Apple needs to take a page out of YouTubes book

I've been a big believer in the App Store since day 1, but I am becoming frustrated with a few things.

1. The "top apps" feature only has the recent Apps. Apple needs an option like YouTube has for videos. The App Store needs an "all-time" App section.

2. It is being abused. Developers have caught on to a flaw in the App Store. They are releasing great Apps for free, but once they gain popularity and reach the Top Ten list, they charge for the App. Seems like a great way for developers to cut through the clutter, but leaves users frustrated.

3. Apple needs a more efficient roll-out of new Apps. We all know music and movies come out on Tuesdays, but is anyone sure about Apps? They seem to come and go from the featured tab randomly.

McCain/ Palin - Genious or Risky?

John McCain has picked Alaska Senator Sarah Palin for his VP running mate. What does this mean for the GOP ticket? Message boards are already showing the polarization of opinions:

"This (decision) is an insult to women"

"Go Palin!! She has been an awesome governor and will be a great VP."

"Sarah Palin is not Hillary Clinton. "

"American politics hasn't seen integrity like Sarah Palin before..."

Will McCain's choice prove wise or will it backfire? I personally have mixed feelings. I can see how she may be a good choice based on her past signs of bold commitment to her beliefs, but her lack of long term experience will be pointed out by Obama's campaign. While this move probably won't capture all of the Hillary supporters, it is a strong move with the intention of creating buzz for McCain.

Facebook A Movie?

According to BBC News, Aaron Sorkin, writer of the first four seasons of West Wing and several movies, is working on writing a movie about Facebook. In the interview he was quoted saying, "I honestly don't know how it works" and goes on to say that the first step was to open a Facebook account of his own. Aaron (actually his research assistant) also started a Facebook group where Facebookers can go and leave feedback and comments for him to aid in the research efforts.

This is quite possibly the worst idea I have heard in a while. You better believe I joined his Facebook group and left my comment. He admitted it himself - he doesn't understand Facebook. If he did, Sorkin would understand that it cannot be made into a good movie. As far as I can tell, there is nothing about Facebook that would make a compelling storyline that could sustain a movie.

5 easy steps on how to get sued as a blogger

1. Create a blog. (www.antiquiet.com)
2. Post content that attracts people. (music reviews and news)
3. Take a CD that has been in the making for over a decade and stream the tracks online. (Guns N' Roses "Chinese Democracy")
4. Get massive traffic on your blog. (Servers overloaded)
5. Get arrested. (at 6:59am in your pajamas)

A blogger who goes by the name Skwerl has been arrested for streaming 9 tracks off Guns N' Roses unreleased album Chinese Democracy. If convicted, he faces up to 5 years in prison. Read the article from the Smoking Gun and follow updates from Skwerl's associates here.

AMC: kicking the old marketing habbit

AMC's show about an advertising agency set in the '60s, Mad Men, has been causing a commotion on Twitter. Three of the characters have accounts on Twitter and have been giving updates. The thing is, AMC didn't create those accounts and doesn't know who did.

AMC got worried that someone was representing characters on their show and was concerned about what they might published. AMC then filed a DMCA takedown notice of the Twitter accounts.

It is my belief that AMC definitely jumped the gun and panicked with the Twitter accounts. Why they took it down: they couldn't control the message. Why they should have never taken it down: free publicity. They eventually restored the Twitter accounts with some convincing from their marketing team.

Interesting side note - by ordering the suspension of the Twitter accounts and then reinstating them, Mad Men has received a lot more publicity than if the Twitter accounts were left alone.

Managing Mistakes For Brand Control

Talk about good public relations. After a recent Ohio concert, famed singer Neil Diamond apologized for a disappointing performance due to a raspy voice caused by acute laryngitis. Instead of leaving a bad taste in his fans mouth, Diamond responded, "I haven't let you down before and I won't let you down now" offering a ticket refund to anyone who requests it.

Now that's a good example of listening to your customers, interacting positively with whatever feedback you receive, and making a mistake right (even if the mistake would have been something hard to control) . How could marketing companies use this approach when trying to control brand image?

RIP Steve Jobs...oh wait, you're still alive...oops

Bloomberg Financial newswire accidentally sent out Steve Jobs' obituary. Gaffes happen and this was a pretty big one. In the last few months rumors have been circulating about Steve Jobs health. So it is ironic that Bloomberg accidentally sent out an obit for Jobs.

This is something that I'm sure Steve Jobs will be interested in reading. Who wouldn't want to see who shows up at your funeral?

Read more about this here, including the obituary.

What's in a blog name?

One of the blogs I read on a weekly basis changed its name today. It went from "The Origin of Brands Blog" to "Ries' Pieces." Why the change? Who cares about a blog name anyways? Laura Ries covers these questions in-depth here.

It is rare to see an industry professional admit a branding mistake, but she confesses that she picked the wrong blog name and stuck with it for four years. She gives a few good examples of how brand names matter and how change can be difficult, but often times for the better.

Check out her thoughts on double-branding below.

Resisting the Resistance

Remember LonelyGirl15 and her 15 minutes of YouTube fame? She starred in a series that was scripted, and some people thought that it was real...? No?

Well, anyway, CBS has decided to fund some kind of internet spin-off, with commercials in between. Check out the commercial below, I'm inexplicably reminded of the Animorphs.

Viral Oreos

Oreo successfully capped off a video contest on YouTube today. Users were asked to share their "Oreo Moment" in a short original video. The winning video has over 500,000 views and can be seen below.

One thing I find interesting is that Oreo disabled comments for the video. If Oreo wants to engage in discussion with their customers, why not let them comment. If they are worried about inappropriate comments, which I'm sure would have been posted, they could have at least chosen to moderate the comments. Rant aside, check out the winning video tomorrow.

500+ contacts on LinkedIn: Is it worth it?

