Hasta La Creative!

It doesn’t matter who you are or where you are food brings us all together. This branded content features 18 chefs coming together under one roof to create an experience called Small World, celebrating different cultures languages and food. Throughout we see chefs bringing their passion to life and of course mobile device usage as people use the translator to see what it is they’re going to eat. It’s pretty neat, but it’s also a no-brainer. They spent the first 45 second explaining how food is the great cultural uniter. Of course everyone is going to have a good time. And while it may be true that you don’t often see Scandinavian and African and Israeli and Japanese cuisine on one menu, it’s not like these foods haven’t been introduced to each other before. Not to get all nerdy but Brazilian cuisine is already a mixture of African, Portuguese and Indigenous. And we’ve already endured the fusion craze. So while it’s a cool idea, I’m missing the tension and the “so what,” factor. It feels less like some grand experiment and more like like one big dinner party at a trendy pop up restaurant in New York. With an app.

Here in this spot, a couple’s going to get hot and heavy to the sensuous sounds of elevator music. But the song keeps buffering, so the creepy internet dude is going to move their modem around and then eat a bag of popcorn while they gat back to doing the deed. What is it with ad concepts involving dudes sitting in a bedroom watching people have sex? Seems like the cd’s are spending too much time at work. I’m sensing a little frustration.

In this hidden camera spot, a barista helpfully explains to the punters how much they’re in for — after they’ve already put their signature on something. Funny as far as stunts go. I just don’t know why we bother with hidden camera spots any more. They feel as cliché as the “we’ve secretly replaced the diner’s coffee with Folger’s Crystals, let’s see how they react,” ploy is as old as the 80’s by now.

John McAfee has now CEO of MGT, a publicly traded company that started as a penny stock and is now above 3 dollars. Back in May, MGT, owner of some online and mobile video games, also acquired some assets from a cybersecurity firm called D-Vasive, oh which McAfee also backs. MGT will essentially become the cybersecurity answer the world needs. And if today’s news about Hillary Clinton’s hacking problems are enough to attest, we do need better cybersecurity. McAfee’s been steadily promoting MGT on his Twitter account, for a minute now. But today marks the the first ad launch. Much like McAfee’s “Exit Politics” ad in which he launched a bid to run for President on the Libertarian ticket, this ad continues in the same vein.
In this case, your right to privacy, which can only be achieved through proper data management, i.e. cybersecurity, i.e. by securing your doors. Much like the McAfee for president spot, this has a very Crystal Method/Matrix/Cyberpunk feel to it. While the ripped-from-the-headlines news about hackers stealing our identity, privacy, finances, are very real problems, MGT, is planting a stake in the ground as being a real solution. Even if it isn’t exactly spelled out what the solution is in the ad. But that’s just as well. McAfee may be an eccentric genius with a capital E but I’ve heard a lot of his interviews and read his articles, too. And I would dare say one of his greatest strengths is the art of cogent plain speak as much as anything else. Lightning struck once for the guy. No reason it won’t strike a second time.

Where’s your anywhere? No matter where you find it, you have coverage there, thanks to U.S. Cellular. So you can share your anywhere photos. And now if you share them to @USCellular with the #MyAnywhere tag, you could win some prizes including a trip to anywhere in the U.S.

The first Oneplus phone was been released to the world with an invites system, and the OnePlus 2 followed similar suit. Everything will be different with the OnePlus 3, which will be launched in a unique interactive VR experience. A space-mall, with their incisive founder Carl as a hologram showing you around.

Step into the particle lift and enter the Loop, the world’s first global shopping experience in VR by downloading the app here and setting aside 12:30 PM Eastern Time* June 14th for virtual shopping. During the first two hours of the launch, the OnePlus 3 is only available in the Loop, which is the world’s first global VR shopping experience.

The ad is created by Digital LBi, Copenhagen Denmark and will runs online and selected media channels targeting a global market. The launch schedule for the Loop sales of the 3 is: 12.30 PM EDT (New York), 9.30 AM PDT (San Francisco), 4.30 PM UTC/GMT, 5.30 PM BST (London), 6.30 PM CEST (Paris) and 10.00 PM IST (Bengaluru)

No more invites! But first come gets the first phone. This is so much better than queueing up outside of an Apple store.

It says something about the current times that we’re nostalgic for 2006! Or maybe Motorola just wants us to be? I don’t know. The music is as annoying as it was a decade ago, and thank god when I worked on the Razr at that time, (at my very first agency, sigh) we didn’t actually use that music in our spots. I have no idea why I should care about a teaser spot that will most likely be a misdirect as they aren’t “bringing back,” something pre iPhone but obviously will be something else. But then again, I’m can’t stand nostalgia. Especially when it involves high school emo kids.

Mexican children spend 4 hours playing on a smart device and less than one minute reading. 1/2 of Mexico’s school kids won’t finish a single book outside of class this year. Something needed to be done about this problem. So Cengage Learning in partnership with National Geographic came up with a plan that maximizes kids’ behavior in the best possible way. ReadOn is an app that turns the tablets home screen in to a page form a book. The child has to read it and then answer a question before the device is unlocked. The following page is saved for the next time but if the kid wants to keep reading, he has that option, too. Meanwhile his parents can track the progress by their phone.
If the kid likes the book, he can heart it to notify the parents, too! They can even purchase a book from the app which is awesome.
Really fun idea. I love how it’s attempting behavior modification. But It also says a lot about how bad parents are at teaching their kids the value of learning. And yes, the fault lies with them. They can’t blame teachers as education begins at home.
As for apps in general, I have to say kids are smarter at hacking the system then we give them credit for. So how effective will this really be in the long run and what is it teaching kids? It’s teaching them that reading is a chore. It’s akin to a password or a captcha. Do this to get the reward. We should be teaching kids that reading is the reward.
Also, parents should act like parents. I’d rather say “read twenty pages of this book and then you can play Minecraft,” and have my kid complain for a second until they get lost in the book than to be held hostage by a device that Google uses to mine data from my child, let alone my data.
And if you think that’s impossible, you don’t understand how to get kids interested in stuff. Not to brag but I can get my daughter to read the same books I read back when I was a kid, just by painting a vivid picture of what she’ll miss out on if she doesn’t. I also stress the importance of an imagination which by the way, we shouldn’t ever lose. And there’s no app required.

Oh dear. Is that singer a Justin Hawkins from The Darkness?

I’m with die-hard apple fanboy/a beard short for a *nix-nerd guy. “That was over the top”. Indeed. Way over the top.

The “Dude you’re getting a Dell” guy annoys a whole class.