12-16-08

Bush shoe throwing hijacks

UPDATE: the meme has gone really big, as kind of expected. Sock and Awe has had over 46 million shoes thrown too . . .

After watching the news report of a journalist throwing his shoes at George Bush this morning, I waited for the inevitable response from the web. Usually it’s from individuals able to move quicker and smarter than your average brand which most likely wouldn’t be up for doing anything Bush related and therefore politcal/risky in the first place or would just take days if not weeks to sign something off. However, today I’ve seen three Bush/Shoe related things pop up in my Twitter stream from PopJam, Lewis PR and Zappos.

First up we have my favourite and by far the best – Sock and Awe from PopJam founder Alew Tew (he of milliondollarhomepage fame).

This feels completely right, has an awesome name/domain and does a nice job of subtly bringing in a link back to Popjam and a fairly discreet email entry box.

Nicely done. I certainly had a few goes and signed up for more info on PopJam. Job done.

Secondly, we have the Bash a Bush ‘viral’ from Lewis PR.

To be honest, the fact it was referred to as a viral in the URL string automatically put me off it. It’s digital content that is hoped to go viral, blah blah blah . . . Anyway, having got over the ‘viral’ thing the gameplay is itself pretty straightforward and pretty slickly done, as much as can be for a tried and tested (and therefore more tired ) basic ‘bash the rat’ type of format. But, again – at least they did it and moved petty quickly.

Finally, we have a video from the guys at Zappos. Very quickly turned around, but all in all not that funny or posted on their blog. Still, top marks for trying and having the balls to just put it out. Oh and for tagging it with Bush, Irag etc !

So, yet again another reminder that brands (and agencies) need to move at lightning speed these days in order to ride on the waves of excitement that follow an event like a journalist throwing a shoe at George Bush, a BNP list going astray or something else that’s just around the corner. And – that competition really is fierce for people’s attention. You’re quite literally up against the world.

More here and here.

10-19-08

The Ladders Experiment

This popped up on my Twitter stream recently – an ‘experiment’ in which $100,000 is put on display in public in the US and the resulting action is captured by a collection of hidden cameras and microphones. In a nutshell, some people just point and stare and others take more extreme action and try and get at the cash with brute force. Overall, it’s rather entertaining and certainly got my attention (and a post/link hey?). It’s like one of those blue sky (euuugh) style ideas that comes up in a brainstorm actually got implemented.

BUT – the film bizarrely doesn’t show you how it ends. And you can’t easily share the film or embed it – other than emailing it to a friend. It appears to be on YouTube (see below too) – but this isn’t linked to on the main site, which I find a bit odd if you want to remove all potential friction that might stand in the way of something going a bit viral. Anyway, enjoy it if you haven’t seen it.

09-02-08

Cringey Microsoft marketing moment

This is unbelievable. So, so cringey – I keep thinking it’s an ironic viral thing. There is so much wrong with this video. “Ease, accessibility and fashion” ? Sorry guys but there’s talking about it and then there’s actually doing it. Trying way too hard.

[via Ars Technica which quite rightly asks if Microsoft should be doing stuff like this. Answer? Just focus on making great products and software that talk for themselves.]

03-19-08

Social Objects by Mr Social Object

Nice interview by Shel Israel with Hugh Macleod about social objects, social markers, social marketers, social marketing and other interesting stuff. Some old stuff covered but still really nice to see Hugh talking about it himself. (Hugh, you rock BTW)

No embed (boo!), click through to watch at Fast Company.

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