Love blogs but afraid that the old people you hang with will make fun of you?
Not to worry! Now you can get the latest blog posts printed out in old-school paper format. Al Gore is crying somewhere. From @benkunz.
fool your friends and let them think you still read the paper
Love blogs but afraid that the old people you hang with will make fun of you?
Not to worry! Now you can get the latest blog posts printed out in old-school paper format. Al Gore is crying somewhere. From @benkunz.
youtube lets you link your videos to anywhere
Starting today, you can add links to your YouTube videos that link to the outside world. Like away from YouTube. Think call to action.
YouTube hearts marketing. :) This is a good day in the YouTube-iverse.
(Silly teen girls for your enjoyment only. They have nothing to do with this post. But I guess they like to touch their hair.)
nyc: play with our data and make cool tools
Mayor Bloomberg just announced a new initiative to entice web developers to utilize NYC data and build applications that "create the connectedness that will benefit the city economically, civically and socially" says Mr. Mayor.
It all starts next year (things don't move that fast in the big city) and the apps will launch using the new .NYC domain names.
Having access to awesome NYC data could be a boon for branded apps too!
From @CKSays (the princess of NYC.) Graphic courtesy of iTrans application.
preserving moments in a new way
News from the Herd points us to This Moment, a new tool geared toward saving and sharing the moments of your life.
All of these things exist separately thanks to countless internet tools, but This Moment has brought the art of photo, media and story telling together in a unique way. Fun concept. It will be interesting to see how this develops.
(Oh, and I have no idea who any of those people are. Just sharing someone else's "moment." ;))
films for your fast paced lifestyle
You're busy. You don't have time. Those 180 minute long borefests can't hold your attention once the JuJuBes have run out. Not to worry. Now there's a series of films geared to your always on the move lifestyle: Five second films.
From Thought Gadgets.
mmmm. vegetables.
A trip to the grocery store is almost always a fun adventure in packaging design. NOTCOT explores the beauty of produce food boxes.
paintings of places in video games
Like many fine artists, James Barnett stakes out just the right location for his oil paintings. Only James seeks these locations within video games.
"Just think of me with my blue smock, sun hat, and luxurious beard in front of an easel on a hill in Fallout 3"
Wow. From Waxy.
a tribute told with twitter
Maybe you're tired of all of the Michael Jackson tributes and pretend news...but this one is completely different: A tribute to MJ carried forth with tweets. You'll want to watch it twice. Amazing.
From Robert Scoble
don't touch this. stop listening. close your eyes.
Do you take your senses for granted? Sensori, a new campaign to support International Deafblind Awareness Week attempts to show you just how important all of those senses are.
There's a tweet aggregator that pulls tweets from the twitterverse of people talking about what they're tasting, hearing, smelling, touching and seeing.
And there's Sensehub, an informational site and sensual lens that sits over the web and directs you to content on Youtube, Facebook, and other sites.
Cool probono work done by Matt from RMG, and all of his friends who he could talk into some free work for a good cause. Nice job.
imagine leadership
Take six minutes this morning and devote them to leadership. This inspiring new video from the folks at XPLANE and Nitin Nohria is nothing short of wonderous.
We'll be meeting the folks at XPLANE when the PlaidNation tour stops in St. Louis on July 24th. If you loved this video, then be sure to watch the tour, and meet some of the people behind this breakthrough visual thinking. (Kicking off in just 23 days!)
get your twitter on
Turn any word that you want into a cute little Twitteresque logo. (Birdie not included.) From Chris Pirillo
the story of a logo
Matchstic produced a gorgeous video about their exploration of a new logo for The Tabernacle. What a beautiful look into the process of identity design and an outstanding demonstration of the talent over at Matchstic. Pure awesomeness.
michael jackson broke the internet
Techcrunch has an interesting story about how the Michael Jackson news spread across the internet, and the impact of mondo traffic, public interest and internet stability.
