My good friend Dan Thorne, a copywriter at a large ad agency, passed this along saying, “It’ll waste two hours of your life, but you’ll never regret it.”

So you’ve been warned.

It’s hard to choose, but I have say the below “Happy Fun Ball” may be my personal favorite with “Robot Insurance” coming in a close second.

Check out the full list at Nerve.com.

Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.

#13 Happy Fun Ball

(50 Greatest Commercials of All Time from Nerve.com)

I've tried to resist but am succumbing to the the phenomenon that is Twitter. I don't know if there is real value in microblogging but I'm joining in an attempt to explore this new medium. For the past year I've looked at it as a waste of time and another pointless distraction, but smarter people than me have convinced me not to judge before participating. That advice makes sense.

You can follow my updates here: http://twitter.com/michaelsantoro.

I'm planning on using this as a holder for all the articles I don't get to blog about. In truth I probably read 3-4 articles a day that I think are blog worthy, but because I have time constraints and a wife that would actually like to talk to me, they don't get posted. Since I don't feel a need to comment on them, this should be an outlet for those, plus other pieces that I feel are interesting.

Hopefully in a few months I'll have something to report. Whether I find it's another time-wasting online fad, like I think it is, or I drink the Kool-Aid and declare it world changing, I'll let you know.

In the meantime I found these blog entries to be fairly useful when diving into this new world:

Newbie's Guide to Twitter (Webware)

Guide to Twitter as a Tool for Marketing and PR (Online Marketing Blog)

Top 10 Twitter Hacks (Strategic Public Relations)

200+ Internet Marketing Gurus on Twitter (Marketing Pilgrim)

I have always known that Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is an ongoing process, but I never had a great explanation for why. Last week a conversation with our head of web services, John Fairley reealed alot. Call it my epiphany on ongoing SEO.

Constantly Evolving Search Algorithm

Last week, Google VP, Udi Manber mentioned that Google adjusted its search algorithm 450 times in 2007. As John pointed out, that’s more than once every day, each tweak in the algorithm creating a positive or negative consequence for where you appear in the search rankings.

For a website where organic web leads are the lifeblood of business, a small change to the algorithm can push your indexed pages lower and decrease the traffic to your site. Regular monitoring of your site traffic and then responding quickly to changing organic search referrals is critical for your business.

I asked John how big of a deal these tweaks could possibly be. The answer is that it depends. Each tweak affects search differently. A change that impacts your site negatively affects other sites positively. And some tweaks that have huge impact in your industry may not concern other businesses.

Local Search Example

John gave a great example pointing on of the big stories of 2007, Google using maps in local search. You may have noticed this recently in your own searches when you do a search for a service with a local city such as Chicago. Below is my search for “Chicago accountant.”

Now for a large corporation you may not be too concerned about local search and appearing on the map, but for any local service like an accountant, electrician, restaurant, etc… those searches can make or break your business.

Search Engine Roundtable reported in December about a Flower Shop in Denver that was being devastated by a lack of inclusion in these results.

“A story that emerges at the SEO Refugee Forums speaks volumes about the power of Google Maps in the natural/universal search results. A florist company in Denver is currently ranking #1 for their key terms in the natural organic listings. They have also invested over $100,000 in Google AdWords over three years.

“The problem is that now that Google Universal search includes maps in the results, they're not showing up on the listings for whatever reason. Instead, the competition is. They claim that it has "shut down their business overnight." The owner is desperate and is trying every possible angle:

“ ‘We are now less than 1 week from Christmas, our busiest time of year, and critical weakness in the ‘algorithm’ for maps has bankrupted my company. .... PLEASE HELP us. I realize we are nothing to you, but my family is losing everything.’” 

This flower shop still isn’t in the map results for "Denver Flowers".

Cracking the Google Code

Even scarier is that of those 450 tweaks made to the algorithm, none are publicly released. Even the fact that Manber said that 450 tweaks were made was a huge deal for SEO people.

The only way to figure out how to adjust accordingly is to constantly monitor and, when a change is noticed, pounce on that opportunity. Trolling search forums like this one, reveal that for, local search, proximity to the city center, user ratings, and specific keywords make up all the difference. But you have to proactively seek out experts and then test your site accordingly.

In short, adjustments to the algorithm are being made and if you assume that you can set your site and walk away, you are asking for trouble. Certainly a proactive marketer can make himself aware of the changing environment, but to consistently maximize results you need experts. It’s conversations like these that make me glad we have guys like John on staff.

People have been using the Internet from the very beginning to connect with other people. In recent years new technology developments have allowed individuals, and soon after businesses, to begin participating in “social media”.

