Good Morning. The Return of ‘The Media Award Tram Station’.

April 29th, 2011 • Media, Underway
Tags: Ads, Agencies, Amsterdam, Awards, Funny, Ideas, Media, Outdoor, Truth, Underway, visual, World, WTF

It’s not always easy to work in the center of Amsterdam. Well, most of the time it is. But then there are days when you step out of your tram at the central Leidseplein square and the first thing you think is WTF?

Quite often this has got something to do with my particular tram station which I call ‘The Media Award Tram Station’. Simply because it serves as award entry for pretty much any Media angency in the world. You know…when they spend EUR 1 million on media…and EUR 995,000 run just into this installation there to make the campaign look great in Cannes?

I have seen everything being built on top, attached to or dug underneath the tram station. But I haven’t seen what I have seen this morning. It looked a little something like this…

Smithsonian. Historically Hardcore.

März 21st, 2011 • 16 comments We like
Tags: Ads, Cool, Copywriting, Creativity, Funny, Ideas, Media, Museums, Smithsonian, We like

The following campaign for the world’s largest museum complex ‘The Smithsonian‘ has generated some buzz lately. Unfortunately it is not real – it is the product of copywriter Matt Kapler who indeed came up with a brilliant idea to bring the history section in a museum to live in an unexpected way – Smithsonian, historically hardcore. Very well done, Matt. I love it particularly as I studied politics and history. Topics that need a bit of spice to be interesting for a lot of people (even though the Osman Empire was fucking interesting). In fact it reminds me a bit of another fake campaign targeted at Nerds for Wikipedia. Thanks to Behance for the link.

Visual 1

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Visual 2
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Rattenfänger. Germany and the Birth of Digital Populism.

März 5th, 2011 • 12 comments Allgemein, Media, People, Politics
Tags: bild, Germany, Guttenberg, Media, People, Politics, World

One thing in advance – this article has no reason whatsoever to fuel a stereotype towards Germans. But it aims to highlight a couple of recent developments that I find alarming in Germany and abroad (think Berlusconi). So to begin with I have to make a confession: I was always and I am still interested in Propaganda. I think there is no way to think about marketing in general and earned media in particular and to forget about basic principles of mass mobilisation. Sounds terrible but it is the truth.

Wikipedia agrees: ‘Propaganda is generally an appeal to emotion, not intellect. It shares techniques with advertising and public relations, each of can be thought of as propaganda that promotes a commercial product or shapes the perception of an organization, person, or brand.’ No doubt, as I am a left-liberal German and as I am more than aware of my country’s history this still is a problematic approach. Using the word Propaganda means to willfully manipulate people to follow you – something that was perfected by the lunatics around Josef Goebbels in the vicious and finally successful attempt to turn the German people into a nation of murderers. Being interested in the mechanisms behind it implies that you silently agree with the political implications of Mass Propaganda. Especially in Germany.

To pass this point quickly – no, I don’t. And I would also like to pass Godwin’s Law quickly which states that the probabilty of a comparison involving Hitler and Nazis is 1 the longer a political discussion takes place. No, I won’t compare anyone with Goebbels, with procedures of Nazi Propaganda, Stalin’s propaganda (with, in parts much more elaborated manipulation tactics) or the totalitarian mass communication in North Korea. Let’s just accept for a second that Propaganda is out there and as all of us are part of broader groups with a certain habit to elect leaders, buy products, or go to war…there will also always be mechanisms of mass manipulation involved.

The Herd
Being social is a key evolutionary strategy. We are, as Mark Earls called it, ‘the super social ape’. The normal Homo Sapiens is neither willing nor is he fit to act alone – we normally love to interact with others. A thesis that is supported by hundreds of sociological, political, psychological, biological, game theoretical and anthropological tests. But, as Mister Earls in his highly recommended book ‘Herd’ writes…

“We use other people’s brains to navigate the world: to acquire skills and practices, and to access knowledge systems of long-dead strangers. We call this ‘culture’.”

This is indeed interesting. The theory of a collaborative super social ape describes a very constructive being. A higher organism that wants to become better and improve. An ape that learns new techniques and maybe the use of tools to be fitter for a challenging environment. But what Mark Earls highlights is a very insecure organism. An organism that constantly looks left and right to act in accordance with the rules of his broader group.

Just check out the following video about how a Mexican Wave starts…

Yes, this is fun. But any mass group behaviour contains an element of peer pressure, of violence if you like. Be part of the Mexican Wave or be the outsider. In group or out group? There is no place for much individualism simply because nobody wants to be excluded from his peers. We perceive that as capital punishment.

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Edding Live. Check out the Wall of Fame.

Februar 24th, 2011 • 1 comment Brands, Friends, We like
Tags: Agencies, Cool, Creativity, demodern, edding, Friends, Funny, Ideas, Live, live data, Media, Tech, visual

Just a quick link to a great project from my friends at cologne-based design studio demodern in collaboration with kempertrautmann, Hamburg. Thomas and Kristian have just launched a playful and fun little web special for Edding, the well known cult pen brand. On Edding’s ‘Wall of Fame’ special you end up on an interactive drawing board where you can either draw with an Edding pen or compete against other users over the ownership of a pen.

