Door Number 3

SXSW 2010 Preview

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:22:52 -0600

There have finally been a handful of pleasant, spring days in Austin and that always puts one thing on our minds: South by Southwest (March 12-21). Once again, Door Number 3 will be bringing you all the coverage, interviews and two cents from the marketing and advertising perspective we can muster.

The biggest news this year, which is sort of not surprising, is the continued growth of SXSW Interactive. 2009 was the largest attendance yet, and this year looks to top that. The nerdy younger brother of the SXSW family has finally come into his own and convincingly commands as many days as SXSW Music. Here are a few quick things that have been on the radar so far:

QR Codes (aka Quick Response Codes/Smartcodes) and location-based applications were around last year but expect 2010 to be their year. Everything from Austin-based Gowalla to QM Codes. In fact, every SXSW badge this year features a unique QR code to enable attendees to electronically “follow” people.

Kicking off SXSW Film is the comic book adaptation Kick Ass, which has used its series of Internet-only red band trailers to great effect.

“Surf music” definitely seems to be the trend this year when it comes to the hottest bands. Surfer Blood has gotten most of the hype, as has New Zealand-based Surf City, but we’re holding out for NYC’s The Drums.

Bookmark this link (Door Number 3 blog) for SXSW coverage starting March 15.

Stuff We're Into

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:20:43 -0600

Fundred
Normally we wouldn’t recommend counterfeiting money, but we promise it’s for a good cause. To match the estimated cost needed to protect New Orleans’ youth from lead contamination, the Fundred Dollar Bill Project wants at least 3 million Americans to create their own $100 bills. When their goal is met, they’ll ask Congress for an equal contribution.
fundred.org

OurGoods
Bartering? Isn’t that for, like, fur trappers? Don’t tell the people behind OurGoods, a new social network that lets creative individuals share their resources. The site streamlines the process by matching up artists based on their “skills, spaces and objects.”
ourgoods.org

Emotional Cities
“How are you today?” This leads to simple visualizations of how cities around the world are feeling that day. As of press time, Austin is in a better mood than Hollywood.
EmotionalCities.com

(h)earing aid
Hipsters don’t believe it, but they too, get old. The (h)earing aid from Designaffairs is a way to cope. Crafted to resemble earplugs, this little bit of technology helps aging indie rockers keep their street cred. Still no word on if it’ll make your band sound better.
DesignAffairs.com

Please Rob Me

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:15:20 -0600

You know those people who clog your social media page with their constant narcissistic updates about their latest adventure?

“In France! Where should I eat?”

“Backstage with Radiohead!”

“Three weeks in Singapore. Woo-hoo!”

Yep, you know them. And now, you can rob them – thanks to the social media pranksters behind Please Rob Me.

Using services like Twitter and Foursquare, the site rebroadcasts updates that indicate whose homes are empty and primed for burglarizing. Most of the updates also include where the person has gone and for how long, making it even easier to rob them blind.

The idea behind the website, created by the self-proclaimed “concept and idea factory” known as Forthehack, is to remind consumers about the privacy issues that we sacrifice as our social media obsession grows. It’s also reminding us that what we say online doesn’t necessarily stay online.

So before announcing your next out-of-home experience, keep in mind that you’re not just annoying your friends; you’re annoying burglars, too.

Lessons from Chatroulette

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:10:00 -0600

What? You haven’t heard of Chatroulette?

NEXT!

On the popular new video chat site, Chatroulette, users engage face-to-face with random people around the world. And just like advertising, users have less than two seconds to grab their audience’s attention. Failure to do so results in getting “nexted,” the advertising equivalent of someone changing the TV channel to avoid a horrendous commercial.

So, the age-old ad question remains: how does a brand capture the attention of a complete stranger in mere seconds?

Witnessing the way people interact on the site provides some understanding of how people get, and sustain, viewer attention. Chatrouletters respond to positive energy and resist pressing the “next” button when they’re faced with excitement and enthusiasm. In fact, most users actually initiate conversation by reflexively typing “hi” when someone simply waves to them.

Brands today could take a lesson from the basic communication Chatroulette re-introduces: put on a friendly, energetic face and just be yourself. And be prepared to have something to say when someone does give you the chance to speak. The more we become aware of what attracts “consumers” and how they interact with each other, the better we can understand what it takes to get a consumer to reply “hi” the next time our brand waves to them.

Diesel Stands for Stupid

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 10:57:00 -0600

“Be stupid,” Diesel proclaims. Profoundly.

