Foosball Anyone?

There is no information about how long this table actually is, but suffice it to say— you are going to need to bring some friends. In fact, two full soccer teams (22 players) could go head to head on this thing in what would undoubtedly be an epic foosballing showdown. Unfortunately, you may never get a chance to try your skill—the Table Football XXL is a one-of-a-kind item built as an advertising stunt for Amstel beer.

(ht: Razor Creative)

Filed under: Amstel, Creativity, Entertainment, Foosball, Football, Games, Marketing, Soccer, Sports

Chinese Democracy + Dr. Pepper

As if you needed a 24th reason to love Dr. Pepper, today the company is announcing that it will give a free Dr. Pepper to everyone in the U.S. if Guns N’ Roses release the album, Chinese Democracy, before the end of 2008.

Apparently Axl Rose has been talking about this album for a good 15 years, so the odds aren’t in our favor, but Dr. Pepper has set up a blog to encourage Axl in his quest.

» chinesedemocracywhen.blogspot.com

Filed under: Axl Rose, Democracy, Dr. Pepper, Guns N' Roses, Marketing, Music, Promotions

Digital Outlook

1. Old-school design methods are failing. The pace of change among consumers and competitors has grown so fast that using a conventional process to hatch a marketing campaign, a Web site, or a new product virtually dooms it to being obsolete by the time it’s complete.

2. Innovation is the new currency. The days of a whopping marketing budget or a pretty design equaling success are over, as Blendtec has so well proved. If you’re not creating something that’s genuinely new—as well as useful and delightful—you are screwed.

3. Everyone is a creative. Your next-door neighbor can make a YouTube video or design a MySpace page that sits on an equal media playing field with anything we produce here at Avenue A Razorfish.

4. Narrative is the experience. As the Web becomes the preferred destination for brand exploration, digital experiences must become richer, deeper, and more able to tell compelling stories. If your brand experience depends entirely on pages and clicks, it’s time to wonder, “What is my story?

From a 2008 Digital Outlook Report by Avenue A | Razorfish.

(ht: Logic + Emotion)

Filed under: Advertising, Creativity, Design, Innovation, Marketing, Narrative

Link Dump

Got a few fun random links backing up over here, as well as some blogs I don’t remember pimping. Please click through all of them because I get paid if you do. Not really, but every single one of these links will help you live your best life now!

RANDOM LINKS:
» Have Yourself A Non-Materialistic Christmas
» Find Free Music On The Web
» Jesus Hearts Darwin
» Saying Goodbye To Debt
» Construct A Killer Resume
» How To Hunt Bats
» Lessons In Not Sucking
» 10 Ways To Defeat Brain Drain
» Is The Creation Museum Worth It?

BLOGS:
» Life. Hope. Faith. Love.
» Salvo Noodle
» The Deloach
» More Fire
» Ordinary Radical
» Overactive Fork
» Billy Burnett
» Chris From Canada
» Driveby Media
» Echoes In Eternity
» Memphis Monster

Filed under: Bats, Blogosphere, Blogs, Brain Drain, Christmas, Creation, Darwin, Debt, Jesus, Lifehacker, Links, Marketing, Materialsim, Money, Music, Resumes, WIRED

Death Proof

I love great marketing ideas.

Filed under: Culture, Death Proof, Marketing, Movies, Quentin Tarantino

I’m Published

So it’s not CA, or HOW, or PRINT, but it is published! And the magazine, US Ad Review, claims to contain, “The best advertising at work in the American workplace.”

The ad they’re using is actually one in a series I did of similar style. Basically I was poking fun of different types of people who would enjoy our product by describing them, and then calling them a name at the end—in this case Foodie (I also had Tree Hugger, Smart Pants, Hippie, and Goodie Two-Shoes versions). In poking fun, I hoped to strike a cord with them and let them know that Eden Foods is like-minded in their passions.

The best part about this honor is that I didn’t submit it. They called my boss and asked for permission to use the ad, and for the names of those involved in the project. I also happened to be the photographer in this one, so that’s doubly cool.

So check out Issue #57, page 72, of US Ad Review if you ever get a chance. (Or click here to view it now.) It’s not the best ad I’ve ever done, but whatever works, eh? I think it’s nice, and effective, because it’s simple and very colorful.

