The thing is, I discovered that there is another way to engage the viewer without the need for special glasses.   It all started when “Hurt Locker” came out on DVD and I finally had a chance to watch it.

I came across it when I finally saw “The Hurt Locker” (Netflix, Amazon) when it became available on DVD.  The film itself is very powerful. Watching it via a Blu-ray player on a big HDTV with decent sound, I found that it really pulled me in.  It is the kind of film that find yourself thinking about long after it is over.

One of the first thoughts that crossed my mind is that it was a shame that The Hurt Locker didn’t get big screen/big sound treatment when it was released last summer.

The next day, I put the disc back in the player and clicked on the option for viewing with commentary.  I watched the entire movie again while listening to Kathryn Bigelow, screenwriter Mark Boal (who did time as a journalist embed with an Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit) others describe what was going on and, more importantly, the hurdles they had to jump/mountains they had to climb to get the film made.

There was a little bit of “Bowfinger” in that they leveraged crowds Jordan that had already gathered for temple or other events. Many of the scenes were shot using up to six cameras at times, documentary style.

In his autobiography, “Name Above the Title,” Frank Capra said this about the filmmaking process:

“No two motion pictures are alike in the making. Each film is a living piece of your life in a small unreal world with its own character an integrity; its own new set of memorable experiences and incredible happenings.”

The added dimension that came from listening to the commentary put “The Hurt Locker” way over the top for me.  I didn’t care what awards would come.  I knew I was viewing something special.  Something that came together — like the sun, moon and stars all lining up.  The talent on screen and behind the camera was amazing. You could really appreciate how this film became a labor of love for all involved.

My hope is that more people will have a chance to experience “The Hurt Locker” in both dimensions.  And then, the next time you are faced with a difficult task to do, think about what these folks went through to get that movie made.

“You’ll be bothered from time to time by storms, fog, snow. When you are, think of those who went through it before you, and say to yourself, ‘What they could do, I can do’” — From Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s “Wind, Sand and Stars” (p 7).

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Note: If you want a treat, check out the two episodes of Homicide: Life on the Street directed by Bigelow:

Season 6, Episode 22: Fallen Heroes: Part 1
Original Air Date-1 May 1998

Season 6, Episode 23: Fallen Heroes: Part 2
Original Air Date-8 May 1998

Embargoes are painfully annoying. Over at TechCrunch, Michael Arrington has written rants on topics that can best be described as “Stupid PR Tricks.” There are two recent posts that really made me laugh. A contributing editor at TechCrunch Europe, Steve O’Hear, has created couple of videos that show conversations between a PR professional and a blogger or journalist. Arrington noted, “We have this same conversation oh, five or more times per day.”

Here are the videos.

Embargoes - Part 1

Embargoes - Part 2

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BTW. The software he used is quite fun.

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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 COO, Paul Amos appeared on Fox Business for an interview — with the duck. That’s right, the duck was on camera and somewhat well behaved.

The interview was quite fun and educational. Amos addressed health care reform and talked about AFLAC’s success in Japan (documented here).

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, a LEGO Mindstorms NXT robot is activated which does some kind of magic leading to the popcorn getting popped.

Very cool and excellent use of LEGO Mindstorms too!

Thanks to Product Design & Development for the tip!

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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 of American players shoot right-handed.

Really? I thought to myself. I want to see. So I tuned in and watched, initially not sure what exactly made someone left-handed in hockey. It is tricky.

A lefty has the right hand at the top of the stick.

Canadian journalist and author Bruce Dowbiggin noted the Canadian-American handedness split in his 2001 book, “The Stick: A History, a Celebration, an Elegy.” On Dowbiggin’s Web site, a reader named Kent Mayhew suggested the difference may have to do with how old a player is when he first picks up a hockey stick.

“The top hand on a hockey stick has to be able to handle the torques of a stick while the bottom hand just has to handle the weight with no torques,” he wrote. He theorized that American children, who tend to take up hockey when they are older and bigger, can afford to put the stronger hand, generally the right, on the lower part of the shaft for more precision.”

The Times article gave specifics from Easton, a sporting goods manufacturer in Van Nuys, Calif.

• Roughly 60 percent of the Easton hockey sticks sold in Canada are for left-handed shots.
• In the United States, about 60 percent of sticks sold are for right-handed shots.
• Figures over the years from other manufacturers have put the ratio discrepancy between the two countries as high as 70 to 30.

It also noted that on the women’s 2010 Olympic teams, which feature 21-player rosters, 15 members of Team Canada shoot left-handed compared with 10 on Team U.S.A. On the men’s rosters, the difference is less pronounced, with 15 left-handers on Team Canada and 13 on Team U.S.A. out of 23 players on the roster.

