One of the benefits of working in advertising, besides the short hours and the lavish cocktail parties every day at 3 pm, is the fact that we are living in the future. If it’s digital, social, technological, or just plain new, chances are we’re on top of it, and finding ways to use it. So by default, a lot of this stuff is second nature to us.
It’s not that way with everybody, though.
It is an unfortunate but understandable reality that while we often marvel at digital projects that spread like wildfire across the web, we rarely get a chance to look at the numbers behind them. Between January and May, we built, launched and monitored Jerzify Yourself (warning: sound on autoplay) to get just such a glimpse into the dynamics of spreadable content.
This has been the week of the Old Spice Man, and deservedly so. The campaign was brilliant in concept and execution. Kudos to everyone involved.
It may be that everything that needs to be said already has been, but I won’t let that stop me from sharing a couple of observations.
There’s a food revolution afoot in America. This revolution isn’t led by a celebrity chef or the first lady, and with the frequent presence of pork belly, it’s definitely not focused on slimming down our country. Rather, it’s a revolution focused on flavor, or more accurately flavors, and unifying our nation’s shifting populations into a shared narrative.
I had the pleasure of attending the Southern Foodways Alliance Field Trip to Buford Highway, Atlanta’s most prominent international corridor, along with some of the top minds – and hands – in Southern cuisine. The challenge was simple: two days, eleven meals, six cultural backgrounds. As my belly filled and the trip unfolded, I continually heard local chefs, bloggers, and critics refer to the international mish-mash of strip malls as their culinary “playground.” As the sole ad guy at the conference, I found the same inspiration when looking for emerging trends in the food/restaurant category:
The results from our location-based social network poll are in. We asked the question, “Why do we check-in?” And overwhelmingly, the answer is to accumulate social currency, read insider tips, and compete to be #1.
When I heard the other day that Namco’s popular arcade game, Pac-Man, was turning 30, I had to do a double take. How was that possible?
I remember, like it was yesterday, the anticipation of the occasional Sunday night family jaunt to Louisa’s Pizza (which, at the time, had an adjacent arcade room). My brother and I burned through quarters playing Centipede, Galaga, and, of course, Pac-Man while waiting for our Pizza. But that was the early 1980s and it’s now 2010.
Last night the Celtics knocked the Cavs out of the playoffs.
In and of itself it was a big series with lots of juicy sports-related themes, including: the aging, underdog Celtics beating the best team in the league; the emergence of Rajon Rondo as a truly elite player, now being compared to the game’s legends; and of course, the potential end to the LeBron James era in Cleveland.
But how about the Garden being turned into a flash mob?
