AdVerve Episode 80 - Halloweeness Edition

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Better late than ever! Primal fears will always make great movies, and we hit all the points this ep: our favorite horror flicks and why, the best villains, and an opening tribute to the best villain-slash-hero of them all: Steve Jobs. All that angry action, coupled with Halloween ads, reflections on the ethics of stealing, the mindset of startups, race in costume, and when the world will be ready for an evil unicorn movie. (Also, whatever happened to movies about sea monsters?)

Our movies of choice:
- The Exorcist
- The Shining
- Silence of the Lambs
- The Rocky Horror Picture Show
- The Nightmare Before Christmas

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AdVerve Episode 78: The Rapture

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Wait, that’s the end of the world, innit. WELL IT’S NOT. We have more AdVervial goodness for you people and that other stuff will just have to wait. Pick a topic because like a potluck from hell, it’s in here. Movies to watch, commercials to avoid, and politicians to vote for. But wait, there’s more: Other podcasts of note and blog projects to read. I even dish on why Egypt is a swell place to visit and why the lira is was an even sweller currency. But we digress. Which is why you listen.

The Linkage You Need:

- Vintage Palmolive ad: "Most man ask 'is she pretty?', not 'Is she clever?'"
- Mohr Stories
- This Week With Larry Miller
- Big Lebowski
- Sarah Palin’s Grizzly spot
- The 3six5 Project
- The 3six5 Project, Chicago edition


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AdVerve: Spirit of 76

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Not just because it’s episode 76, but we were supposed to record over the Great American holiday that was the Fourth. Instead, work took over and we’re actually closer to celebrating Bastille Day as Bill and I kick it live and uncensored, French style.

So what’s new in this one? We actually cover a Wrap Of Cannes and my trip there on behalf of Yahoo! But wait, there’s more: Official French grammar watchdogs - yes they have them - why The Dude wears a bathrobe and why no guy outside of a Big LeBowski convention ever should. You will not believe the places we go. Or maybe you will. Listen you some.

Linky-loompas:

- Paris Syndrome strikes Japanese
- Yahoo Scene's Cannes Coverage

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AdVerve Episode 74: McGameification.

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Aka, that big, juicy badge in the sky. It was one mic/two guys as Bill took a roadtrip to Savannah to join one of his co-strategists in crime at BFG. The Frenchman Known As Cyril Guichard (@luxregina) went live and uncensored as we kicked back for a high-rolling adventure on the topic of gameification.* It’s probably a word you're sick of, but he takes us deep into the philosophy of gaming, and why sites that "gameify" – like Foursquare – aren't games, per se (but will need to be).

Want more? We also find a way to pose that age-old question: can social media sites like Twitter really be used to construct the governments of tomorrow? Learn all the nuanced answers to this riddle, and others, this week. WE EVEN TALK 3D. Of course we also take our trademark™ left into fun areas like politics and discuss how Gen My dealt with the end of Osama, if at all.

(Also, learn why you're becoming a symbiant.)

Linkfegnugen:

- Heineken Star Player
- Cyril's blog on Luxgames.net

*Gamification or Gameification. Spell it any way you want, we don’t judge.

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AdVerve Episode 73: World O' Wheaton

The long wait is over, sweethearts.

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Alongside special guest Ken Wheaton (@kenwheaton), we cover stuff from book publishing and promoting, to the rise and further decline of American airline service, to whether advertising will protect us from the maniacal ambitions of Donald Trump. (I try broaching the topic of The Royal Wedding, but ultimately fail to make it stick.)

There's also a smidge more Southern Comfort for those of you riding Bill’s ongoing fascination with his new homeland.

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Get Your Enhanced Meat-Eating Experience, Right Here: The BeanCast 150

Against his own better judgment, last night Bob Knorpp invited AT&T's Chris Baccus, Modea's Kelly Eidson, the BFG's Bill Green and me onto the skypez for the 150th episode of The BeanCast: Enhanced Meat-Eating Experience.

Listen (here!) while a cast of old regulars struggles for anarchy against Bob's sharp new "stay on-task" skills. We cover mobile tracking and your privacy (or lack of it), Victoria's Secret's 12 million Facebook likes, mobile optimisation and payment models for digital content. The usual song and dance in media land.

That's right, this makes two podcasts for the price of one! What better way to fête your chocolate egg hangover? Oh, wait...

AdVerve Episode 72 - Southern Ad Law on the Skids

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Michael McSunas (@adlawguy) of law firm CBS – the guy we'll call if things go awry – joins us to give perspective from the legal point of view. We cover everything from incest gameshows (they exist! ...don’t they?) to legal precedent in cases involving both source protection and blogger disclosure. Sprinkled in is an uncomfortable discourse about death and whether your online "assets" count as property; if so, who do they go to?

For those following Bill's southern evolution, Mike tosses in a swashbuckling funeral tale. And in case you were wondering how any of this comes together, Angela manages to string it all along with everything she learned at MIPTV, that scary place in Cannes where TV networks sell each other what they'll be selling you, all year long. (And if you're in Japan, yes, you may just get an incest game show.) It’s techno mind tricks & legalese and it’s not for the faint of heart.

