Na, Na, Na, Na-na-na-na, Then Repeat Six Hundred Times.

If there's one thing that marketers tend to be attracted to, it's a fancy chart or graph. But nine times out of ten, it seems to be only the presenter who understands the logic behind all the lines, arrows, and starbursts.

In honor of that, we thought this was a kind of cool. Not all the words, but the general gist to a song that lasts seemingly forever (thus the repeating "na" at the bottom).

Spiderman Shaun & The Rickshaw of Fun

OK, (1) this guy rocks, and (2) it just goes to show that any business can be made fun, interesting, and cool. Two words: Fran. Chise.




In a related "Long-Tail" type story, the second video features a virtually unknown song from the soundtrack of Marked For Death, a 1990 Steven Segal film (uh, no ... we didn't see it either). After seeing the video, we thought the song was kind of cool, looked it up on the web by Googling some of the lyrics, and then bought it via iTunes. The song is Pick Up The Pace by Young MC (of Bust a Move fame). You can save a step by just downloading it here.

Perception

Interesting piece from a recent TED talk by Rory Sutherland, Ogilvy Group Vice Chairman.

A Classic From eBay

For anyone who ever lost a favorite toy, this one's for you.

Brammo & The Electric Motorcycle

How do you build interest in your new niche product with aspirations to go mainstream while not breaking the bank? Easy. You get creative.

Enter Brammo, one of the first mass-market all electric motorcycles and their affinity website, Shockingbarack.com.

The site, launched in the past month, is a virtual travel diary that threads video, blogs entries, and twitter updates of two Brammo riders retracing the journey of the big car executives from Detroit to Washington back when they went to seek more money from the government to keep them afloat. (one rider is from Brammo, the other from their advertising agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky)

Along the way, they've asked for assistance from 'the people' for everything from couches to sleep on to helping them with their massive fuel/power consumption, estimated to be about $4 for the entire journey from Detroit to DC. The result is an entertaining - and enlightening - glimpse at how the bikes work, the efficiency of an electric motorcycle, and a snapshot of how many people are interested in alternatives to the good ol' internal combustion engine.

The name of the site comes from the ultimate goal of the journey, which is to give Barack Obama one of the cycles. Turns out that's not exactly constitutional, which they've realized along the way. However, they've managed to turn it into an entertaining subplots by appealing to the audience to help them with finding a way to circumvent the rules. As they say in a post, 'where there's a law, there's a loophole.' The trials and tribulations are the charm of the site, and why people keep coming back.

Funny, entertaining, and enlightening, the site is a great way to position Brammo and get some exposure at minimal costs for development.

Walk In The Woods + Designing = Good

Nice recent article from 37 Signals blog about designing and taking some time to look around. Enjoy.

A WALK IN THE WOODS CAN MAKE YOU A BETTER DESIGNER

Jason F.
October 19

This weekend I did a quick Q&A session at LessConf via video. Thanks to Allan from Less Everything for making it all work out.

One of the last questions went something like this: “What sort of things outside of design can make you a better designer? What else can inspire you to be a better designer?”

I’m glad someone asked because I’ve been meaning to talk/write about this for a while.

The answer: Nature. Spend some time outside. Take a walk in the woods. Stroll through a prairie. Visit the desert (especially the Sonoran). Climb a hill. Get down on your knees and look at the grass. Plant a garden. No space? Get some plants or flowers and put them on your desk. And if you’re lucky enough to live near botanical gardens, visit a few times a year during peak seasons.

What you’ll experience are ridiculously good designs. Millions of iterations are folded into what you see. Everything is the product of a million successful tries. The colors and shapes and structures and textures are manifestations of survival. If it’s alive it’s good design.

Then look closer. Check out the subtleties. It’s not just green, it’s a dozen shades of green. That red may be orange from a different angle. Then flip it over. There’s a whole new design lesson on the underside.

Explore the seasons. Spring is especially enlightening for designers. It’s redesign season. From brown and dead and woody to green and alive and soft. Colors burst through, new textures emerge. And it’s not just visual. It’s temporal too. Different things popping at different times and in different ways. Each design is an idea. And each one slightly better than last year.

How does this make you a better designer? For one, just spending time around so many things that work will positively influence your design thinking. Some people like surrounding themselves with beautiful objects, furniture, and art. A walk outside is a better value.

You’ll also begin building a deeper understanding and appreciation for subtlety. Nature can be loud, but it usually whispers. You’ll also sharpen your observational skills. Great designers are great observers. You’ll learn more about color than any color wheel or book can teach you. Lastly, you’ll clear your mind and fill it back up at the same time. Very few things can achieve a simultaneous refresh and refill.

Take a walk outside and look around.

Honda: Dream The Impossible

If you haven't already seen any of the videos from Honda's Dream The Impossible documentary series, it's well worth taking the time to explore.

