When is punctuation correct on email subject lines?  Judging by the newest series of emails it’s alright to show excitement with an exclamation mark.  Have you noticed, though, that subject lines rarely end in a period?  See if you can find the ones that do…

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The creators of “Reno 911” have put their creative talents together for these hilarious series of Internet videos.  They’re promoting, in an extremely sarcastic way, the effort to get younger Americans to vote.  Characterized by two middle-aged, balding white men, “the man” laughs at how much money they have and what beautiful women are at their side.  In fact, they are actually thanking 18 year olds for not voting so that they can continue exploiting capitalistic America.

Nobody has figured out the winning formula for getting 18 year olds to vote but these clips seem to be a good start.  They have immersed them into the hip culture by posting them to You Tube, creating a page on MySpace and partnering with some of the biggest names on the web.  Very Web 2.0!  Also, the point is made clear with a sarcastic tone that is commonly associated with the rebellious age.  You can view these and other attempts at reaching the newest wave of voters at www.declareyourself.com.

“Pull your head out of your SouthPark bong for a second”

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Founded in 1936, GEICO was originally targeted only to government employees. Leo and Lilly Goodwin, founders, believed that government workers would represent safer and better drivers. That’s where GEICO comes from, Government Employees Insurance Company. According to Wikipedia, GEICO began offering insurance to the general public in the 1970′s.

What we all know GEICO for is their advertising. It started as “the gecko” with an accent and has become more popular with their series of “caveman” spots. The Martin Agency (other clients include UPS, AOL and recently signed deal with Walmart) struck gold with the “It’s so easy a caveman can do it” ads that portray sophisticated cavemen living in today’s world being offended by that phrase. In fact, it’s popularity inspired a major deal with ABC to create a show based on the theme. ABC has signed a deal with the makers of “3rd Rock from the Sun” and the new series will be airing soon.

So is GEICO making all their money off of “Caveman” merchandise? No, that’s just an added benefit. But together with their blitz of different commercials (Caveman, Gecko, Singing actors, sabotaging squirrels, etc.) they have grown their profit from $2.8 billion in 1998 to $11 billion. This series has clearly been a win-win situation for GEICO and The Martin Agency.

You can check out some of the latest video’s at YouTube.

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You can’t get any more “Web 2.0″ than webinars. These online seminars (web + seminar = webinar) started as a great tool to speak to a large group of people all at once. No longer are you limited to the amount of people you can squeeze into a room but now you are limited only by the amount of bandwidth you care to afford.

At first, webinars were like an interactive white paper (downloadable information). Wanted to learn something new, attend a webinar. This was a great way to expand your knowledge while building a relationship with the company that put it together. At some point, and it probably happened slowly, webinars began to turn into sales tools. Problems aren’t being discussed in their entirety. Instead, there are talking points nicely laid out so that the company can present their solutions.

Bulldog Solutions recently held a webinar (part of a series) that dealt with media buying in a Web 2.0 world. A half hour into the webinar there had not been any discussion outside of the company and the solutions it can help you with. They had taken the term “webinar” and stretched its connotation to include ‘sales pitch’. Unfortunately, it ruins the purety of the word for any other company.

In contrast, MoreVisibility put together a webinar about getting the most out of Google Analytics. This was not a sales tool, rather a great opportunity to brand themselves as a great resource for future projects. When you’re thinking about attending a webinar think twice if it’s put on by Bulldog Solutions but make sure to sign up for anything put on by MoreVisibility.

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The launch of the Apple iPhone is near and the hype continues to build momentum. On June 29th be prepared for long lines at the nearest Apple store, despite the ramping up of 2,000 temporary employees. And at an estimated cost of $1,936 (cost of phone and minimum plan with AT&T, formerly Cingular, formerly AT&T) who wouldn’t want one?

With very little precedent, the iPod blew away all competition in the MP3 market so it’s no surprise that Apple’s innovative product is more anticipated than any other single phone. But will it deliver on the buzz? It’s hard to argue that any phone could have more features while still having a lot of that ‘cool’ factor. If you’re one of the few who haven’t seen the tour on the Apple website it’s a must, www.apple.com.