Doing some research on my own, I found the roster for the Pittsburgh Penguins, the NHL club All-Star phenom Sidney Crosby plays for. Sure enough, most of that team is lefty.

See for yourself!  Tune into hockey — Olympics or NHL.

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Condensed = Salt

I was actually relieved to see a story appearing the next day, about Campbell Soup lowering their sales forecast, that communicate the information I was seeking.

“Campbell announced it will tweak more than 60 percent of its condensed soups, reducing sodium in 23 of them by up to 45 percent. Once complete, nearly half of Campbell’s condensed soups will have sodium levels at 480 milligrams or less per serving, considered healthy by the U.S. government.

Campbell has cut the sodium level in more than 100 of its products - including V8 juices, Prego sauces, Pepperidge Farm breads and its namesake soups - by 25 percent to 50 percent over the past four years.”

Mind you, this information was buried eight paragraphs into the story. That is information needs to be promoted.

So back to the WSJ story, which was actually quite interesting. It talked about how the Campbell Soup Company is relying on new neuromarketing studies — basically, looking into the brain’s role in product preferences– to guide the redesign of its condensed-soup packaging in order to inspire consumers to buy more soup.

The research took place over a two-year period.  One of the discoveries was that warmth and other positive attributes that people associated with Campbell’s soup at home evaporated when they faced store shelves.  No doubt, nasty store lighting and being overwhelmed with the number of choices played a role here.  Nevertheless, Campbell made some tweaks to their Point-of-Sale influencer, the can label:

• Moving the Campbell’s logo to the bottom
• Adding color coding to the top of the label to help distinguish four categories of soup: “taste sensations,” “classic favorites,” etc.
• Using a more modern looking soup bowl
• Losing the spoon! It was deemed unnecessary
• Injecting some steam! Steam was added to help emotionally engage the shopper (it looks warm)

Knowing when to say when…

Apparently, Campbell’s three biggest sellers-chicken noodle, tomato and cream of mushroom, the soup can labels immortalized by Andy Warhol, will remain the same.

Hopefully somewhere, perhaps in a shelf talker and in ads, the lower sodium message will be emphasized.

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Check out the video that accompanied the article online here:

Read more about Campbell Soup Company:
Seeking Alpha: Soup Tales: Campbell Continues to Lead

First Scream…

Lots of Screaming

The Denny’s Free Grand Slam Giveaway took place on Tuesday. The media coverage of the actual event was huge. In their press release, Nelson Marchioli, Denny’s CEO, said, “Once again our Free Grand Slam giveaway was a great day for Americans and a great day for Denny’s. We welcomed millions of Americans into our restaurants and served them our signature Grand Slam breakfast. We received an outpouring of the most genuine and heartwarming comments from our guests, servers and managers. We hope to continue to connect with our guests with real affordable offers all year long so they can fall in love with Denny’s again.”

Denny’s served approximately 2 million Grand Slams across the U.S. Some restaurants served more than 200 breakfasts an hour, however, this increase from last year was offset by bad weather across the country.  See more Fast Facts below.

The Inside Coup: Another GSP Chicken campaign…

While others spent Monday voting on their favorite Super Bowl ads, I did some legwork on GSP which I knew was the agency for Foster Farms.

Say No to Plumping –

Sure enough, the whole “Say No to Plumping” campaign and website was designed by GSP.

“Plumping” refers to injecting chickens with seawater to increase their weight, which also increases the sodium content. And as the site’s talkative chickens point out, high-sodium diets contribute to heart problems, and plumping adds to the price of store-bought chicken.

Here is one of the ads.

Foster Farms - Bullhorn

Circling back to the Denny’s campaign, it will take a while to unscramble the data to see how many of the Denny’s FREE Grand Slam customers came because of the commercials, the press coverage of the commercials,  or from word of mouth (perhaps all of the above).

One thing for sure, if you need an agency that can do fowl things, give Goodby, Silverstein & Partners (http://goodbysilverstein.com/) a call.

Note:  Don’t go to their website unless you have the latest Flash installed.  That rules out a lot of the iPhone toting creative community.

More Fast Facts on Denny’s Free Grand Slam giveaway:

– There were approximately 49 million hits on Denny’s website since the Super Bowl giveaway was announced; almost 24 million hits since Sunday’s Super Bowl commercials.

– Average wait time for Grand Slams was approximately fifteen to thirty minutes.

– Tables were turned approximately every fifteen minutes.

