Random Culture

Let the Holiday Marketing Begin!

Kicking off holiday marketing this year, Dell has launched a website where an odd assortment of celebrities "pitch" the Dell products you select. You can find the website at YoursIsHere.com. The site allows visitors to send these celebrity "pitches" along to friends and relatives to let them know you're interested in the product. The site isn't designed in a very festive manner, which is a bit troublesome to me. However, it includes a really interesting feature, where users can attach their PayPal information to the "pitch", so friends and relatives can contribute to your "fund."

Link via Clickz.

Full BK Halloween Costume

Burger King started selling the King masks a while back, but just in time for Halloween, they started selling the complete King outfit. Even though the costume looks like it was made in a country with horribly poor standards of construction and design, I have to give it to Burger King... I think they may sell more than a few of these.

Link via Adland.

Happy Holidays: Ye Olde Nog Parlor

Enjoy some more shameless self-promotion by checking out the Click Here holiday website: Ye Old Nog Parlor. I'll be out of town for the holidays, and will be back blogging in the first week of January... Happy Holidays!

Starbucks: ItsRedAgain.com

Starbucks has launched it's "holiday" website this year, at: ItsRedAgain.com. The site is hosted by a man known only as "the tradition keeper", and video of him is integrated into the flash throughout the site. The site includes the ability to send a personalized greeting by calling in to record a message, or having a written note translated into voice by a holiday character. Worth digging around on this one.

Link via AdFreak.

TiVo Valentine's Day Coverage

Earlier this week I posted about TiVo's Valentine's Day Singles event in the Bay Area. Well, Davis attended the event and sent me a link to his review. And you can't miss CNET's article on the event.

Here's an excerpt of Davis talking about one of the more interesting aspects of the event:

"Ahead of time TiVo had everybody register their favorite shows and wishlists. When you registered for the event, they gave you a name tag with three names printed on the back. The three names corresponded to people who liked the same shows as you. Once you registered you were encouraged to try and find your TV matches."

Valentine's Day Agency Mix Tape

A mix tape is one of the best ways to express your love for someone... as well as to showcase your incredible taste in music. Los Angeles agency Exopolis has created an online mix tape for Valentine's Day. It's sure to impress current and prospective clients alike.

Altoids Valentine's Day Viral

Altoids has launched a viral "singing telegram" for Valentine's day. The talking guy on the site is pretty annoying, but the cool thing about the telegram is that the song is customized with the recipient's name.

AKQA NY Holiday Card

AKQA NY's holiday card shows the all too familiar problems agencies have when there are too many cooks in the kitchen. What's more, I finally know how to pronounce their name. I always thought is was pronounced "Aqua"... but it turns out you're just supposed to say the letters. Preferably with some type of accent, for flair.

Link via Adrants.

Lufthansa "Swinging Santa"

It may not be the greatest name... Lufthansa's "Swinging Santa" is a holiday flash game that lets users build a movie of Santa dancing, with a customized series of dance moves and music. Because when I think Lufthansa, I think disco Santa.

Red Cup Redux

Almost exactly a year ago, I posted about the Starbucks "Red Cup" holiday campaign. At that time, I had some serious questions about whether it was nicely simple, or an incomplete attempt. It looks like Starbucks has revamped the campaign this year, updating the "Red Cup" site.

Although I believe they could do much more with this idea, the site is much better this year. There is much more content, and they've managed to keep it much more fresh, with something updated on the site every day.

Link via Adverblog.

Cyber Thanksgiving, Not Monday

As a follow-up to the Cyber Monday post from yesterday, eMarketer has released data showing that Thanksgiving day was actually a larger online shopping day than Black Friday. This is really interesting news, since most of us were probably under the impression that people were too busy spending time with their families on Thanksgiving day to be online... let alone actually shopping online.

What's more... Hitwise shows that Thanksgiving day itself is the largest online shopping day of the year.

Read more about this study at eMarketer.

Holiday Site for Coke Poland

Coca-Cola has launched a nice little holiday microsite in Poland. It features a number of interesting advergames... and you don't have to be fluent in Polish to figure them out.

Link via Adverblog.

Borders Holiday Marketing

You may remember last year, Borders had one of the better holiday marketing sites, the "Giftmixer 3000." This year, they're following suit, launching SeasonofSurprises.com. It's a gift selector as well, but with an eye towards the people you're finding gifts for... their personalities and tastes. The site is well designed with some great illustrations, and is definitely worth checking out. Borders has set the bar once again.

