Good advertising made great

Apart from the fact that I hate scaffolding in NY (I just dont get how much there is and how long it's up for....therefore I think that all scaffolding advertising should be banned).

However.....

I love the fact that 3 letters turn this advertisement from good advertising to great advertising.

The NYC dramatically affects the attention factor of this ad and the clean lines make both the message and the image standout cleanly.

More advertising should be localised like this.


Cheers,
Dean

The Tail Has Two Heads

Promotion Launches Six Weeks Prior to Broadcast Premieres and Includes
Preview Trailers of Fall Drama Lineup-

BURBANK, Calif., July 19 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- In a
first-of-its-kind promotion, NBC and Netflix, Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX), the
world's largest online movie rental service, today announced they will
offer Netflix's approximately five million subscribers an advanced look at
the premiere episodes of NBC's anticipated new drama series "Studio 60 on
the Sunset Strip" and "Kidnapped." The shows will be made available in
their entirety, six weeks before their respective broadcast premieres, on a
special DVD created for Netflix that will also include preview trailers of
the network's other new fall drama series. The announcement was made by
John Miller, chief marketing officer for NBC Universal Television Group,
and Ted Sarandos, chief content officer for Netflix.



So the first I heard of this was watching TV last night and NBC was advertising one of their new series for the fall schedule "Kidnapped" (hmmm weak plot but whatever....)

What was very interesting to me however was the tie-in with Netflix.
http://www.netflix.com/movieid=70051628

So basically what NBC are offering is instead of waiting for the fall season you can watch each show 6 weeks before it goes to air by ordering it through Netflix.

Each week the next episode will be available for rental (I wonder how many of these they expect to rent....and what will be the falloff rate for each episode). Especially as it doesn't cost you any extra but will take up one of your 'slots'.

For those of you who dont know about Netflix, basically it is dvd rental same as you would get from your local blockbuster however they mail the dvd's to you and then you return them after viewing.

The 'neat' part about it is their pricing model, you pay an amount for each dvd you want to have in your posesion at any one particular time, not how many you watch eg. for $17.99 per month you can have 3 dvd's in your home, each time you return one, they send you the next dvd in your list. Postage is included, so it makes sense for you to swap them out on a regular basis as soon as you have watched them as you still pay the flat rate per month even if you dont return any.

I'm very interested to see how this works, what kind of numbers they get for the 6 week advance preview, especially how this may affect the fall season ratings.

Does this mean it validates Mark Cuban's business model about releasing movies at the cinema, dvd to own, and paytv simultaneously

If you are not familiar with it Mark Cuban introduced this last year with his Landmark Cinema chain, selling the dvd via retail and screening it on HDnet his paytv channel all on the same release date - this first film was Bubble by Steven Sodaberg
http://www.engadget.com/dvds-bubble

Also if you dont know who Mark Cuban is then check out this article
http://money.cnn.com/markcuban
He was a dotcom eloper (eg. got out at the right time) and has bought a few things including the Dallas Mavericks and a plane or two.


My next question is....how soon before Kidnapped is on Bit torrent?

And...what the heck are they going to do with all those Kidnapped dvds once they are returned? (aol furniture anyone?)


Cheers,
Dean

Retailers Intuition

Summer in New York is hot!!! I'm not sure if it is the lack of greenery and parks along with too many buildings and streets but even with us living on the waterfront at York Ave next to the East River most days in summer the airconditiong is running 24x7 (especially in the afternoon when we face the west sun with floor to ceiling glass on the 30th floor - http://www.collins.net.pr/photo/525East72nd).

With the temp for the last few weeks in the 90's (32-37c for my more intelligent metric friends) it was a surprise 2 weeks ago when we saw the shops starting to put out fall/winter clothes. Jodie and I were like WTF!!!

Sure enough last Friday the weather changed, it's like clockwork. The temps are already falling into the 70's during the evening (21-26c) and whilst this means there is no better time than now to visit New York it does mean that 6 weeks from now it's going to suck again and be freezing.

I mean it makes perfect sense that retailers track this kind of thing to the week but it's bizzare how perfect they get the timing some times. One of the things that took getting used to is how you really do need 3 sets of clothes in NY. eg. I have a winter jacket that I wore out the first day it snowed last year.... way too warm, it was a good month later before it was cold enough to wear without sweating.

Of couse the irony is that I now have less closet space than I have ever had at any time of my life.....ah NY rents...such a delight.

