Silence Speaks

A series of videos has been created for the Nova Scotia workers compensation board highlighting how being silent at the work place doesn't really help at all. In fact it makes the workplace more dangerous.

Well Silence is tired of being silent and he has finally began to speak.

Here is the latest video: Silence Speaks



A Gentleman Bear has been let on the grounds? ...hilarious.

Epson Projectors: Extreme Gamer

An interesting way to showcase the power, clarity, lightness and portability (kind-of) of an Epson projector.

The decade according to 9-year olds

The decade according to 9-year-olds from allison louie-garcia on Vimeo.

Found on The Curious Brain

Unbelievable quotes. A very interesting look at the world that 9-year olds are living in.

We've got that B-Roll and just having fun

This video is funny, looked like it was fun to make and for both those reasons kick-ass. Too often we forget that life should be about fun not stress, deadlines and being all serious and shit. So, what is going to be your "We've got that B-roll" video?

Google Goggles

It has been a long time coming. How long do you think it will take before retail store designers consider the ability of tools like this to recognize the store front in their design? Or what about font selection of your business cards, etc?

I am really excited to see this movie: The Babies

Amazing idea, especially at this time in our world where norms, cultures and traditions are beginning to transcend the lines of imaginary borders.

The Sun deliver Newspaper 4.0

Headline and post thanks to @martindelaney



I am not going to lie. I read a newspaper every 3 or 4 weeks and I also like this ad.

The Toronto Metro is a...Porn Mag?

In case you missed this morning's Toronto Metro, they decided that publishing a picture of a student with his 'member' sticking out would be a good thing. A colleague 'pointed' it out to me and the first thing I wondered was doesn't the Metro have at least a 3-stage approval for anything that goes to print?

For starters, a photographer took this shot and probably uploaded it, with a ton of others, up to a computer. Then an assistant editor picked from a few reco's and recommended to run it. Then the senior editor flipped through the whole issue and totally missed it.

Then it got printed. And went out to about 1 million people in Toronto. On their morning commute. For free.

Yes. This is a huge mistake. I just feel bad for the children.

Thanks to Mike and Jennifer for the update and link!

Just Remember...

For all that's going on in Tiger's life, he is one mentally tough guy.

Before You Text, Give it a Ponder

LG has just launched a new campaign featuring James Lipton from Inside the Actors Studio. The campaign is build around Lipton and his famous beard. It promotes the idea that teens need to think before they text. The 4 launch spots drive to a great microsite that pushes users to specific social destinations (Facebook, YouTube, Flickr) to 'experience the beard'. I'm sure that the irreverence and humour of this campaign will resonate with the youth target. Nice work, LG.

Shiny Suds for Method

Droga 5 kills another brief.



Thank you Christopher Hirst for tweeting this one.

Reebok EasyTone

I don't know what to say.

"Ads! Gross" - Wikipedia

A colleague recently tipped me off to a permanent 'ad' that Wikipedia is running on their site. The leaderboard asks Wikipedia users to to donate money to help keep the site going. I've read that Wikipedia is only staffed by about 30 people and costs approximately $8-10 million to operate annually (most likely due to hosting / server costs for the billions of articles up there).

I like the approach of this message. Help us keep the doors to the site open and we'll reward you by not advertising - ever.

It is Grey Cup Sunday

I am not the biggest fan of the CFL or montages but I have always enjoyed the writing in this spot.



May the best team win. Whoever is playing in the game.

Football is Hardcore

I've got an unhealthy obsession with football and, as a result, love pretty much any football work that contains a good track and voice-over. This spot for the Dallas Cowboys is no different. Shot, cut and edited in less than a week, the spot is meant to capture the work that the team goes through when they aren't playing on Sunday's. Nice stuff.

Guiness Slider: Just slide other peoples ideas into a spot

Ok. Here is the idea. We are going to take inspiration from Cog, and the movie Baby's Day out but then change the ending to show how cool and bold Guinness drinkers are.

