Canuckflack

Persona. A persona is an artificial identity derived from demographic analysis, survey results, focus group findings, and secret shopper interviews. It’s a convenient shorthand in the toolbox carried by user experience specialists - people like product designers, process architects and interior designers.

A shorthand that allows them to pick and choose behaviours, attributes, prejudices and generational stereotypes to support their artistic work.

(let the flood of emails begin - the ones where I’m accused of understating the value and overstating the harm created by personas)

I found this gimmick popping up in a discussion of the design aesthetic (and financial assumptions) behind Aloft, a new chain of high concept, low service hotels.

“… “We believe in trip personas,” [VP of Aloft Brian] McGuin­ness says. “You go somewhere with a persona in mind.” Project architect Bakos talks about the personas he expects will be drawn to a place like Aloft. They’re on-the-road, business-oriented people. And they don’t need shoe shining, laundry service, or a great restaurant. What they need is a place where they can check in, access their e-mail, go to sleep, wake up to natural light, and be able to grab a quick banana on their way out, all in an atmosphere of aesthetic attention and awareness of design. What they don’t need is another Ramada, Quality Suites, or La Quinta….” (Metropolis)

Ahh. So Aloft is like Target. It’s essentially a discount chain, but charges a slight premium for the appearance of exclusivity and the inference of personal taste and influence.

As a concept, it may just work. If Starwood, the chain behind Aloft, can find a way to design and construct visually appealing overnight accommodations while keeping room rates low, it may be able to draw in high-falutin and snobby travelers who suddenly find their expense accounts trimmed.

Of course, you can always wake up to natural light by … camping. Better have a Perma-Prest suit, though.

Now, I know that advertorial copy doesn’t exactly attract the “A team” of writers, designers and editors, but you would think that the New York Times would catch an error this egregious: using the same stock photo clip for a fake article on “nursing excellence” and an adjoining ad for Mount Sinai Hospital.

From last week’s New York Times magazine (May 4, 2008)

Meet Hunter Somerville. While an intern at Ogilvy & Mather in Toronto last summer, he was asked to chip into a campaign by taking a shot at redesigning the back of the Shreddies box.

He now works there as a creative.

The key to winning a promotion in the advertising world?

Demonstrating a canny understanding of the product and its features. Groundbreaking insight into the market you are targeting. (And more than a dash of Machiavellian office intrigue, but let’s leave that to the senior creatives.)

Somerville’s fantastic insight? Tilt the square Shreddies by 45 degrees - thereby creating Diamond Shreddies!

“…”It came from an exercise of redesigning the back of the cereal box,” says chief creative officer Nancy Vonk. “We gave the task to a lowly summer intern Hunter Somerville. His joke idea–make the back look like the front of a new bogus product–was quickly seen as a bigger idea that could become a 360 campaign.” (Creativity-Online)

The idea was so simple, yet so fundamental, that it stopped me cold in my feet. Or cold on my sofa, waiting for American Idol to come back on.

Nothing had changed in the 67 year-old product. Nothing had to change on the production line. Yet the product was positioned as having fundamentally changed.

Even the focus groups were fooled. That’s right. As part of the marketing campaign, Ogilvy & Mather conducted focus groups to test the perceived difference between traditional “square” Shreddies and newfangled “diamond” shreddies. See for yourself. Focus group participants work themselves into identifying the improved qualities of the new product.

As the CMA blog wrote, “Poor consumer. They didn’t stand a chance.”

Even the food obsessives at the Kraft Canada forums are praising the campaign.

In perhaps the funniest twist of the re-branding, Vancouver lawyer George Gould put the “last square Shreddie” up for sale on ebay.

Technorati Tags: Shreddies, cereal, O&M

Oh Galen Weston, you scamp. I admit, I was on the fence for a while. When you were appointed Executive Chairman of your dad’s company, I was naturally skeptical.

When your photogenic and cherubic mug started showing up in advertising for Loblaws groceries late last year, I questioned the wisdom of the move. After all, Loblaws is the home for President’s Choice, a wide-ranging white label brand that many consider a fundamental part of the Canadian identity.

President’s Choice isn’t just a success because of its delectable butter tarts, shortbread cookies, cheese trays, spreads and holiday train sets.