I miss home where for 9 months of the year the weather is perfect, in NY it's perfect for 6 weeks in the spring, 6 weeks in the fall and the rest of the time is stinking hot or freezing cold.

Having said that there is a nice upside to the changing of the seasons, it's hard to explain but it's kind of invigorating. It makes you focus on projects and work. It makes you seek out to enjoy life as you notice the years ticking by.

We have even grown to like it in NY when it snows, it may be freezing cold but at least it is clean and white.... for a while till it gets grey and slushy


Cheers,
Dean

Ze Frank - getting older but getting comfortable

not to take aware from the gravity of blowing up the world....this blog from Ze Frank brought tears to my eyes with laughter.

http://www.zefrank.com/theshow/archives/2006/08/080806.html

maybe we could all use some more sense like this.


Cheers,
Dean

Are you a sheeple?

The appearance of fighting terrorism is more about controlling the masses then actually getting bad guys.

Think of it as a tax on the dumb ..... there does that help you sleep better at night?



Cheers,
Dean



















www.dorkinglabs.com/bush.php?id=112

Quality of Life in NY

I just have to start this post by saying I love living in NY. I love the opportunity it brings, the experiences we have had and whilst Jodie and I will probably be here for another 2 years when we talk about life at home New Yorkers just don't get what "Quality of Life" truly means.

I've been talking about moving to Europe after our stint in the USA and a friend of mine sent me this photo, of a Swiss Railway Station














Yes those crazy Swiss men are truly vacuuming debris from around the sleepers on the tracks.
In comparison I took this snap yesterday to reply :) - my favorite part is the stagnant water that even the railway rats avoid.




















Cheers,
Dean

Do you Mogi Mogi?

www.mogimogi.com

Mogi Mogi is a very interesting real world gaming concept that has been launched in Tokyo.

It's an online game that is played on both a pc but predominately it is played on your mobile phone. What is unique however is that it uses your phones GPS (gps is physical geo-location feature not gprs which is the mobile data service - not a lot of western phones haves GPS built in).

With this GPS information, the game knows where in Tokyo you physically are, the location of you and your cellphone is then overlayed with the fantasy land of Mogi Mogi.
















Real world elements may or may not be combined with the gameplay itself, such as the park highlighted above is an actual park in Tokyo.

Not only do you get to interact with creatures in the game itself but you also need to interact with other people playing the game themselves along the way.

You may meet up to swap "trinkets" eg. a spell may be swapped for a clue to another level, or similar. But there is also a thriving social community evolving with chat, character or avatar development and physical interaction.

What is neat is that the gameplay is continuous 24x7 for example some characters may only appear at certain times of the day, if you are not at the park at that time you don't get the opportunity to collect those points.

It certainly brings a new meaning to the term MMOG (massive multiplayer online gaming).



The developer www.NewtGames.com hasn't specified how extensive they intend to make this game, or if they intend to interconnect other locations around the world (such as "Spore"), however the ability to implement content, social networking and physical world tie-ins are obvious.

Some of the user comments I've been able to find on the web are "eye opening" to say the least such as;

All the trips I make in the city are now randomized, as I will often divert a few hundred meters to go and collect an object around me. I get a chance to discover parts of the city that I ignored, a motivation to check out that parallel street I never took.

and

It has a community dimension to it, I chat with other players, I also know how far I am from them and finding out some are less than a few hundred meters to me is really exciting. I had to race to pick up a flag that had been put on the map at equal distance between me and another player to encourage us to meet.


Links:
Good article that has links to a research paper discussing social interactions of online gaming
http://www.thefeaturearchives.com/100501.html

List of other mobile location based games
http://www.in-duce.net/archives/locationbased_mobile_phone_games.php

A blog detailing the first US mobile location game from Boost Mobile (hmmm I don't think Boost get it).
http://mobilegames.blogs.com/mobile_games_blog/games_location_based/index.html

An older Wired Article
http://www.wired.com/news/games/1,63011-0.html

For a 'unique' perspective, here's a link to the Slashdot forum
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/04/02/0113231


Either way, this concept is definitely one to watch.

Although Newt Games have gone heavy on the technology, as long as carriers allow mobile triangulation information or western handsets start getting GPS functionality, this physical/fantasy world interaction can be implemented into concepts as simple as Urban Dare (read my last post) or even the one off Smart Improv (search my blog for the article).

