Nope. I still won’t upload a video to your campaign site.

September 7th, 2010 • View Comments We like
Tags: Advertising, Cool, Diagram, Fans, Funny, Ideas, Incentives, Strategy, Trends, Truth, visual, We like, World

Here we go again with a chart. But a good one.

You know the rules – you are sitting in a meeting with a bunch of other marketing blokes (and possibly the client) and all of you pretend the pork meat/washing powder/light bulb/whatever thay you are trying to sell is interesting in regards to the campaign/viral superhit/Facebook page you want to come up with. Bad news, it almost never is.

Just in case any of your colleagues starts to promote his fantastic idea to engage urban hipsters to record this video and upload it to your light bulb website using an Augmented Reality app, simply point to the chart below. It actually says one thing – few people are really interested in marketing. Well…almost no one. Some of your target group might really be deep into sneakers. But honestly…almost no one will become a fan of the sausage you are trying to sell – except if you have a really great idea or bribe them. Your choice.

This simple truth is closely related to this ‘letter to all of advertising and marketing.’ Genius that is. And as I just found out, it both comes from a London-based agency called SellSell. I like them.

Genius. An Open Letter to All of Advertising and Marketing.

August 20th, 2010 • View Comments We like
Tags: Consumers, Cool, Funny, letter, Truth, We like, World

Ah, great!

Read the following letter. It’s a letter about cocreation and crowdsourced ad campaigns by a user who simply does not want to participate. I love the brilliant laconic truth of it. And even though I don’t know who Brian is, his words of wisdom will never be forgotten – ‘I want to eat tasty sausages. I don’t necessarily want to upload videos.’ (via PSFK and JohnnieMoore)

A letter to Warhol. ‘I hear you like Tomato Soup’.

August 12th, 2010 • View Comments We like
Tags: Art, Cool, Funny, history, PR, World

Lovely.

This is a letter from 1964 written by overjoyed William McFarland, at that time product marketing manager at Campbell’s Soup to the young Andy Warhol. Some complimentary cans of soup soon followed. Two years prior to the letter Warhol had staged 32 of his now world famous Campbell Soup Can pictures.

Ah…multiplier outreach. You gotta love it. And as a letter almost as good as Mick Jagger’s letter to Andy Warhol five years later.

(thanks to A letter of note)

Case Study. Old Spice Guy flexes his Muscles.

August 5th, 2010 • View Comments Ads, Strategy, We like
Tags: Adaptation Marketing, Ads, Agencies, Brands, Case Study, Creativity, Funny, Ideas, Old Spice, Presentation, Social Influence Marketing, Truth, We like, wieden & kennedy

Yes, we all love Old Spice now. No, it was not at all unsuccessful. In fact Wieden + Kennedy did not only stage a highly entertaining stunt with ‘the man your man could smell like’ – obviously it had exactly the effect a great campaign is supposed to have. It sold stuff.

I admit, ad agency case studies should always be watched with a certain skepticism. But hey, the best social media first ad campaign of the 21st century rocks big time (via adweek).

Idiot Spotting. This is why we need The Onion.

Juli 21st, 2010 • View Comments We like
Tags: Cool, Funny, the onion, Viral, We like, World

There are a million reasons why planet Earth needs America’s finest satirical magazine ‘The Onion‘. For example because of this hilarious report, or this, or that.

But one of the most important reasons is – for quite some time ‘The Onion’ helps us identifying 100% irony free idiots. I think, in this regard it is, in a way, very related to Ed Hardy wear. But this time a report by the magazine was even more effective than usual.

What happend? Just recently an old Onion satire video from 2007 resurfaced that – well – reveals a ‘diabolic’ Martial Law plan by the evil U.S. central government which is all but transparent. This is the Onion’s video.

After popping up, this video spread like wildfire among gun loving teaparty-freaks of the midwest. Simply because they did not understand its humor and expect their pot smoking communist nazi president to be behind ‘the plan’. What a bunch of morons!

Follow the trail of insanity (click on the pic below to zoom in).

Read more »

Comic Sans. There is absolutely nothing left to say about it anymore.

