Consumer-Generated Advertising - Not Quite

Remember a few years back all the buzz about outsourcing marketing to customers? The dream was that customers would love your brand so much they'd create their own ads and post them to YouTube. It didn't really work out - probably a good thing.

The closest we got was a 2009 Super Bowl with a few ads that were, supposedly, generated by customers. But the truth eventually came out that even those ads were produced by advertising freelancers. And the 2010 Super Bowl dog collar ad, again supposedly produced by customers, turns out to have been produced by Joshua Svoboda, a creative director at 5-Point Productions.

Madison Avenue, you can exhale now. Your jobs (for now) are not being outsourced to consumers.

Business Management Infographics - What it takes to support marquee brands.

If Net Neutrality Disappears

Here’s a scary graphic from Quink on what the Internet might look like if ISPs win the Net Neutrality battle currently going on in Congress.

The web works because no one in particular controls it. The businesses that first dropped per-minute web pricing and tore down "walled gardens" have seen the greatest economic return and best advanced public dialog and ideas.

Life Lessons from an Ad Man

This presentation is definitely worth your time - Rory Sutherland talks about how human happiness is based on our perceptions, not directly in a change in reality. Therefore, why do we work so hard to change reality when all we need to do is alter our perceptions for the same result? If you read the Wired Magazine article recently about placebos you'll understand what he means.

Your TV is Stalking You

TiVo sure threw a big rock into the still waters of TV network advertising.

With fewer people watching "live" TV, your friendly neighborhood TV network has decided to follow you around whether you want it to or not. Public video monitors are popping up all over to make sure you don't miss a golden chance for someone to sell to you.

Pumping gas? Introducing ShamWow! Going up to the 45th floor? Lose weight with Nutrisystem. Catching a cab downtown? Refinance your mortgage!

And this is impressive....now they're embedding TV ads into your magazines (watch this clip)!

I'm a marketer, and I love marketing. But sometimes I think we marketers won't be happy until each of us can beam our USP directly into the frontal lobe of every earthling with a checking account.

Where are the Sinners?

A team at Kansas State put together a clever graphic showing us where most sinners live. Southern Cal? Greedy. Bible Belt? Envious and lustful. Texas? Gluttonous. Montana? Slothful. Pretty much everywhere else is prideful.

What I learned: If you want to avoid temptation, move to North Dakota.

4 Billion Phone Users : 1.6 Billion Bank Accounts

Nokia has noticed that there are 4 billion global cell phone users, but only 1.6 billion bank accounts. They're about to launch Nokia Money, a new way to send and receive payments using your cell phone number. This move could make Nokia a leading global ATM really fast, especially in third-world countries where it's more common to own a phone than a checking account.

If Nokia gets its way, the next time you're splitting the bill, buying groceries or that Diet Coke at a vending machine, you might be paying with your phone.

Security is obviously the big concern here which is why I think it's just a matter of time before biometrics are integrated into mobile devices.