Random Culture

VW: Crash Your Jetta

Volkswagen has launched yet another innovative online campaign, Crash Your Jetta. Like the GTI test drive video that gets customized depending on the options you select when building your car, Crash Your Jetta allows you to see what happens to the car you've built when it gets hit by things like a Rhino, a giant lizard foot, a ball of twine and more.

What's interesting to me is that most car companies would shy away from showing the actual crashing of their vehicles. But Volkswagen is using the opportunity to showcase safety features. No matter what the scenario, the car comes out pretty well. They even show the "crashes" from different points of view to demonstrate all the air bags.

To see it in action, visit the Jetta build your own and click on "watch safe happen."

Wheelvertising 2.0

Forget generic images on the hubcabs of taxi cabs as advertising... there's something even better now. The "pimp star" from Dub Wheels is a new wheel with LEDs that allows you to load images on your wheels as you drive down the street. Learn more about it at Customwheel.com. According to the site:

"With the PimpStar's built-in full color LED lights, microprocessor and wireless modem, you can display virtually any image, including text, graphics, logos, and even digital photos!"

Make sure you check out this video of them in action. Pretty impressive, but they'll cost you.

Gawker Google Mashup

Gawker has launched a great Google Maps mashup, the "Gawker Stalker." It's essentially a feature on Gawker.com that allows visitors to submit celebrity sightings in Manhattan, which are then added by Gawker staff to a Google map.

It's a great example of yet another company leveraging Google's API for Google maps. Remember, if you're interested, it's open to anyone... with a few commercial restrictions.

Link via Blogebrity.

Alexaholic

If you're addicted to Alexa data, Alexaholic is just what you've been looking for.

Alexaholic allows you to create customizeable Alexa graphs comparing up to 5 websites, and even allows you to paste the code for the graph on your site. Create your own here. One thing I'm a little disappointed by... you can't resize the graphs to fit your site. That's why I didn't put an example directly on the page here.

If you aren't using Alexa to look at competitive site data such as relative traffic, average page views, etc... you should be. It's a great free tool, particularly if you do anything in an attempt to map out a competitive landscape for your own company or your clients. Of course, you have to take the data with a grain of salt, because all the data is coming from the folks that have downloaded and installed the Alexa toolbar.

Link via TechCrunch.

Current TV Call for Content

Current TV, built on consumer generated content, is trolling for submissions. They've created a marketing effort to encourage content creation, which you can find online at: Awaitinginput.com.

I think Current TV has promise, but this marketing campaign clearly misses the mark. It's built around a robot named "ViC", who is essentially the embodiment of consumer generated media. The site actually says the following about "Vic":

"a freak accident unleashed all that imagination and turned ViC into a rogue creation machine. Now he's helping to reveal the real stories in subcultures all over."

Come on, seriously... This copy, and the robot idea is cheesy as hell. Wasn't this supposed to be about a grassroots media revolution?

Link via AdRants.

NY/SF Transit Envy

Apparently, the New York and San Francisco transit authorities want you to get lost. Both have sent cease and desist letters to William Bright, a New Yorker who started iPodSubwayMaps, a site that allows users to download handy transit system maps of around 20 large cities. According to an article in Wired magazine, the MTA contacted Bright, saying he had "infringed the MTA's copyright and that he needed a license to post the map and to authorize others to download it." BART officials essentially said the same.

The good news is that Bright has since created his own custom map for the bay area, which should circumvent copyright issues with BART officials.

Link via B.L. Ochman.

Doom and Duck Hunt

Duck Doom Deluxe is a mash-up of two classics, Duck Hunt and Doom, created by "Noproblo Games." You can download the game here. It's so nice to see people giving new life to old things through sheer imagination and a little bit of coding.

Link via BoingBoing.

Build Your Own Surf Gear

First there was Timbuk2 and Nike ID. Now, Oneill has a great Boardshort builder on their site. It's very well done... worth checking out. They've also got a Wetsuit builder as well.

Hasbro High Art

Hasbro has launched The Pony Project, an exhibition of My Little Pony dolls customized by artists and designers. You can get a sneak peak at the website, and the exhibition opens October 21 at the Milk Gallery. Link via Dopefiend.

Rome Wasn't This Lame

Clickz has an article about a new marketing campaign that's been launched for the upcoming HBO show, Rome. Unlike the show, which looks like it might be good, this marketing campaign is lame, lame, lame.