And here's a great post on how the story broke, and how credibility still has value. Even on the internet, even with Michael Jackson.
remember times of awesomeness or just live vicariously
Everyone loves a great music festival. If you're too uptight to go to one, or just want to see the experience through other eyes, your day is here. Festival Annual looks to be the most glorious photo annual ever assembled.
What better way to share the festival experience, than with the people that make it happen? Festival Annual is collecting the most awesome gallery of shots from festivals across the globe. The best will make the book. You can get in on the action and submit your own shots, too. Or at least follow them on Twitter. Awesome idea.
From FrankLampen
windows users: another 5 years of crappy email?
There's a new version of Outlook 2010 coming out, and it seems that a lot of Windows users are worried that they're going to be stuck with a few years of crappy looking, broken email. Rather than giving up and switching to Macs, they're doing something about it.
The Outlook revolutionaries have created Outlook’s broken—Let’s fix it, a site devoted to raising awareness about the problem and attempting to get Microsoft to do something about it. They're asking all Outlook users to join the revolution. It's easy - you only have click on the button that says "have your say now." Thanks, Justus!
make your metrics look impressive for your powerpoint
Data geeks, you'll love this. A datalicious presentation from Google on how to visualize your Google analytics results as motion charts. From Sean Howard.
the ramones are social media experts
I believe in punk rock as a life philosphy. Even as a branding strategy. So there's some special love in my heart for this video that declares social media as the new punk rock. Hey. Ho. Let's go.
From Greg Verdino.
plot your twitter followers globally
Ever wonder how widespread your Twitter friend group is? Are you global? Foller.Me gives you all sorts of senseless information about your activity on Twitter, including a handy map of your followers charted on a Google map.
Clearly I need to follow more people in Kazakhstan. And all of Africa. From Greg Verdino.
decorate your house with a sharpie
Here's how you decorate a room with just $10 of Sharpie. Let's hope that Sharpie is sponsoring this guy to travel around and do events, and decorate their trade show booth live...such a cool opportunity.
(Side note: Like the Xplane blog? We're visiting their headquarters on the PlaidNation tour starting in just 25 days!)
how girls got slutty in 1964
Copyranter has scanned a Fredericks of Hollywood catalog from 1964. Nothing but awesomeness. And plenty of these dresses are totally hot. (But that's just an opinion.)
The girl on the cover better watch out. That dude's eyebrows and white gloves have serial killer written all over them.
the most influential tag lines ever
Advertising Is Good For You points to the Most Influential Advertising Tag Lines Since 1948.
Here are the top ten:
1. Got milk? (1993) California Milk Processor Board
2. Don’t leave home without it. (1975) American Express
3. Just do it. (1988) Nike
4. Where’s the beef? (1984) Wendy’s
5. You’re in good hands with Allstate. (1956) Allstate Insurance
6. Think different. (1998) Apple Computer
7. We try harder. (1962) Avis
8. Tastes great, less filling. (1974) Miller Lite
9. Melts in your mouth, not in your hands. (1954) M&M Candies
10.Takes a licking and keeps on ticking. (1956) Timex
confirmed: brandflakes is the best blog ever
There's a new chart in town, and we like it lots. Mostly because they put Brand Flakes For Breakfast as the #11 blog of all the blogs about branding. And the #6 blog based on unique visitors (!!) but you can visit the list to learn about lots of other really cool (but slightly less awesome) blogs around the industry and around the world.
cancer sticks are the new hot
Ummmm....cigarettes are potentially dangerous. New legislation further constrains cig makers on their package designs. What's a poor tobacco marketer to do?
DJ Stout, a partner at Pentagram suggests they embrace the danger:
“Unless you’ve been living in a cave for the last 50 years you are very aware that smoking is not only bad for you, it could very likely kill you. All smokers know this for sure but it doesn’t deter them....Don’t make excuses or dance around the stepped-up marketing regulations, just transform the whole cigarette pack into a three dimensional warning label.”
From RyanSwigert
in the olden days of the ad industry...
