Good advice

Found this inspirational pic at Lady Chameleon.

The next big thing?

Last month Facebook reached the magical figure of 150 million users.

It did it in just 5 years.

To put that number into perspective take a look at how long it took other products to reach that same number.

Facebook = 5 years

iPod = 7 years

Mobile phone = 14 years

Television = 38 years

Telephone = 89 years

Source

Social turns anti social

Seems there are a few people out there who are currently thinking about the same sort of stuff that I am.

Yesterday I posted Kevin Rothermel's thoughts on how self proclaimed gurus are impacting on Twitter.

Today I read a piece by Naked's Adam Ferrier on another subject I've been pondering recently - How social media types are becoming anti social.

Here's a snippet from Adam:

"Some of the online social networkers I've met online appear to be extremely opinionated, hostile, judgemental, and very black and white. If they displayed such characteristics in the offline world they would find it very difficult to form long term stable relationships with others."

I think Adam was talking more about people active in the blogosphere rather than people who use Facebook etc. He does make some very good points though.

Click here to see what he had to say.

Turning social into broadcast

I've been thinking about writing something about the gurus who are turning Twitter from a social media into a broadcast one for quite some time.

But I held off because I didn't want DNA to become overly Twitter centric.

Luckily Kevin Rothermel has done the job for me. Here's a snippet of what he had to say:

"They collect followers on Twitter as proof of how brilliant they are at social media marketing, without realising the irony that they are just turning their Twitter feed into a broadcast medium that reaches more people than they could possibly hope to have a 'relationship' with."

For more by Kevin click here.

Visit the USSR

These beautiful pics are from a brochure for the USSR from the 1958 World's Fair in Belgium.

Somehow I doubt the Soviet Union would have been anywhere near as glamorous as it was portrayed in this brochure.

Then again when have travel brochures ever been 100% accurate?

This looks a good drop

If there's one thing that annoys me each time I attend the MADC Awards, it's the sheer number of wine bottle labels that pick up design awards.

Which is why, when I see an interesting label, I have to tell someone about it.

This label for small scale producer Small Gully isn't a label at all.

It isn't a screen print either.

Design firm M/A/S/H had each and every bottle laser etched.

Obviously I've not seen one of these bottles in the flesh, but I'd imagine they feel wonderfully tactile.

Hopefully the contents of the bottle live up to the promise.

Anti social media

Last week I went to a conference call The Digital Tipping Point.

I learnt about the conference on Twitter. Clicked on the link in a tweet and signed up.

Can't complain, because the conference was free, but...

Billed as 'The future of branding and social media' I expected it to be about that very topic. It wasn't.

The first couple of presenters focussed mainly on advertising and advertising units.

They showed vox pop videos of idiots talking about how much they loved the ads that appeared on their Facebook. Ads like these.

So I decided to share my displeasure with my friends and followers on Twitter.

Minutes later I recieved a tweet from one of the conference speakers asking me where I was!

When she got up to speak she acknowledged me by name and stated that she wouldn't be talking about advertising.

Had I inadvertantly invented virtual heckling?

Probably not, but I did prove my theory that social media has to feature voices of dissent as well as support.

Feel the buzz

I wonder how many bored fifties housewives did something other than just massage their gums with the beautifully named Vibra Finger?

Click the pic for a better look.

Stop typing for a minute

I spent yesterday afternoon at the Digital Tipping Conference.

One thing that caught my attention during the conference was the number of people who were sitting in the audience typing away on their laptops.

Not to mention the people awkwardly hammering away on the keypads of Blackberries and iPhones.

It seems live blogging and twittering are obviously now an accepted part of conferences.

Which is probably the conference equivalent of people taking mobile phone photos at concerts.

Thankfully I don't go to as many conferences as I do concerts.

But I can't help thinking that these people are not getting the most out of their conference experience because they're too focused on commenting on or recording what they're seeing.

C30 60 90 Go!

I'll always have a place in my heart for my very first cassette recorder. A Sanyo portable that I got for my 12th birthday.

I used to spend many an hour with the radio on and my fingers poised over the record button waiting to capture my favourite songs.

Which is why a felt a touch of nostalgia for a time long gone when I came across this link to a fantastic Flickr set of cassette inserts and labels.

Well worth a look for anyone who loves music.

Now that's quick

Brilliant ambient idea for Rimmel quick dry nail polish by JWT London. Love it!

An ideal for living

Via

Art goes underground in NYC

The Museum of Modern Art in New York has decided to take art underground. Literally.

For the next couple of weeks people catching a subway train at a station in Brooklyn will be treated to a display of 50 works from the MOMA collection.

Much nicer than crap buskers and scribbled graffiti tags. Don't you think?

Best of all you can download an MP3 audio tour for your iPod so you get the most out of your subway visit.

I'd love to see something simlar at stations here in Melbourne. Perhaps as part of the Melbourne or Design Festivals. What about you?

Twits or Twats?

There has been much written about Twitter of late. Way too much if truth be told.

Regular DNA visitors would know I resisted it for a very long time. Now of course I'm hooked.

What I love about it is the fun and interaction that Twitter provides. Unlike some people who see it as a place to simply stroke their egos.

To be frank I've been very disappointed by the behavior of the so called 'A-List' on Twitter. They seem obsessed with nothing other than influence and ego.

Luckily we have my old friend Marcus Brown to bring the whole Twitter circus back to earth.

For more in the Marcus reads Twitter series click here

Updated advice?

Great to see this popular book on putting a book together has been updated for the 21st century.