It's nothing more than a firefox browser skin... and in case you need an explanation as to why this is lame: HBO just re-hashed one of the lamest technologies to some of the most tech savvy users online.

Link via Adrants.

Vonage Viral

Vonage has launched a viral campaign in the form of a contest. The Pimp that Phone contest pits several people against one another in a challenge to take a really low-budget crappy phone and make it "pimp."

You can see each contestant's progress here, here, here and here. Link via A Whole Lotta Nothing.

Chocolate Sneakers

Are these the world's first chocolate sneakers? Al Cabino, a regular contributor to Sneaker Freaker magazine, has teamed up with a Swiss chocolate maker to create these unique kicks... more to come.

Nike iD Blogger Contest

The Nike iD site has been promoted pretty heavily as of late. Now, Nike has launched a contest, inviting 20 sneaker bloggers to customize a Nike iD shoe. Users can visit this site to vote on the pair they like the best, and the top design will win the designing blogger 100 free pairs of their shoe.

Link via Cool Hunting.

Design Your Chucks

Converse has launched a website to design and order your own Chuck Taylors... pretty cool, and about time! You can build your own pair here.

The weird part is that the interface looks like they either ripped off the look and feel of the build your own on the Nike ID site... or they hired Nike to build it for them... or they hired the company that Nike hired...

Update: Cameron pointed out in the comments that Nike owns Converse... duh.

Nike iD: Mobile Billboard

Nike has a great outdoor advertisement in Times Square.

Using the Reuters billboard, users can customize a Nike iD shoe using their mobile phone. Clickz has a great article on the campaign. The New York Post also has an article.

In addition, Fimoculous points to a picture of the billboard.

Target Pets

Target has launched a microsite to promote their pet products. The site is fun to play around with, as it allows you to build e-cards in a flash interface, customizing the card with different dog and cat breeds, as well as actual target pet products. Worth taking a look.

New Umbro Site

Soccer lovers in the US may be more familiar with the Umbro brand than most folks. But that's no excuse for not watching what Umbro is doing. They've launched a great site for a line of clothing, accessories and shoes in collaboration with Kim Jones, a London fashion designer. While some of the cartoony stuff may be an acquired taste, at the very least, the site is an interesting execution. Visit the site at: http://www.umbro-contrast.com

Link via The Brilliance.

Customized Google News

CNET points to the recent addition of customization to the Google News layout.

No big deal... plenty of "news" sites let their users customize the interface. The difference is that this is a search engine. Google lets you diplay "custom" news sections that pull top stories based on a keyword query.

A great practical example of those custom news sections: I make a custom news section for each of my clients to monitor mentions of their brand name in news coverage, and let them know when someone's talking about them.

Mi Adidas

Adidas has launched their own "customized" sneaker program, Mi Adidas... Instead of just customizing the colors of the shoes and adding some personalization, they're also fitting the shoes using a computer aided system to measure your feet.

The drawback? It looks like you can't order customized shoes online... It seems that Adidas has taken the position that this isn't as much about style as athletics. I think that may be strategic error on their part.

Link via PSFK.

Altoid Tin Speakers

ReadyMade magazine hosts a regular "MacGyver Challenge" where their readers create useful objects from other stuff. The latest was an Altoid tin challenge, and the winner made a set of speakers for your iPod or anything else. You can learn how to make them on the site.

If you haven't seen ReadyMade magazine, check it out... It's one of the more interesting reads out there.

iPod Shuffle Stickers

TechJapan posts about a Japanese message board where you can download user-created templates to customize your iPod Shuffle with stickers. (For those of us who can't read Japanese, when you get to the message board, use the pink buttons at the very bottom to move through the pages.)

There seems to be something for everyone on this site... 

Nice: old school, mini, red/green

Absurd: painful, boxing, showgirls

Original post from Slashdot Japan.

Advertising on Demand?

The Googlefan site points out that Google  seems to be testing out a new technology which would allow consumers to change the topic of the ads they see on the page. You can see an example on this site.

Custom Nike Jackets

Dave Goltl and I were talking last night about customized fashion, and he pointed me to Dr. Romanelli...  He basically takes old Nike clothes and breathes new life into them, many times by mixing them together with blazers, leather jackets and other coats. 

This is some really impressive stuff. Here, Here, Here, Here, Here and Here.