Tiny Gigantic

Okay. Show of hands: How many of you get bugged when Christmas decorations materialize all over town the day after Halloween? Yeah, me too. I’m already bombarded with more consumer messages than I can handle day in an day out, and I’d like a rest. So it was a small good thing today when I walked by Nordstrom’s and saw the above sign on the window. Not that I’m a Nordies shopper, but today I gained a little more respect for the brand. Because they’re showing a conscious effort to cut down on the clutter in our mental landscape. They are acknowledging and respecting the attention I give them by giving my brain a small break. This is good for me. And it’s good for the brand.

For lovers of Guitar Hero everywhere.

UPDATE: so we’ve been hearing that this video was commissioned by Activision, makers of Guitar Hero, as a viral video. Gotta say, it’s a smart little piece of brand building. The only place Activision went wrong was that they weren’t transparent enough about it. And that’s the thing: you don’t lie to the people who love what you do.

Interesting strategy here. McDonald’s has set up a number of shops in Japan, simple called Quarter Pounder. Yup, you guessed it: this is a promotion for the Quarter Pounder, a burger previously unheard of in japan. So The restaurant has positioned itself as an upscale burger joint. Gone are the golden arches and the stupid clown. And with this strategy, it looks like Micky D’s hopes to do away with all the bias that comes will all the equity of the McDonald’s brand. So here’s a question: what do you think people will do once they realize they’ve been duped by the fast food chain?

Via creativity online.

Give this one a second to lure you in. Seems a little maudlin at first, but I was diggin it about half way in. Tho of course I am a sucker for street messages.

Deserted After Dark gives these details:

This short film, called “Mankind Is No Island” was shot completely on a cellphone by Jason van Genderen, and won top prize at the world’s largest short-film festival, Tropfest.

Thanks to Stephanie for the link!

So, this is weird. While it’s super awesome that the New York Times spent the last 6 months dreaming up stories that would make a liberal swoon—and that they printed and distributed that fake NY Times paper yesterday—it doesn’t increase my faith in the media to tell me the truth. And even though I think that spreading positivity is good—even essential in these funny times—it’d be even better if they simply framed every story in their “real” newspaper from a hopeful point of view. I’m not saying we should ignore the bad and scary news, I’m just saying that it’s better for everyone to focus on hope rather than fear.

Q: Is it a gift card or a camera?

A: Yes.

Target’s new gift card can be loaded with $50 — $1,000 of store credit. It’s got a 1.2 megapixel camera with 8MB of storage.

Via notcot.

found on communicadores

Check out this awesome visualization of the amazing thing that happened last night.