The whole experience is real time. Users actually draw live and interact live in an online experience which is pretty close to reality. As you can imagine (and as demodern commented) it has been quite a challenge from a technical as well as from a design standpoint. Good news is – they made it and Edding’s ‘Wall of Fame’ made quite a buzz lately. Good to see that demodern is doing more than alright. Well done!

Check out Edding’s Wall of Fame here

OMFG. It’s as if Skynet and Satan had a Brood of Soul-Eating Children.

Februar 23rd, 2011 • 2 comments Business, Social
Tags: Adaptation Marketing, Ads, Agencies, Business, Funny, Future, Media, Prediction, predictions, Shit, Social Influence Marketing, Strategy, Trends

Rubbishcorp calls it ‘Officially the most shittest thing I have ever posted on this blog.’ A Youtube commenter replied ‘If you work in marketing, kill yourself. If you made this video, kill yourself twice.’ And who am I to disagree?

‘We are the future’ is a declaration of professional bankruptcy. It is a video about the weird Reality filter that many media agencies use to look at the world (this time it’s the PHD network). It’s about people who believe that other human beings ask for more marketing content. Or – to quote rubbishcorp one more time – ‘it’s a reflection of the views of a bunch of middle aged ad-people about some random technologies that none of them have any actual understanding of.’ And yes, PHD rightfully is getting grilled on the intertubes right now.

If you watch it you will find out that it’s pretty much the video version of ‘Stuff real people don’t say about advertising‘. Only this time it is not meant to be ironic. To finally illustrate my thoughts with one more Youtube comment – ‘Oh jesus, its like skynet and satan had a multicultural brood of consumerist nega-children that eat souls through the innernets.’ Thanks.

Thanks to jkleske for sharing it.

Platforms. A Fool with a Tool is still a Fool.

Januar 19th, 2011 • 6 comments Social, Social Business, Strategy
Tags: Media, Social, Social Business Design, Social Influence Marketing, Strategy, Tactics, Tools, Truth

Just in case you forgot…or your client forgot.

Thanks to Mark + @moral_apostel.

2010. The Mobile Year in Review.

Dezember 21st, 2010 • Mobile, Trends
Tags: 2010, Business, Diagram, Media, Mobile, predictions, Tech, Trends, visual, World

One thing that hopefully stops in 2011 – info visuals that explain digital media. To finally celebrate this marketing meme of 2010 I’d like to post mobilefuture‘s Mobile Year 2010 in Review. Enjoy.

Yahoo’s Bus Stop Derby. Digital Out of Home Galore.

Dezember 7th, 2010 • 1 comment Brands, Experimental, Social
Tags: Brands, Campaign, Cool, Display, Experimental, Games, Gaming, Media, Out of Home, Tech, Touch, We like, yahoo

Traditional brands go digital? Well, it’s vice versa as well. After Foursquare has taken over Times Square Yahoo now goes local with this nice and engaging idea – the Yahoo Bus Stop Derby. In this two-month challenge 20 bus stops (unfortunately all of them in S.F.) are turned into social gaming hubs with interactive 72-inch touch screens. The winner wins the ‘world’s biggest neighbourhood party with OK Go’. To be honest, I get sick by these kind of incentives starting with ‘the world’s biggest XYZ’. But I think Yahoo made a good job in bringing a casual digital gaming experience into reality…what do you think?

(via adverblog)

Holograms. Sony has just reinvented them.

November 2nd, 2010 • Allgemein, Tech
Tags: Business, Cool, Experimental, Ideas, Lifestyle, Media, sony, Strategy, Tech, Trends, TV, We like

Can you remember Emperor Palpatine’s hologram talking to Darth Vader? Sure you can. That scene looks pretty 1970′s compared to this awesome 360-Degree Autostereoscopic Display Prototype that Sony has just developed. It’s a prototype. But I guess that is also very likely part of our future media consumption. Awesome isn’t it?

Helge Tennø. Brands in the digital media environment.

Oktober 22nd, 2010 • Brands, Media, People
Tags: Brands, Business, Cool, Display, Helge Tennø, Media, Prediction, Presentation, Strategy, Trends, Truth, visual

I am a fan of Helge Tennø‘s presentations. Helge is a very insightful planner at Scandinavian Design Group and he blogs on 180360720.  Nevertheless there is a massive flaw in his decks. They are definitely too well designed. The pure beauty of his decks sometimes covers their insights. Please Helge, do me favor and integrate more cliparts (wizards and stuff) to avoid distraction.

His latest deck is about the future of media brands in a digital age. Helge’s claim: Media companies need to understand the value of their direct relationship with the reader. And how they, by collaborating with commercial companies, can grow and extend this value and monetize it. Simply because display advertising is not relevant anymore and there is no way they can survive the traditional way.