Bandwidth Bits

There's No Business Like Ad Business

2012-01-17T17:18:00.000-06:00

A couple of wise guys in the ad industry (there are so many of them, aren’t there?) have created a series of Internet memes poking fun at various ad agency types.

There’s the Junior Copywriter, the Junior Art Director, and of course, the high and mighty Creative Director:

If you can’t get enough of the tongue-in-cheek satire, there’s also Douchey Account Guy, a Tumblr documenting inane bits of account guy speak such as, “We need to make this as clear, and as nebulous, as possible.”

Whether you're in advertising or another industry, the ability to laugh at yourself proves that you still have a grip on reality and your own ego.

We're all Mad Men after all.

http://www.quickmeme.com/Junior-Copywriter/popular/1/?upcoming

http://www.quickmeme.com/Junior-Art-Director/?upcoming http://www.quickmeme.com/Creative-Director/?upcoming http://doucheyaccountguy.tumblr.com/

Cheese or Font, That is the Question

2012-01-10T12:06:00.000-06:00

Here at Bandwidth Marketing, we pride ourselves on our esoteric knowledge of many things. For instance, discerning the difference between the name of a type face and the name of a cheese.

When we stumbled across a site that let us put our expertise to the test, it was like Christmas all over again.

Cheese or Font is a quick little time-waster that presents you with a series of words and asks you to classify each as a type of cheese or type face/font. Sounds easy, but it gets tricky and addictive.

With every incorrect answer, you feel the frustrating need to prove you are an educated, sophisticated person who can smell a stilton or kern a cambrian!

Cheese or Font is proof that a small, clever idea, simply executed, can be highly effective. The site now has 500 followers on Twitter and almost 1.5 million plays, so try it out for yourself.

Now why do we suddenly have a hankering for crackers and MS Word?

http://cheeseorfont.com/

Stories Told Through Ira Glass

2011-12-05T11:13:00.001-06:00

If you do anything creative, you know the battle between a flash of instant brilliance, and working, working, working to get to that inspiring idea.

In the clip above, Ira Glass, host of This American Life on NPR, talks about how practice makes perfect even when it comes to creative work (click for video). Cue Gladwell’s Outlier’s pitch.

Just because you have taste and vision doesn’t mean the work you put out matches your ambition. You need to do a large volume of work before you hit upon something really compelling, and your output catches up to your good taste.

In fact, the good taste that many creators have often stifles the ‘artist as a young man’, because one realizes that the early output...isn’t all that great.

That said, there are constructs to follow to possibly get to that successful spot more readily.

In an additional segment, Mr. Glass shares his experience of what makes a good story. Although he focuses on broadcasting, his nuggets of truth are applicable whether creating or presenting or...socializing.

As he says, a story is essentially a sequence of events told in a compelling way that carries the audience towards a destination, coupled with a moment of reflection on why the story matters.

The trick? Figuring out the strong interplay between the two and editing down to content that isn’t crap.

Storytelling is powerful in any situation, creative or not, because our brains are wired to process in terms of narratives. With a lot of work, editing, and luck, you can create better communication in the form of a good story.

Maybe a pair of Ira Glass’s thick glasses would help as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loxJ3FtCJJA&feature=relmfu
http://vimeo.com/24715531

The Best Advice You'll Ever Hear

2011-09-21T11:56:00.000-05:00

Having problems with your business? Why not call up Nobel Prize winning economist Gary Becker to talk it over. Think your significant other is hiding something? Just get ex-FBI Special Agent Joe Navarro’s take on the matter.

A start-up website called Expert Insight is making it easier for us common-folk to get advice from the best of the best. Customers can browse the list of experts from various fields and their hourly rates, select a time slot from their schedule, pay online, and video chat their way to enlightenment.

Most of the rates are pretty steep, but paying $400 an hour for Harvard economist Jeffrey Miron is still far more democratic than having to be accepted into Harvard and paying the $50,000 tuition.

Although Expert Insight is still in its beta phase, it is an interesting attempt to improve our inefficient and unequal access to expertise. It’s another example of how the Internet has blown the top off of information access, especially privileged information (we’re looking at you, WikiLeaks).

If you think you’re qualified or know someone who is, Expert Insight is accepting world-class applicants. Otherwise, you can work on your swing with an ESPN coach or talk strategy with a poker pro.

You can even hire former call girl turned best-selling author Tracy Quan. She charges $750 an hour, just to chat.

http://www.slate.com/id/2296822

https://expertinsight.com

Smile for the Data, Sweetie!

2011-08-30T16:26:00.000-05:00

Marketers are used to mining data as a resource. But effective presentation of data is increasingly less about numbers and spreadsheets, and more about turning the quant into a quality visual.

Not that Powerpoint isn’t visual, mind you.

‘Data visualization,’ the process of distilling reams of statistics into something aesthetically pleasing and functional, is quickly becoming a buzzword.

Tech companies have been doing this for years. Google Maps and Google Earth, for example, are just enormous amounts of data packaged into a useful and consumer-friendly service.

Now marketers are catching on. Intel created the Museum of Me website which pulls Facebook photos, videos, and other archived bits to create a gorgeous, if self-absorbed, virtual exhibition.

For marketers themselves, data visualization tools help synthesize paralyzing amounts of consumer information. Forward-thinking agencies like R/GA are hiring computer scientists to find new ways to distill and display data.

Easier analysis means faster insight and decision-making -- and even though number crunchers abound, it’s visuals that stay with most people. Think back to your ‘how to give a presentation’ lessons -- gesture, smile, and be a presence. That’s what’s remembered more than the content.

Data visualization creates a demand for those who are able to think mathematically as well as artistically. By using both sides of the brain, we can graph recipes that double as art work and discover new music and apps through interactive maps.

In this highly visual, digitized age, a picture’s worth a thousand words...and a million data points.

http://adage.com/article/digital/powerpoint-data-lure-consumers/227997
http://www.intel.com/museumofme/r/index.htm
http://www.abisolberg.com/#1217452/Sum-of-the-Parts
http://discovr.info
http://mwtech.com/rw/photos/GoogleEarth/

Counterintuitive Counterfeits

2011-08-03T15:59:00.000-05:00

The counterfeit industry has long been the shady brother of legitimate, high-end manufacturers. Conventional knowledge says fakes steal sales from genuine brands, but could they actually be good for business?

A preliminary study of counterfeit sales in China (the birthplace of all these fine products) suggests that rip-offs may serve some good after all.

In the 1990s, China suffered a bout of well-publicized cases of food-poisoning and gas tank explosions. As policing efforts were diverted from counterfeiters towards the drug, food, and gas industries, knock-offs proliferated. Instead of losing business, however, high-end labels saw rising sales in the following years.

There might be several reasons for this:

Fakes serve as free advertising by signaling brand popularity. All publicity is good publicity, right?
Owning a fake could eventually lead to purchasing the real thing. MIT marketing professor Renee Gosline calls counterfeits “gate-way” products that allow the owner to form an emotional attachment to the brand.
A guilty conscience helps propel counterfeit owners to buy the genuine article.

As more brands and corporations go global, the best solution against counterfeits and copycats is differentiation through quality. For high-end labels, luxury materials that are harder to replicate fetch higher prices anyway.

Imitation may be flattering, but it’s so much better when it’s also profitable.

http://www.slate.com/id/2294927/

http://in-this-economy.com/2009/03/04/fashion-flash-new-black/rich-louis-vuitton-car/

The Times They Are A-Changin'

2011-07-27T16:43:00.044-05:00

A documentary about journalism might not seem like edge-of-your-seat material -- you’re thinking white guys on computers, right? But Page One: A Year Inside The New York Times, is gripping -- a spirited defense of traditional print media in its most dire hour.

Page One follows the goings-on of the newsroom, casting media reporter and colorful personality, David Carr, as the main protagonist defending journalism against bloggers and new media types.

Carr is actually far from a luddite. He calls himself a ‘digital adopter’ while at the same time recognizing that derivative news sources such as blogs and the Huffington Post can’t exist without and can’t replace rigorous, original reporting.

