Links for 2008-03-31 : Amazon On Demand, Zero House, Huffington, Digital

• Amazon goes On-Demand
  Instead of printing a large quantity months before a title goes on sale, print-on-demand allows publishers to print copies in response to requests from retailers or other customers.
  (tags: amazon on-demand longtail retail ecommerce)



• ZeroHouse Shows Nothing is Everything
  The new ZeroHouse™ is a completely self-sustaining prefabricated house generates its own power, collects its own water, processes its own waste and is 100% automatic.
  (tags: architecture energy environment green prefab solar design)



• Citizen Huff
  The three-year-old Huffington Post blog has defied conventional wisdom in becoming a major online destination, last month recording 3.7 million unique visitors to surpass The Drudge Report for the first time.
  (tags: huffingtonpost blogs socialmedia news)



• Newsflash! Marketers Must Learn Digital Marketing!
  Oh dear. Booz Allen get a well-earned skewering from Steve Hall …
  (tags: digital marketing boozallen adage stevehall)

Links for 2008-03-29: Duracell Powerhouse, Starck Apology, Wine Labels, Social Media Frog, Scenecaster

• Duracell Pumps Up the Volume
  Nice idea from Duracell. They created the “Duracell Powerhouse” — a huge battery-shaped marquee that toured festivals throughout the summer — and crucially was always the venue that closed last.
  (tags: marketing nontraditional experiential duracell)



• Starck: Design Is Dead, Sorry
  “…design is a dreadful form of expression…. In future there will be no more designers. The designers of the future will be the personal coach, the gym trainer, the diet consultant.”
  (tags: design starck popculture)



• Detachable Wine Label Tab
  Brilliant idea … can’t believe no one has done it before. A tab you can pull off a wine label to remember a good bottle … (shame its Oxford Landing … but…)
  (tags: graphics innovation marketing packaging wine ideas design creative clever)



• Social Media White FrogPaper
  Strawberry Frog’s take on Social Media marketing … accuses many marketers of “failing”…
  (tags: socialmedia strawberryfrog)



• SceneCaster Uses AdSense to Vend Virtual Goods
  SceneCaster, a virtual world that lets users to build personal spaces (“scenes”) and “cast” them out onto the web, is using Google AdSense to proffer virtual goods, reports VirtualWorldNews.
  (tags: scenecaster metaverse ecommerce google)

BumRush the AoC!

Today’s the day!

The Age of Conversation BumRush is set for today, March 29th 2008.

Gavin Heaton and Drew McLellan have finally overcome the litany of issues plaguing the retail distribution of The Age of Conversation –and have initiated an Age of Conversation Bum Rush. That’s right, they want to bring this ground-breaking work to a wider audience and have now made it available on Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other quality retail book selling sites. Chris Wilson has set out a plan of action designed to push the Age of Conversation up the best seller charts.

What can you do? Buy it! Today! Here!

PS AoC ’08 is also being planned and will include chapters from a range of Social Media auteurs … including yours truly!

Worst Social Media of 2007

• The Suxorz: Worst Social Media of 2007
  I belatedly came across this Social Media “Death Match”. For the record, the buttock-clenchingly awful Agency.com and Subway video would have got my vote….
  (tags: advertising marketing socialmedia)

Modernista’s Great Idea(s)

I think many of us have been impressed with Modernista’s Web 2.0 “Siteless Site”, which launched last week. (Their Wikipedia page seems so far to have survived being deleted!) You can read a bit more here. The site inspired me to undertake some light Modernista googling, and I came across this great presentation by Gareth Kay (the shop’s head of planning). It is entitled “What makes a great idea nowadays”…

Links for 2008-03-24 : Walmart’s Checkout, Tradigitalism, Technographics

• WalMart’s Check Out Blog
  After its earlier fiasco, WalMart has re-entered the blogosphere. Some are dismissive of this new effort …
  (tags: blogging blogosphere conversation retail socialmedia)



• Techno//Marketer: Are you a tradigitalist?
  A great post from Matt Dickman at Techno//Marketer. Matt points out that the “sweet spot” between traditional and digital marketing may be the key to future success for brands and marketers.
  (tags: digital socialmedia web2.0 connectionplanning commsplanning tradigitalist mattdickman technomarketer)



• Groundswell – Profile An Audience’s Social Media Behavior
  Interesting and useful tool from Forrester which creates a profile of a given demographic, using a proprietary Technographics system.
  (tags: analytics graphics marketing metrics research socialmedia)

Links for 2008-03-22 : Torchwood ARG, Google Barcodes, Creepy Robot, iPhone v HiPhone,

• BBC Launches Alternate Reality Game for Sci-Fi Series
  Torchwood has kicked off an online alternate reality game (ARG).Users are given a mission briefing that people in Cardiff are being injected with alien DNA and must find a hidden signal to stop it.
• (tags: torchwood bbc arg gaming marketing web2.0)



