The internet surpasses Newspaper as means to News

eMarketer has confirmed what we already knew. The average american is now officially a digital immigrant.

Nike: Take it to the limit

One of the best executions of this "1st person" type of ad.

I was a little disappointed it wasn't the Eagles song when I clicked play.

The history of Apple Products

Because we like apple.

The usual Microsoft Miss

I really hope they know how bad this is.

A Rare Nike Miss?

I don't really know what to think about this online video from Nike. I like the premise and the concept but right when you think it's about to get really funny, it falls flat. Seems like an odd fit for the brand and with less than 4,000 views on YouTube, it doesn't appear like this video is taking off anytime soon. Thoughts?



Thanks to Rebecca for the link!

Current Brand Obsession: Meerkat's

Have you noticed the disturbing amount of Meerkats in ads lately? I don't really know what it is about this little creature but brands have fallen in love with it.

Take Telus, for example. If you watched TV in Canada in the last 3 months (or went to a movie), you definitely saw a series of their new, Wireless Meerkats spots. Here's one:



Nice track but the Meerkat's? A bit strange. That being said, it does make sense for a brand like Telus considering that they are all about using different creatures in their communications and need to find new ones to use in their spots every couple of months.

Now take a look at a new UK campaign for insurance - featuring talking Meerkats:



Some people think that talking animals are pretty funny (I'm mixed), but what this campaign does nicely is drive users to a customized (and fun) microsite about Meerkats and the product. They use a fun tactic (a weird looking, talking Meerkat) and tell users to check out their site: comparethemeerkat.com.

Animals have been used in advertising forever but the choice of a Meerkat across multiple brands with campaigns in-market at the same time? That's just weird.

The Economist Presention: Ads on the Edge

I recommend that you watch this full screen as some type is fairly small. An interesting presentation on why you must continue to advertise in a recession(duh). They conclude that print should be bought, I disagree. You should buy whatever is the right media for your objectives.

Ads on Edge

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: branding recession)

The links - Pauls edition

Found some great stuff this week:

1. The US States renamed for countries with a similar GDP. Here.
   
2. Twitter saw 752% growth in 2008. Believe it.
3. iPhone App Shazam wins award for "Best iPhone App". Check it out.
4. Burger King wants you to Sacrifice friends for a Whopper. Start the slaughter.
5. This book is now on my must read list. 150 winning campaigns. Look into it.
6. The 100 best Google Maps mash-ups and tools. Discover their genius here.
7. Looking for Alternative media. Search it here. Seriously do it.
8. The worlds tech companies are trying to convince they are greener. Don't believe it.
9. PC World shares the best products from CES. We have some cool new toys coming our way. Discover the goods.
10. Wi-Fi on planes is getting very close. Tests underway by Row44.

Gen Y: The transformer Generation

Transformer Generation

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: semiotics hip-hop)

AdJoke Quote of the Day

As read on GapingVoids twitter stream:

"A passionate amateur almost always beats a bored professional".
- Originally from Chris Andersons blog.

I hope to be a passionate professional for life.

AdAge Crystal Ball 2.0 Revisited

In early 2008 AdAge contacted the top 150 blogs in their Power 150 blog rankings and asked the writers of those blogs to tell AdAge what technology marketers should be paying most attention to in 2008. They called it Crystal Ball 2.0.

Now, here we are a year later; who was right? Who was wrong? Who was ahead of the curve? Over the next few weeks I will share the original predictions, share my thoughts and of course ask for you to chime in with your thoughts and predictions for 2009.

And here we go....

Crystyal Ball 2.0 predictions:

Marie Lena Tupot

BrandNoise

Mobile apps. But not in a whiz-bang, over-the-top manner; the sort of incremental mobile apps that make ordinary things even easier, like let you pay back friends on the fly, split the check at restaurants, pre-order your coffee so you can bypass the line at a local café, pay your belated phone bill, donate to your political candidate ... It's the little things that take us by storm.
Adjoke thoughts: Mobile apps definitely saw a rise in adoption both by marketers as well as consumers. Everything from Obama's impressive use of the technology to simple apps such as e-boarding passes, mint.com's genius financial apps, e*trade mobile pro and remember the milk supports that Marie Lena Tupot was someone to listen to in 2008 and I look forward to hearing her predictions for 2009.

Adjoke Mobile App thoughts for 2009: Can 2009 be the year North America embraces the QR code? It should be. The ease of use and benefit to the consumer is remarkable but for them to take-off the devices need to be set-up to support the required functionality. I would love to see every camera enabled phone to be enabled to read QR codes by the end of 2009. A few of my favourite uses of the QR code are:

1. QR codes share complete recipes where they wouldn't normally be able to fit. Like in print ads and on packaging.
2. Company Bios, portfolios and more available on a business card.

The iPhone will continue to be the single biggest catalyst for the development and evolution of mobile apps for the foreseable future and as the mobile phone becomes more and more entrenched into our daily life marketers will have an enormous opportunity to connect with consumers. The cellphone will become among others a means to bank, purchase, manage time, keep in touch through social networks and access the internet and email. The marketers that have invested in this technology, learned from their experiences and attracted customers who utilize these apps will find themselves in a wonderful position in a few years when their competitors are playing catch-up.