Adbroad points us to the Museum of Forgotten Art Supplies, so that we may never forget that prior to the button pushing futuristic world that we now live in, artists and ad people actually had to work. Like getting ink on their hands and stuff. Gross.
i'm about to head out for a dunkin run. need anything?
When I was an intern, we had to memorize coffee orders for the entire team, carry them across a busy Canal Street intersection, and mix the milk and sugar ourselves.
Now, thanks to Dunkin Donuts, your life will be so much easier. Dunkin's new Dunkin Run application (available on the internets AND as an iPhone application) lets you announce to your coworkers that you're about to go on a Dunkin Run. They can submit their orders using the online app. You print out (or send to your mobile) one handy list that you can then hand to the Dunkin Donuts crew.
Everyone gets what they want, and you only have to collect a bunch of money. This is a genius marketing tool. Dunkin understood how people are accessing their products during the workday, and created a tool to make that process easier. Win. Thanks, Justus!
vw tweet analyzer
VW has a fun set of new banner ads that analyze your tweets and tell you which VW might suit you best. I like that it put me in something black and fast.
Hopefully you won't get the beige Jetta Wagon. (Not that there's anything wrong with that.) From Red Square Agency
how to apply for a job in 2009
Murphy-Goode is a family-owned winery in Sonoma County. They have a short term position for a someone with stellar social media talents. And they figured they'd go about the selection process in a social media way.
Candidates submitted video applications, and now you can vote on your favorites. The only down side to this process is that it pretty much excludes anyone who is currently employed from applying...(pretty sure that you wouldn't want your boss checking out your application video.)
Otherwise, this is an interesting way to get to know a handful of candidates. We suggest that the people at Murphy-Goode seriously consider social media superstar Heather Herr. She's a long time SM friend of Plaid, who we finally had the pleasure of meeting in person at SXSW this year (yes, people really do meet in person.)
So we voted Herr. And not just because she taught us new drink concoctions while in Austin, TX. We suggest that you vote the same.
syfy brings free wyfy to nyc
Broadcasting and Cable has a nice overview of the new brand launch for SyFy, The SciFi channel makeover.
The majority of their efforts will center in NYC, (SyFy City?) and include year-long free WyFy at Union Square and Times Square, an interactive Imagination Park at Rockefeller Center and a presenting sponsorship of the Museum of Modern Art's Tim Burton retrospective in November.
They had me at free wyfy. From Steve Lettieri.
robots taking over the world
The new Transformers film has more than it's share of cool promos going for it. Check out the fun video above, or learn about The Real Effing Deal, or Giant Effing Robots, or just check out Team Rubber's guide to the whole campaign. Effing robots rock.
facebook and twitter: the facts
Here's everything that you wanted to know about Facebook and Twitter, presented in an easy to love wonderous info graphic.
If you're too lazy to click through, here's some juicy facts for your breakfast pleasure:
+ There's 50% more tweet activity during the week vs the weekend.
+ 850 million photos are uploaded to Facebook every month. Some are embarrassing.
+ Facebook now has more users than Brazil has citizens.
(Check out the graphic for even more delicious social media factoids.)
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's most awesome creative agency:
Lots of new client meetings and meeting-calls, which is totally terrific. There's some pretty awesome things in discussion and we can't wait to share the details.
Everyone's got at least one heavy deadline that they're working on, so pretty much we're all in nose to the keyboards and ignoring the phone mode.
Our PlaidNation tour t-shirts and cubicle/car air fresheners arrived! The air fresheners smell just like cupcakes. And the t-shirts smell like new t-shirts. If you have a blog, you'll have the opportunity to get a sweet package of PlaidNation love just by writing a post about the tour. If you don't have a blog, what are you waiting for?? Clearly, you have too much free time on your hands, and you should launch a new blog this afternoon.
