You Don't "Need" Social Media
A Dummy's Puppet's Ramblings - from Chip Martin, Mannequin American
You Don't "Need" Social Media
It's interesting to me that Apple has shunned the social media campaigns that others profess as having displaced old-fashioned methods of getting in front of customers. It has no Twitter feed, provides no payola to twenty-somethings so that they'll blog about its products and there's no Apple Facebook page.
Apple is proof that "talking" is not a substitute for "selling." Every communication from Apple sells something ... including its humorous, attention-getting "I'm a Mac" TV spots which deliver basic product and service benefits.
Social media is not something brands have to use. It's a tool, nothing more ... and Apple understands that. Apple isn't in the business of talking. It's in business to make and sell cool products. There's something very refreshing about that ... not to mention very profitable, as well.
Having said all of that, Apple brands remain the most talked-about, according to Vitrue's annual social-media report. The iPhone is the most buzzed-about brand for the second year running, while iTunes and Apple itself also placed in the top 10. Apple demonstrates that the challenge for companies isn't to find new ways to talk, or to talk more often. The challenge is to develop new products or services that are worth talking about.
Okay, Enough with the Photoshopping
Via AdRants: I know that virtually every ad photo is photo shopped to death to create unattainable perfection. In fact, if you look closely, many are photo shopped so much and so badly that they create subtle, but undeniable deformities.
For example take the Lane Bryant ad above, currently viewable on the plus-size clothier's homepage. See anything strange? Does the human bellybutton normally reside a few inches above its owner's right thigh? Creepy.
A few months ago there was a social media firestorm over the photo shopped cover of Demi Moore that removed part of her hip, (below).
In Tweets Moore denied any photo shopping claiming that she was "skinny ... in a good way." Yeh, sure. Let's either stop trying to make people look "perfect" or find people capable of using Photoshop without disfiguring the models.
No Need to Force Husbands to Grocery Shop
Above, a robot named "Robovie-II", developed by Japanese robotics research institution ATR, moves around a grocery store in Kyoto, Japan. The robot greets shoppers at the entrance of the store, follows them to the shelves while holding a grocery basket and reminds them of the items on their shopping list, which the shopper enters beforehand in a special mobile device. The robot is still in the testing phase.
Another Banned Super Bowl Ad
From AdLand: The WSJ blog says: CBS Puts Kibosh on Potential Super Bowl Ad from KGB and Adfreak quips CBS does not want KGB's head-up-ass spot. I swear, ever since that horse fart there seems to be a competition in who can get the dumbest ad to air during the bowl.
Click here to see KGB-Head Up His Butt commercial that was banned from this weekend's Super bowl.
Top Ten Super Bowl Ads
msnbc compiled video's of its picks for the top ten best Super Bowl ads of all time. I'm disappointed that Budweiser's "Sleigh Ride" with the flatulent horse didn't make the list. But Reebok's "Terry Tate: Office Linebacker" made up for that, because I had forgotten about it. And Budweiser's "Respect" commercial still brings an emotional tear to your eye.
Click here to see the list and view the videos.
You're Buying More ... ?
Have you purchased more of anything since the economy went sour? How about chocolate?
According to a report from London market research firm Mintel, when the world goes into an economic downturn, it turns to chocolate.
Chocolate sales rose in several countries in 2009, especially in China, 18% and the Ukraine, 12%. Other countries have also seen chocolate bars, bags and boxes flying off the shelves. Brits drove their chocolate market up 5.9% this year, while Americans purchased 2.6% more chocolate than in 2008. Argentinean sales rose 1.8%, while in Belgium, a country that claims to produce some of the world's best chocolate, sales increased by 3.2%.
Apparently chocolate is a small, affordable indulgence for shoppers who may be cutting back on spending elsewhere. I guess layoffs and furloughs are enough to distract people from the temptation of Hershey bars.
Funeral Home Returns Mom's Brain With Personal Items
File this under "things you didn't want to know." According to a lawsuit filed in New Mexico State District Court in Albuquerque, a woman's brain was returned to her family in a bag of personal effects. The woman died in a car accident in Utah on Sept. 28. Two funeral homes are currently blaming each other for the mishap, and a shipping company is also named in the lawsuit.
One of the funeral home owners explains why the brain was in a bag: "Rather than try to reinsert the brain into a damaged head, it is common practice to ship it inside a bag," he said. "If we put it back in (the head), it could have been a soggy, leaky mess."
Well, it's hard to argue with that.
I Still Look the Same
The photo above must be about 17 years old, judging by the apparent age of Dale's daughter, Lauren, holding an early version of Louie the Jockey. Lauren teaches high school English now. Behind her is a young Jeff Dunham with Peanut. In the Center is my creator, figure maker extraordinaire, Alan Semok, holding my cousin, Eugene. And finally, a younger but still dorky-looking Dale Brown ... holding me. You'll notice that I look exactly the same today as I did then. I should do commercials for Oil of Olay ... or Thompson's Water Seal, whichever company contacts me first.
By the way, the International Ventriloquists' Convention has a new Web site. Click here to see it.