News, Views & Clues
Schools to Teach Critical Thinking with Movies
Teaching kids how to think critically is just one of the objectives of a new series called “The Story of Movies.” This program, which is being spearheaded by film director Martin Scorsese and The Film Foundation is helping teachers expand their use of film in the classroom with a series of DVDs and curriculum guides. On the critical... Read More →
Viewing “The Hurt Locker” in Another Dimension…
Much has been said about the mega-blockbuster, Avatar being available in 3-D (as in third dimension) — a viewing format that requires special glasses. 3-D is picking up steam in Hollywood because it is supposed to be more engaging. The thing is, I discovered that there is another way to engage the viewer without the need for special glasses.... Read More →
Just Say No to Embargoes…
In the PR Industry there is the concept of embargo, which basically means that you can pre-brief a journalist or blogger on a topic with the intent of getting them to write a story that coincides with the press release hitting the wire… but NOT before. Embargoes are painfully annoying. Over at TechCrunch, Michael Arrington has written rants on... Read More →
Quacking up on Wall Street…
On Thursday, Wall Street ducked… er… not exactly. Rather, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) had its closing bell quacked by the AFLAC duck. Why? Because, believe it or not, it is the spokeduck’s 10th birthday and the supplemental insurance company’s 55th year in business. Timed for this occasion, AFLAC’s president and... Read More →
Twitter-Powered Popcorn Machine
This is pretty darn clever. Dave Britt and Justin Goeres came up with a way to make popcorn one Tweet at a time. The video below explains it. It was their entry for the Fireworks Popcorn’s “Creative Pop 2010!” contest, which they won. They used a custom LabVIEW program which polls Twitter for any mention of #popcorn. For each Tweet,... Read More →
At the Hockey Rink, Lefties Rule, Especially in Canada…
Sidney Crosby The Olympic hockey matches have been especially riveting for me ever since I read an article in The New York Times by Jeff Klein (It’s Not Political, but More Canadians Are Lefties). He pointed out that according to sales figures from hockey stick manufacturers, a majority of Canadian hockey players shoot left-handed, and a majority... Read More →
Soup: Neuromarketing & Why We buy
When I first read this story, “The Emotional Quotient of Soup Shopping Campbell’s Taps ‘Neuromarketing’ Techniques to Find Why Shelf Displays Left Some Customers Cold” in The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), I found myself talking at the newspaper. Mucking around with labels and the merchandising of soup cans may garner additional... Read More →
GSP Does Chicken Right…
Goodby Silverstein & Partners (GSP) scored big time during the 2010 Super Bowl with its “Screamin’ Chicken” ads for Denny’s. A story appearing on Monday in The Wall Street Journal said, “A Denny’s commercial, in which chickens scream in terror at the thought of the eggs needed to support the restaurant chain’s... Read More →
Introducing Toll House Tales, a Scripel
Now available in the Jedemi Presents section, Toll House Tales: All Fired Up, a serialized scripel (part script, part novel). This is the story about three young women (ranging in age from mid-twenties to mid-thirties) who end up spending an Autumn weekend together at an Oregon beach house. For two of the women, this is a “welcomed” getaway-... Read More →
Super Bowl: Who Dat at Halftime?
Just remembered an excellent segment from the Animaniacs that is quite appropriate for the Super Bowl halftime show. ### Read More →
Super Bowl Ad Watch: Kia Toys…
From cute hamsters to cute toys. Kia has a new ad timed for the Super Bowl, “Joy Ride” that features a cast of characters that are life size toys. The promo is for the 2011 Sorento SUV. Media Post’s Marketing Daily had an interview with Michael Sprague, the vice president of marketing at Irvine, Calif.-based Kia. In it, he explained... Read More →
Super Bowl Ad Watch: EA Can’t Say “Go to Hell!”
Electronic Arts (EA) has a new video game coming out on Tuesday, February 9, called Dante’s Inferno which really IS based on The Divine Comedy: Hell by Dante Alighieri. To promote it, on Super Bowl Sunday, EA is running an ad to invite 100 million football fans to join Dante on an adventure that spans all nine punishing circles of Hell; limbo,... Read More →
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