Things I Love - Friday 27th January

This video of a Lego Man sent into (near) space by two Canadian teenagers.  Full story here.



The amazing 'log cabin' effect for the Circus shop in Brixton Village, achieved by using cardboard tubes.

'Bon Joviver'



This clip that a Hungarian colleague sent me:  It's like a clip from an unseen Reeves & Mortimer show.  Jaw Dropping!



There's a whole meme around it, including this Prodigy version

Putting ads on pictures

Vibrant media just bought Image Space Media, which means that Image Space's technology, which allows publishers to put ads onto online pictures, in a contextual way, could spread.

Have a look and see what you think:


In-Image Advertising in 90 Seconds from Image Space Media on Vimeo.

I find Vibrant's text ads pretty annoying.  They make a box jump up if you mouse over a random word that they've managed to sell, like 'power' generally completely out of context.  However if this is done well, a bit like the relatively unobtrusive YouTube ads it could take off.

The return of Ferris Bueller

This is a teaser for a Super Bowl ad.  Please let the full ad be good!



There's so much excitement on the internet for this.  If it's bad it'll rebound badly on which ever brand it is.  I think I'd forgive most sins if Alan Ruck was in it too, though, or Mia Sara, or Ben Stein...  What's the betting Ben Stein does a voiceover..?

(Although I always thought that American Beauty worked pretty well as an unofficial sequel, with Kevin Spacey as Ferris)

Next Generation Media - January 2012

This is my most recent Next Generation Media Quarterly presentation, showing examples and stats that have really impressed me over the past 3 months.

Take a look!

Next Generation Media Quarterly January 2012

View more presentations from Dan Calladine

Vicks use clever targeting based on 3 types of data

This is very smart, and shows how brands can use the new sorts of data that are available to them.

Vicks used historical data from Google Flu Trends (see earlier) to predict which areas were most likely to be affected by flu outbreaks.  They then advertised their Behind Ear Thermometer on mobile apps in these areas, but only to mothers, where they could identify them.

So they:

Constructed a model using historical search data
Advertised within apps, using geo-targeting
Chose apps that had collected user data, like Pandora, to target further demographically

Full info on Springwise

MINI - Fan The Flame & Burn The Rope

A very clever bit of work from MINI at the Brussels Motor Show.  A MINI Countryman was put on a slope, kept in place by a strong rope.  A burner was put under the rope, and each time the page was Liked on Facebook a flame came out.  The person who sparked the flame that eventually burnt through the rope got to win the car.



Very good!

Things I Love - Friday 20th January

This frustrated letter from Douglas Adams, desperately trying to get in touch with an elusive movie exec regarding Hitchhikers Guide.  That's how to do sarcasm.  (I don't know if the call ever came)

A video of a year, with one short clip for each day. I love this even though I don't know any of the people. If this were one of my friends I'd love it far, far more. (& it's already 20 days too late to do this myself for 2012)


2011 from hey_rabbit on Vimeo.

The delicious chickens from Fosse Meadows Farm, available at various London farmers' markets.  Yes, it's more expensive, but these chickens are properly free range; they have muscles where supermarket chickens don't!  Never buying a supermarket chicken again.

'Hello' in movie clips - we all love this, right?


Hello from ant1mat3rie on Vimeo.

The Guardian's Guardipedia stunt for the day of the SOPA Wikipedia outage.  A great way to have fun with the readers.  Readers had to send in questions, the Guardian guy had to try to answer them.  Qs got increasingly random and surreal!

VW's Star Wars Dogs

Great stuff.  I LOL-ed.  Wonder what's coming next?

Stop PIPA and SOPA

A very persuasive film made by American web entrepreneurs, including Foursquare


Our Internet from Engine Advocacy on Vimeo.

Get involved here.

Background

Invite Codes Available for Roamler

I first wrote about Roamler last year.  Roamler is a mobile network that lets you request or perform small tasts, for free or for payment.  For example you might someone to provide a picture of how your product is being displayed in a certain branch of Tesco, or even to promote your product in an unusual way.  Roamler can facilitate these (and many more) sorts of things.  Roamler was launched in the Netherlands last year, but now it's available in London, for invited users only.  So far it's only for the iPhone 3G, 4, or 4S

Watch the video to see more.


Roamler explanimation from Roamler on Vimeo.

I have some invites - please send me a DM on Twitter (if we're already connected) or @ me - I'm @DanCall1

Find your worth to advertisers with VisualDNA

Data provider VisualDNA have an interesting quiz on their site called What Am I Worth?

It takes you through about 20 questions on your online shopping choices and what you're likely to be buying online, and then gives you an estimate of your value to companies wanting to market to you.  You can then sign up to receive ads where you get a cut of the affiliate payment.

It's interesting.  I'm not worth that much because I haven't got a car, and am not looking to switch utility providers or make any big purchases in the near future.

(I heard about it through Richard Wilson's slightly Monkey Tennis programme last night looking at the increasing automation that consumers face, from automated phone services to self checkout in supermarkets, to online cookies tracking your movements)

'Like' Kahlua when you watch The Big Lebowski on Facebook

I found this little snippet in an FT story on how Lion's Gate is using Facebook for film rentals.  If you rent The Big Lebowski to watch on Facebook, you can 'Like' Kahlua while you watch the film:

"Other films have also taken product placement to a new level, offering viewers the opportunity to “like” consumer products that appear in the film. When the main character in The Big Lebowski makes a white Russian, viewers can “like” Kahlua, which then allows Kahlua to deliver free marketing messages to that person’s news feed."

(Article here)

I haven't done it, so I'll take the article's word for it.  It's pretty clever, and I think for many people it could even add to the enjoyment of watching the film.