53%) than men (47%)
  • Of the people who identify themselves as marketers, 15% follow more than 2,000 people. This compares with 0.29% of overall Twitter users who follow more than 2,000 people.

These numbers make me feel better. At least I am not the only one that has problems reaching all 44 million + users. I guess I will slowly build up my empire one follower at a time.

 

I did a bit of dabbling on YouTube and found some fantastic old commercials. Most of them are from the age of innocence and naiveté. Back when smoking was sexy and endorsed by everybody. Who would have thought that having a creepy Ronald McDonald, waterskiing while smoking, or having Barney Rubble smoking would be a logical commercial?!  Check out the Windows 1.0 Steve Ballmer ad. It makes them seem like a start-up doomed to fail.I wonder if those guys in MadMen came up with these? Boy has society come a long way. Now it seems weird to see an ad or commercial for cigarettes. How the times have changed. Thankfully for the better.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=krXP_TUZqsk&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dearadvertisin.blogspot.com%2F&feature=player_embedded]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYvOgnabABU&feature=related]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVA9qLBViPc&feature=related]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL4hyATkQ74&feature=related]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNN0L2UoPvQ&feature=related]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCRakl0dbK0]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppk05iAh9cs]

 

There is a bit of hoopla around Modest Mouse‘s latest music video, King Rat. It is beautifully illustrated, it tells a very graphic bizarre tale of whales hunting humans. The subject matter is dark and deep. Funny, as soon as something like whale hunting gets humanized it becomes something outrageous, and evil. Perhaps this should be done for every way we treat animals. This video brings to the forefront a violent practice that has been going on quietly (somewhat) for centuries into mainstream conversation. Will it spark more public outcry? Or will it just stay as a “cool video”.

Equally important to the success of this video is that the late Heath Ledger was the producer, apparently he is still a hot topic. It is also nice to see that the illustrators get some kudos at the end. Justly deserved.

Throw in that is a great song from a popular band and it is the cat’s meow. A truly epic video.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQLhWqek7i0&feature=fvsr]

 

Here is a compilation of REAL products that make you wonder what was going through the minds of the “inventors”.

Imagine being the agency that get these products to create advertising for. Yikes. The best part of these products is watching the infomercials for them. The complete discomfort of the user prior to their purchase is priceless. Who knew that blankets can be such a hassle! I had no idea that using an ordinary mop was so difficult and confusing! Frustrations abound!!

I know that somehow, the Snuggie has been successful. But modifying it for dogs, c’mon. I love the video (here), especially the part where the whole family is at the ball game and giving high-fives. I’m sure they get invited to the neighbourhood BBQ’s. Great for college? Sure, but you will find yourself awfully lonely on a Friday night if caught wearing this thing!

The other products are no better. Take Shuffles. The video shows the horror of having to use a mop like the old days. Now cleaning can be fun! All I foresee is someone trying to figure skate with these and twisting an ankle doing a triple sow cow.

It is amazing the though process of some people. There is an abundance of the weird products out there. Stay tuned for more. Do you have any that you have come across?

#0

 

Picture 1With everybody pitching in these days offering effective ways to environmentally responsible, a Dutch company (Spranq) has constructed an eco typeface. Built by removing up to 1/5th of a letter using tiny circles can sustain readability while reducing ink usage. It doesn’t sound like a lot of savings, but over time can make a difference, however marginally. They have noted that it works best at 9-10 point size, which is what most people use as their body copy. Obviously it does not work at larger sizes, perhaps an updated offering will allow scaling while still using the small dots.

Skeptics are out there. They state that is built around a less-than-sexy typeface and is unsuitable with Serif fonts or cheap printers. But at least the idea is there. Is it just a gimmick that will quickly disappear? Will you download it and give it a try? Download it at www.ecofont.eu.

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