WaterAid Booty, 'Likes' Beget Free BK Burger

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- Yawn. Another Cannes Young Lions WaterAid entry. Oh wait. This one's got booty. And a toilet shot.

- VH1 continues its decent into bizarro world.

- Burger King in Norway is giving credits towards a Hot Salsa Burger using he Facebook Like button. Ten Likes gets a person a free burger.

- The Real L Word. Yes, it's real.

- That's what I want to see on the sidewalk. A giant armpit.

- The Boy Scouts of America is out with a new advergame from Relish Studio. Is nothing sacred?

- Capital University has created a virtual campus tour on Facebook to attract students.

- Want to prank your friends? Captain Morgan has a Facebook app for you.

by Steve Hall    May-19-10    
Topic: Social



Ten Tips For Targeting Moms Online

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This is a guest post by Big Fuel Communications CEO Avi Savar. If you've every wanted to know anything about mommy bloggers and what brands are doing in this space then this article id for you.

Authentic Connections

Did Mom invent social media? Some say she did. And there is no arguing that she is driving it and helping it to evolve. There are 82 million moms across the U.S. of all ages. That's right, 82 million. And 26 million of them are mommy bloggers. And they are grassroots, Oprah-like brand advocates with loyal followers who can change the trajectory of a brand and its products.

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by Steve Hall    May-18-10    
Topic: Opinion, Research, Social, Trends and Culture



LOL Project to Bring Smiles to Paris, New York, the World

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Friend and former Adrants Editor Angela Natividad, now living the life in Paris, sent along some information about a project she's involved with. We like it so we want her to tell you about it.

"French fashion photographer David Ken recently decided that people, particularly people in Paris, accumulate too many reasons to be gloomy and too few reasons to smile. So he decided to take a hiatus from paying work and embark on a mission.

Hence the LOL Project, his effort to photograph 1000 portraits of Parisians in the midst of genuine laughter. He's already struck a deal with the mayor of the city, who's agreed to let him turn the city into a huge laughing gallery under the banner 'I LOL Paris.'

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by Steve Hall    May-18-10    
Topic: Social



Italians Don't Care About Their Country

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Did you know that 50 percent of the world's artistic heritage is in Italy? Did you know most Italians aren't impressed by this? Saatchi & Saatchi, Milan set out to change this anomaly with a social media campaign that would "encourage Italians to rediscover the artistic wonders of their country."

In planning the campaign, the agency wondered, "What do young Italians do on social networks?" The answer? They watch nonsense videos. So the agency set out to create a campiagn that would compare the much loved nonsense videos to viewing a masterpiece.

Facebook. YouTube. Planted nonsense videos. Here's how they did it all.

by Steve Hall    May-12-10    
Topic: Social, Video



Social Media Sponsorships to Hit $56 Million in 2010

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With more brands jumping on the bandwagon, a PQ Media study found social media sponsorships grew 13.9% to $46 million in 2009.

PQ Media defines social media sponsorships as "a digital word-of-mouth marketing segment in which brands provide material compensation, such as cash, products, points or trips, to social media content creators to promote and/or review their products and services through long-form text or status updates, often with accompanying visuals."

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by Steve Hall    May-11-10    
Topic: Research, Social



OMG! Twitpocalypse! Twitter Loses Everyone's Followers!

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Today around 12:30PM EST, a glitch on Twitter caused everyone's Following and Followers count to read zero. That's right. No one's following anyone and no one's being followed. Except, of course, that's no really true. We still see all our followers in the stream. And others report the same.

How did this happen? Earlier today, Gizmodo reported a method that would allow any Twitter user to force another to follow them simply by typing "accept" and the person's username. Shortly thereafter, all Twitter counts fell to zero. It would seem Twitter caught wind of the glitch and is now madly trying to apply a fix. Though, in doing so, they (we hope temporarily) have wiped out everyone's Follow and Follower count.

So yes. Today, social media has temporarily died. People are flipping out. It's the end of the world. And it's hilarious. Really, really hilarious.

UPDATE: Well, that was fun while it lasted. At around 2PM EST Follow and Follower counts were restored.

by Steve Hall    May-10-10    
Topic: Social



Newsflash! 'Naked' Woman on Chatroulette! Must Be an Ad. Yawn.

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Oh, Chatroulette, how we used to love you so. Back in the day before anyone had heard of you. Back before people could pleasure themselves in peace before everyone found out that's all anyone does on Chatroulette. And back before every brand in the world decided Chatroulette is the new Second Life.

Here we have Amsterdam-based condom shop Condomerie using a "topless" hottie holding a sign which, at first, lets the viewer think they've struck masturbatory gold. Then the young lady holds the sign up and the viewer is presented with, "You are now in touch with a HIV infected person. Don't play Russian roulette in real life." Way to bring a guy down.

Of course this is completely stupid and the targeting is idiotic. First of all, no one needs a condom to masturbate. And, second, no matter how prolific a person's Chatroulette orgasm may be, there will never be an exchange of bodily fluids and, hence, no chance of becoming infected with HIV.

Can we move on from Chatroulette now?

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by Steve Hall    May-10-10    
Topic: Bad, Creative Commentary, Online, Opinion, Social



Americans Stereotype, Arm Dislocated, Avatars Fashioned, Kitty Shot

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- It's global branding of another sort: How Americans See Europe.

- If you want to see a bad Photoshop job. Or if you just want to see a hot woman in her bikini.

- More from the lady who loves to create ads inside Second Life which feature but, busty avatars.

- An old Old Spice ad.

- Not new but worth a look. Agency (almost) shoots kitty to illustrate the qualities of good advertising.

- Thought: If social media didn't exist, would P&G have the problem they are currently having with their Cruisers and Swaddlers diapers?

by Steve Hall    May- 5-10    
Topic: Agencies, Brands, Racy, Social, Strange, Trends and Culture



Microsoft Sends Girl Across Globe to Meet All Her 'Friends'

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Microsoft's out with a new campaign to tout two new phones, Kin One and Kin Two. And it's doing it by sending a girl named Rosa on a trip across the globe to meet her social network in person. All 824 of them. From an old boyfriend to a flirt that's really not a friend at all to celebu-friends, Rosa will find out who her true friends are and perhaps once and for all end the silliness of collecting "friends" online just to have more than everyone else. Like it was some sort of currency.

Follow it all on Facebook.

Beginning today, the campaign will release two new episodes a week for the next 8 weeks until May 3, at which point TV and cinema ads will debut...and the Kin will be released.

by Steve Hall    Apr-13-10    
Topic: Brands, Promotions, Social



In Stream Ads Come to Twitter

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Twitter has launched a new ad platform that will insert ads in search results and relevant streams based on purchased keywords and contextual relevancy. Called Promoted Tweets, the ads will stay on top of a given search result or stream rather than scrolling off the page as does a normal tweet thereby giving the advertiser lengthier exposure.

Promoted Tweets will carry a small notice the tweet is an ad and the tweet itself will turn yellow when rolled over.

To make sure the ads remain relevant, Twitter will employ a metric called resonance, the sum of nine metrics including delivered impressions, replies, retweets and clicks. If a certain resonance level is not achieved, the ad will cease to be served.

Twitter has been testing various ad models for a long time. No one can argue with the fact Twitter needs to make money to remain afloat. No one can argue the fact most will hate the fact ads will now be a part of the daily Twitter experience. And so it goes. With great changes comes...well, no change at all.

Advertising still makes the world go 'round.

by Steve Hall    Apr-13-10    
Topic: Social