Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Mystery Solved


I thought it a bit strange why my video (a real crappy one shot off my DVR with a camera no less) got so many views yesterday (1,000+). Well, mystery solved when I looked at my Insight stats on YouTube this evening. It showed over 700 views coming from one source: A blog post from Seattle Weekly.

The blogger, Caleb Hanan, wrote, "Want to watch a DVR'ed video of the Dreamliner's first flight by a sick dude with a taste for cheesy songs? Of course you do!" And people did.

I'll stand by my original idea that Boeing should've had this music blaring on site while the 787 rolled down he runway and took off. It would've been viewed by way more people later online.

Adweek Media's Best of the Decade

Thanks to Twitter, I stumbled across this list of the best of the decade in advertising from Adweek Media. The cool thing is that there's a reader's choice for each category as well.

I found this TV spot, which won for Best Commercial of the Decade (non-Superbowl), to be my personal favorite. And I'd never seen it because it ran at Cannes.




I like this one as well, but I had to go to the Philips Website to find out that they were selling a new 21:9 HDTV.

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Did Boeing let a moment slip away?

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner has been plagued with delays due to design, labor and production issues, but on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2009, it made its maiden flight. A big accomplishment for an aerospace company that hadn't launched a new line over two decades.

While the first flight was streamed live from a special Website setup by Boeing, there wasn't much else beyond that to commemorate this event. Why not? Was it because they didn't want to bring attention to the more than two-year delay? Was it to avoid putting too much emphasis on Washington state where the 787 may no longer be manufactured in the future?

I think it was a wasted opportunity to show the country and the world that Boeing isn't rolling over to Airbus. They could have made this a big event for the US by showing Americans that we still engineer and make things in this country. Allude to the fact that we will pull out of this recession and this is a great start to it. Rah, rah, rah! But no. Nada.

At least they could have made the event less boring by adding some production value to it. Well, I took liberty and made a little something (Note that this is a rough mock-up and a full, cleaner version will be released on DVD--No, not really):



And if you read the lyrics to the chorus of "Defying Gravity" from "Wicked!" it fits perfectly:

So if you care to find me
Look to the western sky!
As someone told me lately:
"Ev'ryone deserves the chance to fly!"
And if I'm flying solo
At least I'm flying free
To those who'd ground me
Take a message back from me
Tell them how I am
Defying gravity
I'm flying high
Defying gravity
And soon I'll match them in renown

Update (Dec. 16, 2009): The video above soared to almost 1,000 views in less than 24 hours. The true count is unknown as YouTube metrics throttles the numbers based on some proprietary algorithm. It's the my most viewed video, but it's the fastest growing and it goes to show that timing is everything in social media.
Thursday, December 10, 2009

ATMs getting better

Knowing that the banks have oodles of data about me, it used to annoy me each time I used an ATM and it always asked me: "English" or "En EspaƱol". Once I understand, but everytime? But having used the new Bank of America ATMs that have been rolled out across the country, I must say they've made a huge leap forward in terms of usability.

First of all, I can't remember the last time it asked me for my language preference. One annoyance in life dispatched! The screens also seem to anticipate what you may want to do rather than taking you from screen after tedious screen by offering short cuts to such things as providing dollar amounts to withdraw right after entering my PIN.

The other cool feature is that they've done away with deposit envelopes for depositing cash. You don't even need to count it as it takes care of that as you deposit the cash.

I'm sure I'll find something lacking, but I'll have to commend Bank of America for looking at the UX from the customer's standpoint in their next generation ATMs.
Friday, December 4, 2009

Gap: Cheer Factory Campaign



The new Gap "Cheer Factory" campaign is both fun and integrated to meet today's social media needs. The campaign has the usual suspects of traditional in TV, and social media in Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. I love the concept with the holiday "cheer" component being literally translated into cheerleader style cheers.

The use of YouTube makes this campaign not only viral via the TV spots, but also via an employee contest for all Gap stores: The Gap Cheer Off. Each store creates their own cheer and submits them to the YouTube group page and the 25 top viewed will get a party for their store. By doing this, they've integrated all retail-level employees into the campaign.

One last note, I love the "Talk to the Moose" ads because I think it's a shot at Abercrombie & Fitch.
Thursday, December 3, 2009

Burberry - Solid



Well-managed brands regardless of where they show up--TV, print, social media--are always consistent and evoke the same emotional response regardless of the medium. Burberry, to me, is one such brand.

The campaign with Harry Potter star Emma Watson stays true to the heritage of Burberry but manages to infuse youth into it.