What’s amazing is the blitz of commercials Apple continues to thrust in our face. Do they really need to spend money on marketing with so much chatter? In a world of instant communication across every continent, the new iPhone’s popularity has grown to new proportions. A search on Google for “iPhone” yields more than 65 million results. Perhaps Apple is doing more than just promoting their phone! Early estimates indicate that the iPhone will bring in more than a 50% profit for Apple and AT&T.  That much cash combined with the huge anticipation doesn’t seem to equate to lots of advertising.  Or does it?

It’s probably no coincidence that Apple’s browser Safari has just launched on the Windows operating system. On face value, it’s probably so that the phone will work on PC’s. However, it should be noted that the iPod coupled with iTunes will now make a formidable partner with the iPhone and Safari. What will PC owners do when they wake up one morning and realize that the scary Apple company is already a huge part of their lives?

The earth may not go in reverse but the computer market share may be making a major shift on June 29th.  What do you think?

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We’re all familiar with MySpace, Facebook, and a lot of other social networking sites that have cropped up over the past few years. More and more sites like these are coming out, and the main focus, right off the bat, is aggregation. Gathering content from a multitude of providers, usually customizable by the user.

Social Networking sites such as ‘MyLifeBrand’ (alpha), ‘ProfileLinker’, and my personal favorite choice for a domain name ‘Profilactic’, all endeavor to organize the social networking scene, but in reality what is emerging is an interesting development in the perception of the average social networker (general user). It was thought that, given the sheer volume of content that is out there, the social networker would have an interest in building a customized page that delivers it all in an organized manner to be reviewed at their leisure. The epiphany that is being made is that the average user prefers to limit to a specific few, the number of sources they are looking to for content. The “Superuser”, a much smaller portion of their target market, is who is keeping on top of the latest trends, RSS feeds, spends time customizing profiles, subscribes to mobile alerts, maintains lengthy friends lists, and generally finds themselves online participating in this social networking world at every possible opportunity.

“The problem for Marketers is that these sites won’t provide real ROI until they reach critical mass…” says John Noe, CEO at an interactive agency Rokken. “…most sites feel watered down or underdeveloped.”

Unfortunately, its the same old story for me, I’m just about 15 years past the demographic for most of these sites, but in my experience, many of the social networking sites have turned into banner-ad-city. There are so many marketers trying to get in on the act that it simply dilutes the space, and becomes essentially visual noise.

On the other hand, ‘Verb.com’ is a social networking site that has taken control of its advertisers and remains in control of its clean yet content rich site design. See… it can be done. But, the question is, will Verb be able to sway the average social networker away from the hypnotic pull of ad banners?

Source: Advertising Age

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There are 99 email subject lines included in this post, which include the theme of Father’s day.  Check them out!

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Kia has launched an online dating parody website (www.kiamatch.com) to find your “vehicular soulmate”. On the landing page you choose “the one you love” by answering a couple of questions specifically mimicking personal questionnaires. Instead of “loading” the status bar boasts a “computing compatability” meter before it finally shows you “your match”. Heck, if you don’t like the car it chose you can even select from a list of “other mates”.

It’s great fun and a clever campaign that made me remember their name and even go to their site, which is hard to do these days. They still have the problem of overcoming the perception that they are a cheap, low quality car maker. That became clear even as people passed by my monitor and said “Don’t buy a Kia”. Perhaps this campaign isn’t clever enough to change the inherit view of the company.

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One of the greatest misconceptions among designers is what “Web 2.0″ means. Clearly feeling left out, web designers have decided to take things into their own hands and bring a Web 2.0 slant to design. So forget about the technology, mind frame and fancy words like “long tail” while I dissect some of the common design elements for the latest rage of websites.

Gradients
A lot of Web 2.0 websites use a very simple layout without much design at all. But you would be hard-pressed to keep out of it altogether. One of the most basic elements of Web 2.0 design is a gradient.

The recent popularity has more to do with the bandwidth surfers are becoming accustomed to. With more than half of Internet users browsing with a high-speed connection they can also download images much quicker. Since gradients require the use of an image it’s taken time to adapt. But wait no longer! One of the easiest ways to punch a website is with a properly placed gradient.

Diagonal Lines
Seems like an annoyingly simple element to consider an important factor in Web 2.0 design doesn’t it? Just add diagonal lines. Before you click away from this page give me a second to explain. Similarly to the use of gradients diagonal lines has a lot to do with designers being more bold with the use of imagery in their layouts.

Besides being a great tool for breaking up different elements within a design, diagonal lines an add depth immediately. The most common use of diagonal lines is in the background. Try putting your solid blocks of content on top of a diagonal background and watch your layout come to life!