Those perusing and making contacts left and right might want to reconsider his/her approach to being "connected" on LinkedIn.

Evidently, some connections can be soured by invites to be introduced and when you're sending mass e-mails to other LinkedIn members about employment, events, and questions that should be targeted toward the appropriate parties-- well, it can hurt you. You might be considered a spam artist, seem a little too pushy and move people to reconsider the notion of connecting in the first place. Tread lightly and think strategically on LinkedIn, as it's a great network for your professionalism but inappropriate for announcements or favors.

Check out the Publicity Hound. She sat down with LinkedIn expert Scott Allen and discussed similar topics.

Has anyone received invites from people they didn't know and found them to be a mistake? X-perts would like to know...

Ubiquity

This might be the coolest feature for Firefox since tabs. Ubiquity allows users to control what they do, with word based commands.

Check it out

Olympic Commercial Roundup: Bronze Medallist Number 2

Great message, plus Morgan Freeman is narrating. Visa is everywhere I want to be.

Olympic Commercial Roundup: Bronze Medallist

I like the concept, and it also gave me a new perspective on men in skirts. Well done, GE!

Olympic Commercial Roundup: Second Silver Medallist

This Coca-Cola commercial has animated birds. And a doggie drinking with a straw. Need I say more?

Olympic Commercial Roundup: Silver Medallist

This AT&T commercial is simple and elegant. Great use of 30 second spot!

Olympic Commercial Roundup: Gold Medallist Number 2

Too bad it's for such an awful airline, because this commercial is sweet. Maybe they could re-direct some of their resources towards customer service?

Olympic Commercial Roundup: Gold Medallist

Well, the Olympics are over. Victories came not only for Phelps, but also for a handful of companies with distinguished commercials. So, in the spirit of the Olympics, here come six of the best commercials. We're awarding two golds, two silvers, and two bronzes, because hey, why not? Let's start off with my favorite, the Clydesdale training video by Anheuser-Busch.

Twitter Trends: Summize

Most Tweeps (twitter users) already know this tool/site, but I thought I would comment on it for those who don't.

Summize is a great search tool for tracking conversations that are taking place on twitter. On the home page, it lists the most searched topics and lets you view the conversations taking place. This can be an incredibly valuable tool for marketers looking to engage in dialogue with the consumer.

Recently it is purchased by Google, so I'm assuming that can only help with accurate search results.


Check it out.

Hopefully, AT&T is paying attention to some of the conversation going on.

Not A Whole Lotta Love

While some praised the UK's recent participation in the closing ceremonies at the Beijing Olympics, many Chinese are being very critical of England's part in the handover performance. Chinese bloggers and news sources are complaining about most of the aspects of the ceremony. They are saying Jimmy Page (Led Zeppelin's legendary guitarist who performed the band's hit "Whole Lotta Love") and singer Leona Lewis were not famous enough for Chinese viewers. They are saying David Beckham missed the spot in the crowd he was aiming for when kicking the soccer ball. They are also saying London's Mayor Boris Johnson was too casual with accepting the flag, even disrepecting the Chinese by "putting his hand in his pocket." One source said, "The British seem to like to laugh about their stupidity in a funny way" and that the performance was "beyond their comprehension."

While I understand that the Chinese display was nothing less than spectacular and mezmarizing (something to be proud of accomplishing), is this really the ending note that China wants to strike with London or the world's viewers? The Olympics are about unity and good sportsmanlike competition. No one liked to watch Bolt's overzealous and rude celebrations when he won his races (though no one denied he is fast). Once again, China had an opportunity for positive PR and respect from the world (which is the very thing they have been trying so hard to get throughout the Olympic Games) and in their attempt, they have cast a shadow on what would have been good.

Amazon is Workin' the Word of Mouth

Amazon is banking heavily on sales of its digital book reader, Kindle. It is also hoping to acquire significant Word of Mouth through the 'See a Kindle in your City' program. The program allows Kindle owners and interested consumers to meet-up and give Kindle a try.

It is no doubt a good idea. Kindle runs for $359, so it is reasonable that consumers might want some hands-on experience with the device before they opt to buy it. Kindle also has a large amount of customer reviews with over 4,200.

Will Kindle truly take off?
I can't say for sure until I have actually tried one. It has some attractive features, such as free wifi and a non-glare screen. But do people really want to read books off a hand-held device? I remain skeptical. I think I could see myself reading short articles off such device, but a whole book would probably get old.

Read more about Kindle here.

How reporters are using Twitter

Stumbled upon an interesting article from nowpublic describing how reporters are utilizing Twitter.

Big news for Twitter is that they have recently signed a deal with MTV for the movie awards. They will be having celebrities giving updates from the awards show. This is sure help boost the popularity of Twitter among the Gen Y crowd.

Take a look at the article here and also check out the prominent reporters using Twitter.

Twitter - Microblogging

Check out how a reporter is utilizing Twitter in the interview below. Julio Ojeda Zapata is a tech columnist for the St. Paul Pioneer Press.

YouTube Conventions

You can follow both the Democrat and Republican Conventions on YouTube.

Also...if you want to put your money where your mouth is, you can bet on the presidential election here.

Marketing Recap of the Olympics

Big winners and losers. Laura Ries has a detailed summary of what companies and individuals won big at the Olypics. From Michael Phelps to Liu Xiang. Well worth a read here.

Changing Apathy To Activity?

Starting today, X Box Live users will be able to register to vote for the upcoming US Presidential elections in November. This recent partnership between Microsoft's X Box 360 and Rock The Vote will give 12 million X Box Live users access to registration materials, in hopes of exciting the young voters to turn out on election day.

Pros: X Box Live hosts a large community of young Americans that could change from undecided or apathetic youth into excited and involved voters. It is good to see politically connected groups positively reaching out to youth (especially males) who have been previously viewed as desensitized trouble-makers responsible for the downfall of society because of playing Halo and Doom.

