The Fearless Blogger » branding

I love this ad (design humor)

faryl — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 02:25:16 +0000

A company’s culture carries a lot of weight for me when making purchasing decisions – especially for service-related products.

I saw this ad on Daring Fireball and it cracked me up. I’m not even in need of a web host and I couldn’t resist clicking the link.

On the downside, I’m not sure I’ll remember the name (Fused Network, by the way). But I’ll definitely remember the ad.

(Just a friendly word of caution: Clearly someone should look for more than just a good personality when selecting their web hosting provider. That said, a good personality is a definite plus!)

Starbucks Holiday Wish: Love Heard around the World

faryl — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 08:46:57 +0000

click to view video

On December 7, 2009, Starbucks will be hosting a global “sing-along” of the Beatles classic “All We Need is Love” to raise support for The Global Fund.

Starbucks will be premiering the commercial for their new campaign, called the Starbucks Love Project during the morning talk shows Friday morning. If you can’t wait (or missed it) you can view the video on Facebook or at the Love Project site (currently no embeddable version is available to share here). The site also features a link where visitors can upload and share their own “love pictures”.

Following are the details from the Starbucks press release:

WHAT

The countdown is on.

An unprecedented event that will unite individuals, communities, nations and cultures through the universal language of music as a celebration of Starbucks one year anniversary in partnership with (RED)TM.

On December 7th, at 1:30pm GMT (8:30am EST), Starbucks Coffee Company will unite artists from around the world for a simultaneous, live performance of the legendary hit “All You Need Is Love” as a single global concert. Inspired by the vision of the Playing for Change Band, this project spans languages, cultures and time zones through the universal language of music, with musicians contributing in individual ways that are customary and unique to their homeland to create a one of a kind rendition of the song.

A first for Starbucks, the event will use state of the art technology to stream the live feed of this performance on www.StarbucksLoveProject.com. Following the sing-along, everyone with access to the site and a video camera will have the opportunity to submit their own version of “All You Need Is Love” for the world to see and hear.

To invite the world to the event, Starbucks is collaborating with Facebook to create the largest globally-reaching campaign on the Facebook platform to date.

WHY
Delivering on the Starbucks commitment to inspiring and nurturing the human spirit, the project is also about sharing that love with customers who have helped Starbucks contribute to the Global Fund through its partnership with (RED) TM. In just one year in partnership with (RED), Starbucks has generated enough money to buy more than 7 million days of medicine to help those living with HIV in Africa.

WHEN
Monday, December 7th – 5:30 a.m. PT / 8:30 a.m. EST

WHERE
www.StarbucksLoveProject.com

FREEBIE ALERT! Send Swine Flu Wishes to That Special Someone with CDC E-Cards!

faryl — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:43:46 +0000

Today I discovered what just may be my favorite e-cards ever!

As I was nosing around the CDC website, perusing the latest H1N1 information (isn’t that how everyone spends their evening downtime?) I noticed they’ve included an H1N1 social media page.

Awesome sauce! Not sure if you know this about me but:

PANDEMIC + CDC INFO + SOCIAL MEDIA(!) =
IRRESISTIBLE TO FARYL

I happily clicked away.

That’s when I noticed this section:

Send Friends & Loved Ones Swine Flu Wishes!

No Way! Excellent!

I’m not sure what I was expecting to see, but the CDC didn’t let me down. Caring friends and family can select from a variety of “occasions” ranging from Autumn to College Health to Disabilities to Halloween to Salmonella to STDs and more. They even have “Congratulations on Your New Pet” and Valentine’s Day cards!

This is a small sample of the selection the Flu category has to offer:

Just a Sampling of Occasions You Can Choose From

My particular favorite is the Father’s Day card:

You can't make this stuff up.

Not impressed? Just wait – there are animated cards as well.

How many times has this happened to you? Your best friend is getting married tomorrow. Here you are, a bridesmaid, and what with sharing all the joy and festivities and excitement – you forgot to buy a card.

I’ve totally been there.

Well, fear not, my friend – the CDC to the rescue!!

This Wedding Card even features a soundtrack (one that bears a bit of a resemblance to the Tonight Show theme)!

What Bride Wouldn't be Overjoyed to Receive This?

There are too many options to post screen shots of them all here.

