Exxon’s brand Hijacked on Twitter by a gal named Janet

Exxon Mobil’s brand ‘hijacked’ by impersonator on Twitter reports thestandard.com. And unlike the Mad Men tweets (all posts linked below) this is not a fan-fiction case. Exxon hasn’t approached Twiiter about this problem yet, but judging by how fast Twitter removed the Mad Men people (before coming to their senses), they might be just as quick to kill off Janet. All you got to do now is ask, Exxon. Is it fan fiction when were talking about a real company? Will be interesting to see how this one pans out.

But the user posing as “Janet” from ExxonMobil and posting what appeared to be legitimate “Tweets” is not authorized by Exxon Mobil to be posting about the company. Exxon Mobil does not know who “Janet” is or if he or she is even a company employee, Exxon Mobil spokesman Alan Jeffers said Monday.

“She is not an authorized person to speak on behalf of the company,” he said. “There are several inaccuracies (on Twitter). We take great care in having authorized people speak on behalf of the company. We want to make sure anyone who is speaking for the company is doing so accurately.”

At the end of the article, Shel Holtz, principal of Holtz Communication + Technology, gives out some free advice:

“Any company should be acquiring the Twitter account names that are most likely to be construed as official accounts,” he noted. “Far too many organizations shrug off emerging social media channels like Twitter and Friendfeed. The Janet incident should make it painfully clear just how easy it is for somebody to step in and represent your organization with inaccurate and even damaging information using these very channels.”

Going mad for Mad Men, again! 08/18/2008
Mad Men Tweets not issued by AMC – takedown notices sent 08/26/2008
Twitter and AMC get smart – reinstate the Mad Men Tweets. 08/27/2008

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40 Anti-Vegetarian Innovations (CLUSTER)

(TrendHunter.com) My poor vegetarian sister will hate me for writing this article. I just find all the products people are making out of meat, or that are inspired by meat, far too bizarre not to feature. I’m talking bacon…

Arnold Worldwide Supports The Ladies

Working Mother magazine has released its 2008 list of best companies.
maternityleave.jpg

Arnold Worldwide is the only ad firm to make this list. Why? For starters, their 8 weeks of partially paid maternity leave and “phase back” to work program. New dads and adoptive parents receive two weeks. Nice. The magazine also touts the agency’s compressed workweeks and summer Fridays, as well as workers ability to alter their hours on a daily basis if they like.

Plus, the Working Mother provides a snap shot of how women fair company wide and ain’t to shabby:

Women managers/execs 117
Women among top earners 36%
Women on board of directors 43%

Congratulations Arnold.

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The Five Biggest Digital Marketing Cliches


Once upon a time — say, 2002 — digital spending was a negligible proportion of total marketing budgets and we lived in a world where few marketers would dare go "beyond the banner." Fast forward to 2008 and in some cases we have the opposite problem. Digital spending is still too low, but in the spirit of wanting to appear current some marketers have rushed to embrace any and every new digital tactic on the horizon.

Zach Braff is asking you to drink the water

Pur
Whom would you choose to be the voice of water? Pur Water Filtration Systems has gone with Zach Braff. In a trippy new campaign from TBWA\Chiat\Day, the scruffy actor says things like, “I’m water. I shouldn’t be trapped in a bottle. I’ve got things to do. Trees to grow. Thirsts to quench.” Well, he was on Scrubs, and scrubbing is water related. Plus, Braff often looks like he could use a bath. Still, the concept sounds more like a method-acting exercise (“OK, you’re water. Happy water! Now … sad water!”) than a marketing strategy. Eric Yaverbaum, co-founder of Tappening, gets all lathered up talking about the Pur ads in Brandweek: “The bottled water backlash is hitting a fever pitch.” Yeah, it’s a major election-year issue, if Tappening’s pro-tap-water campaign can be believed. I think they’ve been listening a bit too closely to what they’re faucets have to say. Most of us prefer a more common-sense approach: If there’s something in the water and it starts talking, just get out of the house!

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Fragrance Fairies – Paris Hilton For “Fairy Dust” (GALLERY)

(TrendHunter.com) Paris Hilton keeps the intrigue with fairy tales alive with the ad campaign for her new fragrance, Fairy Dust.

Made in cooperation with Mane USA, Fairy Dust, which is the fifth Paris Hilton perfume,…

Maths is Hard

If you’re a dum-dum. Luckily this interweb thing makes maths easy. Like a calculator might.

legalandgeneral.jpg

I’ve just got back from reviewing work entered into the BIMA’s and, in my view, this was one of the standout pieces. It’s a home insurance calculator built for Legal & General, a nice way to remind yourself just how far you might (or might not ) have come in this life.

I know there’s nothing new in this, but there’s a lot of clients asking for these types of things – for carbon offsets for example, and this is the best one I’ve seen for a long time, that and it’s a little more relevant to me in the short term – I got greenwash at the moment and I’m really, really confused.

It’s also a world better than something like this..

Some Carbon offset calculators for comparison:
One from Moses
Direct Gov (UK)
A Phillips entry to the fray

Sunday Prime-Time Premieres Sink Below Last Year’s Ratings


NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — The Dow isn't the only thing in free fall. After all six season premieres on Thursday fell below last year's ratings in the ad-centric adult 18-49 demographic, almost all of the Sunday premieres faced the same fate.

Hot Ad (Wo)Man Of The Day: Ron Wessels

07068130041.jpg

Meet Ron Wessels.

Agency: Recently promoted to Creative Director, Avenue A/Razorfish, Philadelphia

Key Work: AAA and P&G

Little Known Fact: He’s from Little Rock.

