Is it hot in here, or is just summer? The online marketing and branding world is hitting high temperatures with big-time PR fails, hot Internet videos and much-talked-about news stories. So grab an icy cold beverage and enjoy our weekly list of five things you might have missed!
1.) Hot Young Singles Are Misunderstood: This hilarious video for Webroot Personal Security tops the list for being sexy, timely and flat-out funny. We love the model with the accent and her crocodile tears almost as much as we love the smart writing for this commercial.
2.) The Airport Gets Real Entertaining: As much as we like to sit back and watch the real life antics of travelers unfold in front of us at an airport, we fervently wish we could go to JFK airport and watch some actual entertainment on June 20th. Those geniuses at JetBlue have book Swedish pop diva Robyn to perform for travelers in their Live from T5 concert series. Sure beats eating a pretzel dog and listening to canned Lionel Richie hits while waiting for your plane.
3.) Best Buy Has No Sense of Humor: Newegg.com ran a funny TV and Internet ad poking fun at Best Buy’s Geek Squad. The humorous commercial prompted Best Buy to write a humorless letter to the company demanding the company change the commercial — a letter which Newegg then posted on its Facebook page. Best Buy sounds like a big baby here and Newegg comes out a hip and good-natured winner in this battle.
4.) Your Playboy is Talking to You: Here’s something you don’t see or hear every day: an audio print ad. A mini-chip inserted into the cover of a Brazilian issue of Playboy magazine plays music and promotes a local music festival when you plug your headphones into it.
5.) How Do You Say “Smurf” in Spanish? Sony Pictures has taken over a quaint Spanish village and turned it into a Smurf village. The film company has painted everything — the houses, the businesses and even the residents — blue to celebrate the release of “The Smurfs 3D.” This makes the list because it’s atmospheric marketing at its most ridiculous… and because we’re completely powerless when it comes to Smurfs.
Why did Sony have to go to Spain? The USA seems to be full of Smurfs so they must have a village somewhere!