We launched the 2009 version of our PlaidNation tour dashboard! Check it out, and be sure to sign up for an email reminder so that you don't forget that the tour started. When the tour kicks off (in 29 days!) you'll be able to watch live Flex cams, videos and tons of content that we'll be generating from the road. We guarantee to suck the productivity right out of your day.
There was no cake, cupcake or gummy goodness at Plaid headquarters this week. Hmmm. We'll need to do something about that soon.
This weekend the Plaidsters will be enjoying another two days of rain. We haven't seen the sun in weeks (months?) and we're all looking just a little bit pasty. Especially RJ. Have a great weekend, and we hope that you're in a part of the world where they actually still celebrate summer, and have a sun. We've given up on those frivolities.
real time search...now
Anything that happened yesterday is old, old news. You need to know what's happening now. Who is posting about your brand? Who's trashing you? What's happening?
BrianSolis points to an awesome new real time search engine - Collecta, which scours the internets for your keywords in real time. So you can be all about the now.
Super impressive.
the next best thing to being there
Online friend CB writes a nice post about how she attended Neocon. Virtually.
It's true that now thanks to Twitter, you can watch just about any conference from afar by searching the associated hashtags. So it's almost like you're waiting in the same line at restaurants, complaining about the same poor wifi, or listening to the same brilliant speakers. Who needs to travel, if your Twitter friends can do it for you?
(And of course any blog post that mentions me by name is always a brilliant piece of wonderment. Thanks, CB!)
cities pitch for the olympics
News from the Herd has a good review of all of the pitch videos from cities who would like to host the Olympics. Kind of cool to see someone other than agencies pitching for a change.
I like Tokyo's pitch best, because they promise to create magical flying ribbons and use comic book characters. Always a win.
a business card that works
How many times have you returned to your office the morning after an awesome party and dumped out business cards, attempting to remember who all of these people are?
Ji Lee has created the ultimate solution. His card features a quick rating and info section, so that you can quickly jot down your interest and never forget that he's the dude you wanted to hook up with. Or do business with. Or never see in your life again. Awesome.
report: 90% of our waking time is spent staring at rectangles
This is funny. And sad. And true. We should design circular internet browsers just to throw everyone off.
news reporters realize that twitter is cool
Because people that are in love with Twitter love to talk more than 140 characters about Twitter, they've created a conference for them. 140 Character Conference brought together a bunch of Twitter lovers and media stars to do what they do best: talk endlessly about the Twitterverse.
One cool concept that apparently came out of the event is the possibility of a Twitter News Network - or TNN.
Ummmmm.....DUH. This is something we suggested back in May, and the folks at TwitterGrep created (which now sadly appears to be defunct.)
Here's an idea: CNN, NBC, whoever: instead of waxing over the possibility, why don't you create it? Next week? The tools are here (TwitterGrep was proof of concept) and the opportunity exists for a valuable tool branded with your network's name on it. (Call us if you really don't know how.)
Oh, and if you didn't make the conference, but have a secret crush on Ann Curry like I do, then you'll love the beautious shots that Brian Solis captured at the event.
how to get your friends to carry your car for you
There's a new cute spot for BP that shows a bunch of people lifting and carrying a dude's car around - illustrating that BP fuel Takes You Further.
If you thought that the people in the spot are really strong, or forgot that spots cost a lot of money to make and require massive crews or CG effects to pull stuff like this off, well then you should watch the clip above.
The making of Takes You Further, reveals the tricks behind the floating car, and shares scenes from the shoot. It's always fun to see footage from shoots, and more brands/agencies should share this with the interwebs.
what's a browser?
Google asks 50 random pedestrians in New York City what a browser is. No surprise - only 8% actually got the answer right.
Ironically, many people thought that Google was a browser. And they weren't talking about Chrome.
This reminds me of the time I heard a client ask a co-worker "do I have the Google on my computer?" Remember this, the next time you're trying to explain Twitter to your boss.
only old people install software on their machines
Not to be outdone by Google and the many other online office tools, Adobe has officially launched Acrobat.com, a suite of online tools that let you write documents, create PDFs, store files and share it all with your friends and coworkers.
