June 10, 2010
June 9, 2010
Bros Icing Bros: A Meme With A Difference
"The premise of the game is simple: hand a friend a sugary Smirnoff Ice malt beverage and he (most participants have been men) has to drink it on one knee, all at once - unless he is carrying a bottle himself, in which case the attacker must drink both bottles of what Mr. Rospos described as a "pretty terrible" drink. [...] The game has exposed the mercurial line between guerrilla advertising and genuine social media trends, raising questions about how young consumers can know when they have co-opted a brand for their own purposes, and when that brand has co-opted them."
The New York Times
June 9, 2010
The Rise Of The Micro-Meme
Further to Julian's thoughts on the micro-memes currently doing the rounds - think Season Of Sneakers, The Awkward Lean, and @Yeah_Lad - these types of projects lend well to the web's, now, super-easy level of entry. What Twitter, but more to the point Tumblr have done is allow for smaller projects to be instantly deployed and readily digestible for the meme-hunters (aka cool kids) to scoop up and tip over. And the fact that Seasons Of Sneakers, for example, has given itself a finite lifespan shows an evolution towards a project based execution, or mentality if you will. The trick here is to weave these micro-memes into a larger narrative - if the kids figure it out then so what? The mobility, transportability, inherent subversiveness and short lifecycle of these projects are well placed to see them stick it to that now looking more like a dinosaur every day: the microsite. June 8, 2010
June 8, 2010
June 8, 2010
June 8, 2010
June 3, 2010
Ford Davis Launches Joint Venture With JTL LLC: “Season of Sneakers”
Ford "Fucking" Davis Media Conglomerate Group (FFDMCG) - whose custom web assets include the highly controversial Pull Out Bros alongside daily musings "blog" Ford Davis - have just launched their latest title, a joint venture with JTL LLC.
The question and answer/fashion hybrid "blog", JTL's Season of Sneakers, is seen as a grab at the burgeoning Q&A market, pitting themselves against titles such as About.com, Mahalo, and Answers.com. But their possible point of difference could be taking the unusual step of selecting a single spokesperson, JTL chief Johnny The Ladd (pictured above), as the site's one and only voice/ambassador.
"We've spent a six dollar figure in R&D and Jonny was an unlikely choice" says FFDMCG chief Ford Davis. "But in the end the data and research rang true: the world is finally ready for the meme that is JTL". When questioned on likely revenue streams Ford was tight-lipped, only to imply that a private webcam pay-on-demand service is in the works. That and "we'll sell the front windscreen for the right price".
Early reports are bullish with the site doing over 60 million unique browsers in the first few days, only second in traffic, in Australia, to Facebook. "The combination sinkhole party and South American "blogger outreach" was a great strategy in getting it [Season of Sneakers] in front of the target eyeballs", said Ford Davis from his condo in Guatemala City, "now comes the tough task of ensuring we keep the content fresh and JTL relevant".
The writer was flown 1st class into Guatemala for this interview and stayed in the presidential suite at the Westin Camino Real Guatemala City courtesy of FFDMC and JTL LLC.
May 31, 2010
May 31, 2010
1300 DEER
Jump a local train to Nara, currently celebrating 1300 years in existence. More walking, more temples. It's kind of gotten to the point where - seen one five tiered pagoda, seen them all. Not really but really. NAFT: Not Another Fucking Temple. Balance is the key word of the day. We go climb a hill for the sake of it and I begin feeling slightly sadistic.
Nara is old. You can feel it in its bones. The shrines are intensely massive, resplendent with equally massive statues. Even the deer look older and show both their age and intelligence. For 150 yen you can grab a stack of deer cookies, not what you think, and feed them. And tease them as the locals do, to a point; these industrious suckers know enough to dig their horns into the ribs of the closest holder of said cookies in order to get a feed. Sickening yet gracious all at the same time. We eject early for beer, sumo, and sleep.
We hit Dotonburi around eight in the early night: a whole lot of people with nothing to do including us. Drag. We could probably have planned it better but I reckon the city needed to pull its head in too. Enough said . Beers at Wishy-Washy. Sleep. See you later.
Nara is old. You can feel it in its bones. The shrines are intensely massive, resplendent with equally massive statues. Even the deer look older and show both their age and intelligence. For 150 yen you can grab a stack of deer cookies, not what you think, and feed them. And tease them as the locals do, to a point; these industrious suckers know enough to dig their horns into the ribs of the closest holder of said cookies in order to get a feed. Sickening yet gracious all at the same time. We eject early for beer, sumo, and sleep.
We hit Dotonburi around eight in the early night: a whole lot of people with nothing to do including us. Drag. We could probably have planned it better but I reckon the city needed to pull its head in too. Enough said . Beers at Wishy-Washy. Sleep. See you later.