Some of my other favorites:

Wishing You a Seizure-Free Day
I Got Tested – Did You?
Here’s to an Alcohol-Free Pregnancy!

The list goes on and on . . . You’ll just have to visit the site yourself so you can choose the one that’s the perfect fit for your special day.

Feeling down because no one’s ever sent a CDC card to you?

Well turn that frown upside down! Because I care!

That’s right! I created a card just for you!
View it here!

Via TechCrunch: Google To Partner With iLike And LaLa For New Music Service

faryl — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:27:38 +0000

Our favorite online Jack-of-All-Trades, Google, has announced their latest venture; and it looks like they’re heading straight into iTunes territory.

TechCrunch posted details about Google’s new music service:

Google will partner with iLike and LaLa for their new music service, we’ve learned. And the announcement date is Wednesday, October 28, 2009.

Press, including us, received an invitation this morning (see ticket image above) inviting them to a Hollywood event next week hosted by music services LaLa and iLike. The invitation, titled “Discover Music!” says announcements will be followed by performances, and that LaLa, iLike “& Others” are hosting. The “& Others” includes Google, we’ve heard from multiple sources, and the new service will be unveiled. All four major music services are backing the service

To get the full scoop, read the original post at TechCrunch:
Google To Partner With iLike And LaLa For New Music Service

Update:
TechCrunch has posted screenshots of the new service.

FREEBIE! Kodak Gallery’s Million Thanks Giveaway

faryl — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:12:09 +0000

The Kodak Gallery Thanks Man

Kodak is celebrating the launch of their new Kodak Gallery with a “Million Thanks Giveaway”!

Click the link below to receive either a:

$15 gift code to use on the site or
40% gift code

This is a limited time/while supplies last offer – so don’t wait!

Kodak Gallerys Million Thanks Giveaway.

(I found this link via the Ellen show website – so not only will you receive a freebie, you’ll be registered to win a trip for two to watch a taping of the Ellen show. If you need someone to bring with you, I live in the area!!)

The Fun Theory

faryl — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 04:38:25 +0000

Even running out of gas can be fun!

Volkswagen believes there’s a simple way to change people’s behavior: fun.

Thefuntheory.com, an initiative of the company, is a site that’s

dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better.

Based on the outcome of the experiment captured in this video, they just might be right. (Oops! Hope that wasn’t too much of a spoiler!) I especially like the parts with the dogs and when Macaulay Culkin* takes a picture.

Piano Stairs

”Take the stairs instead of the escalator or elevator and feel better” is something we often hear or read in the Sunday papers. Few people actually follow that advice. Can we get more people to take the stairs over the escalator by making it fun to do? See the results here.

*or someone who resembles Macaulay

Happy Birthday Barcode! (Google helps celebrate)

faryl — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 08:08:33 +0000

Have you noticed Google’s new look today?

Techcrunch has the scoop on why the site updated today’s homepage “doodle” to display a barcode:

Google’s new logo is a barcode which, as far as we can tell, says “Google.” Today is the 57th anniversary of the first patent on the bar code. Inventors Norman Woodland and Bernard Silver filed the patent on October 1949, and it was granted, No. 2,612,994 (pdf), on October 7, 1952. The original patent was for a system that would encode data in circles (a bulls eye pattern), so that it could be scanned in any direction.

The barcode on the Google homepage is Code 128 encoded, which is a standard way of encoding ASCII character strings (ie. A-Z, a-z, 0-9, etc.) into a barcode. It would be safe to assume that Google used their own open source barcode project, ZXing, to generate the barcode. The same library is used in Android for barcode recognition.

Read the full post here: New Google Logo Celebrates The Barcode

FINALLY! Starbucks says: There’s an app for that.

faryl — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 11:53:19 +0000

Better Latte Than Never!

In case I haven’t mentioned it, I’ve been known to be a bit of a caffeine junky.

And having fond memories of my near decade in the Emerald City, Starbucks holds a very special place in my heart – a place reserved for those who concoct elixirs comprised of my three favorite food groups: caffeine, sugar and dairy (and occasionally the fourth: chocolate).

That said, Starbucks had left me feeling a bit let down at their lack of collaboration with one of my other true loves – Apple. In particular my iPhone.

Until today.