Juli 20th, 2010 • View Comments Underway, We like
Tags: Comic Sans, Cool, Design, Funny, Truth, Underway, World

Thank you reddit for linking to this wonderful pic on Passiveagressivenotes.com. I am afraid there is nothing left to add.

Cool. Reddit invents the NSFW Scale.

Juli 14th, 2010 • View Comments We like
Tags: Cool, Funny, Jobs, NSFW, Reddit, Truth, World

NSFW – ‘Not safe for work’ – a term that is not all too common in Central Europe, but should be. It is stuff that you simply should not click on as it endangeres your further career if your boss is standing behind your screen…and quite often your soul as well.

Reddit is one of the platforms which mixes all kinds of links. So you never quite know what you find behind this specific link…and reditors argued that just one definition of ‘Not safe for work’ wasn’t enough. One reditor has now suggested the NSFW scale. It does exactly define how your mental state is when you click on this ‘link about fishes in the Amazon’ – or whatever it is.

Thanks reddit. And yes, the headline is misspelled. (via Visual Loop)

Hire this guy. A ‘Contest to be my new boss’.

Juli 6th, 2010 • View Comments We like
Tags: Agencies, Cool, Creativity, Funny, Jobs, Truth, Underway, World

If there ever was a post on craigslist that you couldn’t but agree with – it is this one. This bloke know the rules of the industry. Hire him.

I am a graphic artist and in need of a job. I have decided to fill this need the same way many people think the can fill their graphic design needs; with a contest!

Here is how it will work;

Send me one weeks worth of salary and benefits. I will keep all of the checks that are sent to me and use all of the benefits.

Whoever sends me the best salary and benefits package will win the contest and get the prize of two days of graphic design work!!!

Good Luck! I am really looking forward to recieving your payment packages!

Hot Wheels. Now that’s a Media Award.

Juni 24th, 2010 • View Comments Brands, Media, We like
Tags: Brands, Cool, Creativity, Experimental, Ideas, Kids, Media, Mexico, Ogilvy, Out of Home, Toys, visual

Good idea, Ogilvy Mexico. The big boy looking down to the thousands of cars roaming Mexico City’s streets is a little bit scary. Nevertheless it’s just a perfect Media buy for Hot Wheels. No doubt, this is one, not mainstream applicable Award Idea. But I have to admit it’s a nice one. (via Ibelieveinadv)

Amsterdam. Triple X City Branding Deluxe.

Juni 21st, 2010 • View Comments Allgemein, Brands, Underway, We like
Tags: Amsterdam, Branding, Brands, Cool, Underway, visual, World

My new hometown Amsterdam is a unique city in many different ways. Its liberal laws, its multicultural approach, its channels and of course its beauty stuns me and millions of tourists every other day. One thing I like in particular is the city’s strong sense for branding. Amsterdam does not only know about its brand values, it also stages its corporate design consistently wherever you go.

Amsterdam’s branding is based on the city’s coat of arms. It consists of a red shield and a black pale with three silver Saint Andrew’s Crosses, the Imperial Crown of Austria, two golden lions, and the motto of Amsterdam. And as usual, such complex Coats of arms do not come with a simple story. Of course, there are different theories, especially where the three crosses came from. Sure, Wikipedia knows more…

Some people say the three saltires represent the three dangers of ancient Amsterdam: fire, floods, and the Black Death. That theory however has no historical basis. The crosses probably have their origin in the shield of the noble family Persijn. The knight Jan Persijn was ‘lord’ of Amstelledamme (Amsterdam) from 1280 to 1282.^[1]In the escutcheons of Dordrecht and Delft, two other cities in Holland, the pale refers to water. In analogy with this, the black pale in the escutcheon of Amsterdam would refer to the river Amstel.

By the way, I learned one funny fact about Amsterdam’s Coat of Arms.

The city symbol for Amsterdam is “XXX”, although no one really knows why. During the 60’s and 70’s, pornography was only legally available in the Netherlands, and when people would receive packages of this nature, it would have the symbol of XXX on it to note where it came from. This is how “XXX” or “X-rated” became associated with erotica.

Back to the branding topic. I have never walked the streets of any city and witnessed such a high sense about branding. The coat of arms and especially the three X’s are everwhere. Check out just some of these examples of Amsterdam’s city corporate design.

Read more »