Who's In -- and Who's Out -- in the TwitteRFP

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Last week Current.tv launched the first-ever TwitteRFP. That is, it's on the hunt for agencies. And instead of soliciting RFPs the old-fashioned way, it was all, "Post that ish on Twitter."

What's cool about this method is it put both large and small agencies on an equal playing field: that incessant stream-of-consciousness noisebox where we blow 3-4 of our good working hours per day.

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'Come on Down to Clevelandtown, Everyone!'

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"Buy some food that's prepared near the street!"

Just one of the things you can look forward to when you visit Cleveland, according to this hastily made tourist video spoof -- which, incidentally, is generating hundreds of thousands more views than the official Cleveland plug.

Darryl Ohrt at Brand Flakes for Breakfast also points out the video's second in organic results when you search "cleveland, tourism" on Google.

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by Angela Natividad    Apr-30-09    
Topic: Good, Spoofs, Trends and Culture, Video



You're a Nameless Troll. What Do You Need Rights For?

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Yesterday AgencySpy reposted an op-ed by Alan Wolk that generated a shit-ton of loose-cannon commentary.

There's a lot to be said about the culture of anonymous commenting -- that it lets people say things they wouldn't normally, which can be both good and bad.

But imagine a world where everybody who ever wanted to talk to you had to reveal all his name and contact information first. Sure it'd minimize a few random acts of verbal cruelty, but is a full-disclosure world one you'd want to live in? And can the ideal be scaled to the 'net in a practical way?

We went over other grays in this discourse last week while Wolk's post was still hot, but the topic's so milkable we figure this merits a poll.

Should anonymous comments be banned from the 'net?
  
pollcode.com free polls
by Angela Natividad    Apr-28-09    
Topic: Online, Opinion, Trends and Culture



ad:tech SF: Hashing Out Social Networking's Impact on Photo Storage

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The stuff that comes out after an interview is sometimes just as good as what you get during. After our audiovisual taste of the future of HootSuite (and a power-fail story about ZipCar), founder Ryan Holmes of Invoke Media and publisher Krista Neher of The Marketess riffed on the photo storage merits of Facebook and flickr.

Compelling factoid: while it may be true that flickr hosts over three million photos, the unlikely Facebook totally pwns that figure. As of October 2008 Facebook became the largest online photo storage site -- clocking over 10 billion pics and counting.

Obviously there are big differences between the sites. Krista argues that flickr's too public for comfort, and people are more inclined to curate personal images in a space where they can control who sees what. (Apropos to that, I like how Ryan murmurs, "...stalker" at :22.)

How has social networking changed online photo storage and personal life-whoring in general? What's coming? We contemplate these questions and others while I clutch a digicam with one hand and macaroon-gorge with the other.

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There Has to be a French Blogger Into Jerry Lewis, No?

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When Angela isn't busy interviewing famous Wikipedians in San Fran, she's hanging back in Paris. Not sure if she's fully converted yet and become an American tourist-hating local, but I recently got to talking with her about the differences between internet life there and here in the U.S. Jerry Lewis never did come up, but David at AdPulp was kind enough to give us free room and board while we talked about the other differences between Al Gore's Internet and the Euronet version.
by Bill Green    Apr-22-09    




In a Crappy Ad Economy, Innovation is Key

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During the ad:tech San Francisco Keynote Roundtable "Innovate or Die! Great Brands in the Age of Disruption," Nielsen Online EVP of Digital Strategic Services led a panel which focused on the need for brands to innovate as they move forward. Panelist Eric Feng, Senior VP of Audience and CTO, Hulu noted true innovation can come after a product is released and the end user feedback - which is now a real-time waterfall thanks to social media - is analyzed and put to use for future product releases.

Part of the discussion centered on where innovation originates and how that location can affect it. For example, in the U.S., innovation is built on years of previous product generations versus China where there is a lot of generation skipping. Legacy is not always part of the equation. Because of this, foreign markets are sometimes a better place to innovate because there's less legacy and less baggage.

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by Steve Hall    Apr-21-09    
Topic: Trends and Culture



But Wait, There's More...

- Is your company this clueless?

- Even the Yakuza are looking for work.

- Design LG's next cell phone, take home 20 large.

- The Saturn experience--ask for it by name!

- While you're at it, add Old Navy, Chrysler and Palm to the list of brands with a short future.

by Bill Green    Apr-21-09    
Topic: Research, Trends and Culture



Mastercard Trots Priceless 'Icons' Back onto the Stage

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"Icons," a McCann-Erickson/NY spot that aired during the '05 Super Bowl, is a fond standby of Mastercard's "Priceless" campaign.

Prep for serious warm-fuzzy syndrome: it's composed of brand mascots -- Count Chocula, the Vlasic stork, Jolly Green Giant, Pillsbury Doughboy -- having Soul Food-style dinner as Mr. Clean slaves merrily over the sink. Some of the icons weren't even animated for TV prior to this. (Thank Calabash for bringing them to life.)

Too much good stuff. There's even some illicit Facebooky pokeage between Doughboy and Morton Salt girl. Scandale!

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Green Eyed World, PhotoBucket's Delusions of Relevance, Adweek v AdAge

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- Sprite + YouTube + Facebook + pop star = Green Eyed World, an orgy of Entirely Too Much BS.

- How to nail an interview. (Complete with hidden camera footage!)

- "It's not the shape of the thing, I just like the perfect blend of tech-speak and contraception."

- Pharma popped in PPC prevarication shakedown.

- PhotoBucket tries breaking TwitPic territory. Good fucking luck.

- Adweek v AdAge.

- Mattel, please keep your silicone-stained hands off Dora the Explorer. Oh no, too late.

by Angela Natividad    Apr-17-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Celebrity, Online, Trends and Culture, Video



Cracked-Out Rabbits Spot-Check New Grand Scenic

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Renault's launched a microsite for the Nouveau Grand Scenic et Les Tests Cretins des Lapins Cretins, which translates to "The New Grand Scenic -- and Moronic Tests by Moronic Rabbits."

Resulting spots -- in which hyperactive buck-toothed rabbits quality-test Grand Scenics en masse and sans inhibition -- don't need any translating. The effort reminds us of Scion's Little Deviants, except more frenetic and somehow scarier.

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by Angela Natividad    Apr-15-09    
Topic: Brands, Campaigns, Online, Strange, Trends and Culture, Video