brandflakesforbreakfast

maybe you could do this with some free time and an olympus camera

2009-07-10T07:32:00.000-04:00

60,000 pictures. 9,600 developed prints. 1,800 shot pictures and absolutely no post production. Whoah. That's one sweet stop motion masterpiece to promote the Olympus PEN.

(What happened to his wife and kid??)

darth vader gets cute

2009-07-10T07:26:00.002-04:00

Star Wars chicks are going to freak for this. Only 1,644 of these exist, and they're being sold at Comic-Con San Diego now through July 26th.

10% of the retail sales price goes to Susan G. Komen for the Cure® with a minimum guaranteed donation of $5,000. Get it for your girlfriend to justify the travel expense for a comic book conference halfway across the country. Or just get it for yourself and be all like "what...it's Darth. You got a problem with that??"

From If It's Hip It's Here.

are you ready for the swedish military?

2009-07-10T07:12:00.001-04:00

This site for the Swedish Armed Forces feels very much like a well produced console game. Incredible set design, beautiful Flash work and a series of puzzles that somehow confirm whether or not you're Armed Forces ready.

Clearly, I am not ready for the Swedish Armed Forces. Several failed puzzles and ultimately too short of an attention span to complete the test. You'll certainly do better. Thanks, Devon!

beauty made from ugly

2009-07-09T07:59:00.001-04:00

When we grow up, we're going to build an entire city out of shipping containers. These ugly steel boxes continue to inspire architects to produce wonderful things with them.

Check out this art center in Korea. And the inside is as awesome as the outside! Nice.

some more twitter facts for your powerpoint deck

2009-07-09T07:52:00.001-04:00

News from the Herd points us to loads of new Twitter factoids, graphs and trends.

Go ahead and include all of this stuff in your next PowerPoint deck to the boss. She'll think you're a twitteriffic superstar.

facebook fan pages now embeddable everywhere

2009-07-09T07:41:00.001-04:00

Plaid on Facebook

Facebook just announced a cool new feature for marketers - embeddable fan boxes. Now you can embed your Facebook fan page into other sites. This gives brands more freedom to utilize (and share) their Facebook presence. This brings your Facebook presence outside of the walls of Facebook, and shows your non-Facebook fans what they're missing on the inside.

Smart. This will be interesting to experiment with, and explore the possibilities.

the blog replaces associate press

2009-07-09T07:38:00.000-04:00

Andy Sernovitz points out an interesting development he noticed when Google announced their new operating system yesterday. They did so with a blog post. One of the largest technology companies in the world announced a new product that affects one of the other largest technology companies in the world - potentially big news - and they announced it in a blog post.

Andy thinks that traditional news organizations should be freaking out. (We have a feeling that many already were.)

outdoor ads that know you're there

2009-07-08T07:50:00.000-04:00

To promote the Nikon D700 camera, agency Cheil Worldwide created some fun lightboxes in the connecting passageway between the Seoul Sindorim Subway Station and a shopping mall.

When pedestrians walk by the ad, sensors note their presence, and bulbs from the paparazzi begin flashing. The effect is further complimented by the installation of a red carpet in front of the ad, which leads followers to the Nikon store within the mall.

happy 123456789 day!

2009-07-08T07:38:00.000-04:00

The tweet says it all. (Yes, I get all of my science, math and factoid news from Rainn Wilson. Don't you?)

not the kind of viral you were planning for...

2009-07-08T07:28:00.001-04:00

While flying to Nebraska, musician Dave Carrol had an unhappy experience with United Airlines. While on the tarmac at O'Hare Airport, he was horrified to look out the window of his plane to see baggage handlers tossing his $3500 guitar around. When it arrived smashed, he pursued the issue with United Airlines. You've probably already guessed where this is going...

Dave didn't get a new guitar so he decided to tell the story in song. And video. And now the message continues to spread.

finally a sport that creative people can compete in

2009-07-08T07:16:00.001-04:00

I mean...not that art schools aren't already known for their basketball and football teams, but here's a sport where the crew in skinny jeans and flannel shirts could really excel: cardboard tube fighting.

