From Gopher to Twitter, the Internet Fuels Socialization

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Before the Barbarian Group VIP party which followed the ROFLcon conference held last Friday and Saturday at Cambridge's MIT, the crew from Our American Shelf Life, Amanda Mooney, Amy Yen, Sarah Hutton, Will Wheeler, laura Nelson, Maria Garcia and Patrick Richardson along with myself, met for dinner at Boston's Sonsie restaurant on Newbury Street.

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Between sips of martinis, bites of salmon and appetizer goodness, there was talk of Facebook, Twitter, the origin of Adrants, MySpace angles and why social media really isn't anything more than a shift in the way people use readily available media to interact with others. All of which you will soon see on video.

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by Steve Hall    Apr-27-08    
Topic: Opinion, Social, Trends and Culture



Social Media Lover Offers Perspective on Facebook Chat

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Sarah Hutton, a writer for Our American Shelf Life and a contributor here on Adrants was featured in a video, shot by Amanda Mooney (also an ASL writer and Adrants contributor) about Facebook chat.

Sarah tells the story about how she like to stay in touch (stalk?) with a friend abroad using Facebook chat because her friend is never on AIM or iChat. She also offers perspective on chat, friending and social media in general.

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by Steve Hall    Apr-25-08    
Topic: Opinion, Social, Trends and Culture



McCain Girls Outed, Gnarls Barkley Refurbed, AgencySpy Critiqued, AmEx Does Travel (BETA!!!)

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- The new Honda Accord is so lame that RPA had to use an image of its own creative team, gawking at the car, as part of an outdoor wallscape.

- American Express has launched Members Know, an "insider" travel community that, in trademark AmEx style, manages to be both elitist and bland. Also, there are INSIGHTS. And TAG CLOUDS. And the word BETA.

- Interactive firm ROKKAN redid the Gnarls Barkley site to reflect the duo's dynamism and harmony. (You know, like OutKast, but without Andre's mood swings.) The site includes a pretty awesome pop-up video player. In fact, it's pretty awesome all around.

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Copyranter Beats the Blues, Joins AnimalNewYork

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Less than a week after calling blogging quits unless someone decides to pay him for it, Copyranter got his wish. (Damn. That's some serious range.)

Pop the champagne. Our beloved ranter of copy scored a blogging gig with AnimalNewYork. And since he'll be blogging anyway, he plans to continue updating the Copyranter site (sporadically, he claims, but at this point we know he's full of crap. Expect to see updates FIVE! TIMES!! A DAY!!!).

Probably my favourite comment on his "I'm back!" post so far:

Let the day drinking begin! Seriously this is why we have wakes because sometimes the departed isn't dead after all!

That, and the one about Copyranter being "like the goddamned WHO."

by Angela Natividad    Apr-23-08    
Topic: Good, Online, Opinion



Sexy Chain-Linked Legs Supposed to Stop Sex Trafficking

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Is it wrong to think this Amnesty International sex trafficking ad is just a tiny bit hot while at the same time realizing it's a clever representation of a reprehensible practice? Please! Don't confuse. It's like those ads where young girls with huge boobs are used to convince you underage sex is a bad thing while making you want to have sex at the same time. (Not with the underage girls in the ads, mind you. Contrary to popular belief, even I know the difference between right and wrong.)

The ad, created by Switzerland's Walker, does catch the eye and that's half the battle in this game. But like the underage sex ads, it creates an uncomfortable awkwardness. Maybe that's a good thing. Perhaps it causes one to feel a bit skeeved. Trouble is, the people who engage in this reprehensible practice, after seeing the ad, may simply be more motivated to find the next young, hot thing to trade like a piece of property.

by Steve Hall    Apr-23-08    
Topic: Bad, Creative Commentary, Good, Magazine, Opinion, Racy, Strange



Nikon D60 Scores With Adrants

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As part of an outreach program where cameras are given to ... ahem ... those with an audience, Nikon sent Adrants a compact digital D60 SLR to use at the ad:tech conference in San Francisco. Without sounding like some lame PayPerPost post, the camera is really great. It takes some of the best quality images we've ever been able to publish here.

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by Steve Hall    Apr-22-08    
Topic: Industry Events, Opinion, Word of Mouth



Starbucks Fights Corporate Swelling with More Corporate Crap

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Early today Advertising Age ripped into Starbucks for its Pike Place coupons and throwback cups (in stores for six weeks, a barista told us). All part of an ongoing attempt to rekindle stale sparks with a costly ($100 million) promotional campaign, which is looking more Grocery Chain -- and less Indie Cafe -- by the minute.

Once upon a time, I loved Starbucks more than my hypothetical Firstborn-to-Be. It'll take a lot more than a buttery homebrew and gaudy vouchers to rein in the trouble of a brand that's just become too commercial.

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by Angela Natividad    Apr-21-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Opinion, Promotions, Worst



Still Relevant MySpace Debuts Profile Tool for Marketers

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Deep Focus is the sole beta partner with MySpace using the social networks new self-service platform which allows marketers to easily create and manage branded pages within the network.Writing on his blog, Deep Focus' Ian Schafer was surprised at commentary given to Advertising Age from other advertising executives who have basically written off MySpace.

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by Steve Hall    Apr-21-08    
Topic: Online, Opinion, Social, Trends and Culture



Ford Cars Used To Be Bad But Are Now Worth Buying. Honest.

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[Ed. We commented on Ford's new Drive One tagline earlier in March. Now Advertising Age comments. Now, we comment again.] Just when you think that re-designed cars that actually look good and drive well - step forward Ford Focus and Chevy Malibu - might position the American carmakers to start winning back the market share and brand battle that they have been so abjectly losing to their Japanese rivals, AdAge reports on Ford's new campaign, called "Drive One".

Have you driven a Ford lately, anyone?

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by Daily Ad Biz    Apr-19-08    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Opinion



Seth Godin Praises Twitter; Seth's Tweetiquette Critiqued

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Seth Godin recently wrote a warm laudy post about how Twitter is great for building trust, brand equity and ultimately sales. Practically two seconds later, marketing and social media blogger Ryan Kuder wrote Seth an open letter declaring shenanigans.

It's not that Seth is wrong. Twitter is a great relationship development tool. I maintain daily contact with more people on Twitter than I've met in real life over the past year. We pass on streams of thought, as well as links we find interesting or valuable.

Occasionally, that interesting or valuable link brings users to our website. But that isn't only or always the case ... and this is where Ryan raises his complaint.

"I've got a beef with the way you use Twitter," he writes, "Because you don't use it."

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by Angela Natividad    Apr-14-08    
Topic: Good, Online, Opinion, Tools, Trends and Culture