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Archive for December, 2007

The End Of Social Networking

20 Dec 2007

Urgh. Now it’s official I HATE SOCIAL NETWORKS. I’ve been relatively patient with the various networks that found their way to my PC screen. Time and again I have entered my data, favorite movies, favorite dish, restaurants, people I like and dislike. I’ve been part of social networks as soon as they started to appear and as it comes to ‘networking’ which is the entire point of social networking, I’ve done my share of participation. But recently, I have become very very disgruntled by this initiative called Spock. I never signed up for Spock and have ignored the dozens of emails of people who begged for my trust on this network. I saw no added value other than the fact that it bothered me already with dozens of requests before I even knew about it. What is the use of requesting trust and practically begging for it by sending out a blast of emails. Trust is something you need to earn, and people have to give it to you. Asking for it is like starting with a cherry and putting cake around it. Trust is the cherry, it needs to be on top.

Then very recently, somebody said: hey did you know the tags on Spock for your name are [list of all tags here, going up to 30 tags], and that just pisses me off. If I choose not to be on a network, by which law has this network the right to add me and to add tags to my name? Seriously, this is becoming a dangerous precedent. I’d like to compare it with the telemarketing lists of companies that call you to ask for your valued opinion or to offer you an extremely exceptional product. This is wrong. Very wrong.

It appears to me, Spock scraped my linked-in profile and added every word of my work history as a tag. Not only do I think linked-in needs to file a complaint about this, because Spock is leeching on their network, I also think that Spock is violating my privacy by taking data from a site I enrolled to, who specifically promised to take care of my data very well. Spock breaks this promise by nicking my data.

To me, this ties the knot for social networking. Screw it. I’ve had enough. I’m going to make everything private and send emails to every service I did not sign up for that holds my data, to kindly ask them to remove it. Other than that, I think the time calls to have an organization of some sort where you can enlist, a little bit like we have the Robinson list for emails and marketing actions. If you’re on that list, nobody is entitled to add you to their service unless they have specific approval.

Which then brings me to another thing I’m kind of bothered about. I use social networks to add people I know, with experience in a certain field, so I can contact them when I need to. Facebook is ruining this for me. Last time I logged in, I had vampire invitations, zombie invitations, snowball fight requests, pillow fight requests and so on. As much as that seems funny, it’s totally useless and a waste of time. Other than the fact that most of the applications then ask you to invite all your friends to join, which I definitely don’t want to seeing the professional nature of some relationships, I still have my serious doubts about the sense it all has to make. Is social networking really all about recruiting a zombie army? About converting people to vampires? To me it isn’t. And I’m tired of it. I will kick out any entertaining application on Facebook and strip it down to a minimum, because the day this thing turns loco, I don’t want to bomb people I respect with a load of crap.

Today, when you look around, social networking is all about entertainment. The level of seriousness and of trust has dropped to the likes of an average show in NBC or Fox. Now people make lists of best friends, and when they did that, they invite you to compete to become bestest friend. And if you’re on the bestest friends list, you can go through a selection process and become part of an entourage… Jeez. I have better things to do. If you want to connect with me, you know where to find me. If you want to add me, sure give me a reason and I will add you. If you want to send me a private message with a question, go ahead and I’ll answer. But please leave me alone with all the other sideshows and gadgets. Really.

 

Delicious Men

13 Dec 2007

Living up to its brand promise, Axe came out with a tasty new commercial a little while ago. Unlike the ‘we make a nerd be loved by gorgeous women’ approach, they now offer you the real deal. Using their deodorant, you will be changed into a yummy chocolate man and all women will want to have a piece of you. I think I’m going to move to the US, buy the deodorant and then sue Axe for not living up to its promises. Hah!

Video: Axe Chocolate
Thanks for the clip, Arns

 

Reality Stinks

11 Dec 2007

If you thought you’ve experienced it all and advertisement could no longer shock/bother/make you think anymore (pick one), then here is quite the eye-opener for you. To protest against whale hunting, a poster of a whale has been hung against a wall, the whale is sliced open so that its guts come out (apparently a normal procedure), and below the poster on the floor are… some remains of intestins. I hope this ad ran in well-ventilated areas only, and I also hope that there was no restaurant nearby. These concerns put aside, this thing comes smashing in your face like a fly on a bicycle ride. And if you have my kinda luck and the fly happens to be right there when you’re talking and flies right in your throat, the effect would most likely be the same.

Tasty Whale

Done for IFAW, the international fund for animal welfare.

Agency: Republic of Everyone/Happy Soldiers, Sydney, Australia
Creative Director / Art Director / Copywriter: Happy Soldiers
Photographer: Adrian Lander
Retoucher: Electric Art
Released: December 2007
Via: AdsOfTheWorld

 

Victoria Bitter Bottle Orchestra

11 Dec 2007

Arns just sent in a funny commercial I just had to post. Might be a bit older already, seeing that it’s from a beer brand from down under, and it sometimes takes a while for those campaigns to reach this part of the world. Nevertheless, I thought it was pretty cool to see a beer brand sponsor a philharmonic orchestra on the one hand AND supply all of their instruments on the other. Must have taken aaaaages to set this all straight to the right tones and to tune the contents of the bottles to create a synchronical melody out of it with such a group of people. Nice job!

