The benefits of being a digital addict

At the moment it seems to be a good time to be a „geek“ as the digital addicts in the US call themselves (and think that’s cool). That’s what this article in wired says, at least.

Ad agencies are about to trade three-martini lunches, schmooze-fests and fast-talking account executives for programmers, custom software and anthropologists who can navigate MySpace.

One comment was aimed squarely at all those agencies that are desperately trying to acquire people who understand digital and „interactive“ advertising, which invites consumer participation via digital media — for example, voting on products online or sharing text messages as part of a viral marketing campaign.

„Digital anthropologists are going to be the next people you scramble to hire,“ DeCourcy said.

[…] agencies will need people who can use the tools of cultural anthropology to interpret the overwhelming amount of user-generated data, and come up with strategies for using social networks to sell stuff.

But this trend also won’t last much longer says this article. Two more years, and there will be enough young people ready to fill every remaining gap there ever was. So enjoy while it lasts.

7-11 did infact turn some markets into Kwik-E-Marts

I have already heard about this as a rumour in April, and infact it has become reality: 7-11 has turned some of their markets into Kwik-E-Marts:

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They even got some of the typical Simpsons products in these stores, like buzz cola and KrustyO’s. A list of these Simpsons-inspired products is over here.

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You can find a whole bunch of photos over here at flickr.

However, it sounds like they haven’t done this promotion in every state… You can locate a Kwik-E-Mart near you via this locator

Oh, and Jet Blue („the official airline of Springfield“) also has a Simpsons tie-in going.

(thanks to cup of java and creative generalist)

More of this social „what am I doing“

There is an interesting article about the „sites of social butterflies“ at USA Today. It provides a short summary of Twitter, kyte.tv, twittervision and flickrvision. It gets increasingly impossible to imagine how people kept up to date on each others activities just a year ago. How did they know whether or not their peers were having a coffee or not? I am puzzled how society could have functioned without that…

You: boom chicka wah wah

So here it is. Another „make your own advertising“ by Axe. This time Axe offers a platform for user generated advertising, the briefing for these clips should be fairly clear. At the end of the day, this is a campaign, with a globally comprehensible idea.

However, I am not sure if this campaign really is an international campaign. (This site is in German). But you get the picture, and the videos are, well, boom chicka wah wah. What more need I say?