Page One makes clear that journalism as a public resource is what’s at stake -- but it’s also a classic tale of an older entity struggling to adjust to new markets and resources.

TV Guide transformed into an online fan resource; AOL is trying to sell ads instead of dial-up portals. Can the Times, and the traditional news industry in general, make the leap where the FREEconomics have changed the field? And if they don’t, will the blogs and aggregators in essence kill off the host organism that feeds them?

David Carr believes the Gray Lady can keep shining, beyond just using new hair dye.

He calls newspapers “branded information put together by people you trust.” The brand, if valuable enough, can live on even if the physical product, delivery method, and business model change.

The Times put up a pay wall in March, the first step in what might be a future largely supported by readers instead of ads or subscriptions. If the Times is going to be asking for dollars, Page One is a pretty persuasive infomercial.

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/archives/watch_trailer_for_journalism_documentary_page_one_inside_the_new_york_times/

http://www.slate.com/blogs/blogs/browbeat/archive/2011/01/28/david-carr-page-one-and-the-future-of-the-new-york-times.aspx

http://www.thenewsgallery.com/2011/06/page-one-ny-times-documentary-opens-for.html

Small Logo, Big Noise

2011-07-13T10:44:00.000-05:00

Not everyone knows the name Les Paul, but everyone Googles. When Google recently created an interactive logo to honor the late musician and inventor’s 96th birthday, the Gibson Les Paul brand received enough exposure and word-of-mouth to fill a stadium.

The logo let users strum, record, and email their masterpieces. Of course, countless work hours were wasted and YouTube videos uploaded.

Through a simple widget, Les Paul updated its image and introduced itself to non-guitar afficionados. Sometimes, small but smart executions deliver a bigger impact than scale and dollars. Rock on.

The Les Paul Google Doodle now has a permanent page, you can test it out and annoy your friends and co-workers.

Click image for the obligatory, guitar-store-banned rendition of “Stairway to Heaven.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnaqjobfkI8&feature=related

Friskies’ Marketing Cat-alyst

2011-06-22T13:34:00.000-05:00

You know why Apple never marketed the iPad to cats? There just weren’t enough apps for them. Cat food maker, Friskies, has changed all that with a line of tablet games for the underserved feline segment.

Capitalizing on the Internet’s insatiable appetite for cat videos, Friskies released an ad on YouTube that was quickly imitated by pet owners who rushed to film Fluffy playing with the most expensive toy ever.

The value of technology like the iPad lies in how you use it to serve real human needs and passions. For Friskies, the formula was: 1 open-ended tech medium + 1 community of cat lovers = cheap exposure/good will from consumers.

Sprint aimed for the same market with its Android 4G cat commercial, but Friskies actually integrated itself into the online cat phenomenon by giving people a product to use and share.

How can technology benefit and entertain your consumers? Zippo has an app featuring virtual lighters for concert-goers; Pedigree created a facial recognition program called “Doggelganger” that matches users to their shelter dog counterparts.

As our personal gadgets become more sophisticated, what’s imaginable is often doable. And the impact of marketers spending dollars not on a 30 second TV blip but on an app that interacts with consumers, furry or not, is a welcome development.

But then again, we're also easily distracted by balls of yarn.

Click image for video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vaif2uq_0Vc
http://technabob.com/blog/2011/05/20/friskies-ipad-games-for-cats/

Name That Logo!

2011-06-16T12:10:00.002-05:00

If a picture is worth a thousand words, a good logo is worth even more. A good logo is likable and persuasive (think Obama’s 2008 campaign design); a bad one is...well, the briefly lived Gap fiasco.

A well-designed logo is the literal face of the brand-- an ambassador that conveys corporate identity, personality, a promise. It does all of this instantaneously and has the potential to linger in the public memory far beyond words and slogans.

Need proof that effective logos really settle into the public consciousness? You can test your own recall skills with Sporcle.com’s Corporate Logos quiz. You have 6 minutes to name 36 common brands. It’s a little trickier than it looks, there’s always that one at the end driving you nuts...

Does your logo say what you want it to? Would investing in identity work reinvigorate the brand or will consumers pounce if they feel like you’re changing something beloved and familiar? Ponder these questions as you take the quiz.

It’s a great time waster if nothing else. There’s even a Corporate Logos 2 and 3 for 200% more brand action.

http://www.sporcle.com/games/corplogos.php

Trick or Tweet

2011-06-07T16:06:00.001-05:00

Twitter user @oldmansearch is apparently an 81-year old man who was told by his son that Twitter is how you search on Google.

You can imagine, peeking into an old man’s “searches” provides endless amusement: “Diane sawyer swimsuit pictures” -- “Is alex trebek really smart?” -- “Doorbell volume.”

Though @oldmansearch has racked up over 100,000 followers in a month, it’s probably fake. Hard to believe even a computer-illiterate senior citizen would continue searching without any actual results.

Most likely, this is someone hoping to capitalize on the success and subsequent TV deal around the ‘Sh** My Dad Says’ Twitter feed made popular years back.

Nonetheless, the account is a great example of how Twitter is leveraged for different purposes. Companies like Dell effectively use it for customer service, TV networks use hashtags to connect with viewers, and others obviously use it for pure amusement. Or to communicate live during turbulent times across the globe.

Twitter has become a viable people mover. And from offers to awareness, it’s worth considering how your business objectives could be met by a tweak of these tweets.

Just use under 140 characters. Or one really old character.

http://twitter.com/#!/oldmansearch

Google, 12 Years Ago (Or Billions of Dollars Earlier)

2011-05-31T16:09:00.001-05:00

Before the Googleplex, before the billionaire creation, the mega-acquisitions and the 20,000th employee, Google was just a bunch of guys holding an all-hands meeting and eating cake.

The video below (fast forward liberally – it’s long) shows founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin leading a meeting of fewer than 60.

They introduce a new employee and celebrate Sergey’s birthday. There are presents (see 6:20 for Larry's gift to Sergey) and silly string. Folks sit on the floor or large exercise balls.

Hard to believe that just over a decade later, Google has grown into one of the most recognized and respected companies in the world.

In this video, everyone seems part of a tight-knit group who want to work there, who are happy to be with this little tech company.

Google’s main asset was always its people, without whom there would’ve been no innovation, no world domination.

No matter what organization you’re in, a culture that gives people creative freedom and a sense of ownership will enable more success.

It’s true -- just Google it.

Click image for video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u68QWfHOYhY
http://www.seroundtable.com/google-tgif-13338.html

Jersey Shore Gone Wilde...Oscar Wilde

2011-05-24T10:44:00.000-05:00

To promote their Broadway show, The Importance of Being Earnest, Roundabout Theater has launched a video series in which actors recite lines from MTV’s Jersey Shore in the style of Oscar Wilde.

The results are 'Capital, old man!' Or 'Slammin'', depending on your view.

Delivering lines like “You like your women how you like your underwear -- dirty” with a Victorian accent and cocked eyebrow, make a mash up that's far funnier for both eras.

What we find most appealing about this idea is the mix of low-brow and high-brow, and new and old media.

Tagging videos on YouTube with a popular search term like ‘Jersey Shore’ guarantees more exposure than traditional promotion. The videos have been picked up broadly on sites and blogs given the entertainment factor and the ease of sharing online.

Of course, Monty Python did this jokes-taposition years ago. Karl Marx losing on trivia in a game show once they veered beyond the Das Kapital questions. Socrates vs Aristotle…in a soccer match up.

But think about your business now, in a creative, mash-up way. How could you reframe your content, or delivery, in a way that reached more people, or a different market?

Could Kia create Dancing with the Cars, where non-drivers are taught to win? And viewers learn the key to stunt driving? Could an Athenian style restaurant have a Greek of the Week message sent out on Twitter to promote a meal deal and a philosophic insight, Plato-style.

Anyway, The Snookis of the world are probably hitting the club, not the theater.

But reaching a broader audience by tapping a current cultural rave for what WAS a cultural rave 100 years ago? That demonstrates a certain 'savoir faire'…and Wilde would approve of it. Or at least revel in the Situation.

Click on image for video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mhk5Rjz7xk0

TV Hash Tag -- You're It.

2011-05-10T15:24:00.001-05:00

The folks working in TV land have had a hard time with the rise of convergence and non-linear viewing habits. Hulu, anyone?

But recently, they've found a clever way to leverage Twitter to drive viewership.

On Glee or American Idol lately, you might’ve noticed #Glee or #AmericanIdol lurking on-screen. These aren't mistakes, but hashtags used to categorize topics on Twitter.

Comedy Central experimented with this during the Roast of Donald Trump. Not only was #trumproast used more than 27,000 times on Twitter during the telecast, it helped propel the channel to its most-watched Tuesday in history. Another victory for the Donald, beyond his hair defying gravity.

Other TV networks are catching on to the trend -- smart on multiple levels:

• Official hashtags aggregate Twitter chatter so it's easier to monitor buzz surrounding your brand

• People are encouraged to watch in real time

• Seeing a TV show trending on Twitter might compel others to tune in

Real-time, online conversations allow fans another level of engagement with their beloved programs.

Maybe this is a way to make “Must Watch TV” a relevant phrase again. Must tweet TV? Hash tagged.

http://www.blueglass.com/blog/why-hashtags-belong-on-tv/

http://howdoimarketmybiz.com/225/twitter-hashtags-on-tv/

http://www.inquisitr.com/103778/pics-stephen-colbert-attacks-jon-kyl-on-twitter/

A Chorus of Ones

2011-04-26T10:45:00.000-05:00

Normally we're not a big fan of crowd sourcing. But when everyone builds in concert to create something new out of the whole (Linux updaters be praised), we're big fans.

And so we love this spin on that concept: crowd making, one individual at a time.

This video explains how a conductor got a bunch of submissions for his internet-chorus to create one of 2010's biggest viral hits -- individuals, brought together via web and a smart editor to become a cyber-chorus.

The result is moving.

Any time lone individuals, connecting in from anywhere, create something in which the sums is far greater than the parts, we stand in awe of what can be in the world we live in.

So even amidst the chaos out there, we can pray for less antagonism, and more anthems.

http://www.ted.com/talks/eric_whitacre_a_virtual_choir_2_000_voices_strong.html?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2011-04-05&utm_campaign=newsletter_weekly&utm_medium=email

Just Kidding

2011-04-19T11:11:00.002-05:00

Being in the creative marketing world, we've been called 'childish' often.

Like when we put all those yoga balls in our reception area.

Or when our voicemail greeting imitated French language lab: 'Ecouter, et repeter.... Beep!'

We take the 'childish' label as high praise.

To us, childishness can be about looking for the fun or the funny in almost anything.

It's about being pleasantly surprised by something new.

A childish sense of wonder, optimism, and limitless freedom is ESSENTIAL in creativity.

It's the only real way to think big, new thoughts.

We'd argue that it's essential in ANY aspect of business, and if you disagreed, we'd never ever ever talk to you again. Period.

Limitless freedom to 'adults' means risk. Untried. Not validated.

And that's frightening.

But new ideas are just that.

And if we lived in fear of always skinning knees, we'd never run.

So, with all that in mind, listen to this erudite speaker's lessons on what adults can learn from kids.

And the next time someone calls you childish, just flick 'em.

http://www.ted.com/talks/adora_svitak.html

Word Poem On Words

2011-03-21T15:46:00.000-05:00

Taylor Mali is one to watch. He's a poetry slam innovator as well as an experienced classroom teacher.

And after serving as adjunct college faculty ourselves, we KNOW teaching's tougher than poetry slamming.

Watch the attached video of Taylor reciting a poem, set simply to a fount of font animation that brilliantly brings his points to life.

After viewing, don't miss another example in this style, entitled 'What do teachers make?'

Both of these make us want to widely spread the word.  And stand up and be heard. Or read.

Here's to the outspoken word...especially when it's animated.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEBZkWkkdZA

Critters Make the Brand?

2011-03-17T21:14:00.001-05:00

Interesting POV in Advertising Age on the importance of support to establish a mascot for your marketing product or service.

http://adage.com/article/guest-columnists/marketing-makes-mascot/149381/

We'd argue that what's also critter-cal, is to make sure that the mascot is dimensionalized.

Does 'it' have a personality? Catch phrase? Certain voice?

We still remember the first time we did a tie-in with a major, long-standing cartoon property.

The studio's dossier on every aspect of the cartoon characters was longer than any personnel file HR could fill.

Critters we've worked with and created must be true, like a person. For fictitious characters to be successful, they must live and breathe, animatically speaking. A Tony the Tiger drawing on Frosted Flakes is far less captivating if one can't hear and see the growler on TV, radio, and print over time -- same as any celebrity in flesh and blood.

As the web keeps booming, there's even more chance to birth new branded mascots -- like we did for a client of ours who've bootstrapped a fun, fishy fanatic to leverage in eblasts, online and at trade shows:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEJ4NlgfOGw&feature=player_embedded

Makes Charlie the Tuna look like sashimi, eh?

Super Bowl Winner Recall!

2011-03-01T13:25:00.003-06:00

No, we didn't take away Green Bay's victory. Just wanted to share how well our readers did in our first ever poll on ad recall in the Big Game.

Overall, our smart readers did pretty well.

VW was ranked first in correct responses, with 80% connecting l'il Darth Vader with their car.

The rest of the right call percentages?

• 72% got Skechers

• 72% got Groupon

• 68% got Stella Artois

But the toughest question: only 32% guessed the correct cost of a 30 spot for the time alone. Almost half guessed $2 million, when the actual cost this year was $3 million. And that doesn't include the cost of Ozzy n Bieber.

Will next year's TV spot cost change? Our guess: as the quarterback says...'Hike!'

Thanks for playing.

Money is the Root of All Demotivation?!

2011-02-22T11:32:00.000-06:00

Autonomy, Mastery and Purpose motivate. It's been shown, time and again, yet is rarely used in today's corporate structure.

At our link below, Dan Pink's talk on this subject is captivatingly brought to life via pure-smelly-marker animation from RSA. The talk, and illustration, are well worth witnessing.

Pink's presentation describes research that showed money was a motivator for mechanical tasks. Bigger carrot, better performance.

But when the task required cognitive skills, more money did the opposite. When rewards are increased, performance will decrease.

Social scientists have uncovered three factors that lead to better performance: autonomy, mastery and purpose.

Fundamentally, we feel the need to direct our own lives, overcome obstacles and live and work for something bigger than ourselves.

What would your work place look like if those motivators ruled? How might you manage in your work place?

Think about it. Now, back to the grindstone!

Take Our Post Superbowl Ad Challenge

2011-02-11T14:16:00.002-06:00

Click here to take our survey

So do you think the cost of advertising in the Superbowl is worth it?

Want to know what impact you could get for that kind of spending elsewhere? Or 1/100th of it?

The Brand is Dead. Long Live the Brand.

2011-02-01T11:22:00.003-06:00

No, this isn't a hi-falutin' discourse on the state of the brand today.

But it is a shout out for the value of dead brands. And what can be done with them in the right hands.

In our green, recycling way, we've been interested for a long time in dead or tarnished brands, and how great marketers (like these guys here), can bring them back to life.

While we haven't acted on this yet, we'd like to.

We appreciate what Brad Hittle and team did for Pabst and now Schlitz. Not dead brands, but stale as 30 year old beer, and, yet, he revived 'em with smart positioning, packaging, and promotion.

And we marveled at this odd auction last fall in New York:

http://adage.com/article?article_id=147556

One random rep in attendance signed over a cashier's check for about $2000 and ran off with the rights to failed, but hallowed, old magazine brand, Collier's.

So, if you see a brand you want to revive, we're big fans of fixer-uppers...and would be happy to help.

"Murph, we're gettin' the brand back together!"

Tech Tracks on the Ski Slope

2011-01-04T16:11:00.008-06:00

We're always looking for cool new convergence ideas, and this is definitely one: Epic Mix.

http://www.snow.com/epicmix/home.aspx?cmpid=ET900094&et_rid=100512035

Simply stated, they've put RFID (trackable chips) on ski passes. And they've leveraged it larger than a winter storm in International Falls.

So what does this hi-tech tracker enable?

Track your progress throughout the day.

See you entire day's run online before hitting the apres ski.

Even earn various 'pins', awards for hitting milestones slopewise.

Most importantly, find your friends at any time on any slope.

Lord knows we could use that last feature, Mr. Hey-Slow-Up-on-the-Mogul-Run!!!!

The intro video for Epic Mix needs a better editor -- like lift lines, the shorter, the better, in video demo-land. But apart from that, we're diggin' this development.

And as long as the chip survives Epic Mixes of downhill spills, bring it on!

http://www.snow.com/epicmix/home.aspx?cmpid=ET900094&et_rid=100512035

WOMEN & BEER

2010-12-13T14:11:00.001-06:00

No, that’ s not the start of a bar song.

In the spirit of the season, we turn our thoughts at Bandwidth to food and spirits. And this new beer line caught our attention.

As you may know, women are becoming a bigger part of what was traditionally a male market for beer, in the US and abroad.

Some beer manufacturers have lowered the carbs and the calories to women, but Polish company, Carlsberg Polska, is making a bold move to create a beer just for women.

Their brew, Karmi, brings sweet flavors and complexity to the palette without pumping up the calories or alcohol content, so it’ s more in line with what health conscious women are looking for in a beer.

So far, Karmi comes in a handful of flavors: Classic (caramel), Poema di Caffé (coffee), Selua (pineapple/piña colada), and Lamai (guava, dragonfruit and mint.) All are sealed up in a luxurious bottle that feels far more elegant than most dude brews.

Clearly time to cue up a Dudes and Daquiris bar song after Auld Lang Syne.

Happy New Year!

Leadership Lessons in a Rock Fan's Dance

2010-12-07T09:36:00.000-06:00

Many of you may be familiar with TED videos, the online video library of great talks from the TED (Technology Entertainment Design) Conference.

This talk in particular was great in its simplicity. Far faster than Gladwell's Tipping Point read, and just as cogent in its dissecting a video of a concert dance to make a point about how group movements start.

The lessons for marketers, leaders, teachers, party-throwers are readily apparent: it's the second "follower" that has real guts, turning the bleeding edge into the leading edge.

The second person to follow a lead:

turns a solo into a group
commits his or her credibility to a possible lone wolf, person, or idea
enables the more risk-averse to join in

It's time to value that first convert in following the lead or idea. Seconds, anyone?

Bandwidth has more Bandwidth - A Moving Announcement

2010-11-04T12:13:00.001-05:00

On October 1, we moved into new, bigger offices.
Stop in and say "Mmmmm, that new office smell."

New Address: 1599 Maple Avenue, Suite 200, Evanston IL 60201

New Phone: 312.772.MKTG
Same Website: bandwidthmktg.com

Sample Pack Rats

2010-10-29T16:03:00.000-05:00

Takahiro Kawano took traditional free sampling to a new level -- the ground floor retail level.

He created Sample Lab! It's a store that allows consumers to explore sample products, bringing a fresh concept to “tryvertising”.

The 'lab' is filled with lots of unreleased goods in food, beverage, and beauty products.

There's a store front. A demonstration room. A woman's powder room to try out cosmetics. Experimenting is the key in this lab.

After sampling, members (15 and up who must register) are required to fill out surveys via cell phone. If they really like the item they may buy it if it's available. If not, they can take up to 5 or 10 samples home.

The brand, designers, and manufacturers use the surveys to improve and tweak their product before release. Sample Lab!’s unique system not only offers brands consumer feedback but also helps generate word of mouth buzz and excitement for new products.

The franchise is still young, but Sample Lab! has around 700 consumers walk into the Harajuku store a day! Stores aren't located outside of specific Asian countries, but there is definite interest in opening Sample Labs! internationally.

Anyone up for trying one?

http://springwise.com/marketing_advertising/tryvertising_lab_in_tokyo/

http://www.samplelab-international.com/why.php

http://www.pbs.org/nbr/site/onair/transcripts/080327e/

http://www.japaninc.com/mgz_october_2008_sample-lab

Don't Go Away Mad, Men.

2010-08-16T11:45:00.002-05:00

Yes, now that we're in the heat of summer, it's time for Don Draper and the whole Ad gang to hit our home screens again. Complete with commercial interruptions.

If you don't know the TV show Mad Men, on AMC network, you are either far too busy, don't care about marketing, loathe serial dramedy, or all of the above. Not that we'd fault you for any of that.

For the Mad Men neophyte, the show is all about the 60's NY ad game. Stylishly shot. Very well acted. And great writing, with lines like these:

You know what my father used to say? "Being with a client is like being in a marriage. Sometimes you get into it for the wrong reasons, and eventually they hit you in the face."

Now in the 4th season, the hits in the face keep coming. Along with stiff drinks, and all the other Rat Pack longings.

You can catch up on it here: http://www.amctv.com/originals/madmen/

And when you do, or if you have, you'll find this faux periodic table amusing and creative:

http://flavorwire.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/PeriodicTableofMadMen-Flavorwire-Miethner.jpg

Almost as useful as a cocktail recipe book.

A Politically Incorrect Political Ad

2010-07-19T09:20:00.000-05:00

In the era of YouTube, ads like below can get SO much more widespread coverage and viewership thus creating more impact than ever before.

Kind of makes one wonder why so many political ads are still so dang boring and similar.

There's a great book on this that was given to us from a very good friend (and perfect candidate, but that's another story): Run the Other Way, by Bill Hillsman.

His main points are that the two-party system has so clogged the entryway to their own advantage with their own machines that the underdog, independent, clear thinker doesn't really stand a chance.

Unless one takes a chance.

Well, this ad is risky and risque. And maybe not exactly our cup of tea party.

But it's still refreshing to see someone in politics do something a bit out there.

In today's nutty political world and now internet fueled movements, maybe there's even more chance for change.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/06/17/dale-peterson-cuts-the-be_n_615907.html

Just Draw Me Some Kind of Poster! Can't You Push Your iMac Layout Button?

2010-07-15T14:53:00.001-05:00

The attached 'email interchange' is amazingly funny.

Not to turn everything into a lesson, but buried in the humor are a few pointers:

• be very clear on what you want when you ask for a creative solution to something

• creatives want to make something useful and memorable -- if you don't want invention, do it yourself

• good designers are a rare breed of eye and thought -- the best work appears effortless, and thus often in dollar terms is undervalued

• writers always have to turn everything into some deeper meaning -- so forget the points above now and just laugh when you see this:

http://www.27bslash6.com/missy.html

Gatorade Listens But Doesn't Hear

2010-06-21T10:45:00.001-05:00

We just saw something that made our blood boil -- and we're not saying that 'cause it's a 90º June day.

Gatorade put a promo piece (?) together for it's new Mission Control, a small room with a bunch of monitors, it appears from the video, where 'G' will monitor all social media, web analytics, and, presumably, the negative impression this blogger had for its latest brand-blob.

Viral, social, online in general, has finally done a very nice job of toppling the old one-way, mass media communication to put the dialogue between brand and consumer on a more equal footing.

Discussion oriented, possibly. Channel busting, certainly.

We praise the ability of consumers to now actually voice concerns, or praise, and move away from the corporate behemoth feel of something being shoved down one's throat that sometimes our advertising brethren helped to engender.

And that's where this "G" piece SO misses.

Don't talk to us in big bold type about your gigantic mission hub of social monitoring. It's the exact opposite of what you're claiming you're trying to do.

Mission Control watching all things digital about your brand is big brother. It's corp speak. It's NOT a conversation.

And it sure as hell isn't cool.

Plus, it is all about message and bluster and not about product or how you, Gatorade, are going to improve my life with your product. Sure, there's one quick mention about product, but it's lost under the lame license-free sounding music track.

If this shows us anything, it's about what can happen when a big brand that has been built on big brand ads and big endorsement deals doesn't know what to do in the new 2-way communication world...when the little guy is more in charge.

If only electrolytes helped with marketing thinking, maybe 'G' wouldn't be as 'L A M E.'

Karaoke iPhone App is For Gleeks

2010-05-25T15:05:00.000-05:00

So a while back we wrote about how an artist and a technology company got together to leverage the iPhone and create a uniquely engaging app. The rapper T-pain brought his songs via karaoke to the iphone with autotune, a pitch corrector, which allows anyone to sound like T-pain. The app took off and was a viral success.

The tech guys behind this success are back for Fox's hit show GLEE. You can download a Glee app which will allow you to karaoke the same songs preformed by the cast of the show. Autotune will show how on pitch you are and will even correct your voice.

Of course, It wouldn't be an iPhone app if you couldn't share it with the world via facebook etc.

What a perfect fit for a TV show about a Glee club: a karaoke app that enables you to take the place of your favorite character, sing their songs, and share it with other rabid fans of the show (AKA Gleeks). The Glee app and songs are available for $0.99 on itunes.

General Ideas on Strategic Leadership

2010-05-24T15:15:00.001-05:00

Last Tuesday night, General Petraeus addressed 1500 people at the Fairmont Hotel Chicago. While most topics covered the what, when, how in Iraq and Afghanistan, the General also spoke on Strategic Leadership valid in any situation, from a man who knows the worst case scenarios cold.

While we may not do justice to the entirety of his speech, his key points, paraphrased, were these:

1) First, one has to have the right ideas -- with out the right idea, all else is irrelevant.

For Petraeus, this meant starting with the right inputs to get the right outputs. Makes sense. If one doesn't have the right information, education, skills and team, one ends up with wrong output for the wrong job.

2) Second, one needs to communicate the right idea down the chain of command. For us in the private sector this mean communicating the ideas all the way through the organization so everyone has an understanding of what to do and its relative importance.

3) Once everyone's on the same page, the next step is overseeing correct implementation without micro managing. Illustrating this point, he used what we'll call the "Get down the road" management technique.

He saw management's responsibility as showing people the path, the direction, then drawing the right and left hand lines and telling the team to "get down the road". Of course, if they go outside the lines, its managements' job to help get the crew back on the right path, which is why the Army shares best practices (and worst practices, actually) for all of their initiatives.

The last slide of the evening he showed us his Iraq 'dashboard': number of bombs found, attacks, and casualties since the beginning of the war.

The US Military's goal was to minimize the violence to peace time standards so that mundane activities could be conducted.

What's notable is the General could explain the weekly rise and fall of violence all along -- at any moment, he can see how many acts of violence happened today, yesterday, this week or for any given period since the start of the Iraq and Afghan Wars.

Scary, and sad, but effective, and, once in war, a smart, quant tool to have. As in all things, if one doesn't have a metric, one has no sense of a goal.

This commitment to strategic leadership has given him the ability to get the right ideas, implement them and adjust when necessary.

Not a bad lesson in getting things done from a man who has to bring peace, defeat an insurgency and build a country while getting shot at all the time.

Makes your job look easy, right?

Shine on Chrome

2010-05-17T10:11:00.001-05:00

Google Chrome, that is.

This recent ‘ad’ from Google is fantastic, interesting, captivating…all in a simple product demo.

No spoken words, just the power of moving pictures, worth 1000s of words, seen in a 1000^th of a second.

The video production utilizes the Phantom high-speed camera capturing the high speed of Google Chrome…vs lightning…vs sound waves…vs…a spud gun.

It’s sheer fun, yet compelling.

That’s why, in our minds, Google will continue to outstrip and outrun Microsoft. Though search is still the mega-money pot at the Googleplex, we hope their drive for innovation continues to earn them converts and accolades.

We’d pay for Google sites if we had to, or Google office. And we’d NEVER have that feeling about Microsoft.

Chrome marketing, including their SuperBowl spot for Google search that relayed a whole romance in the speed of a Google search query, was simply appealing.

Innovative products mirrored by innovative marketing causes us to root for Google.

That’s a far cry from the feeling one gets from the ‘softies in Redmond, and the tired, tried-too-hard Zune marketing work, or dinosaur print campaign (get it? you’re a dinosaur?! Ugh.)

Even the Crispin marketing agency’s “Windows was my idea” work, like Microsoft products overall, lacks magic and imagination

So here’s to hoping true innovation and a mission stating ‘don’t do evil’ can win out over the blast of Ballmer and bloated software driven by the dominant operating system.

Go Google.

http://creativity-online.com/work/google-chrome-speed-tests/19912

So What's Anti-Social Media?

2010-04-19T10:45:00.001-05:00

Bloggers love to write articles on how to leverage social media to create a movement. They call this going viral, creating a tribe or creating a following.

Many draw from success stories. Then they seem to imply that by following a set of rules, one can achieve the same success.

Casey Hibbard wrote an excellent article about Lance Armstong's uber-popular Live Strong movement for the Social Media Examiner.

Her article is full of great advice about the intelligent social media tactics used by Live Strong to achieve social media success.

But while the lessons are sound, she and other denizens often forget to ensure one asks a basic question to start: is you company or your industry 'socializable?'

Can Live Strong's success be recreated using some of the same tactics? Yes, if your company, your initiative or industry can galvanize people in the real world. To create a following online there has to be a real reason to follow.

Ideally, you have to nail one of the following attributes:

• create something entertaining

• enable people to show off

• help people connect, re-connect, or FEEL connected

• indulge some voyeuristic tendencies

• ensure one will feel 'left out' if not participating

And to some extent, if you are bringing the next Sham-Wow or 3G light bulb to market, don't hold your breadth for 1 million twitter followers or 3 million youtube views. There is most likely no compelling reason for consumers to give their already fragmented attention or time.

In some ways, any type of marketing, social or no, comes down to the same simple phrase: what's in it for me?

Product or Service? Or Both?

2010-04-13T16:19:00.001-05:00

P&G, the globe's pre-eminent goods marketer, is testing a branch into service businesses with their brand names.

Leveraging brands that have long dominated the shelves, P&G now runs 'Mr. Clean' car wash and Tide Dry Cleaners. Can Iam's Pet Walkers be far behind? Pantene Hair Salons?

The advantages are many:

• an experiential play on brands/goods that heretofore only went from retail shelf to kitchen or bath cabinet

• another 'advertising' vehicle

(Side note: we at Bandwidth helped to use Taco Bell's stores as billboards for many years, given the dearth of media spend compared to the bigger burger chains)

• a great way to test new products within or outside of the title brand's portfolio

• a built-in name brand that can possibly rise above the Mom & Pop shops without a name or reputation

The downside? Making sure that quality stays consistent and the experience is a good one.

Many a real service company has fallen hard when the human component comes into the equation. Delivering in the service realm goes far beyond making sure your package looks pretty and gets to Aisle 2 on time.

But, that said -- good luck, P&G. Always good to see a big behemoth take a small chance on something different.

Source: http://adage.com/article?article_id=142898

When Lit Goes Rap Sampler: Hip-Hopifi-fiction?

2010-03-22T14:03:00.000-05:00

Interesting article in Sunday's NY Times book section about, among other things, the lifting of famous authors' words to create new works. Almost music sampler style.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/21/books/21mash.html?th&emc=th

So the mash-ups so popular in music might appear in the literary world? Copyright and trade infringement effect everyone, though the lit class has somewhat dodged the sampling bullet, maybe because its a sleepier, older, and less profitable world to begin with.

I'm sure an attorney could argue against this statement. Or for it, as attorneys do.

Anyway, in our creative way, it got our mash up brain's thinking: where else can one sample and combine for a synthesis of new off of the old? Brands? Sure Buckeye BBQ sauce Lays chips is just a start. Maybe Intel Potato Chips?

Food for thought there.

Mash ups are here to stay. And cool stuff can be created...out of recreating.

In fact, this recreation is a fave of ours, for any of you who are amused by Charlie Rose, this is even more amusing:

In Your Face Book

2010-03-17T13:40:00.001-05:00

You know online marketing is important. And social media's all the rage. Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube...and, now, fantasy March Madness.

But where are consumers spending the bulk of their online time?

According to recent findings by Nielson Company,

Of the 116,000,000 visitors per month to Facebook (4th overall online), the average time spent on it is 7 hours per month.

Yahoo! is a distant second, with only 2 hours 28 minutes per month.

Amazingly, 11.6% of all time spent online in January was spent on Facebook.

Clearly, this Facebook has great eyeballs.

Add in the fact that you can customize ad campaigns by:

Location
Age
Sex
Keywords
Education
Workplace
Relationship Status
Relationship Interests
Languages

That said, just as in the old TV ad days, eyeballs and engagement are two different things. This says nothing about click through, let alone conversion.

But the reach and dedication of users here is undeniable. Just another eye buy to consider....

Source 5 New Studies Show Facebook a Marketing Powerhouse

Yo-Yo Ma MashUp

2010-01-29T14:38:00.000-06:00

Crossover categories can be big, and musical taste is a subjective, eclectic arena at times.

But who at Sony Music decided there might be a Yo-Yo Ma market among Passion Pit fans, as they popped this ad up alongside the electro-pop music sampler?

Where does Yo-Yo Ma, a world renowned Cellist, cross paths with Passion Pit, an up and coming hipster band?

Maybe in the halls at HQ, but no where else, we'd imagine.

As we've said before, sometimes when the logic button is off resulting in online mismatches, no one gets much out of it.

Then again, maybe Yo-Yo is a big fan of the Pit.

iPhone App$$$

2010-01-19T14:35:00.001-06:00

Would you pay $1000 for an iPhone App? Maybe if it helped you pass the Bar Exam.

A new category of ultra-expensive Apps have hit iTunes -- education Apps for professional exams.

Offline versions of same often hit $3-4K, if not more -- so there's a savings. And, if the interface and interactivity are well-designed, this could spur a whole new valuable breed of App-ware.

Imagine this applied to Doctoral studies, Pre-med training, etc. In fact, any college or professor with a killer curriculum might look into a way to package class up and make it mobile.

The base versions of 'offline' classes have been done for years, from PBS-esque video series to Podcasts to more. So leveraging the uniqueness of the iPhone will be key.

Imagine an architectural school creating augmented reality tours of key city structures. Or a veterinarian prof doing an augmented reality tour of the zoo?

You listening, Career Education Corp.? DeVry? Hah-vahd....

Source:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2010/01/17/most-expensive-iphone-app-barmax/

GOOD CHEER FOR THE NEW VIDEO YEAR

2009-12-30T17:35:00.000-06:00

Yes, this attached video is a bit of inside humor, but we think it's funny no matter what bizness you're in.

Actually, given everyone seems to be in the 'I can make a funny viral video' bizness, this skit's relevant on several levels.

No real learning lesson here, other than 'funny can come from anywhere nowadays.' And, a great concept with a good script trumps production values every time.

Better yet if bad production values are meant to be part of the concept:

Time to go write some local car ad spoofs....

Oh, and speaking of bad video but amusing concepts, here's one that we think is real. If any readers are down at 110th & Cicero, shoot us a confirmation:

The site's not bad either:

http://www.jonesgoodassbbqandfootmassage.com/

Tech and t-t-t-timing

2009-12-23T09:16:00.000-06:00

After a recent bout of online Christmas shopping, a ski helmet we'd been checking out kept on appearing on the non-ecommerce site we visited afterwards. And in sites that REALLY weren't related. Music videos?

The ability to target someone so narrowly with a relevant ad will undoubtedly produce better results over the long run and at a lesser cost.

But the logic of showing a product right after steering away from it didn't impress.

Displaying it 24 hours later whilst surfing, in case we just ran out of time or simply wanted to think about it, would have been far more appealing...and intriguing.

Cookies, tracking, and geo-targeting has certainly built a far better and more measurable mouse trap. But there's still missing magic in knowing where and when to place the cheese.

New Coke?

2009-12-15T12:40:00.000-06:00

What an interesting turn around at Coke. From the folks that didn't know how to leverage the Mentos/Coke 'exploding' viral video, we finally see some swagger come out of the Coke Zero brand team.

In addition to sponsoring The Onion video segments (not for the faint of heart, but some like this are really funny), the Atlanta gang is leveraging some new technology to have unabashed fun.

Adults Go Wild Over Latest In Children's Picture Book Series

So here is a link to Coke Zero's latest social media idea: with your permission, Coke looks through your pictures on Facebook and uses facial recognition software to find your doppelgänger anywhere in the world. The results are convincing and sometimes eerie.

Quick. Easy. Engaging. And effectively pitches Zero as Coke's doppelgänger.

Plus, the results are cool enough to cause us to share the heavily-branded site with our online cohorts like you. Share a Coke and your smile...?

To find your own doppelgänger click below:

http://www.facialprofiler.com

Census Sense, Gender Style

2009-12-07T14:21:00.001-06:00

According to the latest census data, men are taking it on the chin in this economy.

78% of the jobs lost in the last recession were men's. And this isn't simply because more men are working. One of the main reasons is the heavy losses in construction and manufacturing.

Given women tend to be more represented in sectors of the economy less effected by the recession like health care and education, they are doing better.

In addition, women are:

• 48% of the workforce but 52% of professional and managerial slots

• graduating college at 1.6x the rate of men for the last decade

In the entire +25 population, starting in 2009 there will be more women than men college graduates.

All this could have a flow-through effect on:

• spending power

• shifts in marketing targets

• product innovation and invention that's more gender focused

• who starts holding the door open for whom....

(source http://www.census.gov/)

Web 3.OH!

2009-12-01T12:14:00.001-06:00

Sure, social media are all the buzz.

Though Twitter may wane, and Facebook deface, the notable elements behind social media is this:

• the way we all communicate and engage continues to undergo a monumental shift

• newer consumers continue to become better producers

• groups and individuals now communicate, in concentric circles, at the same time

It's a direct result of information shifting from hyper-centralized to decentralized.

What happened in retail, product, and other traditionally distributed consumer goods is now speeding up how we connect, talk, and transfer info.

One of the main reasons everything was centralized was Economies of Scale, a requirement that crumbles more with each increase in digitization and broadband internet upgrade.

Of course, quality of content and engagement still separates the wheat from the chaff, but since distribution is free, information, and its transfer, is increasingly de-centralized -- bye-bye mainframes, and newspaper...hello hub, and blog.

In a tip of the hat to that free info, we'll share one of our favorite sources info, the TED talks. Clay Shirky here sums up the implications of this communication revolution:

http://www.ted.com/talks/clay_shirky_how_cellphones_twitter_facebook_can_make_history.html

Enjoy. And transfer this info!

ʇdıɹɔs ǝɥʇ dıןɟ

2009-11-20T17:24:00.001-06:00

Can't turn your monitor upside down?

We stumbled upon this novelty site and thought we'd share in the spirit of lightening up these darker winter days.

http://flipmytext.com/ and a host of other sites enable one to send messages upside down.

Watch your friends try it on the self righting screens of their smart phones! While these site are mostly just a novelty we can't help but write copy.

ɹǝʇuıʍ uı ɹǝɯɯns ɹǝpun uʍop

Imagine that kind of pitch from Quantas for a 'Down Under Summer in Winter' sale. Or an eblast selling the inversion boot workout. Too obscure? Well, you get the idea.

Just twist your thinking. ˙ʎɹǝʌıןǝp ǝɥʇ dıןɟ puɐ

Since we're in marketing, we're in the markets.

2009-11-10T11:45:00.001-06:00

"This is all happening because my father didn't buy me a train set as a kid."

- WARREN BUFFETT, joking about his decision to buy a railroad, the Burlington

Northern Santa Fe Corporation.

NY Times, November 3rd, 2009

Is this a sign the downturn's up?' Should we start studying Buffett's other Rosebud-esque childhood stories? 'Hey, his folks didn't get him a junior insurance agent playset, so that explains GEICO!'

As we all know, the daily Dow, and all those market swings effect virtually every business, especially those involving antacid supplements. And while fixation isn't helpful, paying attention to the trends makes business sense.

Colleagues and friends ask us what we're seeing in our world, given marketing can be an indicator of C-suite outlook.

