- The Bay Area Interactive Group has launched its second season of its Big Sessions podcast with industry guru interviews.
- Netflix doesn't know how to improve its movie recommendation feature but it thinks there are people out there that can so the movie rental company is offering $1 million to anyone who can improve accuracy by 10 percent.
- Tokion's Fourth Annual Creativity Now Confernce will be talking place October 14 and 15 at Cooper Union in New York City.
- Here's a litte shoot the Altoids out of the sky timewaster for you.
- To promote the Sony Walkman (they still make that?) in Italy, Ebola Industries created a site, SaveYourEars, on which videos show people singing horribly out of tune in concert presumably to show using a Walkman will prevent youo from hearing this badness. We're not entirely sure since the site's in Italian.
To make it even easier to merch you, Target provides an option to receive a Weekly Ad via e-mail. If it were any easier they'd buy the products themselves, wrap them up and send over a pair of cute chicks in red uniforms and a gigantic Target truck to deliver them to you along with beer and hell, why not, maybe even a cheese calendar. But of course you have to do the buying, otherwise all Target's efforts are moot.
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Want a new Dooney & Bourke handbag? Head over Candystand where candy maker Wrigley's has partnered with Dooney & Bourke to host a contest to give away handbags. It's all to introduce the company's new packaging for its line of Cream Savers. In a separate promotion for Juicy Fruit, Wrigley's is offering a sweet looking, tricked out gaming laptop.
While all is said to be revealed Monday, a site called Chef's Rights Now is home to a movement that gathers together New York city Italian chefs who are experiencing some sort of empty restaurant syndrome and, while it's not a fist bump, are pulling together to fight the problem. Who knows. It's probably another Axe promotion whereby all the chefs will suddenly start using Axe deodorant thus attracting the ladies who will thusly attract the men which, together, will thusly fill the restaurants which will thusly end the problem. Oh but that's way too simple. It's probably for one of a million of their food brands.
Ogilvy Public Relations Interactive Marketing VP tells us there will be a pseudo protest in Times Square October 5. One of the categories he's filed his story under is Travel & Tourism. We have no idea what that indicates but it' certainly not deodorant. Whatever. We'll know Monday.
Rarely do we ever have the time or the inclination to sit through an entire segment of one of those online analyze whatever things marketers like to create to sell product. But, we did this time. Perhaps it was because our date last night was uneventful so we didn't have our usual hangover or have to make polite morning conversation with our less-pretty-than-she-was-last-night date. Perhaps it was because we didn't have to spend time with our new Remington Body Hair Trimmer in preparation for tonight's date who unceremoniously canceled after we asked her to arrive dressed up like a pleated plaid skirt-wearing private school girl. Or, perhaps it was because our favorite porn site was down preventing us from wasting hours slobbering over women we will never have.
Anyway, we found the time to spend with this DDB Chicago-created site for OfficeMax for its new line of TUL pens that offered up a handwriting analysis by graphologist Dr. Gerard Ackerman.So after we randomly selected answers to a six question survey about our writing style, we were presented with a step by step video analysis of our handwriting and an insight into our personality. While it may not have been the most stunningly entertaining thing we've ever seen, it did prove there are certainly other things in life than the aforementioned, less than respectable activities.
With MySpace so five minutes ago and podcasts already dead, it was only a matter of time before new student, that oh so Scientology-sounding Second Life, moved to the front of the marketing class and tongue wagging marketer and ad agency students took notice. Last week, student Leo Burnett hooked up with student Second Life to make an Idea Space for the agency's 1,600 creatives to interact in because, after all, in a digital world, no one wants actual human contact any more unless it's with a Second Life virtual hottie.
YesButNoButYes decided to check out Leo Burnett's home and did a search but came up with nothing except a resident who calls himself Leo Burnett and belongs to The BDSM Forum. Not exactly the sort of world the real Leo Burnett would play in but an important lesson learned for those attending the Second Life marketing class: make sure the world you are entering doesn't already have a person with your name who likes kinky sex. That is, unless you're into kiny sex as well.
Polkadotholes tells us to promote its new hump back VW GTI-like vehicle, Qashqai, in Europe, Nissan has invented a new sport called Qashqui Car Games which looks like automotive aerobatics. On the site, there's detailed information on the origin of the faux sport, stats on the sport's top drivers, videos - most of which are "coming soon," current news on the sport, swag and an as yet unactivated "stunt builder" section which, one assumes, will allow people to create their own Qashqai automotive aerial trickery. It seems engaging enough and is well put together if not a bit heavy with long page load times.
Blingo, a search engine site - powered by Google - that offers searchers the ability to win prizes just or performing a search was acquired by prize king Publishers Clearing House back in June and is now upping its cache of prizes to cars, plasma TV and boatloads of cash. The site, already with 27,000 prize winners, will soon offer searchers the ability to gain free entry to Publishers Clearing House's big prize, the $10 million sweepstakes.
The site hopes to continue its growth with a pyramid-like referral program that encourages people to invite their friends to join. When the friend wins, the inviter also wins, taking home the same prize the friend did. Who knows how well this will work but if it's similar to using Google I'm going to try it and, in a shameless ploy to win as many prizes as I can, I'm inviting you to try it as well.
- Adding to project work, Deutsch has reeled in the GM corporate account perhaps requiring Donny to take that Speedo off, spend less time with the Big Idea and actually do some work. Oh wait, does he even go into the office any more?
- MySpace and Facebook aren't the only games in town. There's Piczo, XuQa, Hi5 and many more that are gaining ground. Marketers: leave them alone at least for a little while, OK?
- For his new book about America's rock and roll landmarks, Led Zeppelin Crashed Here, author Chris Epting has out together a "movie trailer" style promotional video up on YouTube.
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Classing up the GAP's cheesy Watch Me Change promotion, Talbots has launched a dress-me-up site to support its Classic Girls Getaway promotion which offers people a chance to win a trip to one of several locations for a three day stay and a $500 shopping spree. To enter, a 200 word essay is required to tell Talbots why the person should be awarded the trip. Oh yea, and you can play dress while standing in front of images of the Getaway trip locations. While we like the promotion, there's something about the accompanying music that is a bit more suggestive than probably intended.
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