Sprint TV Commercial: Connectile Dysfunction

Here's our Sprint ad that ran on the Super Bowl.

Quote of the Day

“HD is great because people want to see how people really look. People just want to see what’s real.”

--Kirsten Price, porn star,
on the impact of Hi-Def TV on her industry

as quoted in today's New York Times

Oh, grow up

It makes me chuckle every time I hear Libby Lewis of NPR file a story covering the Lewis "Scooter" Libby trial. Is there any chance Ms. Lewis' nickname is "Retoocs"?

Engagement Matters

Here’s a nice little object lesson in audience engagement.

Go to this new microsite for Windows Mobile.

Skip the flash animation junk and watch the “Caught on video” episodes on the bottom left.

Then watch the outtakes.

In my opinion, the video episodes themselves are good ideas executed badly, mainly because they make the guy ENUNCIATE THE PRODUCT NAMES so blatantly. Who in their right mind would say "I'm updating a WORD(TM) DOCUMENT"? But that's Microsoft for you.

The outtakes are 1,000% more entertaining. Minimal brand pimping, lots more ad libbing, and just basically letting a funny idea play itself out.

So what? In my case, I started watching each official “episode” once. After #2, I started getting bored and only watched the first 10-15 seconds of the rest.

On the other hand, I watched the outtakes all the way through 2 or 3 times each. And I’m blogging about them now. Because they’re funny. Really funny. The ad libs in the “beaver dam” one are awesome.

I’d love to be able to track the number of views of the official episodes vs. the outtakes over time to see if it proves the old Howard Gossage point right: people will watch what’s interesting to them. Not what’s interesting to the advertiser.

Think Microsoft will make that data public? Anyway, thanks to Microsoft and AdFreak for the example.

Likeability Matters

The headline pretty much said it all: "Kerry Ranked Last On Likeability". Yeah, it's easy to kick the guy right now, but if you look at the numbers, it's impressive how poorly he rated in this poll. The question's a little fruity (people were asked how warmly they felt towards a series of politicians on a "feeling thermometer"), but Kerry rated lower than noted huggy bears Newt Gingrich and Dick Cheney. People feel less warmly towards Kerry than towards Dick Cheney? Ouch.

Yes, it's sad that politics has become almost entirely marketing, and I like and respect John Kerry as a legislator, but this is what happens when you have no sense of humor, insult the troops, and most importantly, act arrogant and drag your feet in saying you're sorry. Someone should start a PR course called "How Not To Connect With The Public: Lessons From John Kerry".

Useability Matters

Chris.Pirillo.com has an awesome head-to-head comparison of YouTube, Google Video & Revver.