Cable, Wireless Players Try to Snare Piece of $4.2B Connected-Home Business


The connected-home market is seeing an influx of marketing for ready-made “bundled” solutions from companies ranging from AT&T to Comcast’s Xfinity, which are trying to use their existing in-home presence as a foothold in a blossoming market.

The U.S. home-automation market is expected to jump to $6.8 billion by 2018 from $4.2 billion last year, according to ABI Research. During that time, ABI estimates the number of systems installed will leap to 11.9 million from 1.6 million.

“The intensity of the category has stepped up in the last six to 12 months,” said Tony Wells, chief marketing officer at home-security giant ADT.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Airbnb transforms homes into bird houses in debut campaign

From New Orleans to New Jersey, Iceland to Ireland, Portugal to the Philippines, nothing travels quite like a bird.

HLN Brings in Programming, Development Execs as Network Eyes New Directions


HLN has hired several new executives, just days after staffers gathered to discuss the future of the cable news channel. The announcement was made by HLN’s Albie Hecht, who joined the channel in September as exec VP and general manager.

Keith Brown has been named senior VP-programming, a newly created position overseeing all daytime and primetime series, editorial, newsgathering and programming, reporting to Mr. Hecht. Mr. Brown was most recently managing partner of the New York-based production company Perez-Brown Media Group.

Kari Kim was named VP-program development, leading HLN’s new development department, where she will be responsible for the creation and supervision or original series and specials, and will also report to Mr. Hecht. She joins the company from Worldwide Biggies, where she developed TV and digital programming for channels such as Nickelodeon and Disney Interactive.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Men’s Lust For Female Nudity Used to Promote Fashion Brand Across Social Media

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Sometimes the solution to a marketing problem is staring you right in the face but for some reason you can’t seem to bring it to life. Fred & Farid Shanghai, however, saw the solution. For their client Vicomte A., an online retailer of women’s clothing, the agency pondered, “How can we get people to share the brand’s collections on social media?”

And, like a yet another nudity-themed Tumblr site, lightning struck. The agency would get men, not women, to share the collections by promising them a model would remove a piece of clothing if only they clicked on it. Like salivating dogs is heat, men clicked. A lot. And every time they did, a post promoting a particular piece in the collection would appear on their Facebook wall.

Did it work? Do men enjoy looking at barely dressed women? Of course it worked. Within 48 hours of the campaign’s launch, 150,000 pieces of clothing were shared on Facebook and 300,000 people tweeted about the stunt. More importantly, website traffic during that period was up five times the normal level.

Facebook, Walmart to Help Write Rules On Facial Recognition Technology


Facebook, Walmart, and other companies planning to use facial-recognition scans for security or tailored sales pitches will help write rules for how images and online profiles can be used.

The U.S. Department of Commerce will start meeting with industry and privacy advocates in February to draft a voluntary code of conduct for using facial recognition products, according to a public notice. The draft will ready by June.

“We are very skeptical about stomping on technology in the cradle,” Mallory Duncan, senior vice president of the Washington-based National Retail Federation, said in a phone interview. “It’s not a good idea to develop codes or laws that freeze technology before you have the ability of determining what it’s capable of achieving.”

Continue reading at AdAge.com

AKQA SF Makes Some Cuts

akqaThere’s not a whole lot to go on at this point (sorry), but sources familiar with the matter confirm that AKQA cut “less than 1%” of staff in its San Francisco office last Friday. We’ve been hearing on the Spy line that numbers range anywhere from 10-25 (Facebook posts last week also mentioned a less specific figure of  “a whole bunch” being let go) but we don’t have much further info except to say that it was just the San Francisco office that was affected. What we’ve been told by those in the know, though, is that the WPP-owned agency has “many more open positions.” We’ll keep you posted if and when we hear more.

Update: So, sources tell us that last Friday’s cuts were made across departments at AKQA SF, which has a staff count of approximately 440. If our sources are speaking truth, then the numbers are far less severe than what we’ve been hearing via tipsters. Feel free to chime in below if you wish.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Mobile-Ad Revenue Explodes, Finally


Mobile advertising is finally hitting its tipping point.

According to a report from eMarketer to be released this week, mobile-advertising spending is set to double to $9.6 billion this year and leap another $5 billion in 2014.