It’s the brainchild of Dave Nichol, a Loblaws executive who became synonymous with white label grocery products in the frozen North. Through sweat, blood, tears, market testing, brand development and millions of promotional inserts, Dave built the President’s Choice white label brand into a category killer for Loblaws.

But then you started playing with babies. Babies, man.

Let’s remember that Galen is the shining new star of a family ranked by Forbes as the #93rd richest in the world.

How is he gonna come across as personable, down to earth and a straight shooter?

Back in the 80s and early 90s, you knew Dave was simpatico. His ads were full of references to “working hard for you” and ” we’ve kept the same price as last year” and “my team” and “our family.”

Over the past few months, Weston has been working hard to put a personable and young face on the Loblaws brand. Personalizing the brand was first suggested over a year ago, by people like Mark Evans (read the comments, it’s one of those bitter but everfresh posts).

Weston’s clean face, tousled hair and open necked shirt have been pushing products that would appeal to the new and sensitive consumer. Organic baby food. Reusable shopping bags. Phosphate-free dish washing detergent. Apple crisp. Freakin’ apple crisp!

(Which, if you want to watch them, you have to dig into the Bensimon Byrne website under “current creative.” Because ad agency websites suck.)

And in the latest ad, Weston brought out the big gun - he ended the ad with “eh?”

“Clean dishes. And a slightly cleaner Canada. That works, eh?”

Normally, I would be all like “oh yeah? who are YOU to try the common and somewhat stereotypical colloquialism that has branded Canadians around the world?”

After all, eh is not a word to be wielded lightly by copywriters - unless in an excessively ironic manner.

But Galen Weston pulled it off. Bastard.

Good for him.

And I can’t just help myself. Here’s a Bob and Doug MacKenzie clip, featuring a lot of “ehs”:

Technorati Tags: Galen Weston, Loblaws, President’s Choice, grocery, eh, Canadian culture

A spec campaign for the Hummer … what do you call it, an SUV? Calling a Hummer an SUV is like saying a Ford Expedition is a runabout.

There’s a townhouse in my neighbourhood, the single woman living there has a Hummer.

What sort of message is she trying to send?

The folks at Creative in London have developed some simple posters to accompany the “F*ck Green” campaign they drew up for the Advertising Planning School on the Web last year.

In a puffy little piece, USA Today points out that quite a few international consumer chains are emphasizing their links to your local neighbourhood (neighborhood for you Americans):

- Tesco’s Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Markets
- Applebee’s
- Kelsey’s damnable appropriation of the Cheers theme song*
- Lowe’s - still a neighborhood store

It may just be me, but if your employees have to read a hundred page jobsite manual and order their pants from a central distribution facility, then you are not a neighbourhood company.

If your signage is designed and produced in another state or province, you’re not a neighbourhood company.

If your general manager is rotated through your store and/or region once every two years, you’re not a neighbourhood company.

Do you have to debate the real meaning of “locally grown”? Not a neighbourhood company.

Do you want a real definition of neighbourhood? Look no farther than Sesame Street. Who Are the People in your Neighbourhood, indeed.

Aside from that short period where Maria converted the Fix-It Shop into a Mailboxes Etc. franchise, I don’t remember a lot of characters complaining about their regional sales quotas or the “word from HQ.”

You remember the lyrics from that catchy ditty, don’t you? If not, here’s a short video, from back when Bob McGrath had sideburns and a spring in his step.

That clip is really quite old and inappropriate, actually: one of the people you meet is the neighbourhood news dealer.

*really, words cannot express how angry I get when I see the Kelsey’s ads overlaid with the theme from Cheers. It’s such a seminal part of my youth - and the development of television - that it would be like seeing the theme from M*A*S*H used for a national chain of funeral homes.

** In fact, if I was Kelsey Grammer, I might even think about a cease and desist order, since the link between his role on Cheers, the name of the chain, and the song are so in-your-face.

*** I’m that upset. Really.

Technorati Tags: Kelsey’s, neighborhood, neighbourhood, local, community, retail

Are your ideas inspirational? Can you challenge others to believe in the impossible? Are you a social butterfly, capable of building links between cool tools and others who are crazy, funny, idealistic, iconoclastic or poetic?

h/t to exitcreative

Technorati Tags: inspiration, Michael Bay, imagination, creativity

Some on the scene retail anthropology, at the Tim Hortons donut shop in Khandahar, Afghanistan.

