Convenient, yes. Fair, no.

I'm really happy for the team that created this Exit Strategy NYC app. It tells you which car to get into so that you can get out of your destination station faster. Firstly, Exit Strategy Team, get out of my head! This kind of meticulus commuting is meant for one's own neurosis, not for public consumption. But also, this will flood the second to last car on the Downtown 4/5 between 59th and Grand Central. It took me 2 years to find that exact door/car, and I think others should have to learn the hard way. It's a perk of experience. But I guess it's still pretty great, I hope they get rich. It's compelling content, as soon as a brand attaches itself to the app. Perhaps its a watch company? Weak, but ill keep thinking about it. And I'll start using the app, too.

Swine Flu Breakthrough Discovery

Got this picture forwarded from friends, did some photoshopping. It's not compelling content, but I think the CDC should interview this person.

Repeat visits, repeat minutes spent. Good stuff.

Cup Noodle. Look out for this in next years awards shows...after the data of time spent is released. Guaranteed winner. So this is true Compelling Content. Simply grab one of the 3 noodle flavors and add to the pile. You have to sign in to do it, so they're collecting data and emails. That's good. But also, you can see the other users (in the pic to the right it's clear there are about 15 others adding Cups to the Noodle stack) And you kinda have to wait your turn to add it. If out release at the wrong time, it plummets to earth. Tabs are kept of how many cup noodles you've added, and there are levels, apparently (since I just received bronze). The map is real, a la google earth. And the heights are real too. You can see the levels building on the right and you can look forward to new levels revealed. It's a team thing. I can't stop coming back. It's an everyday thing. That's true compelling content. One thing lacking is the motivation to share this with others. It seems to be a solo habit.

Maybe Cookies aren't so bad?

Yesterday I was browsing for men's wedding rings (I'm not cheap, these were just for style). So this morning during my routine checks of certain blogs, cartoons, news stuff, (it's all very OCD) And sure enough the rings I looked at were there, sparkling in a banner ad, ready for me to click and resume my search. I'm sure this is not excting to anyone, since this technology dates back to the early 90's. But it affected me today, and I found it to be compelling content in the simplest form.

Wow. Not really subtle.

Ok, I'm sure I'm not the first out there to notice this. I'm sure it's old news. But since I'm the only one who reads this blog, consider it my official comment - however late.

Hershey's must've gone to their agency and said "we want a happiness factory" Then the agency said, coming right up. Hopefully there was some pushback, but in the end it's way too similar. But coke did it better and first.



now the original



neither are examples of compelling content, but at least one is original.

This is awesome, but only in select Metropoli

So I can see this app working well in combination with Twitter--A twitter map with all my buddies, I can click on the map, their profile pops up with their latest Twits.
I could see this working well with Flickr. Same map, but with live pics.

The thing is, you need to be in a place, a geographically small city, where people are moving around, it seems only perfect for bar hoppers. Or bike messengers. If people aren't moving every few hours, why check their location? We'll see.

But what I WANT to see this working well with are live branded events. "Sometime today, somewhere in Manhattan, we will giving away free [INSERT PRODUCT HERE]. Watch your map." The map can be on the product home page. The guy who has the van full of free shit can "turn on" his location for 15 min then shut it off... It's an instant mad rush to the area, you can see how many users are there. FINALLY we can measure giveaways, product demos and events. It's a hotbed for compelling content of all sorts.

Whoa Fella, one too many questions

I liked the look of LivingSocial but they're asking too many questions to get started. It's a site where you list the consumed culture in your life and it helps you build on that. Great idea. E.g. list all the books you've read and are reading and want to read. Then you're linked to all others by that data. TV shows, movies, restaurants. Great.
But to get started you have to fill in all the data. Much more time consuming than starting a facebook page.

Oh, and it's a facebook app. But it's not. It's a separate page. It has the facebook link at the top, but so does my browser. Note the pictures to the right and below.

It's definitely compelling content. It's a place for advertisers to get SOOOO specific. And it's a useful kind of specific. If they know I love Scorsese movies, they may remind me about Raging Bull, which reminds me, I still haven't seen that. But my buddies have. Perhaps I'll buy it right here!

Better yet, maybe my Blockbuster delivery account could have a say in influencing me?

I might be jumping to conclusions here. I'll do more research and get back to me.

If they're shorter, i think ill actually watch em

So Miller High Life is doing 30 1 second ads during the superbowl. The premise revolves around the well known price for a TV ad on the superbowl. "3 Million dollars? that's a hundred grand a second! If high life had a spot, all we'd need is a second..."

It's so true. You need a logo and a smile, that's it (at least with beer you do).

But what's more interesting is that since it's so quick, I will STOP MY DVR to watch it. When I'm fast forwarding commercials, a one second commercial will look like blip... a very intriguing blip. That's compelling content. A spot (which is not usually compelling content) which is specific to the modern media it's on, recognizes the bloated spending and messaging in tradvertising, and takes it on, head on.

We need more campaigns that recognize the DVR user. I propose a slow motion spot, viewed best in fast motion...1, 2, or 3 triangles fast.

Oh, I see.

