Black Friday

Now we’re shopping! Cool visual of Black Friday transactions on eBay…

Via Kantrow

Where’s the fire?

Funny. Thanks to Heather.

3DTV: Courvoisier, The Queen

Courvoisier to be first brand to air 3D spot on UK TV

Courvoisier is to become the first brand to run 3D TV advertising in the UK. The spot, which will air during Channel 4‘s ’3D Week’ next month, will be shown during several shows, including The Queen In 3D and The Greatest Ever 3D Moments. Channel 4′s ’3D Week’ is sponsored by Sainsbury’s, which will distribute 3D specs in its stores but will not run any 3D TV ads.

Channel 4 kicks off 3D Week tonight with Paul O’Grady and the Queen

Channel 4 is hosting a week of 3D programming and advertising starting with ‘The Paul O’Grady Show‘ followed by ‘The Queen in 3D’ at 9pm. O’Grady’s show will appear in three dimensions at points during the programme, while the Queen documentary features a 3D colour newsreel of Elizabeth II, created over 50 years ago during her Coronation year and shot by cameramen Bob Angell and Arthur Wooster.

Possibly related:

3D Queen footage to be screened (news.bbc.co.uk)
UK Channel 4 set to throw some 3D programming our way (engadget.com)
Does 3D TV leave you feeling a bit flat? (guardian.co.uk)

Media Owner Ads: MTV vs Dunkin, ESPN vs Toshiba

Michael & Michael Have Issues Live Ads

Seemingly, Comedy Central has recognized that their demo is not too likely to stick around through a commercial break, opting to fast forward through the ads or take a Twitter break instead. In fact, many young viewers only watch television commercials when someone sends them a YouTube link to one. Turning the traditional 30-second spot on its head, the titular Michaels (comedians Michael Ian Black and Michael Showalter) of Michael & Michael Have Issues perform sketch ads for brands such as Palm, Dunkin Donuts, and Klondike during what would normally be commercial breaks.

ESPN Develops Toshiba’s New Campaign

To help sell Toshiba TV sets and laptops, ESPN worked with the Japanese company to create advertising that illustrates specifically how ESPN fans could use those products. The ESPN-centric campaign represents “one of our efforts to reach sports fans while they are watching their favorite team in the living room or if they are on a laptop trying to check fantasy scores,” said Eddie Temistokle, manager-corporate communications, Toshiba America. “We really want to engage the whole fan base.”

Online Video: Stats

Online Video Used by 84% of Marketers

An overwhelming majority (83.5%) of brand and agency marketers in a recent study say they currently are using some type of online video in their marketing efforts, and most expect their use of the medium to grow in the coming years, according to a survey by TurnHere.

Online Video’s Biggest Category: Consumer Packaged Goods
Who knew online video would become so proficient at selling soap? In a down year overall for online advertising, video actually grew 41% in 2009, according to eMarketer, in no small part because the consumer-package-goods category doubled down on the medium and became the largest category in online video in 2009.

• (tags: onlinevideo cpg)

Metaverse: Second Life Corporate, Twinity’s Berlin Wall

Second Life Takes Virtual Goods Corporate

Virtual world Second Life has just introduced a beta designed specifically for businesses that will open up new opportunities for companies to hold virtual meetings and trade virtual goods – especially products based on business collaboration needs. The new corporate option, “Second Life Enterprise,” will enable companies to run the site on their own network behind their own firewall, adding an extra layer of security to encourage such trading and more use in general.

Twinity – The Berlin Wall
To commemorate the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, Twinity has reconstructed a true-to-scale section of the wall in virtual Berlin.

 

Linden Lab unveils Sadville: Enterprise Edition (theregister.co.uk)

Second Life Virtual Meetings (ecombizcenter.blogspot.com)

Second Life Goes Behind The Firewall (readwriteweb.com)

Fall of the Berlin Wall: 20th anniversary celebrations (guardian.co.uk)

2010: Trends, Ideas

Top Digital Marketing Trends for 2010: Flash, Crowdsourcing, Info-Art
As 2010 fast approaches, digital marketers are gearing up for yet another year of changes that will incorporate both the transformational and the incremental. From the economy’s influence on the burgeoning “do-it-yourself” culture to an increasing reliance on collective wisdom, information-based art, and remote computing, digital experts at Last Exit (via MarketingCharts) have put together the following list of top digital marketing trends they believe will play out in the year ahead.

2010: The Year of the Good Idea

Judy Franks believes that if the industry can begin to look at the media landscape as a whole and less at its parts, and understand the ways in which it is changing, 2010 can still be the “year of the good idea.”

Nerds: Star Wars Fans, Star Trek Hands

The crowd strikes back: fans remake Star Wars

A new crowdsourced initiative invites fans to remake Star Wars. People can sign up on Star Wars: Uncut to recreate up to three of the 1,313 fifteen-second clips that make up the epic space film. They then have 30 days to film and upload their segment before the slot is offered to someone else. The 337 contributions submitted so far range from live action and animation to stop motion and cardboard shadow-puppetry. Submissions can be viewed on Star Wars: Uncut, side-by-side with the original. Eventually, the site’s administrator—Casey Pugh, a Vimeo staff member—will stitch all of the pieces together, letting the project reach its ultimate goal of recreating the the entire movie.

