Second Favorite Commercial of All Time

You should remember that my favorite commercial of all time is Coca-Cola Ringtone. But the Vancouver Olympics and P&G have given me my second favorite.

Can't embed but click for the YouTube

Perfectly simple, perfectly emotional, perfectly on brand. I cannot get enough of this spot. Love.

Google Buzz - The Hive is Missing Context

Not only will this be the 15th post you read about Google Buzz today, but if you're connected to one of our writers, you'll potentially end up seeing it 4 times because it will appear in your Reader, Twitter stream, (maybe) Facebook news feed, and now all up in your Google Buzz. No, I don't blame you for not wanting to see this post 5 times. I don't even want to see this post 5 times.

Libby and I have initial thoughts.

Erin: i don't think i like buzz
Libby: i don't like buzz. no context.
Erin: it's TOO much. i already follow these people. it's just repeat content. it's google friendfeed. skip it.
Libby: right! no, it's friendfeed plus the awkwardness of watching people you don't know comment on friends' FB statuses. why didn't google realize that friendfeed sucks for a reason? if i want tweets i go to twitter. if i want fb i go to the book. if i want flickr, usually people cross post it on FB. otherwise i arrive there because i'm searching for something.

This is not a new conversation for us. Maybe not for you either. Social aggregation is intended to make life easier, but it lacks context. In the land of 140 characters, you can expect conversations and shared items to be short, fun and drunk. On Facebook, you'll receive updates of photo albums along side Farmville invites that won't go away. In Reader, you get fresh content from marketing blogs and LOLcats from Alicia. Bringing all of this together doesn't simplify life; it actually makes me think harder when I try to skim through headlines and keep getting tripped up trying to identify where things came from.

Maybe groups/folders/tags will help, maybe not. Currently I'm telling Buzz to buzz off. (Libby wrote that, blame her.)

And maybe in life, too.

me: all you have to do to succeed in social media is be nice and be real

Erin: fact



Debate in the comments.

Case Study in Awesome

You know that feeling you get see something you wish you'd thought of? The one that reminds you why you love this godforsaken industry in the first place?

@UrBaconMeCrazy gives me that delicious bacon-y feeling. Perfect fit for how consumers actually use Twitter. Specifically: conversational tone, Twitpics, and random "I'm eating lunch" / "I love bacon" posts. Good job, Wendy's. You made me remember why I love advertising (and bacon).

One strike against them: they have yet to respond to Lam's inquiry...

Brand Inspiration From Columbus, Ohio

I’m always on the lookout for inspirational thinking, brands and ways of connecting people to make my job, life and my shared experiences better. I came across a few wonderful examples this weekend while I was exploring Columbus, Ohio.

Let your people be part of the brand. I stumbled upon Paul Robinett, a tiny aroma therapy candle shop, and the storefront window sealed the deal for getting me into the store. The giant Polaroid photos of customers sharing their excitement and store experiences helped me understand what this super simple store was all about. The minimalistic brand was brought to life through the quotes and smiles of its customers. Now only if I could have gotten my face in the window!

Create shared experiences. The Columbus Museum of Art had a fantastic George Tooker exhibit that included opportunities for visitors to share thoughts about a specific painting or theme represented in the work. Art museums are often experienced in silence while each visitors creates their own story about the work presented before them. These exhibit extensions invited people to share their thoughts and it was refreshing to see similar interpretations and ones I'd never think of, even after seven beers. Even though I was alone in the room, I felt like I shared an experience with everyone that posted their stories on the wall and in the book.

Inspire passionate fans. I had never been to Columbus. I had no idea what I was in for. But the one thing that I'll never forget is how excited everyone was about their city. The people I met were eager to to share secrets of the city, local hotspots and their opinion on the best neighborhood. The community was full of passionate residents that truly care about investing in the city and foster its growth. These Columbus advocates had a much larger impact on my view of the city than the sights and shops.

The most authentic experiences are rarely brand related, but they always help to remember that I should strive to work harder to create work that is geniune.

It's For You

I had only seen it on TV once. Jameson and I were watching Whose Line Is It Anyway in my living room back in high school and this spot came on:



We looked at each other in disbelief at how good it was. I'd like to say that was the moment that I knew I wanted to be in advertising, but that's probably not true. But this spot has been my favorite ever since.