In fact, eMarketer estimates that nearly all digital-advertising growth this year will come from mobile. That’s a watershed for a sector that has long been the George Bailey of the digital-ad world — forever poised to break out, but never quite making it.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Head Walk Photography

Le photographe et directeur artistique Patrice Letarnec aime, avec sa série, nous rappeler que nous marchons tous parfois sur la tête. Une idée simple et loufoque dans les rues de Paris, réussie et techniquement maîtrisée. L’ensemble est à découvrir en images sur son portfolio et dans la suite de l’article.

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IPC Media hires Marcus Rich as chief executive

IPC Media has hired Marcus Rich, the commercial managing director at DMG Media, as its new chief executive, replacing Sylvia Auton.

Simplistic Functional Paper Speakers – These Lightweight Speakers are Made of Paper (GALLERY)

(TrendHunter.com) These paper speakers were designed by Coralie Gourguechon. The speakers have bespoke graphic card stock templates embedded within the interior. The design features small components such as radio…

As 10 “mentirinhas” que você pode contar no Natal

Para muitas pessoas, as festas de fim de ano costumam ser uma época complicada, em que é preciso lidar com situações pouco agradáveis e cansativas. A agência The Viral Factory resolveu reunir estes episódios em um filme para a seguradora Hiscox, revelando aquelas 10 mentirinhas que em algum momento todos nós contamos no Natal, em nome da paz e da felicidade daqueles que amamos.

Apesar de não ser uma ideia nova, acaba criando uma identificação com o público – afinal, quem nunca se viu tentando convencer uma criança de que Papai Noel existe ou fingindo que gostou de um presente, só para não magoar o outro? E mesmo com tantas mentirinhas, a verdade – nada surpreendente – sempre acaba prevalecendo no final.

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Fantastical Playing Card Collaborations – The Playing Arts Deck of Cards Give Every Card Great Art (GALLERY)

(TrendHunter.com) Online magazine Digital Abstracts has unveiled their latest project called Playing Arts. Starting out as a Kickstarter campaign, Digital Abstracts was able to meet their funding goal and now have…

A.C.Camargo Cancer Center: The Unexpected Choir

JWT, Brazil have promoted a beautiful action: A choir made by twelve laryngectomy patients, victims of cigarette, have surprised the audience of MASP’s auditorium that was waiting for the USP (São Paulo University) Choir, one of the most famous of São Paulo city. Created for A.C. Camargo Cancer Center, the action was about having the songs “All you need is Love” and “She loves you”, dos Beatles, interpreted by the patients. The objective was to aware people about the main risk factor of larynx cancer: smoking. Accompanied by audiologists from the institution, the patients that integrate the “Sua Voz Choir” (most of them with more than 60 years old) used esophageal voice, prosthesis, electronic larynx (vibrator), oral speech and sound’s articulations.

Advertising Agency: JWT, Brazil

Brilliant Coke Ad Celebrates the Agony and the Ecstasy of Early Parenthood

In a span of 60 seconds, Coke Argentina tells a true-to-life story of the highs and lows of early parenthood in this new spot by Santo Buenos Aires for Coke Life. We see a couple go through all the milestones after bringing home a baby—from sheer exhaustion to toddler mischief to the "Toys R Us has thrown up all over my house" stage. Not a new concept for advertising, but it's done in a beautiful way. No grating screaming kid noises or parents dismissing children as a nuisance—just a lovely, honest look at parenthood to the tune of the Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody." It ends with a "Surprise! We're doing it all again!" pregnancy announcement—and the parents' reaction is priceless. Funny and heartwarming. Nice job, Coke. Via Co.Create.


    

Aplicativo transforma celular em scanner 3D

Lev Manovich já havia percebido o meio fotográfico como um “incrivelmente resistente código de representação”. Ou seja, apesar das mudanças tecnológicas, a fotografia persiste popular. Suas transformações ao longo do tempo nos obrigam a repensar suas variações e seu estado hoje e amanhã. Depois de décadas, deixamos de carregar câmeras tradicionais para simplesmente clicarmos tudo o que estivesse à frente com o celular. A combinação de filtros, apps de edição e compartilhamento via redes sociais tem transformado cada vez mais o ato de fotografar. Agora, com o advento do 3D, para onde vamos?

O processo de transformação para imagem 3D acontece em tempo real, com feedback imediato a partir dos diferentes ângulos mapeados.

Pesquisadores na ETH Zurich estão desenvolvendo um aplicativo que transforma dispositivos Android em ágeis scanners 3D. Para usar, basta abrir o app e mover o celular em torno do objeto escolhido, captando ângulos e perspectiva. Enquanto isso, o software bate diversas fotos automaticamente, extrapolando a geometria do objeto e mapeando bits e partes de todas as fotos 2D. Juntas, estas informações resultam em uma figura 3D.