21 Digital Things not to say in a pitch

New business is a big part of any agency - especially given the current economic client. Working on a new pitch for a digital piece of business? Take a moment and check out this client-created list of 21 things that should not be included in your presentation.

My favorites:

• Your new video uses exactly the same idea as the one you sent me three months ago, for a completely different product.
• Pitch includes the phrases “the new Facebook” or “Facebook for X” (where X is some niche group that nobody cares about, not even the people in the group).
• You tell me that your video has been getting “quite a bit of attention on YouTube”. When I click through, it has 239 views.

It's easy to spot people who 'talk digital' and the ones who actually live it. Which one are you?

Job Sites Going Niche

In case you didn't hear, the web has a ton of niche sites for anyone's specific interests. One category that is starting to become more fragmented is the Job Search market.

Sites like Monster.com and CareerBuilder provide a huge starting ground for perspective job seekers and employeers, but because of their size, the jobs can range from sweeping floors to being a CEO - they don't make it that easy to find exactly what you want.

On the flip side, employeers might receive hundreds of CV's but how many of them are actually qualified leads?

One great example of a niche job site is TalentEgg. We've written about it before but if you're a student (or one that is just about to graduate) it's a great place to post your CV and find a company that is right for you. As you can see from the design, it's extremly easy to start a profile and start job searching.

TalentEgg differentiates itself because it's not for everyone - it's for students. This approach helps to define a tight strategy for the site because they know exactly who their target is and what they want.

On the flip side, a new job site called The Ladders has just launched:

Find more videos like this on AdGabber

How does the Ladders differentiate itself? It only posts jobs with starting salary's above $100K US. Interesting idea but still broad when you think about it. How will the Ladders qualify who can become a member and who can't?

I'm sure there are a lot of students out there who think that they are worth $100K right out of school. How does the Ladder insure that employeers aren't flooded with resume's of unqualified people?

All and all, niche is here to stay. I don't want to go to just any job site, I want to go to one that's designed just for me.

Let's Party

I think this is my current favorite spot of 2009. It's random (and weird) and is part of a series for a travel company. But it sticks out and I'd definitely stop my FFWD on the PVR to check it out a few times. 



Here's the second version of the campaign (a little more out there as you'll see, but still a pretty funny idea):

The World's Top Ad Blogs

A lot of people always ask me what Blogs I read on a regular basis. If you're looking for something new, be sure to check out our blog roll. And if you're looking for the current (based on Alexa.com rankings) Top 25 ad blogs in the world, check them out right here.

You'll probably notice a few 'typical' ones, however there are about 10 on hear that I'd never heard of. Well worth checking out what other ad-folks are saying...especially when you're looking for ways to add value to your clients business during these 'fun' economic times.

Virgin Turns 25

Here's a spot that is getting a lot of press in the UK.



I like the random 80's references, the hilarious looking characters and, of course, the Virgin airline folks. I'm not sure how I feel about the "Still Red Hot" tagline but the back end animation is nice.

Still, you don't really see 90's anymore in North America. And for an airline like Virgin, I would hope that a large portion of their marketing dollars are spent online on their site (doubtful).

But hey. At least they have hot flight attendents.

Found on Scamp.

AdJoke and Facebook Connect - Together

A few weeks ago, we did a post about a great presentation put together by the folks at Razorfish about the potential uses of Facebook Connect. After doing some more research on the new service, I think that it could become a huge part of the web in the next year and it's something that all digital people should be aware of (and testing / trying).

Think about it. In the near future, you're going to be able to take your friends with you to any site you want (or kick them out for ones you don't want them coming with you too). Sites will optimize their content based on your interests, what you like and want, your location, your data. Imagine checking out a product review and reading the comments of all your friends who have tried it, bought it, tested it.

Better yet. Imagine having your friends there to tell you what they think of a purchase, product or service before you buy. It's like being at a shopping mall with a friend and asking for their opinion on a shirt before you lay down the cash for it.

Facebook Connect is coming and we want you to be prepared. To that end, we've spend the last little while trying to figure out how to add FB Connect to AdJoke and to be honest, it was pretty easy.

As you'll see, to leave a comment on any of our posts, all you have to do is login to your Facebook profile (from AdJoke) and comment away. Your comments might appear in the Facebook newsfeed for your friends to see and you'll have access to photo's of the other people in the AdJoke community.

We're pretty excited to test it out. Try it for yourself now by leaving a comment!

New Comment Section?

We're doing some tests on the blog tonight so please ignore the random posts...all an effort to make AdJoke even better!

A Response to Whopper Virgins

It's not always a good idea to travel to 3rd world countries to promote you're brands unique features. Although I thought the CP+B idea was interesting, this response helps to put it into perspective.


Find more videos like this on AdGabber

Heineken: Walk in closet

One off or a campaign? I see some great opportunities for a campaign out of this one, lets see if it happens.

Get Themin: Virtual Drinks, Real Value

Have you ever sent someone a virtual gift on Facebook? You know, like a football or rose for Valentines day? If you haven't, you're in the minority. Virtual gifts are immensely popular on the site. Applications exist for users to create their own, there are gifts for sports teams, random holiday's, products - everything.

