Chausse.org

Funny how a blog about writing compelling blog posts can end up becoming one of my new favorite blogs. Nonetheless - enjoy: Copyblogger.com

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Somehow I stumbled across this viral site promoting Combos snacks. Apparently, they think that associating themselves with transvestites will move product. Weird.

www.Man-Mom.com

Incidentally, now that I work at an ad agency, it’s always scary critiquing viral campaigns, since the creators are not usually publicized, and there’s always a chance that they were made by my agency or one of our 85-ish sister companies…

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I was recently at Toys ‘R’ Us when I spotted this “TV Game” I’ve had my eye on for a while. It’s a 2-player Atari 2600 “paddle” game system. I’ve wanted it because no matter how good an “emulator” may be, that clunky controller could never really be faked. Anyway, this time around I actually brought it home, since it was now being sold for under 5 bucks.

I haven’t plugged it in yet, because a bullet point on the back sent me into a deep depression from which I have yet to recover. Check out the first bullet:

You know, it really sucks when what you thought was “retro” is now pretty much considered antique.

On another note, I really wish they had cut a deal with Activision to put “Kaboom!” into this thing. When played with proper 2600 paddles, that game is pure crack cocaine in video game form.

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Metacafe is a video sharing site, like YouTube, but with a major difference. Content providers are (gasp!) actually paid for uploading popular videos. And we’re not talking chump change, either. They pay out $100 for every 20,000 views. That’s nothing for a video with even the slightest bit of traction. A while ago, I uploaded a funny video my mom sent me to YouTube (mainly just to “bookmark” it), and with zero publicity, it’s had over 6,000 views in less than a year.

Someone on MetaCafe uploaded a video of himself making a nifty origami bird. It’s had over half a million page views and earned “maverick99″ $2,848. If I ever start a video blog, it ain’t gonna be on YouTube.

It’s no secret that YouTube caught on mainly because it was an easy way to find illegally copied copyrighted videos. At that point, the no-payback model was perfectly appropriate. People shouldn’t get paid for piracy. But now that people are actually using YouTube for its intended purpose - distribution of self-made videos, it’s downright exploitative not to start paying the community back (the fact that, Pre-Google, YouTube was earning less than 10 percent of their bandwidth costs alone is not OUR problem).

In today’s entertainment world, small is the new big. Amateurs are the new professionals. PAID consumer generated media is the way of the future. Google had better take heed. YouTube is not invincible. No website is, especially when you don’t respect your community. Just ask Friendster.

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I don’t normally write about non-online advertising, but I’m glad to see I’m not the only one baffled by the recent Citibank ad campaign. Slate doesn’t get it either. Now that I know it was done by “The Napoleon Dynamite Guy”, I see where the aesthetic comes from. But why would a schlubby, nonspecifically foreign guy make me want to use a different credit card?

I can almost see the fatcat Citibank executive, lighting his cigar with a $100 bill, saying “I’ve got an idea - get me the guy who did that movie the kids like… You know, that, what’s-it-called… Exploding Cannoli or whatever. Have him do our next ad campaign”. Just because something is trendy (or WAS trendy a couple years ago) doesn’t mean it’ll help sell YOUR product.

Incidentally, I’ve had (far too) many credit cards over the years, and Citibank has been, by FAR the most annoying company in terms of junk mail and upsells. Veddy, veddy, veddy, annoying.

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Nintendo’s new Wii video game system features a controller that works by actually detecting your bodily motions - such as sword-swinging, bowling ball rolling, etc. Unfortunately, one unintended side-effect of this unique system is that people have a tendency to accidentally fling them at their televisions.

Coincidentally, everyone’s favorite squishy toy brand, NERF, in connection with Pelican, recently came out with a supposely fling-proof game controller. Unfortunately, it’s for Playstation 2. Alas.

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Hill, Holliday just launched a quirky little online campaign for our friends at Dunkin’ Donuts called “Morning People”.

Here’s one video:

Here are a bunch more.

You can join the fun, too, if you have an an old bassinet & doll to destroy. Just upload your own version to YouTube and tag it “dunkinmorningpeople”.

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For some odd reason my comments database table decided to poop out on me a few days ago. I, unfortunately, didn’t realize this until today. Interestingly, the fix was to just run the SQL query “REPAIR table wp_comments“. Wow, if only every computer problem was that easy to fix.

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Sometimes companies are so obsessed with attracting new customers that they don’t realize they’re basically giving their most loyal customers the shaft. I shop at Drugstore.com and I’m constantly coming across coupons for “first time users” only. Hey, thanks for reminding me that you don’t appreciate my continued purchases.

Here’s an even worse example. I’m a huge fan of the online music serivce, Rhapsody. I’ve been a member for years. In partnership with SanDisk, they recently launched a portable music player specifically optimized for use with Rhapsody. I decided to check it out today, and check out the offer: “Includes FREE Rhapsody To Go trial for new members“. Hey, that’s swell, but guess what? The people jazzed about this player are going to be existing Rhapsody members. If you’re in the portable music player business, and your company’s not named after a fruit, you better find your customer niche and give them all the love you can. The Sansa Rhapsody has a crystal clear niche (Rhapsody customers), but Rhapsody has the mistaken impression that the device will sell the service, instead of the more likely reverse.

Why not give existing Rhapsody users a $15 coupon off the device? It’s the same cost as a free month of service for the new guys, and your built in audience won’t feel like they’re getting the shaft.

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