Cons: The X Box Live community is also made up of a lot of gamers who are not old enough to vote, who would also think it was funny to try to fool the system into thinking they could vote or worse yet, try to crash the system. If not launched with proper security measures, you can bet that some in the X Box Live community will not become active in the ways that Rock The Vote would want. There is already a growing cloud of doubt looming over the online messageboards as to whether the system will accurately give all the registered information on election day.

While Rock The Vote may have a huge opportunity to capitalize on connecting with a popular social network, they also have a great deal of risk in front of them. The biggest challenge in reaching the X Box Live network users may not be one that Rock the Vote can even do anything about - a large portion of the youth are just not that excited about the candidates. Many have been ranting online about their disappointment in the candidate options and how they believe this new partnership really won't help the election at all. Depending on your views of the candidates, this may raise a huge question for politicians and marketers alike: If you don't have substance, can you make people buy something?

Party Like It's 2012

The Beijing Olympics are officially over. Now we can get back to our normal lives...or start thinking about the 2012 summer Olympics in London. It didn't take long for London to roll out the online promotion for the 2012 games.

Below is a trailer for the video contest for the 2012 games.




Read about the official contest here.

21 tips to increase blog traffic

Who doesn't want more blog readers? Exactly. Check out how to increase the number of viewers/subscribers to your blog here.

Dancing With The Stars

This is the first time I have seen one single topic occupy the top 5 searches on Google Trends. Therefore, I feel compelled to write about it even though I have no real interest in the story. But for the massive amount of you who want to know who is on Dancing With The Stars this year, the list is below:

Kim Kardashian, reality TV star

Cloris Leachman, Oscar-winning actress

Maurice Greene, Olympic sprinter,

Lance Bass, former N' Sync star

Rocco DiSpirito, TV chef

Warren Sapp, NFL star

Misty May-Treanor, Olympic beach volleyballer

Toni Braxton, Grammy award-winning R&B star

Cody Linley, that cute kid from "Hannah Montana" show

Ted McGinley, veteran actor (who I hated on "Happy Days")

Brooke Burke, actress/TV personality

Jeffrey Ross, celebrity roaster and comedian

Susan Lucci, "All My Children" star

How to create a parody video

1. Make sure it is relevant.
2. Make sure it is a topic that people are interested in watching.
3. Make it short.
4. Make it funny.

This video covers all four. Relevant because it just happened and the Olympics just finished. Numerous slide shows of the race have been posted on YouTube. It clocks in at 1:06, thus short. And finally, it is a funny idea.

Check it out.

Twitter: This tweet is personal

Today's social media breakfast offered a vast array of insight into how companies use Twitter to reach their consumers... and spectators. A variety of personalities hovered over opened laptops readily attuned to Twitter (and some were on Facebook and Crackberries). Is anyone out there really listening? They are, and I have to say it's personal.

There is absolutely nothing professional (purely semantics) about Twitter, because when a string of comments is made in response to a company's brand, new product or service-- it's absolutely personal. One attendee quipped about the percentage of value in a forum full of Twitterers tweeting about someone's hot dog being delicious, someone commenting on the Chinese gymnasts' fair-and-square gold medal count, and then back to another matter: "company tweets are spam."

A number of disagreements ensued and one participant in this discussion concluded, "If you don't like what I'm tweeting about, then don't follow me." Sounds pretty selfish in my opinion; others agreed with my sentiment stating that Twitter is, well, selfish.

I thoroughly enjoyed the one attendee who kept bringing up the idea of value in using Twitter, his tone warranting a response from not only the attendees but the presenters too.

Julio Ojeda-Zapata, technology (TechDrive) reporter for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, was the keynote for this event and he talked about his new Twitter book-- which I will be the first one to buy, as it highlights 36 companies whose fates were sealed by legitimate tweets and a strong group of followers. The other speaker, Phil Wilson presented his new Web application, a spin-off of Twitter called Comictwit. A pretty fantastic idea to give online users something to do during whatever break minutes your boss allows, though I could see jokes becoming rather distasteful. Nevertheless, laughter is great medicine so bring on the jokes!

In closing, you're vulnerable online, everything is personal and rather risky if you don't have Comcastcares-like moderators.

Explanation of YouTube comments

If you put a video up on YouTube, you should be prepared to face some hatred in the comments field (most people expect praise, hence why most videos are posted). I'm guessing in about 99.9% of videos with over 500 views, you will find a horribly offensive or inappropriate comment.

"Some of the comments on YouTube make you weep for the future of humanity just for the spelling alone, never mind the obscenity and naked hatred."
- Lev Grossman, Time Magazine 2006

This type of open criticism is worrying to companies that want to go viral; but it shouldn't stop them. There is the option of of blocking comments, but by doing that you would also block positive comments and important feedback.

Mike Wesch gives his formula for obscene comments below.

anonymity
+
physical distance
+
rare & ephemeral dialogue
=
hatred as public performance

Message to companies putting a video on YouTube: don't fear the negative comments. Most importantly don't take it personally and lash out against people, unless of course, you want to unleash The Streisand Effect. But I wouldn't think so.

Get paid to tweet

Twitter users now have a platform that pays them to post links. That platform is Adjix, which is a url shortener, similar to Tinyurl.com. Although, instead of redirecting to your linked website, Adjix places a small banner ad in your redirected link. Thus, monetizing Twitter tweets/links.

Will it catch on?

Truly difficult to say. On the one hand, everyone would love to be making money off tweets, even if it might be a rather insignificant amount. On the other, everyone hates ads and spam, and Adjix might come off as that to Twitter users.

The official beta launch was on Wednesday, so we will be on the lookout to see if Adjix is accepted by the Twitterverse.

An anthropological introduction to YouTube

This has to be the best presentation on YouTube out there.