“… Of all the troops who crowd Tim’s counter or queue at the “walk thru” window outside, Barbarie’s personal favourites are the Royal Gurkhas, the diminutive but notoriously lethal Nepalese mercenaries who have fought for the British army for nearly two centuries.

“The Gurkhas are real fighting machines, so I don’t know if they want people to know they like frou-frou drinks that aren’t so manly, but they really love their French vanilla cappuccinos and their honey-dipped doughnuts,” joked the 35-year-old Barbarie, who gave up a job in Canada with a logistics company to serve a six-month stint in Afghanistan.

One of the revelations for Barbarie and the Canadian staff at Tim’s most remote outpost - owned by the Department of National Defence - has been that national tastes differ greatly.

Everyone at KAF, as the base is known, likes French vanilla cappuccinos - including the French. But Canada’s Afghan warriors hardly ever order this beverage unless extra coffee is put in it. The Dutch are keen on hot chocolate. French Canadians love honey crullers, which they call roues de tracteur (tractor wheels) …” (Canada.com)

Why is Tim Horton’s in Afghanistan? I discussed that last year.

Meet Mike Holmes. He’s a contractor with a heart, who arrives to repair the mistakes and shoddy workmanship of other contractors. He’s also the host of a very popular show on Home and Garden Television here in Canada.

As you can see, Mike also had a clothing deal with Carhartt, the workwear company (I say had, because he now has his own branded clothing line. I said he was popular).

It’s the perfect alliance - the honest and forthright contractor, sporting rough and durable work clothes.

Trouble is, Mike likes showing off the guns, so to speak. Hammering nails. Cutting boards. Gesturing wildly at the blatant code violations and stunningly dangerous modifications made by the previous contractor.

No tats. No earrings. No leather wristbands or elaborate pendants.

As the picture shows, that means a startlingly genuine character is central to his program.

And no - THAT IS NOT A SPORTS BRO.

Technorati Tags: Carhartt, Mike Holes, HGTV, sponsorship, clothing

Heard from the back of my minivan, as we passed a billboard for CHEZ 106, a local radio station:

“It’s not classic rock, it’s OLD rock!”

And that’s just a second grader!

Four words. On a thin roadside sign. Alongside Highway 401 just outside Brockville, Ontario.

Cast and Blast Outdoors

I may have mentioned this - my daughter is surfing our wi-fi at home using her new iPod Touch.

I am very jealous, and increasingly convinced that my childhood was a period of despair and deprivation.

Just like anyone who eagerly anticipated the x86 chipset.

Sure, I had a Casio calculator watch. And I had a transistor radio the size of a match book (with a single ear bud, much like an old man’s hearing aid).

A portable music player was never out of reach. That was an advantage we held over our parents’ generation.

But a device is always a reflection of existing technology - and contemporary society’s perception of innovation, utility and coolness.

That perception rapidly changes, to the point where cutting edge seems obsolete and burdensome.

When Grandmaster Flash first whipped out his ghetto blaster and showed it to the neighbourhood in The Message, the sheer size of the device was meant to impress and cower.

Back then, you chose a ghetto blaster based on its cassette replay features (two sided play, anyone?) and its speaker range. No - not the range of the speakers, but the range of sizes of speakers.

Of course you had to have speakers that pretended to mimic woofers and subwoofers. (They were the big speakers, usually at the back)

Key to the device was sharing the music - with everyone in a forty yard range. Music was to be shared, and maybe prompt some breaking.

That’s a big change from today, where portable music players are one more element in our defenses against our immediate neighbours, whether on the bus, at the mall, at the office or in the gym.

The glowing green Miami Vice suit was optional, though.

image from Taschen Books (and Sony as well)

Technorati Tags: stereo, D cell batteries, ghetto blaster, cassette tape

As a community, we’re not sitting on the fence, we’re all over the fence, tearing up the garden and throwing fenceposts at people about Facebook’s Social Ads.

The idea that Facebook will strike backroom agreements with corporate partners to associate their consumer data with your Facebook activity seems to strike people the wrong way. Clearly, there needs to be a simple opt-out mechanism to avoid your personal brand being associated with a corporate brand (at least without compensation!)

