I hate to give up my secret, but I pretty much Google everything.
Any questions, random thoughts, names of people I meet, seriously everything. Unfortunately, as everyone thinks I’m super brilliant (thanks to Google) they come to me with all of their questions. Now I don’t mind being the smarty pants, but really if you don’t know how to find out answers to simple questions then the rest of your life will be extremely difficult.
So for those people who ask the annoyingly simple questions I can now find their answers with Let Me Google That For You. Check it out for yourself. The site creates a URL (or a tiny URl if you want to be sneaky) of you typing in the search term. So when someone asks you “Hey when is Talk Like A Pirate Day” you can send them here. Arrgg
Getty images is serious about providing users with exactly what they are looking for in their photo library. The company monitors the terms used in their search enginge and if there are enough people searching for a particular photo, scene or person and no photo is available, Getty will commission a photo shoot. With that tidbit of information, a group came together that searched for a Rollerblading Dwraf. Getty Images responded by hiring a photographer to capture said rollerblading dwarf. Awesome.
If this is just a silly prank, its hiliarious. But if this campaignn is an inside stunt its f’ing brilliant. I heard this story about four times this week (and I’m not a Getty Images user or a creative dept person). The groups started a facebook group and the story tells everyone about a cool feature most users are unaware of with Getty Images. Perfect viral campaign.
Click to see the dwarf shots now available on Getty Images
Tis the season for agency’s to create useless sites, games and videos. Here are a collection of my favorites thus far this season.
Apptera created their Holiday Card 08 which ties in mobile with the online. Annoyingly you have to go online, then receive a call, go back online after receiving a text, then have to call in again. At least they can track when each person drops out of the process and build a database and demonstrates their mobile capabilities.
First Round Capital rallied the companies they fund to create their Holiday Video. Hilarious to watch these folks dance around…my personal favorite is at 0:55 two guys from Gnip who look terribly awkward.
R/GA created a site where you can Tattoo Santa or Tat the Fat. Something about giving Santa a tramp stamp just doesn’t seem right to me…
You can play virtual White Elephant with Preston Kelly. I opened a can of peaches but stole a Wii Fit, then lost my Wii and stole a bottle of Grey Goose. Gifts will be awarded according to what each player possesses when the game ends at approximately 12:00 pm Central Standard Time on Friday, December 19th, 2008
Colle+McVoy created a 3D site called SnowdIn, I’ve sent away for my 3D glasses but have not yet received them.
You can make a wish with in their Snowflake Wonderland (site takes a lot of memory to run, so it might slow you down) and check out what others have wished for!
I know I shouldn’t be picking on automotive companies right now. They’re hurting…bad. And they’re taking a bunch of fellow advertisers as they go. But really, you expect these commercials to bring customers back? Why not just call it a going out of business sale and save some money on production?
Please help me understand what this commercial trying to say. This is what I get from it…I think I’m missing the point.
Saturn’s are ugly, cheap cars most people normally wouldn’t be caught dead in, but now that the economy is shit please buy from us because we’re still cheap!
Surprise, Saturn dealerships are still open!
Yes, this is Saturn, the dealership that runs the same red tag event every year and yet always fails to sell cars.
Why the “Red Tag Discount” of only $924? You couldn’t spare 76 dollars and make it an even grand? Hell you couldn’t spare a dollar and make it at least $925?
While my memory of Auto Advisory guidelines is slightly fuzzy because I’ve been off of auto print for a while, I’m pretty sure the bottom line is supposed to say Total Discount from MSRP, not Total Value Compared to MSRP.
The car pretty much sucks. In the first 6 months the check engine light came on 3 times and the second time flat out broke down the morning I was headed up to LA for the weekend. The problems were all generally the same (involving an engine coil that is a known defect in the year and make of my car) and each time I was told it wouldn’t happen again.
I later disovered that the brand’s policy to fix this well-known defect is not to replace the coils until the car is brought in 4 times, purely because their assholes. I didn’t need a 4th time, by the 3rd time I was frustrated and disappointed.
It was a horrible experience; customer service was astrocious and they brushed their hands of me by saying “well the brand says we can’t do anything, so you’re really not our problem”. It took me dropping the name of the agency principal to get the approporate level of treatment. While I appreciate the fact that I had the connection to get treated well, I couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if I didn’t have that.
It takes hours to spool, buffer and print any reports, marketing plans and all other important items with a tight turnaround time. It will randomly ask for different size paper in a drawer or the mysterious Tray 5. The printer will say its out of toner when it is completely full. Streaks appear across pages whenever a large client job is printing. Pretty much your basic crappy possessed office printer.
Which is why this ad campaign is something I would have gleefully joined in on. Anyone have a bat?
Thanks to AdverBox for these ads for Reflex Pure White Office Paper….
As Google continues to slowly take over our lives and do everything we could ever image something to do, they’ve released a 411 service.
Just dial from any phone for a Google based voice recognition directory. I hate voice recognitin anything. While I’m normally an early adopter and technology lover, I will scream ‘Help’ and pound on the 0 key to be connected to a real live person on any answering service.
Google’s voice reconition is better than the few other services I’ve tried (5-1-1 traffic is especially heinous) and it pulls data directly from the Google Maps database. I tested it for our clients and they all are within the first round of businesses within thier category (automotive, credit unions, etc).
But really, I only call 411 when I’m driving around lost. Even then I tend to go online rather then dial 411. I wonder how long until they monetize it with some advertising or featured listings….
I’m still on my Twitter kick…so my apologies to anyone who is not (yet) a fan of microblogging. There has been an increase lately with spammers and while I will follow back most who follow me, I will quickly unfriend someone if I suspect they’re spam (or really annoying). Do people who spam actually click on spam links, open ‘junk mail’ or get annoyed by it all?
I think you might be a spammer (or really annoying) if:
from any phone for a Google based voice recognition directory. I hate voice recognitin anything. While I’m normally an early adopter and technology lover, I will scream ‘Help’ and pound on the 0 key to be connected to a real live person on any answering service. 
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