They're looking for players in NYC for a match this Sunday. You in?

people don't learn much from banner ads

2009-07-07T07:38:00.002-04:00

A new Harris Interactive poll shows that 37% of Americans say that television ads are most helpful in making their purchase decision while 17% say newspaper ads are most helpful and 14% say the same about Internet search engine ads.

Interesting...but let's be careful not to mis-interpret here...this is a comparison of ads. Not online research, engagement, social interaction, branded tools or other experiences that users partake on the magical internets. Shouldn't be a huge surprise - when was the last time you learned anything from a paid search ad??

(The photo of coworker @spadachris getting dizzy on a spinning teacup has nothing to do with this post. Just an interesting graphic to keep you entertained while you read a bunch of boring numbers and statistics and attempt to make sense of it all.)

dad's on facebook. let's bolt.

2009-07-07T07:23:00.001-04:00

iStrategy Labs just released some analysis of audience demographics from Facebook's Social Ads platform.

There's an amazing increase of 513.7% of the 55+ users. The bad news? 16.5% less high school students and 21.7% less college users.

If you review census data, there's a drop in population of high school students this year and next year - could this be the net effect? Or, if Facebook has become all about celebrating your past - perhaps kids don't have enough past to make it worthwhile?

Whatever - in the meantime, realize that most marketers of 55+ products and services AREN'T doing anything valuable in Facebook. Opportunity is knocking.

Thanks Ben Kunz!

music video shot with iphone video

2009-07-07T07:16:00.001-04:00

Check it out - an entire music video shot with nothing but the new 3GS iPhone. Proof that you don't need a film budget to produce a music video. Although a stellar production team, director, studio and killer editing can't hurt, of course.

you don't need a hollywood effects budget

2009-07-06T07:27:00.003-04:00

Here's one of the most creative music videos that you've seen in a long, long time.

Incredible creativity, lots of planning and a handful of webcams from fans come together to achieve glorious video magic. From make the logo bigger.

when it rains, it bleeds

2009-07-06T07:20:00.002-04:00

An outdoor ad in New Zealand cautions drivers to take it a bit slower when it rains. As soon as it begins raining, the billboard begins bleeding. Gruesome and genius, all at once.

what it takes to be a leader

2009-07-06T07:16:00.001-04:00

Sometimes it's just having the guts to step out and make it happen. From Neal Stewart.

how hardees harnessed the power of holes

2009-07-06T07:11:00.001-04:00

You've probably already had a few friends send you a link to the latest Hardees promotion. If you haven't already checked it out, you should.

Neal Stewart points us to a great post about why this is such a successful campaign.

They've hit all of the important points, and created content that engages users at every level:

+ People who only want to watch have plenty to consume
+ People who want to create have opportunities to contribute based on their personal comfort level (write in, video participation, voting, etc)
+ And everyone can share.

Now let's go eat those tasty little holes. Or whatever you want to call them.

this week at Plaid

2009-07-05T13:42:00.004-04:00

Here's what happened this week at the world's greatest creative agency:

We launched our first video for the PlaidNation tour. This is our pre-tour video, where you get to meet some of the Plaid tour, and otherwise get pumped up for the most delicious and nutritious rolling media and creativity demonstration that ever hit the highway. Sign up for a reminder that the tour has started on the tour's dashboard, if you're worried that you'll miss it.

Some of the crew have been working like crazy on the last components of pre-tour production. Hotels and motels have mostly been secured. We're finalizing our tour stops (if you're on the route, we still have room in some markets for a stop/visit. Give us a shout if you'd like to see the Plaid Flex.) The cameras that will be installed in the Flex have been tested for broadcast. Camera mounts and all tech equipment are being packed up.

Follow Plaid on Twitter, if you want to keep up with the lastest and greatest about the tour. We've been tweeting the behind the scenes action for a while now, and will be tweeting non-stop come July 20!

We're sending out blogger packages of Plaid love. If you write for a blog, just write a post on the most spectacular thing to happen all summer, and we'll send you a package, too.

Work-wise, the week was filled to the gills with brainstorms, conceptual strategy building and production work. We've got a couple of cool things that are close to launching that we'll share real soon.