We're noticing the obvious things:

• turnover at some companies makes getting back in-synch harder

• the struggling companies seem to shift back in an odd reliance on old ways vs fresh starts

• risk-aversion still rules at companies with slow/no-growth (self-fulfilling? most likely)

• well-run companies are acting smarter about how they're spending -- more thoughtful in decisions, yet moving like an opportunist

• smart companies are questioning value -- not overall cost, but cost against the service

All told, these trends have actually led to more business for our business.

Why is that? And what are the lessons we've learned about what's worked? Getting back to the basics of entrepreneurial structures, that start any business big or small, including:

• minimized overhead that can deliver optimal value AND a truly neutral structure and solution set

• efficient processes born of that minimized structure vs legacy systems

• personnel hiring that bring only those who are flexible and think like an entrepreneur given constant change in the marketplace

None of the above is news. really. But it's amazing how the rapid growth era can take all but the smartest from going off track...Mr. Buffett.

Baby-boomers still booming it.

2009-11-03T16:55:00.001-06:00

Once a generation started to retire, conventional wisdom said they'd start acting like retirees. Cutting spending, locked into old ways -- the implication was therefore that they weren't worth the marketing effort.

But not baby boomers, baby. They're not accepting a declining income as readily as previous generations. And in mass alone, they're still big:

• Households age 50+ account for nearly half consumer income & spending

• Boomer delayed every life stage transition & will delay retiement

• Most boomers are empty nesters, who often subsidize their adult kids

So, while the youth marketing rule is to aspire up (think 2-4 years older when marketing to 'kids'), you can do the opposite in terms of marketing to the Boomer set -- just think younger by a decade or 2.

Less AARP. More PAAR-TY!

Source: www.census.gov

iPhone App Rapp

2009-10-12T10:05:00.001-05:00

What do you get when musicians, technicians, and comedians get together? "I am T-Pain", of course.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITT6bYYGVfM

All this creative technological prowess has produced something totally useless but severely entertaining.

The iPhone app, brought to us by T-Pain himself, allows users to karaoke over T-pain's songs in his trademark, auto-tune style -- then share the 'vocal stylings' online or via email.

And not only does T-Pain promote himself, but he's also leveraged his guest appearance in an SNL sketch for extra cash.

For $0.99 more, you can buy the instrumental version of the hit SNL sketch "I am on a boat" complete with Karaoke style lyrics.

But wait there's more!

Other's lyrics need not limit you. There are instrumental songs a'plenty which allow you to "free style" your own poetry in emotion. So watch out for Happy B-day, Mom, with an auto-tuned twist.

Appreciation of Hip-hop, SNL, or even the iPhone aside, one has to concede this is an entertaining interactive experience that promotes purely, while it pads the creators pockets a bit.

Could your own iPhone app music video be far behind? Bring it, MileyBrittneyJonasWilco. Wait, who's Wilco?

-BWM

Saturn Cars: When Big Tries A Little

2009-10-06T15:11:00.001-05:00

We've seen it before: Plank Road Brewing from Miller. Ted from United. Saturn from GM.

Occasionally, the 'intrapreneurial' spirit works.

Saturn was the small car company feel and action from within the belly of the GM behemoth.

But it died. Even a sale to the smart, savvy car-man turned conglomerate Roger Penske couldn't happen 11th hour.

http://adage.com/article?article_id=139370

Why did Saturn fail in the first place?

• little has a hard time getting resourced OR left alone to thrive

• little is held to same standards as big in P&L, reporting -- and expected to fit the big system in distribution, timelines, velocity or other biz metrics

• little is sometimes staffed the same as big -- or with big minded people who don't fit

Sadly, this wasn't Saturn's fault.

And we would think there's still some positive brand residue there. But it's only worth a little -- until in message and in mode, someone makes a big shift forward with it again.

Twitter? Or Twit?

2009-08-25T13:47:00.001-05:00

Many people write off Twitter as useless, superfluous and just plain ridiculous.

We agree in 2 cases:

• if you don't need to share with friends and the wider world your 'status'

• if you, your friends and or your industry aren't on it

But while many use Twitter as a psuedo-public diary of their lives, it can be used to great effect for non-social purposes. Twitter can:

• give users an easy way to monitor 'Twitter-hip' companies, industries and industry leaders

• enable real time, quick-news postings about how to best use products, even what regulatory issues a given industry or company is facing

As a result, following just a handful of industry leaders will yield insights and great competitive information.

So, how do we at Bandwidth Twitter? We follow the high tech industry with one account, the Design world with another, and the Marketing world with a third.

We also choose to follow keywords of interest, and pay close attention to industry leaders and innovative companies, what they're saying, who they're following.

Seesmic and Tweet Deck provide free software which allows a Twitter user to follow multiple accounts and subjects at once with minimal clutter.

Like most things, you get out what you put into the system. And as always online, its caveat emptor, or Twitter-read beware: if you blindly trust what jabbermouth26 says, you might get burnt.

Flip it Good

2009-07-23T14:26:00.000-05:00

When you're struggling with a creative problem, flip the thing on it's head. Even if you've done it the other way for years.

What if the white swan were black? What if forward were back? What if up were down?

That's how new concepts are born, new products are invented, and the toughest problems get solved.

The upside down ketchup bottle. Roller coasters with wheels up above.

Upside down may actually be the bright side up.

The proof, is in the banana....

United Breaks Guitars, but Fixes Public Relations

2009-07-15T13:00:00.001-05:00

Many of you may have heard this story, and over 500,000 have seen the video: a musician flew United, had his guitar wrecked in transit, and when he appealed for recompense, he got none.

So he wrote a song. And now is getting more than just an apology from United.

He's getting his 15 minutes of fame. Talk about turning lemons into vodka with lemonade.

And United, a dear old client of ours, is seemingly trying to do the same.

United's spokesperson is quoted on Chicagotribune.com as saying the video complaint 'struck a chord...', pun intended to be sure. They are promising to 'make things right' at long last.

And now customer relations is quoted as asking for the video to help improve customer service.

Empathy. And apology.

Sad that in this day and age it comes AFTER the negative publicity and not as a core value, but there seem to be many reasons why customer experience comes last in a popular drive to deliver such inexpensive product (think about it -- sometimes your cab fare to the airport is half the cost of your airline ticket.)

Anyway, a positive, creative solution to a problem. And kudos to United to not fighting it, but riding it.

A Simple Web Banner Can Go a Long Long Long Way

2009-07-07T16:38:00.001-05:00

Take a look at the amusing web banner from Pringles that we've attached below (the webpage itself is irrelevant -- the ad is the feature, kind of like a bad SuperBowl match up.)

As you'll see, each click of the banner image produces another amusing line. It's dead simple. It takes as much time as you want (and it DOES go on and on.) And it leverages the medium well.

Sell more chips? Not necessarily. But it does create a memorable, positive brand experience better than an image-driven TV campaign. And the moustachioed icon wise-acre and the product, er, placement (you'll see what we mean) help actually drive home Pringles. Plus you're engaged by clicking to get more out of the ad.

Just goes to show you how far a simple, clever idea and a low-tech solution (by today's web standards) can beat out all the pyro-techspecs.

Nice work, Cincinnati.

http://www.awardshome.com/cannes2009/pringles/can-hands.html

Allison Kraus And Demographic Fate

2009-06-19T16:49:00.001-05:00

Sitting in Chicago Starbucks, #437, sipping green tea, and cranking out work via laptop.

To muffle the barrista rattle and speaker songs blaring overhead required firing up iTunes and headphones.

The first random shuffle selection: Allison Kraus & Gillian Welch singing "I'll Fly Away."

No more than 15 minutes later, "I'll Fly Away" jumps onto the in-house speakers. What are the odds?

One could view that as a cool twist of fate and unseen forces in play.

But thought of another way, couldn't technology be leveraged to hit that 'fate card' more readily, a la 'Minority Report'

Imagine a bar's juke box that suggested songs based on reading your iPod's song collection
Consider a car satellite radio system that read your tastes via your phone's Bluetooth function and threw in songs or programs that matched past selections

Where else could we read preferences, needs, experiences and offer them up so consumers didn't have to browse or even ask?