Although why it's still focused on 'the book' is anybody's guess.

In the digital age there should be a so much more to a folio than just ads in a book.

Supersize your costume

Mr Jetpacks tipped me off to these Big Mac costumes.

Couldn't help wondering if they were able to be super sized.

That way the contestants on the Biggest Loser could wear them.

Although of course they already look like they're wearing them any way.

Suffering from SMEBS?

Massive tip of the old fogey hat to the young lads at Junior for twittering a link to this excellent 'how to' video tutorial.

Worrying thing is, I myself sound a lot like the person described in this video.

Oh dear...

A very sweet idea

Love this idea from Y&R Bangkok.

Product samples were handed out to kids by Colgate people.

These weren't just any old product samples though.

They gave out ice lollies and fairy floss which revealed a dental care message once consumed.

Great way to get through to the kids and get them brushing their teeth.

Help get people talking

This is the best idea I've heard today.

A charitable thought that anyone can contribute to.

Everyone has an old phone charger sitting in a drawer for a phone they no longer use.

If you do, put it to good use.

Give it to bushfire victims to help them stay in touch.

Pop the charger in a postpack and send it to:

Telstra Country Wide,
Locked Bag 4670,
Melbourne Vic 3001

Goo the egg

My wife loves playing the bubble wrap game on my iPhone.

I reckon she'd love this interactive bus stop by Saatchis london.

And given the current cold snap in the UK it might even help people waiting for a bus to keep warm.

Victoria is hurting

Advertising and the bullshit that surrounds it are the usual topics to be found on this blog.

Not today.

The garden state of Victoria has been decimated by bushfires.

That pic above is what's left of Marysville. My wife and I stopped off there for a coffee on our anniversary a few weeks back.

When I was a struggling young copywriter I went to a couple of weekend creative workshops at the conference centre in Marysville. That's gone too.

Here's some of the places you can help:

Visit www.redcross.org.au

Phone 1800 811 700

Go to any NAB, ANZ, Westpac or Commonwealth Bank branch

Go to any Bunnings store

Every little bit helps.

Swatting Aussies

As if it's not bad enough that the Kiwis are beating us in cricket.

Now they're having a laugh at one of our major sporting events.

Click the pic for a better look at the work of DDB NZ.

What are you doing?

Found this little twittering bird on BannerBlog. It made me smile.

Hard talk from Sorrell

Just watched an interesting interview with Martin Sorrell from the BBC's Hardtalk.

Looks like we're in for a bumpy ride. Like we didn't know that already!

Sadly embedding of the video has been disabled.

So here's the link.

Via

Product placement by The Boss

Music fans across the globe are talking about the performance of Bruce Springsteen at the Super Bowl the other day.

I was listening to The Word podcast on my way home tonite and they described it as the best half time Super Bowl entertainment ever.

Let's face it - It wouldn't be hard to top Janet Jackson's boob incident. Now would it?

The guys from The Word said Bruce hit the ground running without a let up in energy for the full 4 song performance.

Given the nature of the Super Bowl audience, I'd have thought it would have been a greatest hits set. It wasn't.

It was however a cleverly put together collection of classics with one new song squeezed in. A song from the just released Springsteen album Working for a dream.

The day after the Super Bowl that album was top of the Amazon and iTunes charts.

When asked to comment about his performance Bruce said that he'd done it to promote his new album.

With the chart success it appears to have worked.

Chalk one up for The Boss I say.

Actually let's chalk up two. One for promotional innovation in an industry in decline.

And another for racking up sales much higher than even he would have anticipated.

Advertising on an advertising blog

The Campaign Brief Blog is the most talked website in Oz adland.

Its comment section is rife with bitching and anon comments.

I get a laugh out of them myself.

A lot of people don't.

Each to their own I suppose.

What I don't like is seeing is ugly Google ads embedded in the posts on the blog. Like this:


Bitchy comments. Don't care.

Slagging off Droga ads that nobody has seen. Don't care.

Complaining about Commonwealth Bank account going to Americans. Don't care.

But ugly ads in the middle of what I'm reading. Not happy Jan.

Around the Blogosphere

The first issue of Marketing magazine for 2009 hits the newstands this week. As usual it features my Around the Blogosphere column.

This month I take a look at some of the conversation online around marketers and social media.

Click here to take a look. Be sure and join the conversation yourself, by leaving your thoughts in a comment.

For regular news and views on what's happening in the world of marketing visit the Marketing mag website.

Postcards from the future me

I used to love internet memes. At least until I started getting included in them.

Luckily I haven't been annointed for a while.

Oops! Spoke too soon.

Seems my favourite blogger from the future has invited me to think about my future self.

Can't be arsed to be honest. But I've got nothing better to do on this hot winday Sunday evening.

So here goes:

I'll eventually sell my share of the agency I started back in 2010 with Ed and Tait from Junior.

With the proceeds from the sale the wife and I will get to finish the 2nd storey extention on our house in the hills overlooking St Tropez.

Of course living in the South of France has meant that I have had to step down from my honorary position as President of the St Kilda Football Club. Carn the Sainters!

Steve Hurley and I were asked to do a TV version of our Music for Melancholics podcast back in 2012. Sadly the Australian switchover to digital doesn't go as smoothly as the Turnbull goverment had planned. Resulting in us producing a show that nobody ever sees.

Finally in 2015 my daughter brings her new boyfriend home to meet the family. He's a 26 year old self made millionaire called Zac Martin. Apparently he made his millions with a print media start up folowing the bursting of the social media bubble in 2011.