The ad is just flawless, but it’s Nike’s options for sharing that make it amazing. Nike and their agencies truly understand how to let the conversation continue. It’s beautiful.
Opinions And Ramblings By Adam Kmiec On All Things Media
Monthly Archives: October 2008
Canon Journey Commercial
I’m a Nikon guy. Have been and probably always will be. But, I’ve always been a fan of the ads Canon’s team developed. They just always seemed to capture the true emotion and essence of being behind the camera. This ad isn’t new; it’s several months old, but I saw it again earlier this week and realized I hadn’t blogged about it. The ad is great, but the making of video will leave you speechless. Perhaps the best thing about this ad is the very unique nature in how it was made. When you think about it, they really went old school. Each image is essentially one frame in the 30 second spot. But, in going old school they demonstrate the speed of the camera. Brilliant.
Big Spaceship On Creative Culture
Just a great freaking presentation. It really inspires you and makes you want to work there. Thoroughly enjoyed slides 10 and 11.
Milleret Watches
I saw this watch from Milleret when I was in Mexico last week. I should have bought it because I just learned they don’t have any U.S. distribution channels.
So, if anyone has like $2,000 or so to spend, trusts me to pay them back, and has access to a dealer let me know.
Our 5th Wedding Anniversary
We spent our 5th wedding anniversary in Cancun, Mexico. Cancun holds a special place in our heart because it’s the place we got engaged on June 5, 2002 and it’s where we spent our 3rd anniversary when Cheryl was pregnant with Cora.
Originally, we had planned to spend our 5th anniverary in Las Vegas, NV. However, the insane costs of Vegas coupled with the amazing deal we got via Expedia helped guide us back to Cancun. Instead of staying at the Westin Regina (where we’ve stayed in the past) we decided to stay at the all inclusive GR Royal Solaris. It was a great choice. Unlimited food and liquor is never a bad thing.
With this being our 3rd time in Cancun together, it was really tough to figure out what to do. We’d been to Chitinitza, Isla Mujeres, done some parasailing, and shopped a ton. Outside of just kicking back on the beach, something that’s very difficult for Adam to do, we took the Jungle Tour for the first time. There’s a picture from the excursion below. That was really the only new thing we did. It was the familiar favorites that we really relished. We shopped a Plaza Kulkulcan and La Isla. We ate dinner at Cambalache and this little whole in the wall taco place that we ate at the night we got engaged. Of course, we also ate at the Captain’s Cove, where Cheryl enjoyed a Banana Monkey. Basically, we were right at home.
It was tough to come back after 5 days, but it was also great to see Cora again. She stayed with Grandpa and Grandma Iverson while we were away.
A few select photos are below and the entire gallery can be seen here.
This is the front of our hotel, the GR Royal Solaris. We highly recommend it.
This is a picture I took on day 2. It's probably one of my favorite photos from the trip.
It's rare that I make an appearance in photos on trips. Usually I'm too busy taking them. I really liked the casual and simple nature of this photo. Cheryl did a great job capturing it.
We took the so-called "Jungle Tour." It basically consists of driving a speed boat 30 minutes to a huge reef. You snorkel for about 45 minutes and then head back. We had a great time driving fast and checking out the underwater life.
When we came down to Cancun for our 3rd anniversary, the Captain's Cove was closed due to construction from the hurricanes. It was open this time around and we made sure to eat dinner their on our anniversary. The coconut shrimp were as amazing as we remembered from June 2002; when we got engaged.
The Simple Solution For The Credit Problem
So the government thinks the solution is to bail out the companies that got us into this mess. The government approved a 700 billion dollar package to bail out these companies. I can solve the problem with less than 1 billion.
The biggest investment people make is the purchase of their house. It’s safe to say that most people don’t have 300K just laying around and use it to buy the house outright. The problem at hand is that people are defaulting on their loans; the ridiculous loans they were given by the companies the government wants to use 700 billion to bail out. With people defaulting on the loans, those banks like AIG, Wachovia, etc. inherit, if you will those houses. They are saddled with properties instead of cash. And, banks are in the business of cash, not land.
There are 305,405,919 people in the United States according to the census. Of those 305,405,919 there are 198,227,009 over the age of 25. There are 127,901,934 housing units in the United States. Right now 68.9% of those houses are occupied which translates into 88,124,432 houses that people are living in and would most likely be carrying a mortgage.
The average home price in the United States is $217,000. For arguments sake and simple math, let’s say people put down 5%. That means people by a house tomorrow for $217,000 will owe $206,150. Following so far? Good.
Rather than give the companies the money, I propose we give the homeowners the money by clearing the books on peoples’ mortgages instead of throwing money at the companies that screwed this whole thing up in the first place. My proposal would put the money into the hands of those most affected by the situation. Essentially, this is a redo. The companies who are responsible get some initial capital, take a bit of a loss, and lose out on the long term interest. However, they stay afloat and people keep their homes.
Sure, it’s simple math, but the spirit of the idea has a lot of merit.
ReThink YouTube
The biggest player in long form video has been NBC’s Hulu. The major criticism of Hulu has been the lack of fresh, new, or different content. Hulu offers short clips of a show’s current season and a several episodes (sometimes complete seasons) from previous seasons.
YouTube the largest video site on the web, with over 700,000 new videos a day, has long focused on short videos. With few exceptions, they limit the length of uploaded videos to 10 minutes. Well, that’s about to change thanks to a partnership with CBS. This article outlines the details.