Filed under: Advertising, Eden Foods, Foodie, Marketing, Tree Hugger, Work

Milli Vanilli

Remember Milli Vanilli?

Milli Vanilli was a pop and rap music group formed by Frank Farian in Germany in 1988, fronted by the duo of Fab Morvan and Rob Pilatus. The group’s debut album, Girl You Know It’s True, achieved high sales internationally which earned them a Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1990. The group went on to sell more than 30 million singles, 14 million albums and become one of the most popular pop groups in the late 80′s and early 90′s.

Then it happened. A skipping record at a concert, combined with demands to actually sing on their next album, eventually led to the demise of Milli Vanilli. The man who took them from a couple of homeless brothers, and handcuffed them to a fraudulent contract, decided to save his butt and place all the blame on Fab and Rob. They were immediately black-balled from the entire entertainment industry, and as a result Rob went into a deep depression and eventually died of a mixture of drugs and alcohol in 1998.

It’s an extremely sad story, and one that has perplexed me since I played that album on repeat for a straight year. Who in the world cares who sang and/or produced that album? If it was so off the hook, why couldn’t the real people behind the magic produce more? Are we so into looks and image that it just couldn’t work with some nerds with great voices? Did we have to have great looking front men that can dance great to make it a hit? If that’s the case, we live in a really sad world.

I for one still love this album. Enjoy this little diddy—once my all time favorite song. Gotta love that bass drop there in the beginning!

Blame It On The Rain — Milli Vanilli

Read more about their story here, here, and here.

Filed under: 80's, Image, Marketing, Milli Vanilli, Music

Wasabi Chips + Photoshop

I ran across some POS posters done for our Eden Wasabi Chips today. Aside from the fact that these ads aren’t sanctioned by Eden Foods, and it’s In-House Design and Marketing Department, these are great!

The tagline is: Eden Wasabi Chips: Wakes You Up With Every Bite. My only complaint about the series is that the picture of the product is so small (and I’m not just saying that because I happened to have designed the bag). I know the photoshopped image is the drawing feature, but proportionally the smallness of the bag isn’t sitting right with me.

Check out all four ads.

And if you feel spunky enough, buy some Wasabi Chips for yourself! They’re one of my favorite items that we sell over here.

Filed under: Ads, Eden Foods, Marketing, Photoshop, Wasabi, Wasabi Chips

Radiohead – In Rainbows

Ever since Lars got his panties in a bunch over the whole Napster issue, bands have started to embrace the new online distribution methods. Apple and iTunes have made a mint by streamlining the pay per download scheme; you won’t see a band alive that doesn’t have a MySpace page with songs available to listen; and lately bands have been allowing their albums to be downloaded free from their websites for a period of time in hopes of a viral campaign, as well as to simply get the music in the hands of the people.

And then there’s Radiohead.

News came out recently that Radioheads new album, In Rainbows, is available online for a price you determine. If you feel it’s worth 29¢, then that’s what you pay. If you think it’s worth $489, then that’s your prerogative.

Don’t be fooled by thinking this will be a new model for years to come. This is simply another marketing technique, but I believe it will work. Not only is it an instant viral concept, but fringe people like me will throw down a couple dollars for an album that they normally wouldn’t have bought, simply because it’s priced so cheap. And it is likely that most of the millions of die-hard fans will be unable to resist buying the box-set, available in December.

I think it’s great. Anyone else going to buy it? What’s your price?

**UPDATE**
I just downloaded the album. Saucy!! My price landed just (barely) above cheapskate, and a little below full retail price—2.45 Euro’s or $3.50—because I wouldn’t have bought this album in normal circumstances. I just wanted to check it out because I’ve liked a few of their songs in the past.

So far, two songs in, I think I may have paid too little. Raidohead kicks some serious butt!

Filed under: Marketing, Music, Radiohead, Viral

Living Legalistically

This guy took legalism to another level.

A. J. Jacobs decided to see what would happen if he followed the Bible as literally as possible. If it was in the bible, he was adhering to it, including more obscure details of Old Testament laws, which ultra orthodox Jews might follow: leaving side hair uncut, dwelling in huts on certain holidays, strict dietary routines.

The results are captured in his new book, The Year of Living Biblically: One Man’s Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible

» Newsweek Interview

(ht: Boing Boing)

Filed under: A.J. Jacobs, Books, Faith, Legalism, Marketing, Pet Rocks