The great weakness in this scheme, however, is that Facebook and their partners depend on the Facebook Friend having a stellar reputation worth trading on. Or at least have profile pics worth reproducing.

Imagine if Facebook users started using profile pics like those long used on Livejournal? Like that animated .gif to the right?

That would drastically affect the value of the implied endorsement from a social network user.

For example, take this comment from a Wired blog post on the business:

“Fortunately I don’t look that great. If they use me in ads, they’ll be fucking themselves.

Posted by: Experimenting Techmulogical Differences | Jan 2, 2008 6:48:36 PM>

Technorati Tags: Facebook, Social Ads, social objects, beacon

• A Google Maps guide to driving between Santa Claus, Indiana and Christmas, Florida.
• AKQA’s neon hamster wheel (which apparently isn’t sh*t)
• Frank Best’s greeting card for failed cold calls (you want to read this)
• IStudio’s Do Not Want ads.
• McKinney’s SnowGlobe Boy (staffer lived in an inflatable globe in the lobby)
• Dave mentioned the greeting from Twist Image
• Kate has built a comprehensive list of online Christmas cards (here, here, and here)

Merry Christmas to you all!

Technorati Tags: Christmas cards, advertising agency

The new Ford “Built Ford Tough” videos manage to rip off two separate concepts, but do it well:

There aren’t any crackheads trying to evade arrest, and there are no Burt Reynolds hairpieces. But still, it’s funny.

The concept is that there are ten rules that Ford truck owners must follow - and these rules identify what could be best defined as “fancy” behaviour.

I admit it. I have spent many hours watching Jackass outtakes with my son on YouTube. So I KNOW that there is a market for the JackassWorld video and social network site being created by MTV and Viacom.

Included in the plans are blogs - but on what subject? Legal liability? Injury prevention? Physical rehabilitation? Or just stories about getting drunk at your friend’s house and trying to skateboard off the roof?

The site is being launched in conjunction with the online distribution of the latest Jackass movie, Jackass 2.5. The New York Times had a particularly accurate description of the movie and its consumers:

“There’s more vomiting, nudity and defecation,” one executive said, speaking more candidly than the companies involved had agreed to and on condition of anonymity. “The stuff that consumers really want.”

Still, the producers are leaving an element of control. The morons you can find on YouTube - the ones who suffer compound bone fractures and leave tooth fragments on the railing - will not be able to upload videos to JackassWorld. It’s only for professionals.

Keith, the new honcho at com.motion*, was kind enough to send over the results of their exclusive survey of 444 senior managers and marketers. As Sean pointed out, it’s always helpful to have detailed public opinion research on any aspect of our little marketing and public relations world - especially social media.

Especially when the results seem to expose senior executives lying about their familiarity with social media. To be fair, they could be glaringly unaware how little they know about new technology. Or, they could be underestimating the extent of their clients’ knowledge.

Even worse - senior communications advisors revealing - rather embarassingly - that they are falling behind the curve. As specialists, they should be AHEAD of the curve.

Later on in the poll, it seems that the long tail only applies to online activities. Overall, an intention to increase spending on social media does mean an overall increase in budgets, but some managers and marketers responded that they would cut back on direct marketing costs. That makes sense - abandon the tried-and-true targeted marketing for the shiny and new.

* not this com.motion.

I won’t deny it - I read gossip blogs.

But only for the marketing leads!

Like Sean Kingston’s sharp Crayola 64 assorted crayon pack worth of bling.

It’s a must look! As always, I love the comments:

“…Wow, that’s all kinds of tacky. 64 to be precise…”

Dlisted also pointed me to Molly Shannon’s latest paid sponsorship - the opening of Charmin’s free public toilets on Time Square.

Here’s the subhed from the news release:

QUEEN OF THE THRONE: MOLLY SHANNON PERFORMS THE CEREMONIAL ‘FIRST FLUSH’ AT THE CHARMIN RESTROOMS OPENING

I desperately want to be nice. In the newsreel kindly supplied by Proctor & Gamble, Molly tells us that parents with kids will spend a lot of time during the holiday shopping season combing the streets of New York for a public toilet, and this will be a godsend for them.

