The Cup and Facebook

Or more accurately, the Carolina Cup.  It's an annual horse race held in Camden, SC.  People go ape shit for this thing.  Like the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona, The Cup (that's what people from South Carolina call it) has it's own uniform and aesthetic.  More or less, the infield at the race looks like the Easter Bunny had some bad sushi and threw up everywhere.

I wore a pink and blue polka-dotted bow-tie.

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When a friend posted a picture of me as a profile picture I got weirded out. Everywhere my friend touched on facebook now included a picture of me in a bow-tie.  I knew this would open me up to unmitigated shit from everyone at school.  I'm used to taking shit, but it bothers me that any part of my life that can be captured in pixels can be shared to thousands of people. Regardless of the content, I don't like any aspect of my personal life being out there in a way I can't control.

The larger question here is: am I cut out for web 2.0?  Am I cut out for all of this openness?  If I get squeamish over one photograph, can I cut it a world and an industry thats increasingly calling for sharing?  Am I responding like Coke during the whole Eepy Bird Mentos and Diet Coke thing?  Should I have been more like Mentos?  Should I have embraced the photograph?  Commented on it?  Created a group for jackasses wearing bow-ties?   

What happens if Modernista's new website backfires?  What happens if they get involved in a ATHF situation?  Will they change their site?

  

(DING*)

There's an interesting photo essay in this months Wired Magazine about where eureka moments happened for innovators from J.K. Rowling to Reed Hastings (Netflix founder and CEO).

The stories serve as a reminder that good ideas are a gift. Sure, moments of clarity often come after long hours of work. But breakthroughs seem to arrive out of nowhere. OK, enough carrying on. You can check out the photos here.

The Whigs: All Growed Up on Letterman

The Whigs played Letterman last night. Not only was it an intense performance, but now I've got something to show people to get them into The Whigs. Seeing a band perform makes them much more approachable. Also, The Whigs live shows rock faces off so the effect is even greater.

My favorite part is when Parker almost eats the microphone during his rock yell towards the end.

Sketchbook Cover

WOM rhymes with VOM.

NYT ad column today features a company called 888.com who is paying London taxi drivers to talk about their brand.

If I discovered I was being stealthily marketed to by a cab driver, I would be pissed off.

As the managing director of Taxi Promotions says, “The driver can choose what he wants to point out,” Mr. Moses said. “It’s not a hard-core sales talk; it’s sort of a subliminal talk.” Subliminal? Really? What an ass. Does this guy think people are fucking stupid? There's no way cab riders won't see through this crap.

And what about the guy who wrote the article. As far as I can tell, the only opposing view point he can find is that maybe people won't want their ear chatted off by a shilling cab driver. There's no discussion about disclosure, how people might react or whether or not this is an effective tactic. I think this would be some juicy territory to explore.

Not only does this cheapen human interaction by making it a "subliminal," paid advertisement, but it weakens the image of the brand once people figure out what's going on. Yet another reason why advertising, at it's worst, sucks donkeys.

All Kinds of Awesome.

Found this video blog on Vimeo by Davey. He describes it like this: "Armed only with an ipod and a Canon PowerShot, Davey picks a location and a pop song. Then Davey records an improvised dance."

Simple, fun and surprisingly lacking in Macarena-ness.


Davey Dance Blog -39- E.U. PARLIAMENT - Europe "The Final Countdown" from Pheasant Plucker on Vimeo.

Delayed Reaction: I hate Fox and Dodge's Media Buyer

It's been almost a week since the college football bowl season ended and I'm still harboring a grudge against Fox. Their coverage of the BCS games was abysmal.

Fox's announcers clearly didn't follow college football very closely throughout the season. Every comment smacked of something they read on the Internet forty-five minutes before game time. It was like that scene from the "40 Year Old Virgin" when they're playing poker and talking about sex. As soon as Steve Carrell's character opens his mouth it's clear he's never even touched a boob.

Fox also threw in a commercial break whenever possible. Change of possession - commercial break. First down - commercial break. Lint on Jim Tressel's sweater vest - commercial break. Those bastards stretched out a Sugar Bowl rout to over four and a half hours. What a bunch of dicks.

My contempt for Fox pales in comparison to my hate for Dodge's media buyer. I will NEVER even think about buying a Dodge because of you. No one gives a shit about your Event to Remember or Event of a Lifetime or whatever the fuck it is that Dodge does at the end of the year.

You played that spot over and over and over again. How many times can the audience watch two Dodge salespeople trotting through a dealership talking about great deals on shitty cars before people begin dousing themselves with molten cheese dip to numb the pain. Mix it up. Maybe you could exercise a bit of creativity. Or, how about making two or three shitty spots so I don't have to watch the same one over and over again.

The whole thing reminds me of the Howard Gossage quote, "Advertising...is a multibillion-dollar sledgehammer to drive and economy-size thumbtack."

Nothing and Everything.

From Fall 2007 one. magazine article "All the Shoulders I've Stood Upon," comes some of the best advice I've read on writing headlines:

"...the best headlines are words that individually have nothing to do with the brand–but collectively–have everything to do with it."

The Mapping Begins.

I've put together about 230 links on del.icio.us and now it's time to plot them on Google Maps. I'm hoping it will serve as a tool when scheduling interviews and maybe help us glean some information from seeing the agencies arranged on a map. Here is the map.

Cool Word: Jukebox.

Juke comes from a West African word meaning disorderly or wicked. Wickedbox. Am I the only one who thinks that's cool? Yeah? Ok.