Double Meaning

The Nissan Juke iAd was put together in an interactive comic-book style format:

Nissan Juke iAd Demo from Garrett M. Smith on Vimeo.

juke

1. a move intended to deceive (an opponent).

2. feint, usually intended to deceive a defensive player.

EXAMPLE: I would have told you the boss's critique of our work, but I decided to juke you instead and take all the credit.

What's the Big Idea?

A new book out, "The Idea Writers", is based on the new challenges copywriters face in interactive advertising.

A key project management concept is being able to turn a problem into an opportunity. The author mentions a similar and relevant process for creatives:

Nancy Vonk, co-chief creative officer of Ogilvy Toronto, says her message to her agency's creatives is "to think of themselves as problem solvers, not ad makers. Ideally, begin every assignment looking directly at the business problem (or opportunity) and push up against that with media-neutral thinking. If a client has asked for a print ad or banner ad or whatever specific medium, ignore that and look for a big idea. A great idea that truly solves the problem will be able to channel into that print ad, etc. The client will see the specific medium they requested, but in the context of a holistic solution that can potentially inform many spaces.

This excerpt, posted on Ad Age, goes on to mention every consumer is a media producer, nowadays. So if consumers are more and more often content or media producers, where does that leave an interactive producer? Is he or she just a consumer, like everyone else? Every interactive producer is bound to manage the creative process, to a certain extent, but it's a matter of balance. Too much involvement (or too little) can leave the final outcome of a project lopsided.

Erroneous Floating Ad of the Day

Please note the Clarisonic ad on the right hand of the screenshot above. Upon landing on the Marie Claire website, the little wand there dances across your computer screen.

I am not going to tell you what I thought that little wand was at first. I will just let you consider the shocking and deceptive nature of this Floating Ad.

Banner Ads and Behavioral Targeting: Shell

I have to admit, I am not a fan of most banner ads, especially the ones that seem like their behavioral targeted (YES, I was just looking at camp socks on J.Crew, Yahoo Mail, Guilty!! They are unbelievably comfortable, btw).

Behavior targeting begs the question, if you were just looking at a site and clicked off of the site, why would you want to suck out more time out of your day and look at it again? It just seems like bad consumer psychology.

I did notice an interesting banner ad from Shell while checking my email. The ad instructs you to "pull down" (warily, I did so, almost hearing the data-tagging clicking away). Yet, I am a sucker for this, I admit, I like pulling and stretching things out like taffy in surfing web pages. In doing so, the ad further stakes its claim:























I liked the effective interactivity of this banner ad, as some of them can get downright obtrusive.
In clicking on the ad and redirected to the landing page of the site, you can learn more about what Shell is doing for the environment.

A little bit of a hard sell as an endeavor in comparison to the Nissan Leaf's 100% electric car, but I suppose gas companies can try their best at Environmental Awareness. Although, whatever Shell does, they're definitely a notch better off than say, BP. Unless they for some reason end up touting the merits of George Bush's memoir.

Online Media Campaign Spotlight: Team Coco!

I hadn't checked out Conan's new show on TBS, otherwise referred to as basic cable, yet.
Until: The Jeggings Video went viral.



After airing the night before, the video went viral on facebook (that's actually how I saw it). Of course, you can always check it out on YouTube. But I feel like YouTube videos are often unreliable, quality and content-wise. For example: Husky puppy, 15,000,000 views. That should be good and wildly adorable, right? Unfortunately, sometimes it's just better to fight the urge to click, rather than waste any precious time that could have been better wasted elsewhere. This is a Quality vs. Quantity type of issue that will probably haunt YouTube at some point, if not already.

I digress. So I went to the home site, and lo and behold, I could check out interview clips from Conan's previous guests on the show. Highly recommend his interview with Russell Brand, which is an apt way to better understand the British without resorting to imitating their accents.

Conan's online marketing presence is spearheaded under the moniker, "Team Coco". The show's home site landing page features Conan's tweets, facebook page, supplemental video to the previous evening's show, information on the upcoming show, AND a sweepstakes to win "20 air fresheners!" (*as well as a car). The visual layout of all of this content and information is easy to read and scan in an appealing way. Essentially, the show is conveyed true to O'Brien's comedic mantra online.