The latest is a seven minute short titled Racing Against Time and focuses on the what happens when people (and companies) are put under pressure to deliver. Featuring Tony Hawk, Honda executives, and two-guys-who-did-something-like-directing-or-writing-Star-Trek, it's an inspirational piece which helps build brand recognition and association for Honda and is also worthy of sharing with your own teams if you're ever looking for something different to fire up the troops.

“Honda’s new doc film, ‘Racing Against Time,’ was developed to share our unique corporate culture rooted in racing, and to inspire people to innovate—no matter what the circumstances,” said Barbara Ponce, Manager of Corporate Advertising for American Honda. “Honda’s racing spirit goes far beyond the race track—it’s a unique approach to business that allows us to face and survive difficulties in the marketplace, including the current environmental and economic challenges.”

Every piece in the series follows a similar pattern of challenges, raising the bar, and being pushed to improve. Borrowing from examples ranging from individual personal business challenges to Honda's own racing team's trials and tribulations, it's a truly brilliant piece of marketing that embraces a powerful opportunity that the web is uniquely qualified to deliver - the marriage of advertising and content.

Below is the aforementioned Racing Against Time. Over the next few weeks, we'll post the remainder of the series, but if you can't wait until them, go to http://dreams.honda.com.

A Cool Reason To Fall Down Stairs

A great little side-project/branding work from Volkswagen with their Fun Theory initaitive, discovering ways to make people be - well, better people - by infusing a little fun into the otherwise mundane.

VW has done a great job over the years cultivating a certain image, with which this initiative fits well. Kind of a mystery then, as to why they're looking for a new agency. But that's for another day.

Most important of all, my air-guitar-fashioned seat belt idea might have some life.

Thanks to Pat French of Quality Carriers for spotting this.

Just Because It's Pretty Amazing

Seriously. Amazing.

Marketing On A Shoesting. Yes ... It Can Be Done

More and more articles like the one linked below are popping up around the web ... tales of companies turning focus from advertising initiatives to engagement initiatives. For many agencies, this is downright frightening news and something that they'll probably not want to share openly with their clients.

But you can't stop progress. And despite those who want to keep the status quo, this is progress.

For the agencies and companies who embrace these changes - or even give a nod to the fact that there's a change in the air - the future will be fun and exciting. Like a lot of other businesses, the ad world as we know it will be significantly different in the coming years. And that, frankly, is the fun part. More than any time in the past, the changing ways that people consume information is creating extraordinary ways to create dialogues with consumers as opposed to shouting at them for attention.

But it's not simply about modifying your strategic approach. Agencies in particular must also realize that other parts of their businesses may need re-examining too, from staffing structures to client compensation plans. Although media will still have a place in the mix well into marketers' futures, we see more and more companies recognizing value in non-traditional areas and by tightening the processes surrounding the interest they've already generated in their product or service. In short, reaching the masses will be about diversification and an increased focus on more efficiently turning interest into a sale.

There is a lot of buzz around certain activities on the street now, most of it online. Much of it will remain buzz, but that's not the point. Should your company be on Twitter? Maybe, maybe not. But there's an advantage to simply participating. By doing so, a company or marketer is conditioning itself to be more nimble and broad-minded than others who ignore it. Although the payoffs may not be immediate, they'll definitely create an advantage in the future. Changing your view of what's possible will lead you to opportunities to find new and better ways to accomplish your goals.

Moving forward, capitalizing on even the smallest advantage is how companies will increase market share and keep spending in check at the same time.

Marketing on $700/Year: http://www.brandweek.com/bw/content_display/news-and-features/direct/e3id3d058ba458918f0c3913b0b6f73ce88?pn=1

Why Agencies Should Exist (And Why Great Ones Do)

''We're not in the business of keeping the media companies alive. We're in the business of connecting with consumers.''

- Trevor Edwards, Nike corporate VP Global Brand & Category Mgmt.
   From a 2007 NY Times article about the changing world of media, agencies and marketers

At The Corner Of Mad Ave. And Sesame St.

Thanks to Pat French at Quality Carriers who sent this over after he found his son watching it. Sounds like someone may have a future in advertising, although if his parents are fans of Mad Men, they may steer him into something more civilized like becoming a bookie or a loan shark.

Schweppes Short Film Festival

There's a lot of talent out there. No doubt about it. And Schweppes has found a way to help foster it, share it, and do a little subtle product promoting with it.

The Schweppes Short Film Festival is a great way to generate interest through high quality work. And it doesn't do something cheesy like require that the product be featured in every scene and the centerpiece of the story.

One bit of direction the five makers of the films were given was that the movies were to be short, for the web, and contain a "Schhhh Moment." The featured film here - Signs - was one of the biggest hits, and according to viral video statistics was at one point in the top 5 of all viral videos viewed on YouTube. Not bad.

Although the idea is for Schweppes Europe, I'm going to go get a bottle just for the sake of the effort they put into it. Great stuff.


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