No one needs to go to another social media conference, right? Wrong. You have to this particular one because I'll be there. And while I'm not as witty or acerbic (OK, harsh) as George Parker, I do have my issues with social media. It's viable for some things and not so much for others.
The conference is called SocialFresh and it takes place February 5 (yes, that's the day after Super Bowl) in Tampa, FL. Did you hear that? Tampa. As in Florida. As in warm. As in not snowing.
And if you use the code ADRANT4, you will get $125 off the $315 price.
Check out all the conference details here.
If you're going to cheat, be honest. Or at least don't be surprised if a giant billboard of you and your mistress appears in cities across the country. That's what happened to Oracle Co-President and Obama Economic Recovery Advisory Board Member Charles Phillips when he tried to break off an eight year relationship with his lover, YaVaughnie Wilkin.
The billboards are now down. The copy read, "You are my soul mate forever - CEP" CEP are the initials of Charles E. Phillips.
Want to help a brother out. Check out The Neighborhood Project from the Brooklyn Brothers who, by the way, aren't brothers nor from Brooklyn. They're actually from London. Go figure. In any event, it's an effort to recruit talent. If you have talent, you might want to take a look.
This could be fun for those of you who love to pop bubble wrap. This Wednesday, for client Confused.com, London-based agency will cover an entire street in Worcester with bubble wrap in an effort to highlight the horrible weather the region has been having over the past month and the number of insurance claims that have been made. The residents of the street in question have been identified as being on the street with one of the highest number of claims in the last five years.
Hmm. Way to slam your customers. Hopefully, we'll have shots of the event when it occurs. Maybe if they just handed out bubble wrap bikinis like the one pictured, everyone would become distracted from the weather-related damage and stop making claims.
OK, OK. We admit it. That was a total stretch just to post a picture of a woman in a bikini.
Here's a recent print campaign from Y&R Lisbon for the International Medical Assistance. The torn map of Haiti is supposed to symbolize the destruction of both the city and peoples' lives by the earthquake, and to call attention to the need for immediate help and donations.
The campaign was launched on Jan 22 and will be running until the AMI mission ends. We're not going to judge.
The famed SUXORZ panel is happening Feb. 3 in New York as part of Social Media Week. It's been a hit at SXSW two years running and now it's making a stop in the middle of advertising's mecca. Well, OK, what used to be advertising's mecca but still.
Join Ian Schafer, Steve Hall, BL Ochman, Caroline McCarthy and moderator Henry Copeland as they review and skewer your nominees for the worst social media campaigns of '09. As always, the audience will have the final say, voting for the SUXORZ losers.
There's an open bar to lubricate our deliberations.
There are a few half-off tickets available to longtime Facebook SUXORZ members, so pogo over to http://suxorz10.eventbrite.com/ and enter offer code SUX55 ... and if you can't make it, be sure to submit your nominees to the SUXORZ Facebook wall.
In line with our less than pleasant mood today comes the 2010 Chip Shop Awards, an event that takes the piss out of how seriously the advertising industry takes itself.
The show is described thusly by show head Dave Trott who says, "I know it wouldn't work for so many reasons in the real world. But this isn't the real world. This is ads you wish had run, but didn't. Ads that prick the bubble of pomposity that surrounds and encapsulates advertising. Ads that take the piss. And, nowadays more than ever, we badly need someone to take the piss."
We're home. We're sick. We can't work. So we're just going to take easy pot shots at ad campaigns today. Philadelphia? Never been there. Have no right to comment on the relevance of the ad campaign of the actual place it promotes but that's what we do here so just for fun we're gonna say we hate this campaign. Why? Because we're sick and can't think of anything witty to write. So forgive us, Philadelphia. Your press release just arrived at the wrong time.
We're sure the cheesesteaks are great, the family life amazing, the bars are fun, the art beautiful, the ladies pretty and the legs hot. But we can't really vet any of what this campaign claims. Guess we'll have to make it to Philadelphia someday to find out. Until then, the campaign sucks.
Remember that Weatherproof billboard that had an image of President Obama on it? And ho much the White House hated it? Well, it's still up and AMC is taking advantage of that with a new billboard for its Breaking Bad drama.
The billboard features the drama's main character, Walt White (played by Bryan Cranston) against a backdrop of the Great Wall of China (just as Obama was pictured in the Weatherproof ad) wearing a gas mask. Mocking the Weatherproof ad, the AMC billboard headline reads, "You Got no Proof" followed by "A Dealer in Style."
Opportunistically witty. It's all to promote the upcoming third season of the series which premiers March 21.
This is a very, very cool use of YouTube and Flash technology. In the middle of a "PSA" for the plight of dolphins caught in fishing nets, the reaches out of the video window and grabs one of the mean comments. It turns out the video is for cyberbullying. Very cool.
Of course, you can tel the whole page is "flashed" but if you aren't initially looking for it, the technique works quite well.
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