Random Culture

Toyrama: Great New HP Site

HP has launched a great new site, Toyrama, to promote a new machine they're targeting towards animators. The website provides some interesting tools for users to create their own homemade animation, as well as a contest for animators to submit their own stop motion films. The site was created by Arc Worldwide.

Link via Adverblog.

Quick Links: Jul. 23, 2007

Al Gore's Cannes Speech
The ad industry's role in dealing with the climate crisis. View part 1, part 2, part 3. [via AdFreak]

National Geographic on "Swarm Theory"
Interesting read, with some great photos that accompany it as well. [via Fimoculous]

I Send to U Copy Crocs
Post from Influx Insights that makes you think about the power of the Internet and the rise of China.

Did You Know? 2.0

Roland at Web Jungle has posted a great video worth checking it. It's the second version of a great video created by Xplane for Shifthappens. Check it out:

Simpsons Promo Swiped from Leo Burnett?

According to NPR's "Morning Edition" from yesterday, July 18th, it looks like the clever promotion for the Simpson's Movie may have been "co-opted" from Leo Burnett when they pitched the business.

Listen to Morning Edition's take on the story.

Sad to hear, if it's true, that one of the best promotions I've seen may have been the result of this kind of behavior.

3D Email: Hoax, or Worst Idea Ever?

Tired of the same old boring inbox? Why not use Second Life to read your email? Well, if this trailer is any indication, because it's an awful idea...

Not sure if 3D Mailbox is real... but I sincerely hope it isn't.

Link via TechCrunch.

Future of the Web, Circa 1994

Ever wonder what people in 1994 thought the future of the web would look like? Well take a look.

Via Fimoculous.

Quick Links: Jul. 16, 2007

The Bloomberg Makeover
Happy Corp, IDEO and Ziba give the Bloomberg interface a redesign. [via Cool Hunting]

London Gets Free Wi-Fi
Yet another city launches free public Wi-Fi... goodbye monthly DSL payments!

Searching for Standards in Downloadable Media
A new industry association has been formed to create podcast, video standards, The ADM, Association of Downloadable Media.

Working at Google vs. Microsoft

Microsoft may have Google-envy, but maybe the grass isn't greener on the other side of the fence. It seems that an email has been making the rounds at Microsoft, from an employee that used to work at Google, comparing the two... and Google doesn't come out on top. I've always admired Google's stated policy of spending 20% of your time on personal projects. But they might be overstating how committed they are to that principal... Here's a sample from the email:

20% of your time on personal project. How many people actually get to use it? If so, how do they use it? Does Google own your personal project?

“20% is your benefit and your responsibility.”

In other words, it’s your job to carve out 20% of your work week for a project.  If you don’t carve out the time, you don’t get it.  Your project needs to be tacitly approved by your manager.  Whatever it is, is owned by Google.  If you’re organized, you can “save up” your 20% and use it all at once.  It’s not unheard of for people to have months and months of “20% time” saved up.

Most people don’t actually have a 20% project.  Most managers won’t remind you to start one

If this is true, it certainly changes my perspective. That policy was something that elevated Google in my eyes. Granted, this is coming from a Microsoft email, but it makes you think twice...

Link via Threadwatch.

Can Planners Really Be the New Creatives?

Interesting video from the PSFK conference in London.

Click To Play

Patron Social Club

So I have to toot the proverbial horn every once and a while... The company I work for, Click Here, the interactive division of The Richards Group, has launched a new website for Patron. This is the second website we've launched for the premium tequila brand, and it's called The Patron Social Club. Over the weekend, Adweek wrote an article about the site, which you can read here.

It's a great community site, and we're excited about its launch. Check out the site by visiting PatronSocialClub.com.

NBC Parodies Itself: Zeroes

A pair of YouTube videos that parody the popular NBC show Heroes have gotten almost a million views on YouTube. The parodies, called "Zeroes", feature normal people with "pointless" abilities... and yes, the videos were created by NBC. Here's the first video:

According to an article in Variety, NBC promo guru Vince Manze admits they created the pair of videos, and admits that these were just the tip of the iceberg:

"The "Zeroes" clip is just one of dozens, if not hundreds, of NBC-created viral videos the network has unleashed over the past year."

Variety also points out the irony of the situation... that NBC sees value in utilizing the video sharing website to increase viewing of their shows, yet they're suing YouTube at the same time?

Link via Adthropology.

Putting on an Integrated Face

Integration has been a hot topic lately, and since I'm in the thick of it every day, I thought I'd weigh in. There have been numerous articles lately that have had both clients and agencies alike asking questions.

One of the recent articles that sparked debate and sent shock-waves through the agency world was written by Suzanne Vranica in March of this year. The article, "On Madison Avenue, a Digital Wake-up Call," was about Nike taking away interactive business away from Wieden + Kennedy because their digital experience wasn't up to snuff.

Since then, a number of agencies have been touting strategic hires they've made to increase their digital expertise. That's great, and I agree that these agencies should have hired "digital czars" a long time ago. It's a step in the right direction, but there's an ugly truth that lies beneath... even with these strategic hires, many advertising agencies are outsourcing their interactive work.

Gooby has been touted in numerous publications as being the best at integration. They've done some notable work, including a recent website launched for the California Milk Processor Board, "Get the Glass." It's an amazing website, one of the best in recent years. But guess what... another digital agency created the site.

That digital agency is North Kingdom, an amazing shop in Sweden. According to a recent Business Week article, Goodby acknowledges that it "collaborates" with a number of these digital agencies, which the article refers to as "production houses." The truth is, these shops are far from "production houses", they're creative agencies in their own right. We can see the primary dilemma in this excerpt from the article:

"We work in a way that is similar to the traditional broadcast paradigm," McGinness says. "We concept and design in-house and then work closely with the appropriate company to bring the work to life."

Given that these companies are so "creative" in themselves, do you still need creatives in the agency? Couldn't you just farm out briefs to the likes of Barbarian? "We control the brand DNA. The brand tonality and voice all needs to come from one place. That includes how we conceptually speak to our consumer," argues McGinness. "If we outsourced the way we speak to our consumers, then we would be irrelevant."

Doesn't Goodby realize that clients want an agency that can "bring the work to life" in-house? And aren't agencies such as Gooby selling themselves under that guise? I have a hard time believing that the perfect model of integration is creative ideas being farmed out to digital "production houses."

I feel fortunate to be working at an agency that's living integration every day. We didn't wait until 2007 to appoint a digital czar. Our interactive group was created by The Richards Group in 1995, and we've been "bringing the work to life" within our own walls for 12 years.

Update: Make sure to check out the comments on this post, as it's generated some great responses. Thanks to Hashem from Goodby for being one of the first!