A Source Of Inspiration

I dreamed that one day advertising could move people the way ImprovEverywhere does. Another remarkable mission.

Just check one of the parent’s testimonials:

I believe you guys are behind the “Hermosa Beach Little League” taping that took place Saturday, March 10th, 2007. The parents will be talking about this for a long time… the kids even longer. My son was a pitcher on the Lugnuts. We had a long/tough season last year. Saturday made up for everything. I want to sincerely thank you for making Saturday so unbelievable. It was like a birthday, Christmas, and New Years Eve captured in a few amazing hours. Thanks a million for a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Michael Lebowitz is back to microblogging, sharing BigSpaceship’s latest work with ad agency Cramer-Kasselt: The Corona Beach.

If you’re having one of those awful Mondays (aren’t they all?), then a quick stroll on the Corona Beach might turn your day a bit more pleasant. Head to Corona beach and feel the breeze while listening to waves breaking on the sea shore or get a glimpse right here by watching one of the campaign’s commercials:

You get to explore the landscape or blow on the beer bottles, but what really impressed me was when I got to draw in the sand, that felt almost like the real thing.

Once you check the website, you might start dreaming with paradisaical islands and buckets of iced Coronas.
Or you’ll realize that you’ve got already 10 more emails to answer and your phone keeps ringing.
Have a nice work week.

Or as Wired puts it, Pitchfork.tv Takes a Stab at Music Videos.

For long have i’ve been a regular reader of Pitchfork, along with last.fm, Hype machine,MetaCritic and ubber-cool Stereogum, that nurtured my musical tastes, while bypassing traditional music media moguls like MTV or NME.
Even in Portugal i’m a regular at remixtures, Palco Principal or Bodyspace, great web projects that help me keep up to date with Portugal’s music scene.

Pitchfork and other web based projects are taking a real dent in TV music channels, with loyal fans and delivering breaking news. Pitchfork has even achieved a successful spin-off, with their Chicago Pitchfork Music Festival.

Take for instance Stereogum, who has just released a tribute disk to download, honoring Post, the 10 year old record by Bjork, something possible thanks to the loyalty of both fans and artists to the music weblog. Not to mention other major online players like MySpace, that has just closed the circle with a deal to sell DRM-free music, further establishing the site as a social music destiny.

Even if Pitchfork got a bit too pretentious on their Wired interview, tomorrow we get the chance to review the video quality and the whole interactive experience, but if they keep faithful to their overall excellence, i bet this one will be one more nail in the coffin in traditional music business.

Images Credits: Pitchfork

A website that gets a band like Radiohead to premiere their video service, premieres exclusive demo tracks or shapes an album’s success with their review is surely a menace to MTV or VH1, companies that are increasingly more distant from music fans with their programming choices influenced by major record labels, and miss the huge long tail of music that MySpace, Pitchfork and thousands of music blogs have now filled.

Or quoting The Buggles:

In my mind and in my car, we can’t rewind we’ve gone too far.

MTV, take care.

How about some gaming as a Friday time waster? Well, there’s always the new site from 2Advanced for LucasArts: The Force Unleashed.

Most gamers are all excited by this Star Wars release, that promises some kick-ass physics engine and might even attract not-so-serious gamers, like me. As for the site, lots of video and i guess some Perlin Noise actionscript for the menu fx, something like Ricardo Cabello (mr. Doobs) is doing here.

One thing that always pisses me off is why game/movie websites don’t usually have social features (embed videos, social bookmarking, etc). It sucks seeing a great trailer (above) and then have to look it up on YouTube to embed. Besides, a great opportunity is lost to track their content and interact with their audience with a branded media player.

The Cluetrain Manifesto is turning 9. If you need a concrete example of how it can change companies, then watch and learn.

From the same show, Doc Searls speaks about the origin of Cluetrain.

The following text is a work of fiction, written this early morning for April fool’s.
Any resemblance to reality is pure coincidence. All characters, names, and trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

After several months (years maybe) bashing BDA (that is Big Dumb Agencies in Parker’s lexicon), the author of the popular blog AdScam, has decided to embrace the enemy and start to act as agent of change from the inside.

The deal was achieved the past February 31, according to external sources, and was part of a great effort by the advertising agency to introduce social media into their integrated approach.
George Parker will be involved in building the Social Media division and their place in the Wheel philosophy.

UPDATE: George Parker has just confirmed the deal !!!