Poor Poor NBC

I am greatly amused by the RSS feeds on my iGoogle page. Someone on NBC's legal team has been screwing up left and right. First, the big secret was announced that Scrubs was not actually ending its run this season, but rather moving to ABC from NBC for at least 18 more episodes. After this announcement NBC came out swinging with protests claiming that ABC was violating terms and blah blah blah.

Then... a few weeks ago it was announced that the rights to Project Runway went up for sale and Bravo (owned by NBC) didn't really jump in the bid on keeping the series. So, now Lifetime owns it. Once again NBC threw a hissy fit and sued, with no real grounds.

All I have to say is, quit being a whiny little bitch and hang on to your successful series because these RSS feeds do not exactly scream "NBC is awesome; we have GREAT brand health and care about our viewers and our series!!!!". Bad PR move, methinks.

Forget YouTube

YouTube is so yesterday, I've discovered the hottest thing in user generated content.....(drumroll).......shoetube (the dramatic intro sounded better in my head). Anyways shoetube is fabulous beyond belief with a daily shoe feature and videos of designers latest collections, I mean what more could you want out of life. If you think about it, shoes are one thing in your closet that will always fit no matter how much weight you gain or lose. I really think the idea of interest driven user generated video sites are the new wave. Instead of searching for random vids there are sites that are catering to your needs, and helping you connect with others through shared interests.

Cheerful caskets

If you live - or well, die - in England, you can take your favorite brand with you to the grave. In the homeland of black humor, funerals can be anything but black. Several clever companies offer colorful, customizable and even crazy coffins. Whether and to what degree the deceased benefit from the personalized caskets is a question of faith. But funerals are more for the living than for dead, anyways.

What seemed to be rather out of place at first sight, made sense after I forced myself to think about what nobody wants to think about in the first place: There is a slight chance that I might actually die one day. In that event there will likely be a casket and I might as well have it my way then. I like to think of myself as a fairly agreeable sight and somewhat entertaining company. So why not continue that tradition when I am no longer with us and provide some visual stimulation and a topic to chit-chat about at the afterparty. In that way, people who did not really know me will have a topic to small-talk about and people who did not actually like me won't have to pretend they did.

I don't usually like boxes in any size or style, however, I do like purses in all sizes and shoes in all shapes. I do not care about mahagony or pine board, but I sometimes have trouble to choose between a Caramel Capuccino and a Vanilla Latte. While hexagonal and rectangular sound like medical terms to me, I do know exactly what a Frontside 360 is. So, future husband and children, take this as a hint and choose between a huge handbag, a coffe cup (caffein-free please, I am already dead and don't need to stay awake) and a snowboard to bury me in. If you can't make up your mind, just take a casket from the Easy Rider collection. I am sure I will appreciate the postmortem irony.

Starbucks' WiFi Could Use a Little Cream and Sugar

Starbucks has been a popular player in the blogosphere lately but the company hasn’t been generating all positive vibes. Their time-out to train employees intended to emphasize their focus on quality, the throwback logo shows off their coffee making roots, and mystarbucksidea.com is aimed at getting consumers involved with the brand online. All well and good, but not when customers can’t even access the site for free from within Starbucks shops! Currently, Starbucks customers can pay for hourly WiFi passes, unless you are an AT&T broadband customer. Now riddle me this Howard Shultz, you make a site to engage with your consumers but you aren’t giving them the ability to access the site free of charge from within the walls of your stores? Talk about a missed epic opportunity. These customers are already paying $5 for a coffee and willingly choosing to spend their time inside Starbucks. They are loyal to the Starbucks brand, but still might not visit the mystarbucksidea site from home. By allowing customers to connect with the brand online and share their ideas while they are experiencing Starbucks, more useful truths and insights are likely to be posted and give the company the ideas that they had hoped for when creating this site.

Starbucks is missing the free trade boat on this one. Free WiFi access could be provided and users would be taken to mystarbucksidea.com and even prompt them to create an account. There is also potential to take this idea even further. Users could connect with other brand loyal customers within the cafes and converse with other online Starbucks customers around the world. I think Starbucks would want to leverage this portal and connect with their consumers on multiple levels all at one location, but I guess not. Now that Mr. Shutlz knows myyaybiaidea, maybe he should know that I always drink a Grande Americano. No cream or sugar.

The free WiFi/branded network conversation will continue later this week. Hang in there.

