Digitology - The Digital Marketing Blog

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

George Karellas in Final 16

Following on from my previous post, the fantastic news is that George Karellas is now in the final 16 for the Best Job in The World. Between the 3rd May and 6th May all 16 finalists will make there way out to Hamilton Island for the final selection process. After that, there will only be 1 winner - here's hoping it's George.

No longer just Cars, Booze and Cologne

The triad of male-centric advertising; cars, booze and cologne. They all have the same target audience, almost exactly, and they all used the same advertising technique for decades. Sex. Well not quite sex, but the potential for it, the insinuation of it, or even the promise of it (at least indirectly). Ads for any of those products traditionally featured very attractive women posing provocatively, wearing incredibly sexy clothes, or barely hiding a distinct lack of clothes.

But all that changed.

We were up. Advertising grew up. Well, it didn't really grow up but it did get slapped on the wrist a few times and decided that t would be best to change with the times. Cars became about fuel efficiency, families and, more recently, the environment. Booze is about responsible drinking, having responsible fun with your friends, going to responsible sporting events and generally drinking just enough booze to have fun, but remain responsible. Cologne probably changed the least. It still regularly features people wearing very little, the only difference is that now cologne ads feature male actors or male celebrities.

So where has all the sex gone? Is there no where left in advertising (bar condoms or Viagra) where sex is appropriate?

Well there are a few places where very obvious sexual overtures have been used, but they're not the places you'd expect to find them...

Twitchhiking to New Zealand

12 months ago if I had said to you that I believed someone could hitchhike all the way from England to New Zealand without ever spending a single cent, I know you'd have said I was crazy. People need to eat, need to drink, need a place to sleep, need to wash...... and so on, you get my point. It's no different when you're travelling. So how would someone travel to the other side of our planet for absolutely free?

Well they'd have to rely on the generosity and kindness of strangers. A fairly big ask we'll all agree.

So on March 1st 2009 when Paul Smith set off from Gateshead to make an 11,000 mile trip to New Zealand (Stewart Island) relying on only the help of strangers, many believed he was doomed to failure. What made this even more certain in people's head was the fact that Paul said he would make the trip in less then 30 days!

And guess what, just shy of 30 days later, Paul was on Stewart Island. By plane, boat, train, bus and car, Paul travelled the 11,000 miles without spending a penny. On completing the amazing journey Paul wrote in his blog:

'The Twitchhiker project showed that kindness is universal, that the whole can be infinitely greater than the sum of its parts, and that social media may begin online but it will converge with the real world whenever and wherever you let it.'

Paul's journey also raised more than £5,000 for charity, and went as follows...

Gateshead to Amsterdam
Amsterdam to Paris
Paris to Saarbruck
Saarbruck to Eppelborn
Eppelborn to Frankfurt
Frankfurt to Amsterdam
Amsterdam to New York
New York to Washington DC
Washington DC to Frederick
Frederick to Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh to Chicago
Chicago to Kansas City
Kansas City to Lawrence
Lawrence to Wichita
Wichita to Austin
Austin to San Diego
San Diego to San Francisco
San Francisco to Sonoma County
Sonoma County to Oakland
Oakland to Los Angeles
Los Angeles to Wellington
Wellington to Stewart Island

The two rules of Twitchhiking that Paul always abided by:
Move on from each destination in no less than two days
Never plan more than three days in advance

Another great part of the story was from Ken (Ken Morrill - @yenra), who drove Paul from Frederick to Pittsburgh. Ken created a mixtape for the journey, based on requests and suggestions from other Twitter users:

Take Me Home, Country Roads - John Denver
The Long and Winding Road - The Beatles
On The Road Again - Willie Nelson
Litttlest Hobo Theme (Maybe Tomorrow) - Terry Bush
Ramblin’ Man - The Allman Brothers
Born To Run - Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band
Road to Nowhere - Talking Heads
Born To Be Wild - Steppenwolf
Cream - Crossroads - Eric Clapton
Radar Love - Golden Earring
Rocky Mountain High - John Denver
It’s A New Day - Will.I.Am
Already Gone - The Eagles
Sweet Home Alabama - Lynyrd Skynyrd
Don’t Stop - Fleetwood Mac
Land Down Under - Men at Work

Monday, April 6, 2009

Audi Flipbook

I was going to post this this morning but I'll be honest, it's just been one of those Mondays - totally mental. Still, at least I got several posts written for Cybercom.ie (where I contribute) and a good atart on two posts for Digitology.

Now however, I'm rambling.

Audi Flipbook - basically an awesome ad IMHO.