Remember in the olden days, when you had to spend $600 on a suite of office tools to type a letter? Yeah, that was silly. More on Ars Technica.
now you can stay in the "my name is earl" motel
This may prove to be a valuable tool during the upcoming Plaid tour. A pop culture treasure map.
Want to know where Laverne and Shirley's apartment is? Or the Christmas Story house? Or the I Am Legend apartment? It's all there.
You can submit new spots, or just bask in the branding that made it all happen, from AOL and Visa. Fun. Found on Make the Logo Bigger
ibm says it's ok to use the cloud
If you work in the type of corporate environment controlled by an old school IT department that won't allow new technology until everyone else has moved onto something else, today may be your day.
IBM just announced that it's ok to use cloud computing.
That's kind of like the Gap selling skinny jeans and cool t-shirts. Or McDonalds selling the most delicious cupcakes. Rejoice cubicle drones, a new world is upon us. This internet thing is really going to catch on. From When More PR?
money as art
Art supplies are expensive, so why not cut out the middle man, and just use money itself? That's what artist Mark Wagner does. His collages made from currency are nothing short of wonderous.
These would make for a really cool ad campaign for a bank. You can see the entire show at the Pavel Zoubok Gallery Sept. 4 to Oct. 4 in NYC. Bring money.
best wedding invite you've ever seen
Who says wedding invitations need to look like what everyone expects wedding invitations to look like? Wouldn't they be better if they represented the "brand essence" of the couple getting hooked? Wouldn't they be better still if they told the story of the relationship?
You have to click through and read the story of Jill and Matt, and see the most awesome wedding invitation that you've laid your eyes on. We need to meet this couple.
what the serious art students ride to school
If there was a bike defined by the Bauhaus design movement, it would look something like this. From @LauraLSweet
whiteboard anywhere
This is one of the best product inventions that we've seen in a long time. Paint that turns anything you want into a whiteboard. So you can go crazy with markers and draw flow charts and diagrams or write grocery lists on any wall you want. Entire walls. Ceilings. Anything that you can paint with the magic Tabrasa Idea Paint.
Visitors to NeoCon in Chicago this week (a big deal if you're a decorator or architect) will be treated to artist Phil Lubliner illustrating live at their booth in the show. Here's what's fun: whatever you tweet - he draws. Want him to draw "We (heart) Brand Flakes for Breakfast?" No problem. Just tweet it to @mdctabrasa and add the hashtag #mdctabrasa to the end of your tweet. My guess is that he won't draw phallic symbols or naked people, but you could give it a shot.
This is a product with cool opportunities. I want a brainstorm room that's painted from floor to ceiling in it. What about interactive public spaces? Let's paint the town white. Wait...that doesn't sound right...let's paint the town with ideas.
wifi for your camera
Soon, we'll shoot photos and they'll go directly to the internet.
In the meantime, the folks at Eye-Fi have invented a cool device that is part memory card, part wifi card. The device connects to 25 online sharing sites, including Flickr. Sounds like something you need.
you don't need an iphone app in your new campaign
Before you approve that budget for the iPhone app that seems absolute necessary right now, consider these numbers regarding their actual usage:
+ Minutes per use: 9.6 (Greystripe)
+ Uses per user: 19.9 (Greystripe)
+ Only 20% of users return to use the app after the first day (Pinch Media)
+ After a month, this number drops to 5% (Pinch Media)
On the flip side - you could say the same thing about videos and internet sites intended to go viral. (When was the last time you watched the Nike car jumping ad?) Short user spikes don't mean that this wasn't effective - it's just not necessarily a long term device.
As with everything, the answer to whether or not your marketing plan needs an iPhone app may indeed rest with your overall marketing strategy plan. There. I said it. Strategy rocks.