"social" is not a destination

Today I stumbled across this thought provoking article in the NYT. I love the quote about social not being a destination. I think that Google and Yahoo are smart to not try to directly compete with Facebook and MySpace. People are going to go where their friends are, and are NOT going to sign up for another social networking site just for the fun of it. In order for users to have a desire to use multiple social networks, the site must provide a unique utility (and NO I do not mean just new features or better privacy, I mean a completely new utility).

Here is a good analogy for you: AOL Instant Messenger holds the lead position for instant messaging. MSN and Yahoo never cracked AIM because when they came out (in the US at least) everyone and their friends were already on AIM. MSN and Yahoo only offered the essential same utility as AIM, but nobody's friends used it. So, 10 yeas later, AIM is still the leader. However, in my mind, this is all about to change. Facebook chat offers the same essential utility, but with no download, and most Facebook users have all of their AIM friends on Facebook. So, is Facebook chat going to be the demise of AIM? I think so, unless AIM adds some new incentives to download their software.

The sky is the limit... NOT!

On long, boring road trips, my brother and I used to kill time by looking at the clouds and identifying shapes in them. Eventually one of us would always spot a huge, white arch in the fluffy masses above us. We subsequently tried to convince our parents in the front seats that even the sky wanted to tell them it was time for a stop at the next McDonalds along the road. Maybe our attempts to claim heavenly support would have been more persuasive, had there been Flogos back in those days.

Flogos - flying logos - are essentially branded clouds. They are made out of soap like foam and gases that are lighter than air such as helium. Currently they come in three sizes between 24 and 48 inches that are popped out of an modified snow machine every 15 seconds. A computer generated and custom-made stencil inside the machine forms the foam in whatever shape is desired by a cloud client. According to the Flogo creators, two "international special effects creators" from Alabama, the airy ads can last anything between a few minutes and "an hour or so", depending on the customer's wish and cash. And not to mention the atmospheric conditions. They are eco and pilot-friendly since they literally vanish into thin air after 20 to 30 miles.

I suppose the in-house Flogo artists are the same ones who "designed" the website and their own logo. Maybe that's why I first thought their Atlanta Braves Tomahawk Flogo was actually a lofty Durex ad.

museums have it going on

contrary to a couple of bogus judges' opinions, i still think museums are going to be the next big place for advertisers. Reasons being:

1. We crave experience. But oil is $4 bucks a gallon, and Pearl Jam tickets are $300 a pop. So we will look for cheaper alternatives to fulfill our cravings for experiences.
2. These aren't your dad's museums. Technology makes every exhibit an interactive experience.
3. All this techy stuff is EXPENSIVE and museums will need the help of advertisers to finance all these super cool exhibits.

With that said here is a cool example of an interactive exhibit being shown at NYC's Museum of Modern Art called "I Want You To Want Me." Jonathan Harris and Sep Kamvar constructed this beautiful exhibit using profile content from online dating sites across the globe. Vistitors use interactive touch-screens to navigate through people's self-expressions. They can see what people say about themselves and what they are looking for in a partner.

The nerd in me thinks that this is such an awesome use of data. But don't trust my opinion, check it out for yourself:

YAYBIA GOT GOLD

When life give you lemons you...

FIND A NEW GOD!! Actually, nope, you PAINT THAT SHIT GOLD (or silver, or some ugly form of burnt orange.

Here at Yaybia, we encourage customization of your pages, so tag the internet to your desire. Then leave a comment with a link to your entry in the "Gallery."

Twitter Dee Twitter Doo (doo)

True, sometimes Twitter supplies a bit too much information. For the rest of the world, KEEP TWITTERING1

Not your average beverage

You have drunk Vitamin Water, you have listened to Powerthirst, you have seen Cucumber Pepsi, now check out this new "high efficiency survival beverage". I propose a celebrity partnership with Meat Loaf to further promote this potent potation.

If you think salad is for sissis, you just gonna love Meatwater. If you think vegetarians eat your food's food, you probably gonna chug-a-lug Beef Jerky in a bottle. If your dinner always involves pieces of a dead animal, you gonna want to down a liquid Schnitzel. If you love poultry, but think eggbeaters are mad roosters, you have finally found the solution for your daily dosis of meat without the annoying cooking part. You can even mix some fine wine into the new escargout flavour and serve it to your date for extra points on the sophistication scale. Now your infants can enjoy a real meal even before they are teething and meals-on-wheels just got a lot more efficient, too.

Juiciness has reached a whole new level.

