YouVert

Literature Mash-Up

Having lived in Brooklyn for years and been a big fan of Brooklyn writer Jonathan Lethem already, i have found a new found fondness for the scribbler. For the general public, Lethem is charging $1 in a non-exclusive license to anyone who wants to mix/remix/mash/trash-up his stories for their own purposes. Currently, the project is titled "Promiscuous Stories"

He recently did the same cutting and pasting with some other famous authors' work for a piece in Harper's and was so enchanted by it, he decided to encourage it for some of his work. True, you cannot simply take his work, change a few sentences and sell it as your own. His goal is that people will incorporate for film and stage in new ways, but still, I love the idea. It reminds me of a cross between Warhol and hip hop sampling. I am sure that it will yield some interesting results and it could be a new open source version of literary art.

LINK: Lethem's New Project

Originally seen on Boing Boing

YouTube is loaded! And you can get a few pennies too.

This just in!
Well not really, it has been talked about for a few days but according to Slashdot, Chad Hurley from YouTube stated that there may be an opportunity to pay users based on ad revenue. Seeing as the entire site was built on the creativity of others, it seems like the honorable thing to do.

Now if only they accepted porn we could all make some real money!

umm....kidding.....right?

LINK: Slashdot on YouTube

Now, that's what i'm talking about....

Roto Rooter has done it again!

CLICK ON THE PHOTO FOR A BIGGER VERSION

User Generated Religion 101

Ok, it's late.

And on a totally unrelated search, i came across this - Kids! Accept Jesus As Your Savior and Get A Free Playstation 2!  I am all behind people bending/creating religion to their needs (and yes, i know it aint real) but I found it amusing.

Granted, it is not as good as the best user created religion ever, but it gave me a chuckle.

At least 1060 people love Doritos

Well I will hand it to them. Doritos got some good coverage and response for their own version of the 'Make my superbowl commercial' idea. Not to be confused with any other DIY Superbowl commercials of course.

At present time there are 1060 different spots uploaded, with many of them getting 20-30,000 views.  Considering that, and the press that was received when launched, I am giving it my Good On Ya award of the day. Some of the spots are even not bad! Let's see what ends up winning the contest next Sunday and as well, which of the ad agencies will be the first to sign the creator to a freelance deal.

Consumer Generated Everything

So you have made your mash-ups of your favorite movie trailers, remixed your favorite songs, created the ads for all your favorite products and shaved your favorite sport into your head. Why not simply brand every aspect of your life as your own. Perhaps every company should simply OEM their products and let the consumer brand it as they want. You can already do stamps, shirts, credit cards and now (thanks to Guerrilla Innovation for finding...) BEER!

Yes, as long as you order 30 bottles or more you can create your own
label and have it sent to your house in under 4 weeks. Granted, you have to live in Denmark, but that is simply a hurdle to get over in your quest for the YOU branded life.

LINK:  Guerrilla Innovation - Personalized Beer Labels

Mickey Mouse, CNBC and now...the World Wide Web

The former chief executive who used to wear Mickey Mouse underwear, Michael Eisner is getting into the internet video content biz. All efforts will be combo'd with the United Talent Agency & Veoh.com. Advertising will play a large part in the site's business model.

This will be an outlet for original, web produced video content. What this essentially means is that the Numa Numa kid could potentially become UTA's (united talent agency) next big client, and possibly come to a movie theater or television screen near you.

Computers make better ads than people.

In what could be reason number 367 that the ad agencies are in trouble, an article from Ad Age discusses the new technologies around computer generated ads. It mentions an ad agency named Zimmerman which is unveiling "Pick-N-Click-Ads" (you would think for an ad agency they would have brainstormed a better name), which is a tool that allows users/business/etc. to select different components from drop down menus to create customized TV, Print, Interactive and Radio ads
all for a flat fee price. What does this say about the future of Madison Ave? If consumers are creating more compelling/relevant ads than many agencies and software allows anyone to custom create ads, then at what point do the half million dollar art directors stand up and defend themselves and justify their existence?

LINK: Robo Ads

Creative people are better than event companies.

One of the most popular media channels for companies trying to connect with their consumers is Experiential Marketing, the catch all phrase for event,promotional,live,grassroots marketing. The problem? Many companies create these events that they promise their clients think people will love. The reality? Many of these events suck, are sparsely attended and cost way too much money for the return. My recommendation? Look to the passionate consumer, see what they are doing right and figure out ways to think like they do.  Here are 3 examples of passionate, creative people making amazing events:

Pillow Fight Club - I know I know, we are not supposed to talk about Pillow Fight Club but I will anyway. The idea? A flash mob pillowfight. Get your aggression out, use household products, smash people with love, go home.  C'mon Starwood Hotel, get in on this!

Mobile Clubbing - Get alot of people in one place, tell them to program their most groove-tastic playlist on the old iPod and dance baby, dance.  Highly visual, fun, goofy and eminently brandable. Microsoft's Zune should have paid some attention.

I have been remiss in not mentioning this earlier, but in a beautiful example of amazing, experiential, fan-driven events, Marc and Sara from Wooster Collective put on the must be at event of 2006 with their 3 day, ever-changing street-art event at 11 Spring Street in NYC. Over 3,000 fickr photos later and streams of people, anyone from Art Basel to the Louvre should pay attention to how excited and full of energy this art loving crowd was.

Genius or Ridiculous?

So, I'm not sure about this commercial. It has however been in my head ever since Family Feud went to a commercial break last week. I can't figure out if this is one of the most ridiculous moves in casting, concept and production OR a clever advertising executive knows something more.

Personally, at this moment, i'm leaning towards the following scenario: Howard is the guy who broadcasts commercials onto satellites. It's his job to take the final commercial tape and broadcast to television sets everywhere (and I guess also now to cars, phones, ipods, bathroom stalls...pretty much everywhere - but this is a whole other post). Anyway, Howard has been a big fan and avid user of the HeadOn brand. It's saved him many times. He's got a wife who's always yapping and complaining about something or another, little kids screaming and yelling, a dog who keeps peeing on the carpet, and his NY Giants are not helping any. Howard always has headaches. Howard LIVES on HeadOn, and it works. So when he got the most recent HeadOn commercial from the smart advertising execs, he realized is totally sucked - it gave him a headache. He also realized, all of their commercials totally sucked. SO, Howard took it upon himself to make his own commercial and tell it like it is! Hence, the commercial you see below starring Howard.