As I'm pretty much pure geek, for a wider sample I'd love to hear your own thoughts .


Cheers,
Dean

Urban Dare

What a great concept www.UrbanDare.com

Urban Dare is a new style of urban adventure race where smarts can beat speed. These races are part running, part trivia quiz, and part skill challenges. Teams of 2 solve clues to find checkpoints. At some check points you must take a photo and at others you must perform dares.

In 2006 they have races scheduled in 12 different cities with more planned for next year.

http://urbandare.blogspot.com/

I love the concept of this, I think it's great that people are building more city style adventures and whilst I'm no runner I've always wanted to participate in an "Around the World" style challenge.....and lets face it more than a few hours of competition I think my wife would kill me (or vice versea).

Whilst some of the questions appear cryptic and might pose a little bit of an advantage to the local teams I still think it would be a great way for a tourist to see a new city.

Looking forward to the next New York event....hmm better start training now.

Cheers,
Dean

Dual Post Coca-Cola Marketing and NSA Security

This article was copied from Bruce Schneier's recent newsletter, for those of you who dont know him, he's a guru in the encryption/security space.

Although it's quite funny, it also makes a serious point about evaluating risks in relation to the circumstances, eg does my home network need to be as secure as my corporate network.

Personally if I was a marketer I would be ripping this concept (or a derivative of it) off as soon as possible.

Think of the local/regional press you would get as your marketing swat team swoop into town to award the prizes, the press would well and truly outweigh the cost of the prize.
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2004-05-09-coke_x.htm

As for listening in to my conversations......nothing to hear here coke...now where's my prize.


Cheers,
Dean




Coca-Cola has a new contest. Hidden inside 100 cans of Coke there's a SIM card, GPS transmitter, and a microphone.

The winners activate the Coke can by pressing a button, which will call a central monitoring facility. Then Coke tracks the winners down using the GPS transmitter and surprises them with their prize.

NSA engineers drink Coke. Lots and lots of Coke.

The possibility that an active microphone in a Coke can could be in one of the NSA's highly secure facilities is worth considering. A reasonable threat analysis might look like this: "You know, the chances that one of these 100 cans out of hundreds of millions of cans ends up in our building is extremely small -- somewhere around 1 in 100,000 -- so it's not worth worrying about."

But the NSA's Information Staff Security Office) decreed differently: "It is important that ALL cans of Coca-Cola within our spaces be inspected. This includes cans already in our buildings and those being delivered on a daily basis. If you discover one of these cans, DO NOT activate it. Instead, you should alert your ISSO immediately and report the incident."

This is hysterical. Can you imagine inspecting every can of Coke entering the NSA, opening each of the hundreds of cases of Coke and inspecting every can for a GPS transmitter? What does this cost? What is the NSA not doing because they're doing this instead? Of course the engineers at NSA are already starting to create Coke cans with antennas, circuit boards, and keypads. They are leaving them around snack messes as practical jokes.

And where's Pepsi in all of this? Shouldn't they be advertising "surveillance-free cola"?

Funny stuff, but there's a serious point here. Again and again, security decisions are clouded by agenda. The NSA's Coca-Cola inspection policy is an example of CYA. Some executive within NSA didn't want to be personally responsible for a GPS receiver slipping through security, so he decided that everything should be inspected. It's a small risk to the greater population, but it's a larger risk to him. His agenda is different from that of society's, but because his agenda matters more to him and it's his decision, his is what gets followed.

We as a society need to figure out how to make security trade-off decisions another way. Having specific individuals or corporations make security trade-offs for us based on their agenda isn't making us more secure, and it's costing us a whole lot of money.
http://www.schneier.com/crypto-gram-0407.html#8

Cool App for Powerpoint

This is a way too cool app add-in for Powerpoint.
http://www.indezine.com/addin/thermometer/index.html

Thermometer for PowerPoint is a free add-in that creates a thermometer style bar in the bottom area of the slide that shows how much of a presentation has progressed and how much more is remaining.

It's a very simple add-in and using it is so easy: one click on an icon and you can add or update your thermometer; another click and the thermometer is gone!

It automatically selects the colour based on the slide decks colour pallete.

It wont make your ppt slide deck go faster if it's boring but at least your audience will know how much longer they need to endure. Seriously though, you need to install this today, there is no reason why this shouldn't be added to every deck you show.

Great work Geetesh.

Cheers,
Dean