Turns out these legends of the ad game are not looking to be my friend. Fine, I had nothing in common with them anyway. Apparently, you need to win some awards to get on their radar. That's why the Andy's did such a great job of selling their premise: Win an Andy, win them all. The campaign basically says that this particular award show is so prestigious, you'll get the other awards easy, and perhaps, friendship with the best of the best. So I'm off to register for the Andy's, since they used compelling content to get me into the season of awards shows.

Good day for me, friend wise

Looks like I did the impossible. I became officially, publicly friends with some of the greatest creative directors in advertising today. Now, I'm a nice guy, but this still surprised me. I'm so glad that all that ass kissing the last three years has payed off.

Click the pic to see the proof.

Cell phones pop corn. False, but I still don't think it fits the failure formula.

So this video is hot right now. 8 million hits over the last 10(?) days. And it was on CNN this morning. They interviewed Scott Goodson of Strawberry Frog about it. He noted what we all understand in advertising: since its false, it will fail. It's true perhaps for that company, but I think they still helped out the whole bluetooth industry. I think its compelling content. We believed it because we're thinking it: maybe cells could pop popcorn. Maybe I should get that shit away from my head. So the video itself will fizzle, the company won't be remembered for posing the idea and they'll be the guys who faked the video. But the other makers are now primed to play up the fear and conversation going on. Let's see who steps up.

CareerBuilder, Monster get to work

If you're agency's got some hard working creatives, get them to work on making this into something. The clock is ticking. Go.
Maybe this guy, once he's out of jail, could be placed at a new job, and you could be the ones to show the before and after.
I saw it first from another angle at Agency Spy.

Award Shows are Relevant, Dammit! Vol 8

So, I went to the One Show Interactive last night, Nikon and MRM Worldwide won a gold pencil for its project Nikon Picturetown. It's a ripe example of compelling content. They said, who better to taut the product of experts and afficianados than the users themselves? So they gave away free cameras and said "let us and the world know how it well it works." It spread like wildfire, and the users became lifetime fans. It's another step forward for these clients, who first dabbled with their D80 project, praised by new marketing bloggers like Joseph Jaffe . So the relevant part is this: If more creatives win awards for community based thinking like this, then more creatives will present it. And if those presentations are for forward thinking clients like Nikon, than our whole industry will benefit.

PS All this award show talk will end soon, I promise, the season's almost over.

Award Shows are Relevant, Dammit! Vol 7

Just an update. All the greatness and forward thinking of McCann's Halo3 Believe, that was honored with the Grandy at the Andy Awards , also won Best in Show at the One Show. All previous arguments that award shows are relevant apply here as well.

Award Shows are relevant, Dammit! Vol 6.

McCann was the big winner last night at the International Andy Awards for their work with Halo 3 . We've seen the ads, with the diarama on an enormous, detailed scale. It flipped the video-game-tv-spot norm of pure action and explosions and made it eerily quiet. But what took it further was the interviews of "veterans." It put a human face, a whole story to these video game characters.

But back to the title of the article: awarding work like this is good for advertising. It was a multimedia, highly interactive, thoughtful campaign. It wasn’t a goofy commercial. Nor did users didn’t have to buy anything to get involved, but it was oh so engaging. So, if we award work like this, then creatives will strive to do more of it, more of it will get presented, and more of it will get made. It's the natural selection of compelling content.

Oh, and results. The release of Halo 3 rocked Spiderman and Harry Potter.

Award Shows are relevant, dammit! vol.5

More to come. I'm just getting the excitement started. I forsee another smart move by the Andy Awards to be more modern, making modern advertising the star. Can't say more.

Feeling better about Advertising

I found this to be compelling content. Not sure, but I think its Deutsch. Anyway, they're giving people something useful instead of giving them a pitch. This campaign says, here's ways to avoid needing our product ((but if you still do, here's our logo)). Tylenol offers tips to avoid pain, and asks for nothing in return. That is a big step forward in thinking, and a big step for print.

Clickable TV, the inevitable is here

I knew this would happen. We just gotta make a remote that, like the Wii remote, replaces the mouse. No one wants to have a mouse pad on their coffee table.

Award Shows are relevant, dammit! Volume 4.

Look, I don't want to be the guy who's all about awards, I just keep stumbling opon this stuff--sorry. But alas, via 9:01am, found out that the Emmy's have stepped up and welcomed broadband programming into its pool of contestants. This is like the first person to ever scream to a crowd, "hey guys, electricity is great, you know?" and the crowd cheers back, "here here! three cheers for electricity!"
But it's promising, because they're on to something with their criteria:“With broadband, the scope is global, the concept universal, and the community, all-inclusive. The amateur is the professional is the consumer. From the small screen to the smaller screen, NBC to MySpace, on television and online, the only differentiation worth making is good content from bad,” said Christie Morrongiello, Manager Daytime Entertainment Emmy Awards, NATAS.
Well put Christie, good content is compelling content. and its the only thing that will survive when broadband and tv are the same thing.

Shell Oil takes a good swing

I got a copy of the long (9 minutes) version of Shell's Eureka in my Wired mag. I watched it, so what? Also, there were 2 print ads to go with it throughout the mag. Also, the video is easily found online and TV. So good job Shell. Although, they didn't buy the search, so I ended up with sleeping bags at first. ANYWAY, it's a good effort. The movie was a bit obvious and chocked full o public relations. But, entertaining and free. I'll dub this compelling content because they covered their bases by making sure messages matched across media, and because they did a movie, however short, with high production value and effort.