But I just can’t get past the thought that her coat may be lined in shreds of toilet paper.

I can’t also help but notice that the news release notes she was accompanied by the assistant brand manager for Charmin.

If you were the assistant brand manager, would you consider participating in this promotional event as a step up in your career?

“Man, I really pulled this promotion together nicely! Not only did I open the public toilets on Times Square, I got to meet Molly Shannon!”

I knew this was how the magic happened. There is no such thing as a viral video. It’s all a den of deception, payoffs, spam emails and keyword optimization.

The Secret Strategies Behind Many “Viral” Videos

I found one comment just as enlightening as the post itself:

“Nice post. Nice fuzz and nice flaming comments. It has the dark mark written all over it, nicely played by Michael, no only setting the comments on fire, but getting a hell lot of diggs and driving an insane traffic to the website. No one has commented yet on the fact that the RSS post was incomplete so that feed readers would have to come to the webpage

Awesome strategy Michael and Dan, congrats.

About the actual content, some things where cool, others where just typical. For all those that are getting so mad about this, most of what he describes is part of the SEO field. It’s done by a hell lot of people. You could count even bloggers using some of this tricks. Some of them are quite unethical but hey, the Internet is a harsh place, live with that. If you get mad then it’s because you haven’t realized you are being targeted all day long YET. Maybe this post will open many people’s eyes

Welcome to the Internet …”

Thirty years of teenage angst. Thirty years of rage. Thirty years of commercial manipulation.

It’s been thirty years since the Sex Pistols desecrated “God Save the Queen” - for the good of music and to add to the arsenal of expression available to citizens overlooked or oppressed by their government.

It’s a pity that a large part of the punk rock identity has been appropriated. Not just by large corporations peddling Never Mind The Bollocks tshirts or using London Calling in mobile phone ads, but by snot-nosed suburban kids with no real idea of the severe social, political and economic dislocation that prodded punk rock into existence.

Now, I don’t mean that punk rock MUST be reserved for the dis-associated sallow-skinned British youth. Punk has a mutli-cultural (and multi-generational) appeal and a highly personal relevance.

Instead, I am obsessed with the appropriation of punk imagery by the customers of mainstream marketers. My kids like a Canadian retail chain called West 49. There, they can find studded belts, skate decks, DC shoes, plaid pants, and $100 Billabong hoodies. And all these things sell very well.

But that sort of behaviour has to be expected. These retailers are serving the market.

But what is wrong with the GD kids? Why are $80 ballet flat Vans with death’s head appliques selling so well? Why does the young woman boarding that suburban bus have a “punk rock” tote bag? Why can kids pick up temporary hair colour in purple, yellow, green and orange?

DIY punk seems to be dead, at least in middle-class Ottawa. Is this the result of increased brand awareness among children?

Do kids now look for “punk” brand attributes? Are they looking for their rebellion, their outrage and a radicalisation of their family, neighbourhood, city or society in a well-designed box?

As we keep pushing youth and children to identify with brands, with products or with sentiments, are we undermining their ability to express themselves?

Are our marketing dollars making brand attributes so prevalent and so culturally predominant that it takes a truly dissociative individual to build a truly independent identity as a punk?

Is it even possible to buy white Chuck Taylors to colour and “bedazzle” with spikes and pins?

To quote Hot Topic Is Not Punk Rock by MC Lars:

“…Hot Topic uses contrived identification with youth sub-cultures to manufacture an antiauthoritarian identity and make millions.

That $8 you paid for the Mudvayne poster would be better spent used for seeing your brother’s friend’s band.

DIY ethics are punk rock! Starting your own label is punk rock! GG Allin was punk rock!

But when a crass corporate vulture feeds on mass consumer culture, then spending Mommy’s money is not punk rock!

Technorati Tags: punk rock, Sex Pistols, brand, brand attribute, self expression

This may reveal what sort of programming I used to watch on 80s and 90s-era cable television, but I find the choice of ambient soundtrack for the DeLuca International Communications and Fundraising firm a little … distracting.

Combined with the stock photo imagery used throughout the site, I keep expecting semi-revealing shots of Shannon Tweed or Erika Eleniak … or Daniel Baldwin.