Your #1 Facebook Fan

Check out the top 100 most popular Facebook Fan Pages here.

The top ten are:

1. Barack Obama 1,360,874 fans
2. Michael Phelps 1,254,534
3. Batman: The Dark Knight 644,493
4. Friends (TV Series) 570,324
5. Apple Students 560,568
6. Coldplay 518,559
7. The Chris Moyles Show 513,013
8. The Stig 481,226
9. Victoria’s Secret PINK 480,854
10. Linkin Park 474,435

The Day That Never Comes

Metallica released their new single The Day That Never Comes today. It has made a big splash online with fans waiting to hear it and critics ready to tear it apart.

The search for the lyrics even made it to #1 on Google Trends. Impressive, but is the song?


You can stream the song on MySpace here.

Viral video on how to make videos viral

An entertaining viral video promoting Tropic Thunder, which is based on how to make a video viral:

YOUtube or PrinceTube?

I remember reading about this story a while ago, but I figured that it died down and the lawsuit was thrown out.

Now for the counter-suit:

"The case concerns Stephanie Lenz, a mother who filmed her young children dancing in their kitchen to the Prince song "Let's Go Crazy." She posted her video to YouTube for the enjoyment of family members, only to have the video removed due to a DMCA takedown notice from Universal. She filed a counter-notice stating that her video was non-infringing, and then with the assistance of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, sued Universal for sending a takedown notice over a video she says it should have known was non-infringing."

Interesting article. I remember Prince getting a lot of well deserved flack from this fiasco. What caused this controversy? The video below.

Leaked Albums = Good Publicity

Once again, it has been suggested that a leaked album does not necessarily spell disaster for an artist. This week The Jonas Brothers' new album, A Little Bit Longer, debuted at #1 selling 525,000 copies despite leaking on the internet 2 weeks before its official release date. Although the RIAA and a lot of bands will say that they don't want albums leaked early, many claim it can actually create more buzz and hype that will propel music sales.

In the classic example, Radiohead's fourth album, Kid A, was released in 2000 also claiming the top of the sales chart its first week. The funny part was that the album had no radio singles, no videos, and little interview promotion prior to its release. The album did leak though.

Social networks have continued to evolve for music fans since the days of Napster. Although it is now fairly commonplace for a CD to leak, people still get excited and are naturally inclined to become a marketers dream: grassroots promoters. The buzz created for an album and consequent album sales will usually more than make up for those few who actually download the leak and feel satisfied to not acquire a legal copy. The next challenge for the music industry will be to figure out how to better utilize and control the social media realm and channel its massive potential more consistently.

Seinfeld to Save Vista?...

Microsoft has recruited Jerry Seinfeld to appear in new advertisements promoting Vista. This is a rebuttal to Apple's successful Mac Vs. PC campaign (Mac accounts for 7.8% of the market, up from 6.2% a year ago).

Will this work? I'm not quite sure. Seinfeld's promotion for Bee Movie during an episode of 30 Rock was forgettable, although his appearance on the actual show was great. He also seemed to show up everywhere promoting Bee Movie, which got annoying.

The agency behind the campaign is Crispin Porter + Bogusky. A lot of people at ad agencies will talk this agency down, but in all reality, they have rolled out some brilliant campaigns in the past: Whopper Freakout, BK subservient chicken, Miller Lite Man Laws (although sales didn't hold up), and the Truth campaign.


One thing is for sure: Microsoft has an image crisis on its hands. They could use all of the help they can get to move away from the image of a company that isn't user friendly and not "trendy."

Success or flop?: Probably somewhere in-between. It would take one incredible ad campaign to get the idea of Macs being user friendly out of the consumers head.

Read an extensive article on this here.


Somewhat off topic, I love what Crispin has done with Burger King. From the subservient chicken to Whopper Freakout, they know how to get attention. Below is one of my favorite BK spots, parodying Helen Reddy's "I am woman."

It's Not a Glitch

EA have responded to a user video showing Tiger Woods being able to walk on water in Tiger Woods '08. Very smart video made my EA. It shows that they understand the people who play their games and they want to take part in the discussion. See the video below.

From the Phone Booth: It's okay to be human

Today's perfect pitch session featuring a podcast from maven Margo Mateas touched on a fear that looms over the touch-tone phones of PR people. We don't want to suck, so how do we sell?

Reporters are just as human, if not more so, than we are. Have you ever spoken to a reporter who couldn't communicate a clear sentence or said "um" more times than a Toastmasters member starting out? I always enjoy that because it helps me to conclude this really isn't that hard.

Of course, we can make it seem impossible by a glass-half-empty kind of mentality. "What if they hang up on me?".... better yet... "What if they say "No?" It's dreadful to hear but very common, and it's up to us to recover quickly and move on to our next potential relationship. A word of caution: Don't pitch until you're fully ready. There is nothing worse than a reporter hearing blabber for a minute and then stopping you (and yes, sometimes they hang up too).

You might also want to pitch the script, and I don't mean "pitch" as in "communicate." Throw it away. Work at sounding more like a conversationalist with mutual benefit for both parties.

Does anyone out there have any thoughts on voice mail pitches?

Random Social Media Thoughts

A collection of my social media thoughts for the day:

- It is weird to think that we are engaged in the first election since YouTube's creation. It has been heavily utilized by most campaigns. Most video hits: probably Obama. Most YouTube comments: definitely Ron Paul. For a while it was almost impossible to look at any popular video without a Ron Paul supporter commenting on it.

- Facebook is going the way of MySpam...oops, I mean MySpace. Too many useless applications and now comes a complete revamp of the website along with a slew of spam. I see the temptation for Facebook to converge and become everything social media, but instead I wish they would follow the KISS principle (keep it simple stupid, as in we didn't really need all the 3rd party apps and all that junk).

