verbatims heard only by delusional clients

There's a new meme making the rounds today titled "Things Real People Don't Say in Advertising." Next time clients ask for a viral microsite, send them the link to this hilarious tumblr by a copywriter at GMMB in DC. Site now open for submissions. You know you've got 'em.

spied it first on Agency Spy

CES=Creative Evolution Surging

I didn’t go to CES (Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas) last week, but seems I didn’t have to, as it’s possible to learn as much (or more) from hashtags and blogs as it is by schlepping out to a conference. Years ago, CES was for geeks only—you didn’t have to grok the latest in television technology to come up with a great commercial for it. But now that technology is part the creative process itself—could W+K have done Nike Livestrong without some awareness of advances in the field of robotics?—recent shows have been drawing increased attention from marketing and creative communities.

One of the most valuable writeups I’ve found on CES 2011 cites trends and implications for marketers. (Tip o' the pillbox to BBH.) The observation most interesting to me, was that “A number of devices allowed consumers to simply move a single experience across phone, TV, or tablet.” The implications of this are cosmic. Because when technology makes seamless “experience shifting” possible, it means that consumers will expect content to seamlessly migrate too. Which ain’t just a matter of resizing screens. (Remember when TV first came out and ad agencies simply made up screen cards of print ads?) Brands will have to be able to provide content that isn’t just “media agnostic” but suited to and crafted for multiple platforms. They'll expect a brand story they see on TV to translate into an experience that makes sense on mobile, that rings bells and whistles of the tablet they're reading on the way to work. Yes, that evolution is in the nascent stage, but, as the writers of the report observe, smart brands will experiment with development now while audiences are still small and forgiving.

back to the future at MIT

Oh, the wealth of gizmos that geeks at MIT have bestowed on the world: radar, Technicolor, stair-climbing wheelchairs, even a battery powered by a virus. See displays of new and once-new technologies created at MIT since the school was instituted (days before the Civil War broke out) in their just-opened exhibition “MIT 150.” You don't have to be in Cambridge to visit. The exhibition’s website lets you browse artifacts like Spacewar!, the first video game created in 1961 on a DEC computer. And Lantern slides, an ancestor of PowerPoint, in which black and white transparencies are inserted into glass “sandwiches.” I suspect it was good news for our forefathers that lantern slides were heavy and had to be toted in wooden boxes—must have kept presentations mercifully short. More on the show from Daniel Grant in today's WSJ.

kid builds company out of erector set

Don't you just love how the Wall Street Journal has shrugged off its green-eyeshade image and embraced the world north of Maiden Lane? Today's front page features a story on the (remember?) Brannock foot-measurer which is being knocked off in (surprise) China. There's a quote from someone with a job I didn't know existed--shoe historian. And an interesting tale of how the company began: Charles Brannock was the son of a shoe salesman who began developing the contraption while still a student at Syracuse University. He applied for a patent with a prototype made out of erector-set pieces. Business took off during World War II when the government contracted a version that measured both feet at once, which sped up the process of distributing footwear to soldiers. Seems like great fodder for erector-set's agency. See what you learn reading stuff besides trades?

santa brand guidelines

You'll never write brand standards with a straight face again. Read Santa Brand Guidelines here or, visual learners can watch the youtube version below. Gems include:

The first three letters represent South and North. We are headquartered in the North, but our reach is global.

Santa backwards is antas, which is Lithuanian for chimney.

A brand is like a sack on a sleigh of belief.

Crafted by the genies at Quietroom, a company that helps other companies talk as if they are human. Language-lubbers will geek out on their hilarious holiday card.

the digital story of christmas: a social media parable

You know how hard it is to sell social media to brand managers still living in 1.0. How to explain that creative is now as much about context as it is about content? This is the best way I've seen to show non-believers how social media works. It's a miracle what Galileeans managed to pull off 2000 analog years ago, isn't it?



A Christmas gift to us all from Garden Broad

if there's a google doc in the house

maybe I won't have to learn Keynote after all.