Digital Top 10 Blogs [Excluding AdJoke]

A number of collegues in the last little while have asked me what some of the top blogs and sites are that I read on a daily basis. Although my Google Reader is pretty jammed (with a lot of sites that I never really check out), there are 10 that I try to check out everyday.

Check out the list below and if you have any sites (other than Entertainment gossip rags) that you make a note of looking at daily, be sure to send them our way.

1. Mashable - the #1 Social Media News Site on the Web
By far, the best place to learn about any new trends in social media, social media tips and tricks, brands that are winning (or losing) in the space, etc. Updated 50-60 times / day.

2. Wired Top Stories - I'm a fan of the magazine and usually read it monthly but if you want to check out the hottest stories in tech, this is the place.

3. Logic + Emotion
Written by David Armano, VP Experience Design at Critical Mass, this blog contains great visuals to help explain Web 2.0, online process, branding and different strategies. A good place to find the right visual for a presentation.

4. Adrants
From a pure, 'what are the new campaigns going on in North America' standpoint, this is the best resource. Updated about 30-40 times daily, agencies and brands from across the world submit their new campaigns to be shared to Adrants readers.

5. Contagious Magazine
A quality, European creative resource for new campaigns. In depth reviews on what brands are doing and a worthwhile resource to check out when you are interested in international work.

6. BoingBoing - the #1 Blog in the World
Based out of Toronto, BoingBoing is the most popular blog on the internet and provides a collection of neat articles, products, reviews and technologies. It's not ad specific and quite random but it's important to read the place where the most bloggers link too.

7. Seth Godin (the most respected, marketing blogger around)
Also from Toronto but now living in New York, Godin posts regularly on marketing related strategies, questions and discussions. His style is quite simple but he's a good resource to check out if you're looking for new thinking / ideas.

8. Valleywag (Silicon Valley's version of Perez Hilton - a gossip tech site)
Updated 80-100 times daily, Valleywag is full of technology news, start-ups, Google / Facebook gossip and essentially anything that is going on in the Valley.

9. Digg
The central user-generated news site. If you are ever wondering what web video's are being watched, what articles the masses are interested in or random things that you could never find anywhere else, Digg is the place to check out. All bloggers use it as a way to enhance their traffic and top stories can receive hundreds of thousands of page views in a day.

10. Adverblog
One of the top, digital blogs on the web. Continually updated - specifically with digital campaigns and sites - it's a good place to look for new web trends and microsites.

Follow Your Instinct with Samsung

A friend of mine forward me this new campaign for the Samsung Instinct (dubbed as one of the many "iPhone killers"). It's a cool viral tool that has been used for some personal projects on the web before but I think this is one of the first times a brand has leveraged the "choose your own video adventure" format on YouTube.

Start your journey by watching the following video:



Hopefully, you've clicked on one of the options (take a cab or follow your instinct) and continued the journey. If you take a quick peek at the number of views the campaign has recieved, you can see it's well over 80,000 (cumulative numbers using the total videos).

Developed by Fjord at Cossette in Toronto (through CD Paulo Salomao), the campaign has been getting a lot of good press, especially in the blogosphere.

I like the campaign if only because it breaks from the typical "let's throw something up on YouTube" approach that is all to common these days. I'm sure the client liked it as well becasue it didn't cost much (my guess...who knows...) and it gives them the ability to say that they've done something no other brand has done inside or outside their category.

I do wonder how many people see the journey through from start to finish. Obviously the hot girl / one night stand factor help to see the story through. That being said, even if you watch two of the clips, that's a success.

Thanks to Katie for the link!

Microsoft Photosynth Now Live

Blow your mind. Seriously.

Click here to download it now.

Don't Get Caught in the Rain

This is one of the greatest new products I've seen and an astounding and hilarious video demonstration. Billed as the "Ultimate Self-Defense Umbrella", this new product is has been deemed a class 5 weapon in the US in other countries and requires a weapons permit to purchase.

