there's probably no God. christians OK with this.

so uh... the atheists are rocking British transportation getting you to think about how maybe, kinda, sorta, there might not be a God. it's a really compelling argument. "now stop worrying and enjoy your life" also appeals to nihilists, existentialists, hedonists, and skateboarders (the Enjoi website looks like an HRO knockoff, and that makes me giggle).

i think the campaign has wide appeal. apparently so much so that the Christians (namely the Methodists) are maybe, kinda, sorta okay with it. "The Methodist Church said it thanked Professor Dawkins for encouraging a "continued interest in God". Spirituality and discipleship officer Rev Jenny Ellis said: "This campaign will be a good thing if it gets people to engage with the deepest questions of life" (BBC NEWS).

while i think advertising Christianity is lame (and therefore i would have to rightfully extend the "lame" title to advertising atheism as well), i like how the Methodists chose to handle the PR of the situation. PR+! rather than casting eternal damnation on all people who so much as read the sign, like some folks might, they're like "cool. talking point." which is probably more than they're getting off of pro-christian signage. (no PR is bad PR?)

so maybe you should kinda sorta get to thinking about the deepest questions of life. if, yanno, you're maybe in Britain. i don't think it'd fly on this side of the pond.

Yeas & Nays: IV

found here, re: greyhound stabbing here
Riot saith: NAY!
okay, so, i'm sure for all humourous purposes, this advertisement has surfaced. i would imagine, and from the look of it assume, that the ad came out before the stabbing. (i really, really hope so.) it's almost in bad taste to show it, if only because it makes me make that groaning noise. for those of you who don't know, a sleeping person on a Canadian Greyhound was stabbed in the throat and decapitated with a hunting knife on a bus full of people. what's Greyhound doing about it? not enough, Jaffe says, and i have to agree. on another note, the advertisement is pretty shitty, regardless of timeliness. i haven't heard of "car rage" either, and both buses and cars (and trucks and hummers) all use roads. 'nuff said.

TIGS, re: gorillas, chimps, ads, primates
Riot saith: YEA!
as if you didn't already know, Faris is wicked awesome. his post, linked above, catalogues something we all learned in 3rd grade and forgot: "they may not remember what you say, but they will always remember how you made them feel." that was supposed to teach us to be nice to one another. and even if advertising isn't exactly about being nice, it is about emotional response. i would like to see an effective ad that appeals not at all to any emotions--in an unironic way. the more and more i think about advertising, the more and more i come to realize that the youth injection is important. folks have got to stop thinking like marketers and remember that they're people, and relearn those things that made them people in the first place.

doesitsellstuff, re: social media
Riot saith: YEA!
i love stumbling across blogs that make me want to redo my entire blogroll (which i will be getting around to doing, there are some much needed additions). this is one such blog. Scott Sigler chronicles social media campaigns and their effectiveness in really interesting ways; the ways that make you actually want to spend time reading it all. and it is really, really interesting. i forget how i stumbled across it but i'm very glad that i did. his blog's subhead reads: "A look at case studies of companies using Social Media to, well, sell stuff. Forget theory - does it add to a company's bottom line, or is it all just a waste of money?" if you're into social and strategic planning, check him out.

travel destination: LIRR, Westin.

so, coming home from a yummy sushi dinner at Azuki last night (if you like sushi, do it up; they're 520 8th ave), i got to staring (as i always do) at the often inane ad posters on the inside of the LIRR trains.

now to begin with, i find these sort of things often funny. frequently the same ad goes up, in the same entrance/exit car, facing each other. as if you didn't get the point on your left, you may need it mirrored on the right. regardless.

this is actually about a train ad i like--mostly.

Westin has been doing some halfway decent advertising in the past year, really breaking the clutter from competitor hotel advertisements by using the age old trick of not showing what you're selling. these train ads, i presume, are part of that campaign. they are really high quality nature images with one phrase of copy and the logo. that's it. if anyone can find a shot of these, let me know--i looked.

they caught my eye because they were nice to see on a dreary train. the copy was even clever. one was a shot of an immense tidal wave and the words "rush hour." another had incredibly tall trees and the word "skyscrapers." another was a shot of para sailing, from the feet down with the ocean, and the words "middle seat." the message was relevant and acute.

there was only one problem ad in the campaign. a pristine shot of a path through the woods. the phrase? "avoid the traffic." this breaks the noun trend they've been using. moreover, it lost relevance. we're on a bloody train. relate to the train, not the car i'm not in. a better phrase? "public transportation."

has anyone else seen these ads elsewhere? what did you think?

first impressions. i want to go to prison.

...i mean CP+B. or are they one and the same?
they bring us Prison Bus, their mode of agency public transportation.

excerpt:
"It's designed to look like a prison bus," Bogusky said. "I didn't want it to look like regular public transportation [...] We were trying to describe what we do in a way that's fun. It creates so many different reactions in your mind."

The idea to provide his employees a free means of commuting to the Gunbarrel Business Park offices from Vic's Coffee, Target and area hotels where new recruits often stay was born out of Bogusky's own passion for public transportation.

"I like buses," he said. "But there's a certain hurdle to get people to accept them. I didn't expect that."

yeah. cos dressing up ride to work to look like i'm heading right into prison make me more accepting of buses. public transportation = good. save gas, meet people. making it look like you're heading to work prison = not so good?

---

other first impressions:

Mobile Sensors = scary.
Dimpls = possibility.
Postmodern Social Media = trippy.
Cell Phone Popcorn = funny.
[even funnier when it makes my parents rush out to buy bluetooth headsets.]

all of these to be followed up with further commentary... except the last one.