Earfl A Fail Whale on Arrival, Mad Men Stylizes, Honda Guesses

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- Jolie O'Dell unleashes her wrath upon Twitterphone wannabe Earfl with five reasons why it's a Fail Whale on arrival.

- PROOF-it-ONLINE's inMotion is a new tool creators of video and animation can use to better collaborate and manage the approval process.

- American Copywriter thinks AMC's Mad Men will influence Madison Avenue agency fashion in a pendulum swing away from casual Friday's everyday.

- Is Anheuser Busch marketing to kids at Seaworld? With branded faucets and hospitality center bars, one person thinks so.

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by Steve Hall    Aug- 1-08    
Topic: Tools



BzzAgent to Guarantee Word of Mouth Works

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In either a desperate move to build buzz for a medium no one's talking about any more or a confidant move in support of its belief in word of mouth marketing, BzzAgent is offering advertisers a refund if their campaign with BzzAgent outperforms other media by 20 percent. To participate, brands must spend $300,000 across WOM and other media.

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by Steve Hall    Jul-14-08    
Topic: Promotions, Tools, Word of Mouth



Automated Language Translation Can Yield Humorous Results

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No advertisement for a (human-powered) translation service could possibly do a better job than this image of a sign in China that was produced even though, apparently, the automated translation service used failed epically. For those in China who do not speak English, making an error like this is entirely feasible. After all, if the tables were turned, would an\ English speaking person with no knowledge of Chinese language be able to discern the difference between one hieroglyphic-like Chinese symbol over another?

by Steve Hall    Jul-10-08    
Topic: Bad, Outdoor, Tools



McCain Changes Stripes, Vogue Blacks Out, Cannes Canned, Keyboard Dipped

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- John McCain souped up his logo. Bystanders are skeptical. UPDATE: McCain did not change his logo. The new one comes from a third-party vendor. The Under Consideration blog apologizes for the confusion.

- For its 50th anniversary, The Marketing Society launched 50 Golden Brands, which will celebrate 50 "hero brands" for the past 50 years. Contenders include eBay, Virgin, Perrier and some weird thing called Fairy Liquid.

- George Parker taught me a new word: Adverati. He also handpicked the ugliest pictures out of Advertising Age's Cannes party post and put the subjects in a more engaging light. And by "engaging," I mean "fluorescent."

- Rocawear and Boost Mobile launched a mobile campaign. Amobee is serving the ads. The campaign is about overcoming adversity. It's also about scoring discounts and disseminating unique and motivating Jay-Z lines like "I will not lose."

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Technorati Does Blog Ads, Facebook Ties MySpace, Sly Does VW

- Technorati has launched its blog ad network.

- In April, Facebook caught up to MySpace and is now reaching 115 million people each month according to Comscore. It's not like we didn't see this coming years ago. Though MySpace still beats Facebook in the U.S. with 72 million monthly uniques as compared to Facebook's 36 million.

- Ew...just ew.

- Cyber Lions and Design Lions Cannes shortlists have been announced.

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by Steve Hall    Jun-18-08    
Topic: Celebrity, Research, Social, Tools, Weblogs



Photrade Adds Commerce to Social Photography Scene

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Photrade, a free photography website, has launched in beta. With a host of features, Photrade, adds a level of commerce to what sites like Flickr provide. All the Flickr-like features are in abundance on Photrade but layered on top are tools which allow photographers to "share, protect and make money" from their uploaded photography.

Like a mashup between a social photography site and a stock photography site, Photrade helps photographers and those in need of photography do business together. On top of that, an advertising system allows photographers to make money anytime their photos are viewed.

Perhaps it's the Web 2.0 version of a stock photography house.

by Steve Hall    Jun-10-08    
Topic: Social, Tools



MarketingSherpa Releases Annual Business Technology Marketing Guide

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MarketingSherpa has released its 5th Annual Business Technology Marketing Guide, a survey of 934 marketing professionals and data from 10,000 business technology buyers. The report promises a look inside the possible ill effects of the supposed current economic downturn, it's effect on marketing budgets and how public relations, SEM and telemarketing play a role in the segment.

by Steve Hall    May-29-08    
Topic: Research, Tools



Spend A Million on Social Media With Measurable ROI? Yes, Indeed

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Writing on his blog, PR Squared, SHIFT Communications Principal, Todd Defren, in reaction to a comment Rohit Bhargava made during a panel at NewComm Forum, explains what he'd do if he had a million dollars to spend on a campaign heavily focused on social media.

While Rohit expressed concern over the ability to affix ROI metrics to a social media campaign (in comments, Rohit clarifies the concern was for the ability to scale, not the ability to measure), Todd argues measurements can be made and outlined a few tactics he might employ were he to be handed a million to spend.

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by Steve Hall    May-21-08    
Topic: Social, Tools



Creative Manager Pro Gets All Whatchamacallit Whosiwhatsit Workamajig-y

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This has to be a joke. Seriously. Creative Manger Pro, the agency software package that helps manage the creative and billing process, has changed its name to - um yea...this makes a hell of a lot of sense - Workamajig. Why? Because...um...as VP Ron Ause says, "The old brand did not properly reflect the product and organization behind it. Our old brand was too straight laced and did not properly convey what we are all about."

So...it's a product to help creative professionals manage the creative process and Creative Manager Pro doesn't properly convey that?

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by Steve Hall    May- 9-08    
Topic: Agencies, Tools, Worst



CEO Uses Daughter's Ass on Billboard, Rossellini Has Sex With Bugs

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- It's got to be a creepy thing to use one's daughter's ass in one's corporate advertising but there it is: the ass of 36 year old Laurie Adams, daughter of Georgi vodka CEO.

- Following AdWeek, MediWeek has unveiled its new website which mirrors the look of the new AdWeek quite closely.

- Previously a no no, yesterday's change in Google's terms and conditions now allows brands to mention competing brand names in their ads.

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by Steve Hall    May- 6-08    
Topic: Celebrity, Online, Outdoor, Racy, Social, Strange, Tools