After watching the "Watermelon" test, you'll know why. Amazing!

Watch your own heart attack

Nice work from London. Found on Contagious magazine.

AdJoke in QR

Here's a cool little tool that allows you to make your own QR codes. If only our phones could read them in this country!

The Next 5,000 Days

TED has brought us hundreds of amazing speeches and talks and I think I can say that this one, by Kevin Kelly, is my favorite.

Kelly goes into an in depth talk about the first 5,000 days of the internet and what the future will bring. It's a great talk with some mind-blowing stats. Take a moment to consider this slide:

Mind blowing stuff. 2 million emails per second? The web is one big place. If you are interested in digital, technology or the internet (at all), take 20 minutes and watch the following video - then send it to everyone you know.

Unity on the Coke Side of Life

Coke does it again with a CG spot all about American-China unity (on the basketball court)

5 Year Agency Outlook

Just scanned through a recent article from Tom Martin about how agencies will change in the future. I think if you work for a brand or in an agency, you're in the midst of a huge shift. Traditional agency models are changing (not only due to digital and new technologies) and clients are demanding more from their communications partners.

Martin describes what he thinks the two future types of agencies will be:

- The C Agency (creative) - in charge of strategic planning on all fronts, including ubersuits (his term) that are in charge of all facets of a campaign - strategic dev, planning, consumer research, idea development and execution.

- The P Agency (production) - a group who acts almost like a production house; fighting on margins, ensuring all tactical elements of a campaign are created and executed on time and (most importantly) much more of a supplier to the client rather than a partner.

I think that the C vs. P model is interesting. Especially because I believe that at the end of the day, execution is not a tough thing to do. It's the strategy that gets you to a campaign that's the tough thing to crack.

53% of Marketers Reduce Ad Budgets

With the American recession in full swing, Marketers are cutting their media and production budgets fast. A new survey in America has shown that over half of US marketers plan to reduce their budgets in the coming year. Let the creative complaining begin.

Full AdAge article.

Don King and Nike? [Seriously]

I don't know what to think about new Nike campaign for the US open. If you're a fan of tennis, you've got to be excited about the Federer vs. Nadal rivalry. Wimbledon was - arguably - the greatest grand slam final of all time.

You'd think that nothing could be better for a brand like Nike - their two top athletes in Tennis continually facing off against one another in epic match after epic match.

Where does Don King fit in? He's the voice behind their new "Grapple in the Apple" campaign. W+K is using an old-school boxing promotional approach to hype the tournament and the potential for another final. I'm all for hype, but I'm not a Don King fan - mainly due to the way boxing has been run for the last 20 years and his role in promoting fights that really aren't worth watching.

Advertising Age has an in depth article about the campaign. I'd rather just hope that the two meet in the final and not have to worry about watching Don King introduce it.

Mountain Cool?

Mountain Dew is trying to reach the coolest kids around. In order to do so, they've recently launched a music label that supports digital music from the web.

The label, called Green Label Sound, helps to promote new content on the web and allows users to download (free) tracks from new artists.

Will this help Mountain Dew resonate with the cool kids? Maybe. I'm all for brands taking chances but this seems like somewhat of an odd fit. Plus, I'm not that big a fan of their first, signed artist (video below).

25% of Total Budget Spent Online

Advertising Age recently reported that GM is currently spending at least 25% of it's total marketing budget in digital.

Early reports speculated that in a few years, the car manufacturer may spend up to half of it's budget in digital.

What is your brand spending? Better question - what is it spending in radio ads?

Tried and True Formula

There's something to be said about an ad like this. I certainly noticed it. Nice looking phone, prominent (but subtle) URL and, oh right, the half naked woman.

(It's for a new, mobile magazine by the way...not like you care)

Found on adrants (SHOCKING).

Google Insights

Google has created another excellent tool for marketers and anyone interested in search. Called Google Insights, it allows users to compare two search terms against one another and understand some of the trends and differences between them.

