Unoriginality Strikes Again...And Again

We have another entry in the bowel churning fad of "i" names. Two entries to be exact.

The first comes from the ever so yuppie area in San Francisco called the Marina. I was there trying to get some food this past weekend, when I pulled into a parking structure and saw this:



I am actually not surprised by this. I would almost expect some marina tool to try and spruce up his parking garage by adding this. You can park in the iSpot, go to the iRestaurant, tip the iWaitress and then kiss your iGirlfriend. Ughhhhhhhh.

The second comes via Adam Bergman and the SkyMall on United Airlines. A magazine where useless products and “i”names go hand in hand. I reveal to you the iSqueez:

Why is it called iSqueez? Because it clearly squeezes your feet and calves. And when their product team couldn’t think of a name, some genius throughout the obvious. I mean at this point you might as well start branding your terds with an “i” in the front. Thanks Brookstone.

That’s it for the latest edition of the “i” fiasco. I can’t talk about this anymore today because it just bothers me that much.

Isobar In A Nutshell

In case you were like me and didn't really know what Isobar did in the advertising game, take 8 minutes out of your life and educate yourself here.

"Dark Knight" Delivers the Goods

Why so Serious? Well it's because I got 4 hours of sleep last night thats why. But it was for a good reason. After work my girlfriend, friends and I decided to wait in line for 6 hours to see the 12:01 showing of The Dark Knight at the AMC Van Ness 14. Dedication my friends. Let me tell you, I would have waited 12 hours to see this film. Notice I say "film" there. That's because this wasn't your run of the mill action/super hero movie. This had every bit the panache of a cinematic masterpiece. Director Christopher Nolan and his cast and crew can rest easy knowing they have made history with their work.

There was a lot of hype around the movie because of Heath Ledger and his tragic passing. Much deserved hype. His performance, whether dead or alive is nothing short of amazing and should take it's lion share of awards next winter. He will have forever embedded himself in Hollywood folklore having passed on such a theatrical high.

Another hot topic was that Heath Ledger's portrayal of the Joker far supersedes that of Jack Nicholson's. Let me clear the air here. Heath Ledger gives a flawless performance as a darker more vindictive Joker in a darker more malevolent installment of the Batman franchise. No one can question that. He was incredible. As was Nicholson in an entirely different version of the story. People forget that although they both played the Joker, it is a different character entirely.

Jack Nicholson's character has a name beyond the Joker in Jack Napier and is transformed into that criminal. As far as we are concerned with Ledger's Joker in Dark Night, he's just a nut looking to inflict chaos in Gotham's citizens and expose Batman for who he is. Not much background is given. Each actor does the most with the feel of each movie. Picture Nicholson's Joker as P. Diddy in Mo' Money Mo' Problems with the flash and glam. Ledger's Joker is more of the underground figure head who doesn't care about recognition, just chaos. Both 10's in my book. People should go back and watch the original Batman and remember that is was done almost 20 YEARS AGO and Nicholson’s performance was top class.

With all the hype around Heath, it's easy to overlook the performances of the others. But only a fool would do so. Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Morgan Freeman, Gary Oldman and Aaron Eckhart all give top-notch performances. Maggie Gyllenhaal is less than desirable. I don't know, maybe it's because she looks like Deputy Dog or Harry Redknapp.

The movie as a whole is a 9.9 in my book. It’s more than an action movie in that it applies a philosophical element to it to go along with gadgets, explosions and thrills. I am not going to give anything away here because I want everyone to experience the film the same way I did. Please, when you are done reading, buy your ticket online at http://www.moviefone.com/, http://www.movietickets.com/ or http://www.fandango.com/ and go see it. If you are a Batman fan like myself, you will not be disappointed. Hopefully you won’t have to wait as long as I did. In the end though, I earned it and it tasted f-ing sweet.

Radiohead's "House of Cards" Video

Radiohead continues to go where no other band has gone before with their latest video for "House of Cards"off of their latest album In Rainbows. Believe it or not, it has been filmed without the use of a camera or light.

