upside-down-umbrella: February 2009

Friday, February 27, 2009

Mini Breakthrough

There's not much to say about this video other than it's a must watch.

I originally came across this on Tom Leech's blog Ad Badger

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

BusinessBeware.biz

I received this Business Week article through my Twitter channel. I only put part of the story here so you can get the idea but it's worth a read.

BusinessBeware.biz receives complaints from all over the U.S. and parts of Canada. Contractors can search for complaints about prospective customers via Zip Code or county, state, or province name. A list of customers then comes up, but the user can't see the text of the actual complaints without registering and paying the $5 fee. Likewise, customers who have registered can view what contractors have written about them; they then have the option of posting an explanation with their side of the matter.

For more go to:

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/content/feb2009/db20090219_941204.htm

On Course

Humor doesn't work unless it reflects some semblance of truth. This new spot from Nike puts a humorous spin on what a lot of golfers are probably thinking.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Maeda Tweets

John Maeda is absolutely inspiring. Here are a few entries from his Twitter stream that I had to post here so I could come back and re-read.

John Maeda:

• is thinking how VISION = Prediction (see the future) + Intuition (*feel* the future) + Realization (make the future).

• is noting world stat that 1 in 2 people are of Asia, and 30% population in India are under 15 = the total US population.

• is marinating on what actress Glenn Close told him, "Art has the power to rearrange you."

• weighs the distinction between a printed book and an electronic download. The gap closes for reasons of time, not matter.

• when a student says they love a subject of study, they are saying that they love the teacher even more. Learning is personal.

• is noting how changes happening on the edges always find their way in — why outside the box is the entrance to the box.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

w h i t e s p a c e

It's rare to see a newspaper break their formula of a splashy cover photo to communicate. Today's edition of the Sun-Times does a great job of getting the point across with a strategic use of whitespace.

Monday, February 16, 2009

The Printed Blog

The Printed Blog is having a tagline contest. Here are the rules pulled from their Facebook page:

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We want you, our readers and online community, to come up with the new tagline for The Printed Blog. Then we will narrow them down and let you vote on your favorite. The future of TPB tagline is now in your hands!

As a little incentive to get those creative juices flowing we are offering up a brand new Nintendo Wii to our winner. Your tag line will appear in the March 3rd issue of The Printed Blog (along with credit).

How to enter:

* You can have three tagline entries. Only three, so make them good!

* Make sure to comment with your taglines by Thursday, February 19th at 11:59PM. The following day we will pick finalists and put up a poll.

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Here are my entries:

1) Today's Journalism In Your Hands.

2) people+pixels+print

3) New Media. New Ideas. New Edition.

The End Of Advertising

Ever since I've been in the creative industry there has been doomsday talk about the end of advertising. After watching the premier of Trust Me I wish advertising had died a long time ago so there would be no reason to create this disastrous program.

I know it's just a TV show but these characters wouldn't last a day in the biz with their mid-day naps and constant lying. (I'd really like to see their expense reports). To top it all off the work that Rothman, Greene & Mohr produces is uninspiring on several levels. "What can you do with one hand?" is their big idea for mobile campaign. Really? Who let that one through?

I wasn't expecting the show to be as rich as Mad Men, but at least those chain smoking, binge drinking, bigot minded, over sexed characters could come up with some great spots (the Kodak Carousal pitch for example). I guess I was hoping for some connection to reality about creative industry considering it's a very dynamic period, rather than see a bunch of jerks trying to beat the system.

When I worked at gsw-w a few co-workers produced a short series about life in advertising. I think it's about 100 times more entertaining than anything TNT has produced about the business. I suggest TNT gives Sean and Eric a call to get some script ideas.