Is Facebook losing its mojo?
Photo: point-oh.com
There's a lot of gloomy news from Facebook these these days. I even saw a projection that said they would be gone in 10 years. Technology changes incredibly fast and platforms like Facebook don't make it unless they're continually evolving. Even bigger for Facebook is the issue surrounding how people perceive ads on the site and how the social media platform can make money from just that for their advertisers. Statistics right now show that people's response to Facebook ads is on par with most other digital ads - which is quite low. It's the old spray and pray syndrome all over again. People don't go to Facebook to shop, they go to Amazon for that. People expect Facebook to be an open, fun and FREE place for social chatter...not shopping. That's a big hurdle to get over and I think the malaise that's hit the company's stock performance indicates that the investor community sees that. You have to generate revenue at some point and Facebook has yet to show how they will monetize their user base and bring value to the advertisers. I believe it's possible that social media has created a new way to connect with consumers in sites like Pinterest... And, just think, newer and better ideas have yet to hit the market!
~ Guest post by Jaime Garza, FPO Marketing ~
Greet the world everyday with positive creativity
What if you were a champion of humanity? What if you decided to start looking for, noticing and drawing attention to the goodness, ingenuity, creativity, kindness and courage in your own heart, as well as your fellow inhabitants of planet earth?
No need to ignore anything, just place your primary focus on the quiet heroes of everyday life that keep things working for all of us. More and more, statistics are piling up that show how we are improving as a species. Whether you believe we’re getting better or not, it will help you tremendously to look for evidence of goodness in yourself and the world around you. It will lower your stress, increase your joy, expand your compassion and give you greater access to your magnificent brain.
A sense of optimism about humanity and our ability to learn, grow and rise above our limitations is one of the greatest assets you could ever give to yourself.
So writes W.G. Defoore, Ph.D. on GoodFinding.com (June 2012 Volume 6 Number 6). More and more, as the years creep on, I have been subscribing to the “positive” vs. the negative. And, in this day and age – it is not an easy task staying on track. The media seems hell bent on dredging up the nastiest of the dirt, government is truly a mess and hence our collective futures seem to be in question and folks in general often have a bad attitude with something less than kind to say about most everything.
However, we are still a great nation and I suspect we can and will survive. And, if more of us, than not, are determined to find the positive in the future and do creative things to ensure that reality, we will find the brighter side of life, that once was not so elusive in America. We can choose to be negative and react negatively to all around us, or we can choose to be positive and live a happier, more productive existence. Which do you suppose is the healthier alternative? Ask your children – they know instinctively. Life is short...make it count by being a positive creative force for good.
Juice box modified pears?
Photo: foodiggity.com
When creativity meets science, the possibilities are endless. As part of their new ad campaign to emphasize that their fruit juices are 100% natural, Brazilian juice company Camp Nectar grew fruit in the shape of juice boxes. Yes, you heard me correctly - real, natural fruit grown in the shape of the company's juice boxes, complete with impressions of the Camp Nectar logo and the bendable straw. The company then had these juice box-shaped fruits dispersed in the fruit bins throughout grocery stores as an eye-catching edible advertisement. The video below displays how the juice box fruits were created and it's nothing short of awesome. Props to Camp Nectar.
Snow as an art form
Photo: inhabitant.com
I recently came across a unique English artist, Simon Beck, who creates amazing works of art in vast snow fields. I can only imagine the sheer amount of patience and persistence required to create these impressively precise crop circle-like patterns. Using an orienteering compass and measuring tape to get his bearings and form the design, Beck then uses a clothes line and central anchor to create curves and circles. The final product is nothing short of amazing. I highly recommend taking a look at all of his snowscapes - he has a Facebook page devoted to his snow art where you can see all of his masterpieces, as well as higher contrasted versions of some of his designs. Creativity at its finest.