Quote: “Well, it seems almost everyone in the Philly ad scene is a Philly native. I’m not. I didn’t even go to Penn State. But I have learned what a Wawa is. And if I ate meat, I could weigh in on the great debate. I now consider here home. So here I am.”

More:: See All The Hot Ad Wo(Men) Ever

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Hands-On Guerrilla Ads – Clever Supportive Ad Placement (GALLERY)

(TrendHunter.com) It seems as though in-your-face advertising is no longer enough; now ads are moving under our thumbs in their quest for grabbing our attention.

From sushi on escalator rails, to beer cans and watches…

British Airway 1989 Face v 500% Fiat

1989 British Airways Commercial – “Face”: (also in the commercial archive British Airways – Bringing people together / Face – (1989) :90 (UK))

The first ever TVC with +1 miliion dollars budget. One of Maurice & Charles Saatchithe masterpieces , before leaving Saatchi & Saatchi.

Today we have this:

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Hamburger Cakes – The Whopper Wedding Burger

(TrendHunter.com) Fast food junkies, Tom and Kerry Watts, celebrated their marriage with their dream wedding cake – a 42 pound, half a meter wide hamburger.

The gigantic burger weighed the equivalent of around 100 quarter…

Arcade-Inspired Furniture – Qayot Pacman Seating

(TrendHunter.com) The ultimate in geeky furniture, Italian company, Qayot, has used the famous image of the retro video game character Pacman to create this unique seating set.

The set is made out of raw wood particles,…

W+K New York Is A Bit Behind On The Digital Learning Curve

Often, agencies bring in experiments to educate staffers on parts of consumer culture. These topics generally center around “expert fields” say, mobile, gaming or sustainability.

For some reason, W+K New York, thought it was necessary to rent out the cinemas here in Tribeca New York and host a day where staffers “smoked the interactive dope.” The dopeinar was led by Jerome Austria (Interactive Creative Director), Greg March (Digital Group Media Director), Jason Clement, (Director of Search) and the excellent Andy Bhatt (Head of Digital Production). These are extremely talented dudes. So, they must have been super bored teaching the basics of creating good web campaigns. Like, the very, very beginning of musts for interactive interactions:

– be useful
– let me play with it
– let me make it my own
– make me part of something bigger

Shocking right? Shocking that these four totems of web experiences have to be shared with agency staffers in any agency, much less the super hip Wieden, in this day and age. This is web 101. No, no, no. Sorry. It’s pre-web. Somewhere, Big Spaceship, Deep Focus, AKQA, Tribal, et al. are all laughing their asses off thanking their lucky stars that traditional agencies are this far behind the curve.

Not all Wieden’s are the same. Got a feeling that Portland and London are way beyond this remedial level of consumer, online engagement.

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Cellphone Dish Cloths – The Sumsing Turbo 3000 Multi-Task (VIDEO)

(TrendHunter.com) Cell phones are becoming more multi-functional with every new upgrade – taking pictures, surfing the internet, listening to music are pretty well standard today. But what if they could do more – wash your…

Oh Heavens… The Bailout Fails To Pass.

stocks.jpg

The bailout has failed to pass. The stock market is tumbling into the trash. I’m speechless.

[image source]

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We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Programming…

Breaking news from the nation’s capitol:

A bipartisan group of U.S. House lawmakers defeated a $700 billion rescue plan for Wall Street on Monday, rejecting pleas from the Bush administration and congressional leaders from both parties.

The 205-228 vote against the plan sent stocks plummeting, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down around 500 points as news of the vote spread through Wall Street.

Okay, back to making ads. Someone’s got to grow this economy.

[UPDATE] The Dow closed down 788 points today, the worst single-day point loss ever. However, the percentage drop did NOT rank in the top ten for worst ever.

Upcycled Fashion Tags – Undone Clothing Jacket (GALLERY)

(TrendHunter.com) Every season people look to the biggest names in fashion to show us what is going to be fabulous. We are bombarded with logos, labels and brand images all showing us the way.

In an interesting take on…

TBWA Sets One Up Just For Adidas

thrillanddestroy.jpg

TBWA is building a separate shop for one client. The new agency, called Riot, will work specifically on Adidas’ global digital business. The shop will be led by superstar Colleen DeCourcy who will relocate to Amsterdam for the position. The team will consist of various talents from across the Omnicom and TBWA spectrum.

Adidas is yet another company that was looking to consolidate their business. Adidas TBWA over Avenue A, Droga and Isobar. Despite TBWA taking home this big interactive fish, 180 (part of the TBWA network) lost the running business to iris worldwide.

So, what does that leave little ol’ 180LA with? Well, they’ve still got cleaning products brand, Seventh Generation, having just launched a new campaign called “Show What’s Inside.” They’ve also got a little bit of the Sony Electronics business. It seems to us that 180Amsterdam is sailing along just fine and dandy, but LA? Perhaps, they are getting the short end of the stick.

[source]

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Breaking: Wachovia Speaks On The Future Of Ogilvy

We’ve been closely watching the Ogilvy/Wachovia/Citibank fall out. What will happen to Ogilvy’s big win?

Mary Beth Navarro, SVP, Corporate Communications for Wachovia has sent us this statement in regards to the future of Ogilvy and the bank’s business:

“In light of today’s announcement, Wachovia has paused the finalization of our agreement with Ogilvy. We will work closely with our Ogilvy partners and our future colleagues at Citigroup to determine the best way to support our brands and our businesses going forward.

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