eTrade Baby Superbowl Outakes

The fabulous folks over at Adrants blogged about this video today and since I laughed out loud I decided to repost it here.

Etsy and the crowdsourcing phenomenon

In this video, Wired Biz author Jeff Howe discusses how Etsy - an online marketplace selling handmade goods from more than 100,000 crafty folks from all over the world - has used the web and crowdsourcing to channel creativity & passion and turn it into profits.

Crowdsourcing as defined by Wikipedia: the act of taking a task traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people or community in the form of an open call.

It is a term that has been thrown around a lot in the past couple of years because it is so obviously shaping the way we do business, thanks to Web 2.0. Wikipedia, itself is a prime example of crowdsourcing, as are the "recommended" items in your Amazon and Netflix accounts, even search engines use the power of the crowd to determine the relevance of a particular site. We see crowdsourcing as the main business model for companies like RYZ which lets consumers design the sneakers and vote on the best designs which are then produced and sold on their website with a kick-back to designer. We also see crowdsourcing used as a way for companies to connect with their customers; like the contest hosted by Heinz for a user-generated commercial.

The ultimate goal obviously is to translate all of the consumer creation & involvement into profits; some companies are inevitably more successful than others, but if crowdsourcing allows me to buy awesome things like these
Cute little crocheted cupcakes, you won't hear any complaints from me.

TMobile UK - Love it!

This little bit of experiential marketing/commercial happened yesterday at Liverpool station.

See reactions from some of those who witnessed the event here. Also some consumer captured footage here. Sure, some of you may say that it is similar to this video and others, but I still think it's brilliant. Shout out to my friend Jen Schwam for bringing this to my attention.

Retromercial of the week - Hai Karate

Well I might as well make it a hat-trick this week. Continuing on the Axe theme, check out this commercial. Axe's grand-daddy? You decide.

Unilever's Dove Spot - Oh the Irony.

As a nice comparison to my post the other day. I thought it would be fun to watch this Dove commercial from last year (another Unilever product).



What a difference between the Axe and Dove ads, huh? I personally love this spot created by Ogilvy & Mather, although the warm fuzzies are killed a little with the irony. It was only a matter of time before someone did a mash-up of the "Onslaught" spot with Unilever's own branding. Hey, Unilever never claimed that THEY weren't part of the beauty industry.

Axe Effect scientifically proven?

Okay, I admit it. I have a love/hate relationship with Axe (Unilever). On the one hand, Axe ads make me feel icky. Most of them are tasteless and sexist. I am not so humorless that I don't emit an occasional chuckle, but I delude myself into thinking that we live in a world with a bit more sophistication. As a marketer, however, I have to admire Axe's strategy - even if it is unabashedly "hey use this stuff and women will f*@k you!". The ads are clever, edgy, and many of them are funny. The sales results speak for themselves; in a relatively short amount of time Axe (or Lynx as it is known in some countries) sexed its way to the top of the product category against some very well-established brands in global markets.

Old news, right? Well, on Thursday I read this article in AdAge about a laughable scientific study that supposedly proves the Axe Effect and it brought all those conflicted feelings back again. The Lynx control group reported a slight increase in self confidence, which in the eyes of Unilever's consumer scientist supports the case that Axe gives guys the confidence they need to attract their mate (or one night stand?). Let's just hope these guys don't take the commercial spots TOO literally. The only thing worse than a stinky man is an over-cologned one. Just a spritz will do, boys.

The 1st Retromercial of the week

Why do talking dolls scare the crap out of me? Could it be that old episode of the Twilight Zone with Talking Tina? Not sure, but the doll featured in this week's retromercial could give little Tina a run for her money. Just. Plain. Freaky.

Introduction

The job search continues, and I know I have a lot of company out there. Instead of sitting on my laurels I decided to start a blog about one of my favorite topics... advertising. I will most likely also blog about marketing, social media, and anything else that remotely ties into the marketing and advertising space.