As far as the mobile sphere, if you have an iPhone, the Conan iAd is great to utilize. It's clear in directing the user to check out content on the actual site with ease, without misleading the user (a misstep for many advertisers). Another late-night host, John Stewart, also had an iAd featured through Audible for his newest book, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart Presents Earth (The Book): A Visitor's Guide to the Human Race. Longest book title ever.

Stewart's iAd was also advertised as a banner ad on The New York Times mobile app., like Team Coco's. However, Stewart's comes across more so as an advertisement from Audible, uninteresting to browse. In effect, I was in a hurry to close the ad off on my smartphone and get back to the app. content. There was an obvious middleman between John Stewart the TV host/personality and app. users, and in this case it was Audible. That won't necessarily detract users from clicking on the iAd, but it could in portraying an uniform brand identity online and maintaining interest.

Meanwhile, Team Coco! is doing the best it can. Frankly, after airing on TBS, not everyone was going to watch the show right away. TBS just does not have the cable street cred for that. What else do they air? Reruns of The Big Chill from '83? However, once a video goes viral, Coco lovers are much more likely to get up on that landing page. Maybe not watch the whole show, but at least in clips. I did catch the actual show the other night, and I kept meaning to turn it off, but couldn't. Conan is a genuinely funny and the epitome of a classic late-night host. He just needs a little more confidence. Was it embedded in my subconscious to want to watch the show on TV after viewing the Jeggings video online? It's possible. Does watching the show on TBS make it less appealing to TiVo? That's possible too. No offense, TBS.

But if Team Coco keeps hawking Conan, "The Brand", as close to his voice as possible online, they should be in it to win it. One would think.

Imagine

When Advertising Meant to Offend

Innovation + Technology = Lawsuits

A diagram of the state of lawsuits in the mobile industry.
Interesting both Apple and Microsoft are after HTC!

Kind of like horse-racing.

Camping Out

And I thought L.A. traffic was bad! Watch out for those accumulated upticks in your economy China, I'm sure they can get just as dangerous as meltdowns.

Well, maybe not so much.

So What's a Black Swan?

The new film by Darren Aronofsky starring Natalie Portman, "Black Swan", looks disturbing, doesn't it?

But what is "black swan theory"? Didn't know that was a project management term, didja?

In project management, a black swan is a high impact, hard-to-predict risk event that can have a devastating effect on a project. The only way to combat this kind of event is to have a contingency plan in place. An example in California would be: Earthquake. The contingency plan for an earthquake is to have an emergency earthquake kit at the ready, list of names and numbers in case your cell phone dies, and an action plan in mind; for at home, in your car, or at the office.

At the very least, it's knowing what to do in case of an emergency. Or, not doing what BP did, at any point in time during their projects. Their continued efforts to remedy bad decisions are better exhibited in those "Gulf Relief" commercials. As most project managers worth their salt know, DRIFT, or Do it Right the First Time.

Whereas to Darren Aronofsky, a "black swan" is when a ballerina goes batsh-t. Unsettling interpretation.

Mouthing Off

I repudiate the word "refudiate". What a ding-dong.

Food for Thought

Michelle Obama aims to fight childhood obesity by supplying better nutrition in schools through the passage of The Child Nutrition Bill in Congress. Out with the Pop Rocks!

You Say Tomato: Rachel Maddow's Twitter Feed

maddow

Doing my own makeup is... foreign. 5:47 PM Jul 6th via mobile web

Surf's Up

Last Word

Check out this great MSN Video: Fake President Maddow's Oval-Office-in-her-own-head address

Wheels Go Round and Round

Sideswiped in the City

Whitney Port as Barbie

I kind of hate to admit it, but I'm a little obsessed with the reality show on MTV, "The City". I think the draw is of course watching the day-in, day-out workings of a glamorous magazine in NYC like Elle. This is because erm, I'm a girl and I love magazines. And who wouldn't want to sort through the accessories closet at a major fashion publication?

However, having worked in reality TV before, I must admit there is something about the show starting to become a cause of concern for me, now that it's in its second season.

For one, why in the world is the show's star, Whitney Port, now a fashion designer? During the first season, she had a fabulous job in PR at DVF, at which it seemed like she was excelling. That is, until thwarted by show "villain" Olivia Palermo, a supposed real life "Gossip Girl". Palermo took credit for an assignment away from Whitney, and Whitney later quit her job and ran. Or maybe she was fired? Who knows.