How does an editor and a writer become a cook? That’s the premise of Bill Buford’s “Heat” - a book published in mid-2006. While I really enjoyed the book, one passage shed some light on the growing popularity of food porn:

“…The new shows put a premium on presentation rather than knowledge and tended to have intimate-seeming camera close-ups of foods, as though objects of sexual satisfaction.

The skin-flick feel was reinforced by a range of heightened effects, especially amplified sounds of frying, snapping, crunching, chewing, swallowing. There seemed always to be a tongue, making small, wet, bubbly tongue sounds.

The “talent” (also known as a “crossover” personality, usually a woman with a big smile and no apron) was directed to be easy with her tongue and use it conspicuously - to taste food on a spoon, say, or work it around a batter-coated beater, or clean the lips with it.

The aim was spelled out for me by Eileen Opatut, a former programming executive. “We’re looking for the kind of show that makes people want to crawl up to their television set and lick the screen.”…”

The popular definition of food porn fetishizes food, either by preparing intricate and ingredient-rich recipes, accompanied by carefully composed photos (the Playboy of food porn) or the rough and sloppy presentation of clearly delicious but probably quite unhealthy entrees (something other than Playboy. I leave the choice to you).

Let’s be clear: there are two components to food porn.

One, the excessive attention paid to blemish-free and colourful ingredients. This is an ingredient list that demands the chemicals and horticultural shortcuts developed during the nineteenth and twentieth century. The luscious “money shot” of a basket of fruit, a smooth and supple tomato, a tropical fruit that seems freshly picked, even if it is a cold and heartless winter outside.

Two, the emphasis on friendly and attractive cooks, chefs and hosts. Not necessarily stunners - those pinnacles of breeding, genetics and cosmetic surgery are still left for the faux newsmagazine shows - but pleasant and entertaining folk. The kind of strangely familiar person you wouldn’t mind inviting over to help make dinner, maybe pick out some new dish sets, and even redecorate the bathroom.

As this excerpt from a 2005 On the Media broadcast further explains:

“FREDERICK KAUFMAN: It’s also shot very differently. It’s actually shot single-camera as opposed to a four-camera television format. And so it’s almost shot like a 35-millimeter film. You get an amazing angle on Giada, who is beautiful, and who always is wearing a very close-cut sleeveless top. And then you get the food, and then you get Giada, and then you get her fingers on the food. And oh, it’s so moist. [MUSIC UP AND UNDER]”

I am sure you didn’t need my help to notice this. The second the Food Network became a favoured channel in dorm lounges, industry executives took note.

I’ve noticed a big difference in the food programming produced in Great Britain and the United States. (Let’s not talk about food programs in Canada) My memories of British food porn only include one scantily-clad chef: Jaimie Oliver. And there is NO WAY I ever wanted to see the bare forearm of either of the Two Fat Ladies.

Meanwhile, wholesome Western New York gal Rachael Ray has appeared in FHM. The restaurant critic at the New York Times - feared by some for his/her ability to cripple and crush new restaurants - has a blog.

All the while, some traditional food writers see this fetishization and popularization as a weakening their trade, limiting the scope and depth of food-related stories prepared for readers.
What would the apex of the food fetishization trend look like? How about Giada vs. Rachael Ray on Iron Chef? (YouTube)

Technorati Tags: food porn, food fetish, Food Network, Giada, Rachael, vegetables, popular culture

I still don’t tire of how sophisticated algorithms can still mis-place ads - with shocking or chuckling consequences, depending upon your point of view.

The insurance ad I’ve clipped here, asking how you would protect your family in the event of a catastrophe? Found it mid-story in a Slate article about the Wisconsin man who shot his ex-girlfriend and then himself.

Ironically, the story itself is an examination of how the man could shoot himself in the head - three times - while attempting to commit suicide.