This is just the latest Radiohead move as they continue to revolutionize the music industry. When they released In Rainbows, they made it available solely online and allowed consumers to pay whatever they wanted for it. I personally paid 8 pounds ($16) becuase I have stolen enough music in my life. It made me feel good. Figured I needed the Karma points.

Apparently this video was filmed using 3D plotting technologies. I have no idea what that means but it sounds really f-ing cool. Don't believe me, see the video for yourself:

Anheuser-Busch Decides to Dance With InBev

What does it take to sell away your family empire? Apparently, $52 Billion. It was reported yesterday that the board of directors of Anheuser-Busch have agreed to terms with Belgium's InBev to combine the two companies forming "Anheuser-Busch InBev".

With these two brewing titans joining forces like Rocky and Apollo Creed, Anheuser-Busch InBev now controls over a quarter of the world's beer market.

For those of you who aren't familiar with InBev, they are the makers of one of my favorite beers, Belgium's Stella Artois as well as Brazil's Brahma, Argentina's Quilmes, China's Sedrin, South Korea's Cass and Germany's Beck's to name a few.

According to Tom Pirko, president of California consulting firm Bevmark, "This is truly one of those win-win situations where everyone should be pleased as punch". InBev CEO Carlos Brito "got what he wanted — took down the big prize. And (Anheuser-Busch) shareholders got a major premium that would have been in doubt for a long time to come."

Call me crazy, but selling off a family owned company that has been around since the Civil War to please some greedy shareholders seems a bit, um, sad. You always thought of a Budweiser as an American beer brewed by an Ameican family. The "American Dream" in action. German's coming to the US an creating an empire to be run for generations.

It seems today that people are lazy. What happened to competition. Every major company teams up with the next so that 4 compaines in the world own everything. Microsoft might be merging with Yahoo!. I don't know. It just bothers me. Pretty soon Ford will merge with Toyota and the Yankees will join forces with the Red Sox. Well, let's not get carried away.

But, after only 2 years at the helm, August A. Busch IV has sold his family's empire. His great grandfather spun so hard in his grave that he popped up in China. Hey, at least he can have Sedrin while he's down there and feel half as good about it.

Nike Understands the Soccer Fan

I don't want to favor Nike over others but when it comes to digital, they are hands down doing the best work in the football/soccer industry. They truly embrace digital as a place where they can strengthen their brand by providing quality content for an amazing user experience.

Nike refers to these as "Brand Utilities". Their latest extension of this for soccer lovers is Boot Camp, where they have a number of videos from the pros showing you how they trained to get where they are today. It is described as a "World-class training program designed to turn you into a high-performance soccer player." It even offers:

• Weekly Video Drills


• Inspiration From Top Players


• Personal Stats


• Worldwide Player Rankings


• And boasts a "30 % improvement in your power, speed and stamina"

It's basically a digital soccer class you can take for either 4 or 6 weeks. Genius.

This latest installment is of brand utility is of no surprise to me. I remember the early stages of nikefootball.com where they allowed kids from all over the world to upload their tricks and moves for all to rate, judge and mimic. Every practice and summer day for me was spent with friends trying to emulate what we saw on "NikeFootball". No other soccer brand I can think of had this sort of power over their community. If you loved soccer, it was the only site to visit.

The same holds true today. Fact is, Nike truly understands what soccer/football lovers want to see and experience. They provide users with something to take away with them every time they visit. Something new. Something to talk about. Something they've never seen. Whatever they experience they are sure to tell others about.

Let's see what Adidas has in response....

Tips From An Expert

My colleague and idol Jim Nichols had an article published on iMedia Connection today that I think everyone should read. It's a great piece where Jim outlines 13 steps for proper selling techniques that can be applied to everyone, not just "sales people". I'll give you a teaser of what you have to look forward to:

"8.) Show excitement for your idea. For others to believe in something you are selling, they need reassurance that YOU believe in it. I once heard an art director say, "Well, here's an idea we threw together that seems to do the job." Translation: No thought went into this, and we have no idea if it will deliver. You should be going to clients with ideas you believe in -- that you are excited about. And you should show them that excitement in the way you present."

