Filed under: Branding, Media, Random | Tags: jon stewart, microsoft, morning joe, msnbc, snl, starbucks
I’m not really an ad man, but I do follow the industry trends a bit. I guess that makes me a wannabe ad man. In fact, I think the honest truth is that most people in branding are wannabe ad men (and women, to be politically correct).
These days, for all our advancement toward the bright future where advertising has died and been replaced by digital brand experiences, there’s a whole lotta retro going on. One trend I’ve noticed recently is a return to the good old days of solo program sponsorship, where a single brand carries the show. Like the Ed Sullivan Show brought to you by Brylcream – a little dab’ll do ya.
Some examples from the past few months:
Morning Joe – Starbucks’ uneasy marriage with MSNBC. Jon Stewart, in typical fashion, cast the sponsorship deal under a rather harsh and sniggery light.
Bud Light Golden Wheat (which probably needs all the marketing push it can get) bought up a single edition of SNL for its brand launch.
And then there was the ill-fated Microsoft-sponsored Seth McFarlane variety special. Microsoft pulled out when they learned the content was less than savory. Which makes it seem like the marketing folks who approved the deal had never watched a single episode of Family Guy.
Ah, it was so much easier in the old days…
Filed under: Events, Random | Tags: chris jordan, ecolounge, indigo, junk, plastic
Over a month ago sheer curiosity led me to Honuguide’s Ecolounge event at Indigo. Man am I glad I went. Not so much for the “event”, but for the presentation I witnessed.
Joel Paschal used to work in Hawaii for a government funded organization. They received grants to sail into the Hawaiian Leeward Islands – a small, scattered chain stretching out northwest of the main Hawaiian archipelago – and clean the reefs and atolls. He showed us pictures of beaches humans have rarely if ever set foot on that are completely covered in garbage – the handiwork of sea dumping and the currents. Baby albatross, such as the one pictured above, are fed bits of refuse floating in the ocean by their parents, who skim it from the surface along with organic matter. Their stomachs can handle the organic matter, but not plastic. (The photo above was taken by a phenomenal photographer and activist named Chris Jordan.)
Joel shared with us some of the measurements they had taken of the units of plastic per square meter of ocean. I now forget the precise number, but they already greatly outnumber units of organic matter. When the government shut down his program, he was forced to return to California, where he conceived of the idea of building a raft made from junk and sailing it to Hawaii to raise awareness of what we are doing to our oceans. His journey is chronicled here.
There’s a real world out there we’re destroying. We need to start living smarter.
Max Headroom is a precursor of the vlog – quirky, opinionated, schizophrenic, disembodied.
I think Ze Frank’s body of work, for example, bears signs of the Max Headroom influence. (Side note: I really wanted to embed this video rather than link it, but the bastard just wouldn’t embed.)
I came across this fantastic short essay by an evolutionary psychologist named Geoffrey Miller that summed up something that’s been on my mind (and probably the minds of many) for years. His (vaguely tongue-in-cheek) thesis is that maybe the reason that we have not yet been contacted by alien life is that they, like us, began to direct their technological resources toward entertainment instead of exploration. Rather than using technology for overtly self-destructive purposes via machines of war, he posits a more subliminal, sinister fate of our alien kin:
Basically, I think the aliens don’t blow themselves up; they just get addicted to computer games. They forget to send radio signals or colonize space because they’re too busy with runaway consumerism and virtual-reality narcissism. They don’t need Sentinels to enslave them in a Matrix; they do it to themselves, just as we are doing today.
Miller’s essay reminds me of how Pixar’s 3D imaging technology was originally marketed to government agencies and the medical industry. In the end they accidentally discovered that the real arena of profitability was in animated movies. When I look at the phenomenal amounts of creativity and money going into entertainment, I sometimes can’t help wondering what those resources could accomplish if they were directed at something more mundane, like solving world hunger.
After getting double-teamed by the unholy alliance of my son’s birthday party and a work flareup, I’ve been negligent in keeping up with my already laid-back blogging schedule. The result is a backlog of topics, not to mention juicy, share-worthy links.
Here are five recent objets of note that I’ve stumbled upon in my adventures in the interwebs:
Having been thinking about information design (also known by the sexier term, “data visualization”), so I really appreciated this exhibit by a Minneapolis artist.
Well articulated essay on the symbiotic relationship between design, science and science fiction.
Was shocked to come across these nostalgia clips of the original odd couple: Jay and Dave!
We are all aware of the gamesmanship that goes on behind the scenes in the halls of Washington. Clearly, there was more to the Joe Wilson outburst than meets the eye. Well-informed Buzzfeed readers offer their insider takes on the now infamous interruption of Obama’s health care speech. (Totally sophomoric, but I couldn’t resist.)
Finally, on a more serious health care tack: this must-read article from the September Atlantic.
It was a busy week, but you’d never know it from all the bookmarks I racked up on delicious. This is but a sampling:
Spent nine years in Japan, but never became well-acquainted with the concept of chindogu.
I do so love me a good ‘ol bluegrass jam.
Toyota’s Global Marketing Division was once a client of mine, so this came as a surprise – though not in retrospect. They have been ineffectual for years, so this is actually a good move.
Wacky, yet touching animation.
I noticed this week that major media outlets like ESPN and WSJ are cracking down on employees with authoritarian Twitter policies. I’m actually siding with the corporations on this one. When your business is distributing information to the public, you’ve got to manage all the channels.
Ridiculously talented information designer. How does one get paid to do such stuff?
Amazing clip from Russia’s Got Talent (who knew?). I had the misfortune to watch a couple episodes of America’s Got Talent a few weeks ago. We got no culture. America’s a big empty suit.
I’m not really in the market for a new guitar, but if I was…
A couple of interesting blogs from folks that presented at the same PKN as me last night: Department of Public Works and Bytemarks.
Speaking of PKN, the presentation I enjoyed the most was from a representative of AIA Honolulu advocating light rail over heavy (an opinion I’ve held, but with far less of a grasp of the relevant arguments).
Filed under: Big Island, Hawaii, Random | Tags: Big Island, filthy farmgirl, soap, tingling
While browsing the wares at the Hilo Farmers Market during our recent jaunt to the Big Island, we came across a dapper gentleman looking something of an early twentieth century vaudevillian, or carny, perhaps. He was peddling his own peculiar brand of soap, Filthy Farmgirl. While I was drawn to the inspired design of the packaging, my wife was drawn to the pungent aromas, which were undeniably bold through the thin film of plastic wrappings.
Well, we just tried out the first bars last night, a Goat’s Milk Chai for Mizuho, and a Manly Mint for myself. Holy tingling orifices, the stuff is fantastic! I’m ready to order bulk, and I recommend that you do the same.
It’s been at least a couple weeks since my last random links posting, and there was a lot to sift through…
Let’s start with the art of notetaking.
And move on to the art of logo design in 2009.
And speaking of design, here’s a noble effort: a call to arms for the redesign of the ugliest currency on the planet: the US dollar.
Well-designed currency is not the only difference between Americans and the French; the differences go much deeper.
Speaking of photographic validation, reading about the President’s recent visit with the Pope, I could not help but notice the uncanny resemblance between the current Pope and Senator Palpatine from Star Wars. It appears I am not alone.
Finally, what random links would be complete without a tribute to the late great MJ?