AND TONIGHT I SAW IT ON FOX!!! The ending was edited to say "Open Happiness" to match the new campaign, and it's promoting 99 cent 16-oz bottles. The fact that the spot transcends five years and two campaigns proves how much it truly embodies the Coke brand. I know that Nokia ringtone is on its way out, so I won't call it timeless, but it's as close as I've ever seen.

LOVE IT!!!

Yaybia Weekly Link Love: March 21 - March 27, 2009

ON THE WEBS

• Fargo is flooding. I normally hate on ND but I really hope everyone can pull through. Volunteers are mobilized via FB and Twitter.
• KFC (i cannot type that without typing FKC) wants to save your ass while before making your ass bigger.
• Get excited! Where the Wild Things Are trailer hit the webs. How many times have I watched it? Ohh so many.
• Why go to SXSW when all the recaps are online? Ok ok, just trying to make myself feel better about not being able to go. But seriously, good recaps!

ON YAYBIA

• Suze is back in the game with posts about our two fave video sites, YouTube and Hulu.
• Hey brands, Fargo is seriously flooding. What are you doing to halp?
• IDK if even customization will save magazines, but Time is giving it a go.

LOVERS & FRIENDS

• Our buddies over at Fallon launched a new site and a "life streaming" tool called Skimmer. The design is pretty, but let's not forget that Friendfeed failed because it's a clusterfuck. Two takeaways: we are SO glad that our companies don't publicize our tweets or blog posts and a big congrats for DOING instead of just TALKING.
• Boring? On Yaybia? As Griner puts it, "Adults use salty language. Adults have political opinions. Adults drink alcoholic beverages." We'll never be boring online . So uh, let's go drink.
  

LAWL

• Happiest funeral I've ever seen.
• Libby might die if Erin isn't online every minute that she is.
  
• NO, REN. NO! Relive your childhood and be glad you weren't a child star.

Ad that makes me remember why I love this

Youthful Idealism

My ideal agency looks less like this:

and more like this:

Planners would touch every strategy.  Media and creative would be BFFs.  Every department would get access to everyone else's research and insights.  There would be more research, more teamwork, more brainstorming, more internal presentations and (gasp) more meetings. 

Hopeless naïveté?  'Sac envy?  Gen Y "Everyone wins!" mentality?  Probably.  I know these ideas are impractical in most scenarios.  But while I know we can't eat sunshine and shit rainbows, occasionally I remember what made me fired up about advertising in the first place and I'm compelled to share it, for fear of forgetting.

What's on your Dream Agency wishlist?

The Science of Watchmen - University of Minnesota

Are you ready to have your mind blown?  Twice?  Good.  

1. UMN is rocking everything with social media.  Are you?

2. The science of Watchmen. Are you kidding me? Whoah. Numbers. Physics. Movies. Awesome. 

This is the top video featured on YouTube today! 

So aside from awesome media placement, why is this video so great?

1. Relevant.  Watchmen opens this weekend and even the Yaybia crew will be checking it out at the IMAX theater.  

2. Interesting.  Despite being a bit long for my Internet attention span, I was mesmerized by the professor and the way the movie clips were integrated into his explanations. 

3. Credible.  Even if I put my Gopher roots aside, the physics department at the University of Minnesota is top notch.

4. On strategy. Last year the U lanched the Driven to Discover campaign and they OWN it.  Everything on campus is branded, and it's a public-facing badge that highlights the University's commitment to being one of the top research institutions in the country.  This video is just one example of putting their goals into action.  Good job again to OLSON for a great campaign.

Oh oh oh oh, this is a brand new day...

Earlier this week the Fallon blog pointed out all the optimism-laden commercials on the air right now, including two from Target:

I'm absolutely in love with both these commercials and stop to watch them any time they're on.  Perfection.  The campaign acknowledges the recession without making light of it, and translates Target's "Expect More, Pay Less" to be especially relevant.  You can expect the coffeeshop experience but pay $25.  And the gorgeous, compelling art direction + whimsical music = unmistakeably Target.  It really makes you believe (at least here in Mpls, Target Homeland) that you can create your own slice of this perfect world with the well-designed products you get at Target.

I swear I will never get sick of this campaign.

More on the Ad Bowl XLIII

When NBC's $3MM price tag for Super Bowl spots was first announced last winter, I posted some thoughts on why a spot in the big game was still a good value for some brands, especially when they used online tools like YouTube to maximize the exposure they got from their ads.  

