Skateboarder Rob Dyrdek kick-flips Chevy Sonic for ad

Source: AUTOWEEK

I won't take too much of your time this morning, I'm actually leaving for London this afternoon!  (Pretty pumped about that)  Having said that, posting will be quite sparse as I'll be busy doing other things, but I hope to put something up!  The post I have for you this morning though, will certainly not disappoint.

Rob Dyrdek, a professional skateboarder and MTV star, embarked on one of the craziest stunts to date.  Combining both his driving and skateboarding skills, Rob performed a KICK FLIP with his Chevy Sonic.  For those of you that aren't familiar with skateboarding terminology, a kick flip sounds pretty much like what it does, the board...flips.  Now, imagine the thought of flipping a car!  The stunt is part of Chevrolets new ad campaign that features some more non traditonal stuff like their new hatchback driving out of a plane, as well as another one that features The Sonic rolled off a 100-foot tower with a bungee cord attached.  The stunt is extrmeley impressive, and yes, it certianly does boost the appeal of the car, but will I go out and buy it?  Probably not.  Would you?

~Until Next Time~
WIM

Would you play video games at the urinal?

Source: SmartPlanet

You can count on the Brits for everything these days can't you?  Captive Media, a tech start-up based in the U.K., have turned a regular urinal into a full functioning game console.  Just when you thought you couldn't make going to the bathroom anymore fun, this innovative concept allows you to literally piss and play.  

With a variety of games to choose from, the most dangerous (as seen by the video) is appropriately titled "On the Piste." The game allows users ski down a mountain and have their turns dictated by peeing left, and right.  (Don't expect me to be playing next to the drunk bloke on either side of me).  Something like this would only work if it was free, but it seems like it will cost you.  Even with the ads Captivate hopes to display, I don't see it working out in the long term, and I can't imagine these bars/restaurants willing to pay for the installation of this technology.  Cool idea though.

~Until Next Time~
WIM

For gifts you can't wait to give

What more than a little Christmas cheer to start your Thursday?  John Lewis, a department store in the UK, came out with this £5m pound ad that has households across the UK grabbing for their tissues.  As the ad plays out, you slowly begin to feel a rush of childhood memories.  I for one, remember waiting in anticipation for the moment I could open the first day of the advent calendar and eat the chocolate that's been patiently waiting but only to find out that I have another 23 days of chocolate goodness to get through.  As we track the very patient young boy, his excitement is almost too much to handle, and he tries to find ways to make the time go faster.  After what seems like an eternity, Christmas Day is finally here, and what else does a kid want to do on Christmas Day?  Open presents, that's right!  Wrong.  We seemed destined to believe that the young boy was genuinely interested in opening his presents, until we see the boy deliver a very important message.  It's better to give, than to receive.  Truly, a heartfelt message, and a well delivered ad.  What are some of your early childhood Christmas memories? 

~Until Next Time~
WIM

It's lonely out there for a dictator

Who would have thought that we would once find ourselves watching a commercial featuring the world's most famous dictators.  I wouldn't think so at least.  But I guess I was wrong.  Nando's, the global grilled-chicken chain, together with director, Dean Blumberg, created an ad that features a lonely Robert Mugabe, reminiscing about the good old days with his friends Muammar al-Qaddafi, Saddam Hussein, Idi Amin and a few other friendly faces.  This is certainly something we would never see here in the U.S.  I can't even imagine the backlash something like this would receive.  But, then again, that's why we count on these other countries to produce commercials like these for people like me to talk about.  

Paired together with the song "Those Were The Days" by Mary Hopkin, the ad shows us a glimpse of some of the good times shared by these dictators. We begin with Mugabe having a water fight with his pal  Muammar al-Qaddafi, and even going as far to showcase his token golden gun.  We then find Mugabe playing in the sand with a smiling Saddam Hussein, but not before we got a chance to see him singing karaoke with our good friend, Mao.  I think the ad really hit a high note when we find Mugabe and Ugandan dictator, Idi Amin, on the back of a tank re-enacting the famous pose first seen on the Titanic, where Leonardo DiCaprio is holding Kate Winslet.

As the ad comes to a close, we find a lonely Mugabe sitting at an empty table, with many of his past friends missing from the dinner party.  A voice over comes along and says "no one should ever have to eat alone" so please indulge yourself in a Nando's 6-pack meal.  