In their new campaign, Anomaly Advertising Agency in London blasts this anthem in print, outdoor and on the web. The ads are bright, outrageous and youthful, continuing its long history of provocative campaigns. Online, the Diesel website gives consumers the chance to submit their own “stupid” act, maintaining the rebellious energy of the brand but with a spin; the campaign involves the consumer more than previous campaigns have, a familiar tactic in advertising today.

With lines like, “Smart says no. Stupid says yes,” “Smart critiques. Stupid Creates” and “If we didn’t have stupid thoughts we’d have no interesting thoughts at all,” Anomaly positions Diesel in the realm of the wild, creative and unrestrained. The campaign has received a lot of attention within the industry, and as far as tweets go, viewers are responding favorably. Gavindevlin tweets, “Ironically Diesel’s ‘be stupid’ ads are very clever.”

Wieden + Kennedy’s “Go Forth” Levi’s campaign preceded “Be Stupid,” and also called for liberation and expression. The current trend in approaching younger consumers poses the question: does advertising create culture or does it merely respond to existing movements? In Diesel’s case, the answer is both. With “Be Stupid,” Anomaly taps into the current explosion of consumer-created content, of young people making sure they are heard—in writing, video or whatever means they can. The campaign reinforces the consumer voice but it also gives them a platform to use it.

And if, according to Diesel, “Stupid is the relentless pursuit of a regret-free life,” who doesn’t have something stupid to say?

Ireland Flashes a Smile

Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:04:28 -0600

Our friends over in Ireland haven’t been getting much love lately. FIFA robbed their team of a World Cup appearance, their government limited their free speech and the global recession has burst their economic balloon.

Looks like the Irish could use a little luck.

UK-based Vodafone has come up with a plan to “Cheer Up Ireland.” In January, the phone company began hosting a Flickr photo pool, encouraging the Irish to submit original photographs that might lift the Emerald Isle’s spirits. While the feel-good promotion is running in tandem with a discount for Irish cell phone users, its true brilliance is in reminding us that there are inexpensive and creative ways to foster goodwill.

And as extra incentive to boost their photo count, and Ireland’s morale, Vodafone will reward the best entrant with a 3000€ shopping spree. For those of you already doing the math, that’s $5324.34 – or 887 pints of Guinness. And if that doesn’t do the trick, nothing will.

Support Your Local Bank

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:37:00 -0600

We’re pretty lucky to live in a city like Austin and have so many great local businesses to support. And it seems like everyone who lives here has that same attitude. Even though “going local” is second-nature, we were still struck by a grassroots call-to-action to support local banks, a type of business that hasn’t gotten much attention before. That is before all the large, national banks became the target of ire because of bailouts, bonuses, forclosures, etc.

It all originated in an article written by Ariana Huffington on her site Huffingtonpost, which has been following the financial crisis carefully and has been very critical of corporate banks. Since that article was published, a few sites have popped up, notably MyCommunityMyBank and MoveYourMoney that provide resources and other opportunities to get involved.

While one could correctly argue that the sudden drive to support local banks comes directly from the extremely sour public mood towards bailed-out national banks, any reason to support a local business is good in our opinion.

For what it’s worth, we’re proud to bank locally with (and create branding and advertising for) our client American Bank of Texas.

The first internet meme of 2010?

Wed, 06 Jan 2010 09:32:23 -0600

Nic Cage as Everyone

This one won’t last long because, come on, it’s Nic Cage. Besides, it won’t top this other Nic Cage meme.

Real-Time Reviews

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:06:48 -0600

Check out Trendwatching.com’s “10 CRUCIAL CONSUMER TRENDS FOR 2010.” Number 3 on the list: Real-Time Reviews. As people continue to share (in real time) everything they buy, watch, eat, wear, attend and so on, and with even more search engines and tracking services making it easy to find and group these ‘live dispatches’ by theme, topic or brand, 2010 will see ready-to-buy consumers tapping into a live stream of experiences from fellow consumers.

Don’t believe the hype? Don’t think the opinions of fellow consumers weigh heavily into our purchasing decisions? Well then explain what led us to purchase 100 of these from Amazon.com back in the spring.

image from trendwatching.com

It’s going to be in the low 40’s in Austin this...

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 17:12:40 -0600

It’s going to be in the low 40’s in Austin this weekend!

Web 2 Point ... OhNoHeDidn’t

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:46:00 -0600

Saw this license plate on the way to the agency this morning. It ranks right up there with other vanity gems like JETSETA, HIOFCER and I8A4RE.

