Sometimes All You Need is a Logo

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So there's this thing in the advertising business where the work a company does to determine a brand's vision, mission, essence and position is supposed to carry significant value. And it should. After all, it's what's going to affect how a potential customers perceive a brand. But what if all you want is a logo and none of the lengthy, mumbo-jumbo filled platitudes that come with it?

That's where companies like Logo Mojo come in. We know. We know. We just heard every creative in the ad business groan with contempt for what they perceive to be creative chop shops. Companies with no true understanding of what a brand needs to survive in today's crazy advertising world. And any site on which there's an "Order Now" button can't possibly be worth anyone's time, right?

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by Steve Hall    Dec- 9-10    
Topic: Tools



iPad Drinkspirated, Games Socialized, Honda Gets Naughty

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- Absolut is out with an iPad version of its Drinkspiration app.

- To help raise money for the United Way, Colle+McVoy has launched Happy Exchange where everyone is invited to join the effort by posting their smile for just $1.

- Calling McDonald's a "hip hangout" is never a good thing. Especially in a forced product placement.

- Former buy.at executives have launched Performance Horizon Group which is out with new products aimed at improving campaign management for agencies and lead generation for publishers.

- Gossip Girl's Blake Lively has been tapped (not literally, of course...because that would be gross) by Karl Lagerfeld to front his Winter/Spring 2011 Chanel ad campaign.

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Freelancers: Get Paid On Time With the Crying Invoice

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Well here's a problem we can all identify with: getting paid on time. These days, it seems the only reliable method of income is a directly deposited paycheck. But for those of us who rely on invoicing to get paid, well, reliable just isn't a word that comes to mind.

What does come to mind is your invoice buried in a pile two feet high on the desk of some accounting person who could care less who gets paid when as long as it fits withing their predetermined process of moving that stack from one side of their desk to the other.

And God Forbid if if the invoice doesn't match the estimate. Then you're in a kind of Hell that's far worse than your invoice getting lost in a stack of papers.

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by Steve Hall    Nov-30-10    
Topic: Campaigns, Tools



Meetings Enlivened, Creatives Converse, Truchpole Outed (Again)

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- Bored in that dull meeting? Check out Adverbotz, a collection of your favorite phrases spoken in robot voice.

- The Gerald R. Ford Airport in Grand Rapids has launched a new brand and advertising campaign.

- Minneapolis-based Little & Company asked 30 creatives to record their thoughts on design. The results are collected on ThirtyConversationsOnDesign.

- And the Cornelius Trunchpole idiocy continues. Now a person claiming to be Gerry Graf (who likely isn't since our reply email bounced) says Mr. Trunchpole is Trevor Bittinger, an art director who once told Graf he intended to create an agency based on a ficticious ad legend. Does anyone really care?

- To promote Red Bull's Flutag event, Monkeyhead is out with another On the Wings of Glory video.

- AdWeek's Social Media Strategies Conference will take place on Oct 13th & 14th at 10 On The Park in New York City.

- Well here's a pretty cool iPhone iAd.

by Steve Hall    Oct- 6-10    
Topic: Agencies, Campaigns, Industry Events, Tools, Video



AdVine Offers More Time For Foosball and Intern Flirting

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Don't tell the client but you can create an iAd (or any other) in 45 minutes! With Sprout's AdVine, now you can whip out an ad in 45 minutes, bill the client for, like, 25 hours and spend 24 hours and 15 minutes playing foosball or flirting with the interns.

OK so maybe that's oversimplifying it a bit but this AdVine product is pretty cool. And we like any product that makes things easier and gives more time to flirt with the interns. Which, is exactly what we're going to go do right now while you watch this two minute demo video explaining AdVine.

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by Steve Hall    Sep-27-10    
Topic: Tools



Ad Hotties, Netflix Blunder, Re-spawned Cookies, Nude Casio

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- This Advertising Hottie is indeed a hottie.

- Netflix planted actors in the audience of a press conference for the launch of its Canadian web video offering. It didn't go over very well.

- The just can't be good. No. Not at all. An online cookie that just won't give up, respawning itself whenever a user deletes their cookies. No. Not good at all. Not one bit.

- During Advertising Week, Sprout will introduce AdVine. AdVine publishes ads simultaneously in Flash and HTML5 which Sprout claims will help agencies save time and money building for desktop browsers, mobile browsers, and in-application all at the same time.

- Naked bus wrap titillates to sell Casio Watches.

- Disney is out with Let the Memories Begin, a user-generated campaign playing out on DisneyParks, Facebook, YouTube and MySpace.

by Steve Hall    Sep-23-10    
Topic: Industry Events, Outdoor, Tools



The New Twitter Unveiled

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Twitter has launched a new version of its website. It's a complete overhaul which brings in much more relevant content as it relates to a given tweet via a second panel on the right hand side off the stream. It's all about engagement Twitter Founder Evan Williams told attendees of the press conference which was held this afternoon at Twitter's San Francisco headquarters.

Here's an introduction video that was shown during the press release. And here's an image on Flickr on which Jeremiah Owyang has noted (mouse over the image) some of the features and functionality of the new layout. The new version will roll out in batches over the next few days and weeks.

by Steve Hall    Sep-14-10    
Topic: Social, Tools



App Brings Check-In Offers to Facebook Places

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Fan Appz has announced it has integrated its platform with Facebook Places. Facebook Places, if you recall, is the Foursquare-like service that allows people to check in to places making it possible for their friends to see where they are. Fan Appz's Offers for Facebook Places makes it possible for business to create offers such as discounts, rewards and incentives based on a customer's location-based activities.

For example, a local restaurant can use Fan Appz to offer a free menu item to those customers who check-in at their establishment, say, four times during the course of a month. Fan Appz will automatically verify that the customer has met this criteria and unlock the offer for the client to print out or display during their next visit.

Foursquare is already doing the same thing but Fan Appz brings the check offer to Facebook Places. For the time being, the jury is still out on whether or not Places will, ahem, displace Foursquare, Gowalla and other location based services. But it can't be a bad thing for marketers to have this sort of offering within Places. After all, Facebook has 500 million users compared to Foursquare's three million.

by Steve Hall    Sep-14-10    
Topic: Social, Tools



Facebook Introduces New Metrics For Social Context Ads

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Today, Facebook introduced new metrics to measure the effectiveness of the "social context" portion of the ads on people's pages. Social context is the sentence in the ad that shows people which of their friends have liked or engaged with the Facebook Page, event or application.

Nielsen shows people are 68% more likely to remember the ad and twice as likely to remember what the ad said when they see a friend has interacted with the ad on Facebook.

Facebook advertisers can find the new social metrics on the Reports Tab in the Facebook Ads Manager. Marketers will be able to see the number of clicks, click through rate and percentage of impressions from ads with social context.

Of course we shouldn't forget that cleavage improves ad response 61 percent.

by Steve Hall    Sep- 9-10    
Topic: Tools



Philips Humors, Boobs Augmented, Interactive Gets Intimate

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- Philips has released a romantic comedy called Nigel & Victoria. The first three episodes are on YouTube.

- Ladies with iPhones, want bigger boobs? Check out the iAugment app from Dr. Kinsley. Upload your photo and then choose your implant size to see what you'll look like.

- The Lingerie Football League is coming to MTV2.

- Intimate Interactive is now following us on Twitter. Intimate Interactive? Seriously? Is that like an interactive agency for lingerie clients?

- Well here's an interesting way to sell cars.

by Steve Hall    Sep- 7-10    
Topic: Agencies, Brands, Mobile/Wireless, Racy, Strange, Tools, Video