Obviously, this ad hit a few nerves when it was first released, and from what I found, I think it was eventually taken down.  On the other hand, I applaud Nando's for taking a such a risk, and creating a commercial of this stature.  This could have very easily gone wrong, but they managed to create something with the right amount of humor that made it very funny to watch.

~Until Next Time~
WIM

Vending Machine at Airport Prints Custom Banners

What a BRILLIANT idea!  I was browsing through PSFK earlier and came across this gem.  Amsterdam Schiphol Airport recently installed a machine that prints out "welcome home" banners.  With prices ranging from €3.95 to €14.95, you can customize your banner to read whatever you want.  I mean, it's pretty clever.  Generally, people go to the airport pretty excited to see whoever is coming in, and if you didn't have time to make your banner (or thought of making one), this genius time zapper, let's you spend the time in the arrivals hall crafting your own welcome message rather than impatiently waiting for whoever it is to get through customs.  At the end of the day, the machine creates a positive experience for the person arriving, and the person making the banner, and more importantly, leaves them with  a positive impression of Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.

~Until Next Time~

WIM

RAM Racing: How NOT to run a social media page

This past weekend I took part in the inaugural Washington, DC Hot Chocolate 15K/5K operated by RAM Racing.  From those who took part, it goes without saying, the entire event was a complete disaster.  That aside, I'm not here to talk about what made this event unsuccessful, but rather, what made this event fail from a social media standpoint.

As many others do, people look to a company Facebook page for event related information, as well as for any immediate updates that are critical for people to know on raceday.  The Facebook page for the Hot Chocolate 15K/5K failed on many levels.  The page itself was bombarded with hundreds of negative comments before the race even began.  With the race even being over, the page continues to be a haven for people expressing their displeasure for how the event took place.  People hated it so much, they even went so far as to create a new Facebook page appropriately titled, "EPIC FAIL: Hot Chocolate 15K/5K." 

First off, if you plan on using a Facebook page as a means of communication, please do so.  We want information, we don't want "Fun Facts."  So let's begin!  As I made my way to National Harbor, you could tell there was something wrong right away.  The amount of traffic was unreal.  According to the Facebook page there was a severe accident that caused a major backup.  As a result, a majority of the runners were not able to make it to the race on time.  At this point, all we were told was that the race was going to be delayed 15 minutes.  Funny enough, it appears that there was no accident at all, and as it seems race directors were looking to jump on any excuse for the delay and thought that a car accident would suffice.  According to a majority of the comments I've read, there was no accident at all.  I'd take them as pretty accurate as they were written by people IN the backup.  

After hearing this, the comments began rolling in, one complaint after another.  100+ comments later, there was still NO update from race directors.  One would think that if these directors cared at all, they would make some sort of a conscious effort in informing runners that their spot in the race was not going to be jeopardized, and that they were doing their best in making sure everyone got to the starting line safely.  Unfortunately, there was nothing along those lines, but rather a page filled with complaints.  I would only imagine these people would care, seeing that no race could take place if no one was there to attend.  I'm not asking for much here, just a small little update showing us that you CARE and that you're looking out for us.  

With no updates from anyone at RAM Racing, we all of a sudden got the ONLY update of the day as to what was happening, and that was that the beginning of the race was now pushed to 8:15 to allow those in traffic to arrive.  With hundreds and hundreds of comments coming in, this is all you could muster up?  Come on now.  With the flood gates now open to complaints, there was no communication from RAM Racing for another 7 hours!  People have been training, and looking forward to this day for who knows how long, but all you could manage to type was that the race was now being pushed back.  Take a moment and address people's concerns even if you need to go through them comment by comment.  Otherwise, don't bother having a page up at all.

Now, what happened next is really what got me going.  It's one thing if no one was monitoring the Facebook page, but it's another if someone from RAM Racing is there DELETING comments, and going as far as BLOCKING people from commenting on the wall.  Here you have people clearly very upset, and all you can do is delete people's comments?  People paid $65 for a race that didn't live up to expectations and for a jacket that at best, resembled a fashionable looking poncho.

