Pretty Cool Projection Technology

For the most part Out Of Home Advertising is pretty bland but the technology below could actually make it interesting and worthy of people stopping and looking on with interest. Easy Web is the company that has created this technology. They use 3D mapping technology to get the shape of the building and then are able to do some pretty amazing/creative thing:

Found via PSFK

Vintage Print Ads

A flickr set of fantastic Print (newspaper and magazine) Ads:

Facebook Connect

Several months ago Facebook announced Facebook Connect as part of the Facebook Platform. FC is an interesting addition to the Facebook Platform because it allows other content producers to use the Facebook as a means of additional distribution. FC allows you to see how your friends have interacted with the site where FC is activated. It also allows for easy distribution and social sharing of the content. 

There are a lot of sites starting to use FC (Joost, Hulu, Digg, etc.) as a means of content distribution and sharing but I am interested to see how an advertiser will use it. Most marketers are having trouble trying to figure out what is the best way to engage with social networks; actually this is what most marketers should be doing when in fact most marketers are just want a specific segment or target to be aware of their message. I think FC allows some advertisers who are doing the old "share your moments with us" campaign to help with social networking and specifically engaging the Facebook user. If you see a campaign currently running that is doing this post it in the comments.

Graffiti vs. Brands

Graffiti artists and Brands have one thing in common, they both would like to be ubiquitous. What happens when graffiti artists start attacking brands' ubiquitous logos? 

The artist attacking these brands is Zevs and his intention is to force the passer by to pay attention and question to these images rather than just letting them slip into our subconscious.

Another graffiti artist attacking advertising here in NYC is Poster Boy, you can read about him here and see his all of his work here. 

Poster Boy slices and mashes 2 or 3 different ads to create a composite image, which still remains brand heavy but adds cheeky irony to it. 

What does this mean for marketers/advertisers? Well we need to be much more cognisant of what media we are buying and where our message will be going. Brands that are socially conscious and accessible for dialogue will get attacked much less than brands that are closed off to 2 way communication and only interested in spreading a message. Social media/application, when done right, can be a great way to foster communication between brands and consumers. A good example is Comcast which was getting attacked for is poor customer service by a rather famous advertising critic, Bob Garfield of Ad Age and On The Media. Comcast started a twitter account in order to be more responsive and to start a dialogue with customers. Marketers need to realize that consumers and advocates have a lot more power to spread their message weather that message is positive or negative is up to the brand.

Enjoy your thanksgiving holiday.