From the Starbucks blog:

Today we launched two iPhone / iPod touch applications, myStarbucks and Starbucks Card Mobile. These are great (and free!) and will let you have a fun and useful Starbucks Experience wherever you are. You can design your own beverage, view your balance and load your Starbucks Card, look up nutritional information on our beverages and food, and learn about our different whole bean coffees. No, you can’t place an order using the app (not yet anyway), but we’re just starting out.

It’s not exactly the ability to tweet a latte to a buddy, but give the relationship time to mature – I have hope it will blossom.

For more details, check out the video below or visit the Starbucks Ideas in Action Blog. You can find the app here.

Free Chocolate Friday (Again)!

faryl — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 14:50:55 +0000

Times are tough and the folks at Mars want to help. How, you ask? Every Friday through October, Mars will give away free real chocolate to 250,000 people. That means you can enjoy your favorite Mars’ candy brands—M&M’S®, SNICKERS®, TWIX®, 3 MUSKETEERS®, MILKY WAY® and DOVE®— for free!

I wrote about this when the program first started – and have enjoyed my free M&M’s thoroughly! Figured it warrants another mention for those who may have forgotten, or those who haven’t had a chance to check it out. Free chocolate is not something I take lightly!

(For some reason you’ll need to provide your birthdate before getting to the page requesting the contact information. The first 250,000 responses will get an email confirmation acknowledging that your free chocolate is on its way – expect to find a coupon in your mail a few weeks later.)

Get Yours!
Visit Mars Real Chocolate Relief Act .

Move Over ShamWow! Introducing TimWow: “The Most Interesting Single Man in San Diego”!

faryl — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 19:53:40 +0000

Single ladies, do you sit home wondering where all the great guys are? Well, pay attention, because here’s a limited time opportunity too good to ignore!

Single men, take note! Unless you have an infomercial touting your assets, you’ve got competition.

Tim Goggin, 32, is looking for a special someone:

A super-smart, funny, beautiful, passionate, intelligent, curious, amazing, generous, kind, wise, insightful, brilliant, successful, ambitious, self-aware woman who knows who she is and doesn’t hide any part of herself.

TimWow!

Goggin knows this is a tall order – and he’s not shy about sharing what he has to offer in return. As a refreshing change from the typical online dating ad, Tim set up TimWow.com – a site dedicated to letting the ladies of the world know why they need to Act Now to claim their FREE date with TimWow before he’s off the market.

But wait! There’s more!
Not only do you get a site, complete with information about Tim and the super-special-patented form that’s as simple as 1-2-3 to claim your free date, the next 100 visitors get an exclusive viewing of the ShamWow infomercial! (OK – so there’s no limit to the number of viewers and it’s exclusive to people with online access, but you get the idea! The form doesn’t have a patent either.)

Full disclosure – if you want the inside scoop on Tim, you may be able to persuade the Fearless Blogger to dish. Tim & I perform together in The Hinges Improv (as do some of the folks featured in the infomercial).

By the way, the talent BEHIND the camera is Joe Caldwell (AKA “Mr. Fearless Blogger”*). (Shameless plug: Leave a comment below if you’d like to connect with him about a video project of your own!)

Ladies – what do you think? Does this creative approach leave you wanting more?

Fellas – are you ready to be the next TimWow?

*He’s not really “also known as” that, I just thought it sounded cute!

The Fearless Blogger » branding

I love this ad (design humor)

similar posts you might enjoy

Starbucks Holiday Wish: Love Heard around the World

similar posts you might enjoy

FREEBIE ALERT! Send Swine Flu Wishes to That Special Someone with CDC E-Cards!

similar posts you might enjoy

Via TechCrunch: Google To Partner With iLike And LaLa For New Music Service

similar posts you might enjoy

FREEBIE! Kodak Gallery’s Million Thanks Giveaway

similar posts you might enjoy

The Fun Theory

similar posts you might enjoy

Happy Birthday Barcode! (Google helps celebrate)

similar posts you might enjoy

FINALLY! Starbucks says: There’s an app for that.

similar posts you might enjoy

Free Chocolate Friday (Again)!

other posts you might enjoy

Move Over ShamWow! Introducing TimWow: “The Most Interesting Single Man in San Diego”!

similar posts you might enjoy