With T-4 hours until the big game, I've already seen some big advertisers taking advantage of buzz on Twitter:

Sobe has been tweeting as Lee the Lizard since January 21st and is specifically promoting their 3D Super Bowl spot. Currently he has 454 followers.

The E-Trade baby has also been tweeting for a few weeks, mostly about Super Bowl hype.  E-Trade baby has 318 followers.

Both these brands are making sure they have a promotional presence on Twitter, which is great, but has definitely been done before.  Doing something totally new:  H&R Block.  

H&R Block was an early adopter of Twitter and has been tweeting for over a year.  They have over 1400 followers and using Twitter to give away copies of TaxCut Premium through the month of January.  But rather than use their existing branded H&R Block Twitter account to talk up their spot, the brand is taking a decidedly more creative route.

The premise of H&R Block's Super Bowl spot is that Death comes to his accountant, Murray, to complain that H&R Block's Second Look found mistakes that Murray had made.  Without giving too much away, I'll just say that the spot ends in a cliffhanger, so viewers will be interested to see the rest of the story.  Murray has been tweeting @TaxGuyMurray for the last few days, setting up his character.  When the spot airs, Murray's story will continue online for 38 days (the time period mentioned in the spot).

This idea is great because it extends the momentum surrounding the creative executions at the Super Bowl.  It's the first time I've seen a creative idea--not a long-term brand spokesperson or PR rep--live on through Twitter, where followers can interact with him and even influence the way the story unfolds.  H&R Block gets the way people want to use social media.  They don't want brands screaming about how great they are in their feed every day--they want value, whether it's in the form of promotion or entertainment.  I'm excited to see where this goes, and how all the brands on Twitter try to maximize their Super Bowl exposure.

Go follow Murray and see what happens...and look for his spot in the second quarter!

Yaybia Love from NYC

Last night Lam, D, and Tsang enjoyed drinks with Matt from AgencySpy in NYC.  Turns out that ever since The Great Nipple Post of 2008, Matt has been a big Yaybia fan.  Today he posted an awesome call for AgencySpy readers to share advice with us industry newbies--and even hinted that interested parties should offer Lam a job!  I can't lie, I nearly had a heart attack when I saw the Yaybia logo under AgencySpy's.  Made me feel like our little blog is growing up, aww...

Thanks to Matt for the link love and help in getting us career (and blog) advice!  And Yaybia readers:  what's the best piece of job-hunting advice you've ever received?  Comment!

Yaybia Year End!

2008 was Yaybia's best year ever! Okay, only year ever. We didn't actually launch the blog until March. But it was still a year full of ups and downs, new friends and readers, and the occasional nipple. Here's a quick rundown of our most notable posts from 2008:

• The obsession that started it all: VitaminWater, our very first post and the Sex and the City series.
• Our first shot at vlogging was a video to Advergirl.
• NERD ALERT!
• C'mon, our name is YAYBIA. You should expect some posts about boobies:
• We fought with people.
• We worked to involve our readers.
• We showed our undying love for Minneapolis including Save the Walls, produced by our friends at ThreeVolts and Atomic Playpen.
• And our acclaimed Spotlight series that showcased our home agencies (Erin, Jacey , Libby, Danielle )
• And just in time for 2009, we finally posted our bios!

Thanks to all of you loyal readers for a fantastic first year. We're looking forward to keeping you entertained with all things nerdy, noteworthy, or nipply in advertising in 2009!

Yaybia Asks Advergirl About Social Media

This is a video response to the two videos that Advergirl posted this week. She asked readers to submit more questions, so here are some of ours. If any of our readers have questions for us, we'd love to hear them!



Better source file can be found here!

The (Online) Tipping Point: Influencers, Who are They?

I've been thinking a lot about influencers lately so this has become another "Erin read good book and wants to learn more by applying it to her life" post.  As I stay up for the better part of the night writing a paper related to this very topic, I'm going to throw out some comments (brain vomit) here as well.  Might as well make it a two for one right!?

In the real world, influencers are built based on experiences, knowledge, and by having the right resources, but online, we all start at the same level.  No one is born into Twitter with 1,000 followers.  No one magically has the skills to create blogs that are all of a sudden linked to from all over the interwebs.  No one is trusted. No one knows you. 

So how do online influencers become, well, influential? For this, influencers are a mix of the types of people referenced in The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell (connectors, mavens, salesmen). Here's what I think matters in becoming an influener, but I'd love to hear your opinions also!

