The olympics are a great example of how the world is actually able to calm down, organize itself and play together nicely. It seems as if this kind of blind harmony is very possible, yet we only choose to put it on display every 4 years. The winter olympics, however, to me seem a little different. I actually like watching the winter olympics better but the summer olympics seem a little more open to the world. Everyone can run, swim, jump and throw, but not everyone can ski, skate or bobsled.

So when I see a random country like Ghana for instance running alongside Canada, I chuckle. I mean, what on earth would those two countries ever be competing against each other for in the real world? Amazing. Sorry if it sounds a little altruistic, but that is something great and borderline inspiring. That the world can be compressed on such a simple human level to where everyone is one the same boat. Everyone. Yet the moment they leave, the pressures of each others’ existence becomes a threat. And it is available for everyone on earth to witness, yet often goes unnoticed.

“Whether you think you can or cannot, either way you are right.”
-Henry Ford

I got paid today.
Stimulus checks abound.
Took long enough.

I can see how people would go out and spend some cash on some cool stuff, but now would be the best time to actually buy American. Nothing will make this whole idea fail miserably than to go out and buy something made in another country. I know, the retailers are local, and the shipping is somewhat local, but make an effort. Thats what I will do, or at least do my best.

One more thing.
The government has misspelled my name for the first time.
That means, someone went in the system, and changed my name. My tax statements and refund checks have all been spelled correctly.
The stimulus check was spelled wrong.
Who did this come from?
Is someone actually typing out these things?

What an awful job.

Or did someone go in and change my name.
Why would they do that?
I just watched E.T. and I don’t trust the government anymore.

Ok, now I do.

George Carlin died yesterday. He was the first comedian I ever saw live. My mother took my brother and I for some reason (we were too young to be there) but I remember laughing my fool head off at the “Stuff” routine. Take a look: 

I just needed to get this up.  So good.

I understand my experience level at work does not give me the ‘expert’ tag on the following topic, but I thought I would give a shot at explaining an insight that has been frequently discussed around the office.

The state of advertising in relation to the growing social networking trend going on today.

In the past, advertising used to lead pop culture. All the way back to the genesis of the Marlboro Man (and beyond my ad knowledge) to the heyday of Michael Jordan, Where’s the Beef, the cola wars and the Bud Bowl.  We are seeing a downhill trend in the economy, yet the power of the individual is growing and is stronger than ever. All these web 2.0 social sites have given all of us the power to decide what we want to follow for ourselves.  It has allowed some schmuck in Sheboygan to post his incoherent rap on Youtube and create a cult following of that leads him to be the headline of the day on VH1’s Best Week ever.

The point is that pop culture is now in first place.  And it may because people are tired of being led around by a short chain to an obnoxiously unhealthy cheeseburger. Much of the advertising online today is not geared towards this situation.  When before, we would all light up when Dee Brown would pump up his new Reeboks, now we don’t buy it.  This new generation has invested itself in the virtual word of mouth that this new social medium has developed and doesn’t give much credit to the advertising of old.

Only the strongest brands will remain stable with traditional advertising. Apple, Starbucks, Target, are good examples of this.  I know this is a no-brainer for most people, but think that its a problem that big brands and ad agencies think that we can solve any problem by throwing a MySpace page up or a video on Youtube  and because for the most part the media placement is free… it should be done.

The problem I see is that before the judgement of advertising practice was done on a private level. People talking about it, whether they liked it or not. Now the scrutiny is available for all to see. Someone can see a comment on a web site that bashes a product before they even know what the product is. This new generation is trained from the start to doubt the validity of sponsored searches and corporate blogging.

So what is the solution?

If I knew, I wouldn’t be here typing this.  I would be sipping Oban in my castle.

I feel that my generation was really lucky to be this young/old in this period because we were cognizant enough to witness the before and after. And embrace both sides.  We were around for the Jordan era and young enough to embrace the Facebook/Youtube/Blogging culture that rules the roost.  Whereas before we would go to the phonebook, mall, or read about something new, now our instinct has shifted to Google. I feel that there is a growing rift between the advertising of old and the new wave of international media that is being invented as we speak.

We in the advertising industry have to be careful with what we do with our brands.  Sure its easy to convince and old generational client that being strong in the online world is important, but we cannot loose sight of the initial responsibility of ‘helping’ the brand first.  Don’t throw every website at a product.  Stop and think about how it will be received and where will it take the brand itself if it does succeed, but more importantly where it will take it if it doesn’t.

I firmly believe this, and the end result will, in my opinion, force us as advertisers to become more honest. Creativity will have a larger impact and be more rewarding for us photoshop jockeys when what we are doing actually makes sense at the end of the day.  The point has and will not change, only the means and responsibilities. No more throwing money at a problem and expecting people to pay it back when they see it.

Be careful out there…. my computer is now out of date, and I need an iphone to make my next post, because the keyboard is now archaic.

 This guy is great. I want this framed and in my house stat.

Now I hope that we all remember Big League Chew. Those hot days in summer little league, pretending that we were old enough to chew tobacco. Instead it was delicious strands of bubble gum who’s flavor lasted about as long as one’s attention span at that age. Good thing too. I may be sitting here right now with a wad of Levi Garrett crammed in my cheek had the flavor lasted longer.

Anyway, I love the way Italian artist Maurizio Savini works with a similar ideal. The only difference is that when we were kids, we had no interest in shaping the masticated lump of flavorless goop into anything, but rather interested in how much we could fit in our mouths at any given time.

I think Randy Chesterman successfully put an entire bag of Big League Chew in his mouth at one time.

Then he struck out and almost choked on the saliva it generated.

You’ve done it. I’ve done it. We’ve all done it. Prove it.

“I remember back in 1983 I said that at some point in the next 20 years, people will have invisible chats on phones that can fit in your pocket.”

Remember when I said that? Trust me, I said it. Now give me money for knowing that then.
Well, I stumbled upon a cool site today that I sort of likened to a modern day intellectual property time capsule, only possibly less serious and potentially dangerous.

Long Bets is a site of record so to speak. You log on, you submit your prediction and your specific time period, then…. wait. Wait for the next 40 years before your prediction of an undersea tunnel linking San Francisco to Tokyo, or wait 5 years for the complete depletion of the world’s oil supply. If you don’t have a prediction to make, the site is quite entertaining nonetheless. Some of my favorite predictions I found on there:

• At least one human alive in the year 2000 will still be alive in 2150.
• The concept of time as a linear dimension will be replaced by one of time as a polarity between content and context.
• I predict that this year will have the greatest snowfall on record, worldwide
• Steve Jobs will be nominated for Presdident of the United States, by one of the two major political parties in 2012.
• Immortal mice by 2015

Take that Nostradamus.