All you had to do was SAY SOMETHING.  SHOW US you actually care.  There wasn't one instance where someone from RAM Racing tried to facilitate the very hectic day for any of the participants.  And, on top of that, when they did decide to say something all they had to say was that there were "issues with today's race", and nothing more.  No apology, nothing.  No mention to the fact that they were deleting comments for whatever reason.  Even in that example, all you had to say was, sorry, if you have noticed that your comments were deleted, we do not condone any sort of profanity, and leave it at that.  I don't even know if there was profanity, but tell them they were being deleted for a reason.  Otherwise, it just looks like you were trying to cover yourselves up, and it looks incredibly sketchy.

Unfortunately, it still appears that those at RAM Racing have learned nothing.  A half hearted apology was posted on their Facebook wall, which didn't actually seem like an apology at all.  From what I calculated, the owners certainly left Saturday's event with a hefty chunk of change.  With the enormous amount of negative feedback this event received, and the number of people who displayed their displeasure, you would think that the owners at RAM Racing would maybe TRY win back their support by offering some sort of incentive for people to sign up next year, and from what it looks like, it might not even take place.  But hey, here's an idea.  Give the 20,000 racers, or whatever the number was, some sort of "I'm sorry" gift.  Give them a free shirt, give them a coupon to Melting Pot for some more CHOCOLATE fondue, give them SOMETHING.  People will like you a lot more if you do in fact show us you are deeply sorry, and would do anything to win back the support of DC.  Unfortunately, from what it seems, you are doing everything you can to make sure no one signs up for your race again.

I really understand they were hoping for this event to go without any problems, but the moment you think more about yourself than the people attending your event, that's when things go wrong.  Take a moment and imagine if you were in the runners shoes, and what you would want to hear, and how you would feel if this happened to you.  Unfortunately, some people never learn, and they pay for it later.

Before I go ahead and post this, I noticed there was an update from race director, Steve Nearman, from the Wilson Bridge Half Marathon, which not only shows some sort of thought process but also that he cares.  Hell, he didn't even take part in this weekend's race and he is already issuing a statement.  Far more than anything I saw from the people at RAM Racing.  Talk about GOOD PR!  Here is what he said:

With that said, I understand this was quite a long rant, but I open this up to all the other participants who took part in the Hot Chocolate 15K/5K this past weekend, and even to those who have taken part in previous RAM Racing events.  I'd enjoy hearing your comments, and despite all the problems that occurred, I hope everyone managed to have a great day otherwise.

~Until Next Time~

WIM

New Samsung Ad Mercilessly Mocks Apple Fans

Finally, a commercial that has enough bravado to take on the iPhone.  I'm surprised we haven't seen these types of commercials sooner.  The earliest commercials I can remember are those PC vs. Mac spots.  I came across this commercial thanks to Will Burns at Ideasicle, and there is quite a conversation going on as to whether or not it was effective on their Facebook page.  

The commercial, produced by 72andsunny, features what Samsung sees as "typical iPhone users" waiting in an endless line for the newest iPhone, as others walk by and show off their new Samsung phone with its bigger screen, and 4G technology.  These mocha drinking hipsters don't really know what to do with themselves as talk of this new phone seems to be stealing the show.

I personally find those long lines just a byproduct of brilliant marketing.  Yes, I have an iPhone, but nothing on it is any different than what I've had since 2007.  When Nokia was in its prime, my N95 had a 5 mega pixel camera, 3G technology, Maps, Video Chat functionality, multimedia messaging and much more. If it wasn't for poor execution, they would still be in the smartphone craze we are in right now.  On the other hand, these are all marketed as "new" features on the iPhone.  This alone shows us how far behind the U.S. really is in the mobile market.  

The only thing that makes the iPhone what it is are the apps, and nothing more.  Well, I'll include the fact that the people at Apple know how to make an elegant looking phone, but even with the iPhone 4, you spend half the time wiping away the damn smudges you get on the all glass display.  The thing I like about this approach is that it shows us that there are other options, and they might EVEN be better believe it or not.  I don't know if you remember, but I certainly remember the days when all of us had a different phones, and just the thought of seeing another phone spiked our curiosity as to what new phone it was.  Nowadays, it's just iPhone's wherever you look. Unfortunately, Steve Jobs did a great job in building a following, which makes it so hard to switch to anything else.  As always, leave your thoughts in the comment section below, or join the conversation on our Facebook page.

~Until Next Time~
WIM