You are Incredibly lucky: Quit Smoking

Intriguing and excellent. Why would anyone waste such an amazing and lucky opportunity... to live?

Contextual Advertising Fail

Here is my guess. Because this song is titled 'Rain Dogs' the contextual media buy purchased for Cesar decided that people viewing the whisky fueled genius that is Tom Waits probably have tiny little manicured and well groomed pets hungry for a little nibble of 26 essential nutrients.

Normally I would write a paragraph rant about how this is bullshit but I think everyone would agree with me. Another online contextual advertising fail.

Kettle Chips utilizes the thematic Narrative

The copywriting in this spot is pure genius. Congratulations to the client who bought the script. Three cheers to the director.

Life

I am happy my life doesn't look like this. I have been working for a while but I still see it as playing. That being said rejection shows up a lot more often in my life.

This is digital strategy...

A simple idea, based on a popular platform using the most common user behaviour usually creates great results. I've always been a big fan of 'tagging' and have constantly tried to apply the behaviour to brands that I work with. That said, you've got to fit the behaviour with the product or brand and you can't force-fit a strategy just because you like it (believe me, I've tried).

But for IKEA, this is the perfect fit with a great, creative, promotional idea. So simple.

I'd be interested in understanding the media support they had behind this campaign and whether it truly was all viral (which I doubt). That said, the 'first tag, first win' approach creates a rapid fanbase who is always waiting for your next photo upload.



Excellent work. Found via Mashable.

Where Books Come to Life

This video created by BBDO for the New Zealand Book Council is phenomenal. It pulls you in immediately and while entertaining you delivers the message. You get the message long before the last 10 seconds of the spot. This is the type of advertising people want to see and share.




Thanks to Mary for sharing this on Facebook.

Another case of advertisers spending and not thinking

I've been watching the American Music Awards tonight and although the performances have been mediocre at best, the missed opportunities by the advertisers have been the biggest story for me.

Currently the search term "American Music Awards 2009" is the 10th most searched term on Google. Guess how many advertisers have paid to have sponsored search ads appear? None. Dozens of brands see an opportunity to connect with consumers on TV during the broadcast but no one saw the opportunity to connect with these same consumers (even days) before, during or after online.

Not only is there a big missed opportunity within aligning their search keywords with the major Television event but the brands themselves are not buying search aligned to their TV spots.

One example is Maple Leaf Prime Gourmet Chicken product launch . They actually have a good commercial but that is where my praise for them ends.

The first time I saw the spot I immediately went online and performed a video search for the commercial (which isn't posted), then searched the product name and was hit with a sponsored search ad that takes me to their homepage where oddly enough the product that they are paying hundreds of thousands of dollars (probably) for multiple spots on the AMAs is not even showcased. Really Maple Leaf? Please call me - your ad agency isn't doing their job.

They should have sponsored search driving directly to the product page, as a secondary tactic feature it on your home page and post your TV spot so that people like me can post it to our blogs, share it on twitter and help you out for free.

In February I wrote a rant about the Oscars and all of their missed opportunities for increased engagement and revenue. Obviously the American Music Awards didn't read it...but you can check it out here.

Post Financial Crisis = Opportunity

In the consumer world post-financial crisis opportunity now looms where we used to just see doom.

In this TEDxKC talk John Gerzema identifies four cultural shifts behind new consumer behavior and shows how businesses are evolving to connect with thoughtful spending. Just press play already.

Toyota Australia - Nothing Soft Gets In

A whole new attitude for Toyota where apparently nothing soft gets in down under.



This position doesn't make any sense for the me. I see Toyota as a brand that appeals to and has a large market share with the latte drinking, chest shaving, manicured metrosexuals, but then again maybe that is just in Canada (I doubt it).

This spot feels more beer, less automotive but nonetheless it is well written with amazing production value. It just feels off the mark for Toyota.