The E.coli outbreak had me looking an update from some authority, specifically the local company, or the growers. A simple Google search lead me to the FDA site, which has good coverage.

But at the United fresh fruit & vegetable assn site, there’s very little help. The only update on the home page as of Sept 21st is an area that is password protected! The next story is about an ‘action-packed week’ at Washington, but this is about produce policy, not E. coli!  Oh, they have a ‘timely reports..’ but this page links to stories about an immigration rally and a grassroots group.

So it was quite a shock to see an Ad Age story, citing the UFFVA about a plan to advertise, as a way of addressing the issue. I would have thought some basic, clear statements should precede any form of advertising, considering the damage done.

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The idea of awaking people to their surroundings using visual/creative may teach communicators a thing about creative collaboration. Shoot Experience was started by South African born Brett Jefferson Scott, and Britisher, Yolanda Hinchcliffe. The events are based in the UK.

The idea is to mobilise photographers (who must work as teams) around city-based treasure hunts that they have to photograph, based on a ‘treasure map’ they are given at the assembly point. This kind of one-day event could be easily adopted by cities for tourism, or even public venues such as museums and theme parks to encourage citizen photojournalism, so as to –dare I use the overused word– engage the audience. The Shoot Experience organizers don’t specify the quality of the camera, but with camera phones getting better, it could easily turn into a moblogging experience.

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There is viral, and there is truly professional material. The latter includes the EpyBird production’s take on the Belagio fountain. This video, by the now famous Fritz and Stephen is one of the best out there for the Diet Coke-Mentos work, as well as what constitutes good viral material

I don’t mean to be too harsh on Agency.com, working in and coming from the agency world, but I would have expected them to ‘roll big’ in another direction, and give new meaning to a client pitch. If you’ve worked on the client side, you’ve probably sat through ‘creative’ pitches that looked more like beauty pageants and stunts, and wondered "where’s the work, old chap?" Arguably, this is more on the lines of demonstrating the ‘work’ they can produce, but as many have argued, you have to do better than prove you can shoot a video and upload it to YouTube. (Two Chinese fellas who lipsync badly can do that too!) They are indeed gutsy in puting their reputation on the line at the expense of winning an account. Agencies need to take risks. Heck, all creatives need to step out of their comfort zone and take risks. But I am not sure if the Subway pitch in this format was worth going viral. I kept looking for that denoument, that big idea that would hit us between the eyes and believe Subway would not be able to resist these guys, but it never came. What has ensued is a debate about what constitutes a viral campaign, and the agency’s setting up of a blog on this topic, sort of acknowledges that there’s a lot to learn.

Contrast this to the Mentos-Diet Coke video, and they dont just prove they can shoot video but really do something creative on camera, and this is what’s gets people talking –positively. Isn’t that the whole idea of going viral?

Draper Fisher Jurvetson which supposedly coined the term ‘viral marketing,’ talked of it being an "implied endorsement from a friend." Many people have emulated the Diet Coke-Mentos idea, and the videos –at least the good ones- gather endorsement as they are passed along. But an agency’s goal of winning an account, does not require such audience endorsement. If this is what it was looking for, what does that say about it being able to understand its target audience?

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Never thought there could be a connection between ringtones and teenagers this way. It’s a high frequency mosquito repellant, now a ringtone, that adults cannot hear –but teenagers can. Used, aparently by young people who want to et around cellphone restrictions in schools. Story here.

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A month ago I wrote this piece about network agencies basically rebooting, to incorporate online and interactive marketing. Yesterday’s article in AdAge, Handwriting on the wall clearly reveals this huge shift is underway. It’s how the broadcast-focused agency structure is moving into a more interactive one.

If you read the recent Businessweek cover story about CPB, you’ll know how they were the first big name agency to boldly go in that direction. David Kiley, who wrote the story recounts on the Businessweek podcast how the creative director at Crispin Porter + Bogusky told him he really did not like working on television comemrcials as they were so ‘passive.’ No other agency could have dared say such a thing –or come up with ‘subservient chicken’ idea! They were the un-agency, and now every one wants to be like them.

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I had a conversation with a someone today about the different ways marketers will have to rethink advertising, since the old ways don’t seem to fit –when it comes to online content– on devices that are smaller than PCs and TV screens.

Then I came across Amazon’s Fishbowl, something I had commented on last year. It’s intriguing that Amazon is doing this, but then again, every marketer that does not experiment with new formats around their content, will be left in the dust. Fishbowl features interviews; there is one patently branded piece that looked like a great marriage between three essential parts of the Amazon service: the author, the customer and the delivery method. In this case it was a UPS ‘spot’ that did not look like a commercial at all, even with the big brown truck in the background.

Essentially it is a way for Amazon to spring a surprise on a customer who has ordered Mitch Albom’s book "The five people you meet in heaven." Albom personally delivers the box, getting an opportunity to plug the theme of the book about how we never know how much we could impact the world when we connect with someone. The only thing I didn’t like about it was the title: UPS Special Delivery. The idea was strong enough to not need such heavy handed branding. And it does not need to be watched on a TV screen either.

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This is so funny, esp if you love to hate the jargon coming out of the 2.0 camp.

Web 2.0 BS generator

But fun aside, there’s a message for us all, to steer clear of the ‘disintermediate rich-client folksonomies’ kinda language.

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Cory Treffiletti, writing for Media Posts’s Online Spin takes up that famous argument being wrestled with in the agency world. To consolidate or not. Check out the article here.

The gist of this is that agencies, if they are to compete in an environment of ‘multi-tasking and media fluidity’ need to be seen as seamless multi-taskers not silos. To do this, they need to organize their business units around client’s needs –if they are to put their money where their mouth is and become ‘partners’ not vendors.

"Outdoor is going digital. Broadcast is going digital. Even print and radio are finding ways to go digital. The methodologies and processes which have been built in the Interactive business are primed to be integrated, at least in part, into the rest of the business. By continuing to run separately from the "traditional" business, agencies become territorial and they create infighting over where dollars need to be spent."

But agencies, that are often scapegoats for the present not-seeing-the-wood-for-the-screens impasse, are not the only ones culpable. Starcom’s John Muszynski called on the TV industry to stop painting themselves and everyone else into a corner, with the Upfronts. In case they hadn’t noticed, he pointed out something that is patently obvious now –that "content has leaped from TV to encompass all screens." It’s demand and supply, folks. Content will flow where the demand is, and in real-time. The Upfronts are vestiges of the 20th century media-buying tactics, when the Big 3 networks were talking about different kinds of screens!

In a somewhat related story, Yahoo announced a way to record TV programs on screens other than TV. Talk about fluid media and leaping content!

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