If there’s one thing we need to embrace and celebrate as we ring in the new year, it’s this: 

The pregnancy test made elegant.

Thanks to Amalgamated, those clever NYC boutiquers who brought us the Ben & Jerry’s animated shorts, ClearBlue Easy has never been so hip n’ so fresh.  Who knew preg-o scares could be so cutting-edge?

For those of you with your eyes closed tight and your ears covered, the
world went and changed on us. And the place where that has been
abundantly evident is in politics.

First, the world of blogging, podcasting, and YouTube created a national
story out of what would have otherwise been an under the rug event for
once-presidential hopeful, and now jobless, George Allen. And that’s just
one example of many.

But now, John Edwards is trying to use these new tools to spread his
message, rather than run from them like most other candidates, Democrat or
Republican. Edwards not only has a blog, but will also be hosting online
town hall forums (how insanely different does that make the game). And to
top it off, he officially announced his intent to run for President on, you
guessed it, YouTube.

Below is his announcement. Whether or not you agree with his policies,
Edwards should be commended for making it easier than ever before for his
message to not only be heard, but also debated. This level of
transparency should be expected from all of our candidates.

What would Times Sqaure be without the ever-present neon glow?  What would the streets be like without the wild-postings, cab toppers, and bus posters?  What if you could walk for miles without seeing a single advertisement?  

The residents of Sao Paulo are about to find out.  The city of 11 million (think New York and a half) has recently passed a law banning all outdoor advertising on the grounds that the visual pollution is becoming overwhelming.  Currently, the city’s advertising landscape resembles that of New York.  Any flat space is fair game for advertising, including an estimated 13,000 billboards that have cropped up around the city.

Of course, as with any major change, this law hasn’t come without a hefty debate.  Proponents argue that the city will be a cleaner, more aesthetically pleasing place.  Advertisers, however, argue that it infringes upon their freedom of speech and will cost the city income and jobs.

I think it sounds like an awesome homework assigment for an ad school portfolio class.  Come up with an outdoor/guerilla campaign that fits within the new guidelines for advertising in Sao Paulo.  While I wouldn’t necessarily choose this action from a professional standpoint, I think that advertisers should view it as an opportunity.  A forced commitment to color outside the lines.

From here. 

Maybe because it’s almost the end of the year, but. 

Sometimes it just hits you.

Everything you’re doing seems clunky, unwieldy, sticky almost.  
Creativity isn’t flowing like it should… you know, whatever should means.

Little tasks become all-encompassing.  Building a spreadsheet seems like you’re being asked to choreograph a broadway show.  About rabbits and steamboats.

You haven’t had a spark in months.
Wait, what’s a spark?

Your thought-process resembles a 13-year-old in beat-up Chucks idly kicking a rock down an alley. 

***

Self-reflection before noon is never healthy. 

I mention all this because my head became unstuck just this morning, upon turning to Hugh MacLeod’s archives in an attempt to pep my flatline.

I’ve mentioned before how much I respect how Hugh, but I just need to say it again.

He’s transformed himself into a brand in the cleanest, purest, most uncluttered, unclunky, un-unwieldy way possible. 

Looking at what he’s created- a piece of his personality quietly branded into brilliance- inspires me every single day.

 

Someday, I’ll find the right rock to kick.
 

Because it’s the holiday season and I have no attention span to post about anything other than drivel, I proudly present the most drivelsome drivel I could find.  I desperately wish I was in the meeting where these products were born.  Because there’s no way those meetings did not involve grain alcohol and kool-aid.

Without further hesitation… last minute gifts for…

Your friend with the fat face: The Japanese Face Slimmer.

Your dog (or brother) who has weak conrol of his poop chute: The STA-ON Diaper Harness 

Your booze-loving friend who just can’t decide between beer and champagne, try a hybrid guaranteed to taste like giraffe piss.

(and to pop the cork like a total over-noveltied douche: get this.)

Oh, oh, holidays are fun.

[photo cred to petgadgets.com. I LOVE that picture; the dog is so clearly like, "Fricking WHAT, bitches? You think I put my own ass in this plastic thing?  F you, just… just… F you."]
 

From here:

The Danes certainly seem to enjoy stirring things up. Last year it was the cartoons satirizing the Prophet Muhammad. This year it’s an ad insulting Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Except this time things are a little different. A Danish art group that specializes in poking fun at world leaders, managed to send in a Trojan horse — and get their insult published in Tehran itself.

At first glance the advertisement placed in the Tehran newspaper on Wednesday seemed to be declaring support for the Iranian leader. Beneath an image of the hard-line president, there was a series of apparently sympathetic statements such as "Support his fight against Bush," or "Iran has the right to produce nuclear energy." However, on closer inspection things were not quite so benign: the first letters of each phrase when read from top to bottom spelt out the less than subtle insult "S-W-I-N-E."

