Virtual Tourism

I don't know if anyone loves Google Streetview as much as I do (I tend to wander the streets of Madrid quite frequently), but I just came across this blog post (via Google's new Twitter page). Viewing popular landmarks on Streetview will now bring up user-contributed photos of that exact spot. And, if you'd like to see more from a particular author, you can connect directly to his/her Panoramio page (*gasp* social networking).

It is a small world after all.

8 week 8K Training Schedule

Whoa, your legs look Ca-razy!

Hey y'all. Don't forget to let WhitBull know if you are interested in being part of the W&B Crazylegs team. You'll get a shirt and hat (which I'm sure is really cool looking and should be worn out of the house as much as possible).

You don't have to be a runner to join - there is also a walk. This is a great way to support the new era of candy-free healthiness that is taking over the office.

For more info, click here.

The finish line in Camp Randall.

Rule to work by

Social networking: The Good/The Bad.

Seth Godin on the above. Needless to say, he's got an opinion.

"Rebranding" is a stupid idea about 90% of the time, the end. - Gawker

Amen.

(Hat tip/Durandrea McGawkerite)

The Fast Company has listed their 2009 50 most most innovative companies. Lots to be gained from looking at how these guys walk and talk.

I would say, some good goals for us would be not only to learn from(and embrace) their successes and bold thinking, but more importantly, what can we do to innovate ourselves—something others would like to copy, from us.

Instead of us twittering about what others are doing...wouldn't it be great to see someone twittering about what we're doing?! <-- That's my goal for 2009...we have the people, the creativity to do it. We just gotta make the choice, and give it some gas.

Oh man, is this great.

No Cowboy from Ritxi Ostáriz on Vimeo.

I am in awe.

In Praise of: Pure Concept.

A great example of showing without telling.
Didn't have to hire a VO either. Nice.

The Cat Guy

Has anyone else noticed that the VOR ACE has been a little obsessed about cats lately?!

I'm not a big fan of greeting cards. But man, there are some twisted people bringing some wicked good stuff. 

Advegirl

Someecards.com

Mac n' Cheese to go with your Pepsi

[via Brand New] Kraft foods announced this week a rebranding of their corporate identity.

From BrandWeek: "The new logo was conceived as part of a several month design process, where more than 7,000 employees and consumers worldwide were asked for their feedback. Kraft asked consumers in cities like Chicago, Paris and Shanghai such questions as: 'What do you look for in a food company?' 'How do you engage with food generally?' and 'What are the moments of that relationship that are important to you?' The findings resulted in a corporate logo that is 'more contemporary, the colors are more vibrant and it has a life to it,' West said."

The Brand New write-up is right-on. I do believe if you asked 7,000 people to jointly design a corporate identity logo, this is what it would look like.

This commercial is brought to you by the Tour of California

Amgen flips the script and creates a great website for road bike fans following the Tour of California. It's a wonderful example of people gratefully watching marketing messages when presented with valuable reasons to do so (lots of ongoing race stats, etc.).

Know something about everything and everything about something.

Some words of wisdom — not from me

Art directors need to understand and respect copy.

Copywriters need to understand and respect art direction.

Account planners have to be creative and recognize great work.

Read the whole list  here... from the creative folks at Makin' Ad blog

What if this was for Brennan's?

This is user-generated content at its best.
As of time of this posting, it's had 192,264 views. Wow.

Microsoft fights fire with fire...er...Alexa.

Remember how bad MicroSeinfeld and even the first "I am a PC" spot was?
This is much better.
I think this campaign has legs (as long as they keep up the quality of the kids). It's a demonstration spot that screams "this is easy."



What a novel concept for MS (where'dya think they got it?)

BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH BLAH

To add to what Chad posted below, there are some more examples of this abomination of a brand redesign at Brand New (saw that great interpretation of the new logo in the comments):

The Wrong Kind of Breathtaking

 

The secret design theory behind the new Pepsi logos is discovered. WOW! I never knew so much went it to logo design. Does WB have a process like this?

cell phone reunion

Are all iPhone owners like this? Hell ya booooy!

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1899978

Copy or no copy?

product: Aquafresh Flex Top Toothbrush

headline copy: Cleans all gaps.

Does this ad even need the headline? I think the visual does a great job of showing how the new flex top works as well as dental floss (at least that's what I'm getting out of it) to clean all tooth surfaces. Thoughts?

Hey, I know that dude

Neil Fauerbach needs our help.

The photo was taken at the Fauerbach Brewery at the corner of Williamson and Blount on April 7, 1933 — the day Prohibition was repealed, making it legal to drink beer in Madison for the first time in more than a decade... Read the rest of the article:

Wayne, time to up your game.

You've just been served.

Word of Mouth Marketing: An interesting perspective

John Moore is a WOM blogger I like to follow.
He's got a bunch of interesting slide shows on his blog worth viewing. Here's one on Creationist vs. Evolutionary word of mouth marketing.

Happy Birthday, Claire!

Today is my daughter Claire's 8th birthday. Happy Birthday, Claire Bear!



Yesterday, however, was Basecamp's 5th birthday. I saw this and it really sums up why I'm such an evangelist for this great collaboration tool.

From Jason Fried's post:

"Today is a very significant day in the life of 37signals and Basecamp (and, indirectly, Ruby on Rails). Today Basecamp turns five years old.

We launched Basecamp with a post right here on Signal vs. Noise on February 4, 2004. No traditional PR blitz, no advertising, no real expectations of big success. Just a product and a post and “let’s see what happens.”

Basecamp was a side project. We were a web design firm at the time. We built Basecamp because our projects and client communications were a mess. We were using email to update our clients. That works for about 5 minutes, then goes from ripe to rotten pretty quicky.

We looked around at some of the industry standard project management tools at the time. The leader was Microsoft Project. We didn’t get it. Projects aren’t about charts, graphs, stats, and reports. Projects aren’t broadcasts. Projects are about people and communication and collaboration. Projects are about back-and-forth, give and take.

Collaboration, not management

We also didn’t really like the idea of “management.” Management is hard work. Management is administrative. Management gets in the way. Collaboration better described what we were after."

I second all that. Happy Birthday, Basecamp!