Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Love and Heartbreak on Facebook
In my opinion, the Facebook breakup takes the Post-it breakup to the next level of embarrassment. It's the same concept, accept the Facebook status is being posted for all of your friends, family and acquaintances to see, not just you.
If you know of, or can think of a worse way to find out that your significant other has a sudden change of heart, please send me your comments. I'd love to hear worse breakup stories and scenarios.
For more public opinion on the topic you should check out this article from ABC News.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Funny Commercial of the Day
This commercial comes from the local San Francisco creative agency, Hub Strategy. This funny commercial for Slingbox won Hub the 2008 Best of Show Addy Award. Well deserved!
Thank You Nike For Your Creative Brilliance
As an avid soccer fan and former professional player, I've never seen a video capture the true essence of a soccer player better. The vantage point is one of a kind and spot on. Guy Ritchie and Nike should win awards for this masterpiece. The only thing that would have made it better is if it was made around Chelsea and not Arsenal.
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
How Small Is Too Small?
When the commercials came out for the new MacBook Air I was excited to see how consumers would react. Because I'm bigger than the Average Joe, I tend to like bigger gadgets. For instance, I'd never buy a iPod Nano when there's a 160 gig iPod Classic that's much bigger and better. Regardless, I've noticed that everytime Apple has introduced a new gadget, they follow it up with periodic releases of the same gadget in smaller and smaller sizes. Apparently, "Mini" is not small enough. With Apples newest release of the MacBook Air, I struggled to accept that it's more important to be able to slide your laptop in a manila folder than leave it on your desk like us normal folk.
Luckily, for all the big people out there, this mini syndrome hasn't gone unnoticed. Please enjoy this MacBook Air ad parody that's entertained almost a million viewers on YouTube.
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
If You Need Me I'll Be In Bali Playing Golf

You might be asking yourself how this game is any different from the high quality games we see on Playstation and XBOX. This is where the Digital Sensei bows to the people who developed this amazing idea, because they've made this entire game a branded experience. Players can buy the exact outfit that they have when the go golfing in real life. They can buy the clothes, accesories and even the clubs. You can enter PGA sponsored golf tournaments to win real prizes. At every opportunity to make the game more realistic, they have. Even the actual real time weather at each live course plays a role in the courses of the game.
You'd think that people would be pissed to have to pay for the newest and coolest digital equipment, but what an amazine opportunity to completely customize your digital golfer the way you want. What an amazing way to REALLY connect with the golf enthusiasts personal style and preferences. What a way for Taylor Made to connect with an engaged golfer who wants their digital player to be equiped with the best new equipment. What a way for Cadillac to sponsor the 18th hole of the PGA Charity Golf Tournament. What a way for golfers and wanna be golfers to enjoy what they love from the comfort of wherever they wanna be. World Golf Tour is an amazing new game and marketing vehicle that I hope spawns into a variety of different sports. I urge you to endulge, but beware, it's addicting!!! Click here to check them out.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Battle at Kruger: Ad Networks vs The Powerhouses
Some of you may have seen YouTube's "Best Eye Witness" Award Winning Video, "Battle At Kruger." This heroic video shows a poor baby Buffalo's struggle to survive an attach from two of Africa's most powerful predators; the Lion and Crocodile. Oddly enough, this battle ends with a convincing victory for the Buffalo because of the power of strenght in numbers.
At the completion of this incredible video, I sat there applauding the audacity that this herd of Buffalo had to challenge two of the most lethal animals in Africa. Then all of a sudden, it dawned on me that this concept of strength in numbers is the same strategy that Ad Networks use to combat the powerhouses of the Ad World.
Let's use the obvisous example of Kid's Marketing. As an Advertiser, I know that if I was doing the buy for a brand like Matel, I'd immediately reach out to the people at Disney and Nickelodeon. This is the obvious route knowing that they have an established and credible network of properties that reach children of all ages. However, that's precisely where every other Marketer is trying to reach this audience. Is there another source that has just as much power?
Let's take a look at GoFish, a very intriguing Kid's Ad Network that I've been lucky enough to learn about just recently, and that has some of the most popular kid's websites in their repertoire. Some of these sites include Miniclip, Piczo, WeeWorld and Whyville. Like the Buffalo, GoFish cannot compete with just one of their sites against Disney and Nick. However, when you combine all of the sites in the network, GoFish accounts for a monthly reach of 18.2 Million uniques, which is just behind Nick's 25.4 Million and Disney's 27.5 Million. Suddenly, we find that the Buffalo, although modest and sometimes unnoticed, can also fight with the most powerful of all.
I don't know about you, but when I watched this video I found myself routing for the Buffalo. This is what I like to call the case of the underdog. Although it may be odd to relate a Kid's Ad Network to an battle of animals at a watering hole in Africa, I think the same underdog priciples apply with GoFish. They're a true underdog in the sense that they work that much harder to compete with the powerhouses of Nick and Disney. Their impressive reach and customized solutions for advertisers are truly worthy of admiration and placement alongside the likes of Nick and Disney. At the very least, they're worth of a mention in The Digital Dojo as a company that embodies the characteristics of an innovative and well managed Digital Corporation. If you'd like to check them out you can click here.
