Last Second Spooktacular
Forbes.com Features Fabulously Freaky Facemasks
No need to dash out to the Dollar Store to capture a costumer before heading to the Halloween happenings, just flap your little bat-wings over to Forbes.com for some pretty creepy celebrity masks:
Be a Celebrity for Halloween
Oodle Doodle
Pleeeease make it stop!!!
Eggs. Get your eggs here.
Fresh and white eggs are here.
Wiggle Jiggle
Yellow middle.
That's the best of what you are.
Get your eggs!
Tattoo You
...and your iPod.
Great idea from HP to further capitalize on their association with iPod, and link it with the printing technology for which they are most noted.
It gives whole new meaning to the question:
"What's on your iPod?"
Sheesh, eBay. Take a JOKE.
Get off my back and buy one of my shirts to put on YOURS
My shirt auctions were removed within hours of posting. Not to be outdone, I think I've conformed to their rules and have managed to add another auction for the "I Sold My Vote on eBay" shirt.
Who knows how long it might be up this time...
Get yours while the getting's good!
I SOLD MY VOTE ON eBAY
I'm Greedy, and I approve this message.
Buy My Vote ...er... I mean... "T-SHIRT" on eBay
With all the millions of dollars spent on campaign advertising, the forests of trees cut down in order to print all those campaign flyers and postcards -- I'm just trying to cut out the ad agency middlemen and be environmentally sensitive.
Don't you think with all the campaign ads on every available media, and the sucking-up to any and all special interest groups, that the candidates are basically trying to throw enough money into advertising to sway a vote or two?
I'm merely suggesting they go straight to the source and buy a vote -- I mean, T-SHIRT -- from a registered voter.
...a registered voter in Ohio.
Like the idea?
You can tell people you sold your vote too.
Even if you didn't.
It will still cause controversy and piss people off wherever you go.
...and that's half the fun!
The Value of Ideas II
Lovemarks Gets Low Marks
About a month ago of went on a minor rant about a Tom Peters interview with Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Kevin Roberts. Mr. Roberts made an earthshaking (not!) revelation about turning companies (most recently his ad agency) from primarily product and service focused, into creativity-focused "Ideas Companies".
I didn't disagree with him, I just thought proper respect to a few the folks who'd been there before him would have been nice.
Anyway...
Last Friday, Brand Autopsy posted their list of Worthy Reads and Worthless Reads III and Kevin Roberts' book "Lovemarks" got a failing grade.
Ironically, one of the reasons Lovemarks received a Worthless Read ranking was because it lacked content to help generate new ideas.
It's not enough to be an "Ideas Company" --
you have to be a NEW IDEAS COMPANY.
On the other hand...
I learned about a new Worthy Read book called "Rules of the Red Rubber Ball". I can't wait to bounce a few of those red rubber ball ideas off the wall!
Time's Running Out!
Only 8 days of Election Parody Left...
We've all seen the JibJab.com films, but I wonder how many have visited Funny.AnsMe.com to Build a Better Bush, or see The Many Faces of Kerry?
Remember, there are only a few days left to make fun of these presidential candidates. Of course, we'll have four years of additional fun taking pokes at one of 'em.
Best of all, WE get to decide which one...
Get off the internet and VOTE!
High-Flying Monday Fun
And you thought you'd seen everything...
If this visual doesn't get your week off to a bouncing start, the music ought to.
If anyone knows the song being played in the video, please let me know by posting the title/artist info in the comments section below.
If you don't know
ZombiePumpkins.com --
You don't know JACK about Jack O'Lanterns.
Once again, my buddy Ryan at GoateeStyle.com breathes new life into the idea of undead pumpkins.
What is ZombiePumpkins.com all about?
Some unfortunate pumpkins were ignored during Halloween celebrations of the past. The one with the mushy spot... the broken stem... the bumpy skin. Considered too ugly to be turned into jack-o-lanterns, you mercilessly left them to rot on their vines.
They haven't forgotten.
Each Halloween, the Zombie Pumpkins rise from the pumpkin patch to seek their bloody justice. They roll the Earth in search of victims, with one desire: to take over Halloween!
Unless you want to have your guts scooped out, you'd be wise to appease these monsters by carving the original jack-o-lantern stencils offered at ZombiePumpkins.com --
This time, it's carve or be carved!
Ugh, put a Bullitt in my head
Carmaker makes Steve McQueen ride again
Ford's new Mustang commercial will blend licensed footage from the movie Bullitt, with a Field of Dreams twist, to show McQueen hawking the new Mustang by driving through a cornfield racetrack. 'Corn' may be the most appropriate thing in the commercial.
Does this mean we have a Pierce Brosnan remake of the commercial in our future?
Support The Norm
Keep Great Content Alive
My buddy Michael Jantze has shrugged off the opressive yoke of "the man" and left his cartoon syndication deal to go it alone.
He's leaving the continued life of his long-running comic strip, "The Norm" in the hands of the cartoon-supporting community. If you like The Norm and want to see it survive, click over to the official The Norm website and contribute a few dollars for your continued amusement. In order to keep The Norm alive, Michael figures he needs 5,000 subscribers. He's over one-fifth of the way there, but his self-imposed deadline for accomplishing this membership drive ends in three weeks -- we need a little over 1333 per week to meet the goal. That's only 190 per day -- we can do it!
If you're not a fan of The Norm... why aren't you?
Even if you're not a 'comics person', you can still keep an original artist's creation alive by forwarding the subscriber info to your comic-reading friends.
Why not take-out your own workplace frustrations by allowing Michael Jantze the thrill of escaping his own corporate shackles -- live vicariously through The Norm!