3M: pay this kid's tuition bill and have him do a series
Savannah College of Art and Design student Bang-yao Liu has created a momentous stop motion piece of beauty using nothing but 3M Post-It Notes. Amazing.
this week at Plaid
Here's what happened this week at the world's most futuristic creative agency:
We've pre-launched the Plaidtastic Ten. We really think you're going to dig this. We've been told by a messenger from the future that this will be a pretty spectacular group of people that you'll learn and gain inspiration from. There's a ton of awesomeness going on out there, and we intend to share it with the world.
PlaidNation buttons arrived! If you're on the tour route, this is just one of the fabulous pieces of treasurous swag that we'll be laying down on you and your friends.
Pop Heroes, the most awesome band ever, recorded the new theme song to the PlaidNation tour. The song will be available for download on iTunes and the tour dashboard in the next few weeks. In the meantime, please enjoy last year's theme song.
BrandFlakes was featured in a new book about design blogs! We just received our advance copy of the book, and it's stunningly beautiful. We're not sure where you can purchase your own copy - but will post a link as soon as we get details, and we're certain that you'll agree this is the best book ever written.
Several new projects kicked off this week, and we can't wait to tell you about them. We'll be launching components from a few campaigns in the oncoming weeks.
Missy from iiiDesign and her friend Tracy from HelloMello came for a visit to NYC, and we had a blast catching up. Missy was instrumental in welcoming the PlaidNation tour to the west coast, so it was pretty awesome to hang with her on the cold, grey coast.
Plaidsters are praying that they'll see the big orange ball of fire in the sky this weekend, as it's been a long, grey week. Hope you experience the same.
ummm...it's for your comfort
I think it's real. I called the number. If you're on my Secret Santa list this year, watch out. From the Denver Egotist.
bringing movie posters to life
There's a bunch of buzz about this new hot digital video camera, the Red One, invented by the billionaire founder of Oakley. The short: this is a video camera that has a resolution that rivals 35MM film. It's super hot in the film and video community, and the resolution is so good that you can use a single frame of video as a high resolution photograph.
Which...opens up some amazing opportunities. Check out the video clip above, which details the making of a movie poster that comes to life. The future is awesome, isn't it?
Thanks, Justus!
a glimpse into the future
You probably already know that Facebook plans on allowing vanity urls starting at midnight on Friday.
If you don't already know someone who can travel time and deliver messages from the future, then you might want to check out this post from Anil Dash.
Mr. Dash cleverly predicts how this whole Facebook username thing will go down, and you'll find it humorous if you're the internet geek type of person. (Otherwise, move along - nothing to see here.)
SIDE NOTE: You'll need to have at least 1000 fans on your fan page (as of 5/31/09) in order to get a vanity url for your page. But if you already own the trademark to your company name, you can still prevent enemies from snagging it.
See you Friday night!
baristas: watch and learn
Tip jars need great marketing tactics just like the best toothpaste campaigns. If you want good tips, you'll need to convince the person with the cash money to act now. And you'll need more than a fake smile to convince the tight wads in your neighborhood. You're going to need a well designed tip jar.
Lousy tippers: the least you could do is share this collection of high-performing, creative tip jars with your neighborhood barista. You owe her.
how your sneaks got their names
(And guess what - Adidas doesn't stand for "all day i dream about soccer.")
The Wall Street Journal reports on how your favorite sneakers got their names. Because that's what you count on from the Wall Street Journal. Hard-hitting pop culture and fashion history.
be quake ready. and stylish.
This is the most beautifully produced earthquake information site that has ever existed. Who says you can't educate with great design? Who says government sponsored marketing material has to look like a monkey's butt?
Clearly the makers of QuakeQuiz San Francisco didn't get that memo. Nice work. From Quipsologies.
bug vision now available for humans
Here's a fun outdoor ad for the Victoria Bug Zoo, that gives its viewers the perspective of a bug. Or at least a bug with eyes that sees everything multiplied by a kazillion.
these fire extinguishers are totally hot
Here's proof that design can make even the most mundane products totally desirable. Don't you want one for every room in your house?
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