Don't miss the bus with this.

What a great outdoor interactive display for Cadburry Eggs. This bus stop display is a touch screen game, how cool. Bringing this level of interaction outdoors or in store is a great way to engage, educate and entertain customers and shoppers alike.... or even people who ride the bus.




Marketing Ballista

1989: First Cell Phone Commercial

I find this pretty humorous and ironic overall. Humorous because, well, it's a huge clunky thing. The idea of owning one of those is inconceivable to me (and probably the rest of my generation). Ironic because driving while talking is prohibited these days. It's pretty much automobile-centric. Times have certainly changed.

Great NYTimes article

Very creative! Sometimes it's nice to see something abstract and imaginative.


I LEGO N.Y.

Is Dell Skating on "Thin" Ice?

The skinny on the skinny.

It's sleek, sexy, thin...just like the MacBook Air, "with its guts wedged into a single piece of aluminum." It's called the Adamo and it's a whole pound heavier than the Air. It's also slower and more expensive.

To be frank, I'm not so sure about this. According to the article, the MacBook Air wasn't as well received as anticipated. So, what can Dell do that Apple can't? Here's some "insight":

”While a premium computing experience was assumed for Adamo, the intent was for people to see, touch and explore Adamo and be rewarded by the select materials and craftsmanship you would expect in a fine watch.”

A fine watch? Seems like a weak comparison to me that only focuses on the clean, sleek design. I guess "time will tell" whether or not this is an invention gone wrong.

Cut, Copy and Paste!

Strangely enough, I asked myself the other day, "Why can't I copy and paste a line of text on my iPhone?" The simple act of cutting, copying and pasting is nothing new, so what's the holdup, Apple? Apparently, it's proven difficult to execute in a secure and user-friendly manner.

Well, all you iPhone and iPod Touch users might be happy to know that this capability the cut/copy/paste functionality is among the several software upgrades available this summer.

Like any other technological device, there's always room for improvement. I'm hoping that, sooner rather than later, the iPhone will become equipped with video capabilities. (I honestly haven't looked into the reasoning behind that one, but always thought it would be a nice-to-have.)

As an aside, the software upgrade is free for iPhone users and around ten bucks for those with the iPod Touch.

let's go for a drink!

A couple months old, but...

Goldstar Beer puts a whole new twist on, "let's go for a drink." Check it out. Or, does it?

This simple, flow-chart-style ad campaign is admittedly hilarious (well, to most) but perhaps a bit sexist. (The tagline is, "Thank god you're a man.") It's safe to say you can take a look at it and think, "enough said."

The perfect ad to read while sitting on a bar toilet inebriated (apparently, bathroom stalls were the main display location).

It really appears to have angered some reviewers, but that just makes it all the more interesting! Dare I ask, "Let's go for a drink?" Eek.

NFL Fantasy Files: The Best Players

I'm not sure about the history of this, but the special effects are great. Clearly this is Reebok sponsored, I could not find a supporting site, but this video has over 7 million views. Fun stuff.

If They Don't Hear It, Say It Louder...

... and if don't see it, MAKE IT BIGGER! That's the latest initiative from the Online Publishers Association in an attempt to combat desensitivity to online banner ads. In an effort to maintain an evolution in online advertising, and create new ways for agencies to integrate a brand's experience with more interactivity, three new online ad units have been introduced. These ad units will be available through nearly two dozen OPA participating members including New York Times, MSNBC.com, MTV Networks and Wall Street Journal, whose combined reach is over 108.3 million unique visitors (that's 66% of the total US internet audience).

Read on to get the skinny on the creative objectives of this initiative and all the deets on the new creative units that will be available in early July!

re: iPhone Forrester Study

A recent Forrester study supports the previous post. iPhone apps ranked highest for web browsing for convenience by on the go consumers followed by other Mobile apps, with mobile web surfing ranking at the bottom.

500MM Apps downloaded and rapdily counting.

Looking forward to the Blackberry App World!

iPhone has huge mobile browsing saturation

This doesn't come as much surprise. After all, the iPhone was the first mobile web browser that gave users the Internet in full (albeit Flashless), pinchable form. Arguably, it still is the best game in town. At least until the Palm Pre releases.