Someone find this ad!  Please, send it to us or post a link in the comments. 

As I was watching TV last night (I consider it research) I was accosted during a commercial break by Greg Creed, president of Taco Bell (who sounds a lot like the guy who hawks that mail-order broom on the infomercials).  This wasn’t a commercial though.  It was a an apology plain an simple.  For those who missed it, Taco Bell was recently responsible for spreading E. Coli in four Northeastern states, apparently via a bad batch of lettuce (first spinach, now lettuce…?).  

  Greg offered his assurances that it’s once again safe to eat at Taco Bell.  I don’t remember exactly what he said, but it definitely included the words "E. Coli" and "CDC". The commercial and press release can both be found at tacobell.com under "press releases".

Now, I don’t claim to be a PR guy.  I don’t eat at Taco Bell if I can help it.  And I was aware of the outbreak when it was reported recently. But somehow, this apology didn’t sit well with me.  It was yesterday’s news.  It was forgotten.  And now I have the president of the company helping me re-associate Taco Bell with E. Coli and the Center for Disease Control.  Seems to me that Taco Bell has resurrected a dead horse simply for the sake of killing it again.  And then kicking it.

Sometimes I just feel like Cartman, rejoicing at the misfortunes of others. And, for least for the last five minutes, that would be one of those times.

As you know, Sony and their agency Zipatoni, made the outrageously idiotic move of launching what I will now dub a "milli vanilli blog" in a lame attempt to dupe kids into buying a PSP. And, now, those kids strike back.

Alliwantforxmasisapsp.com (mirror) has been relaunched as alliwantforxmasisaps3.com, a beautiful knockoff made by someone throwing a punch back their way. And, to whoever made it, I salute you.

Check it out, it’s pretty funny. As they describe the site:

"consider us your own personal ps3 hype machine, here to help you wage
a holiday assault on ur parents, girl, granny, boss, homosexual brother,
anorexic sister, pet chicken, hom3y l0ver fr1end, all th0se d0wn wit
OPP, hip-hopinest cousin jed from da mid-west (hes got mad skillz on
the m1c y0) _whoever_ so they know what you really want."

They even provide a nice, sly link to this story about Zipatoni losing the Miller account.

Very nice, boys, very nice.

I did.  Sort of.  I went by Sunday afternoon only to find a line that went around the block.  Someone at Wooster Collective noticed a scrawl near the door that read "hour 5. almost in".  I just didn’t have a five hour wait in me.  There is a flickr pool going for photos of the building/event.  Definitely worth checking out.

Here’s a couple of shots I took outside:

Since I’m pretty sure Jaynie won’t sing her own praises on this one, I’m going to do it for her.  To keep it simple, Wiffiti rocks!  For those who aren’t familiar with Wiffiti, it’s basically a bulletin board that displays text messages (ok, so that’s a really simple description since they bounce around a TV screen and look cool).  But the fact of the matter is, Wiffiti is an entirely new way to interact.  

Thanks to Jaynie, we had a Wiffiti screen hooked up at a recent party that I hosted, and it was a huge success.  Of course, its always fun to see what kind of banter ends up on screen as the night wears on.  And with the option to post either anonymously or not, the possibilities for interaction are almost endless.  The intricacies are a tad tough to figure out at first, but once you get moving its easy. 

Will Wiffiti be the central life of the party?  No, that’s what alcohol is for.  Will it be a fun toy that everyone will enjoy exploring?  Heck yeah!  And given the proliferation of UGC in today’s marketing world, it’s not out of the question that companies could pick this up in some form as an addition to their retail/web experience.

Yup, more podcasting goodness including one of your friends at the BMA.

This time, it’s the Dallas Marketing Zoo, hosting by Scott Baradell of the Media Orchard and Spin Thicket, with a cast rounded out by Brian Clark of Copyblogger, Cam Beck and Paul Herring of Chaos Scenario, and me, Paul McEnany.

And now for the best part, you get to be a part of it, too!

Just call 646.915.8556 on Monday, December 18th at 8:00pm CST, to listen or join in to the live podcast.

Be there!

With a subtle wink and a nod to the blogosphere, Nike + IPod debuts its next commercial, featuring music by none other than OkGo, and some dude running on a treadmill.

While 70% of the country will think nothing of it, and assume that it’s just another cool ad from Nike and Apple, the other 30% get to feel like they’re all part of one big inside joke. That knowing nod shows why those guys are two of the best  And all they had to do was pay attention.

 

The new "spot" from Honda, featuring Asimo the robot, by the good boys and girls at Wieden and Kennedy. To find out more about Asimo and the campaign, go here.

Ready for the BAMCast 2?