• Google Finds Advertisers for Print Barcode Test
  Google enables advertisers to place small square barcodes beside print ads. Readers who see the ad can snap a picture of the barcode with their mobile devices and view promotions on their handhelds.
  (tags: google mobile barcodes advertising)



• Incredibly Life Like Robot Kinda Gives You The Creeps
  It is a quadruped robot that walks, runs, and climbs on rough terrain and carries heavy loads. BigDog is powered by a gasoline engine that drives a hydraulic actuation system.
  (tags: robot digital technology)
• HiPhone Rivals iPhone in China
  While the iPhone is selling like hotcakes in China (600,000 by the end of 2007), the “HiPhone” knock-off is practically indistinguishable from the real thing.
  (tags: iphone hiphone china digital mobile)

Links for 2008-03-07 : White Castle, Apple, Digitas, Red Bull, Masdar, Firebrand

• White Castle Offers Free Burgers At Time Change – 03/07/2008
  All White Castle restaurants will offer two free hamburgers to each customer visiting in the wee hours of the morning on Sunday, between 1 and 2 a.m., just prior to the time change.
  (tags: whitecastle marketing instore innovation obesity)



• Build your own Apple store (with MAKE)
  All the things you need to make your own Apple store, expect a MAKE post in 3-4 month with the man or woman who turned their home in to an Apple store.
  (tags: mac shopping store apple usergenerated)



• Digitas’ Kenny: Give Media Shops More Input in Creative
  As ad agencies continue to wrangle over who’s really in charge these days, Digitas’ David Kenny put in a plug for more control for media planners and buyers.
  (tags: advertising marketing media digitas commsplanning)
• Red Bull Art Of Can
  Red Bull Art of Can is a national exhibition where both amateur and professional artists create a piece of original artwork that is inspired by or made from Red Bull cans.
  (tags: art design redbull trends marketing)



• World’s First Positive Energy Building in Masdar, Abu Dhabi
  Not settling for mere zero-energy, Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill are building an office that generates more energy than it consumes. The Masdar HQ is also the first building in history to generate power for its own assembly, using a solar roof pier that will
  (tags: architecture energy environment solar eco green)
• Adults Often Online When Watching TV
  Media multitasking and “double-dipping” — watching TV while surfing the internet — are common among online adults in the United States and Britain, finds a survey by Harris Interactive.
  (tags: media multitasking stats research digital tv internet)
• Firebrand CEO Laments Company’s Demise, Misunderstands Commercials
  Vinoly can’t seem to grasp the concept an ad is still an ad no matter how entertaining it is. There’s only so much selling a person can take no matter how funny the pun preceding the packshot is.
  (tags: firebrand flop crayon advertising digital)

Links for 2008-03-04 : Graffiti On Demand, Second Life Art

• Send A Message: Grafitti on Demand
  Now you can have your personal message sprayed on the wall that separates Israel from Palestine. For a mere 30 Euros, you’ll have your message sprayed and receive 3 digital photos of it.
  (tags: israel palestine graffiti popculture entrepreneur)



• Chinese Artist Uses Second Life as Lucrative Artistic Medium
  Cao Fei is a 29 year old artist from China who is using Second Life as her artistic medium and making good money along the way. Her newest project, RMB City, a cyber art island, sold for 100,000 Euros.
  (tags: secondlife art entrepreneur web2.0 metaverse)

Links for 2008-03-03: Japanese Men Prefer Trains, Consumers Cut Back, Neanderthals Ate Each Other, Kraft Webisodes, Social Media

• Nissan Research shows Japanese men prefer the train …
  “Young people can borrow their parents’ car and I think they’d rather spend money on PCs or iPods than cars.” He adds that “trains will do” for the time being.
  (tags: nissan automotive research stats trends japan)



• Consumers cut back on small pleasures
  Jason Jepson works for a chi-chi yacht dealer in Newport Beach, Calif., but he’s so worried about the economy he stopped buying $1.79 PowerBars at his gym.
  (tags: economics trends)
• Neanderthals ate each other to extinction
  A Neanderthal-eat-Neanderthal world may have spread a mad cow-like disease that weakened and reduced populations of the large Eurasian human, thereby contributing to its extinction, according to a new theory based on cannibalism that took place in more re
  (tags: neanderthal history archaeology)



• Kraft launches Tassimo webisode campaign
  Kraft Foods goes for the laughs in a new webisode campaign for its Tas­simo hot beverage system that debuted last month.
  (tags: kraft brandedentertainment tassimo digital web2.0)
• Marketing Execs Must Master the Power of Social Media
  Senior marketing executives in several countries agree that the use of social media for corporate, brand and product marketing is not a passing fad — with nearly half saying it is a vital component
  (tags: socialmedia marketing stats digital)