To put past petty tiffs in proper perspective, Greek station Galaxy 92 put together a set of print ads called "DOGMA" with help from Lowe out of Athens. Each features a country-traumatizing dictator bearing features of a beloved pop icon, coupled with music-related manifestos rich in iron-fist conviction.
Be-fro'ed Hitler at left soberly states "Black people are the future of music," while Mao Tse-Tung spouts, "Hard rock is the real cultural revolution." Stalin, of course, says "I bless America for rock n' roll."
It would be nice if cultural and political differences could be solved with music. We could all have smoked pot and fileshared, thereby potentially saving a lot of lives, ammunition and time. Thanks to Creative Criminal for bringing the campaign to our attention.
If you've ever harbored a politician payola fantasy or simply wanted your vote to count, Hillary Clinton gives you the Count Every Vote Act, her (hopefully) viral attempt to turn every American into a foot-stomping, vote-seizing "citizen co-sponsor" - not for her campaign but for the right to vote itself. (And don't forget to send to a friend.)
Well, it doesn't take a marketing douche to say it's always nice to have the addresses of several thousand online supporters on file and at the ready for a slew of e-mail blasts pre-2008. ZDNet notes, "The Clinton 'I need you to be my legislative co-sponsor' exhortation recalls the Web 2.0 cliche 'users are in control.'"
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In its ongoing effort to deluge us with distractions, Wrigley's Candystand pulls yet another promotion out of its candy ... self.
After a brief registration process you, yes you, can take part in a sweepstakes for a Pontiac Solstice. The Wrigley/GM contest is heavily branded with information on the Big E Pack, which contains an inordinate illogical amount of Eclipse gum (over 60 pieces!!!). Its unique packaging and the way it's hocked on the short sweepstakes introduction ("Keep one on the counter ... in a desk...") brings baby wipes to mind.
While we're here we might as well tell you about Candystand's sequel to Flash Element TD, lamely titled Flash Circle TD.
David Scott of the original Flash Element assisted in creating the Wrigley-fied remix. It's doing nicely on Digg, whose community doesn't seem to mind that the game is swathed in LifeSavers ads. It did spark an interesting conversation on idea-ripping though.
Who'd have guessed candy would mesh well with cars or even consoles, for that matter. What is the point of candy anyway?
This week, SXSW Interactive featured a keynote conversation with Limor Fried (Adafruit Industries) and Phil Torrone (MAKE Magazine). Hacking the DIY culture, Torrone and Fried discussed the techniques of tinkering with technology. With examples such as the Bacon Alarm Clock, skin-embedded RFID chips, and the recent Gummy Bear Chandelier, the panelists whetted the audience's palate with a selection of delicious DIY snacks.
Hacktivism culture has been spreading at a rapid rate as of late. Simply said, "People make weird and bizarre things," Torrone stated in response to the movement. Sharing "recipes" has now become commonplace among tinkering communities and unlike dating, you're not slapped if you show all your intimate parts too soon.
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Just because you have a job doesn't mean you should miss out on the fun and games of March Madness. With the wilting white collar worker in mind, Tribal DDB throws together a March Madness tourney toolkit on behalf of State Farm.
It makes one feel pathetic in its all-encompassing office splendour. Users hungry for the rush can download March Madness propaganda, create a little bobble-headed friend and play office hoops.
That's almost like being at a March Madness game ... except not.
Rather than trying to get people to remember a company's URL which isn't always the easiest thing to remember, several companies in Japan have started using what have been referred to as "search me" ads. The ads offer the visual of a search bar with a search term already filled in. People are urged to perform the search, either immediately on their phone or later on their computer.
If the terms are chosen properly and th proper search engine marketing accompany the effort, the approach just may work. There's only so much a single ad can convey but an ad they points people to a place where endless information can be conveyed would appear to be an effective approach.
Deep Focus gets behind the last hurrah for Ze Frank's The Show, which, after exactly a year in the running, airs its last episode on March 17 via Blip.tv, a video-sharing site. Dewar's is sponsoring their last week and the first two months of their archives.
The Show is an eclectic little vlog in which host Ze Frank talks politics and technology, and occasionally orhestrates projects, with his audience of "sports racers." We weren't big watchers but we enjoyed the humour and will be bummed to see it exit stage left.
For those who missed the bus, the show will be syndicated on iTunes.
A good illustration clarifies language or, properly rendered, can even replace words altogether. There's so much to be learned from a picture.
That's why we're so confused by this banner ad for AOL's PC protection solution.
So we've got three interconnected beads sliding out of this deeply concentric woman's head: a sludge splatter, Nancy Drew (or is it Carmen Sandiego? The plot thickens) and a signal tower. We're thinking radiation. We're thinking conspiracy. We're thinking female Dick Tracey chases down menacing toxic blob whose sending ear-splitting signals are reverberating across the sleepy town of Conglomoville.
We're thinking AOL should really have run this by a couple more people without the text.
- MTV has added a user-generated category to its Movie Awards.
-Nike is opening an agency review with its U.S. business, currently handled by Wieden + Kennedy, getting first look.
- After many years with JWT, Kraft's Miracle Whip is heading over to DDB.
Mark Cuban must be laughing his ass off now as Viacom, following unproductive settlement talks, sues Google and YouTube for $1 billion in damages.
- If your into the whole March Madness thing, Coke has a nice Brack-O-Matic site that makes picking teams easy.
- Nickelodeon UK has launched Musical March, a site where kids can create their own musical videos and upload them to the site. The best videos will air on Nick JR Video.
Ushering her audience out, Kathy Sierra questioned why interactive attendees would bother to show in person in the age of live blogging and streaming content. With an opening line of "you don't need to be here", admittedly a few poured out of the conference room doors. However, Sierra stated, that there are still elements that exist as the missing link between computer interaction and human expression. Responsiveness to software was compared to the likes of Asperger's syndrome, unintentionally rude and often narrowly focused.
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