The Norm is a great comic to which most anyone can relate. Michael Jantze's characters live and breath the same daily trials, tribulations, joys, and successes that we all experience... they just do it a lot 'funnier.'
Don't we all need a little more 'funnier' in our lives?
A Warm Fuzzy Feeling
SEE NYC Shirts Save Sight
DailyCandyNYC - NYC designer Stephen Kenney, inspired by a friend who suffered a stroke that left him temporarily blind, learned that most cases of blindness in Africa can be cured for $30. -- and 'See NYC' T-shirts were born.
The men and women's cotton tops are embossed with sayings like "Come Closer," "I Love New York," and "Brooklyn," only they don't say it with letters. They say it with fuzzy Braille circles. A clever, graphically lovely touch. (Pun intended.)
Profits raised are donated to charities that help the visually impaired, like Sight Savers International and Lions Club.
The above photo appeared in Time Out New York, July 15-22, 2004.
Photo credit: Rachel Been
A Hero's Farewell
Last Son of Krypton
Leaves a Lasting Legacy
Sadly, Christopher Reeve died on Sunday. This man who wore a red cape and flew onto the big screen as Superman was truly a super-guy, and he'll be missed.
He didn't just play a hero in the movies, he lived it everyday.
Good To Be In D.C.
JibJab's "This Land" sequel is online
Who will be the Hollywood smart-guy to sign these guys for a politically-themed tv special or ongoing animated series?
Enjoy the show.
Kerry may stand "For A Stronger America"
...But he's got the weaker logo.
Excellent post on the BrandAutopsy site today. It's an analysis on the strength of two candidates' logo design.
Yet Another Fine Product
...for the stupid, lazy, and insincere.
• Tired of crafting those energy-draining 'thank-you' notes?
• Fed-up with providing a polite response after someone shows you a kindness?
• Afraid of developing carpal-tunnel syndrome from addressing envelopes?
Worry no more my friends... your salvation is HERE!
Virgin Ain't So Innocent
Anyone else smell a rip-off?
The other day, Virgin Atlantic announced a new ad campaign that parodies porn. Targeted to run on LodgeNet Entertainment Corporation Adult Desires pay-per-view hotel channel, the 8-minute video (called "Suite & Innocent") is filled with every conceivable porn double-entendre -- from bad acting to character names like Miles High and Summer Turbulence to cheesy dialog like "seven more inches" of legroom.
Seems I've heard the sex-as-airline concept before... let's see... where was it?
Oh yeah. Now I remember...
It was on the second episode of The Apprentice: Season One. Team Protege trounced Versacorp by unveiling a sexually-charged print campaign for the Marquis Jet Card.
Seems like Branson's group is getting an awful lot of ideas from Trump Tower lately -- especially with the upcoming "The Rebel Billionaire" reality show debuting in just a few weeks.
C'mon, Sir Richard -- stick with your own material. You don't see The Donald sailing around in a big balloon do you?
Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon's Band
MusicPlasma is music to my ears and candy for my eyes
MusicPlasma.com is a new visual music database created with the help of Amazon.com's music database. Just type in the name of any musician or band and it will quick assemble a mini-universe of musical connections... displaying a literal 'sphere of influence.'
MusicPlasma.com allows you to click around the linking bands to see who they connect with, or follow a random connecting path to see where it leads.
It's an incredible database tool for finding additional music you'll enjoy -- based on who you already like -- and it's visually appealing, not to mention FUN!
...and addictive!
I first heard about MusicPlasma.com through Damon Darlin's blog entry at Business 2.0
Laudable Audible
Debate Downloads
The other day received an email from Audible.com (purveyor of audio paperbacks and periodicals) offering a free download of the first presidential debate.
The message also announced they'd be making ALL of the debates available for download at no charge. This is an EXCELLENT way to invite folks from both sides of the political fence to the Audible website. A perfect example of "Give To Get Marketing."
The only thing I would have done differently was to have shared other political-themed titles that were available for purchase -- a kind of "you may also enjoy..." list of recommended titles.
Their offer of the free download will obviously result in many politically-savvy visitors -- why not take the opportunity to make them aware of two or three other titles in which they might also enjoy? They've missed an opportunity for the McObvious "Do you want fries with that?" upsell of titles like The Nixon-Kennedy Debates, The Iraq War, Bushworld, and Unfit for Command.
Don't laugh -- "Do you want fries with that?" is responsible for millions of dollars of sales every year! Where are you missing opportunities to sell fries?
TCOB on TLC
Reality Show Give Business Makeovers
What Queer-Eye did for the personal lives of Straight-Guys, The Learning Channel's Taking Care Of Business "Dream Team" aims to do for small businesses.
From the official site:
Taking Care Of Business tackles small business troubles in a big way, and sends a team of gurus — equipped with fresh ideas and plenty of inspiration — to identify problems, turn things around and help businesses live up to their best potential, and let their owners realize their dreams. Together, the "dream team" examines all aspects, from location and product offering to marketing and customer service. They present concrete ideas to help businesses be their best.
No reference of who might be part of their "Dream Team", but it gave me pause to think about who might be part of mine -- how about you? What group of gurus would you gather to turn your business around?
NOW: No Opportunity Wasted
What if you had 72 hours, $3,000 and the opportunity to pursue your dream?
The Discovery Channel asked this question last fall, and thousands of America's most imaginative, innovative and inspired responded. They picked 26 of the best and followed their stories in this new series that was conceived by The Amazing Race host, Phil Keoghan, who also plays host to this series.
It should be interesting to see the variety of 'dream activities', as well as the individual responses when these people are confronted with the opportunity 'put up or shut up.'
What dream would you live out with 3 days and $3,000?
NOW Premieres tonight at 8pm (EST) on The Discovery Channel.
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