Thursday

Stuff White People like #106 - Packed with Truths

Copied verbatim from Stuff White People Like

Social Networking sites have been embraced by white people since their inception. Because these sites use profile pages, white people can more efficiently judge friends and future friends on their taste in film, books, music, and inspirational quotes. Advanced level white people, fearful of being judged on their tastes from last week, will often only list one or two ironic things as their favorites. For example under music they would simply list “P.M. Dawn” or under films they would choose only Armageddon. In both cases these ironic answers serve as protective shields from the harsh gaze of other white people.

However, it is important to remember that the “where” is often as important as the “who” when it comes to social networking. As noted in earlier posts, white people are obsessed with being in the right neighborhood and the Internet is no exception.

In the early days, white people joined a social networking service called Friendster where they could connect with old friends and make new ones. Eventually, white people started to notice more and more of their friends on MySpace, so they closed their Friendster accounts and migrated to the new service. It was like living in a neighborhood that was pretty good but kind of far away, so you might have to miss out on a few parties. Needless to say, this was unacceptable.

For a brief period of time, MySpace was the site where everyone kept their profile and managed their friendships. But soon, the service began to attract fake profiles, the wrong kind of white people, and struggling musicians. In real world terms, these three developments would be equivalent to a check cashing store, a TGIFridays, and a housing project. All which strike fear in the hearts of white people.

White people were nervous but had nowhere else to go. Then Facebook came along and offered advanced privacy settings, closed networks, and a clean interface. In respective real world terms, these features are analogous to an apartment or house with a security system/doorman, an alumni dinner, and a homeowners association that protects the aesthetics of the neighborhood. In spite of these advances, some white people still clung to their old MySpace accounts. That was until they learned that Facebook started, like so many things beloved by white people, at Harvard.

Within a matter of months, MySpace had gone from a virtual utopia to Digital Detroit, where only minorities and indie bands remain.

If you plan on befriending white people, it is essential that you join them in the digital suburbs and open a Facebook account immediately. It’s also a good idea to make up a story about how someone from high school sent you a friend request and after accepting you discovered that they were fat and unsuccessful. White people love these stories.

In an unrelated note you can join

Stuff White People Like Facebook Group

Stuff White People Like Facebook Application

Wednesday

Another Great Execution from BeJay's



No explanation necessary. Found on copyranter.

AgencyU

Another great post from Advergirl about the importance of training within the agency environment. I find that success early on in the industry really depends on who your core team is, how the train you on specific aspects of the job (ie. managing creatives, writing a brief and saying no to a client) and how clear they are with you on what things you need to learn moving forward. 

For now, check out these 5 tips.

Monday

Top 10 Tech Ad Campaigns

Gearlog has recently put together a Top 10 list of their favorite tech campaigns of all time. The list was created due to the fact that Microsoft is about to launch their $300 million Vista campaign to battle the Apple vs. PC stuff (created by CP+B). As we all wait for the campaign to launch so that we can tear it down, take a moment to check out this list. My favorites below.

Maxell "Blown Away Guy" - this TV spot might have become one of the most iconic brand print images of all time.

Microsoft - Window's 95 - I hadn't seen this spot before, but I'm a big fan. Gearlog reports that The Stones song cost the software giant somewhere between $8-14 million. That's a lot of cash to get the baby boomers excited about the web.

Sunday

An Ad-Free World


About a year ago, there was a big story about a new policy that Brazil had implemented banning all OOH advertising. No billboards were allowed in the city and major companies had to stop selling advertising on them. The issue started because thousands of billboards had sprung up without approval and instead of selectively removing those that were unauthorized, the government set out a landmark policy eliminating them all.

A recent interview with New York Times columnist, Rob Walker, posed this question to the advertising author:
"Q: Will we as Americans, the targets of an unstoppable torrent of unrestrained advertising, ever rise to the level of the British and impose more regulation upon it?"

Walker responded:

"Polls consistently tell us that Americans can't stand advertising, don't trust it, are annoyed by its incursion into and murkier venues -- and yet there appears to be no particular popular interest in regulation. I don't know why. The FCC is looking at ad placement, but it's unlikely that tough regulation will ever occur in the U.S. without serious public demands for it.

There's much talk about tech-enabled consumer power these days, but it takes the form of "complain about a product on a blog and get a free replacement," rather than more broad-based and wide-ranging reforms that might benefit everyone. Maybe that will change.

Consumers truly do have a lot of power -- movements of the past demonstrate that repeatedly -- so maybe we're just learning how to use the technology more effectively."

Why don't we ban advertising? People hate it, don't trust it and find it annoying (especially before a movie), so why not get rid of it altogether?

First we have to acknowledge the economic factors. Advertising is big business. For agencies, production houses, photographers, actors, media companies and - of course - marketers, the amount of money going through the system is massive. It's not going to stop due to a channel closing down or a new government policy - it will just find new ways to get the message out (see coffee cup ads here).

Second, we have to understand the primary messaging that content exists - to sell advertising. Major networks, newspapers, magazines and anyone making content has a goal to sell their target to an interested brand. It's just the way things work. Always have, always...

...will?

Walker mentions how new technologies are helping consumers complain about brands but maybe technology will alter the traditional content-advertising relationship. Sites like Digg allow users to drive news content, rather than dictate it. What if Digg didn't sell banner ads on the site and didn't optimize their revenue model against more targeted placements? Would it be more credible?

Maybe. But it would probably make it less well-known as well.

The temptation for a site to sell it's space is extreme and one that I don't know if I could turn down. However, there is something to be said for a place that doesn't have huge billboards, ads on everything and millions of messages clamoring for your attention. It's so different that you actually have time to think about stuff other than your next purchase.

I understand the irony of this post. An ad guy writing about closing the ad industry. That's not what this is about - it's about stronger messages brought to you by less channels. Powerful brands that don't need to be everywhere, just on the minds of their consumers.

Media is undergoing a shift and I think it's a good thing. I think we're all tired of the same media plans, same media "innovation awards" given for buying space that you couldn't buy last year. It's not a good thing and it shouldn't be rewarded.

I'd like to see what would happen if advertsing was limited to three channels - Digital, Print and TV - no other extensions. No other placements. Only in places where the consumer chooses to go - where they expect it.

For now, though, I'll just finish this post and stare at the nearest elevator wrap.