– Denny’s was a top ten trending topic on Twitter for Grand Slam Day and during the fourth quarter of the Super Bowl.

– Close to 300,000 have already registered for the new Denny’s Rewards program. The first 500,000 people who sign up will receive a Free Burger and Fries. Register online at www.dennys.com through February 14.

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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- serving as an excellent opportunity for them to take a “time out” from the demands of their daily lives. They view this as a time to refocus their energy on their own personal journey - their quest to understand themselves better and especially, why they do what they do. For these two, the weekend also serves as “catch up” time as they reconnect, share “war stories,” and compare notes.

The third woman is a newcomer. While she welcomes this opportunity to bond with peers she perceives as “like-minded” (which to her means - committed to climbing the corporate ladder), she quickly learns that their world, compared to hers, is as different as “night and day.” Although she finds their world intriguing, she is unwilling to let go of her comfort zone- life as a corporate citizen.

The events that take place during that weekend help set the wheels in motion for a lifetime of adventure.

Enjoy!

• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up - The Characters
• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up - Background
• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up -101 –The adventure begins… Early morning journal writing, some motivational music and a pre-run ritual…
• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up -102 –Now a visit to the ordinary world where we get our first glimpse at what the Journal Writer has been encountering on a daily basis.
• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up -103 –A message from the Journal Writer’s friend provides a welcome break.
• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up -104 –The Cookie Adventure begins.
• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up -105 –Portland, Powell’s and Paninis… Thursday opens with ponderables and leads to a surprise at lunch-time.
• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up -106 –Doogie has an idea… Will Fran cooperate?
• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up -107 –Will anything get in the way of the getaway?
• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up - 108 –Meeting the mentor, learning about Third Places, a warm meal, and a nice cold Fat Tire.
• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up -109 –Coffee, an introduction to “Is” thinking and a run… The first full day in Portland starts off on the right foot.
• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up -110 –A workmare triggers some anxious moments.
• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up -111 –The ladies hit the road. A little singing… A little storytelling…
• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up -112 –Spontaneous fun and games. A stop at the market for provisions shows the girls letting their hair down in an unusual way.
• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up - 113 –The “holiday” truly begins as the girls get in some beach time. Another workmare is triggered.
• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up - 114 –Chopping away… from dinner prep to wood for a fire.
• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up - 115 –Fran tells her Lucy tale.
• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up - 116 –The ladies settle into an evening of comfort food, conversation and coincidences.
• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up - 117 –Fireside storytelling begins. Cookies are a springboard into a deeper discussion the includes a bit of Joseph Campbell’s “Hero’s Journey.”
• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up - 118 –Prompted by Fran, Gayle tells one of her grandma’s favorite fireside tales.
• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up - 119 –The fireside chat continues… Gayle is deep into a story that closely resembles “Allegory of the Cave.”
• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up - 120 –Thoughts of Destiny prompt a smoke break.
• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up - 121 –Julie dozes off in front of the fire and experiences another workmare…
• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up - 122 –Sunday morning journal writing for Fran and another workmare for Julie…
• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up - 123 –Back in the office. Doogie trades MLB info for the scoop on Oregon. Julie is stylin’ and ready for the big meeting.
• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up - 124 –Julie’s worst fears are realized.
• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up - 125 –Julie races to catch the e-staff. Fran and Doogie ponder next moves
• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up - 126 –Fran and Doogie are in pursuit of Julie…
• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up - 127 –A flashback and a realization… Fran and Doogie are in pursuit of Julie…
• Toll House Tales: All Fired Up - 128 –The paper from Doogie’s pocket reveals a startling truth… its not the end, but the beginning.

Enjoy the story.  Please let me know what you think of it.

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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 the story behind the new ad and provides insight into why the toys appearing in the ad were chosen.

There were five attributes we wanted to call out in the vehicle. But instead of saying “look at this design,” or “Sorento: it’s fun to drive, and has lots if great technology,” etc., we wanted to use characters to represent those attributes. So the Muno (from Nick Jr.’s “Yo! Gabba Gabba” series) represents eye-catching design; the Sock Monkey is agility; Mr. X (the Blabla Mr. X Boogaloo Doll) represents fun; the teddy bear represents safety and security and the wind-up robot toy represents Sorento’s advanced technology. These characters will be used as icons for vehicle attributes. They will be incorporated in all marketing materials once the Super Bowl launches: in digital, print, out-of-home, direct, mobile. For example, if we are highlighting one of Sorento’s technology attributes, you will clearly see the robot as the representation.

See the ad below.  And as a refresher, also included is one of the hamster ads.

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