The marketing community has put a huge focus in this area over the past five years, and more recently social media has gone mainstream prompting a series of questions: what is it, why should I care, and how can I leverage it to drive business for my company?

Wikipedia, which as a completely user generated encyclopedia is itself a form of social media, offers this explanation of social media:

“Social media describes the online technologies and practices that people use to share content, opinions, insights, experiences, perspectives, and media themselves.

Social media can take many different forms, including text, images, audio, and video. The social media sites typically use tools like message boards, forums, podcasts, bookmarks, communities, wikis, weblogs etc.”

Social media is essentially about sharing and reacting within an online of community of people with various thoughts, experiences, and opinions. It allows access to potential purchasers like never before, but the key is to tread lightly and truly integrate into the community. These interactive communities don’t like pure sales pitches, and negative word of mouth spreads even faster than positive word of mouth.

Over the next two weeks I’ll dive into some of the various types of social media with a discussion on how best to leverage each for your own business. I intend to explore:

• Blogs and Podcasting
• Social Networking
• Video Sharing
• Photo Sharing
• Virtual Reality Worlds

Keep an eye out for posts discussing each of these areas. For more thoughts on social media check out the fantastic post by Dion Hinchcliffe, Social Media Goes Mainstream, where I pulled the above graphic, and What is Social Media? by Robert Scoble.

Why don’t we hear more jingles in today’s advertising world? There are a variety of reasons, but the biggest reason, I think, is fear of failure. Writing a good jingle is tough and if you fail, you fail spectacularly. A bland commercial fades off into the white noise of everything else; a bad jingle will rarely escape attention.

So it’s been nice to hear two companies use jingles to effectively market their products. A few months ago we had the launch of “Freeeeeeee credit. Report, dot, com.”, and more recently “Five. Five dollar. Five dollar foot long."

Call me odd, but I’ve been humming the recent Subway jingle for the past week occasionally joining in duets with my wife (so we’re both odd.) I know I’m not alone. I heard a guy in the store humming it and a few days back our designer was singing it and doing the hand motions. Clearly this is grabbing at people.

One of my favorite ad reviewers Seth Stevenson covers this jingle in a recent Ad Report Card. He caught up with the geniuses behind the ad who explain:

"We didn't want any blabbing," say Jerry Cronin and Jamie Mambro of MMB. "It was just, let's see how many times we can say 'five dollar foot-long.' Let's mention it as many times as possible without making someone hurt us. We wanted to make sure no one would miss the message."

That’s the key behind why it should effectively drive sales -- repetition and getting consumers to understand the message. But what’s the reason that I can’t get the song out of my head to the point where I’m walking in time to the beat? Stevenson makes his own guess before talking to the composer of the tune.

“I think the song's genius (I myself have been known to hum along) lies in its blending of stubborn repetition with a haunting and imploring chord progression. It's a far cry from the pat, upbeat vibe of your standard jingle, and it's this unexpected quality that perks up our ears and sticks in our minds. I called the composer, Jimmy Harned (of the boutique music outfit Tonefarmer), to see whether he might confirm my notion that there's something ominous going on in his work.

"The chord structure does imply something dark," he agreed, getting out his guitar to demonstrate over the phone. "On the word long, it goes down from a C to an A-flat," he said, strumming, "which is kind of a weird place. It's definitely not a poppy, happy place. It's more of a metaly place. But at the same time, the singing stays almost saccharine."

Stevenson gives the ad a B, but I give it an A and hope it inspires more companies to be gutsy and go with a jingle. In our office Subway purchases have doubled in the last two weeks while our minds are mesmerized by this five dollar foot long chant. That'll be a happy sub chain if that trend holds elsewhere.

A few months back an animal rescue group bought billboard space at the Washington exit of the Kennedy (I-90) expressway. On it they posted a message aimed directly to Oprah.

“OPRAH – Please do a show on puppy mills; the dogs need you!”

The billboard is a two minute walk from the Walker Sands office, so every time I grabbed lunch across the bridge, I wondered if it would have any impact. The location was good. Anybody taking the Kennedy and heading toward Harpo studios would have to see it. Oprah producers, writers, or maybe even Oprah herself had a constant reminder that this issue was out there. And who could resist a cute puppy?

Last week the tactic bore fruit with an entire Oprah show featuring puppy mills and rescue animals. It's probably one the more depressing Oprah's so if you don't want to feel sad, I'd avoid it for now, but it definitely had an impact. My wife and I were about two seconds from getting in a car and getting another dog from the shelter, and we've both spread the word about adopting through a rescue organization.

Compared to other billboards, I can't see one with a better return on your investment. Sure there are some great locations to talk to the masses of Chicago, but there isn't one that can talk to the masses of the country. Oprah can.

