When Lance Armstrong announced that he was forming a new team to race the 2010 Tour de France, I’d assumed he would get a company like Nike to be the main sponsor or at least a sponsor that would let him call his team LiveStrong – a great name, a great brand. (LiveStrong itself couldn’t sponsor the team because, let’s face it, that would be a complete negation of what that charity is all about, which is about funnelling money into cancer programmes, not buying Lycra for cyclists.)
If you haven't seen it already, make sure you check out the Good Brands Report from the trends-research network PSFK. The report identifies 10 brands that "are doing 'good' in regards to innovation, environmental responsibility and social collaboration."
OK, here's the drill, this guy appears to have stolen Dave's camera, laptop and Nintendo DS and we're going to help track him down in a vigilante 2.0 style. If it doesn't work, blame Clay Shirky, if it works then Iain over at crackunit.com gets the credit.
A rabble-rouser once said that in the modern world human well-being is largely defined by the consumption of goods. Another bunch further suggested that this causes an abstraction from reality, where the passive individual consumes a world fabricated by others, rather than creating their own. They called this abstraction "The Society of the Spectacle".
For some reason, ad agencies and clients get all hot for hipsters. Actually, I know the reason: It was that jerk, Malcolm Gladwell. He put them all up to this when he wrote The Tipping Point*. If you can get a handful of people in Manhattan and Brooklyn to drink your shoes or wear your beer or whatever, then you might be on to something; so says Gladwell. Check it:
Wouldn't the world be great as a Wes Anderson film? People would wear colorful pastel outfits, have serious but playful experessions on their faces at all times and listen to lots of French music. Turns out, France is already like that, Brad Pitt is on board and Anderson himself was there to catch all the kooky action. Let's watch:
Is it just me, or is Microsoft (via Crispin Porter + Bogusky) trying really hard to be cool these days? And unlike CP+B's focused approach with Burger King (Whopper Freakout, Whpper Virgins, etc), this attempt at coolness for MS is all over the place: Jerry Seinfeld web vids, the Pharrell Williams/I'm a PC campaign and, now, Common's new clothing line, Softwear, by Microsoft.
They say if you're going to criticize someone, you should say one nice thing about them first. I like that P. Diddy decided to promote his new men's fragrance, I Am King, with a straight-to-YouTube production/tryout for James Bond*. There. Now on to what I really think. Hammer time:
Some holiday fun on Thanksgiving week. Check it:
No pun intended (does anyone really do that?). What I meant to say was that Mates really misses the post-advertising mark. Pleasureland is an interesting concept with potential, and UK agency WARL builds an interesting (read: interesting Flash) TV spot to promote it. But when you get there, pleasure is nowhere to be found; it's a misnomer, false advertising. Let's watch:
Warning: This 60-second spot from UK department store Marks & Spencer is NOT SAFE FOR WORK. The people in it are HOT. This has gotta be the hottest British family in existence. (And I love, by the way, how it's truly a multicultural patchwork quilt, just like the UK; makes it feel real, y'know?) Let's watch:
November in Canada is like December in America for Jews: It's cold, dark and you feel completely left out. No elections, no Thanksgiving, just bad weather. Well, fret not, insecure Canadians, and be prepared to celebrate your agrarian roots:
