The World and Its Usual Stuff - Just Much Cooler

From Audi and Neue Digitale/Razorfish, an interactive 'build-it' tool that practically forces you to love the car you're considering. Sends shivers down your spine when you think about how shopping and the world will change in the coming years.

Starbucks Via - We're Clearing Shelf Space For This

We heard that the only person able to get a complete Starbucks barista kit installed in their home was Tommy Lee. And we don't really have the nerve for that many tattoos or that much makeup, so we're going to have to settle for the next best thing, Starbucks' new Via instant coffee.

Not even on the market for a day, we've already received two jittery thumbs-up from Stopper, our resident coffee guru. Now our challenge will be providing enough hot water to keep him well stocked to percolate.

If you can find some, give it a spin while watching their new ad which is linked below. Frankly, we found it kind of marginal until they threw in the part about the town hall. Well-timed humor.

View the ad here: http://adage.com/brightcove/single.php?title=42488764001

When Cool Becomes Sellable

Great article on washingtonpost.com today. Cool conversation about the emergence of a former niche product into a stylish, in-demand product that will fetch a premium price from people who have no practical use for it: a 'fixie' bike.

In case you're like pretty much everyone else out there and don't know what a 'fixie' is, it's more or less a stripped-down, non-freewheel, non-braked bicycle with a fixed gear setting, which means you have one option ... forward.

The fixie was originally designed as a racing bike for velodromes and served a very particular purpose. Since then, it's emerged as a practical and fashionable bike for city messengers, which if you've ever lived in New York, you've no-doubt been exposed to in an uncomfortably close call or two.

Now, it seems to be taking on hipster-urban-cool status, driven largely by the clean-but-gritty looks of a bike absent of wires, derailleurs, and massive sprockets. In short, it looks really cool. But the use? A little tough on the knees, and doesn't lend itself to dreamy coasts through the meadow ala Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy in Manhattan's Central Park.

Nevertheless, it's showing how a product can lean on its urban-chicness to create a market where none existed. Companies such as Specialized (who bought Globe Bicycles) and Urban Outfitters are hopping on the fixie bandwagon, and are getting top dollar for it, selling the bikes for $500+.

Just goes to show that the right image for a product can mean big bucks. Marketing isn't always about great taglines and money-shots. Sometimes it's more important to let the product create its own message, and then let it take off from there.

Of course, it's just a matter of time until this becomes uncool. But before then, there stands to be a lot of money made by separating people from their money for brakeless, gearless, knee-busting bikes.

The article can be found here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/27/AR2009092703241.html

Bonus points for incorporating the phrase "jump the shark" into the writing.

Happy Birthday, Guinness

Just catching the tail end of the 24th, which is the 250th birthday of Guinness. We figured we couldn't miss it, given that one of our owners is Irish, and that it's a crime in many parts of the world not to honor Guinness in some way on this day.

That being said, here's to the dark, frothy brew that's spawned a million stories and some pretty fantastic advertising, as well. Two of the all-time greatest are below for your weekend consumption, both directed by Jonathan Glazer and both icons in broadcast advertising.

Enjoy, and belated Happy Arthur's Day!

The Future Looks Pretty Slick

Rumor has it that when Coca-Cola asked the designers of their new-generation fountain machines to come up with something new, that they also told them they wanted it to look and feel like a Ferrari.

Seems like someone was listening.

Introducing the new Coca-Cola fountain vending machine, which slickly puts 100 flavors at your fingertips and will no doubt cause longer lines as people marvel over the selection and design. To read more, click here.

Of significant importance is that the machine is also data-linked directly into Coke HQ, so that they number crunchers can get an understanding of trends and adjust flavor offers accordingly. Not a bad system to do new flavor tests on either, huh?

Looking forward to Fanta Limonada. It will save us a trip to Europe just to get one.

Digital Ad Spending Continues To Grow

Interesting news out of WPP company GroupM (no relationship to GROUP1201). Their latest report offers a glimpse into the growth of worldwide online spending, which they expect to grow to 15% of overall ad spend.

