Johnnie Walker Goes Mobile In Singapore

In an effort to piggy-back the buzz surrounding the first ever night race in Formula 1 history, which took place in Singapore this past weekend, Johnnie Walker unveiled a mobile initiative to help race visitors find they way to all the Singapore hot-spots during race weekend. The mobile personal assistant, otherwise known as Jennie, also helped race fans stay up to date with the latest Formula 1 gossip surrounding the event. According to CMDGlobal:

The venerable whiskey brand announced plans for the
digital personal assistant late last year and has launched
it as a bespoke mobile guide to what for one weekend will
be the fastest city on earth.

The mobile DPA also known as Jennie will keep subscribers
updated on the race, the trendiest bars, hotels and restaurants
as well as providing responsible drinking messages and
numbers to call a cab home.

The platform is being promoted via SMS, email, promotional
material in bars and via brand ambassadors at key venues.
Bluetooth booths at important locations around Singapore will
also make sure the mobile PDA is a must-have for race fans.

Jennie was developed by OgilvyOne’s Digital Innovation Lab and is being planned to be rolled out in other markets like Singapore’s. Johnnie Walker is among other established brands that are finding new and inventive ways to interact with customers. Stay tuned in a Formula 1 event location near you, as Jennie may be showing you around town.

Nintendo Wii Destroys YouTube Via Wario

Nintendo has made an awesome play in promoting its release of Wario Land: Shake it by destroying YouTube.

Now that I have your attention, click here to watch Wario's gameplay break apart the standard YouTube layout. This is a great example of creating a good viral campaign to promote a product. Hats off to Nintendo for thinking outside the box.

Californication Is Back

The hit Showtime show (and personal favorite of mine) Californication is back with its Season 2 premiere this weekend. I'm looking forward to another season of Handy Moody and his various escapades with scantilly clad women. I can't help but wonder if David Duchovny's character had a direct affect on his admitance of being addicted to porn a month ago.


Anyway, above is a preview of the upcoming season which looks like a doozie. If you would like to see more about the upcoming season click here. Showtime is even offering people who visit the site the ability to view the premiere online before this Sunday's opening. Quite the play if you ask me.

If you are a fan of the other Showtime shows like Dexter or Weeds, you should check out the Showtime site as they had done a great job of leveraging the power of the web. Enjoy the premiere.

Oldest Living's Walker Is Getting Use

2008 blogging phenom Jim Nichols is on the move as he has changed his highly touted blogs URL to www.oldestliving.com/.

To commemorate his move, Oldest Living has come screaming out of the gates with a post containing a list of 202 links to viral marketing videos, minisites, etc. You read it correctly, 202. You can see the post with all the videos here.

If you are new to his blog, you are going to one day thank me for introducing it to you becuase it is contains a wealth of knowledge. You will go from a zero to a hero just by reading. And if you are already a hero, you can tack a "super" in front of that now. Enjoy.

Yearbook Yourself!

Ever looked through your parents old high school yearbooks and made fun of them for their wacky hairdo's? Well I did and still do. Now us youngsters can see what we would have looked like during the 70's (or any decade for that matter) with a new site called Yearbook Yourself.

Clearly running off of the back of the success of Office Max's "Elf Yourself", Yearbook Yourself allows you to see what you would have looked like in the 50's, 60's, 70's etc. based on trendy hairstyles of those times.

Give it a look during your break or if you just need to kill some time and put a mop-top on that pretty face of yours. I'm sure the ladies out there will use it to create new Facebook profile pics or something to that effect. Women.

Do You Hate Setanta?

England's The Spoiler is asking readers if they hate Setanta or not becuase of the unavailability of watching England World Cup Qualifiers. As a Setanta subscriber here in the U.S. I too was amazed at the games being shown this weekend on Setanta. Armenia vs Turkey was a real barn burner. Followed by another highly touted game in Denmark and Hungary's thrilling 0-0 draw.

If you wanted to watch England vs. Andorra, it was on a pay-per-view for around $20. Not a chance I was going to pay further to watch England play such a minnow of an opponent. Pretty much as an American and footie fan, Setanta is only good for Barclays Premiership matches and nothing further. I can't cram into pubs at 6am anymore any pay $20 at the door to stand shoulder to shoulder with Chelsea fans. The couch is much more pleasing.

Anyway, if you'd like to chime in on The Spoiler's poll, you can go here and give your two cents.

Seinfeld & Bill Gates Team Up In New Microsoft Ad

Here is the new Microsoft ad which features Bill Gates (naturally) and Jerry Seinfeld. I don't really have much to ad to this post on such a fine San Francisco Monday other than Seinfeld adds his usual class to a seemingly dull product. The contrast between Seinfeld's comedic genius and Gates' dry demeanor makes for a compelling combo. Hopefully there will be more to come from Microsoft featuring the two as anything Seinfeld does I am up for.

My brain isn't working today so there will be nothing further to add other than the drivel you just read above. Watch the video. Laugh. Enjoy your day. Churro.

Major Mistake @ Carat

A major error was made @ the Carat NY office from the head of HR. An e-mail that was supposed to go to executives regarding plans for future lay-offs, was accidentally sent to everyone in the agency. The e-mail, which was supposedly only sent to the Carat NY office, was then leaked to Advertising Age which you can read here.

The Ad Age article outlines that there were two memos leaked to them from a unknown Carat source:

1. Carat Reconstruction Demo.
2. Carat Restructuring Communication Plan

This is a major issue for Carat. With the problems of losing business already at the forefront the last thing they needed was to have to deal with a blunder of this magnitude. It will be interesting to see how CEO Sarah Fay deals with the situation. The axe may swing higher than originally expected.