Re:cycled Tweets

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:06:06 -0600

More often than not, friends’ tweets can be lackluster to say the least. Reading about being stuck at work or how much traffic there was this morning clogs up Twitter feeds around the world, leaving readers comatose with boredom.

Now it’s time to take action and convert all this cyber-trash to cyber-treasure by recycling their lame and uninteresting tweets. GetTRASHED.org has partnered up with social media firm McKinney to rid cyberspace of pathetic tweets. Recycle a tweet and McKinney will donate a penny to the campaign. This is how it works:

First, @reply to someone who posted a lame tweet. Copy and paste their lame tweet, and add #recyclethis to the end. Click reply.

Recyledtweets.com will recycle it and send them a new, transformed tweet using some of the characters from the original. Not only will you have generated the donation of another penny, but you’ll get people to seem a lot more interesting than they actually are.

What are you waiting for? Start recycling.

Hotel of Cards

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:02:00 -0600

Ever lost a hotel key card? Perhaps we know where it is.

Holiday Inn commissioned Bryan Berg, a world record-holding ‘card stacker,’ to construct a 400 square-foot hotel in New York City made entirely of 200,000 plastic key cards. The stunt is Holiday Inn’s way of promoting the brand’s re-launch featuring 1,200 new hotels in 2009.

The two-ton construction was Berg’s largest card-stacking challenge to date and the only card creation he has ever made to full human scale. The hotel itself includes a guest bedroom, bathroom and lobby, all fully equipped with functioning life-sized furniture. So, next time you’re in New York, check in and check it out.

Note: This author is not a professional card stacker, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn.

A New Spin on Sculpture

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:59:56 -0600

Throw out the chisel, toss the pick and hang up the paintbrush. Korean artist Gwon Osang has reinvented sculpture.

From a distance his pieces look like they’re ceramic, but upon closer inspection it becomes clear that they’re made entirely out of original photographs. Curiously titled “Deodorant Type,” the collection features 14 freestanding sculptures of everything from people to luggage.

Osang, one of the most recognized contemporary artists in Korea, began creating 3D photographic works because he was physically too frail to pursue the demands of traditional sculpture. He hoped this appropriately modern new material would free him from the weight of traditional materials as well as the strenuous process of production.

In the end, Osang married photography and sculpture to come up with this creative and innovative twist on traditional art – carving a name for himself in the art world.

Baby Got App

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 14:56:45 -0600

If your parental instincts aren’t on point, and you don’t know why your baby is crying incessantly, don’t worry - there’s an app that’s going to make it all better.

The Cry Translator works by analyzing the pitch, volume, tone and inflection of a baby’s cry, and provides you with an answer in only ten seconds. You’ll know whether your baby is hungry, sleepy, stressed, annoyed or bored. This doesn’t mean, however, that your role as parents has become obsolete; it just means your iPhone understands your baby better than you do.

The application is aimed not only at easing new parents’ anxieties, but teaching them the meaning of particular types of crying; well worth the $9.99 investment. And it promises to work not only infants, but crybabies of all ages. Hmm. Wonder if it works on interns?

Twitter Down Under

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 13:13:23 -0500

It’s taken a while, but Australia has started to catch on.

In previous years, online advertising was just another way to execute a print or TV campaign and usually generated in the form of micro-sites.

Yet now, in Australia, the digital solution is becoming the backbone of advertising campaigns and the creative inspiration for other media channels.

“Ispylevis,” a Levi’s Jeans Twitter campaign, is being used in conjunction with guerilla marketing techniques to create non-traditional brand buzz.

For example, Levi’s has a current campaign where they have placed hundreds of anonymous people wearing Levi’s in hot spots around Australia and New Zealand. If approached and asked, “Are you wearing Levis?” these planted people are to immediately drop their pants and give the lucky guesser a new pair of Levi’s jeans.

Consumers can follow on Twitter to see where the Levi’s actors are hanging out.

Because of its measurable success in the US, Twitter is now being used by Australian marketers, companies and media groups. The general public, however, has been quite slow to embrace the social networking site, although Facebook also took a while to gain popularity in Australia and is now extremely widespread.

With Twitter, only time will tell.

What we do know now is that it’s a great tool for social connection and real time information, as well as the fact that the growing acceptance of Twitter in Australia should provide an even greater push to creative online advertising solutions. So keep an eye out for more of these social media campaigns – and an Aussie wearing Levi’s.