In this episode, topics include the Top Ten (by ten, I mean seven) Reasons Why Shopping in an Ikea Store Is Like Death, The Wine Marketing (more than a) Minute, and Second Life (sucking the life outta my iBook).

Ann posted about podcasts this morning, so I felt extra pressure to get ‘er up today…

First, let’s start with what Greg Verdino pulled down from the Zipatoni website:

"At Zipatoni, buzz marketing means getting into consumers’ conversations. We know we can’t control the dialogue. But
we tap into the right insight to deliver an idea that will get opinion
leaders and even entire communities talking about it on their own. Just like that, we’ve converted the consumer into a passionate and credible message-bearer."

Ok, bullshit liars. Agreed? Yes, agreed.

And now, Mediapost is reporting that there was comment left by someone claiming to be a Zipatoni executive:

"Please know that we approached the client
initially with this scenario and they said ‘who cares if people find
out? As long as it is funny, we do this stuff all of the time.’"

More "woe is me" bullshit from Zipatoni. I don’t care what the client said, I don’t care if Sony threatened to cancel your relationship if you didn’t do it. Your credibility is not worth it, and a whiny, "Sony made us do it" attitude is simply not good enough. You are adults with brains. You knew what you were doing was wrong, but you did it anyway. Black and white.

Now, you can do something about it by starting to return phone calls, getting transparent, and saying your sorry. It’s that simple.

So we all know that Sony, and their agency Zipatoni, made the shockingly ridiculous move of creating a fake blog for the new PSP. Seriously, shouldn’t they know that you can’t do that by now? Anyway, Sony at least fessed up and admitted to it quick, which is more than can be said for some companies. (cough, cough..walmart, cough…)

Here’s the post:

"Busted. Nailed. Snagged. As many of you have figured out (maybe our
speech was a little too funky fresh???), Peter isn’t a real hip-hop
maven and this site was actually developed by Sony. Guess we were
trying to be just a little too clever. From this point forward, we will
just stick to making cool products, and use this site to give you
nothing but the facts on the PSP.

Sony Computer Entertainment America"

While I do appreciate their quick reply, I still think it’s just a little too flippant. Ok, Sony, you’re a major conglomerate, with an already ethically questionable past. We know. So, next time, try not to be so "too cool for school" with that pathetic attempt at speaking "our" language. Who wrote that, really?

A more meaningful apology would have come from your CEO or CMO expressing how truly sorry you are, not a poor attempt at a joke, like some kid begging to be popular. It’s just sad.

And, just to make your head completely explode, they took down all previous comments, and shut off any ability to post new ones. Now that’s transparency and authenticity!

Now, Zipatoni go sit in the corner with Edelman. You guys are in time-out!

 

I have a thing for hotel lounges.  I don’t know what it is: the dimness, the studded mahogany leather, the snack mix (most including almonds, not peanuts), the backlit bottles, the go-ahead-just-steal- my-wallet Manhattans… 

Perhaps I’m just inherently swanky.   Or perhaps I just like to get wasted under flattering lighting.  Whatever.

Well, hotel lounges have taken a new direction.  Room Service is a new concept nightclub which just took root in NYC.  The lounge area is sectioned off into 9 "intimate chambers," separated from the main space by thick curtains.  Each little cove offers "couches, chandeliers, a mini-fridge, dvd player and a drawer stocked with mouthwash and condoms."

Apparently, you and your date(s) are free to make yourselves quite comfortable.

Because I’m totally rich and awesome and have twelve brittany spaniels and eight burberry bags and 17 pairs of emerald-studded Jimmy Choos and lots of big fat platinum diamond rings, I know about this stuff.

Also, I read Springwise.

[photo cred] 

As if we didn’t know it already, the balance of power between big business and the consumer is closing faster than the gap between Britney Spears and sanity. More often, we get to see the interworkings of customer service as customers record and disseminate how they were treated, good or bad. And, guess which one gets seen the most.

In the most excruciating customer service call I’ve ever heard (and I’ve heard a lot), listen while Canadian blogger George Vaccaro tries to explain the difference between .002 dollars and .002 cents. It’s about 20 minutes, and worth every second.

Listen here or here, or view the blog here.

As if that weren’t enough for Verizon, a former employee also left with the greatest exit interview ever. Some of the best:

If it could be changed, would you increase/decrease the workload?

My personal workload was pretty small. Between calls, I would often stare at the system tray clock, counting down the minutes until I brought a gun to work to kill myself, possibly others.

How did you feel about company benefits?

I did not work there long enough to receive any benefits. The blonde girl in Pod G, however, had large breasts, and I enjoyed looking at them every time I went on break.

Read the rest of the gold here.

I stumbled across this gem this morning.  It has articles/tutorials on all sorts of creative…stuff.  Check it out.  The amount of good reading is almost overwhelming.