Timeliness: If you are the first one to share a link you are going to have an impact on those that click.  You have now earned a point towards becoming an influential person for that particular subject/event/etc.  Having the ability to find and share has become almost as influential as writing the content itself.


Relevancy: You need to share the right stuff.  I wouldn't come here and write a full post about puppy cam even though I might really want to express how much I love it.  I come here to write about advertising, media, branding, and the interwebs.  I share ideas that are relevant for me and you. 

Friends: Without people to share things with, you're still nothing.  You could have the best ideas in the world and if no one knows, they might as well not exist.  So uh, good thing we have at least 3 loyal readers. (Thanks Ben, John, Dirk, and Sylvie!)

Energy: I could have said stamina, longevity, or experience, but it's more about being excited about what you're doing and having the drive to continue doing that.  If you hit it and quit it you probably shouldn't have even warmed up.  Stick with it, establish yourself, and when you have an idea go for it. 

Passion: If you aren't truly passionate about what you're doing, people will see right through you.  This can mean having strong opinions, battling with other bloggers, or just geeking out about something that you love.  Your passion will be shared with those that you connect with. Or in other words, just <3.


Ok that's it, your turn. Comments. Ready, break!

Dentyne Face Time: The Good and the Bad

Just like real face time, the Dentyne Face Time campaign has a lot of good things, and some bad things. I was completely in love with the campaign. It was relevant to my life (mobile, digital, interwebs, friends) and reminded me that I do enjoy disconnecting to hang out with my friends, my sister, or boys (I'm open on Friday if you're looking!).

The NY Times thought that "That strategy could be a gamble, as the ads focus on exactly the people who are most passionate about these digital tools." But we think that people want to disconnect at times.  Sure we love our iPhones, Facebook, Twitter, Brightkite, Blogger, etc etc -- but we have the most fun when we use these tools to schedule time to hang out in real life. To meet up on Friday for happy hour, to plan a debate party, to laugh about the events that happened when we were hanging out the night before. I think Denytne has done a good job of reminding people that you may have a ton of friends on the interwebs, but those in real life are what really count. 


Here are my thoughts, share what you think of 'em!

I loved the ads.

I loved the website . Giving me a 3 minute time limit, whaa! But right on strategy with their goal of getting people to have more face time with each other.

Giving me options to ask someone for face time. Ok, I can handle that. Except, I'm using the interwebs to do it. Send them a pack of gum with an invite?

And then I hated it. The contest made me cringe and I vowed never to go back to the site. (screen shot below). The woman has a very condescending tone and is explaining to me how to create and upload content. But if you are targeting this demo, isn't that an inherent part of their lives?! I was very turned off by it and I was even considering buying some Dentyne when I'm an Orbit girl.

What are your thoughts? Will the disconnect to connect strategy work? Will Libby just try to keep trying to get me to cuddle with her anyways?

The ultimate connection

Genius, surprising, simple media placement at airports for the rental car company Sixt. In recent years, one of the best German agencies, Jung von Matt, has driven Sixt's rise from a small local competitor to the leading rental company. And yet, they still manage to surprise me and everybody else. See for yourself and be amazed:

It's Like a Pizza With Your Four Favorite Toppings, Only More Delicious

Today I discovered a tool that blends four of my loves: New York Times interactive features, Election 2008, maps, and media. The Times' all-encompassing Election Guide offers an ad spending breakdown between the two majors candidates, complete with their spot TV spending.




After geeking out with this for a good half hour, I came to a few conclusions...

--McCain has spent more nationally ($17.7 million/18%) than Obama ($12.0 million/9%). If this continues to be his strategy in the next 18 days, it's great. I just read an article about how he can't depend on swing states anymore, because polls are starting to put Obama in the lead regardless of how the last 6 undecideds vote. If he can't tip the scales in his favor on a state-by-state basis, McCain needs to campaign--and spend--more nationally. Meanwhile, Obama has a solid foundation locked up. Now his strategy is to flood the airwaves in states that are still up in the air.

--Both candidates are spending similarly in major Ohio cities, but McCain is heavying up in smaller markets like Wheeling-Steubenville ($400M McCain, $163M Obama) and Lima ($231M McCain, $87M Obama). Smart. Neutralize Obama's message as best you can in Columbus and Toledo, but don't pile additional weight on top. Voters in the biggest DMAs have to be saturated by ads at this point. Put additional funding into the smaller markets to gain your advantage.