- Another victim of spam - YouTube. I remember not too long ago when I would check the daily top videos on YouTube and find a collection of unique, creative, and often hilarious videos. Check the most viewed videos today and you will find about 50% of the titles aren't in English, a handful of videos are Japanese cartoons, and the rest are spam or ads for websites. Maybe 10 videos out of the top 100 are now worth watching.

- Pandora might get shut down soon. They are paying outrageous royalties and can't get out of the red. If they do get shut down by the RIAA, expect an uproar from the over 1 million daily users of Pandora.

- Apple still needs to get a better control of the App Store. Only a few applications are released every week and the ones that get publicized aren't that great. Btw, who gave the clearance for the I am Rich application?

- Something will replace MySpace as a music site soon. Currently, MySpace is repeatedly being pigeonholed as a site for 3 different types of people: musicians, spammers, and child predators. Whether it is true or not, it is repeated frequently enough to the point where people will believe it to be true. My prediction for MySpace's music predecessor? Modlife. I will give a review of the website later this week.

Digg yourself a hole

Katie Couric gets involved with YouTube and Digg...For some reason this video comes off a little phony. Like if my parents were to tell me how "hip" or "cool" Facebook is. Make sure you watch until the end for the horrible Digg puns...ugh.

How The Mighty Have Fallen

No one can stay popular or unpopular for too long in pop culture, not even Michael Phelps. Everyone's mad because he's endorsing Frosted Flakes, which are apparently not good for you (who knew?). My initial reaction was apathy, but then I thought about my little sister who is downloading all of his favorite songs on iTunes. I don't know how responsible celebrities should be with hero worship, but it seems like at the least he could have signed with Corn Flakes or something.

Closing Pandora's Box

A sad day may be approaching for online music lovers. Pandora may soon be shutting down its website and music service due to increased royalty fees.

"The Copyright Royalty Board's decision raised a then-current 8/100 of a cent per song per listener to 19/100 of a cent under the same conditions in 2010."

This rate hike is a major blow to Pandora, which is currently losing money due to royalty fees. Of the $25 million of revenue that they bring in this year, 70% will go to royalty fees.

The death of my favorite App from the AppStore might be approaching soon. Will this further anger music fans? Of course. Pandora has over 1 million daily users, including me. I have spent at least $20 on music after hearing it first on Pandora. Hopefully, the CRB comes to its senses before it is too late...

Read the full article on Pandora here.

Mesmerizing

This Schweppes ad is beautiful. It's a nice break from annoying, gimmicky ads because it is quality artwork.

LA Times Goes Commercial

After making tons of cuts and struggling to survive, the LA Times has given up and brought in a TV exec. With no newspaper experience, Eddy W. Hartstein is going to figure out what it takes to keep this paper in tact. We hope he can get it done without sacrificing content that this pub has had in the past. (NYT)

New, Better Face of BK

Burger King ads have been terrifying me ever since they came out with the guy with the head *shudder*. Now they’re taking a new step in advertising by hiring Family Guy’s Seth MacFarlane to advertise. He’ll work on animated clips to be premiered on YouTube, which will ideally draw MacFarlane junkies in to willingly watch commercials. This could be a win-win if it’s pulled off correctly: advertisements that actually draw the viewer in (of their own volition), and no more of the BK king. (NYT)

Print Media: Decay Brings Embitterment

Our erudite friends over at the Times have sort of, kind of congratulated those lowbrow goons at the Enquirer. Mr. Carr suggests that there may be some value in a pluralistic journalist society; perhaps the methods at the Enquirer aren’t entirely without value. A few weeks ago this op-ed would have been a nice gesture. However, with the advent of the Edwards affair and the embarrassing lag between coverage on blogs and coverage in major media, the piece comes off as an obnoxious attempt at turning apology into a chance for condescension.

Cute Overload is Nauseatingly Lucrative

Cute Overload, which features pictures of fluffy animals, is selling premium ads at $2000. Compare to Daily Kos, at $7500 per premium. Apparently there's a huge market for adorableness.

Being all-out Gen Y, I prefer LOL Cats or Kitten Wars (Check out the losingest kitties on the Left sidebar!). (NYT)

Sampling Products 101

In my whole life span I cannot remember ever consistently buying a product after trying a free sample. Most products I sample are either disappointing, mediocre, or not good enough to break my normal buying patterns. I have finally caved in and become a repeat buyer of a product I sampled. Why now?

About two weeks ago I attended Warped Tour. It was a very typical hot and humid summer day. After about four hours of standing in the sun, I decided to weigh my beverage options. I could either pay $4 or more for water or pop. As I was debating what to get, I noticed a tent handing out free energy drinks.

Being fatigued, thirsty, and not wanting to pay $4 for a water, I ventured over to the tent. The energy drink I sampled was a hybrid: half energy drink, half fruit juice. Needless to say it was very satisfying on such a mucky day.

Fast forward two weeks later and now every time I am about to buy an energy drink, I search out for the "Lost" energy drink. Why do I have such a strong urge for it? I sampled it while I was tired and thirsty. Thus, this is what sticks in my mind. It wasn't that it only tasted good. It was that I associated it with curing my thirst and giving me energy.

Now for a real life example from an economics course I took:

When Coca-Cola began taste testing "New Coke" it was met with overwhelmingly positive feedback. Nearly everyone preferred New Coke to the Classic Coke. As I'm sure you probably know, New Coke was an absolute bomb. I don't think any drink has received such a backlash from the general public. So why did people prefer it in taste tests but not in daily life?

The short answer is: people sampled New Coke when they weren't thirsty. They enjoyed it, but when they were actually thirsty, it wasn't satisfying. They associated New Coke being just another sample and Classic Coke for being satisfying when they are thirsty.