What's interesting is not just that this growth is coming from search and other non-display online advertising, or that display advertising itself is not growing on pace with other online marketing strategies. The really fascinating thing is that this study takes into account overall spending of marketers, which as a group, is incredibly large.

So, for smaller advertisers who don't have budgets of say $1 billion+ per year like General Motors, this percentage growth is likely to be even higher than 15% of overall spend. The other thing not mentioned here is that online advertising has traditionally been less expensive, when display advertising is compared to its offline relatives, print and broadcast. We suspect that this revenue discrepancy is also the reason for the 15% not being higher (trading a $10,000 print ad for a $3,000 online ad does not significantly shift the overall percentage of a $100,000,000 budget).

All in all, an interesting report. We'd like to see what the tactical shift is for general advertising, however it can be expressed (units of some sort). Although this is insightful news, I'm not sure if the monetary shift gives due justice to the larger change taking place.

At the very least, it should send a message to marketers still clinging to the notion that online is a future opportunity and not one for today.

A summary of the study can be read here: http://tinyurl.com/mqzueh

One of the Top 3 of All Time

The technology has changed, but this spot from AT&T is still awesome. Absolutely fantastic.

The High Life Revisited

Miller High Life has earned a lot of attention over the past year with its well-received and entertaining spots featuring the lovable High Life delivery guy. In particular, the company's 1-second spot in last year's Super Bowl and all the hype/press coverage surrounding it was an instant hit.

But the work leading up to that spot has been equally impressive, although not as acclaimed. As such, we give you a quick retrospective on spots over the past few years from one of the best beer advertisers in the market.

Enjoy.

You Build It: Vitamin Water & Facebook

In a move that shouts "we completely understand how social media works," Vitamin Water is turning to its fans to help develop an upcoming flavor.

Fan participation of course is not new, but this time it goes way beyond what's been done before, while throwing in a little attitude, humor, and celebrity that makes it truly refreshing.

Here's the 10,000 foot view: Through a combination of social media mechanisms and user input, a new flavor will be born. You name it. You design it. You write the copy for it. Then, you and everyone else on the planet drinks it and your mom gets to send cases of it to her friends asking what drink their kids designed.

The winner will be chosen by none other than 50 Cent and Carrie Underwood, which is an added bonus for all you gangster-country-rap fans.

Looks like a lot of the action doesn't start until 9/14 on the site, but check it out anyway: http://apps.facebook.com/flavorcreator/

OK, This Is Just Funny. Very Funny.

Agency Differentiation

As usual, Bart Cleveland has nailed it with another entry on AdAge's Small Agency Diary. In his most recent post, Cleveland communicates the importance of differentiation - true differentiation - in an industry that is sometimes seen to possess an overabundance of commoditized thinking and a lack of innovation.

More specifically, he outlines the premise that differentiation is about more than cleverly packaging an agency and its services for mass consumption. It's about finding a path for your agency, understanding the values of your clients and prospects, determining whether you can truly help them, keeping to your strategic vision, dedicating yourself to constant innovation in support of it, and being willing to take risks which may include turning down business not suited for your long-term goals. All in all, not an easy thing, but well worth it.

Read the article here: http://adage.com/smallagency/post?article_id=138887

Perspective

Great new spot for HBO, using the theme of changing perspectives. Interesting.



And while we're in the perspective realm ... stumbled on this a few weeks ago. Amazing what a little editing can do to change things.

Johnny Walker: The Walk

What an ad should be.

via shots.net

Great Saab Spot. Seriously.

Gotta be honest here. We thought Saab was pretty much dead. But apparently we're wrong, or at least we were not giving it enough credit.

Even more refreshing ... a bright, imagination-fueled spot from Saab and an even better website. Cool, interactive, well-scored and dare we say plucky, the web presentation may be just enough to make you change your perspective on the ol' Born From Jets image, which was cool at first, but ran its course quickly.

The spot is below, but make sure you check out the website. Click on all the hot-spots. Listen to the tune. Tell people who look at you funny to mind their own business. It's worth a ten-minute time out and you'll be all the better for it because you'll have a nice tune ringing in your head the rest of the day.

Just Plain Funny

For anyone looking for that perfect voice mail message.