PERISCOPE UP!

It’s not often we have the chance to test drive a new app the moment it’s released. We missed the boat with so many of them–Instagram, Vine, Meerkat. So when we saw that Twitter had just released Periscope, its live video streaming app, we jumped on in an attempt to get ahead of the curve for once.

What we found was…well,  a lot of people doing what we were doing: testing it out by filming their dogs, or their office, or their kids, or talking into their front facing camera. It’s fascinating to see these early baby steps, before the platform has thrown up any “stars” or anything has gone viral.

Of course, Periscope seems ripe for misuse, and we assume that it’s only a matter of hours before the network is chock a-block with all kinds of kinky stuff we shouldn’t be watching. Stay tuned for a Buzzfeed story on the first live robbery to be “periscoped“ (see, we don’t even have an official word for it yet!) or the first couple do do the nasty while sharing it with every one of their Twitter followers. About five minutes ago, we saw some guy take a pee, so things seem to be off to a grand start.

Will Periscope take over the mantle that Meerkat assumed only last week? Who can say? This is social media, baby: things move fast. Who knows if either platform will even survive the two minutes it will take us to finish this post?

EDIT - Well, that was quick. Ten minutes after we posted the above, a building collapsed in NYC’s East Village and Periscope became a go-to place for people to share video of the scene. Not at all the kind of viral event we were hoping for.

Are You Watching?

This being America and all, we figured it was only a matter of time before someone took the NSA scandal and figured out a way to make money from it. But we’re pleased that the creators of new iOS app TouchTone seem to have their priorities straight: while we’re sure they’d like to turn a profit, they seem most concerned with teaching a lesson.

TouchTone perfectly illustrates the dangers of domestic surveillance by making the user complicit in it: to do well at the game, you have to spy on your (fictional) neighbors. The directions have a disturbing Orwellian tone—“The innocent have nothing to hide”—and the graphics are pure “24”-style tech. This is an example of a game in which the premise and design actually serve an idea beyond simply garnering buzz—a rare thing in the tech world these days.

HER

Sexbots have been the dream of lonely nerds since time immemorial, but who knew we were living in the age when they become a reality?

This weekend, users of dating/hook-up app Tinder who happened to be in Austin for the SXSW conference found a fresh new face to swipe right on. Her name was Ava, and she was gorgeous. She was also interested in what they had to say, and seemed full of questions. In every case, she gave the person with whom she was texting an Instagram handle and told them to check it out.

Those who did check it out experienced a mix of disappointment and admiration–for, of course, Ava was a bot, a bot specifically created to promote a film called Ex Machina about artificial intelligence. A surprising number of people responded with praise for the audacity of this viral marketing campaign—though how many of them were just trying to put on a brave face is impossible to say.

As we only heard about this after the fact, and never got our heart broken by this achingly beautiful bit of software, you can believe us when we say the whole thing is genius. Ava caught the user’s attention, engaged their emotions, and gave them an experience they will always associate with the product she was promoting. The perfect marketing machine.

via AdWeek

Only Missing Mugatu

Can this be for real? Derek Zoolander and Hansel McDonald showed up at the Valentino show in Paris! We feel like we're taking crazy pills!

Actually, this is a great example of non-traditional integrative marketing. Blurring the lines between fiction and reality (or as close to reality as fashion gets), this execution is all win. Valentino gets a little extra Hollywood buzz, and shows that they don't take themselves too seriously. Paramount can sit back and relax, confident in the knowledge that everyone on the Internet now knows about "Zoolander 2." And we all get to wig out at the joy of seeing these two iconic characters inject themselves into a real fashion show.

First those amazing stock photo shots of Vince Vaughn and the other stars of "Unfinished Business," now this. Integrated marketing stunts are soooo hot right now!

A Logo Romance

It’s time we told you about our boyfriend. We haven’t mentioned him before, which is kind of incredible, given how much we think about him. But it’s true: our company has a boyfriend. And he is awesome!

Our boyfriend is the Dosa Man. The Dosa Man runs a dosa cart on the southern edge of Washington Square Park, a few blocks from our office. When the weather is warm, he sets up shop and starts selling his dosas—a delicious South Indian pancake made from rice batter and lentils and filled with wonderful vegetables and spices.

We aren’t the only people who love the Dosa Man. He has many admirers, and the line to buy lunch from him is always long.

But even so, the Dosa Man wants to grow his business and spread the word online through new branding. When he mentioned this to us, we jumped into action. After all, this is what we do for a living.

So we took some time and designed him a logo. We thought it was pretty cool, and we sent it to him.

He didn’t end up using it. Dosa Man is his own man, and he marches to his own drum. He settled on a different logo. The one we made is above, the one he settled on is below. We’re sad, but we still love him, and will never stop going to him for lunch.

As we think more about it, we realize that Dosa Man has taught us an important lesson about being a marketing agency. Sometimes, your aesthetic doesn’t match that of your client. Sometimes they see things differently from you. And that’s ok. In the end, having a good product is the most important thing, no matter how you package it.

Thank you, Dosa Man. We will never forget our time together.

Magic Emotions

So we saw this Wired video review of Magic, the new text-based delivery start-up in San Francisco, and felt conflicting emotions.

On the one hand, Magic feels like another example of the cheapening of labor in America, a trend that is turning the country into a high-tech luxury hotel where vast armies of room servants cater to the whims of a lucky few, all for low wages with zero job security. It feels entitled and elitist, like Google’s bus service or that time those tech guys tried to reserve space in a public park.

On the other hand, how cool is it that you can text a stranger and have them turn up at your door an hour later with a Mexican wrestler’s mask? It’s the kind of thing that would have blown our 8-year-old, lucha libra-obsessed mind.

So, like we said: emotions.