Large Text
If you ever visited a designers portfolio site pre-2000 you’d know that the trend was to use lots of space and tiny text. Very sexy! I believe the use of large text in Web 2.0 design is the result of collaboration between designers and coders. A large part of Web 2.0 is creating websites that are easy to use and easy to grow. That means lightweight, dynamic sites bring us back to some of the limitations of Web 1.0.

Fortunately, we weren’t learning how to design for the first time. Making content easy to read in an organized fashion has always been a problem and using large text has always been a great tool. A website full of large text doesn’t work, but the balance is key and can display how good a designer really is. When you want something emphasized on a page use large text. When you want to create a visual hierarchy use large text. When you want something to be easy to read… you got it, use large text!

Soft Shadows
Probably one of the most beneficial increase in Web 2.0 design is the use of soft shadows (AKA drop shadows). Despite being trapped in a 2-dimensional world designers can make website visitors believe they’re seeing 3 dimensions. A soft shadow is one of the best ways to do that.

Make a button pop off the screen with an appropriate placed shadow. Emphasize specific elements on the page with a shadow under them. But if you want to go that extra mile try combining a soft shadow with one of the other Web 2.0 design elements. Warning! If shadows are used with diagonal lines you may impress yourself to the point of extreme satisfaction! Please do not try with too much caffeine.

Rounded Corners
When websites switched from pure HTML design to integrating more graphical elements designers were no longer limited to square boxes for everything.

Like any element, HOW you use it is much more important than the element itself. The proper use of rounded corners can be a cool effect and help separate your website from the next guys’. However, most of the benefits of this Web 2.0 design element come down to preference. My surfing has led me to excellent Web 2.0 websites with and without rounded corners.

3D Icons
Apple.com is commonly credited with the advent of 3D buttons. However, Web 2.0 designers have been using it long before them. Like a lot of the things they do, Apple did it right and made this glassy button super popular. Because of it’s stronger reliance on graphical elements this, more than the other elements, has benefited from the greater bandwidth for downloading information from a website.

Adding a highlight with appropriate lighting color shifts you can make something very realistic. Combine 3D effects with a shadow and you might confuse a website visitor into thinking it’s real.

Reflections
Similar to 3D icons, reflections create a simulated real-world scenario to an otherwise flat medium. By suggesting that certain elements have a perfect reflection visitors to a website get a sense of a futuristic look and feel, exactly what Web 2.0 stands for.

The key to success with reflections is its sparing, appropriate use. Unlike shadows or rounded corners a novice designer can easily overdue this cool effect.

The cool thing about each of these elements is that they can be used individually or all at once. You can usually tell when a seasoned designer has had their hands no a website design because they can blend together all of the elements to create a Web 2.0 design that knocks your socks off.

It’s difficult to officially combine the popular term “Web 2.0″ with anything design related but it’s certain that there is a next generation of website designs. So in that sense these elements are the most popular keys to a good Web 2.0 design.

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With a reputation of being an “uptight, white-male, stodgy, corporate” card American Express looked to bring in some younger card holders to help balance their membership. First, they’d test their new idea in New York City, “IN:NYC” and expand to other cities if it did well. Their goal was to entice 30% of new memberships with younger members, under 30 years of age, and at least 75% of IN:NYC members being completely new (never having an American Express card before).To overcome the aging branding of their member base and stand out from the 4 billion credit card offers mailed to households, American Express marketed specifically and offered different rewards like meals at trendy restaurants and tickets for local concerts. Resources like New York Magazine offered the perfect solution for members trying to find a place to have fun at nights. That’s not all though, American Express actually tried some guerilla marketing tactics like using cocktail napkins in bars, street murals and “wild postings”.

Not only did it do what they want but they also started some buzz getting unsolicited endorsements from Radio and TV stations. In fact, reaching their goal of obtaining more than 30% of their new memberships with users under 30 was a piece of cake, more than doubling their goal with a whopping 65%! That’s not all! 93% of the IN:NYC members had never been a member of any American Express cards, easily surpassing the goal of 75%. Because of it’s success similar initiatives have been launched in Los Angeles and Chicago.

American Express accomplished all this with a budget between $1-5million, less than competitors. We should all be so lucky!

All information taken from 2006 Effie Awards Brief of Effectiveness.

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