The weekend links

It's news time. We're back into the daily grind and in the thick of ridiculous projects. A lot of these ridiculous projects involve looking for recent news events concerning business developments, technology trends, or marketing strategies. So here are interesting stories from this week, with some bizarre stuff through in for good measure.

Also, I've had a month's worth of Jewish deli food this weekend. Delicious stuff. So with a belly full of coleslaw, corned beef, pickles, rice pudding, potato salad, cream cheese, lox, pastrami, and rye bread, I bring you links!

Once again, teenagers and their relentless consumerism have saved the retail landscape. Teenage apparel shops actually performed in January.

Crispin Porter & Bogusky, one of the brighter shops in the industry lately for their creative risks (and Ad Age's agency of the year in 2008) cuts 60 jobs. Not good news for new graduates!

I've refrained from talking about the Superbowl ads, mainly because they're so subjective and honestly, what does it matter if I liked one ad or the other - it only matters what prospective consumers and key influencers though of the ads. Wait...I'm blogging, maybe that means I'm a key influencer...in that case, my favourite ads from last week's Superbowl were:

The Doritos ad made by two guys for $1000



The Priceline ad



The Pepsi Dylan and Will.i.am ad



They were interesting, fun to watch, and memorable.

Ad Age ran a story about how consumers brand perceptions changed before and after these were shown during the game. And what did I think were the worst ads?

The Cheetos Ad (i'm still confused...)



The Sobe ad (it's just so stupid and drawn out)



Have you dwlded StumbleUpon yet? You really should, it's the best way to pass time between Facebook, Gmail, Surfthechannel, and Facebook again. StumbleUpon is now bigger than Twitter has quietly crept up to become one of the larger user-generated platforms online. And the best thing is that it doesn't even need a website!


I'm not sure about this one - I am a huge aviation enthusiast and the F-22 is a beautiful plane. But it's completely unnecessary and in many ways totally anachronistic for modern, urban warfare which isn't based on which superpower has air superiority.


I'm proud to say that I was a fan of Shepard Fairey before he became the official artist of the Obama administration. He's been arrested for graffiti.

At least one client is increasing their marketing budget - Workopolis is playing it smart, using common-sense copywriting to emphasize a never back down attitude for job-seekers.

HAHA! NBC VPs used the company account to pay for prostitutes...wow, media world
gossip.


'Nana, please don't be made at me, I just downloaded the latest Franz Ferdinand album' - the National Center for State Courts has created a propaganda piece warning teens about how file sharing will ruin your life and your grandmother's life. Stunning.

And finally, my favourite Doors song, Five to One. It's a great song about restlessness and futility, IMO. It's the version from the Oliver Stone movie, but really the best video for the song.