March 2012
1 post
Are we Storytellers or Emotion-makers?
We all just want to feel alive. This might be stating the obvious, but it’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while. People do things, crazy things, stupid things, even mundane things just to feel the full spectrum of human emotions. Listening to sad songs, watching scary movies, going for a run, drinking too much, singing, stirring up drama with an ex, going to a comedy club,...
Cause-related marketing is dead
People aren’t stupid. The one major shift that the internet and social media has done is it’s made everything transparent. People can’t be sold on what they’re told via broadcast anymore. With yelp, tumblr, google, amazon, facebook, twitter and whatever the hot new network will be in a month or two, every user is empowered to be informed about their purchasing decisions. So...
January 2012
2 posts
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Stop measuring impressions. Start measuring...
Coca Cola is switching to measuring expressions over impressions. With increasingly complex outlets it’s getting harder to justify using impressions as a sole analytic. As advertiser’s in the new digital world, we don’t control things anymore. It’s not like the olden days of there being a set number of tv shows, radio stations, and newspapers with ads people basically had to pay attention to....
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Emerging Adulthood
Emerging Adulthood. Not a new concept, there’s been books written, TV shows made, and endless movie characters (See: Will Ferrell Stepbrothers, Matthew Mcconaughey in Failure to Launch) based on the Manchild and even Womanchild syndrome (See: Now in theatres starring Charlize Theron Young Adult) but it’s interesting to see this not as a special case for certain people, but as an actual LIFE STAGE...
October 2011
2 posts
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent....”
– Darwin
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Why Romantic Comedies for Women is like Porn for...
The entertainment industry has done a great job of taking our deepest desires and bringing them to life. The problem with that is instead of entertainment, it’s become expectations.
I can’t tell you the number of times I hear girls complaining about men and not finding the perfect guy, that perfect Ashton Kutcher or Ryan Reynolds type. Tall, handsome, charming, funny, a self-made...
September 2011
5 posts
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“Man is not made for defeat, man can be destroyed but not defeated.”
– The Old Man and the Sea, Ernest Hemingway
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How 90's cartoons could have shaped a generation →
Good blog. Good article. Supported by no facts but challenges your ideas on hipsterdom, nostalgia, and cartoons.
It’s an interesting notion to think that as children we grow up and learn from the cartoons that we watch, the characters we identify with, and shape our larger life decisions from the morals from the stories of silly television.
“Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly.” - Robert F....”
August 2011
2 posts
What is the value ratio of 1 sec product placement... →
People would rather see product placement over ads. Which seems like an obvious statement but if you think about it, it makes a great case of branded content and advertainment. You’d think people would get fired up about the “subliminal” messaging and compromise of art but it seems when it’s done well, for good reason, and doesn’t disrupt the flow of a show, people...
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We're living in a post-idea world →
“Great ideas explain the world and one another to us.”
We’re now in the age of information, with anything we want to know readily at our fingertips. The problem with that is that as much as we consume information we don’t take the time to comprehend it, in it’s entirety, in connection with other data. We prefer knowing to thinking because knowing has more immediate...
July 2011
6 posts
TV now uses behavior placement in scripts to... →
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Virtual things lack soul
As more and more of the things we love, music, literature, film, photography, move into the virtual world there seems to be a backpush of people wanting THINGS again. Not just things but OLD things like vintage clothing, records, handwritten letters. There’s something about the tangible that has a romantic feeling to it that the virtual lacks. Is it that virtual things lack soul? What is it...
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Politics and Advertising →
Fascinating… the different values of democrats vs republicans definitely show through the parties top 10 brand buzz list…. I wonder if there are any republicans in advertising. I also wonder if we have a little too much of “groupthink” type mentality where we think the world revolves around google, netflix, youtube, and apple and the republicans are more concerned with...
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Google explains ZMOT →
70% of Americans now say they look at product reviews before making a purchase
79% of consumers now say they use a smart- phone to help with shopping
83% of moms say they do online research after seeing TV commercials for products that interest them
So if everyone is looking up product information, features, benefits, reviews on their own is it really necessary to jam pack this...
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What can brands learn from Gaga and Nicki Minaj
We all are aware of Gaga and her incredible presence in pop culture. She’s been disected by trendwatchers, bloggers, fans, and even Google in a 2 hour live youtube interview and has been crowned a marketing genius (see: Gagaville.) I think it’s due time we’ve given some of the limelight to another artist that has been taking the music industry and pop culture by storm. Another...
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World Maps lit up with geotagged flickr pics and... →
It’s a pretty accurate representation of people in the world. You can see almost every street and major city. Maybe I’m reading too much into it but I think it’s beautiful in that it kind of mirrors the stars in the sky. I think most people think of themselves as stars, believing and behaving as if the world revolves around them. When you look at it that way, these maps of all...
May 2011
8 posts
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Instant voice message? Walkie talkie? I'm not...
A couple months ago I was out with my friend Sara and her best friend from out of town, Meesh. The three of us were roaming SF and of course, like any other group of 20-some year old girls in the city, we were all fixated on our smartphones the entire evening. Totally normal. But, as we’re sitting on the curb of Kearny and Market, waiting for the 30 to come to take us to Maggie...
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WatchThis lo-fi pictionary photobooth reminds me of hamsters spinning on a wheel to produce electricity, but with humans, and he’s producing pictures. Hilariously heartwarming.
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What's a QR Code?
Love em or hate em, with some strategic thinking QR codes can be used effectively. Here’s a link to 7 uses that might change your way of looking at them… With the exception of the QR codes on the girls vag area, which is just idiotic, these are pretty creative examples of how we could use them, especially the “stepping into the commercial” idea that leads to an app download.
People...
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Can you cut a potato with a spoon?
Sure if you spend all your energy using a dull spoon to cut up a potato, yes you will eventually end up with a bunch of little pieces of potatoes. It might not look exactly like you wanted it to, but it got the job done right?
Unfortunately that’s the approach many brands are using with facebook. They all want to jump on the social media train without realizing how to use it. We’re scrambling to...
February 2011
0 posts
January 2011
3 posts
“Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler.”
– Albert Einstein
December 2010
16 posts
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“A person’s success in life can usually be measured by the number of...”
– Timothy Ferriss
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“Coincidence is just God’s way of remaining anonymous.”
– Albert Einstein
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Shallow vs. Survival
You know how they say men are much more shallow than women? How you can see many fat, bald, goofy looking men with beautiful wives but you never see beautiful Matthew McConaughey types with ugly women? And how women hate that men will go for the “trashy” looking bimbo with the giant fake tits, injected Angelina Jolie lips, hair extensions, fake nails, fake eyelashes, and caked on...
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November 2010
2 posts
June 2010
1 post
“Only the passionate can inspire passion in others.”