66% is a big number. And makes it even more important to think about iPhone-friendly sites as a part of a bigger interactive strategy.

Now where's that Flash anyway, Apple?

Intel: Programmable Matter is in the future.

I know this blog isn't necessarily "popular mechanics", but this technology really just makes me realize what dramatic changes that we and especially our kids will see in the future. Here is a technology that is 20-40 years in the future, but the ground is being broken today by Intel and others.

It's really interesting to imagine how something like programmable matter could affect the products we buy, how we sell, how we demonstrate usage, how a single product might be customizable to fit your needs in a way few of us could imaine. There are several articles out there on this subject. it's nice to dream.

Q&A: Why Best Practices Matter in Shopper Marketing

Nice Q&A on the creation of the shopper insight council.

http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/shopper-marketing/e3i99cfa85eeeab5b040544f46ec5714cad

.................
Sent from my iPhone

Augmented Reality from GE.

Ok, this actually gave me the chills, which really doesn't happen too often. It's a really imaginative evolution of 3D online. It's most likely a combination of Papervision 3D and as you can see the use of a QR code (of sorts).

Regardless of the technology used, this is really a show stopper. Print out the QR-ish code and hold it up to the screen and a 3D world erupts on screen, mapped to the image on the paper - Amazing! The marketing and in-store opportunities for something like this could be HUGE. I'll definitely be looking more into this.


Try it out for yourself

Bully Free Zone.

Facebook is going through more IA and design changes to make its self a bit more 'real time', like Twitter. The last Facebook layout update (which most people still hate) really put the emphasis on your Facebook status, clearly a response to the popularity of Twitter, even at that point. So here we are again, Facebook is trying to overtake what Twitter has carved out for its self in the social networking arena.

See the posting at techcrunch

Interesting stats.

Super Sweet from Tumblr.

As you may know Tumblr is a social site that allows easy personal blogging of video, text, photos... etc. I noticed that you can also call in audio and have it posted to your blog page. I'm sure this feature isn't for everyone, but for those with some flair and personality, it could be a hit. If you come across any audio blogs, please post them in the comments.

Skittles.com : Interesting take on information architecture

Skittles.com has a new online experience to check out.  This is the 2nd time i've personally seen this type of information design in place, the other time i saw this was on Modernista's web site. I guess imitation is the best form of flattery.  In short it's using social sites on the web to host their content. So friends of Skittles are on Facebook, videos are on YouTube. The main page their navigation sits on is Twitter. It's pulling in everyone who's talking about Skittles, which is pretty cool. Products are hosted on Wikipedia.   This is still an interesting approach.  Outside of this you can't help but realize that there are many ways for a brand to utilize social sites (Other than the obvious ways) and utilize their benefits.

Wow. Jaguar, Land Rover Make $1.6 Million Mobile Buy

Huge mobile marketing buy here and big news here from Jaguar / Land Rover. Interestingly they see the medium as not just awareness, but direct response. I'd agree completely. Even on a very basic mobile level it is super easy to interact and get information on basic information like weather/news and just as easy (and convenient) for appropriate branded messaging. I can't wait to see how this mobile marketing campaign comes to life in the marketplace. I'm also really curious about it's success.

Read the ad age article here >

Oldie but a goodie, What if Microsoft designed the iPod?

Tropicana pulls back new packaging after a few weeks.

So Tropicana redesigned their packaging and put it into market just a few weeks back.  Here's the thing, they promptly pulled it off the shelves after just about a month and went back to their original package design.

Did sales plummet?  Was the shift to an entirely new look and feel just too much for consumers?  To the left you can see the 2 designs, on the left he classic orange with straw inserted into it and on the right the new design.

Personally, i'm glad they went back to the original design.  It's a classic brand and classic design that everyone knows.  The new creative feel too much like a generic orange juice brand.  It's contemporary and attractive, but It just doesn't hold onto any of the brand equity or frankly, the heritage that has been established over the years by Tropicana.  So hit your local super market for this limited edition Tropicana packaging, get them fast, because they'll soon be gone.