Old Spice win again

Now this is good. The Old Spice ads, though perfect examples of content which spreads well online, are still just bits of video which broadcast to an audience. The latest bit of genius from W+K changes the model though, responding to a tweet asking for an interview. Suddenly we are not just watching a broadcast but taking part in a conversation. When the brand starts engaging with its audience to this extent (or this), things start to get pretty exciting.
UPDATE: There are more of them. They have also promoted "old spice" as a trending topic on Twitter.

The Mad Men School of Seduction

It is Friday afternoon, its hot, and so its time for a video. Marvel at the subtle and charming seduction of the Mad Men.

Augmented Reality Mario

This video is part of a Bachelor thesis, but shows what can be done with augmented reality. Technology allows us to use the world as a canvas, and play with our environment. There will be a lot more where this came from.

Cheeky Internet Shenanigans

As Justin Bieber contemplates an ill-advised "Suicide Tour" to North Korea, we can all rest easy that the Internet remains as anarchic, witty and ridiculous as ever. What started as a marketing ploy to encourage people to vote on where Bieber should tour, quickly developed into a viral campaign to send him to Kim Jong-il's dictatorship.

Amusing yes, surprising no. This is just the latest prank in a long history of internet anarchy, which stamps on any brand, celebrity or individual who naively opens themselves up to the web. A lot of it comes from 4chan (very much NSFW), the lawless image posting site, but the whole online community has always been averse to rules. Here are some of our favourites examples.


Hank the Angry Drunken Dwarf- In 1998, at the very birth of the internet, a vote for People.com’s Most Beautiful Person of the year gave an unexpected winner.
The Penguin- A competition to redesign the UGC boot went spectactularly wrong when this ugly design won.
BMX-  This is why you don't ask the internet for help.
Rage against the Machine- Facebook-organized campaign to deny Simon Cowell number 1.
Skittles Twitter- A good example of big-brand naivety and an over-the-top reaction from cruel tweeters, who abused the open twitter feed. (See also CashGordon and MyDavidcameron for political examples)
Amazon Reviews- The internet has outdone itself in hunting out the useless and weird amongst  Amazon's product catalogue. Have a read of the brilliantly written comments for the Tuscan Milk and related products.

We are all workers

We really like this new work from Levis and W+K. The idea was to create something tangible and long-lasting, which they have undoubtedly done. It is a great development of the "Go Forth" campaign, managing to balance heritage with a more forward-looking view. There's a good interview in Contagious which reveals more.

The real life social network

This interesting presentation has been doing the rounds on Twitter, and is definitely worth a look. It is by Paul Adams, a "user-experience researcher" at Google, and it really gets to the heart of why Facebook "friends" are such an unnerving phenomenon.

The Stories of Objects

As if more examples were needed that we are increasingly looking for real things in the real world (rather than stuff on screens), we just came across Itizen. This allows you to tag objects which mean something to you and upload them. You can then pass them on so that the object may collect stories. It is a great example of digitally augmenting real world objects, and adding value to existing behaviour.

Also see:

Objects as storage devices - Interesting thoughts on PSFK
The Value of Things - Book from 2000 which is becoming increasingly relevant
The Comfort of Things - Recently published and getting great reviews

Shopbabbles- social media and shopping

In what is fast becoming a bumper week for blog posts (and an inefficient week for doing other work), here is another post. Shopbabbles is a blog focusing on where social media and shopping overlap. Its Saatchi & Saatchi run, and seems to have a lot of interesting stuff worth checking out.

Ad of the Week

Old Spice is back, and the general consensus seems to be that this is, incredibly, even better than the original. The same quirky wit and innovative 1-shot execution remain, and it has already been viewed almost 300k times. Well done W+K and P&G.

Engaging your Tweeters

In many ways it is pretty easy to show you care as a brand these days, as with pretty minimal investment you can monitor what people are saying and respond. However Wheat-thins have taken it one stage further, and in replying to a tweet have also got some great content for a hundred thousand people to view.

UPDATE: In fact looking at the comments they may even have started a meme. Look out for "Aaah I'm out of___, My life is officially over" popping up elsewhere.