Colin Clarke is a British sociologist who happens to have a personal blog, and he asked his university class:

“…‘What really gets on your tits?’ as I rather shockingly asked them (it was meant to come out as ‘what really gets on your nerves?’ but I think my own nerves got the better of me and I fell back into that horribly familiar Scottish uncouth street-talk I can be prone to…”

There are dozens of responses over at And Before the First Kiss, but here are a few:

• Global warming
• Drunk drivers
• Sectarianism
• Drugs / addiction / dealers / parents who are addicts
• Pretentious youth
• Reality TV / Big Brother
• Inequality
• Packed and expensive trains / late busses
• Dishonesty
• War in Iraq
• Selfish pricks
• Political correctness
• Racism
• A fish and chip shop with no chips at lunch time!
• Smug Scumbags (e.g. Gerry McNee)
• People who always feel sorry for themselves
• Really ignorant customers in supermarkets
• Tesco / Asda
• The greed of Russian billionaires in football
• That wee bam at the bus stop
• A bad pint
• Advertisements presented as art
• People who aren’t ‘down with the kids’ but think they are
• The Pope / The Queen (’in equal measure’)
• Living on the 5th floor with no lift
• Scientology
• Roadworks
• James *unt

Looking through the list, there are a lot of consumer, marketing and advertising activities or behaviours that apparently are “getting on their tits?”

Chalk signs. You know - chalkboard signs decorated with menus, promotional tag lines, simple price displays, usually found at grocery stores or restaurants - that rough and personalized touch that helps build a personal bond between you and your retailer.

One Canadian company, Chalk It Up!, has created 400 boards since 2001, including 75 for the Ruby Tuesday chain of casual dining restaurants. Claire Watson, the principal artist, has posted several images from her work on flickr.

Chalk signs provide hearty opposition to the polished and focus-tested stalagmites that otherwise dot the grocery floor - the promotional pop-ups, tasting stations, shipping palettes disguised as festive boxes, and good old fashioned Super Bowl celebrity cut-outs.

Properly conceived and executed, chalk signs can convince a consumer that their chosen shop or store is so fresh, so responsive and so connected to the community that their signs HAVE to be chalk, HAVE to be changed every day.

When institutionalized, though, chalk signs can prompt memories of the big bad wolf, dressed in Grandma’s bedclothes: when Whole Foods, Starbucks, Domino’s or Movenpick Marche list ingredients, menu items or prices in a chalk script, I get a faint whiff of lupine halitosis.

The most appealing quality of chalk signs is their humour. Subtle, ironic, sophisticated, blunt, or punny. The artists and workers who put some real effort into the signs should be recognized - at the very least with a piece of flair that says “I’m the chalk artist, tip me well!”

In the wrong hands chalk signs can provide quick outlets for staff dissatisfaction - like at this New Orleans Starbucks.

Lord of the Bings, from Lizzy poo’s portfolio of chalk signs on flickr.

Technorati Tags: chalk signs, chalk menus, restaurant menu

Your childhood stuffed toy has been hijacked by consumer goods companies. That may not be a surprise to you, but it has irritated the hell out of the original illustrators of characters from the Snowman to Paddington Bear. (London Times, via Serendipity Book)

“…[Raymond] Briggs complains that his iconic Snowman, with his soft curves and floppy felt hat, has been used to sell everything from fizzy drinks to fried chicken. “It is galling to find that the innocent character one has created for young children is being used to promote junk food and drink, and also to decorate the packaging of lavatory paper,” he said.”

Technorati Tags: children’s books, illustrations, Paddington, Marmite

What’s the link between social media and skateboarding? Sometimes, social media experts will strike really poor bargains for their services - just like the early boarders who performed for stickers, decks and gas money.

I mean, in what other industry would thought leaders trade their hard-built reputation for a free camera, cellphone, iPhone or a free laptop?

A lot of social media experts are grinding out an identity as hard-working professionals - like the Social Media Group, or SHIFT, or H&K, or Crayon, or Converseon.

In skateboarding, there’s a lot of people who have jumped on a deck and found a new image or sense of group identity. There are a few boarders that have developed the skills - on the deck and in the office - to build strong identities in the sport and personalities that are eagerly sought out by marketers.

Sure, skateboarding has always had a distinctly commercial element. Even with its roots in home-made equipment and the growing legends of local or regional skaters, the continuing perception of skateboarding as an underground industry is largely manufactured. Today, it is part of a mainstream image industry.

Social media, as a profession for consultants, marketers and public relations hacks, is growing into a mainstream industry. For every mis-step amplified by bloggers and journalists, there are countless small improvements being accomplished in large and small businesses, not-for-profits, community organizations and local governments.

Still, I’m really growing tired of leading bloggers, authors and consultants crowing about how they scored some more schwag. Let’s keep