Crimbo in Deutschland



We've been coming to Wertheim for Christmas on and off for 14 years, but this is the first year we've got interwebs here at Karl's home. So, here's a Christmas playlist to celebrate this wonderful new world of Deutsches connectivity.

Louis Armstrong, Zat You Santa Claus
Ryan Adams, Hey Parker It's Christmas
Feist, Please Be Patient
The Jackson 5, Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Julian Casablancas, I Wish is Was Christmas Today
The Walkman, No Christmas While I'm Talking
Califone, Welcome Christmas
Jim, White, Christmas Day
Zompano, The Mods of Christmastown

Support these fab artists by purchasing their music, concert tickets and t-shirts in 2010 ... except for The Jackson 5, because the way I figure it MJ doesn't really need it anymore, and I just can't see giving cash to Tito and co. But of course that's just my opinion, and I could be wrong.

Frohe Weihnachten, innit?

LG wants you to Give It A Ponder


The latest from LG is an anti-mobile bullying campaign called Give It A Ponder, which asks "What would JL's Beard Do?" For you non-Yanks, JL (the dude with the beard) is James Lipton, who hosts a famous and oft-parodied show called “Inside the Actors Studio.”

The site uses a clever widget-y thing that some of you will recognize from Modernista!’s agency site or the Skittles campaign. Once you visit the campaign, you are taken to YouTube, Flickr, Facebook and co with the talking beard guiding you along the way.

It is well done.


What is also impressive is who did it: The campaign is from Y&R New York. Why is this special? Well, this is a solid integrated campaign being done by what many digerati would call an old-school agency. And it looks pretty fresh to me. It is significant because of the degree of digital "sophisitication" required to weave the pieces of the story together to engage a young, hip, and often cynical group of people. The technology is slick, and the use of James Lipton is one of the few celebrity "endoresements" I've liked in a long time.

Sure, some will argue that Modernista! and others pioneered the thinking behind using a widget in this way, but doesn't most creativity begin with some form of theft? Of as Faris Yakob likes to say, "Talent imitates, genius steals".

Creativity Online has more details, in case you're interested.

In case you haven't seen it before, here's one of the SNL spoofs. In this one, James Lipton (Will Ferrel) interviews Drew Barrymore (Kate Hudson).


So, give it a ponder.

The Google phone is real


The often mentioned and then subsequently dismissed rumours throughout 2009 of a Google phone have turned out to be true, and the competitive landscape in the mobile phone market has just fundamentally changed overnight.

The first Google phone looks like an iPhone with a slightly larger, high-quality touch screen, a scroll wheel ... and Android. It is called the Nexus One, which makes me believe that 1) it will be marketed as a networking, integrated, life-streaming appliance, and 2) it is the first of a series of Nexus phones.

The phone is being made by HTC, who also make the X10 for Sony Ericsson amongst others. Obviously, this is very good news for them. As I mentioned in "Android" my first prediction for 2010, “Aided by the increased demand for Android handsets, HTC will solidify its position as a white-label supplier and will increasingly market itself as a stand-alone brand.”

Google will sell the Nexus One directly, online and unlocked. Pete Cashmore writes, "Upon receiving the phone, users will choose their carrier from a menu: it’s a bold move that will break the hegemony of the carriers, but might also mean we pay more (unless Google devises a way to partially subsidize the phone itself)."

That's big.

But they're also partnering with T-Mobile to sell it. Apparently, Verizon declined. Mashable continues, "That partnership also explains why the Google Phone will use GSM rather than CDMA technology, limiting it to AT&T or T-Mobile: Google only made the decision after Verizon passed on the opportunity to market the device, according to MediaMemo. A January 2010 launch date has been rumored."

HTC must be feeling good, but I wonder what the other Android phone manufacturers/distributers think about this move by Google. Part of me thinks that by releasing Android before releasing their own branded phone(s), they've let firms like Motorola, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson do a lot of research and marketing for them. The other part of me thinks that a rising tide lifts all boats.

Stay tuned. This one is far from over.

Here's some more reading:
Nexus One, The Google Phone, Captured In The Wild (Techcrunch)
Specs: HTC Nexus One blessed by the FCC (Engadget)
Google Phone May Be in Works (NYTimes)
Nexus One: T-Mobile Partners on Google Phone (Mashable)
Nexus Is “Like An iPhone On Beautifying Steroids” (Techcrunch)
Why So Many Are So Wrong on the 'Google Phone' (PC Mag)
Nexus One photos, Android 2.1 on-board (Engadget)

Simple, brilliant, banned



I think this is a brilliant campaign. By tagging the photos with your name, you essentially create a social object that gets shared with everyone in your Facebook network ... and instead of being shared by Ikea, it is shared by you, because you tagged yourself.

Like the Whopper Sacrifice, it is simple and powerful.

Like the Whopper Sacrifice, it has been banned by Facebook.

The new FB rules governing promotions will not allow this to happen again. Anything that has a competition element has to be held within an application and thus not use the native “tagging” features in FB.

There's a great write-up of the campaign over on adland.tv, by @Dabitch. She's from Malmö Sweden, the same town where this particular Ikea is located giving her unique insight into the campaign.

Agency: Forsman & Bodenfors, Gothenburg, Sweden
Art Director: Adam Ulvegärde
Copywriter: Robert Lund