Something to consider when handing out product samples:

Hand out samples when the customer would normally crave them. You want the consumer to associate your product with something. And you don't want that "something" to be just another free sample. If it is food, give out your sample when the consumer would be hungry. If it is a drink, hand out your sample when people are thirsty. The mind is a powerful tool. Secure a spot in the mind and the consumer is yours.

The Rise And Fall Of The Facebook Empire

It started with MySpace. It was a place to connect, find new music, and chat with friends. Sure, it was a little congested with traffic at time, some people had too many glitter graphics and unicorns on their profile pages, and lots of bad bands asked to be your friend (they are trying so hard), but it was still a very good resource for connecting.

Then came the advertisers. They brought their ringtones, click-on-me advertisements, and spam messages. Many MySpacers got tired quickly with signing on only to find countless porn friend requests and endless messages that they could care less about.

Then we move over to Facebook. It was so clean and basic. We could learn about our classmate's favorite movies ot reconnect with our friends we said we would never forget after high school (but did). It was so real. Minimal advertising, no spam, and no unwanted messages from unknown people (save a few stalkers you had forgotten from high school, but didn't forget you). Life was good again.

Then came open source Facebook. At first, it could be used for good. Maybe it would be nice to have a few new ways to connect? Lets add a way to draw a small note to a friend or add a little music player to show friends some new music (kind of like MySpace, but its is still clean, right?).

Open the doors to spammers, advertisers, and virus makers of the world. No, I do not want to play Oregon Trail on Facebook. No, I do not want to see which Desperate Housewives star I am most like. No, I do not want to post dozens of stupid bumper stickers all over my page. Just when we thought that the millions of useless profile applications flooding our profiles were bad enough, I received a message today that induced an eerie state of deja vu.

Facebook is clogged and they are cleaning up inactive accounts. You need to send this message to all your friends to prove your account is still active so they don't delete it." I got this message many times on MySpace from Tom. I also got a new post on my wall this week: "Dood, U gotta totally check out these new pix of u! lol. (link to a virus, that send same type of messages to all your friends)."

The new version of Facebook seems to have some gaping holes in the empire walls of security. Now that the fortress has been breached and the hoards are attacking, where will Facebook enthusiasts go next? Too bad the Facebook developers couldn't have seen this coming...oh wait...

Can't Beat 'Em? Join 'Em!

A NYT article has revealed that many media companies formerly averse to showing their content on YouTube are now taking advantage of the coverage. They are using the videos to advertise future films and other efforts.

We may finally be seeing a beginning of an end to copyright wars. Even if the videos aren't used as advertisements, they often lead to the popularity of a show or movie. Flight of the Conchords had immense viewership growth due in part to HBO's non-efforts to stop the videos from floating around YouTube. I'm all for free video in exchange for targeted media advertising. Consumer 'theft' guilt will be alleviated, and profits can be made by the media companies. Looks like a win-win situation.

Gossip Girl Makes Girls Read

Season 1 DVD of Gossip Girl is coming out, just in time to preempt the new season. Apparently, it comes with an audio book of Christina Ricci reading an abridged version of Gossip Girl book one.

Wait, seriously!? I understand abridging Les Miserables to take out the architectural details of the sewers, or the largely irrelevant information on naval warfare in Count of Monte Cristo. But what are they leaving out on the audio tape of Gossip Girl?

My guess: the riskier scenes. From what I've seen, GG on TV gets rid of the smoking and Blair's bulimia. Maybe the audio book is edited down in this way, too?

With or without the audio book, Gossip Girl book sales are through the roof. Want your teenage daughter to read more? Fill the book with drugs, alcohol, and selfish behavior.

Axiom: Content is what wins coverage or profit in the end.

All Tomorrow's Ad Campaigns: Part II

So you thought you could escape poorly crafted home videos by keeping the TV on (and away from that Bob Saget show)? Not so fast! A new service, saysme.tv, will be providing TV ad spots to anyone with $6. Basically, if you upload a video and pay a fee, it will be shown somewhere in the U.S. "Saysme" sees it as a new democratization of TV.

This news is huge. Now anyone with limited funds can advertise on TV without a bevy of legal problems to deal with. Look for 'Chocolate Rain' copycats running at 3AM on the Weather Channel. Also, check out the new Axiom commercial (jk)!

5 Things To Write on a Wall: Hacker's Guide to Facebook Galaxy

If you're a hacker, you might find a new home on the new Facebook. The developers have apparently made it easy for hacker ads to escape their filtered domain and unleash themselves all over the Facebook community. So, if you're a hacker, here's some ideas for another innocent bystander's wall:

1) Have you checked out that blog that is about you? Apparently, it's pretty bad ;( (That face is adorable). I think you and everyone should read it follow this link to deadly virus

2) YOU GOT A (CRUSH) ON YOU, CAN YOU GUESS WHO IT IS? YOU'LL BE SHOCKED, FIND OUT NOW! follow this link to deadly virus

3) Some (love the typo, hacker) thinks your special and has a hot_crush on you. Find out who it could be ;) follow this link to deadly virus

4) Check out this site i found that gives ya awsome! ring_tones. I been on here for hours lol follow this link to deadly virus

5) HAHA! this is hilarious. you have to see it! go here to yet another deadly virus


Hackers, if you come up with anything more creative, we'll make this a top 10 list instead.

Open Letter to the New Facebook

Dear New Facebook,

How do I hate thee? Let me count the ways...

1. Your format: I now have to scroll through all of my friend's applications before I get to their basic info, like email and phone number. I don't care if Alyssa has "Pirates vs. Ninjas", or if Greg has "superGift!". I just want to talk to them. Like a person.

2. Non-collapsable newsfeed: Finding out that my friend across the country is attending "Erin's 21st!!!" isn't at the top of my agenda.

3. Strange men friending me based on my picture. I miss the privacy of the old Facebook!

4. Most importantly, I hate that you didn't take the time to prevent phishing scams like facelibook. I realized today that this site is still not blocked by Safari. Sure, this may be coming soon, but the patch will most likely not be able to predict future phishing scams.

