Alberta: Come For Our Beaches--Stay For, um, Their Beach?

Aka, when screwing up may not be such a bad thing. Tourism campaigns for the most part are boring. Few cut through the world of beauty shots and smiling families. So when Alberta Canada recently ran a photo of a beach taken in northeastern England as part of their latest campaign, they may have done themselves a favor. Sure there's production costs associated with redoing stuff, but buzz baby, buzz! Congrats Alberta, you just cut through.

ad:tech SF: Amielle Lake on Mobile Marketing, (Copper) Mining and Pinot-Friendly Cheese

Amielle Lake is the CEO of Tagga, a Vancouver-based company that helps agencies add a strategic mobile component to their campaigns. (Think broad SMS efforts, mobile websites, etc).

The service -- currently live in Canada and the US -- includes reporting and dashboard management, and payment models are flexy.

We sat down yesterday to talk about Tagga in a video interview. As luck would have it, I ended up gleaning a lot more than I expected. Amielle tells this great story about Tagga's birth and the state of agencies at that time; it also turns out she worked in mining and knows French cheese like this. (*crosses fingers*)

Funny what you can find out when the pressure's on (ad:tech was ending, hence the skulky suited man in the BG) and you know your first take MUST be perfect (I don't know how to use my video editing software. But you probably guessed that).

Compulsive Twitterers can hit the Follow button at: @tagga and @amiellel.

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Unthink Chicken? Unthink THIS. IT'S CHICKEN THROWDOWN MADNESS!

In response to KFC's free Chicken Monday, Southern California-based El Pollo Loco is going them one better by inviting people to try their food free on Tuesday April 28th until 8:00 pm. FREE IS THE NEW...! See all the gory details here.

*waits for Burger King to announce counter-gueril... er, chicken stunt*

ad:tech SF: Ryan Holmes Demonstrates Serious Interviewing Fortitude

Forget, for a second, about the vacuumy cafe noises and the girl with the crutches in the background. The weather is pretty, Schoggi is cozy and we have pistachio and rosewater macaroons.

Fun fact: Founder/CEO Ryan Holmes of Invoke Media, parent company of HootSuite, has never had a macaroon before. When I ordered them at the register, he asked if they were "Asian hamburgers." And then I died.

Notes on this video:

1. HootSuite is one of the cooler tools available to marketers on Twitter right now. It has a proprietary URL shortening feature (ow.ly) with a built-in ad and revenue sharing model. HootSuite can also manage multiple accounts at once.

An update, slated for the near future, will boast still more features and turn the HootSuite UI into a cross between Firefox (with tabs!) and TweetDeck. Yeah, that sounds scary, but Ryan assures me they've got good info architecture/usability peeps back at Invoke.

I believe everything he says. EVERYTHING.

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Stephen Cowbert's Product Placement.

Let's just call it what it is: Product placement. Branded entertainment? Documercials? Infotainment? Whatever. It's still product placement, just handled a little more deftly these days, (but not always). Last night, Colbert does his usual straight act on steroids routine and plugged away as Heifer International West African program director Elizabeth Bintliff took it in stride. Can't find fault with it though because it's for a good cause. Heifer is the latest to get some brand love outside of a commercial, even though they've been around since 1944.

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Heinecab.

Freaking. Love. This. Spot. It has such a great vibe in showing the idea of safe rides, doesn't even need the line at the end. [Post-jump.] Heineken almost has that Bud thing down now, where it can do both high-larry-tee and real. They just need a touching Super Bowl spot with an animal. Oh, and if you needed to know, yeah, it's from W+K. Guess you want the song too. Okay: Biz Markie's "Just a Friend."

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Pizza Hut Looks for Twintern/Miracle Worker--So Should Others.

Whether it's coincidence that they advertised for this position after Domino's recent troubles or not, Pizza Hut is now looking for a Twintern. (Awwww. Cute.) Interested? Details here. It's the same thing when an agency posts an ad for a junior and the job "requirements" include everything under the sun--for minimum wage. Here's what they expect:

* Collect and share insights and experiences while working for Pizza Hut through social and interactive media: Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, New and emerging media
* Twintern will be given unprecedented access to marketing meetings, brainstorm sessions, ad shoots and special events
* Monitor social media for pop culture news, off-the-wall stories or anything else quirky and fun that he or she thinks would be of interest to loyal Pizza Hut fans.
* Chronicle experience through video; edit and post to selected media
* Conduct media outreach for PR programs
* Assist with execution of national PR programs

And they're only there for three months.

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Because Advertising Never Happens In Kansas.

As tipster Zeke suggested, asking ad people if they know cool strikes me as a good hook. I agree. So what's the problem I have with Little Black Book, a city and resources guide for creative folk? It only hits the same old international metro locations like London, NYC, Toronto, and so on. Maybe it's due to the ad royalty behind it, but really, not even San Fran or LA? Telling that there's no mobile feature? Well, that's the main problem. The other is that the Flash is real slow.

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Nestea Is Liquid Awesomeness. No, It Is, Really.

"Witness what happens when the awesome power of Nestea collides with the local bowling alley. Get ready for mayhem, hilarity, and just a hint of comical destruction." So says the YouTube description for this real fake viral [post-jump]. "dumb. bad attempt at viral nestea. I like the drink though. You don't need an idiot fake bowling. If that were a real bowling ball, that's what would've made it viral."

So says a comment there.

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Big Parties, Small Parties, Dinners Add to ad:tech Experience

If one could identify a trend in parties at this year's ad:tech in San Francisco, it would be this; more, smaller and no open bar. It all makes perfect sense in a "down economy." Excepting a couple of parties, most were small events held at small venues with limited or no open bar. That didn't seem to stop people from having fun though this year.

As early as Monday night, the eve of ad:tech, Glam Interactive held a small event atop the Clift Hotel in the Spanish Suite. From 7P-9P, members and guests mixed and mingled before the general ad:tech crowed began to glow in. While it was open to all, it never really got all that busy.

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