If It Doesn't Seem Very Bright, That's Because It's Not.

Then again, LA Gear has never been the sharpest tool in the marketer shed.

more »

Peer1 Preps Clients for that Big Pile of Clicks

Big tech geek fantasy: when clicks fall from the sky and deluge him with traffic, burying his torso and filling his mouth, each depressed pointer button a little piece of validation.

Like MacTeague's wife and her pile of gold coins. (Or, if you weren't an English major, like Scrooge McDuck and his swimming-pool vault.)

That's the imagery Vancouver-based hosting firm Peer1 channels in "Slacker," a video ad where a lazy techie fails to equip his company website for a click-through deluge. Enter said "deluge." The piece concludes, "Peer1: Fully scalable hosting solutions."

Problem, solution. Simple.

more »

Zappos Invites You to Step In...to One of its Boxes.

The Ad Store just sent us a plethora of new Zappos spots for spring/summer and fall/winter 2009.

"Step into Zappos" picks up where "Put a Little Zappos in Your Day!" left off. The latter featured a chipper delivery guy bringing sunshine and rainbows to a neighborhood; these spots riff off the glee infusion you get when you finally open that package.

Underpants-clad customers are pictured either standing in a Zappos box or walking into one. Putting on their best Vanna Whites for the camera, they either reveal their purchases or lift the box over themselves -- at which point they are suddenly transformed into fully-dressed Citizens of Society.

more »

Twitter Tweaks, Speeding Kills, Power to the Pot -- Oh, and Phelps Too.

- Speeding could turn you into Haley Joel Osment.

- The Marijuana Policy people are boycotting Kellogg's for firing Phelps for smoking pot, even though he's been nailed in the past with a DUI. They feel this is hypocritical because pot doesn't necessarily kill; it just makes you real, real sleepy.

- So Good is boycotting Kellogg too, as is HuffPo.

- Guerrilla Comm rebrands.

- Twitter to charge brands for use. No word on how.

- Dame Edna for MAC.

- French billboard rage.

- Radiohead licensed House of Cards one of its songs to a homeless shelter for an ad, dubbed "House of Cards," that breaks this month.

Agent Provocateur Goes -- Wait for It! -- Social.

We don't know why we're writing this up, given that "going social" is not difficult, or costly, or even all that imaginative anymore, but hey -- if the PR people went out of their way to put this on the wire, then by gad we will honor their service.

Requisite quote candy:

"This is the first time a luxury fashion brand has launched a provocative social media campaign tying together their various data-linked platforms, like a multi-entry daily blog, twitter feed and facebook."

-- Scott Goodson, CEO, StrawberryFrog

more »

'Because Nothing Says Forever Like Up to 6.4 Terabits per Second.'

A valuable lesson from Cisco: it doesn't matter who you are or what you're selling. Like Hallmark and Disney's made-for-TV movie department, you can turn any holiday to your advantage.

In this case, Cisco takes cheesy expressions of Valentine's Day love and wraps them around its ASR 9000, "the first in a new series of edge routers in nearly a decade" -- and more importantly, the fourth way to say I love you.

The video is presently circulating YouTube with FIVE out of FIVE stars! so far. It's the culmination of a months-long campaign in which pseudo-reporter Ira Pumfkin roamed Cisco's halls in pursuit of a big story. See the blog at Tech Edge Weekly (the link also appears at the end of the vid).

more »

Hope in the Slammer, Witch Buddies, Ad Poetry

- "Twitter for sports." And then our eyes rolled back in our heads, and then we died.

- BFFs with the Wicked Witch of the West. She seems fun. DDR, your house or mine?

- The question we all must ask. Sometime.

- Shepard Fairey, the guy who did that Obama/Hope poster we all love to wheatpaste on walls that don't belong to us, gets arrested before his first solo art show. Duuuude. Sux.

- Scroll down to the part that reads "cb with a Flair."

- Intern sweatshop haiku.

In Case You Thought Their Interests Were Limited to Beer Pong and Travel Abroad...

...White people also like Jewish men and Thai girls. At least that's what Google AdSense told us on StuffWhitePeopleLike.com's "Political Prisoners" page.

All together now: "Contextual advertising FTW!"

Harajuku Lovers Targets Girl Gamers

Young female online gamers are probably a good market for Gwen Stefani. She vibes kinda like a gamer, and her creepily coquettish Harajuku Lovers label has a decidedly Bejeweled-friendly aesthetic.

Soooo, from January 20 to February 1, Harajuku Lovers partnered with SPIL GAMES to organize an online scavenger hunt on GirlsGoGames.co.uk, a site targeted to casual girl gamers from ages 8-15. Users had to hunt down five different Harajuku girls/fragrances -- Baby, Love, Music, Lil' Angel, and G* -- on HLFragrance.com, then enter codes for each to win a shopping spree at Topshop.

Following up from that, Harajuku Lovers re-skinned GirlsGoGames between February 2 and February 4. Users could watch videos, learn the Harajuku Lovers theme song or play branded games that make it okay to seem jail-baity because everything is animated in pastel and written in bubble letters.

Example: Are you girly and sweet? Don't you just love yourself a pair of Mary Janes? Then by all means dive into Baby.

more »

twipple: Making Twitter a Kinder, Gentler Borg*

Twitterite @Floyd Hayes decided we need another feel-good meme in our lives, so he invented twipple, a microblogging cross between Simon Says and Pay it Forward.

Once a critical mass starts following @twipple, the latter will deploy "short, fun, positive tweet instructions to do something kind in public," like smile at a stranger, give money to a street musician, or whistle your favourite tune. You can also make up your own and send them via DM or email twipple2009 [at] hotmail.com.

more »