Imagine for a second that dating sites are people. There's something to be said about a dude that just seems comfortable in his own skin as opposed to one that's constantly changing tacks.
Ad text on this simple Yahoo! Personals piece reads, "If you're ready to settle down, but not ready to grow up ... then you're ready to meet someone on Yahoo! Personals."
Simple. No boob-tacularity or cock jokes. No cheesy love hook or douchey common interest talk (the ad equivalent of "Hey baby, what's your sign?").
And it works.
There's a storm brewing over Virgin Mobile's use of a Creative Commons-covered photographs from Flickr users in a recent Australian print campaign. While Virgin Mobile clearly notes in the ads, created by Glue Society, where the photographs came from, some are concerned the people in the ads should have been given the chance to sign a model release and the Flickr users and photographers should have at least been asked permission to use the photographs.
With everything just a right click away, the issue of fair use, attribution, copyright or whatever name you want to apply, is a slippery slope indeed. Three days ago, one Flickr user who, apparently, has legal connections says he's sent a cease and desist letter to Virgin Mobile but has not yet received any acknowledgment regarding the letter. Flickr users, including the older brother of one of the girls who appears in one of the photos, are debating the issue here.
We've contacted Glue Society for comment and will report any response we receive as soon as we receive it.
UPDATE: Following an avalanche of complaints, Virgin Mobile has canceled this campaign.
I'm pretty fascinated by this campaign YouthNoise has been conducting alongside Virgin, which uses mobile in ways that are creative, considering its challenges.
To raise awareness about teen homelessness, the company put together a 46-part novella via text message. Every day an opt-in teen received a couple of texts a day that continued the story. And at the end of the campaign, the more emotionally involved got to make contributions to the ending.
Considering the subject matter, the novella was popular, but sort of a buzzkill. In retrospect, Ginger Thomson of YouthNoise said she wouldn't conduct that same campaign again with such a sad story.
Can you imagine throwing open a magazine full of bummed-out models that seem to hate life? Oh wait, most of them already look like that.
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We just can't get enough of this stuff! We love it when computers are left to do the work of humans because, well, computers are dumb and dumb nets dumb no matter how much the things try not to be dumb. Ah yes, our favorite whipping boy, contextual advertising, has risen his ugly head once again in a ad for Folger's coffee directly next to an article about hoe coffee could trigger the first heart attack in some people.
Oddly this story is dated August 15th so either there's some time travel going on here, this thing is a year old or it just came up in a Yahoo News search. No matter. It's still fun to witness idiocy in action.
A Tuesday YPulse session dubbed Totally Wired: Life seemed unable to decide whether it was dissecting Gen Y or seeking a restraining order from it. I managed to extract the following interesting points from the discussion:
* Every kid from middle school on down never knew a world without internet access
* Every kid from college on down never knew a world without video computing
The moderator noted, "[Technology for them] is natural, it's part of their DNA."
I don't know about all that, but it was a very poetic statement.
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The Totally Wired "New School" consists of web 2.0 movers and shakers, many of which aren't much older than me. (Think Zuckerberg - except he's not here.) Check out the details here, under "The New School."
Generally speaking, they make me ass-bitingly jealous. But onto the meat of things:
David Birnbaum of Takkle says the media partnerships your wee company develops are critical to its future. Don't just hunt down a big name to piggyback; you have to consider whether your brands are a logical fit.
To illustrate, he points to his company's relationship with Sports Illustrated, the magazine you read when you're into sports but too young to buy Raider Girl calendars yet.
Takkle videos are highlighted within the magazine. Sports Illustrated ain't small-time, but that's beside the point: it shoots for the same demographic as Takkle, with the same strong sense of team-spiritedness and values. This kind of logical pairing is way more effective than just stapling yourself to a big-name brand and hoping to ride the wave.
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- In the ever expanding quest to make sure every inch of media space contains some elements of its campaign, the Simpson's Movie campaign has hit the pages of Harpers' Bazaar.
- Grow Interactive has created Disco Dream Ride, a site which promotes Lance Armstrong's fan club and the Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team. Visotors can webcam themselves and affix their heads to character on the site Trailer Crashers-style.
- Eyewonder has launched a Click-to-Call feature or its rich media ad units.
- Naked people, cock rings and orgasm mops get it on for Method cleaning products. These are the ComeClean people.
- The "world's most boring movie" is supposed to promote paint. We think not.
- Here's the full length Obama Girl vs. Giuliani Girl video we tipped last week.
- First there was Diet Coke and Mentos. Now, there's Carlsberg and Mentos. And it's bad. Really, really bad.
A lunchtime discussion about mobile marketing at the YPulse Mashup conference provided an ambitious inside glance on the mobile of today (think early AOL) and the mobile of tomorrow (kiss your laptop good-bye).
One Microsoft representative in particular betrayed an odd preoccupation with size, foretelling the death of the laptop "as we know it" in favor of ever-more-sophisticated smartphones that double as sync-able remotes for big screen TV/computers.
(Think, revival of Microsoft Media Center - talk about beating a dead horse.)
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It looks like the creative brief for this Dodge Nitro viral wannabe fell into the hands of some art director's second cousin twice removed who just graduated from the college of middle school humor. Are we supposed to laugh? To cringe? To utter a collective WTF? Oh wait. It's Dutch. That might explain. OK. Kidding. Seriously. Kidding.
UPDATE: Looks like the Dodge corporate folk weren't too pleased with this spot and asked that it be removed from YouTube. Not must to miss though. Just a dog pissing on the Nitro's wheel and then receiving an electrical shock from the Nitro.
Joining the "we don't give a shit whether or not our burgers have three million calories, clog your arteries and turn you in to a lazy couch potato with no interest in accomplishing anything in life other than clicking your Wii" trend, Wendy's has introduced the Baconator, a one half pound, six bacon strip monstrosity possibly bigger than the Paris Hilton Bentley Burger.
To promote the burger's beefy, bacon, cheese, ketchup and mayonnaise-slathered massiveness, Wendy's is "inviting America to create "burger music", musical pieces that incorporate the vibrant sounds associated with preparing and serving a great hamburger" whatever that may be.
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