Category: humour

Categories
get famous getting it wrong humour talkability

Most-read posts of 2010

The most popular posts on talkablelikeable in 2010, in exciting reverse order

10. The social web just got go-faster stripes
The introduction of easily-added ‘Like’ buttons to the web

9. A glimpse into the future of the web
Google and Arcade Fire’s fantastic demonstration of html5

8. Internet marketing – 1995 style
Superhighways and not so super haircuts

7. Rutger Hauer – The Man with the Guinness
Memories of that Guinness tv campaign

6. The birth of social TV
Real-time watercooler moments. Interesting, but hasn’t hurt Twitter at all

5. Mo’vellous
Terrific ad campaign for Movember

4. Should you buy an iPad? My experience so far…
Early thoughts on Apple’s new device. Reading it back seven months on, I pretty much still feel that way

3. If Carlsberg did action replays
Brilliant ad/spoof (and I still don’t know which)

2. If you type “Google” into Google, you break the internet
Originally posted in 2009, but still popular and still funny

1. Everything you ever needed to know about branding in 67 seconds
Almost annoyingly brilliant summation of branding from Steve Jobs.

Categories
humour likeability mobile surprise

Not just bug fixes…

Categories
advertising humour low cost marketing surprise talkability viral

Your mother clicks ads in hell

Bang on the money guerrilla marketing.


link via the next web

Categories
advertising branding get famous humour likeability staying relevant

The Guardian TV ads 1980s/1990s

I’ve just uploaded these two collections of The Guardian‘s TV ads that cover the 80s and 90s. The first set pre-dated my time as Brand Manager, but I was responsible for the second reel.

The ‘points of view’ (skinhead) ad from the mid 1980s remains the most famous ad from any newspaper and often appears in those lists of top 100 ads. However, viewed as a collection, I think they show the evolution of the brand, becoming notably more sophisticated, entertaining and inventive.

It was a critical task to modernise the paper, shake off the beardy, worthy image and fight the price-cutting Times and the newly-launched Independent. Good marketing, editorial vision, investigative journalism and investment in the product itself combined to strengthen a much-loved media brand and give it a strong platform to compete in the digital era.

Categories
humour likeability mobile surprise talkability

conference call

Like most people, I get much unsolicited email inviting me to a wide range of dreary sounding events, so it was a pleasant surprise to receive something that actually made me laugh.

Planet of the Apps is a great name for a conference. Getting noticed always matters

Categories
advertising crowdsourcing get famous humour likeability staying relevant surprise talkability viral

If Carlsberg did action replays

If Carlsberg are behind this, then full respect for speed and creativity.

If they didn’t, then credit is still due to them as a testamant to the power of their campaign idea

Categories
disruption humour pr

The world’s hardest PR task

I’ve mentioned before a couple of examples where big companies have failed to understand internet culture and ended up paying the price.

Usually in these cases, there is a web-savvy way to deal with the wild west of social media, but in the case of the viciously satirical fake BP PR twitter account, I confess I’m at a loss what I’d do. Sample tweet:

We honestly didn’t think this was going to be a huge deal. No one cares when this happens in Nigeria

Not that I have any sympathy with BP over this, but if you were given the brief of responding to this (and assuming you’d accept the gig), what would you do??

Categories
humour likeability surprise talkability

1UP for Google

Surely the most talkable Google Doodle for a while? A fully playable pacman, even with “Insert coin” button for two player mode!

I wrote last year about how staying likeable would help lessen worries about Google’s size and influence. After a year of fairly flat launches (Wave, Buzz), it’s good to see they’ve got their playfulness back (and some cool products too).

Meanwhile, facebook is the new 200lb gorilla that could do with a refresher in the importance of likeability. The current concerns about privacy seems to be getting real traction.

Categories
get famous humour likeability surprise talkability

A logo that stands up

Way to get noticed

Via Boing Boing

Categories
humour likeability product surprise talkability

Marmite shower gel

Fabulous.

Categories
get famous humour surprise talkability

Print out this idea and claim it back

What a brilliantly risque way to promote a restaurant specialising in business lunches – a tongue-in-cheek microsite that creates credible fake receipts to the value of the extravagant meal you’re trying to get away with expensing.

Now you can eat at Maloney & Porcelli as often as you like and never worry about your expense report raising any eyebrows

Thanks to b3ta for the link

Categories
advertising humour likeability

New Spice

LOLs all round for the Old Spice 2010 Super Bowl ad. Much kudos for the knowing, witty and likeable execution

And you gotta love that payoff.

Categories
get famous humour likeability product surprise talkability

Free cold beer with every haircut

Lovely example of how to take a commodity service and make it talkable/likeable

Categories
humour

How to really *sell* a new product

fake steve labelled this “How our NLP embedding works”. Lol!

Categories
humour invention likeability low cost marketing pr surprise talkability

It’s marketing Jim, but not as we know it

Spotted in Soho, promoting the new Star Trek DVD – get yourself a Spock haircut

Categories
humour pr

When is a joke not funny? When it’s pointed at you

You’ve surely seen the story of the musician with a beef against United Airlines for damaging his guitar. Being dissatisfied with their response to the incident, he wrote a song lampooning the airline and it’s become a monster hit on YouTube.

Very funny, but not unique. There are many examples of nimble Davids embarrassing organisational Goliaths by savvy use of the web. And how we all love to see things evened out and the big guy look a bit stoopid.

So, say you’re United – this is not good PR. What do you do? How do you respond when someone launches a satirical strike? My advice would include:

1. Be nice
There is no mileage in getting heavy. Be humble, generous, transparent and responsive. Give the guy a guitar!

2. Play along

There is no advantage in looking po-faced and corporate. The joke is on you and the only way out is to be a good sport. Perhaps in this instance, they could have made their own video response: a shoddy karaoke version of the same song with edited lyrics.

“We’re sorry about the guitar, and we’re even more sorry about our singing“