Hidden Gems
A few ads I just recently discovered that really impressed me:
Rainforest Alliance: “Follow The Frog” - Awesome spot from Rainforest Alliance. Entertaining, engaging, funny, well-written and a simple message to remember: Follow The Frog.
TNT: “A Dramatic Surprise” – Just WOW. I think what really stands out here is the brand’s willingness, not to just commit, but OVERcommit.
Melbourne Metro Rail: “Dumb Ways To Die” – clever, cute, catchy and funny.
These ads were just three of the great spots from last year’s TED’s Ads Worth Spreading.
Boston Marathon 2013: Looking Back
The reporting during this tragedy was pretty awful across the board with the media’s rush to deliver up-to-date news. Fortunately, some news outlets were able to provide thoughtful analysis.
If I were to summarize these articles I’d say many Americans just lack information – especially about what happens in the world outside its borders – and that’s why their default reactions during these tragic events tend to be fear, panic and stereotyping.
The other point I’d like to make is how much power we can attribute to the element of surprise. Roughly 34 people are killed by guns every day in the U.S., but this year’s Marathon got so much attention not because of the number of people wounded, but because no one expected it to happen.
Czechs and Czechens: They Both Start With C – The Economist
Why Does American Lose Its Head Over ‘Terror,’ But Ignore Its Daily Gun Deaths? – The Guardian
Heavy Users, Light Users and the Fallacy of Brand Loyalty
Image Credit: zmag.com
The Ad Contrarian has been on fire lately. I especially liked one of his recent posts on heavy users which I found especially insightful:
People in advertising and marketing often wrongly equate usage and loyalty. They think that heavy users in a category tend to be brand loyal. And that heavy users of a brand are brand loyal. The truth can be quite the opposite.
He goes on to give an example of a fast food patron who eats at McDonald’s 4 out of 10 times and other fast food restaurants with less frequency, making this person the “heavy” user, however, he eats at competitors the other SIX out of 10 times. Assuming that the heavy user in this example is brand loyal would be incorrect.
Success of a brand is not singularly related to high degrees of brand loyalty…the most important success factor for mainstream consumer brands is not how many loyal customers you have, but how many customers you have.
The big issue with equating heavy usage with brand loyalty is the overemphasis clients and agencies place on helping people establish “relationships” and “engaging” with brands, when in fact they are oftentimes just heavy category users with little loyalty.
READ THE ORIGINAL POST HERE: Sex and Commerce – The Ad Contrarian
BONUS: Here’s another recent TAC post that points out how 60+ agencies posting Harlem Shake videos runs contradictory to over-inflated claims of innovation and originality: Slaves To Trendiness
The Coding Gap
There’s an enormous gap between the number of available programming jobs and people with the computer skills to actually do the work.
“Enrollment rates in programming classes are low, but what is worse is that schools aren’t even teaching it, even though this is the fastest growing segment of jobs in the country,” Partovi said, adding that nine out of ten U.S. schools don’t offer computer programming classes at all — and those that do often treat it as an elective that doesn’t count toward graduation, the same as, say woodworking (Source: TechCrunch).
This new video from the non-profit Code.org (which aims to encourage computer science education) features an all-start cast of people with programming skills to show an accessible, human side to a typically dry subject.
In other coding news, GOOD has announced the winners of Code for GOOD. I love the whole idea behind this recruiting initiative. Participants were able to take coding lessons and submit a final project, while the finalists were flown to LA for a hack-a-thon to showcase their new skills. The winner was provided an opportunity to work for GOOD. You can watch the embedded video to learn more about the finalists.
Game of Thrones in The New York Times
I love this new print ad for the upcoming season of Game of Thrones. The dragon shadow is a great idea. They even took the extra step of writing fake headlines and articles.
LINK: Cloudy With a Chance of Dragons: NYT’s “Game of Thrones” Ad Takes Over The News
29 Ways To Stay Creative
Ryan Holiday on Winning the PR Game
I’ve written about Ryan Holiday before and he has a great new teaser interview on Chase Jarvis’ blog for Ryan’s upcoming creativeLIVE class on PR for artists, entrepreneurs and businesses. Here’s an excerpt:
CJ: What is the first step for a creative to get their work noticed… from someone besides their mom?
RH: I’d say hold on a second. People think about marketing too early and too late. Before you think about, I want creatives to be POSITIVE their work and business is ready for lots of attention. If your website sucks or your distribution is disorganized, do you really want anyone other than your mom to buy from you? Getting in the New York Times would be a disaster…
Then I would say: are you ready to be a full time marketer? Because marketing is not something you do two weeks before the product comes out either. It’s a lifestyle. You have to think and breathe it constantly. You have to know the influencers in your space, create messages and content they can spread. You have to bake that into your product. In other words, campaigns take time and resources and unless you’re going to dedicate yourself to doing it–it won’t happen and you won’t get results.
FULL INTERVIEW: From Obscurity to Internet Sensation – How Creatives Can Win the PR Game (Interview with Ryan Holiday)
