Writing on Glass plus Glass invites

Was putting together an email and made use of a new Firefox plugin called GLASS as a better way to share the links in my communication. If you haven't tried it yet, the app lets you share content on the web with customized notes that you can write on top of the shared web page - it's like sending someone a magazine article with post-it notes pointing to the cool parts. It will be really cool to see what happens as the platform opens up to new browsers and venues - anything that facilitates sharing and turns that process into a customized experience is going to have a dog in the race that is social media. You can see my day's Glass feed at http://writeonglass.com/#nogoyo. Good luck, Border Stylo.

FYI, I have some Glass invites to give out. Anyone want one? Follow me on Twitter and I'll DM you.

Oh My God What Happened is Killer

If you are into marketing or just wondering "How can I take my product/brand/event/blog to the next level, check this out - www.ohmygodwhathappened.com/.  Leif Abraham & Christian Behrendt have put together an ebook that lays out a philosophy of interactive marketing and creative advertising that both very top level strategy but also tactical ("Don’t plan to be viral. Plan to be awesome.") It's free - you just pay with a Tweet (see - marketing!).

YouTube, Sundance, and filmmakers Kevin Macdonald and Ridley Scott team up

This is wonderful promotion and effective use of freely available tools to generate buzz, get fans actually invested in the success of an idea, and ultimately make some great content.

What does your Life in a Day look like? Everyone has a story. Every day has a story. And we want you to share your story with the world. Get your cameras ready.

Sundance Institute joins YouTube and filmmakers Kevin Macdonald and Ridley Scott to create the the first-ever user-generated film shot in a single day.

Film your own Life in a Day on July 24 and submit your footage by July 31 here. If your footage is selected for the completed film, you’ll get the chance to attend thepremiere at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Be part of cinematic history!

Visit www.youtube.com/lifeinaday for the full details.

The contest says "The most compelling and distinctive footage will be edited into an experimental documentary film." It will be interesting to see how they filter down all the footage received. Of course some filmmakers will get and promote their submissions (and in so doing, the contest itself - the way these things should work.)

Outside of the marketing aspect, I'm stoked to see some actually cool short films come out of this. In fact, it would be great to open up ALL of the submitted content to participants and see THEIR version of the final movie vs. director Macdonald's.

Print's going Pixels: "Got Milk" ad campaign geting the iPad treatment

 MediaPost has a nice article about the further pixelification of print. This time it's the venerable "Got Milk" ad campaign geting the iPad treatment, created by Goodby Silverstein & Partners with music by Elias Arts.

The new digitally based efforts cost-effectively make use of opportunities to film new Got Milk? (a/k/a "Milk Mustache") campaign stars while they're being shot for print ads, explains Sal Taibi, partner/general manager of Deutsch Inc., who has led the agency's management of the integrated campaign since its inception.

Print's going Pixels indeed.

The 100 Greatest Movie Insults of All Time

Buzzcocks vs. Magazine :: Lipstick vs. Shot by Both Sides

Pete Shelley's the man. I haven't been able to get the Buzzcocks out of my head lately (insert Harmony in my Head joke here). When you listen to Pete Shelley, you can't help but move along to Magazine, fronted by ex-Buzzcocker Howard Devoto.

The great thing about having two artists who were once creative partners split to make their own bands  is this: you occasionally end up with two unique takes on an identical piece of art. In this case, both Shelley and Devoto riffed on the same guitar riff.

Here's Shelley's take in "Lipstick".


Now, here's Howard Devoto and Magazine's version in "Shot by Both Sides"...


So, who do you think did it better?

5 Hit-Testing Algorithms

There are plenty of folks talking about the efficacy of tools claiming to predict the financial success of artistic endeavors. I thought it would be fun to aggregate a list of some of the algorithms out there, so here goes. In no particular order:

http://uplaya.com/
uPlaya claims to give artists the ability to upload a song and "an immediate assessment of its Hit Potential." It even includes a 2 Free Song trial. uPlaya also offers an assortment of marketing tools and services to help get your song(s) noticed. Chuck D liked it so much he's their spokesman now.

