MortarBlog

Somewhat Hilarious Results.

One day a while back, digital marketing innovator Eyeblaster looked around and noticed - "Hey! Digital media sucks! You spend all your time running reports that don’t work, and no time on strategy!"
 So they built a product called MediaMind that fixes all that.
Then, they had us make them a couple of videos about MediaMind.
Then, they put the videos up on a pretty cool aggregator site - digitalshouldbesimple.com
The critics are somewhat amused.
“A frustrated user then airs her grievances with somewhat hilarious results.”

 If you’re in digital media, definitely check it out. Even if you’re not, go watch the videos. You’ll recognize a few Mortar folks in there - and perhaps learn to fear Alice as much as we do.

Robot Fabrication by Art Wilinski
Field and Post-Production by Upper Diamond.

Think Different. Please Hurry.

"Looks like we're on pace for a twenty percent uptick in squiggly lines, hon."

Check out this gallery of Apple ads from 1977 to the present. At first, it's good, campy fun. Then, it turns into a house of horrors. You can actually tell from the ads precisely when Steve Jobs was run off the reservation, and when he returned. (That co-op ad with Quark? Eeesh.)
Taken together, the collection echoes a theme we always hammer on here - your audience controls the conversation, not you. The lecture-y, long-copy* ads make you want to claw your own eyes out. The ads that hint at what you could do if you had a Mac do not. In fact, they're still insanely great.

There's a cool exhibit of the technology itself as well.

*Long-copy ads are not automatically bad. But when they are.../shudder.

Making The Logo Bigger.

"Logorama", le film dont les héros sont des logos
by lemondefr

>
This is the trailer for Logorama - "17 minutes of Hollywood blockbuster action, rife with car chases, natural disasters, and hostage-taking, but created entirely out of real world logotypes and brand characters. In it, you'll see the Michelin Man, the Haribo kid, Bob's Big Boy, Mr. Pringle and Ronald McDonald, but in some very unfamiliar roles playing the classic movie archetypes of good guys, bad guys and foils."

We certainly do assign personalities to brands - it should be interesting to see the filmmakers' interpretations of each one. For example - we can see Ronald McDonald being evil, if only because he's a clown. But the Michelin Man is the good guy? We would've gone with Mr. Peanut.

Naturally, this - like all great ideas - has been done before by The Simpsons.   Via Creativity.

Revenge is so passé. Frenemies for Life is the Reno way.

So what do you do when a hilarious comedian mocks you relentlessly, making you the butt of a joke on a national stage for, oh I don't know, say...6 years?

Given some variable demographics, you might:

1) Throw a rock

2) Start a band

3) Sob uncontrollably

4) Post some nasty Facebook photos

5) Make a voodoo doll

-or-

6) Do what Reno did. Go renegade with a reverse psychology smack-down and launch a national PR campaign to celebrate them...but not without being a little cheeky.

A couple weeks back when the network-who-could-not-be-named announced they were ditching Reno 911!, the RSCVA sprung into action with a Save Reno 911! viral campaign which has resulted in some great buzz. 

Contrary to logic but embracing all irony, not only do they want to show to survive and thrive, but this time with a catch: FILM IN RENO. Duh. Last time we checked the Sierra's didn't have palm trees.

And its at benchmark status folks:

1,220 petition signers on the website
1,293 fans on Facebook
267 followers on Twitter

...and counting. Check out this USA Today article that is right on the money. And stay tuned for more from the Save Reno 911! coalition. This ain't over 'till we get some Dangle action up there.