Hasta La Creative!

I attended a SXSWi panel with a dubious title yesterday, “Online Adulation: Use Don’t Abuse Your Fans.” Look at those verbs. “Use.” “Abuse.” Not good.

There was one true blogebrity on the panel and sadly she conveyed, perhaps unintentionally, what a hassle it is to be so popular. I don’t doubt for a second that it is a hassle, for blogebrities don’t have people around them to deflect the constant stream of requests on their time and attention like an actor or rock star might.

Yet, because blogs are the centerpiece of social media today, we expect bloggers to be social. Thankfully, the moderator of this panel, Tom Merritt of c|net, provided a nice counterbalance to the blogebrity.

Merritt said he responds to critical emails, which often makes for better fans. He also said, “Good audience relations is good customer service.”

Of course, Merritt is representing a business, not just himself, so he has the additional responsibility of speaking for the c|net brand. But I get the sense that he’d go the extra mile, even if he wasn’t.

This new spot for chocolate Skittles is KICK-ASS. We even almost want to taste some, even though the idea of chocolate Skittles is objectively evil.

(TrendHunter.com) Tim Ferriss has turned to public editing for the second edition of his best selling book, the 4-Hour Work Week

“Your ideas, collected via this open wiki, will play a massive part in influencing the future of 4HWW and an ‘expanded and updated’ edition in 2008 or early 2009,” Ferriss explains.

Inst…

Why outsource your labor solely to Southeast Asian sweatshops when you could set up a perfectly good East German sweatshop? That argument, which I’m paraphrasing, was the gist of a recent campaign by Invest in Germany. The development agency hoped to lure businesses from the U.S., China and Japan to economically depressed former East Germany. According to the Financial Times, the ads promoted “wages up to 30 percent below western German standards and low unionization rates.” Not surprisingly, the campaign didn’t sit well with East German Minister Wolfgang Tiefensee, who said he’s all for promoting the region, but maybe not by celebrating it as a Dickensian gravel pit with an easily exploited working class. (Again, I paraphrase.) For now, the campaign’s been scrapped, but surely it will be reborn with a more uplifting message. Maybe something like “East Germany: Our broken dreams are your bottom line.” Photo via Uncyclopedia.

—Posted by David Griner

(TrendHunter.com) I’m not sure what inspired this crazy thing, but it looks like a “blast”! (Ok – bad pun…) Erbert and Gerbert’s sandwich shops are turning 20 this year, so they couldn’t let the occasion pass by without a birthday cake. But to blow out the candles, they decided to really do it up right. They built …

Here’s Jenna Jameson channeling Bettie Page in the “Pleather yourself” PETA ad that we mentioned in our Twitter feed last week. There’s also a video of Jameson talking about how the documentary Earthlings turned her on to animal activism. Jameson is not known primarily for her intellectual pursuits, but she does say, at the end of the video, “If you’re not able to provoke thought, then what are we really here for?”

—Posted by Tim Nudd

LONDON – Levels of consumer confidence that companies will keep sensitive data private are very low, according to a poll following a number of high-profile data security breaches.

LONDON – Brand packaging consultancy LFH has unveiled a new design for Scotch whisky brand Grant’s, marking a major change for the brand.

I am not sure whether the image is just a creation of the blog owner I took this message from or a copy of the ad the energy company released. Whatever the case, it is a perfect design for a billboard promoting the energy company’s “green” intentions for sustainable energy.

As a matter of fact, i…

LONDON – Virgin Media has hired Andrew Barron, chief operating officer of European broadcaster and content producer Modern Times Group, as managing director of strategy.