This does not send a good message if left unaddressed, which it wasn't in the show. All of a sudden, she's not working at fabulous DVF anymore. What happened? Was she fired by DVF herself? Does it matter? Well, probably to poor Whitney, but she doesn't know this yet, because there are like 10 cameras trained on her a day during shooting. And who cares about having a real job when you're on camera, or so goes the logic in starring on a reality show. Career advice: When intimidated on the job, it's ideal not to run away in fear. However, when a "gaff" like that is broadcasted for hundreds upon thousands of people (ok, teenage girls) to watch, that's when the real intimidation begins.

And now, poor, poor, Whitney is working at People's Revolution with the brash-but-scary and probably unstable Kelly Cutrone. People's Revolution is a little chintzy in comparison to DVF, and does not appear as if the best career move. Not only that, but Port decides to become a fashion designer of all things, with career aspirations to supersede DVF, perhaps?

Port better watch out for advice from a PR firm that is in all honesty, looking to get more airtime rather than dole out career recommendations. I mean would Port get this much attention from this mentor and leverage to try out fashion design if she weren't on the show? Cutrone does not seem the type to operate without a motive. I doubt the thought of designing clothes would've even crossed Whitney's mind without the devil in her ear, which makes me wonder what it will leave her with after everything's locked and loaded.

Look at Heidi Montag from The Hills. It doesn't look like one reality producer might have suggested to her it's a bad idea to get 11 plastic surgery operations in one day. "That's not fair," Reality Producer might respond. "It's not like I talked to her that day." Yes, but Reality Producer, it's everything you said to her on the million, gazillion days you were with her before that which probably led her to think butchering herself was a good career move.

And then, of course, there's Olivia Palermo, the real life "Gossip Girl" herself. Palermo does not like to work, and it seems unfair to depict this as she hops through fabulous jobs in the city. Let's face it: It is helpful to know someone that has the the "hook-up", especially the more glamorous the job. That said, some are also hired from merit alone. Palermo is not one of those people.

This is not a happy message to convey to young ladies watching with dreams of living and working at a high-profile job in the city. According to the show, if you are pretty with expensive clothes, you will not have to work at your job and everyone will love you. The worst thing that can happen is your boss might try and bring you down because she's jealous.

A wondrous fairy tale, but one sadly untrue. Even models have to curry favor to the whims of designers, like wobbling around on six-inch heels and trying not to humiliate themselves by falling down on a runway (though often a well-paid risk). Palermo will probably return full attention to her position as a socialite after the show concludes, and maybe Port will take up this occupation, too. However, that is not reality. While in "The City", a superficial facade could get you a reality show, that's pretty much it.

GREED

It's What's Important

Some politicians smile a lot to get their point across.

Glugging the Kool-Aide

These ladies do not look fabulous, they look a little unnatural. Re: Heidi Montag.

Style Icon

Day After Tomorrow

Reprimands Issued to Tiger Woods by Nike

Bonjour, Wilco!

Wilco - Country Disappeared - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

the notorious xx

Nuclear War

New album out by Erykah Badu:

TRON

Writing on the Wall

Wonderlamp

During Milan Design Week, Italian designer Dilmos is presenting a series, Wonderlamp, of oversized light bulbs and everday objects. Flickers of ingenuity.

Quit Complaining, Already

Let's say Steven Spielberg gives you a show idea. And full realm to oversee the entire show, without having worked in television before. And then, let's say you decide that you wouldn't even of watched the first season if it were on yourself. Of course, then you'd be, Celebrity Writer, Diablo Cody.

Isn't that kind of comment a little insulting towards the other writers, not to mention the cast and crew of "United States of Tara"? One would think if you've been hired as the showrunner, then it's your responsibility to allow the show to grow and thrive under a steady hand akin to that of running a ship.

It's a shame, because I like "United States of Tara". Toni Collette takes the show into interesting directions as the lead character. But cushioned by other projects on the horizon, its captain might run this show into the ground.

Ball and Chain

I Love Rock 'n Roll

South Korea on Ice

Catcher in the Rye

Excerpt below from "Catcher in the Rye" (1951) by J.D. Salinger:

"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around – nobody big, I mean – except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff – I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye, and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's crazy."