You can find the article here. Enjoy.

Release The Technorati Spiders

Technorati Profile

Nike Uses Emerging Media In Hong Kong

Nike has begun executing a mobile marketing campaign in Hong Kong to promote its latest T90 soccer cleat.

The campaign is a collaboration between The Hyperfactory, the self-proclaimed "most innovative mobile company on the planet" and ad agency McCann Erickson, who were responsible for the outdoor creative that Hong Kong residents are seeing.

Nike is hoping to target footwear crazy teens by placing hidden codes in Nike stores and subway stations throughout the city. The goal is for people to see these codes and take a picture of them with their mobile device. After doing so, a 3D image of the T90 cleat and a soccer ball appear on their phone. It will also disclose a special code that is for the specific location where the photo was taken and will send them to another location.

According to Giselle Ibromovich of Mobile Marketer, “Once consumers get the next location, they then can text in these special codes to find out the next secret destination. Texts will also count as a sweepstakes entry to win Nike merchandise.

The codes invite users to download a mobile application that allows them to view the T90 shoe from every angle in 3D on their mobile screens.The more codes that consumers collect, the more chances they have to win Nike gear.”

Nike felt the timing was right as EURO 2008 was recently in full swing and as well as the Olympics arriving in Beijing in a month. The Hyperfactory plans to roll-out the campaign in other cities as well but has yet to make anything official.

New 3G iPhone...I Don't Care

I just received an email from Apple regarding the July 11th release of the new 3G iPhone. Let me tell ya, I don't give a rats a-hole. "Wow, it now has a headphone jack for all headphones." This is an amazing technological advancement. I can see why it took so long to release it.

I'm a BlackBerry guy and am very satisfied with my purchase. I've played around with friends' iPhones and would much rather use my phone and its WAP sites, which I find much easier to use than having to pinch the screen and all that other nonsense. ESPN looks just the same if not better WAP-ified.

In fact, I have many friends who have iPhones that expressed to me their desire to go back to a BlackBerry because of their dissatisfaction with the Apple product.

Well, to each his own and I prefer BlackBerry. Ya it doesn't have a camera (pending on which one you have) but not everything needs to be documented. I don't get all hot & bothered when Apple releases their latest gadget to get people to spend even more money on their products, for no reason, like the MacBook Air. It's skinny. So is Amy Winehouse. Big Deal.

iCarly? WTF!

So this morning I was on iTunes buying a song. An amazing song at that. I discovered it while reading my esteemed colleagues blog Oldest Living Digital Marketer* Tells All. The song is called "Praan" by Gary Schyman. I strongly recommend purchasing it.

Anyway, while on iTunes a looked to the left to find in the "Top TV Episodes"category a show called "iCarly". The show is put on Nickelodeon and follows Carly and her friends try to mange their oh so difficult lives in the 8th grade. Makes me wonder if the shows I watched on Nickelodeon growing up were this crappy. Eh, they probably were. But "Wild & Crazy Kids" was quality. I don't care what you say.

I did a post a while back about my strong dislike for these kinds of names and finding this show only further fuels the fire of disdain. EVERY EPISODE BEGINS WITH "i". For example: "iWanna Stay With Spencer". Unbelievable. Because of this latest finding I am going to start posting weekly findings of stupid iNames I come across. So stay tuned for that as my personal quest to rid the world of these atrocities of unoriginality strolls onward.

Naughty or Nice. Which Are You?

The people at Rapleaf have come up with a fascinating technology that allows you to see what kind of persona you have on the net. Their tool allows you to "keep track of the searchable information about yourself that's on the net, and manage that information accordingly."

For instance, I'm a 5 which means I'm neither an A-Hole or a nice guy. On the scale a 10 means you are an angel that fell from heaven and would not utter a single word of negativity. A 1 means you were spawned in the depths of hell and should probably seek counseling of some sort.

Intrigued to find out what kind of rep you are dragging with you around the web, click here, enter your email address and click "look up". After this click on "reputation" and VIOLA!, there is your rep. Check it out.