I compared how many Canadians have searched for the iPhone (and related terms) against the Samsung Instinct in the last 90 days. You can see, through clear data and analytics, some of the key differences and the overall (expected) dominance of the iPhone.

What I like about this tool is that it not only compares terms but also shows upcoming trends in specific search words. It's good to know how people are searching for your product.

The Night of Posts

I've decided to spent the night in and rededicate myself to the blog. The last few weeks of summer have been insane with work, vacation and, of course, golf. Tonight I'm going to post. A lot.

I've always wondered a few things about posting and blogs:

• Top blogs will post 8-0-100 times/day. At that rate, you're looking at at least 1,000 unique visits by simply Digging every one of your posts
• Quality vs. Quantity - is it better to post a ton hoping that something sticks, or spend hours writing a detailed post that a few people love?
  
• Who cares about numbers? Bloggers do. In fact, I think we're obsessed. My key number? Technorati tags. Help us by signing up and linking to one of our posts

After tonight, I'll post what our traffic was in the last 24 hours, how the quantity of posts affected it and we'll do some fun tests in the future.

AT&T Butterflies

Since Ty is now dedicated to Perverted posts, I will only post about cute and emotional topics like butterflies and the Olympics. Which brings me to this great spot from AT&T. Emotional? Yes. Relevant to the brand, product or services? Yes. Timely? Yes. Great stuff.

If you are here for naked women, breasts or sex I apologize but there is none in this post. Visit here for T&A.

Boob Mosaic [Headlines that get Digged?]

I've sold out. Yup, I'm only writing posts that involve one of three things:

- Naked Women
- Breasts (specifically)
- Sex (involving women)

Why? Because that's what the audience likes.

So, I give you, Wonderbra. Nothing quite like a site that allows women to upload pictures of them in their underwear and create their own (real) digital billboard in downtown London. Will this sell more bra's? Maybe.

What I really want to know is how many men view the site vs. women. (and the breakdown of how many men by bra's for their lady friends).

Check out the site to zoom in on all pictures.

Brilliant Response

Big corporations are scared of user generated sites like YouTube. Why? Because of one reason: control. It's scary to launch a campaign and have people give you feedback in real time, especially if there could be thousands of them speaking negitively about your brand.

But there is also a huge opportunity to leverage the masses - even if they point out something wrong.

Tiger Woods Golf 2009 is a popular game by EA Sports. A random guy found that there was a gitch in the game. As a video player, you could walk towards a ball in the water and actually hit it. He posted the video on YouTube and called it the "Jesus glitch."

A few thousand people watched the video and some even emailed EA sports to complain about the problem. Rather than ignore them, EA simply created their own video and responded.



It takes guts to book a meeting with the worlds biggest sports star to respond to a YouTube video. But it is also going to payoff huge. Great work.

Found on Mashable.

Vodka Airship

A good spot for Stolichnaya Vodka developed by Publicis London. I'm a big fan of the old-style CCCP look and the animation. Not so keen on the VO but a good spot nonetheless.

Post much?

We've been a bit behind on our posting lately but I assure you that things are going to pick up. I've got about 10 posts banked and it's going to be a jammed week of bloggin. Stay patient and, as always, feel free to send us any of your ideas / cool campaigns.

Miller High Life - Common Sense Platform

Ladies & Gentleman - The High Life Guy has entered the Presidential race.

My favourite beer campaign of recent memory is still kicking ass.

See other post... here

The world of Fonts exposed

My favourite lines, "NOBODY USES MICROSOFT WORKS" and "airplane, mailbox, candle, candle"....

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

Bogusky's six rules for being a media maverick

An interesting little read I found in todays enewsletter, imedia connection.

1. Sell the solution, not the ads

iMedia: Is it hard to sell clients on some of your wackier ideas?

