A few years ago, I was working on one of many lame, group MarComm projects at Rye High when I had an enlightening conversation with a Chinese classmate of mine. We met at a coffee shop to discuss an upcoming project and he brought a buddy of his who spoke no English whatsoever. In what I felt was a Kissinger-esque moment in East-West diplomatic relations, I asked my Chinese classmate to ask his friend to make fun of how I sound to him. It took about 10 minutes of broken translations and my version of how Cantonese sounds to me before he finally got it. You know the sound the teacher makes in Peanuts cartoons - Wohn Wah Wohn Wohn Wohn. That’s what English speaking people sound like to Chinese people.

Breakthrough. Awesome.

We just wrapped up a pitch for a big pharmaceutical brand and we hit them with some heavy duty online strategy. We carefully guided them through the reality of brand messaging and its diminished role in the online space -  a tough pill (pun intended) to swallow for a brand manager. We showed them a content strategy that is geared towards what consumers are looking for as opposed to what the brand thinks they need to hear. We structured the conversation in a way that there could be no misunderstanding that traditional advertising methods cannot be shoehorned into the ‘on demand’ nature of the internet. This kind of language is ipecac for brand managers. But as I was taking them through some of the more difficult parts of the deck…I started to see that the lights were coming on. I think we broke through.  We showed them how we can bridge the connection from brand to consumer with minimal brand/campaign messaging and I’m pretty sure the words coming out of my mouth no longer sounded like a Chinese joke about English people.

Breakthrough. Awesome.

“Connection” is the latest buzzword being thrown around these days. Depending on what type of “expert” you’re listening to, this simply means some form of social media, pay-per-click, search, syndicated content and video.

People don’t go online looking for a brand’s message. They’re usually there to find a solution to a problem, be entertained or just hang out with their friends. People online care less about an ad and more about what their friends think!

Hallelujah! Brands are finally waking up to the realization that relevant, authentic content is something worth investing in. We’ve been talking to ourselves about this for years and I’m happy to report that we’re now getting traction with a lot of brands around this idea.

Don’t take my word for it! Check out P&G’s Ted McConnell’s comments on adage.

And if you really want to see the power of social media conquering brand messages that don’t resonate well, read this article about how an LA blogger and Twittering mom took down a Motrin ad in 48 hrs.

Look out for tons of new things from Indusblue in this last quarter of ‘08 and throughout ‘09. I won’t give away too many secrets, but let’s just say we’re working on something big!

I stumbled on the very wonderfully designed website of my local grocery store chain Sobeys today and was pleasantly surprised by how well it was designed. Grocery shopping for me is like shoe shopping for many women, I’ll treat myself to a Whole Foods once in a way but for me grocery therapy is perfect after a stressful day of work and kids.

In any case I wondered what a grocery store could offer online. And looking past the very slick design, I didn’t find a whole lot of substance beyond recipes, that I would otherwise find at Food Network or another trusted source. In fact, one of the biggest things missing in my opinion was any kind of Social Media integration, no comments, favouriting, community of any sort. Where there was an opportunity for creating a real dialog with the consumer the slick site really doesn’t deliver for me.

Another thing that goes beyond the site design and functionality is the brand new rewards program that they offer called Club Sobeys. One point for ever full dollar you spend. Not bad I guess but the obvious question is how much is a point worth, so I dug deeper. The answer completely turned me off. The feature product that you can redeem points for is a much sought after Kitchen Aid stand mixer redeemable for a whopping 69,000 points. So do the math, if you spend around $400 in groceries a month, that is about $4800 a year. So to get that stand mixer I’d have to shop at Sobeys for 14 years. Forget that.

I wish I found this earlier I would have convinced my wife not to spend the $20 to join Club Sobeys, definitely not worth the money.

Microsoft has launched phase two of their ad campaign, pulling away from Seinfeld and the commercials about nothing (which to me actually seemed to be about something)… and IMHO, this new batch is quite good. If anything, it certainly adds more fuel to the perpetual Mac vs. PC conflict.

The obvious critique is the direction of these adverts, and whether or not openly targeting the 1000 pound elephant in the room (Mac’s hugely successful “Get a Mac” campaign), was the best way to go. I’m of the opinion it was.

Like most, I have always been a big fan of the “Hi I’m a Mac” or “Get a Mac” commercials. They are well written, well acted, purposeful and funny as all hell. Except for one small problem… I prefer PCs. Yep, “I’m a PC”. I prefer a good PC over a Mac for a lot of reasons, and have been in more than one argument fighting for my right to assert a creative existence.

And there-in lies the most difficult position for someone in these epic battles of good vs evil. Mac’s Marketing Agency, (TBWA Media Arts Lab) have been extremely successful at creating a rock solid edifice of slick, cool and creative. In no small part by completely geekifying PC users. To put it plainly, their ad campaigns have vilified PCs in the creative world. Maybe I’m being a little dramatic here, but the point is, these commercials have propped up the Mac brand as the creative juggernaut, while grouping together a wide variety of PC users into an amorphous blob.