Plaidsters celebrated a three day weekend, with the Fourth of July. Some will spend this time resting and relaxing, others will blow things up. Hope that you're doing the same.

can your brand inspire baked love?

2009-07-03T08:48:00.002-04:00

This makes us even more stoked that we're stopping at Threadless while on the PlaidNation tour.

The super cool t-shirt company has started a new promotion: Threadcakes. Cakes inspired by favorite Threadless t-shirts. Start baking now, and you could win sweet prizes!

This is a great idea that leverages the love of the brand and t-shirt art, all while producing loads and loads of great content for friends (and bloggers) to share with the world.

(Anything with baked goodness = immediate win in our book.) Thanks, RJ!

UPDATE:
Threadless fan Chris Cardinal gives us the low down:
Threadcakes is actually not run by Threadless. It's run by a Threadless fan, me, Chris Cardinal. They *are* supplying the prizes, and promoting it, but the website, the concept, the rules, and administration is all me.

(Last time around, they awarded me with a Bestee-a community award-for my efforts, which was quite nice of them.)

But if you're writing about brand stuff, all the more interesting that it's a fan putting this much effort into something than the company itself, no? :-)

We agree - now this is even MORE amazing. A brand so awesome that fans actually organize and implement contests on their behalf!!

"i only bought a ford because of twitter."

2009-07-03T08:37:00.003-04:00

Some people say trying to monetize Twitter is like trying to monetize the telephone (I tend to agree, mostly), but sometimes Twitter allows for stronger relationship and brand building. Seeing this tweet from Chris Lovett says it pretty succinctly.

And before you say "let's get our best intern on this," consider this post from Church of the Customer. Would you let an intern:
* Man your customer service line?
* Be your receptionist?
* Be your spokesperson to the Wall Street Journal?
* Be the main contact for your most talkative customers?
Is your presence on Twitter creating future tweets like the one from Chris Lovett? Could it?

a micro niche audience that's totally hot

2009-07-02T07:47:00.000-04:00

So the people at Vans are doing something a little different. They've opened a Model Lounge at the Delicatessen Restaurant in NYC.

Here's how it works: Access is limited to female fashion models at invited Top 10 Agencies. They get an all-access card. They get to hang with other beautious types between casting calls, shoots and cigarettes. They get a bunch of cool gifts (and Vans gear) that they could totally afford to buy on their own. They see the entire Vans Girls line.

And just maybe, hot models start wearing the Vans Girls product. And then other girls follow suit. And guys like hot girls that wear Vans. And so they buy more Vans product. Hot girls are happy, guys are frustrated and Vans sells product.

Genius? Weird? Proof that hot people live better than you do? All of the above?

coke and pepsi fall in love on twitter

2009-07-02T07:36:00.001-04:00

After years of sitting side by side on grocery store shelves and 7-11 coolers, you kind of wonder how they didn't fall in love before. It took the magic of social media to bring to opposites together, and romance has blossomed.

Here's how it went down:
Coke sends Pepsi a tweet. Pepsi responds. And then the Twitterverse suggests that they end the war and follow each other. And now Coke follows Pepsi. And Pepsi follow Coke.

World peace is certainly next. Twitter: turning hate into love since 2009.

people are tweeting about you

2009-07-01T08:00:00.000-04:00

We've posted before about Convo Monitor and other useful Twitter tools. Steve Rubel points to another one: Backtweets.

When people post urls on Twitter, they're usually shortened and therefore not picked up using normal Twitter search. So how do you know if people are tweeting up your site?

The folks at Backtweets have figured out some secret magic to search through the actual urls of tweets. I found a bunch on BrandFlakes that I didn't know about before.

Genius. And useful.

finally, you'll know where the emergency exits are

2009-07-01T07:52:00.001-04:00

Air New Zealand has a fun new ad campaign featuring painted bodies. They've taken it even a step further and produced their in-flight safety videos using the same theme. Really smart. We're pretty sure that you'll pay attention now.

(What would be fun: get a bunch of sloppier looking people, paint their bodies, and then try to board an Air New Zealand flight.)