We went into the Doubleday bookshop
at Fifth Avenue and Fifty Second
Street the other day, intending,
in our innocence, to buy a book, and
found all the clerks busy selling Silly
Putty, a gooey, pinkish, repellent-looking
commodity that comes in plastic
containers the size and shape of eggs.
How an
item in the August 26th, 1950
New Yorker's Talk of the Town column turned a marketing consultant into a millionare by Christmas.
[more inside]
posted by Toekneesan
on Dec 22, 2011 -
31 comments
A giant equation is taking form over the course of a few days, on a 46-ft tall "chalkboard" at the corner of Crosby and Broome in NYC. Sponsored by Dow Chemical, it's a mathematical brain teaser with the significance of each term left for the solver to discern.
In the first term, for example, the '755' is the length in feet of each side of the great pyramid.
Solutions to pieces of the puzzle can be submitted via twitter to @GiantChalkboard.
I'm not clear about the commercial aspect of this, or even what exactly "solutionism" is. But if you're a math/puzzle nerd, you'll likely
waste lots of time on enjoy it.
posted by ancillary
on Sep 21, 2011 -
48 comments
For nearly 2 years now, Manchester band
WU LYF (World Unite Lucifer Youth Foundation) has been experimenting with music and the presentation of their image. The group's
official website *autoplay on front page* is an assaulting mix of manifesto,
art project, and
promotion. What started as the intention to have a
faceless band quickly gave way to the huge appeal of interesting music, and the band started
taking a new approach and taking off the masks. A weird blend of
atmospheric indie rock,
blues-informed vocals,
vaguely political messages, and
British soul music, all strangely
influenced by American hip hop, makes WU LYF
easy pickings for best of the (music) web.
posted by broadway bill
on Jul 10, 2011 -
26 comments
In a redoubled effort to capture consumers’ attention in this sputtering economic recovery, some paint companies are hoping to distinguish their brands with names that tell a story, summon a memory or evoke an emotion — even a dark one — as long as they result in a sale. What the names do not do is reveal the
color. [SLNYT]
posted by bayani
on Jul 5, 2011 -
53 comments
It was bound to happen eventually. After
a quarter-century,
26 Academy Awards, and an unparalleled streak of
eleven artistic and commercial triumphs, Pixar's latest project,
Cars 2, is
Certified Rotten. Critics have
assailed the film as a slick but hollow vehicle for Disney's
$10 billion-dollar Cars merchandising industry "lifestyle brand," replacing the original's serviceable tale of small-town redemption with
zany spy games,
hyperactive chase sequences, and even more
lowbrow aww-shucks potty humor from
Larry the Cable Guy. But it's not all bad news! Along with
a fun new Toy Story 3 short, preceding today's (3-D) premiere showings is a first look at next year's
Brave --
a darkly magical original story set in ancient Scotland featuring the studio's first female lead (and
director).
Evocative high-res concept art [mirror] is available at the official website, and
character sketches have leaked to the web, with the apparently striking teaser trailer sure to follow. Also, be sure not to miss the sneak peak of
Brave's associated short,
"La Luna"!
posted by Rhaomi
on Jun 24, 2011 -
263 comments
"What I'm asking is this: Are screenwriters now affected by "spoiler culture" before they even begin the writing process? If you know a twist will be unavoidably revealed before the majority of people see the work itself, and if you concede that selling and marketing a film with a major secret will be more complicated for everyone involved … would you even try? Would you essentially stop yourself from trying to write a movie that's structured like The Sixth Sense?"
Are Spoilers Flipping the Script?
posted by Brandon Blatcher
on Jun 17, 2011 -
128 comments
Stealth social marketing: CBC’s
Spark radio show and podcast interviews a social marketer who describes the lengths to which advertisers will go to make you believe the “friends” who mention a product really are your friends. Includes everything from use of regional slang to hiring a stripper. (Bonus points for the segment’s Deep Throat–style concealment of the identity of the source.)
Spark blog with Flash audio player;
direct MP3 download.
[more inside]
posted by joeclark
on May 16, 2011 -
17 comments
*Santa* is a Concept, not an idea. It's an Emotion, not a feeling. It's both Yesterday and Today. And it's Tomorrow as well. Santa winds infinite Possibilities around finite Limitations to evoke the essence of invention and the Odour of Nostalgia. It has the complexity of Simpleness and the Simplicity of complexitiveness. It begins with the Hiss of Power and ends with the Ah of Surprise. *Santa* is.
posted by creeky
on Dec 16, 2010 -
18 comments
The
Corn Refiners Association, which represents firms that make corn syrup, has been trying to improve the image of the much maligned sweetener with
ad campaigns, and
web sites, (
Previously) promoting it as a natural ingredient made from corn. Now, the group has petitioned the United States Food and Drug Administration to start calling the ingredient "corn sugar," arguing that a name change is the only way to clear up consumer "
confusion" about the product. (
VIA)
posted by Blake
on Sep 14, 2010 -
172 comments
Hygiene. Flexibility. Safety (SLYT) Another spoof on the
Jobs presentation, but with a real company, product and serious effort behind it. It's odd because it's super-real, injokey and the viral ambition is ambiguous. Moneyshot at 7m40s.
As a sidenote, would Apple be able to stomp on this if they wanted to? I mean, this is so tongue in cheek I can't really see the tongue.
posted by monocultured
on Jun 25, 2010 -
10 comments