Sure, there's a big brother worry. But if one could be entertained, or get customized suggestions without having to work at it -- and with the ability to turn it off -- that would be welcome.

POST SCRIPT:

Fate? No. The demographic overlap between Starbucks and a middle-aged song collection? Yes.

Reality. Parody. Virtual Reality

2009-06-03T16:51:00.000-05:00

REALITY: Back in 1976, Blue Öyster Cult recorded "(Don't Fear) The Reaper."

According to former bassist Joe Bouchard, the 'cowbell part' was overdubbed by his brother Albert after the song had been recorded.

PARODY: In 2005, a skit on Saturday Night Live had guest Chistopher Walken pushing for "More cowbell" from Will Ferrell. No link due to copyright issues. We'll let you Google that classic.

VIRTUAL REALITY: Finally in 2009, you can upload any MP3 song, and add your own cowbell courtesy of www.morecowbell.dj

What a wonderful world, wide web.

Twitter: Death by Spam?

2009-05-27T16:16:00.001-05:00

If you've spent five minutes on Twitter and follow a crew, you get flooded by a torrent of info, mostly irrelevant, often useless.

Twitter vets filter the noise and recognize the signals.

With that overload in mind, we were intrigued by Guy Kawasaki's posting about Twitterhawk, a direct marketing tool for Twitter.

Twitterhawk searches Twitter for your "key words" and allows you to set automatic or manual responses to these messages for $0.05 a pop. Clearly, this is a company trying to create real value without biting the hand that feeds it.

But what happens when a spammer or group without scruples enters the market? Twitterhawk could become Twitterhock. And that would ruin everyone's tweet.

The link to Kawasaki's article:

http://blogs.openforum.com/2009/05/27/twitterhawk-no-guts-no-story/

The Next Game Changer

2009-05-20T15:18:00.001-05:00

In the beginning, there was light.

Then iPhone. (Not to mention its 20,000 apps in year one.)

Now there's Amazon's Kindle.

Intro'd at the end of '07, this digital book reader can be perused like paper with batteries lasting almost 2 weeks.

More importantly, Kindle:

• will reach over $400 million in revenues in 2009

• accounted for 4 million of the 38 millions books sold in North America in Q1 '09 -- over 10%, dutiful reader

But similar to iPhone, what sets Kindle apart from mere gadgetry is its breadth and depth of offerings: almost every word that has ever been published is available immediately (give or take 30 seconds.) NY Times, and everything on its bestseller list. Out of print pubs. Textbooks. Mags. Dailies. Blog-o-sphere stuff.

Some fear that Kindle is the "book-killer," but we see it as publishing's saving grace. Kindle has already changed the way we look at publishing, book promotions and, quite literally, 'books.'

See the facts for yourselves -- on your Kindle if you have one:

http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007099

The Golden Rule of Social Media

2009-05-18T16:00:00.000-05:00

Everyone's leveraging social media these days. Posting to blogs. Updating status. Twittering.

That said, it's important to keep one very simple, and seemingly obvious, rule in mind:

Only say online what you would say in public.

Since many sites are based on friend networks, it gives users the false impression that what they do or say online is semi-private. Yeah, right.

These days, we're separated at most by six degrees, and more often by 3. So keep your bizarro posts to bathroom walls (not that we condone graffiti.)

To illustrate our point, we embedded this video from those College humor nuts (yes, it's safe for work -- we're posting online, remember?)

Watch Real Life Twitter on CollegeHumor

Pfizer Pfreebie

2009-05-15T13:47:00.001-05:00

We LOVE Pfizer's new move making their powerhouse drugs (including Lipitor) FREE to people who have recently lost their jobs.

While the impact to their bottom line will be knocked a bit, it will pale in comparison to the PR effect, and the goodwill. Smart move.

Time for us all to start looking at 'marketing' as a way to give everyone unexpected benefits.

As simple as O-Cedar's cause related marketing program donating money to Breast Cancer Network of Strength. Or Samsung putting free power outlet stations in JFK airport. Or the really clever company that paid to fill potholes in exchange for labeling each one with their logo.

What more could be done?

Who's gonna donate wireless beyond coffee shops?

Which liquor company might underwrite cab companies for a night?

And which one of those environmentally challenged dry-cleaning companies will be the first to plant a tree for every order -- clean clothes, green globe?

Now that marketing is seen more and more broadly, let's look at some really worthwhile applications. Yes, beyond iPhone applications.

Happy Belated Cinco De Mayo

2009-05-06T15:43:00.000-05:00

Hit the Cubs game with friends yesterday.

Was wondering what the first 10,000 fans would get for Cinco day. Swine Flu?

Find my house in the Uverse!

2009-05-06T15:42:00.000-05:00

ATT’s bundled services, Uverse, have been talked about for some time. So where the heck is it? Somewhere North of me, I’m told.

I want ATT phone, TV and Web for far less than the Comcast price.
And far more than the Comcast service (oxymoron.)

So please get it to 60093, Mr. DeathStar.

We will be sitting in the backyard, staring into the night sky, wondering about our place in the Uverse.

Got to see Chelsea….

2009-04-24T15:41:00.000-05:00

Sure, you’ve got to be able to handle swearing, blue humor, a panel of comedians, and some solid B to C list celeb interviewees.

But that doesn’t stop this show from being funny. Mainly because of the quick, sharp witted host, Chelsea Handler. Reminds one of of Letterman WAY back when he was really nasty and engaged. And a cute blonde woman.

http://www.eonline.com/on/shows/chelsea/index.jsp

Free Apps, Anyone?

2009-03-10T15:38:00.000-05:00

iPhone apps are all the rage. And rightfully so. There’s something for everyone.

Using Google maps virtual GPS while driving is cool enough to justify your accident.

Showing your kid a virtual Zippo lighter without fear of fire is great too.

Anyway, being creative types, we see no end of apps to create. And as we look at them for clients (a clean screen function for O-Cedar that wipes away whatever you want hidden from view?), we are fascinated by any addtional info we can find.

This link to a report on app pricing from an analytics group was particularly interesting. Enjoy.

iPhone AppStore Secrets - Pinch Media

View more presentations from pinchmedia.

Bud TV, InBev Network Cancellation?

2009-02-20T15:36:00.000-06:00

It happened — that place where one could find refuge when needing a 30 second hit in the crotch joke fix, is off the air.

We hardly knew ye, Bud TV.

Odd that the comments on its downfall were regarding age limitations and profitability. You’d think those were known hurdles that wouldn’t have been in the considered set to start. Is YouTube profitable? Is a 30 second on air spot profitable?

Guess I’ll have to stick to watching the Blatz Show, the rising and falling of that yellow and black can balanced on my beer gut. Makes a nice picture, eh? Urp.

Brooms Do More Than Sweep

2009-02-11T15:14:00.000-06:00

Take look at this video and let us know what you think.

We’re thinking ‘public domain everything’ can still be cool. Ah, copyrights.

Art by Allen Addington. Broom by O-Cedar.

Oh, and get 50 free tunes when you buy this over-sized paintbrush at Target.

Let’s start with somethin’ positive

2009-02-09T15:13:00.000-06:00

I know what we like — blogging in a nice looking font with a simply tailored masthead.

Kudos to WordPress for designing something facile, intuitive, and, well, designed. Rather, well designed.

No, we’re not just saying that so we’ll rank higher in some blog-off. Though that would be nice.

And with that stellar initial post, we’ll blog-out.

What’s it all about, Albie?

2009-02-09T15:10:00.000-06:00

Now it can be said that everyone is blogging. Because we are.

But why? Well, it’s high time we take our fine writing skills out of the comment area and into the posted blogosphere.

We’ll look to ‘comment’ on anything and everything we see. Hence the title of our site.

Mainly, we’ll point out things we just don’t get, or things we just don’t like, or things we think you all really should see — to the good and to the bad.

And we’ll try to keep it short. Sighted.

Isn’t that what a hypercriticism is good for, anyway?

Oh, and our first hypercrit comment: can’t BELIEVE we already used the word blogosphere. Sheesh.

At least we also used the word Sheesh.

Enjoy.