Construir objetos 3D a partir de múltiplas fotografias não é novidade. Já vemos diversos artistas usarem o Kinect, por exemplo, para mapear objetos, lugares e pessoas, buscando resultados em figuras com volume, ângulos e perspectiva. Mas o que torna este aplicativo diferente é a possibilidade de fazer tudo isso em tempo real, sem a necessidade de qualquer outro equipamento, tecnologia ou edição.

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É possível não somente criar figuras 3D a partir de objetos do mundo real, como também navegar por seus diferentes ângulos.

Como podemos ver, o resultado já é de boa qualidade. Segundo os pesquisadores, a precisão vem de técnicas de reconhecimento visual da geometria, além do entendimento de como a posição relativa da câmera muda de acordo com o objeto, usando dados do acelerômetro do celular.

Entendendo a natureza do ato de fotografar e suas transformações ao longo do tempo, vemos como a fotografia hoje está reconfigurando a cultura contemporânea, deixando de ser apenas portátil e fluída, mas também cada vez mais próxima do real. Democratizando o poder das ferramentas como Makerbot Digitizer e 3D Systems Sense, tecnologias como essa oferecem novas possibilidades de transformar qualquer objeto do mundo real em figuras digitais vivas em nossas mãos.

O aplicativo está disponível aqui.

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Wunderman and MEC Pair Up to Form Data-Driven Agency Choreograph


WPP’s direct marketing and CRM powerhouse Wunderman and media agency MEC have sprouted a small offshoot the firms hope will satisfy client’s increasing demands for data-driven marketing. The new joint venture, called Choreograph, was conceived to help advertiser clients respond more readily to consumers with customized messages and relevant media placement based on advertisers’ consumer data and a wealth of third-party information.

In the last year or so, Wunderman clients, many in the financial services, travel and telecom categories, which have lots of sales transaction data on their consumers, “want to connect media and creative in order to be more relevant,” said Gurval Caer, vice chairman, chief innovation and marketing officer at Wunderman and Choreograph’s president for the U.S.

Like many new agency initiatives, Choreograph’s value proposition seems somewhat fluid. The idea is to bring in two core WPP businesses to enable data-driven creative and targeting, and layer in other services within the holding company as needed. For instance, United Airlines, which has worked with the Choreograph group on previous efforts, might use WPP-owned trading desk Xaxis to enable some digital ad targeting.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Japan Philharmonic Orchestra: The Japan Pill-harmonic

To appeal to people who are less engaged in classical music by letting them “experience” what the music offers “tunes just for themselves.”We focused on the effect and efficacy of classical music which “works on the human brain and tunes the mind and body system”.

Advertising Agency: I&S BBDO, Tokyo, Japan
Creative Director: Shinichi Ikeda
Art Director: Kenichiro Shigetomi
Agency Producer: Tatsuya Shimazaki / Rika Yamada
Executive Creative Director: Yoshihisa Ogata
Executive Planning Director: Peter Smyth
Strategic Planning Director: Koji Onishi
Account Manager: Haruhiko Ito
Planner: Toshiharu Takahashi, Kenta Takagi, Rina Tanaka, Tatsuro Kumaki, Yukina Oshibe

3D Igloo

Emerging Objects imagine différents objets et projets grâce à l’utilisation de l’impression 3D. Avec Saltygloo, ceux-ci ont utilisé une grande quantité de sel cristallisé pris en Californie à Redwood City pour ensuite utiliser la matière accumulée pour imprimer un igloo. Une création impressionnante et surprenante.

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AirBnb transforma locações disponíveis no site em casas de passarinhos

Em sua primeira campanha, intitulada “Home To You”, o AirBnb recorreu ao pássaros para materializar a paixão de se viajar e o conceito de hospitalidade pretendido pelo site.

50 locações reais, oferecidas através da rede social de hospedagem, foram recriadas em miniatura, do tamanho de casas de passarinhos – animais que percorrem o céu e sempre pousam em novos lugares. No site birdbnb.com você pode compará-las com os imóveis reais.

A criação é da Pereira & O’Dell.

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ITV’s X Factor 2013 bows out with 11.9m

The final for ITV’s tenth series of ‘The X Factor’ enjoyed a five-minute high of 11.9 million viewers on Sunday, but the juggernaut struggled, relatively, attracting its lowest audience since 2005.