“Microsoft, huh? So it’s easy to use!”
January 10, 2009 Leave a comment
This is dumb, fake and lame on so many levels.
[via GIZMODO, but could just as easily have come from FAILBLOG]
Advertising Yesteryear: A Weird, Sexist Place
December 17, 2008 Leave a comment
Lotta Mad Men fanatics out there…
Sure, the advertising world of bygone decades makes a fantastic setting for a TV show (though we’ll admit, we’re not regular viewers…guess we’re still a little bitter that the show usurped the Wire’s final chance at awards show glory).
However, it was also the heyday of ads that are disturbing, off-putting, or simply bizarre to modern sensibilities.
Flickr user SA Steve has compiled a truly mammoth collection of vintage advertising images.
The selections below only scratch the surface of his epic compilation…
Let’s start with a lovely holiday treat that is sure to appall your guests with its combo of fat-laden cheesiness and stomach-turning visual grossness.
You think prescription drug ads are strange now?
Try the old days, when anti-psychotics were sold via print ads featuring terrifying eyeballs…
Sanka. The only coffee brand that won’t result in child abuse.
What was with coffee back in the day? Dudes were beating up their entire family over it!
On a lighter note, in this time of economic apocalypse, this next ad presents an idea that urban roomies might want to consider.
Look, the fella on the right is leading a singalong! We’re guessing it’s “Do You Really Want To Hurt Me.”
This next one is so dated and offensive, it’s almost come full circle to being witty and postmodern.
SORRY in advance for this next image, but there were a bunch of these and ultimately, our will to resist posting one was whittled down to a toothpick.
A toothpick that was snapped in half by the VERY weird dude lurking in the background of this ad!
Here’s a REALLY charming image, summoning a move that has worked for us countless times. The ladies go BOY-CRAZY when you blow smoke in their grill!
Try it this weekend, fellas.
This next one ought to make a comeback as part of the GWOT. Donate your Truth Dollars to fight Bin Laden in a propaganda war!
Let’s wind up this trip through the offensive, unintentionally funny and simply strange world of old-school advertising with an image that really, really, really does not make us want to buy the product being advertised.
SA Steve has over 1000 images in his collection.
You may want to set aside your afternoon to peruse them all.
YouTube rolls out second-by-second analytics
October 2, 2008 Leave a comment
YouTube unveiled an awesome new toy yesterday. This is super cool technology that will no doubt lead to further refinement in the fine arts of political advertising, music video production and home movies of people getting hit in the nuts.
The feature, called “Hot Spots,” tells users exactly how viewers responded to each second of their videos, and includes stats on rewinding and fast-forwarding. Apparently it also works with demographic data, so you can, for example, observe that female viewers like to rewind the Mike Schmidt scene in Quantum Boggs: Episode I and watch it over and over again.
The GOOGLE BLOG explains more:
We determine “hot” and “cold” spots by comparing your video’s abandonment rate at that moment to other videos on YouTube of the same length, and incorporating data about rewinds and fast-forwards. So what does that mean? Well, when the graph goes up, your video is hot: few viewers are leaving, and many are even rewinding on the control bar to see that sequence again. When the graph goes down, your content’s gone cold: many viewers are moving to another part of the video or leaving the video entirely.
Here’s an example of Hot Spots in action:
You can see that many viewers are not impressed with the dance moves of Michael Rucker, Associate Product Marketing Manager at YouTube; they’re leaving the video at a faster than average rate almost immediately after the video begins. But the longer the video goes on, the more people tend to stay, generating a hot spot at the end of the video. Better late than never — kudos, Rucker!
We think you’ll find Hot Spots useful in several ways. For example, users can figure out which scenes in their videos are the “hottest” and edit those videos, or include well-timed annotations, to keep their audience more engaged. Partners might similarly create better content — like more exciting promotional trailers — for use on and off YouTube, and advertisers and agencies can study the effectiveness of their creative, to make sure they keep viewers’ attention throughout an ad. Now that Insight shows what parts of videos viewers are watching and skipping, creators no longer have to play guessing games.
This is a pretty amazing development, although we have little doubt it will be used by the forces of evil to optimize their mind-control apparatus – also known as local television news programs.
[via READ WRITE WEB]
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