The Largest iPhone Is Powered By Windows


Those large showcase iPhone-like screens run, it appears, on Windows XP.  This has to end up in a Windows ad.

- Spotted and shared by Peter Kim.

The Secret Meaning of Twitter's Fail Whale


Oil-drenched birds pull the whale out of the Gulf.

How Spreadable Is Your Viral?

There's a growing movement among people who think about and deal with pass-along content to abandon the term "viral" and start calling things "spreadable" instead. The argument in favor of the latter was first articulated by Henry Jenkins in his eight-part blog post a year ago and has since evolved through conference chats and discussions on blogs by Mike Arauz, Sam Ford, Faris Yakob and many others. This 70-slide deck is a nice, even if a bit overwhelming, summary; Sam has also laid out the main principles of spreadability and how they apply to marketing in a Fast Company article.

In this debate, I have found myself in a position of the guy whose job is to make sure the baby doesn't tumble on the floor as the bathwater is being thrown out. To this end, I've just posted a piece on Forbes Marketshare blog where I'm trying to do a couple of things. One is to recognize that the debate is much more than a case of academic nitpicking of little consequence to practitioners. The other is to show that there's mileage left in "viral" even if the term has long lost its original meaning.

I'm also happy I managed to sneak in not one but two references to 24.  All this and more in The Spreadable War on Viral Media.

This Ad Was Brought To You By Your TV Set

Interesting. Sony and other makers of Internet-connected TVs are counting on advertising as a revenue stream, according to Bloomberg. "Grabbing a share of that advertising revenue is the ultimate goal of TV manufacturers. Samsung says it plans to introduce an on-screen virtual storefront of applications for shopping, games, and other activities that would allow advertisers to reach customers on its TVs, Blu-ray players, PCs, and cell phones."  I call it the appstorization of everyday things.

I would love to see how TV makers are going to fit the ads in and how they are going to deal with content providers.  Wonder if they'll try to build in some kind of advanced capability to track and collect TV usage data right into the TV sets. That's what Natal-Kinetic could be good for, too:  watching whether you are watching the screen or doing the dishes.

The White House For Sale By Owner


A funny ad on a real estate site Owners.com: "Walking distance to the office. Comes fully furnished with added amenities including limo fleet, helicopter, private jet and intense pubic interest."  Kind of like what Kayak did by selling tickets to Oceanic 815. Or TripAdvisor's review of Schrute Farms.

Via RedFin and a Drudged NBC story.

Uniqlo Widget Turns Images Into Banners



This Uniqlo Lucky Switch widget+bookmark thing turns all images on a webpage into ads -- and raffle-like tickets -- for the apparel company.
- via @hillholliday

Bonus: a scented web banner! And a banner that outright sucks.

How Men and Women Shop


I first saw this drawing, forwarded by a friend, years ago and keep coming back to it every time I read something about shopping behavior (this time it's Inside The Mind of The Shopper). Never knew who the author was, until today.

Incidentally, the graphic captures the essence of a Wharton paper "Men Buy, Women Shop" (pdf) that came out half a year after it.

Reversible T-Shirt Masks Are Back


Nice t-shirts from BAS & DAAN for fans of the Dutch soccer team for the upcoming World Cup.  We've seen similar ones twice last year: by Burger King for a Spanish soccer team complete with instructions on how to wear them, and for Resident Evil at Comic Con.

How Much for That Human Billboard?

My copy of Human Billboards has just arrived, a book put together by a Dutch design studio documenting its transactions with two dozen eBayers peddling ad space on their bodies. Apart from the expected hilarity, the book offers a rare glimpse into the final price of each sale.  Each of them is far, far below the famous $25,000 Golden Palace tattoo purchase that started the craze.  Talk about shattered dreams of instant fame and fortune.The most expensive placement -- on a graduation cap -- went for $56, attracting 11 bids. Many others were scooped up for a couple of bucks. The exclusive rights to doodle on that hot naked lady? A single bid of $20.

Bragging rights?  Priceless.