‘Get High’ on Your Lunch Break

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:50:00 -0500

No, it’s not what you’re thinking; GetHighNow.com is a mind-warping new site with a large compilation of both optical and audio illusions.

Recently named one of this year’s 50 best new websites by Time magazine, GetHighNow.com is sure to make your lunch break memorable. Put on headphones while browsing through the site and listen to auditory hallucinations induced by pulsing different frequencies in each ear. You can actually feel another track’s sound circling around your head, instead of bouncing from ear to ear.

The optical illusions are just as interesting, and include stationary pictures that appear to move, warp, and blink. If you’re feeling scientific, GetHighNow.com also has humorous yet accurate explanations for each illusion. One word of caution: GetHighNow.com is considered a gateway site to other highly addictive websites. You’ve been warned.

The Burger Giveth and the Burger Taketh Away

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:44:09 -0500

Getting people to engage with a brand in a fresh and exciting way has helped make this the year of the free burger.

Back in January, Burger King created a Facebook App called The Whopper Sacrifice. The app rewarded consumers with a free Whopper if they “sacrificed” ten of their friends, testing the love of friendship versus the love of the flame-broiled burger. It was quite a success; so much in fact that Facebook decided to eliminate it after about 230,000 people were deleted.

Recently jumping on the free burger bandwagon, another opt-in branding experience was created by TGI Fridays. The restaurant chain asked people to become a fan of Woody, a 31 year-old Friday’s-loving PR character. Those who become a fan would only receive a free burger if TGI Friday’s hit their goal of 500,000 fans by September 15. With the help of TV ads, Facebook, and word of mouth, they were able to meet this goal without any problem at all.

Due to the success of the campaign, and to reward the thousands who came after the original end date, another round shooting for 1,000,000 fans by October 1^st was created. Coming in just shy of the million mark, TGI Friday’s decided to give out free burgers to everyone who joined anyway.

Smart campaigns like these not only engage the consumer, but also entertain and reward them. These types of ideas that use social media to its fullest potential are the ones that will prove to be successful in the future.

So remember, it’s not about how many friends you add or delete; it’s about how many free burgers you can get along the way.

I’ll Tweet to That. Or will I?

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 12:37:55 -0500

News can travel fast in the digital age – perhaps a little too fast. Especially when a cathartic blog or tweet ends up in the hands of your boss. That’s exactly what happened to the members of the Texas Tech Football Team, and it didn’t go over well.

After losing their second game and falling to 2-2 for the season, several Texas Tech players took out their frustrations via Twitter. Marlon Williams posted, “WTF I can’t believe what happened. Man my senior season isn’t goin anything like what I busted my azz for …. New week now F$&@.” Another player, offensive lineman Brandon Carter, used Twitter to break the news that he had been suspended for the next week’s game before it was officially announced. So, when Texas Tech head coach, Mike Leach, got wind of the tweets, he implemented a complete ban of the social networking site.

Is this censorship, or just a way of protecting a brand’s integrity? Perhaps it’s not for us to say - especially if our HR department is reading this.

Source

My New Media is Newer than Your New Media

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:37:13 -0500

We are clearly in the age of new media today, and new media means new advertisers ready to capitalize on it.

Most non-traditional methods have harnessed pre-existing structures for their message, such as a mirror in an airport restroom, parking lot stripes outside your local mall or even a grocery store conveyor belt. Determined to do something different, Aap! Global in San Francisco created their own new type of media altogether: underground screens.

Located inside a subway tunnel, a series of screens displays pictures that run together like a giant version of a flipbook as the train flies by them. Each frame is installed side-by-side and triggered to light up at the exact time they are aligned with each subway window. They call it MetroVISTA, and it just might be the next big thing in new media.

Adidas is currently using this innovative media strategically and with great success in Santiago, Chile. They created a seven-second ad featuring a man who appears to be running as fast as the train is traveling. The ad is quick, engaging, and gets the idea of speed across perfectly. This simple ad could not be transferred to any of the traditional or other new media outlets and still pack the same punch it does here. Taking advantage of this space is a great way to capture the attention of consumers while they aren’t being bombarded by other messages.

All media is destined to become a member of the “traditional” group as time passes. (Remember when banner ads were cutting-edge advertising?) It is the job of both advertisers and agencies to look for opportunities to engage the consumer in exciting and intelligent ways. Intriguing new media like this is exactly what is carrying us into the new age of advertising. So now is the time to question yourself, how new is your new media?

images from aapglobal.com