Trade Show Booth Gets 'Muralized' During Event

Who says your trade show booth has to be perfectly complete by the time the first conference attendee walks in? Not online billing service Freshbooks which hired Boston artist Jazz Martin to paint a mural on the booth during the HOW Design show in Boston. It's a bit long, but here's a time-lapsed video of the booth's creation over the course of the conference.

Top Forty Publicity Stunts Highligthed

Trend Hunter has put together a stellar list of the top 40 publicity stunts. Broken into categories such as Shock, Big Stuff, Web 2.0, celebrity stunts, Fake People and Improv, favorites such as Honda's skydiving escapades, PETA's body parts, Improv Everywhere's blue shirt Best Buy stunt and Papa John's Pizza peep hole thing are featured.

But, but but...where's Cartoon Network Adult Swim's Aqua Teen Hunger Force Boston Bomb Scare stunt? Surely, that's got to top a list such as this one.

Simplicity...and Rocky, The Godfather, Princess Leia Do Dubbing Duty

Not that ventriloquism and dubbing are identical but they do work well together in this ad campaign for Brazil's Herbert Richers Dubbing Services created by Publicis Brasil. In the ads, we see dolls crafted in the image of Rocky Balboa, the Godfather and Princess Leia sitting on the lap of what would seemingly be a ventriloquist. There's no copy. Just a logo. And that's all that's need to convey what Herbert Richers has to offer. Simplicity is usually the best approach to most things in life.

Wool the New Billboard Ingredient

So there's been billboards created out of lettuce, peaches and beer bottles. Why not create a billboard that is hand knitted? That's what Cake did for Sky and the Women's Institute which have joined forces to choose one of the Women's Institute's 200,000 women to become the W-Icon.

The board was made from 133 miles of of wool and took 250 hours to complete

ad:tech Miami May Not Be Forever, but Boy, Friendship Is.

I was in the hallway late yesterday, typing between sessions and recharging my computer at one of ad:tech's precious outlets, when a shadow fell across my monitor.

It was Paige Dzenis of Brand Infiltration. She towered over me, smiling expectantly.

"Hello," she said. We made small talk. Suddenly she cried: "Wanna go to the beach?!"

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Samsung Drag and Drops Perfect World

Samsung's got a new video out promoting the life-altering power of the Samsung F480's drag and drop screen. In the video, a dude tries to create his perfect world. On the beach. In the mountains. In the desert. On the moon. Until he realizes maybe his home is the best plave to, well, call home. Of course, there are cheerleaders. Viral Factory created.

SEM is a Tool, Not a Divining Rod

Here's a taste of what I heard at ad:tech Miami's The State of Search in Latin America.

How do you think search fits into the marketing mix?

"Research suggests AdWords placement impacts brand recognition," said commercial director Andreas Huettner of Google in Brazil.

Do you think LatAm is behind [in terms of search marketing's maturity]?

"We are definitely behind. Which is why we were on an evangelization mission."

The Google director's "evangelization" comment sparked a condescending panel-wide lament about how "traditional marketers" just don't get search and are reluctant to try it.

These men talked of traditional marketing like it was some backwater village ritual. And, like overzealous missionaries, they failed to see the logical fallacies in their brave new religion.

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Terra Rocked Dream the Second Night of ad:tech Miami

With an 80's theme - because, well it's supposed to be cool or something - Terra hosted a party at the Dream Nightclub in Miami on the second night of ad:tech Miami. It was crowded and everyone was dancing so it seems 80's music is good, at least, for something.

There was a dude dancing on a couch, a dude dancing on a pole, beautiful people posing for shots and the ubiquitous booty shot. Oh and let's not forget the stupid "arty" shots the photographer simply had to include to somehow illustrate his photographic ineptitude. See ya next year, Miami.

See all the photos here.

DVR Usage to Blame for Idiotic, Invasive Intrusions

We did it to ourselves. Yes we did. With help from our much-loved DVRs. We started a war. A war between those who want to skip commercial and those who want people to see them no matter what technology exists to skip them. The latest in an increasing list of tactics comes from TBS which is running promotions during programming which involves pausing the show while an ad runs on the lower third of the screen. Right now, it's just station promos but, seriously, how long before we see paid advertising in this space? We did it to ourselves.

Some have pointed out the intrusive promotions are simply mirroring what's being promoted; the Bill Engvall show in a TV remote is a prominent plot element. Still. There's no doubt, after seeing this, every marketer will scream, "I want one!"

Learning LatAm By Osmosis: Three Different Sermons for the Price of One!

Each ad:tech Miami session I've seen follows the same painful format: a moderator introduces himself, then steps aside as each panelist gives a mini-presentation.

It's like watching antsy children read book reports out loud. But unlike their grade school counterparts, each presenter stretches his time allotment as long as possible.

This afternoon I livetweeted ad:tech Miami's Social Media and Consumer Generated Content in Latin America: Exploring the Value Proposition.

Here is a synopsis of what each panelist had to say, taking into account the following three generalities:

- Latin Americans (LatAm) are social people. Possibly more social than the rest of the world. (This struck me as more of a cultural conceit than a verifiable fact, but nobody in the audience contested the stance. Possibly because they were all either of Latin origin, or very eager to cozy up to those of Latin origin.)

- User-centricity is the new fetish. Each panelist cited his company's user focus at outset. (Anton Chalbaud, pictured at left, emphasized Sonico's user-centricity by attesting to his company's "INSANE" focus on real people.) Gone are the days when a quick buck, whatever the means, was a virtue.

- Mastering the elusive art of interactive media, especially digital, is considered crucial to taming the LatAm audience. (Especially now.) As Lucas Morea put it, "The audience is receptive." Marketers should teach users how to create and publish content.

Now. On to the meat of the matter.

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