This is big for several reasons:
- It gives us in-video advertising options that previous did not exist
- It shows that video sites are truly desperate for compelling content and on some level content is still king
- It opens the door to agencies and brands creating content for online distribution; we’re talking episodic (think BMW films) video content that can be developed at a minimal investment because the YouTube’s of the world will co-fund it so they can sell ad space during the show
I’m forecasting a little bit, but I won’t be surprised to see it happen in the next 8 months. Nickelodeon and Warner Brothers already does it for partners and Fox has toyed with it in the past.
This is going to be fun!
We’re Back From Vacation
Cancun was a blast. More updates to come, but wanted to get this photo out there so you all could see we actually made it to Cancun and had a great time. This was taken on our anniversary using the D2Hs, two towels, and the shutter timer.
What I Learned In Cancun
This was my 4th trip to Cancun, Mexico in the last 15 years or so. This trip was really unlike others I’ve taken. Cancun has changed so much. Here is a list of my observations:
1. The dollar is still strong in Mexico (about 12 pesos to the dollar), but things have gotten more expensive to purchase.
2. English, as a language, is widely adopted. I spoke very little Spanish on the trip.
3. Technology is huge. There were plenty if free wifi hotspots throughout the hotels, bars, malls, etc. This made staying connected really easy. It’s also the opposite of what you’d find in the U.S.; where we charge for everything.
4. The Mexicans I spoke with were pro-McCain. They indicated most of the country was.
5. Public transportation us cheap and runs 24 hours; it’s the lifeblood of the economy. Nearly everyone opts for a bus ride over a taxi.
6. The concept of green friendly hasn’t made its way down here yet, but I saw many products touting: organic, natural, or free from preservatives.
7. I still hate just laying on the beach; I need to be doing something all the time.
8. There is always one set of guests at the hotel who swear they are the life of the party and should be the center of attention. The group this year was easy to spot thanks to one girl’s leave nothing to the imagination bikini and cowboy hat.
9. It’s getting harder to find real authentic Mexican food. The food has really been Americanized. Really do we need 2 Chilis’ in Cancun?
10. Talking to the locals is always better than the guide books; yes, have a conversation and get more personal.
It was a good trip, but I’m torn between appreciating the advancements being made here (eg wifi) and continued commoditization of the city. At what point will Cancun just be a more southern version of California?
Crazy Stats
Many of these are courtesy of Brandie.
- Besides the “usual”, Kazaa, Britney Spears, Dragonball and Kobe Byrant were the most searched for terms in 2003. In 2008, Brittany Spears and Dragonball are still in the top 10.
- Most-used features of the Internet: Sending email – 91%, Using a search engine to find information – 88%, Researching a product or service before buying it – 78%, Buying a product – 66%
- Over 176,000 complaints were lodged with the FTC in 2006 relating to Internet fraud; an increase of 16,000 over 2005.
- 33 percent of youth have been victimized by cyber bullying
- According to the Miniwatts Marketing Group’s Internet Usage and World Population Statistics (last updated March 31, 2006), worldwide Internet penetration is only 15.7%
- Internet Porn stats (hysterical): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOFTQpNhsWE
- For the 2008 election, A record-breaking 46% of Americans have used the internet, email or cell phone text messaging to get news about the campaign, share their views and mobilize others.
- In 2006 Digital music sites average a global daily peak of over half a million visitors per minute.
- Dollars spent per visit are growing faster than the number of visitors to online retail stores.
- In 2007 Spam levels reach 93 percent of all e-mail in March, fueled by botnets.
- 54% of ebay items receive 0 bids, 23% receive 1 bid and 5% receive 2 bids
- 3.8% of all ebay auctions are won in the last 5-10 seconds
- In January 2006 “chuck norris” surpassed “boobs” in most searched for term
- April 2008 “dodo bird” was the #1 searched for term
- The 2008 Olympics was the first time athletes were allowed to blog once inside the Village
- Facebook averages 11.6MM picture uploads per day (June 2007)
- Over 2MM Facebook users will turn 21 in the next year (2007)
- 88% of Asian adults online have high speed internet access
- Between Chicago, Orlando, NYC and Las Vegas, Las Vegas is the most talked about travel destination on any major trip review / travel plan website
- 71% of YouTube users are employed
- Facebook is the #1 photo sharing site
- Charley Kline at UCLA sent the first packets on ARPANet as he tried to connect to Stanford Research Institute on Oct 29, 1969. The system crashed as he reached the G in LOGIN!
- Yahoo! Answers includes 16,000 questions about Las Vegas
- Generation Yers spend 12.2 hours a week watching using the internet, but only 10.6 watching TV
- People spend an average of 20 minutes a day on Facebook
- 25% of General Motors’ budget will be online in 2009
- The Huffington Post gets 2x – 3x the traffic of The Star Tribune
- 89% + of the U.S. Population is online
- 363 Billion Text Messages Were Sent Last Year
- 94% of NikePlus users recommended NikePlus.com to a friend
- Barack Obama has 92,000+ Twitter followers…he’s following 96,000+
- 23% of social network users have installed an application/widget
- There are over 184 million bloggers worldwide
- The Pope and the Catholic Church Have started texting
- Social networking sites are officially more popular than porn sites
- There are 65,000 new videos on youtube a day
- 39% of people on the web have subscribed to an RSS feed
- 32% of people on the web trust bloggers’ opinions about products
- Millenials spend more than 16 hours a week online
Wow.