Ad(Non)Sense

I ventured to albinoblacksheep.com today to relive the early 00's Internet in the form of viral Flash videos. My fave (and certainly yours) is The End of the World. I noticed something new this time, though:

Check out those Google AdSense results: "The Anti-Christ has already been revealed! Learn what effect this has had on God's Church" and "The Great Tribulation vs. Wrath of God. The Difference Makes a Difference." Now I'm sure that the people trying to view a page legimately titled "The End of the World" would appreciate the links to more information, but it definitely made me second-guess the legitimacy of AdSense. When topics and brands are being referred to sarcastically or in completely different contexts, the ads become completely irrelevant.

It's not the first time I've seen this happen, either. When Dooce used to have AdSense on her blog, her (generally) joking references to letting her daughter play with knives and plastic bags would result in ads directing me to the #1 Online Knife Reseller or What To Do With All Those Plastic Bags? Don't Throw Them Out! Should AdSense start giving more weight to META tags than to page content? Or should it use even a more complicated system of measuring inbound links to the page, or the related links that show up in search results, etc, to get a better sense of who's actually viewing each page?

I wish search engines would hurry up and grow eyes already.

Online to In-Store

Media is making it full circle... offline to online to offline again. For years now Oil of Olay has had an online application where you can enter your skin concerns and it will tell you which of their products will work best for you. It has gained tremendous success, for a microsite. Now, they are placing kiosks in Walmart where you can do they same thing in-store. What remains to be seen is if consumers will feel as comfortable entering their skin "symptoms" in-store as they do at home.

Chocolate for a Blog?

I feel the need to pop my Yaybia cherry. While this may not pertain directly to advertising, I still find it relevant to Yaybia. Apparently Blogher.com recently released a study regarding the passion women feel for their blogs, and what they would give up to keep writing and reading them:

55% would give up alcohol
49% would give up their PDAs
42% would give up their i-Pod
43% would give up reading the newspaper
20% would give up chocolate

What would you give up?

Eggcellent. (Sorry, that was definitely not a Turbopun.)

I don't have much time to elaborate on this execution, but I think it's a clever and simple exaggeration for the Sony Microvault Tiny:


(If you couldn't tell, that blue thing in the top right hand corner is the Microvault.)

Simple, gets the point across. Me likey.

T Minus 5 Days

On behalf of the lovely ladies of Yaybia, I'd like to reassure you all that the dry spell of posts lately is due to an event we're preparing for this coming Saturday. It's taking 150% of our time and we'll be delighted to return to our normal schedules next week. So hang in there until then, and we'll try to do the same.

Zoo York

Killer promo idea

The Future of Social Media

The future of social media has recently been challenged, and it got me thinking, how will social media fit into my life when I get old. Yeah old[er]! I have grown up with instant messaging, writing blogs, Facebook, MySpace, and niche social sites. Participating in online social conversation and media sharing is a daily activity, and my current lifestyle allows for that. But, what happens when I graduate (initial Facebook users are getting ready to purchase their caps ‘n gowns)? Or when I get get my first job (LinkedIn is more static than social..)? Or when I get married (yikes!)? Have kids and only hang out with my friends once a month at dinner parties? Where does the social media that I am used to fit into my future lifestyle? I agree that Facebook is not the end all be all online social medium that I will use to connect with my friends, but what will the future (next 5-8 years) entail for social media early adopters? I don’t think Twitter is the answer either. The solution currently doesn’t exist but I will bet you approximately twelve dollars that the first person/company to nail that down will experience market share and revenues larger than they would ever expect. Don’t underestimate our love of social media. We love sharing and we’ll continue to do so in the future, but not with current social networks. So who’s ready to give us what we’ll need in five years? READY … BREAK!

Converse: you are twisted.

But we love you.

Converse has a pretty sweet page that leads into their website. You should all check it out. I know it'll be a hit with all of the ladies.

CLICK HERE!

I hope you enjoyed it as much I did.

Peace out.

Apocalypse is Near

All I can say about this new Cadbury commercial is "what the hell?" Fallon-London produced this monstrosity of pimped out airport vehicles racing to the God given voice of Freddie Mercury. I know Queen was a British rock band but that doesn't give the Brits a right to exploit their songs for the sale of chocolate. Freddie, you're still a legend in my heart even though they've sold you to the world of confectionery candies like some eighties one-hit wonder. RIP F.M.

Scionspeak.com

Scion is definitely down with the sickness with the advent of their new microsite, scionspeak.com. Here you can create your own crest from a series of wicked templates and strange colors. Although the site fails to persuade me to buy one of their hideously designed Honda Element meets Chevy mini van vehicles, I dig their attempt at coolness, and think this is another great way to stay fresh with their line of economy class cars.

