Ben Grossman | life's little interests

May 24

“When you’re sat on a plane and it appears that the majority of people are using something that you’ve collectively agonised over. It’s a wonderful reward.” — Jony Ive
Senior VP, Industrial Design 

(Source: thenextweb.com)

May 10

[video]

May 09

What the T map could look like in 2020, due to flooding from climate change. This report was put out by Connect the Dots, a project of 350.org, aims “to shine a spotlight on the connections between extreme weather and climate change.”
A great guerrilla marketing campaign went off without a hitch as this new fictitious public transport map was handed out to passengers by the organization. Smart. Compelling. Relevant.

What the T map could look like in 2020, due to flooding from climate change. This report was put out by Connect the Dots, a project of 350.org, aims “to shine a spotlight on the connections between extreme weather and climate change.”

A great guerrilla marketing campaign went off without a hitch as this new fictitious public transport map was handed out to passengers by the organization. Smart. Compelling. Relevant.

Apr 25

[video]

Apr 21

[video]

Apr 17

“We aren’t going to charge more for this. If you pay for a full impression, you will get an impression, full stop.” —

JP Colaco, Senior VP of Sales at Hulu

Hulu’s New Guarantee: Someone Watched Your (Whole) Ad

Apr 13

Do you love iconography as much as I do? If so, check out http://thenounproject.com/ for an awesome, free source of Open Source and Creative Commons licensed slick icons for presentations, documents and life.

Do you love iconography as much as I do? If so, check out http://thenounproject.com/ for an awesome, free source of Open Source and Creative Commons licensed slick icons for presentations, documents and life.

Apr 12

Slideshare sent out an email today with a wrap-up of Facebook Timeline resources and look what is front and center: the guide I authored for Jack Morton! If you haven’t already, take a look at our digest of the new set of best practices for the next generation of Facebook.

Slideshare sent out an email today with a wrap-up of Facebook Timeline resources and look what is front and center: the guide I authored for Jack Morton! If you haven’t already, take a look at our digest of the new set of best practices for the next generation of Facebook.

Apr 11

Is Madam Secretary Better Than Your Brand?

Text from Hillary: John StewartUnless you’ve been living under a meme-repellant rock for the past week, you’ve probably heard the rising buzz and fandom surrounding Texts from Hillary. The most recent in a string of photo meme Tumblrs that have been popping up, this one was good for enough laughing to get your abs one step closer to beach-ready status. But today, Texts from Hillary became much more when something radical happened: Hillary Clinton jumped on board.

The site, which generally pairs photos of celebrities with a photo of Hillary Clinton text messaging, which was taken by Time photographer Diana Walker. In bold, white text over each photo is what the creator imagines the two icons might be texting each other.

Today, the creators of the site, Washington D.C. communications professionals Adam Smith and Stacy Lambe, were invited to the White House by Hillary Clinton’s staff. According to reports, she came out and greeted the creators; telling them how much fun she thought the site was and how many people were telling her about it. In almost anti-political good-natured style, Clinton had created her own contribution to the site featuring photos of the creators and presented them with a signed copy.

Image of Meme Signed Hillary

Beyond being an amazing story, this rapidly developing meme and Hillary Clinton’s response constitutes a new standard in social media for politics. Barack Obama may have been the first to show politicians the power of social media as a broadcast and activation platform, but Hillary Clinton’s actions are the first to demonstrate true engagement and genuine heart (in fact, John Stewart just blasted Obama’s communications for being too canned). Clinton’s staff could have spent time worrying about whether the meme would mar her image, ignored it or (probably) worked with Time to claim copyright infringement. But instead, it showed that the Secretary is human.

From here on out, politicians better be willing to do more than broadcast messages. They will need to listen carefully, react quickly and admit they’re too holy to have a little fun. But that’s what brands need to do too. The bottom line? If the Secretary of State can be responsive and agile enough to engage the creators of a meme mocking her then participate in the mocking herself, your brand can get relevant too.

Mar 29

Etch A Sketch is doing some amazing responsive advertising to its recent cameo in the presidential race! The brand has seen sales jump 1,556% since last week, when Mitt Romney aide Eric Fehrnstrom called the Romney campaign “almost like an Etch A Sketch” that could be rebooted for the fall campaign against President Obama.

Etch A Sketch is doing some amazing responsive advertising to its recent cameo in the presidential race! The brand has seen sales jump 1,556% since last week, when Mitt Romney aide Eric Fehrnstrom called the Romney campaign “almost like an Etch A Sketch” that could be rebooted for the fall campaign against President Obama.

(Source: experiencebrands)