--Obama is spending the shit out of McCain in Florida. Seriously.

--Obama has more of an all-or-nothing market strategy. He skipped states like South Dakota and California that were set in red or blue from the beginning. For states that seemed to give him an early shot, like North Dakota and Montana, or early worries, like Minnesota, he enough money to actually make an impact and kick off a strong plan before changing strategy and dropping out. McCain, on the other hand, sprinkled his spot spending from coast to coast regardless of how set in stone those votes may have been. Seems weird to me. I wonder if the reporting system is accidentally counting some national buys as spot?

--Before you think to yourself, "Poor Philadelphia. They must see a political ad at every commercial break," remember how spot pricing works. There are going to be tons more eyeballs on the ad that airs in Philly than the ad that airs in Minneapolis, so the Philly placements cost more. If this map could be viewed in weekly TRPs instead of just dollars, my life would be complete.

--Check out DC spending. This isn't an effort to sway voters (DC voted almost 90% for Kerry in '04). It's a PR move to endear government employees and media to our next Commander in Chief. Obama is outspending McCain 2 to 1...who's unprepared to lead now, huh, J. Mac?!

--But don't forget, this is only TV spending, and we all know who's been ruling the interwebs this year. Internet spending probably follows TV pretty closely, except in cities with higher indices of Internet news readers.

And I'm not even getting into the ability to break down the ad spending by issues! I really need to pry myself away and get some work done this afternoon so I'll stop. But if you find me at the bar tomorrow night for a Yaybia birthday party (D, Booze, E. Lam, and I all have October birthdays!), I'll probably start gushing to you about this very map. Prepare yourself.

Social Media + Real Life

I’m fascinated with how social media and real life experiences are mashed together to make up my crazy life.  Sometimes one drives the other, and sometimes they blend in a crazy complex web of connections that you never knew you had. Instead of just geeking out about these stories to my friends, I thought I’d share one with our readers.  And because nothing here can go unnamed, we shall call this a Yaybia Social Media Meets Real Life Bedtime Story!

Last Thursday I was walking through Dinkytown on my way to Blarney’s for happy hour with some of my fellow Yaybies and I stopped mid walk/mid sentence/mid life to stare at these two amazing posters in the SaraCura window.

I freaked out at the fact that I could actually buy such awesome Twin Cities artwork.  I posted the Grain Belt picture to Brightkite (which syncs with Twitter and Facebook) with a quote (So we walked across that Grain Belt bridge into a bright new Minneapolis) from Minneapolis natives, The Hold Steady.

Enter, the social media mix.  Our loyal reader Ben commented on my Facebook status with a link that started it all. Said link brought me to the artist’s (Adam Turman ) web page with the very same Grain Belt poster.  I immediately sent the link to Libby through IM and we drooled over the Minneapolis pop art for a good 15 minutes.  I shared some of the images on Google Reader and set my home and office desktops to the Grain Belt painting . (side note: I don’t even really drink Grain Belt, unless it’s free after Twins games , but love local and the style!)

 As I was taking a breather from work and browsing one of my fave design blogs, there was a post about Minneapolis art and specifically featured Adam Turman! Coincidence or fate? I don’t care, as long as it gets me a wall full of his artwork. Then later this afternoon my friend Tyler comments on the note in Reader saying that he works with Adam and will see him tomorrow morning! What! All this from a window shopping photo that I posted?!

Sometimes we have just real life or just social media connections – but sometimes they mix and lead me to discoveries that I would have probably never found otherwise.  It’s times like these when I fully comprehend the power of social media and how it fits into my life.  If you have any social media/real life stories let us know!

And the origin of this post..

(4:39:32 PM) Erin Lamberty: maybe i'll yaybia an online/offline/social story

(4:39:55 PM) Libby Issendorf: only if it's in bedtime story form

(4:54:43 PM) Libby Issendorf: can you just add that to the end of the yaybia bedtime story "ps cheer on libby and erin in speding freeze 08!"
(4:54:53 PM) Libby Issendorf: "but especially libby"
(4:54:57 PM) Libby Issendorf: "cause you love her more <3"
(4:56:29 PM) Erin Lamberty: you're terrible

Next post :: The Libby and Erin Spending Freeze 08!