More Bad Holiday Marketing

It looks like now we have another less than stellar holiday marketing campaign to add to the list. The Banana Republic has launched HolidayStory.com as part of their holiday marketing.

I really hope that this isn't all they're doing... First off, going to HolidayStory.com doesn't actually take you to the "Holiday Story." I have a popup blocker, like millions of other web surfers. So the URL really just takes you to the Banana Republic homepage. On the homepage, you can see a link that says HolidayStory.com, that finally opens the real "Holiday Story" in a popup window.

All that trouble, and you get a pretty lame story that's very static, and offers you a closer look at the clothes and stuff featured in the story that you really didn't pay attention to in the first place.

Man... this holiday is off to a rough start.

Link via AdJab.

Santa is Podcasting

"Santa will be broadcasting from the North Pole for the first time in history, keeping everyone informed on the latest happenings at the North Pole. As well, he has a story that must be told, how Christmas was saved by two unlikely friends, not long ago. This nine part story will be released part by part with the final installment on Christmas day."

Santa is all about emerging technology. Visit Santa's journal, or you can subscribe to the Santa podcast in iTunes.

Link via Podcasting News.

Let the Holiday Marketing Begin!

The holiday marketing onslaught is beginning. Gap is one of the first out of the gate so far. They've launched a microsite called "How to give a favorite gift", that's about... actually, I have no idea what the purpose of this site is. It's a hodgepodge of e-cards, attempts to sell Gap gift cards, and Macy Gray singing "Walking in a Winter Wonderland."

In all honesty, this Gap site doesn't do much for me. Am I missing something? I don't see why a consumer would spend time on this site...

Link via AdLand.

Burger King Masks

BKMasks.com is the latest effort from Crispin Porter + Bogusky for Burger King. You can actually buy these masks from the site. Interestingly, this is the second viral effort Crispin Porter + Bogusky has done where the client can actually make money. The Counterfit Mini site they set up had an ordering form for DVDs. Interesting idea... viral that recoups money.

Link via Adrants.

Friday Fun with Mr. T

Don't forget that Mother's Day is just around the corner... And Mr. T has something to say about it.

Link via Octopus Dropkick.

Free Starbucks Drip Coffee Today

In honor of Earth Day (4/22), Starbucks will be pouring sweet black coffee into your travel cups today free of charge.  But you must bring your own cup.  Because hey, that's what it takes to save Earth.

Let's hope this is true, because I'm about to drive over to Starbucks.  I'm going to make a scene if this doesn't work.  Link to article on Starbucks Gossip.

Free Ice Cream Today

For those of you lucky enough to have a Ben & Jerry's scoop shop somewhere near you, today is free cone day, from 12pm - 8pm.

One caveat... not every shop participates. You'll have to visit the Ben & Jerry's scoop shop locator and find out which ones are.

Link via Treehugger.

Hallmark Valentine's Blunder

CNET has an article up today about Hallmark's colossal Valentine's Day blunder.

Outages swept across the network on Valentine's day, leaving many people unable to access e-cards from loved ones. According to the article, Hallmark has had similar problems in the past, but they still weren't prepared.

Link via MarketingVOX.

HP Holiday Card

Technically it's still the holidays... so check out this great holiday card from HP.

Out for the Holidays

I'll be taking a hiatus starting tomorrow. Although I may post intermittently over the holidays, regular posting won't happen again until I get back on the 28th of December.

Happy Holidays!

In the mean time, check out these sites... my friends and coworkers.

Seizethedave.com
EvanRose.com
BandSiteLive.com
ChrisJagers.com
MidgetsandWerewolves.com
MakeTexasBlue.com
TalesofInterest.com

Macromedia Holiday Card

Macromedia presents... Penguin diving. And what could say " have a politically correct holiday"  more than penguins?

Coca-Cola Holiday Viral

Feel like a holiday tournament? Check out the Coca-Cola Christmas Tournament 2004.  The site was developed by the Swedish company Perfect Fools.

Link via Adverblog.

Publicis Holiday Card

Publicis Copenhagen has a great holiday card featuring the homegrown vocal talent of  their creative, account, production and planning staff.

Link via Adrants.

Rubberbandman Holiday Site

Office Max has launched the holiday version of their site built around the "Rubberbandman" campaign. The updates reflects the new holiday commercials reminiscent of the old Rudolph specials.

While the site's got a great look and feel, the game is pretty anticlimactic, and the site seems to have a lot more potential than it actually delivers, with several sections still under construction.

Discover Card Holiday Viral

The Discover Card has put together a really well done holiday site with a gift finder, ecards and a really nice multiplayer flash snowball fight game.