The good news is that we can remember a simpler facebook by clicking a button on the upper right, "return to Old Facebook". May this button last forever.

In Hopes of Better Facebook Times,

The Last Unicorn

Breaking Records

Not only were the Olympic Opening Ceremonies the most watched ever, but NBC is now reporting the most viewers for the Olympic Games in 18 years. During Michael Phelps record-breaking 8th Gold Medal win on Saturday night, NBC reported an average of 31.1 million viewers, the most for a Saturday night program since 1990.

Despite continued reports including staged production in the opening ceremonies, questions about the Chinese gymnasts' ages, and questionable human-rights practices in China, the Olympics continue to be a hot topic of conversation. Maybe there isn't such a thing as bad press.

All These Things Nike Has Done....

While watching the Olypmics, I have seen numerous commercials. Some good, some bad, but this one stuck out to me. I'm not sure if it is due to my favorite Killers song featured in it or the imagrey used or both.

Check it out below.

RIPs

The Austin American Statesman is up for sale, along with Daytona Beach News-Journal. Tribune just sold Newsday. NJ Star Ledger and Trenton Times are under threat to be sold.

What does it mean? More death of print media, call me psychic if you will. For us, headaches may be induced by updating contact lists. And maybe more news from odious wires, which would mean less pitching, and less diversity of news stories.

Goodbye, hard-hitting investigative journalists. Hello, bloggers.

Friday Moment of Zen

The work week is almost done. Check out my favorite viral video series, You Suck At Photoshop, below.

So far season two of the series has been mediocre, but this episode is one of the best. Hilarious, yet informative.

PR Spin: Mean Russians Hate Fun-Loving Georgians

Gawker posted an interesting video on Georgia's president Saakashvili counting Russian crimes against their country. In addition to, you know, invading their country with no cause, Russia apparently vetoed an Olympic-size pool and a movie theater.

Gawker thinks it's PR, Georgia's trying to get the US on their side by tugging our heart strings. In politics image is everything, so maybe it's not a such a bad idea. Too bad all of our troops are involved in a different pre-emptive strike overseas.

Best of luck, Georgia!

The Power of the "O"

Oprah is huge. No, not like that...Apparently, her celebrity endorsement is worth about one million votes.

What about Gwyneth Paltrow? Is that endorsement alienating to anyone? Whose endorsement would lose someone more votes than it gains? My guesses: Saddam Hussein, Mel Gibson, Pee-Wee Hermann.

From the Phone Booth: Facelibook

What the heck is this all about? That's the common response from the majority of Facebookers who have fallen victim to Facelibook, a phishing site that seeps into member's profiles and writes look-at-this types of messages on walls.

"Have you seen that blog that is about you? Apparently, it's pretty bad ;(. I think you and everyone should check it out."

Yeah, this sort of thing has happened before on MySpace, but now it's on the new Facebook. Cripes, Mark Zuckerberg-- fix this nonsense. Now everyone has to change their passwords.

In closing, don't open a message about me sending ring tones to you or you'll be infected just like several other Facebookers part of this new and improved social networking community. I bet the abuse reports are flooding the company's inboxes as I post this.

More Girly Bloggers

We wrote earlier on the girl blog NonSociety and their maybe secret endorsement deal with The Body Shop. Apparently advertisers are catching onto the trend of women's blogs; ad sales are allowing some women to quit their jobs.

Are there non-traditional methods of reaching out to these bloggers? Do they do TFM (trade for mention)? The problem we've been noticing at Axiom is that blogs are so personal; they don't have incentive to cover a press release unless it pertains directly to them.

Jack & Hill often mention receiving free products from companies in exchange for reviews, is this a widespread practice? How do we reach out to bloggers without using pop-ups or adsense?

All Tomorrow's Ad Campaigns

With traditional TV viewership down, ad agencies have no choice but to go back to basics. Billboards, subway ads, and in-store ads are second only to online advertising in terms of budget growth.

NYT poses the question of "pervasive versus intrusive". My worry is different: how fun/clever can print ads be? Video gives time to develop a story, there is an audio component, the ad can be complex. In cartoon form, the Budweiser frogs would be pointless, it's all about hearing the croaking. "Mamma mia that's a spicy meatball" isn't funny unless you hear someone saying it in a funny voice. Etc...

But hey, prove me wrong, advertisers! Let's see what you can do.

The Gas Angle

We all know that gas prices are high, and this summer it's been really trendy to give this a mention in basically every article. Now ABC's jumping on board with their new "Stay Home, Save Gas" campaign. Basically, the idea is that premiere week should be a time to sit on your couch and save gas.

Why not advertise the addictive quality of Grey's Anatomy, or the adorableness (is this a word?) of Ugly Betty? Great example of how a simple idea is made overly complex with ridiculous marketing.

Move over MySpace...

The next credible contender to MySpace is finally here. No, I'm not talking about Facebook. I'm talking about Hoffspace.

David Hasselhoff has set up his own social networking site. Thrilling, isn't it? You can create your own fan page, chat in forums, and see exclusive videos of the hoff himself (Although, I'm guessing he won't be posting any videos of himself eating Wendys off the floor anytime soon...).


Check it out here. For the world's most bizarre music video, see below.

Viral Video of the Day

You have probably heard a few stories about what was faked during the Olympics in Beijing, including: some of the fireworks, spectators at the games, a building, and the song for China.

With all of the forgery at the Olympics, China is starting to receive more negative PR than you can shake a stick at. At least one positive thing has come from this: a hilarious rip-off of Lin Miaoke singing "I sing for my county." This time she is singing a big of a different tune...