Live Long & Prosper Foam Hand

Now you can share in the genius of extra terrestrial logic for yourself with this fine Live Long & Prosper Foam Hand. Simply insert hand and start waving.

Agencies: Traditional agencies too resistant to digital … Digital agencies not ready to lead … UK shops losing their touch …

Agency bosses too old and change resistant, claims Sorrell
WPP chief executive Sir Martin Sorrell (aged 64) claims that brands are not spending enough online because the people who run their agencies are too old and resistant to change. Delivering the opening keynote session at ad:tech New York, Sorrell criticised brands for investing an average of just 13 per cent of their marketing budget online despite the rapid increase in digital media consumption.

Why Digital Agencies Aren’t Ready to Lead
Ana Andjelic opines: “Any conversation about digital marketing these days includes at least one mention that traditional agencies just “don’t get it.” While this may be correct, it’s equally true that digital agencies are not ready to take the lead. Look at the typical digital agency. It excels in exploring new horizons. It supports a flat and loose organizational structure in which a developer has access to the CEO. And it makes sure everyone’s opinion is heard. It’s one big crazy family. Digital agencies are having fun experimenting with ideas, technologies and strategies to find new alternatives superior to obsolete ways of doing marketing. That’s what they do best. The problem is, this is the only thing they are doing. When they are asked to actually follow through on their ideas, they often come up short. It is because they don’t know the business of marketing (or want to know it, for that matter), and they rarely have the organizational structure or past practices to guide them.”

Are U.K. Shops Losing Their Touch in the Digital World?

The London ad scene, which has long produced groundbreaking TV commercials that are the envy of New York creatives, is suffering through an identity crisis. Slowness in adapting to the digital reality is causing some intense navel-gazing, with many concluding that U.K. agencies and marketers have to get up to speed — and fast. David Droga grew up in Australia admiring British advertising as the best in the world, and at age 29 was made executive creative director of Saatchi & Saatchi London. Mr. Droga has since moved on — he left London for New York in 2003 — but he claims that U.K. creativity is still pretty much back where he left it nearly seven years ago. “There is no question that TV, press and outdoor are still the primary focus in the U.K.,” Mr. Droga said. “There is less integration there, and a tendency to default to the safety of TV and posters.” I might point out to Dave that this is probably true of the big shops in the US …

Possibly related

“Sir Martin Sorrell: Rupert Murdoch’s pay wall plan is right (telegraph.co.uk)

Profits halved at advertising firm WPP (guardian.co.uk)

Does Sir Martin have another motive for peddling his alphabet soup? (telegraph.co.uk)

WPP profits down by nearly 50% (guardian.co.uk)

WPP sees little evidence of ‘stouter hearts’ needed to spend during downturn (telegraph.co.uk)

Mobile: Touchscreen, TwitterPeek, eReaders

Top 10 Touchscreen Devices: iPhone Drives 159% Growth

The number of touchscreen mobile-phone users in the US has grown 159% during the past year – to 23.8 million in August 2009 – and has substantially outpaced the already-strong 63% growth of smartphone use, according to a study of touchscreen mobile phone adoption in the US by comScore, Inc.

Dedicated tweeting gadget TwitterPeek launches

A new gadget designed specifically for people who want to tweet on the go was launched Tuesday by gadget maker Peek. The device, dubbed TwitterPeek, does one thing and one thing only: it lets people tweet. It doesn’t access e-mail. It doesn’t make phone calls. It tweets. That’s it. TwitterPeek, which looks like a smartphone, features a QWERTY keyboard and comes in black or aqua blue. The idea behind TwitterPeek is simple. After buying the device, users need only to input their Twitter credentials to get going. The gadget lets them tweet, reply, retweet, send direct messages, and download followers. It supports one account at a time. Users can also view TwitPics by clicking the “view content” option from the TwitterPeek menu. The company claims its battery lasts three to four days with average usage.

Will TwitterPeek be Darling or Dud?

In what appears to be indicative of Twitter’s success and growing popularity, a new gadget has hit the market that has been developed specifically – and solely – for users to send and receive tweets. TwitterPeek, a $99.95 device with a QWERTY keyboard, color screen and click-scroll wheel offered through Amazon.com, could prove to be the hot selling item for the holiday season. On one hand, it’s less expensive than a smartphone upgrade. On the other, it could also prove dud-worthy if demand never materializes.

.

iPhone Beating E-Readers at Their Own Game?

With the iPhone still the hottest smartphone, there’s much speculation about how its future will pan out. For some the money’s on gaming, but new research from Flurry is surprisingly different: eBook apps are overtaking games in the App Store.