Robaash

Happy Holidays.

2009 Year-End Google Zeitgeist

To compile the 2009 Year-End Zeitgeist, we studied the aggregation of billions of queries people typed into Google search this year. We use data from multiple sources, including Insights for Search, Google Trends and internal data tools. We also filter out spam and repeat queries to build out lists that best reflect "the spirit of the times." All of the search queries we studied are anonymous—no personal information was used.

Arts & Crafts

Justin painstakingly constructed these two characters out of aluminum foil & modeling-clay. Both puppets were built with internal controls for facial control. Awesome handicraft work!

New Toyota Hybrid Synergy Drive

UNICEF: Landmine

Love this.

True that

This write-up made me laugh, so true in this day and age...

"A memo went out to one of our clients last week that read more like a text message than a professional letter. You know what it looked like: Every third word was abbreviated, as though it was written on the run, from a cellphone. I was appalled, and could only imagine what the client must think: If we are writing to them in such a casual way, what else is being executed casually?" Read on...

The Ad industry needs to...

Fantastic...

"As follow up to a post he wrote on his blog about the good old days of advertising, George Parker followed up writing, "Apart from a stroll down memory lane and reminisces about great bars and restaurants, many of which no longer exist, the big question raised was, was the work better, and did we have more fun doing it? Yes, I think the work was better, and I know that will raise a shitstorm from" Read on...

Advertising in 2009

Keming

Get personal

Short bit here from Though Gadgets. Imagine the positive impact if every company adopted this approach of conversation with their audience.

"Digital strategist Jordan Julien got us thinking about "synthetic authenticity," the risk large corporations face as they try to engage customers in social media. The problem, Jordan says, is social media tools were built for individual people to interact with each other, but suddenly faceless entities -- big brands with big names -- are entering the space."

Transparency Begins at Home

Progressive thinking here from agency head Darryl Ohrt,

"You're blogging about your agency. Tweeting about minutia. Pitching transparency to your clients left and right. But how transparent are you, really?

We've been operating under an open book and open management philosophy at our agency for more than a decade, and it's one of the greatest policies that we ever created."

Bounce rate 101

Nice write-up here by Josh Oakhurst via TDE.

"In the hunt for ROI, too many website owners are tripped up on the false notion solely lowering their “bounce rate” is all that stands between their business model and vast riches. We’ve encountered a lot of clients who place a low bounce rate on a web execution as proxy for success—which it most definitely is not."

Style versus design

Great article here by Jeffrey Zeldman...

"The web used to look like a phone book. Now much of it looks like a design portfolio. In fact, it looks like the design portfolio of 20 well-known designers, whose style gets copied again and again by young designers who consider themselves disciples. Distinctions between graphic design and communication design are lost on these designers. As is the distinction between true style, which evolves from the nature of the project, and derivative pastiche, which is grafted onto many projects like a third arm." Read on.

Confessing my social media sins

Nice little top 10 here.

"10. There's going to be a backlash to all this full-time conversation. If there isn't, I'm going to start one. I feel like we're building up to a global event of people going postal. I have a colleague who e-fasts every Sunday. No electronics whatsoever. We should do that. Just like Buy Nothing Day, we should have Twitter-Free Day. Can one of you social media types..."

I'm hungry, who has a business card?

Great concept.

How not to name

Nice write-up on tactics for naming here by Anthony Shore, Global Director, Naming and Writing at Landor.

"Great names rarely come from group brainstorming — and almost never if more than five people are in the room. Individual, heads-down thinking is the most fruitful way to create unique, breakthrough names. Start by inundating yourself in the project's objectives, competition, and market situations."...

Backstage: The SinkIt logo in process

Very nice behind the scenes of what went into the new corporate identity for SinkIt here.

Identity Before Strategy: Doom for Rebrands

Rebranding efforts are tricky things. Once in a very blue moon they can prove to be the turnaround that the management team was hoping for.

Sports brand Puma, luxury brand Gucci and the gurus at Apple all provide notable examples of great brand revitalizations during the 90’s. Read on...

Alain de Botton: A kinder, gentler philosophy of success

Sports skills are life skills