Ben Folds Fake

Ben Folds revealed this week that the copy of his new CD "Way To Normal" that has been floating around file sharing sites is actually fake. He recorded the 6 songs in a span of 8 hours and had friends release it online. He recorded and released the material in attempts to delay the actual leak of the CD.

Great idea and I'm sure it will build buzz for the actual release of the CD in September.


Rolling Stone has the full article here.

Twitter + UK = bloody fail

Twitter users in the UK are not too happy today. Twitter is momentarily ending outbound SMS messaging to users in the UK. The service has become very popular in the UK, which is great for Twitter, but that also means higher costs.

The Twitter blog says “it could cost Twitter about $1,000 per user per year to send SMS outside of Canada, India, or the US.”

It is understandable that Twitter can't afford to foot that type of bill per user, but Twitter still needs a business model to work off of. Whether it is ads or a subscription service, they need to generate some form of steady income.

Whatever they do, I'm sure it will upset some of its users. But it is better to upset a few than to have to put up a permanent 'fail whale.'

Apple App of the Week: Ambiance

This is truly something that I always wanted to have, but never put in the time to search out a CD of it: Ambiance. Or soothing background noise.

This App goes for a mere 99cents in the App store and features 13 different sounds to fall asleep to. From birds to crickets to the wind.

Highlights:
- Inexpensive
- Includes a sleep timer
- Features a wide variety of sounds

Lowlights:
- Includes white noise sound. Possibly one of the more annoying sounds to listen to.
- No volume bar, although this will be fixed in the next update.

Check it out. It is only 99cents that you are putting at stake.

CouchSurfing: Wave of the Future?

Umm, thanks, but no thanks...

I think that this is the dumbest idea ever, but I have a few friends that swear by it. Two social networks, CouchSurfing and AirBed & Breakfast, offer beds in the houses of volunteers. Basically, you sign up to be a host, and then say yes or no to people who ask to come stay with you.

I haven't seen the movie 'Hostel', but I've seen the previews, and they are scary enough to turn me away from this idea. Even if your host doesn't want to maim, murder or rob you, what if their couch smells bad? Or they smell bad? Or they make really gross food and you feel obliged to eat it? I could keep going, but instead I'll just keep paying for hotels.

Oh, the times they are a changing...

Today, Mashable posted an interesting article on how the PR world is starting to change. Instead of systematically sending out press releases, PR firms are now building relationships with reporters/bloggers.

This isn't incredibly shocking news to me. It is pretty clear that some of the more effective PR pros have well built relationships with journalists/bloggers. The main thing PR people need to do to be effective, is know the audience. If a journalist has been writing numerous columns on the housing market, would you pitch him a story about the presidential election? Of course not.

Check out the article here. It is worth a read.

Beyond Product Placement

Brian: Want to watch the Italian Job?
Me: I don't know...is it good?
Brian: It's basically a 3-hour commercial for Mini Coopers.
Me: Well, when you put it that way. Yeah.
-Real Conversation

Everyone has heard of product placement. Who could forget when Michael J. Fox went back to the future and ordered a coke? Or was it a Pepsi? Whatever. Anyway, the idea is that you pay a lot of money for your product to be seen on the big screen.

"Drive and Deliver" has gone one step beyond: it's a documentary about truck drivers paid for by a truck company. It's budget includes a red-carpet premiere, a first-rate soundtrack, soulful musings, and long shots of the big, beautiful trucks.

I don't really understand how this is going to help: their target audience is probably commercial truck buyers, but the movie is reaching everyone. Assuming anyone wants to go watch a documentary about truckers. Sounds about as exciting as that movie about the guy who drives across the country on his tractor. (NY Times)

Emily Brill: Your Pitching Nightmare

MTV has pitched the wrong girl. Emily Brill, New York socialite and weight loss success story, was e-mail pitched on a casting call for a show where girls lose weight to become models. According to the pitch, "models will endure twelve weeks of physical fitness training to get down to their ideal size...models must put their best foot forward at all times while staying focused on losing weight."

The pitch backfired, and now Emily published an angry post about it on her blog. This illustrates one of our core Axioms: do your research!

VP Madness!

Love him or hate him, you have to admit Obama knows how to talk to Gen Y. Now he's taking social media to the next level by announcing his VP on Twitter before he tells the press. He will message all of his "followers" at the same time, the time isn't specified but it will be before the convention. Cell phone addicts can text "VP" to 62262 to receive the news.

10 dumb viral marketing campaigns

This makes for a very entertaining read. Check out the 10 dumbest viral marketing campaigns here.

Then vote for which one is the dumbest here!

I got Barack-rolled...

If you are a YouTube fanatic or have friends who are, it is likely that at some point in the last few months you have been Rick-rolled.

For those of you who don't know what being "rick-rolled" is, here is an explanation of the phenomenon from Yahoo answers:

An internet prank or joke. Rick Roll, Rick Roll'd or Rick Rolling is an internet spam trick in which people post a link to a Rick Astley video on Youtube, but say the viewers of the video are being led to another video, usually proof of unconfirmed gaming news or trailers.

For example, a friend sends you an email saying "Hey, check out the new Harry Potter trailer here!" You click the link and end up on YouTube watching Rick Astley's "Never Gonna Give You Up" video.

Today on Twitter while reading tweets, I got Barack-rolled. Check out the video here. I'm sure this will get a few million views by the end of the week.

Olympic Power

Milo of Croton, the original Olympic star.

This article from the Times details the endorsement power that ex-Olympians have in marketing. Apparently it's a "for life" gig if you win once, or at least it can be.

I run a trivia contest on Monday nights, and when asked "who won the most gold medals in Olympic history?" no one, in all four rooms of the restaurant, knew the answer. (It was Raymond Ewry for track and field.) It's strange how in such a timeless event, even the most important stars are forgotten for the new faces. Star power is perfectly reflected by contracts; athletes who were once the face of Adidas or Nike are now pushing Cabot cheese.