http://www.hpl.hp.com/research/idl/
HP's Social Computing Lab "focuses on methods for harvesting the collective intelligence of groups of people in order to realize greater value from the interaction between users and information." So with this idea in mind they went out and decided to predict box office receipts using Twitter. While you can't buy the service yet it's pretty interesting to read about.

http://www.epagogix.com/
Epagogix claims to "assist in identifying and developing scripts, and in transforming scripts with low Box Office revenue potential into properties that can be profitably produced and distributed." This is the company wrote about in his article "The Formula" and is discussed in the MIT article "What People Want (and How to Predict It)".

http://www.musicxray.com/S2O
Platinum Blue Music's product, Music X-Ray, couples their music-parsing algorithm with a platform to facilitate communication between artists and industry professionals, making it easier for both to find the content, tools, resources, and advice they may need.

Any other good algorithms floating around out there?

Is it the Whiskey or the Wine?

The Sound LA had their "A-Z Week" gimmick goin' on this past week. War's 'Cisco Kid' hit the airwaves on Tuesday. I couldn't get enough volume out of my speakers - it was just phenomenal. The simplicity of the lyrics, the repetition, the phenomenal bridge. It was all there. Check it our for your self:



Mitchell Powers (an old friend – smart guy) once told me that some important person (a beat poet I think, but I'm not sure - it was long time ago we had the conversation) said "music is the only art form you feel inside your body." Because of the fundamental way sound works, sound waves can actually be felt hitting your nerves, creating a unique, body-wide sensation. Years later I brought this little tid-bit up to my wife, the visual artist, and an argument ensued of visual vs. aural arts. I'm not going to go down that road because you can't really compare the two artforms and well, I'm only thinking about the audio arts right now.


So back to War and music that get's the blood brewing. What is it about music that stirs us so?  And as a marketer, can we find that special elixir and bottle it? You may have read Malcolm Gladwell's article on "making hits" using a "The Formula."  Or you may have read the research on "Purchase occasion influence on the role of music in advertising." I'm going to take some to look into this – will be back to discuss! In the mean time, if you have some thoughts/ideas/leads, I'd love to hear about them - please leave your comments.

The VA forray

I've made first attempt at a Virtual Assistant. There are so many articles out there that I can't even begin to list them all (but American Express has a nice article on "9 Tips for Working With a Virtual Assistant").
I've ended up working with oDesk for this particular project. oDesk allows you to post a job and then have thousands of VAs apply for the task. My task was to go through a list of 75 websites, collecting links and data from each. Simple enough. Within one hour I had 9 responses, ranging from $0.89/hour all the way to a whipping $5.65/hour. Not too bad.
Ultimately I'm going to try someone from the Phillipines. She has been very nice, has blessed me many times, and even thinks I have a great name because it's in the Bible. Now that's salesmanship - butter me up and bless my eternal soul.
On the plus side, my VA has already started, even though oDesk hasn't "authorized" my account (they have a crazy credit card authorization process that must be a response to some crazy Nigerian spam ring). Good to see the VA world knows that execution matters.
We'll see what happens tomorrow. In the mean time, I'm going to watch Fletch.

The Big Lebowski

Now that I'm 4 years in to my LA experience, I've been thinking about the Big Lebowski a lot. A whole lot. And watching it. It's been very exciting to realize I work next to the diner where Walter tells the Dude he can get a toe. I live next to an In-N-Out Burger in North Hollywood. The Coen Bros. live in LA and so do I! The similarities never end.

SOoooooooo...

What the hell is the movie about? I mean, it's gotta be about something, right? One of the truly best parts of the movie is how it leads you to believe, to truly know, there must be more to the story of bowlers and ballers, artists and nihilists, and jerks and jerk-offs. A quick Google of "What is The Big Lebowski about?" shows I'm not alone. The New York Times and the academics are even in on the act.

The trials and tribulations of fixing smell fouls

So on top of everything else going on in the world, I'm exploring the world of 4-Hour Work Weeks. Needless to say I'm skeptical it will work out well, but every time I think about it I get all giddy inside.

It seems like a fun journey and a good way to learn the ins and outs of marketing, the interweb, and all things business.

First up is testing the muse. So I've got this idea. Some of you know about it. Most of you don't. But the book says to first set up a page to test out the feasibility of the idea. Will get back to you once I have some data back from the AdWords testing.