If I am the owner of that billboard, the price just went up on that space.

(Photo by Chase Fancher for the Enquirer)

AdAge reports that friends and family are the source consumers trust most when it comes to making purchasing decisions. The news comes from ZenithOptmedia's Touchpoints ROI Tracker which reveled friends and family to be most trusted, followed by TV ads and internet search, magazine ads, newspaper ads, outdoor ads, and internet banner ads last. Notably absent for this survey was recommendations from your internet friends and family.

It's not hard to believe that you trust a family member or friend more than you trust a television ad, but I'd be curious to see who's trusted more, your actual friends or your FaceBook friends.

Every day people base purchasing decisions on what people on the internet are saying, and most times it's someone they've never met. In the last month I've made major travel decisions based on TripAdvisor, what books to read based on Amazon reviews, and what restaraunt to eat at based on MetroMix. I read the reviews and essentially put my decisions in the hands of strangers.

Now granted it's a lot of strangers and I rely on the wisdom of crowds to prevail, but at what point do these strangers hold more influence over me than my personal friends and family?

I don't have the answer, but I'd be curious to hear people's thoughts on the matter. If anyone finds this study, or wants to lead it, I'd be fascinated to learn the result.

(Article from AdAge)

BrandWeek recently reported that Coke, McDonald's, and Nike remain top of mind for teen consumers despite continual bombardment from ever expanding options.

The results come from a survey of 7,700 teens who were asked to name their favorite brands in an online survey last October and November.

"These preferences definitely show that investing in brands still matters," said Anastasia Goodstein, founder of Ypulse.com, San Francisco. "Does this mean teens aren't spending lots of time with other lesser-known brands, especially when it comes to media and technology? No. It just means that these brands have succeeded in branding by being the ones teens think of first and foremost when asked."

The pervasiveness of these brands helps place them top of mind, according to experts. "When you consider Nike's market share, at 40%, versus a player like Converse at 3% to 4%, it stands to reason why their presence among teens would be so high," said John Shanley, a senior analyst with Susquehanna Financial Group, New York.

While you may not be doing mass marketing to the teens of the world, this article demonstrates the need to have a strong brand to succeed. If your brand doesn't occupy space in the mind of your target market, then your competitors brand certainly will.

(From BrandWeek)

This has only a glancing relation to marketing, but since I'm such a big fan of the book Influence and the psychology behind consumer actions I wanted to share a recent series of articles from John Tierney of the New York Times. Tierney examined what's known as the Monty Hall problem.

“Here’s how Monty’s deal works, in the math problem, anyway. (On the real show it was a bit messier.) He shows you three closed doors, with a car behind one and a goat behind each of the others. If you open the one with the car, you win it. You start by picking a door, but before it’s opened Monty will always open another door to reveal a goat. Then he’ll let you open either remaining door.

“Suppose you start by picking Door 1, and Monty opens Door 3 to reveal a goat. Now what should you do? Stick with Door 1 or switch to Door 2?”

With two doors remaining, most people assume that there's now a 50/50 chance that their door is correct. It should make no difference if they switch. But they're wrong. The answer to this probability mind bender is that you should always switch. Staying on your selected door will net you the car 1 out of 3 times, while switching leads to success 2 out of 3 times.

Don't believe me? Try the New York Times interactive Monty Hall Game and see for yourself.

Tierney offers explanations to this and others in a series that culminates with his piece on The Psychology of Getting Suckered.

Take 15 minutes to go through his series of articles and another five to battle Monty. If you make it through you'll have a better understanding of these problems along with a couple bar tricks.

Part I: "The Monty Hall Problem"
"Interactive Monty Hall Game”
Part II: "Monty Hall's Other Problems"
Part III: "The Psychology of Getting Suckered”

(From: New York Times via Consumerist)

One of our clients, eStarling, produces a wireless digital picture frame that allows pictures to be pulled down via an RSS feed. The question inevitably comes up, what exactly is RSS?

In short, RSS is a simple way for people to gather content that they want from various locations. It stands for Really Simple Syndication and offers a way for you to pull the latest news from blogs, news feeds, podcasts, and other sources that are regularly updated. In the case of the eStarling, you can subscribe to interesting photo feeds such as the Flickr interesting photos of the day feed and have new photos automatically updated to the frame. Pretty cool stuff.

The below video, RSS in Plain English, from Common Craft is a few months old but if you aren't completely familiar with RSS, it offers a basic explanation that helps to make sense of the whole thing. Even those that are familiar will now have a quick video to direct people to when they get the question, "What is RSS?"