Not surprisingly the whole Anne Coulter / University of Ottawa Provost letter affair sparked a large degree of discussion here at the office. It seems from our perspective, we can all agree on two essential facts:
1) Coulter’s shtick is bombast. As our one and only (more)
Fall back, spring forward? Maybe not… Everyone feels the dragging impact of a lost and much-needed hour of sleep. Ironically, daylight saving time is “supposed to save energy – pushing daylight later in the day means (more)
“Because we work in the industry, we often get calls from friends of friends to attend upcoming events, and help out with a variety of cool new projects. Last week we had one of these opportunities and thought it would be neat to tell (more)
Fall 2009. Paris. The spring/summer 2010 Chanel show. Lights dim. Music starts. The first model steps out and begins her dreamy nonchalant strut though the fabulous faux Chanel barn. A quiet murmur sweeps through the hushed crowd.“… (more)
http://www.facebook.com/TropicanaCanada#!/TropicanaCanada?v=app_4949752878
Tropicana shed some light (and plenty of OJ) on the permanent darkness Canadians living up north deal with during winter months. First a Facebook group complete with photos and videos, and now their top TV spot, we checked it out and compiled our thoughts:
“It’s also unlikely that the local stores even stock Tropicana. And I don’t even want to know the eco-footprint on this little gem of an idea.”
“It’s made a lot of the industry blogs: I think you guys are bang-on re: sustainability and carbon footprint. Also: while the final execution does look cool, the whole thing somehow feels really forced to me.”
“But it’s a good ‘forced’. It simply connects with the brand and tells a nice story for the viewer. Instead of donating money or time to a cause, they delivered an interesting experience to the folks up north and, in turn, delivered an interesting experience to us.”
“Happily they’re doing this through a real event, done docu-style and it’s a fairly authentically positive feeling all around. I liked it the moment I saw it on Creativity and, you know, I’m wild for the modern ads that are grounded in core human truths.”
Summary: Thoughtful and inspiring, but with practicality an issue. They made people happy on an artistic level, but the faux sun won’t stay forever and the free juice will run out.
On a note closer to the basics:
“Getting sick of hummable little folk ditties as soundtracks though.”
As well, to gain a little more insight; some comments from the Facebook group:
“I cannot believe how unauthentic and frivolous this is. For the sake of the connection of an ad to your tagline, you disrespect the situation in which a community lives in, in northern Canada by “brightening one day” with a balloon. So the next day, the place is back in darkness (actual and metaphorical) and the Tropic…”-Maya
To the response of…
“There’s always someone to make a good deed look bad! I think it was wonderful to travel so far to brighten someone’s day, even if it was only one day!!”! -Dinah
Seems the thoughts are like night and day…
http://www.facebook.com/TropicanaCanada#!/TropicanaCanada?v=app_4949752878
Tropicana shed some light (and plenty of OJ) on the permanent darkness Canadians living up (more)
After months of speculation that Adam Giambrone, chairman of the TTC, would enter the Mayoral race in Toronto, a viral miss (or perhaps even mess) staring Giambrone himself is setting Torontonians a flurry. The video satirically shows an eager Giambrone “training” for the Mayoral race, if you will.
It appears the Giambrone camp is looking to strengthen his public image, particularly among youth, after increasing pressure and criticism of the TTC of late. Most recently, the snoozing TTC collector twitpic which hit the interwebs last week.
While being viral online seems like an easy and foolproof method to get in touch with young people, the fact remains that youth are much more practical than people give them credit for. We see this again and again in our research here at Youthography. For the Giambrone camp to think that young people are so flighty and distractible that an un-funny viral video would trump something which affects their daily lives, like say, poorly managed TTC, is quite out of touch with reality. The bottom line is that a mediocre viral video will not and cannot overshadow Giambrone’s reputation with the TTC.
The general out of touch-ness of Giambrone’s strategy really makes us, and young people all over the blogosphere, wonder – does this guy even get it? In addition, the immature tone of this video begs the question, is Adam Giambrone actually “Ready”…or maybe not?
Written by Kanan Korthari, Manager – kanan@youthography.com
After months of speculation that Adam Giambrone, chairman of the TTC, would enter the Mayoral race in Toronto, a viral miss (or perhaps even mess) staring Giambrone himself is setting Torontonians a flurry. The video satirically shows an eager Giambrone “training (more)
How cool are the Mexicans? First off, theirs is a land where life is both precious and cheap at the same effing time. Their street food kicks ass. Kids can stay out promenading their respective zocalos until the wee hours of the night. They paint mules as zebras to make (more)
Yes, they’ve been around for a good 12 years now but, believe it or not, there are still horror fans who don’t know about Rue Morgue; the most awesome magazine on the planet dedicated to “horror in culture and entertainment”. And, yeah!, they’re based (more)