Mobile Musings, Part 1: Sports Get It Right

(Welcome to the first in a series on one of our favorite topics here at Yaybia: mobile convergence.)

This week, AdAge has five compelling arguments why 2008 won't be the year of mobile. I argue they should amend their headline to say that 2008 won't be the year of mobile marketing, but some mobile content is getting pretty damn close.

With yesterday being the Twins home opener, I checked twinsbaseball.com in the morning. While the site redirected me to a text-heavy page clearly not designed for an iPhone or Blackberry, the mobile version is pleasantly easy to navigate, with the headlines and scores I want right at the top. Better yet, the alert package I signed up for is phenomenal. I get scores, lead changes after the 7th inning, and videos of home runs texted to me every game. All I had to do was enter my phone number and agree to tack $4 a month onto my bill, well worth it for the customized, instant content I want to get on the go.

That's what a mobile application should be: easy to use, to-the-point, and full of content. The MLB isn't the only one that understands consumers' mobile cravings, either. In early January, ESPN actually received more mobile hits than PC-based hits in a 24-hour period for the same section of one of its NFL pages. An article in today's MediaPost says, "Mobile is about a 'right now' experience. Just as TiVo shifts time to change the way people watch television, mobile changes the way people can consume content."

Companies that understand the need for local emphasis in mobile content will also succeed. What if Starbucks worked with carriers or manufacturers to develop an application that always shows the closest coffeeshop based on a user's GPS data? Or what if search got more specific than zip codes, and Google became intuitive enough to understand exactly what I want when I text "pizza hut washington ave & university ave minneapolis" to GOOG411?

I agree with AdAge that the ad industry doesn't have it yet. But it's always played catch-up with new technologies. We all remember watching 1950s TV spots in history of ad classes and seeing basically a print ad with sound. And it's only been the past few years that truly interactive and creatively compelling web advertising has become the norm, rather than flashing banners demanding we CLICK HERE! I see great potential for advertisers to sponsor instant alerts like the Twins baseball ones I mentioned before. I'd gladly take a five-second Jimmy John's spot before my home run video highlight if it offset the $4/month the Twins are currently charging me. Right now, it could be key to partner with a content provider who gives mobile consumers that instant information they demand--especially the weather, news, and sports networks that are getting better and better at understanding mobile needs.

(One last note: One of the reasons AdAge has no faith in 2008 for the year of mobile is poor penetration. But as young adults who have grown up with technology get off their parents' family plans and wireless carriers follow the lead of Sprint and its unlimited everything plan, the number of people with data plans is going to be insane before we know it. I, for one, can't wait.)

Gmail = the new DeLorean?

So, I was going through my normal routine of checking my Gmail, when all of a sudden... BAM! Marty McFly crashed into me on his hoverboard. Okay, I'm lying, but now Google is offering us the chance to pull a Michael J. Fox and go back in time... at least in the digital world.


Were you supposed to send sweet old Aunt Peggy an email on her birthday and forgot? Don't fret... you can send her an email NOW and time stamp it for a previous date! (You tricky bastard you.) I mean, let's be honest, that old bitty probably doesn't check her email every minute like you do anyway.

You only get 10 custom time stamp emails a year, so you must choose your situations wisely. So, I'll open up the question of: in what situation would this Gmail Custom Time be most useful to you? (My personal response would be if my boyfriend broke up with me, I would lie and tell him that I already wrote him a Dear John email, but he must not have received it... and then I'd send him one time stamped for the previous day. Tee-hee.)

And don't fret kiddies, Google has an e-flux capacitor involved... they're not fucking around.

Oops... I Ated a Bunny.

Sometimes brands take themselves too seriously... and let's face it, though us advertising nerds spend countless hours determining which typeface is going to jolt consumers into purchasing nylons, advertising really isn't a life or death situation. So, after a 4-day inner tug-of-war of whether or not I like the new Swedish Fish ads or not, the results are in:

(Drum roll....)

YES! I do.

Candy was never supposed to be a serious thing, and these silly, playful, and somewhat insane ads do the trick for me. I definitely will never forget these images:


A syrupy bunny... it gets me every time.

Maybe it's just the LOL Cat lover in me that sees potential copycatting among Internet geeks ("I thunk the waffle was pillow." "Somewon forgotz da peenut butter and jelliez.")... who knows? But I have decided that these ads are just random enough to spark my curiosity, but not so much that it freaks me out.

Hopefully my first yaybia post did not disappoint. If it did, go to my blog (hitmysweetspot.blogspot.com) to see the new yaybie if you haven't already. That's right, I'm not above shameless self promotion.