With Help Remedies, simplicity is key
Lately, instead of picking up my usual bottle of Advil or Benadryl from the pharmaceutical aisle, I've been buying the Help Remedies brand of cold medicine and pain relievers. I was first drawn to this brand because of its unique packaging...and the fact that it's $1.00. Upon opening my first blister pack of Help Remedies' acetaminophen ( called Help I have a headache), I noticed a funny one-liner above the drug facts: "Help I have a headache does not contain Red Dye #40. If you enjoy dye, you will have to eat it separately." Cute packaging? Check. Cheap? Check. Company with a sense of humor? Check. I'm officially sold on this new, random drug brand and have since done some investigating regarding their marketing tactics. The CEO of the company was tired of sifting through needlessly complex pharmaceuticals in the drugstores with names he couldn't pronounce, so he created Help Remedies. Simplicity being the most important factor, the brand's packaging names the one active ingredient and the symptom it treats: Help I'm nauseous, Help I have allergies, Help I can't sleep, etc. The straight forward labels make choosing the correct drug for your ailment 100% idiot-proof. Have a cold? Pick up Help I have a cold - done and done - no having to stand there and read 100 different labels. Complete with weird YouTube spots and an awesome interactive website, this is my new favorite brand.
Photo: theschumpeterproject.wordpress.com
Do you need a Pintermission? Honda thinks so…
Photo: adweek.com
Over the past couple of months, companies left and right have been flocking to Pinterest, adding the virtual pin board to their laundry list of social media sites to maintain. In a previous post, I talked about how I thought Pinterest was essentially useless for companies/products that didn't revolve around "lifestyle" - fashion, food, decorating, beauty, fitness, etc. Well, I stand partially corrected. Honda (yep, the car manufacturer) has come up with one of the most clever ways to utilize Pinterest in a way that's relevant to their brand. Instead of pinning pictures of their cars - boring - they are asking you to take a "Pintermission." As part of its Leap List campaign for their CR-V they are encouraging people to live life to the fullest. How does Pinterest come into play? Honda's agency, RPA, "is offering $500 each to the most active pinners (as identified by Mashable) if they'll take a 24-hour break from Pinterest and actually go out and do the stuff they've been pinning about." The pinners who accept the challenge immediately receive the $500 and are asked to create a Pintermission board where they will pin photos of the stuff they do during their break from the site and then Honda will repin those pins onto their Pinterest board. The whole campaign is one giant oxymoron, which I love - I think it's a great tongue-in-cheek way to draw attention to the company. It's clear that Honda is in touch with what's popular and they manipulated Pinterest so that it works for them - that's smart.
Nature as a canvas
The idea that beauty is in the eye of the beholder is more than relevant when we're talking about art. Tastes in art range from traditional to contemporary to the absolutely bizarre. Art truly is in the eye of the beholder. However, if there's one thing every art-lover can agree on it's the innate beauty of nature. Andrew Goldworthy is an environmental artist based in Ireland. His work is especially unique and creative because his canvas is nature and he only uses materials provided by nature. I've never seen anything like this before and although his work may seem a little strange, there's no denying the exquisiteness of his "pieces." It's too bad you can't wrap up his work and take it home to place above your fireplace.
Would your pitch make the cut on The Pitch?
Photo: democracyofgoodideas.com
With the dozens of reality competitions that television offers - including fashion designing, modeling, singing, dancing, cooking, creating art and interior designing - it's no surprise that advertising has finally been added to the queue. With the return of AMC's Mad Men, it seems as though advertising has reclaimed a seat in the spotlight as one of the most glamorous and cutthroat professions. A sneak preview of a new reality show competition called The Pitch aired after this week's episode of Mad Men and I couldn't NOT watch. In the episode, two well-known agencies - McKinney and WDCW - competed against one another to create a winning ad campaign for Subway's breakfast menu. The agencies met with Subway's marketing director to get a feel for what the restaurant was hoping for in an ad campaign, which was to get the elusive 18-24 year-old demographic to eat breakfast at Subway, and after a ten-minute briefing the agencies parted ways and got to work on creating their pitches. I won't reveal any spoilers, but my only negative comment is that I wasn't all too impressed with the ideas tossed around during the brainstorming sessions. But, who am I to judge creativity? That said, I'm not a huge fan of WDCW's work in general (Does anyone else recall the awful Quizno's commercials with the hamsters? Um, yea...), but it was interesting to see the disparity between the creative processes of two very different agencies. You'll have to tune in to the actual premiere on April 30th to find out which group of creatives won, but I highly recommend this reality show. It's not only interesting, but also boasts more substance and legitimacy than, say, Fashion Star - don't even get me started on that one...