Bogusky: Our approach to advertising is not necessarily to come at it through advertising. We use creativity as a leverage-able asset in solving business problems. We don't present things in such a way that they're ever misaligned to the business issues clients have. We don't wind up in a selling "situation," we wind up in a conversation where we usually talk about the work and the different aspects of each, where one might be stronger or weaker. It's everyone together looking for a solution, and not so much, "Hey, what's the most creative thing or the most outrageous thing?"

2. School the creativity

iMedia: How do you manage your staff to foster creativity while encouraging strategic thinking?

Bogusky: There's a little bit of work to be done to adjust people. I think as an industry, we sometimes get it a little wrong. We think that our creative goals are at odds with commercial goals. Until you get through that, you don't ever become a great creative person.

We're not in the business of making cute little films and throwing logos on the end of them. We're in the business of being really compelling.

One thing we do as we begin a creative project, instead of working on specific media, we write press releases about our ideas. For example, a press release for the Whopper Freakout campaign would say, "Burger King announced today they would be removing the Whopper from their restaurants." It would go on to talk about consumer outrage. It's a good way to determine whether you have a rich idea or not. If an idea is good enough for someone to write about, it's probably good enough for someone to talk about.

3. Follow your nose instead of the money

iMedia: Explain your product innovation strategy and how it fits in with the traditional agency business. You've reinvented the kitchen sponge, for starters.

Bogusky: Reinventing the sponge is really fun, and it's such a small creative box. "Design more sponges." What could be more impossible?

Our approach to industrial design is purely around brand: creating products that best illustrate the values of the brand and that potentially have marketing baked into the actual design. For example, the Twist sponges we designed are actually branded with little tags. They're pretty enough to be left out, so if you're in somebody's kitchen, you see the sponge and the Twist brand.

4. Always tell the truth

iMedia: Do you have a personal mantra or golden rule of advertising?

Bogusky: No, I don't think it's a personal mantra, because you're discovering the brand and discovering what needs to be changed about pop culture, so the brand and the offering you're working on becomes an obvious choice for the culture. That's our way of going about things. We don't want to find some trend and then do advertising that basically lies about the product to attach it to the trend in the hope that it will sell. If it's Burger King, and we want to help guys who are being inundated with the notion of metrosexuality, understand that it's OK to have a killer burger -- that's a great path. And that's going to help our client become an offer that's culturally relevant. I don't want to do CP+B work; I want to do the right work for the client.

5. Look ahead but not too far

iMedia: What excites you about the future?

Bogusky: What's always kept me in it is that it's ever-changing. I get asked a lot to predict where things are going in media; for some reason, people think we have an idea. There are so many pieces moving at the same time. I can look at the sponge business and make some assumptions, but the media business is so complex that it's all chaos theory. We try to think about what's going to be possible 15 minutes from now. That's worked pretty well for us.

6. Do what you like, not what you want

iMedia: If you were a young person excited about the business, how would you prepare yourself to do great work?

Bogusky: At first, you have to just get started and learn more about what it is that you really like about the business. Sometimes you talk to young people and they think they want to be an art director, but you realize they're more of a writer. You talk to an art director and you see that the only time their eyes begin to sparkle is when they talk about the toys they make. And you realize: that's a toymaker. And yet, there's probably a lot of pressure at school and at home to do something because you're good at it. Yeah, you're good at that, but your eyes light up when you talk about this.

You have to discover that for yourself, and you can discover it at any place. Be open-minded and just slide toward those things that give you joy.

If you haven't guessed this article is from imedia.

Are You A Serial Killer?

The popular HBO show Dexter has done some excellent marking in the last few years and they've launched another site in the UK that allows people to customize their own videos and send them to their friends. Which of your friends are going to be on the Dexter copycat's hitlist?

If you want to see a great example of how to quickly customize videos and send them out, then go to this site now. It's simple to use, the story is great and the production excellent.

Although no metrics have been made public, I'd be that this has been passed around more than a few thousand times...