Adidas, All In

It's a sexy and energetic ad, a montage of dopamine-driven personal climaxes and all-eyes-on-me moments of glory, given a personal touch: the dramatic infusion of stars we know well.

Will it change your life? Nah, it's just a sports ad. But this is a fine example of how to do (or is it rock?) a sports ad, especially if you want to look exactly like Adidas and Nike. (To be fair to the tenacity of this marketing strategy, people are fickle about sneaker brands. They fall in and out of love in the space of a few months - the time it takes before new kicks are needed on the schoolyard. But Adidas and Nike have held their own for years, across generations, lifestyles and age groups.)

"All In" went live yesterday on the Adidas Facebook page. It's enjoyed nearly a thousand "Likes" already: modest praise for a brand this size. See screenshot:

You Know You Want Summa This.

Found LeVar Burton on Twitter. Seeing him, looking all bad-ass and social media savvy, made me nostalgic for the days when LeVar was my cuddly Reading Rainbow friend. That's when I hunted this down:



I fucking love that song!!!

On a serious note though, and if like me you're thinking of adding LeVar to your list of Twitter homies, watch this (very short) video of him speaking at Wellesley College.

Hrm. He's kinda starting to resemble Avery Brooks circa Deep Space Nine. More importantly: Yes, they play the Star Trek theme, and yes, he finds a way to slip in, "You don't have to take my word for it!"

Guf-faw.

Congrats, Michael Phelps. Oh Yeah, and Everyone Else.

Apparently congratulating Michael Phelps for winning eight gold medals in a single Olympics -- oh yeah, and good job to all those other athletes -- merits prime positioning on my Facebook newsfeed. 

I guess a single network-wide message doesn't really outdo Visa in terms of sheer effort, but it's certainly a testament to:

a) how incredibly important Michael Phelps's successful endeavour is (indeed, must be) to 16.91 percent of the US social networking population, if not the online gab-o-sphere at large.

b) how incredibly important the Olympics are (and indeed, must be) to everyone, ever (is it possible the weak economy helps? You know, like how the movie industry boomed during the Great Depression?)

c) both a) and b)

Clicked on the Michael Phelps Facebook page just for kicks. Heeeeey, diggin' the Speedo shot. Observe Olympic tattoo on right (that's your left) pelvic bone:

What commitment.

What the Hell is This?

Straight out of my inbox:


Somebody in PR put my figurative finger on Tori Spelling's pulse. And frankly, I'd like to have my hand back, please.