Video:Victoria Bitter

In case you didn’t know: Australia’s favourite full strength beer, Victoria Bitter or VB as it’s fondly known, has a tradition of rewarding hard work and hard play, dating back to the 1890s. More info on their beersite.

 

Blow Up Your Phone

11 Dec 2007

Would you like to earn a life long calling credit of € 150 amonth? Or maybe one year of free flying with Air Europa? Would you sacrifice your phone for that too? If the answer to all of these questions is a loud and clear ‘YES I DO’ the dig up your finest Spanish and surf your funky behind to Haz volar tu móvil?, a small microsite far a campaign by Pepephone, a Spanish mobile operator. Participants in the contest are invited to put their clips on YouTube (of all places) and if you’re the lucky bird, you might even win € 5000 for your entry. That should be enough to buy you a brand new phone. Thing is… if you don’t win… :-) Ah well. You’ll win, right?

Video: Blow Up Your Phone
Via: BuzzingBees | Bajo La Linea

 

Sexual Confusion

11 Dec 2007

T-post is a wearable magazine. Subscribing to T-post is a lot like having a subscription to a magazine but instead of receiving magazines in your mailbox, you receive T-shirts. As a subscriber you receive a new t-shirt every six weeks based on a current news item. The topic is interpreted by select designers and the written story printed on the inside.

“What’s fascinating about T-post is the interaction. Nobody asks you about the article you just read in the bathroom. But if you’re wearing an issue of T-post, people tend to ask what it’s about. The next thing you know, you’re talking about the ethical treatment of robots or some bank robbers in Brazil who got away with 45 million bucks, you’re forming your own opinion, getting someone else to think about the topic, and it just keeps going. That’s what’s magic about this media, it gives everyone a chance to interpret a news story and communicate it in their own way.” said Peter Lundgren Editor-in-Chief at T-Post.

This is yet another superb idea, to convert people into living billboards. If you find people ready to do this, then I guess there is some sort of market for it. But I’m also guessing it would be limited to some sort of countries/seasons. I mean, looking at Belgium… how many months are there in a year in which you are ‘just’ wearing a t-shirt, and not a pull-over too. I’m thinking, june-july-august and maybe september too. All the other months… I’ll be dressed with a little more than a t-shirt (apart from shoes and pants, obviously). That said, it’s weird to see this sort of innovative trend come over from Sweden, since I assume it is even colder there than it is here. Still a good idea though. Could appeal very well to fashionistas.

Here is their latest issue: Sexual Confusion by FormaFantasma

Sexual Confusion

Capture quote:

It all started out as an experiment, a fun project amongst friends, but as of today we have 2500 subscribers from over 45 countries. We don’t think a bunch of T-shirts are going to save the world. We just want to get people talking and see what happens after that.

Feel like you’re up to it? Subscribe here, at T-Post. A subscription is 26 EUR per T-shirt, and can be delivered anywhere in the world. All shipping costs are included in that price.

 

Fido Billboards

11 Dec 2007

Fido, a Canadian wireless provider, created the billboards in conjunction with Bos, Toronto to celebrate the holiday season and promote wireless video calling. They feature a man and a woman each projected onto separate buildings. Initially both are static and then suddenly the young couple begins to interact with one another as video is projected onto the buildings throughout Toronto’s downtown core from December 6th to December 29th. They are being projected by BC-based Media Merchants using high-power light projectors.

These is a nice way to grab the attention of passers-by, since it will trigger curiosity and invites people to either watch what happens. It’s also a good conversation starter because it’s definitely something that you don’t see every day. Love to see some of these around in my country. Such a nice change to see instead of those dull ones that are all over town.

Fido 1

Fido 2

There’s also a movie to illustrate what the concept exactly holds:

Video: Fido Toronto
Agency: Bos Toronto
Creative Directors: Roger Gariepy, Chad Borlase, Gary Watson
Art Director: Ibraheem Youssef
Copywriter: Mwewa Frederick Nduna
Client Service: François Mailloux, Erin Gooderham
Production: Todd McLellan, Sugino Studios
Post Production: The Studio Upstairs
Projections: The Media Merchants
Video Production: Stone Canoe
Seeding: Glossy Inc

 

Skoda Hits Aussi Shores

10 Dec 2007

As much as I like the concept of sand art, and as much as I like really nice sculptures… it sometimes is a bit weird to see variations on the concept because you then immediately start to compare. Unfortunately I only have one movie, which is the most recent example of the lot, but just to illustrate that the concept definitely has been used before I’ll put in the images of older campaigns for different brands. I have a hard time choosing, because I kinda like them all.

So: First the video from Skoda

Video: Skoda Sand Castle

Next: The Sega Rally for Xbox360 sand car

Sega XBox 360

Next: Two for Smart

Smart 1

Smart 2

Smart 3