However there is one problem with them - their virtual. They don't really exist. Practically, their useless.

But now things are starting to change. In November 2008, a new application launched on Facebook called GetThemin. The application, for UK residents only, allows users to send virtual gifts to users than can then be redeemed for the real thing at over 1500 locations across England.

Why is this cool? Because the gifts are for booze - hard liqour, beer, spirits, whatever. Just download the application, select the gift you want to send (and buy it or flip over a voucher) and in less than seconds, your friend has it. They can print off the voucher and walk to their nearest pub or store and down their pint...all from you.

The applications for turning virtual gifts into real products are vast. For one, it's much easier to send through a virtual promotion than print out a card to have street teams hand them out in the street. It's also way harder to lose (think about the number of random promotions that you get as bills or gift cards or whatever that you lose within a day or so).

Smart brands will start to allow consumers to send their virtual products to their friends for real-life benefits. Beer is only the start.

As for North America, it doesn't look like an application like this exists yet. More incentive for the right brand to come in and dominate.

Read more about Get Themin here.

My #1 Blogging New Years Resolution

Comment more. Way more.

If 2008 was about posting, improving, redesigning and learning, 2009 is about commenting. It's about joining the conversation on other blogs, conversing with bloggers across the world and adding to the conversation.

And, well, let's be honest - I want to drive traffic to AdJoke and start spreading the word about this little place.

I read a great article recently about how commenting not only helps the blogging community but helps to send traffic back your way. So that's what I'm going to do. For every blog post, I'm going to comment somewhere else (or try).

And for every comment on AdJoke, I'm going to respond.

Here's to the New Year of Blogging...

Diversity and Success

Over the holiday, I read Jeff Howe's Crowdsoucring and found some of the examples fascinating. If you're looking for a spare book, I'd highly recommend it.

What is crowdsourcing? Wikipedia defines it as:

"Crowdsourcing is a neologism for the act of taking a task traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people, in the form of an open call."

Essentially it's the ability to take a complex task (or a simple one in some cases) and allow a large group of people (a network) the chance to solve it together. Examples such as the operating system LINUX or the popular - and sweet - T-Shirt site Threadless are two very common ways that individuals and companies can use crowdsourcing.

One of my favorite parts of the book is the argument that a diverse group of people can always out-solve a group of experts in a given subject. Howe quotes from the novel "The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies" by Cal tech professor Scott E. Page:

"[A] randomly selected collection of problem solvers outperforms a collection of the best individual problem solvers."

Howe continues: "At the heart of Page's theorem is the observation that people of high ability are a homogeneous group. Many of them have been trained in the same institutions, and they tend to possess similar perspectives and apply similar problem-solving techniques. They are indeed better than the crowd at large, but at fewer things."

As someone who went to school for a general arts degree, I've been a proponent of this theory for a long time. In my experience (albeit minimal), the best teams are the ones filled with people from different backgrounds, perspectives and have a plethora of experiences. The teams with the same types (all Commerce backgrounds, all engineers, all arts students, etc) tend to start off strong, but can falter when they agree to a potential solution too quickly.

Howe goes on to prove this point more fully in the novel so I won't get too deep. That being said, the applications for crowdsourcing are increasing dramatically and agencies and our clients need to be prepared to use these strategies to improve their products, brands and customer satisfaction scores.

The Links

As we close out 2009, here are some of the coolest links of the month:

• Thinking about starting a new company? Make sure you consider Guy Kawasaki's 7 tips before doing so.
• Live in the UK? Searches for 'redundancy' have increased 83% in the last 3 months
• One of the biggest advertisers in the world - P&G - is going to 'renegotiate' their media spend this year. Have fun if you work in media and are on one of their brands.
• I think that Facebook Connect could really take off in 2009. Want to put it on your blog? Check out this video and you should have it up in under 8 minutes.
• Forrester analyst Peter Kim has compiled a list of 2009 social media predictions from thought leaders across the world. It's worth a read.
• This is what happens when regular people buy (and make) their own TV spots.
• What can we learn from not-for-profits and social media? Advergirl can tell you.
• Ads are more effective on YouTube than they are on TV. Seriously.
• Want to grow your number of Twitter followers? Here's how.

Got a cool link or post? Send it our way.

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2009 everyone. To ring in the new year, check out some of the 2009 predictions that the guys over at Mashable have put together for the next year. One of my favorites:

Facebook and MySpace Become Aggressive Acquirers: As startup consolidation continues, look for the two biggest social networks to become aggressive acquirers. The reason? Both have ambitions as not only media companies (side bet: look for Facebook to buy or take a stake in a big music app), but as identity providers. One sure-fire way to gain market share as an identity provider is to buy up popular but profitless sites and make their own identity system the standard. This is exactly what Google and Yahoo have done with properties they’ve acquired through the years (see: Flickr, Del.icio.us, Blogger, FeedBurner, etc.).

It's going to be a big one. The state of the economy is going to make it tough for some people but hopefully it will inspire brands to do some amazing work. Only time will tell.