Oprah-Gate 2009

@Oprah has been a top trend topic on twitter since she joined last week. I'm torn on my feelings toward her bringing twitter to the mainstream. On the one hand I'm glad bc I think it gives twitter some legitimacy and now most people should now stop asking what it is and what is the point, Oprah's on it so that's all that matters. On the other hand, I hate that people are jumping on the bandwagon just bc Oprah has given something her stamp of approval. I don't read books bc Oprah says so, I don't buy products bc Oprah says so and frankly I'm not really interested in seeing Oprah's updates on twitter.

From what I've heard she is only interacting with a select group of celebs on twitter which completely defeats the purpose. I've decided not to follow or tweet about her and fervently pray that people lose interest in this topic sooner rather than later. I have a feeling that Oprah will soon.

Adfail?

The first time I saw this video yesterday and I wasn't sure what it was for. Instantly I thought adfail but when I realized it was a video for Phillips HD TV i realized how awesome this really is. The execution is flawless and I've always been a proponent that HD is the emperor's new clothes but this made me want to check one of these out. I even ended up going to the Philips site to see if I could learn more and I never do that!

Check out the microsite and all the cool features- http://www.cinema.philips.com/?ls=gb_en

Tools of the trade

Working in new business, I am constantly bombarded with new "tools" of the trade. Tools for strategy, prospecting, cold calling, database creation and maintenance. Today i spoke to someone hawking a service that lists agencies so that marketers can search them according to their needs. What? Who does that? I asked the salesman if companies actually use this service and he claimed that they do if google fails them. Since when do Fortune 500 companies use google to find agencies?

I think if you work in new biz and you need a tool to help you build strategy you should probably switch to another field. If you're a marketer and you use google as a tool to identify your AOR ummm.. give me a call. I know a great digital marketing agency in Union Square whose tools are their amazing creative and strategic thinking.

Take that tool marketers!

PRICEY!

Worth magazine is relaunching and is pricier than ever. The magazine obviously caters to those who can afford the finer things in life but in order to qualify for a free subscription "a household has to have a minimum net worth of $2 million, have at least $1 million of equity in their main residence and live in one of 11 major markets, including New York, Boston and San Francisco." Or if you don't qualify you can shell out $20 per issue at newsstands.
I'm not in the market for a private plane or an original Picasso now anyway so I think I'll pass.

http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=136002

Please hold the additional toppings

If you enjoy fast food then you probably shouldn't watch this video. How will Domino's deal with this marketing nighttmare. This is obviously a cry from frustrated employees who need better training and supervision.

Happy Easter!

Stalkdaily- short but sweet

I joined stalkdaily.com at 6:45pm tonight, by 6:52pm I had already deleted my profile. Tweets kept warning that once they joined, someone hacked into their twitter account. I thought it looked a little fishy upon logging in- exact same layout as twitter, the only differentiation being that you can upload video. Luckily as of now my twitter account seems unharmed but after my odd omegle experience I'm a bit leery about new sites.
If you're brave check out and sign up for "stalkdaily.com."

Omegle- match.com for the friendless

I just tried this new service Omegle. All I have to say is - SO WEIRD! My first indication that something was off was the fact the tagline for the service is "Omegle, talk to strangers!" I'm getting the impression that everything is now fair game if you tag it as "social networking." Would you randomly speak to a stranger on the street, especially one who refused to give you their name?
The set up is like AIM but instead of the person you are speaking to having a username, their text comes up next to the username "stranger." That was enough to put me off.
If you are friendless and lonely, I highly recommend you try this but otherwise, I'd say steer clear.

www.omegle.com

When logos go wrong

Passion Brands

We had an agency party tonight to celebrate the release of Passion Brands an amazing book on brands that consumers find themselves invariably drawn to. Such a great turnout and such an eclectic group of people. Props go to my co workers who have such an amazing sense of style and managed to turn the front of our agency from a bunch of cubes into a cool hip space that we now all vie to hang out in. Special shout out to AD (you know who you are) who helped me put the event together, grueling and fun!
I hope the author (Kate Newlin) enjoyed her book party as much as we enjoyed putting it together for her. We wish her all the best and hope everyone buys/reads the book-
http://www.amazon.com/Passion-Brands-Gotta-Drive-Friends/dp/1591026873/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239156951&sr=8-1

Do you google yourself?

I google myself one every 2 or three months. I have no idea why or what I'm hoping/ expecting to find. I guess it's little narcissitic but I've heard that anything that you put on the internet, even if you think you've removed it, lives forever. I'm worrying that one day my halloween pictures from 5th grade might appear and a potential client will see it and be scared off.

Realistic worry? Probably not.

Twitter vs Facebook

A couple of non social networking friends have asked what's the difference between twitter and facebook and why do you need to be on both. Obviously I don't "need" to be on either, I have lived many years (I choose not to reveal how many) without social netoworking of any kind.

The list of differences between these two applications is endless but personally the biggest difference to me is the way in which I use these tools. I use twitter more as a networking tool to meet people in my industry (I use LinkedIn similarly), locally and in other states and just to be a voyeur into what random interesting people find intriguing these days. Working in advertising , I attempt to keep current and sometimes I need to be pointed in the right direction (usually away from perezhilton and dlisted.com) towards pertinent and forward thinkers. I find that I get a lot of random tips, advice and direction through twitter.

For me, Facebook is just way to be nosy and find out what old friends (and people who I barely knew in high school) are up to. It really has no real value past this for me.

This is just my experience with these tools. I'm sure others only use one or the other or neither and manage to get through life everyday. Just the thought gives me the vapors!

How do you present your creds

Interesting post on the 4A's business development blog from Diane Woodruff on how can we present credentials/capabilities in an innovative and techonologically savvy way. Such a great point, especially now that agencies are hawking their digital ability but yet still sending a hard copy of a deck via snail mail, not exactly technologically advanced?
My agency has tried to up the ante with sending a reel or putting our creds on a ditgial device but I don't think that either of these methods are entirely relevant or innovative.
Would love to hear ideas on what other agencies or people in other industries are doing to package their capabilities in an eye catching technologically advanced way.

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