I always liked "Franny and Zooey" (1961) better, for some reason:
"Let's just try to have a marvelous time this weekend. I mean not try to analyze everything to death for once, if possible. Especially me. I love you."

This same week, Howard Zinn, historian/social activist and the author of the "People's History of the United States" (1980) also passed away:

Young and old were taught that anti-Communism was heroic. Three million copies were sold of the book by Mickey Spillane published in 1951, One Lonely Night, in which the hero, Mike Hammer says: "I killed more people tonight than I have fingers on my hands. I shot them in cold blood and enjoyed every minute of it. . . . They were Commies . . . red sons-of-bitches who should have died long ago. . . ." A comic strip hero, Captain America, said: "Beware, commies, spies, traitors, and foreign agents! Captain America, with all loyal, free men behind him, is looking for you. . . ." And in the fifties, schoolchildren all over the country participated in air raid drills in which a Soviet attack on America was signaled by sirens: the children had to crouch under their desks until it was "all clear."

Yay for the Aussies!

An Australian news team managed to broadcast probably one of the very few hopeful moments for survivors and rescue efforts from the earthquake in Haiti.

The Haitian translator for the news team and others dug out a baby they heard crying in the rubble. In true broadcaster fashion, the anchor held her up for the cameras.

NBC Head Ducks as Conan's Rolls

Jeff Zucker, CEO of NBC-Universal, says NBC is in the process of "releasing" Conan, during an interview with Charlie Rose. That was a doozy of a dice roll that went off of the table, flipping around time slots like that.

According to Zucker, Jimmy Fallon would take O'Brien's place. If, that is, O'Brien doesn't want to roll over and play catch, which the host might demonstrate the suggestion for his audience at some point.

Dipping into Your Company's Ink

Oh, Johnny. Tsk, tsk.

Biker Chicks are No Match for Multiple Personality Disorder

Why wasn't Katey Sagal nominated for a Golden Globe for her role as Gemma in "Sons of Anarchy"?

Building Blocks

Love how it works! Lego ad from 1981.

Watch Where You Search

Obama supports Google in its discussions with China in refusing to administer search restrictions on the site. And if necessary, back out their presence in the country altogether.

China has been reported to have its own cyber-hacking crack effort at attempting to get into the networks of American defense and technology firms through Google. And a recent statement from China's Foreign Ministry indicated Google should follow the rules as a law-abiding international presence in China.

Chinese citizens left flowers in memorial for Google at its headquarters in China in response to the firm's possible departure, which is both touching and strange. Google's main competitor, Baidu, is assumed to benefit from Google's absence, except for the likelihood that Baidu will end up competing with smaller players and the internet market overall in China would take a blow.

How do you restrict internet searches? No Facebook? That's like trying to police cyberspace, the final frontier. Nowadays, forget the moon. Not to mention, search filters are probably a total pain in tech-speak to maintain, from Google's perspective.

There is a Situation

The New Yorker has a feature on the allure of "Jersey Shore", which is in fact On the Radar because one of it's reality TV stars, Snooki was punched out at a bar while on camera. To think, this probably happens all the time, but it's not that really that interesting unless there's a camera there.

The feature/review makes the point the show does little to uncover American pop cultural myths through its typical reality TV stereotypes, i.e., "Guidos" or "Guidettes". Indeed, "Jersey Shore" at its heart (or lack thereof), portrays its stars as tanned and fixated on their hair, with thick accents. Are they all Italian? Probably not, but it's an easy stereotype to associate. And so goes the conundrum of reality TV: It's meant as a window into an unknown world for viewers, and often what ends up happening instead is equivalent to watching a train wreck.

There should be something else to dwell on from this show, shouldn't there, besides drunken escapades and steamy Jacuzzis? As long as viewers enjoy succumbing to their voyeuristic impulses, it's only reasonable there is some justification in indulging their curiosity over the world unknown. Not sure if this is really accomplished by following the cast as they own their will to live through self-tanner. But maybe I'm answering my own question.

Yet, there is a significant detachment from reality in watching ordinary people, (albeit the word ordinary is debatable), live their lives in the box o' wonder that is TV. Staid by the promise of short-lived celebrity and a microwaveable meaningful existence, Dante never had it so easy.

Talking the Talk with Sarah Palin

America thanks you, Sarah Palin. At least, the America that favors its news commentators to pose with the American flag in running shorts.