MortarBlog

WWDC 07 had a special guest appearance… “PC” (from the “Get a Mac” commercials) got a great laugh as he announced he was Steve Jobs and declared the end of Apple.

Love the post "Urban Spam" talking about Lazer Graffiti - check out this video on Break.com.

And here is a snippet from the post at Coolz0r - Marketing Thoughts:

"Okay.
On the one hand this is super cool because it hasn’t been used that
much yet. On the other hand, if too much people start to do this, it
might become irritating… This is an example of that ‘beyond’. It’s an art
project, but it can easily find it’s way into the marketing and
advertising landscape. It’s not the same as the beamvertising campaign
we’ve seen earlier for Sportlife, where the images of a moving
skateboarder were projected on shopfronts and outer walls of houses in
several big cities in The Netherlands. This is ‘Laser Advertising’.
It’s alike, but not the same thing."

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Sportlife, a Dutch chewing gum maker, launched their cool "Beamvertising" campaign. A van driving down the street projected images of a skateboarder onto building walls. Pretty neato, if you ask me.

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OK. OK. So their data is way off. No one sees 5,000 images a day. If that were the case we would see a promotional message every 10 seconds or so (- thanks, MortarMath).

Still, they have a point. We are over-saturated. Overstimulated. And the fact that some of it is quite good doesn’t really help much.

Watch how they they bite the very hands that might have fed them. Then pay penance here.

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Some lucky metropolitan diners will receive a complimentary bottle of "Rome" branded cabernet with their meals next week.  Although the ad community is wondering  why the savvy cable channel selected a on-Italian beverage. Still its a super idea. Comments Andrew Hampp in this week’s Ad Age:

"HBO will offer complimentary bottles of "Rome" cabernet sauvignon at
more than 100 eateries in the three cities to promote the second-season
launch of its sex-blood-and-togas series, debuting Jan. 14. But rather
than have restaurant servers introduce the product by saying "And our
house wine tonight is brought to you by HBO," consumers will be
presented with a polite card at their tables: "A taste of ‘Rome’ awaits
you. Ask server for details."

The appetizing promo was the brainchild of Lime Public
Relations & Promotions, which paired with HBO to promote season two
of "Entourage." Lime President Claudia Strauss said wine was a perfect
way to plug the show contextually while still being creative. "The show
is all about indulgence, and we just felt this was a great way to bring
to life one of the key aspects of the story line."

MortarBlog watchers will be interested to learn that HBO’s agency, Lime, was the force behind Old Navy’s Mascot search (one of MortarBlog’s top 5 promotions in 2006).

Full story here.

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This commercial was produced for Kodak’s internal use. But it has become so popular, especially with employees, the company released it so the rest of us can appreciate their anticipated resurgence. God, I love it when companies are honest. Forthright. And funny.  Especially when the spokesperson pans Kodak’s attempt to save film with Advantix. (I know, I barely remember it too). Seen on YouTube.

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We launched our much-anticipated Mortar 360 brand quiz today.

Click through to test your brand management prowess against the Web’s most advanced (and we might say pithy) brand analysis tool.

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Following similar efforts by Maxim, Micheal Castleon reports that the KFC logo is one of the first to be seen from space. One can imagine the intersellar reaction….

KANG: "Soon, Kodos! Soon, the inhabitants of this pathetic little planet will bow before us! Mwahahahaha!"

KODOS: "Yes, Kang. Your plan has worked out brilliantly. They puny humans will never…hey! What’s that!"

KANG: "It appears to be…a face! I think the humans are trying to send us a message!"

KODOS: "Perhaps they are more advanced then we thought. Obviously, this is their leader. An older, Southern gentleman, wearing a quaint string tie."

KANG: "And what’s all this about a "secret recipe?" I don’t like it. I don’t like this at all. I fear a trap."

KODOS: "As do I! And yet…I’m exhibiting a strange craving for Boneless Honey-Barbecue Colonel’s Strips."

KANG: "I too, feel this craving. We must be strong, Kodos! I totally just joined a gym!"

KODOS: "But, you’re not fat!"

KANG: "You’re just saying that. Much like our home planet of Rigel-7, I have my own twin moons. Oh, and obliterate the humans."

KODOS: "As you wish."

Read Michael Castellon’s full story.

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A friend of the Mortar’s found this poster on the Sunset Strip, and we say, if this kid doesn’t make it as a drummer, (and we hope he does) he’s got a future as a copywriter. Certainly, a phrase like “[Let’s] start the BIGGEST, most OUTRAGEOUS, fucking WILDEST party band to come SCREAMING out of the strip!!!” cuts through the clutter.  But what makes us hold our lighters aloft is the author’s obvious passion for his work. See, there are probably a thousand kids in L.A. who rock a paradiddle better than the Legendary Teenage Drummer. No matter how technically skilled he is-or-isn’t, someone better will come along tomorrow. Proving once again that relative merits are just that - relative. If you make a nice widget, your competitor can make a nicer one tomorrow. But it’s damn near impossible to compete with true passion. Which the Legendary Teenage Drummer has in spades. Just something to keep in mind the next time you’re thinking about your message. Tell your story as if you  “…sure as hell can’t do anything else”.  Because, as LTD correctly notes, "…the BIGGEST sin in rock n’ roll is being BORING!" 

We concur wholeheartedly.

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William, one of the Mortar’s fine account execs writes: 

TV, radio, print, and online advertising … none of these capture the ‘wow’ of a well-executed guerrilla marketing campaign.

Enlisting the help of poor college kids to hand out t-shirts and brochures while wearing chicken suits can technically be considered guerrilla marketing, but it doesn’t turn as many heads as it used too.

Not so for the outrageous stunts of guerrilla troupe, Improv Everywhere: The NYC-based group dedicated to causing "scenes of chaos and joy in public places through radical and creative public stunts."

Now that’s my kind of guerrilla action.

Do yourself a favor and watch their pieces of art.

Take their recent "No pants on the subway" campaign (pictured).

Their stunts prompts me to offer some ideas for budding guerillas:

1.   Power in numbers: Improv’s executions work so well because of the sheer number of agents involved. Don’t limit your exercises to just a handful of people, get out there with lots and lots of co-conspirators. (BTW Craigslist is a super venue for recruiting talent with time on their hands and low public decency standards…).

2.    Randomness is in: Develop a truly original (and preferably random) concept. The way I see it, guerrilla marketing is all about the person, what he/she does, and what their actions stand for. The exercise itself shouldn’t be so narrowly focused on the products or services being advertised; successful guerrillas will receive attention.  Focus on provoking discussion - publicity will surely follow.

3.    Manage the Program: Not surprisingly, Improv Everywhere ’s programs are extremely well organized. Chaos is best managed by professional moderators. Don’t forget to synchronize your watch.

4.    Do it, just do it: Don’t hesitate, take the campaign and run with it. Don’t hold out trying to finesse the little details. The best campaigns often produce unpredictably amusing results.

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