This blob, this Doritos eating, spread sheet loving, dull-grey IT nerd is the assertion the new ads by Crispin Porter + Bogusky is challenging.  And it’s about time.

The crux of all this, is that in a world where ubiquitous computing is nearly a reality, identity is deeply woven into computing choices. That is why that damn PC stereotype the “Get a Mac” commercials have bandied around bothers me so much.

I may be a computer, but I am not a stereotype. I’m glad someone took the time to notice.

The Sun’s new AIR application called Desktop Keely reminds me of the writers adage. “Write for the masses and eat with kings, write for kings and eat with the masses.”

I’m not overly familiar with the United Kingdom and their cultural nuances, but even in North America their daily rag “The Sun” has gained a degenerate reputation. Maybe degenerate is a little harsh, but it’s pretty much the same word I would use for the National Inquirer and probably Star magazine. This stuff is pure brain garbage that does nothing more than stimulate a person’s most base instincts.

But alas, I have to admit, those very primitive responses are often undeniable even if deplorable. I have often fell victim to the magazine rack while buying milk and bread, wondering what sort of trouble Linsay Lohan and Britney Spears have gotten themselves in… and I have resisted, sometimes failed, to quell the overwhelming urge to flip through the pages and see the best and worst beach bodies this year.

Anyway, I’ve been suckered again… and this time from right across the Atlantic.

It’s a nice and simple desktop application, packaged up with long legs and bulging breasts.

Damned be my monkey brain, but this is cool, especially if you are into half naked girls, celeb gossip or sports.

It’s at least worth a look if you are involved in producing AIR applications. The idea alone is brilliant, and the final product is usable to those of us who can’t control our limbic systems.

I’m betting the Sun gets all sorts of hits back to their Page 3 Website (warning: link contains nudity) from this application.

All of the programmers at Indusblue took some time out of their day to test drive the new Spore Creature Creator released by Electronic Arts this week. This is what they came up with…

1) Nicholas Hillier
2) Cam Warnock
3) Brooklyn Smith
4) Matt Rix
5) Brodie Hanbuch

This is something too good to pass on. Graffiti can be a strong positive force in the hands of the right people, (Evan Roth for instance) , but Paul “Moose” Curtis has moved to a whole new level, melding an exacting conscience with a brilliant sentiment. The impermanence is a poetic and acute razor slice.

Thanks for posting this Paulo!

We have been named a preferred supplier for interactive design and development at the CBC.ca. Go check out the Press Release

The AGO recently presented their new graphic identity. My initial reaction was “gah” and I think many people have voiced this negative opinion on various forums and blogs.

Despite first impressions, after a few more glances I grew accustomed to its seemingly haphazard overlap of typefaces and colours. My reaction to the new design was similar to when I first saw the 2012 olympics logo designed by Wolff Olins. It also faced much initial criticism but in time it grew on me.

I don’t think this new AGO identity carries the same vibrancy and excitement of the 2012 Olympics logo. Although Bruce Mau Design was attempting a forward thinking approach, it falls short of its mark.

Just not quite the punch that I would have expected.

There is a trend toward radical (some can say “ugly”) design that really challenges our aesthetic sensibilities. Whether the design outcome is met with criticism or praise, I think it’s a refreshing start to an at times stagnant industry cranking out the same “beautiful” design over and over.

Impressionism was met with much criticism during its time. Like any major shift in aesthetics, most would react with an initial WTF? We’re so accustomed to expecting how certain things should look, that when thrown with something out of left field we’re quick to judge and criticize.

Kinda like that kid in 2nd grade who carried a Beatles lunch box while everyone else had superman. Looking back he was probably the coolest person in his grade. The AGO logo may not be as cool as the beatles lunchbox, but it is a stab at being the different kid, even if clumsy.

The culture of free is embraced in open source programming and punctuated in pirated software. Powerfully, the free economy asserts its strength as the music industry overhauls its business practices in favour of new open sharing models. It is without argument that seeds of enormous social change are starting to manifest themselves in no small part thanks to the internet. So how far can these ideals actually go and is there more to this than just pushing around some binary computer code?

Imagine a world where you don’t pay for products or services. It may sound crazy, but suppose for one moment that this is indeed possible. In this world there is no lingering worry about paying a mortgage, buying groceries, affording college tuition and where even the frivolous trinkets of modern convenience are given away at zero cost.

It’s an interesting utopian vision, bordering on a dreamy fantasy for most people, but do not stop there, delve deeper into this bizarre cosmos. Envision here in this blinding universe, that it is an invented horror to be forced into clinically depressing labour simply to meet the costs of a basic standard of living. You are instead free to choose your life’s creative work as you might now choose the toppings of a sandwich at any fast-food joint.

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