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AdVerve Episode 70: Fashion-Punting on Twitter & The Trouble with Airlines

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We run a solid flowing gamut from customer service on Twitter (à la Nordstrom!) to what travel's lost post-9/11. We throw back to Vinny Warren, ruminate on the pros and cons of unexpected fame (is it ever unexpected?), and where The New York Times went horribly, horribly wrong with its payment wall.

I also rant heavy on the merits of Monocle, the little print publication that could - and could so, so good.

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AdVerve Episode 69: Supermoon to Super Mario

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We hit you with some old-school 5 for 5, running the gamut from natural disasters to sports marketing. Bill also wilds out on pet rights, I express abject disinterest in the AT&T/T-Mobile merger, and the whole thing basically devolves into a rumination on horror cinema. Vampires and zombies manifest heavily as usual, but no opportunities for a Twilight or Buffy joke are taken. (This means we’re maturing.)

Hell, there's even a little tangent on hot music streaming sites! We hope we lead you to something magic for your ears.

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AdVerve Episode 67: Politicosi

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Did we go off on a thematically classic – for us anyway – stream of consciousness sojourn? Bet. Our love for Franco-American political discourse was matched only by our love for Franco-American recycling schedules.

We then became winners as we discussed the fall and further fall of Charlie Sheen, replete with fond tales of rehab glory. How else to complete this trifecta of gray matter than with a look at the Oscars. THIS SHOW HAS IT ALL... AND NOW YOU DO TOO.

Also, quick note: when I talk about "redistribution," I'm referring to redistricting. >_<

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AdVerve Episode 66 - Relationships in Advertising

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Friend and fellow podcaster Bob Knorpp of the notorious BeanCast (@TheBeanCast) joins us to get intimate about relationships in advertising:

• How your personal life gets affected by strange work, weird hours and random traveling


• How love can bloom in the damnedest ways


• How a combination of loneliness and drinking can make even the most stalwart ad soldier a slobbering mess of hold-me-closies


• How intimacy can bloom in many awesome, dangerous or dangerously awesome forms. We talk Father Figure Complex!


• Prioritising personal + professional time


• NEPOTISM <-- this is Bill's favourite

The whole thing wraps nahcely with our homegrown takeaway relationships-in-advertising advice. And there’s a few stories in there that as usual will probably get us all into trouble. We live dangerously in these here internets.

AdVerve Episode 65 - Job Hunting

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You've done it. And if you haven’t, God be with you because you’re gonna have to.

Bill and Angela do the straight talk on their experiences getting work in this business, specifically from the perspective of social media or those who claim to “do it all” in an environment where that's exactly what people seem to be wanting, but what nobody quite wants to hire. (Polyvalence is a bitch!)

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AdVerve Episode 64 - Revolution 3.0: Sandmonkey on Egypt, the Internet and the Connected Fight

Egyptians hold shoes up high following Mubarak's speech on February 1. Showing the sole of your shoe is "a grave insult in Arab Muslim countries," sayeth MSNBC. Weird, no Kenneth Coles in sight.

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The revolution will be podcasted.* We’ve brought you a very special show this week. Renegade freedom blogger Mahmoud Salem (on Twitter as @sandmonkey), takes a good hour out of his revolution schedule to give us the skinny on what’s going on in Egypt (which is here, not here).

Salem was thrown into prison last Thursday for carrying medical equipment to injured protesters at Tahrir Square in Egypt. That same morning, he'd published this incendiary piece of blogging magic, and his blog was consequently shut down most of that day. After a hefty beating and the destruction of his goods (including his car), he was released when the police failed to put two and two together identity-wise.

As he says in the interview, “Every generation has a moment.” To that point, we dive deep, past Elliot Spitzer’s CNN segment on him to where this all started.

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AdVerve Episode 63: Cryptomeat, Revolution + Still No Jetpacks

No answers yet to why this is not our reality. Or yours.

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Dave Wilkie of Where's My Jetpack? (@jetpacks) and Radio Free Babylon joins us for some good-natured ad blogger fun. And there's a lot of that to be had in this king-sized episode. We cover your questions, Old Spice Guy redux, revolution in Egypt, Taco Bell’s iffy meat situation, sexy robots ... and, hell, for the very last time, why we still don't have an even distribution of jetpacks in the world. (There may be in Japan. Can somebody check?)

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AdVerve Episode 62: Snookapocalypse

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We whip out an old standard: Five for Five, which takes us from life with two suns to Starbucks' fun-packed new iced drink size, Trenta (a whopping 16 ml bigger than the average capacity of the adult human stomach! Although nowhere near maximum capacity as this handy illustration shows).

Somewhere in there we manage to make (too much) time for bestselling author Snookie and her homies on The Jersey Shore. Is there hope for mankind? Ask again in 2012. If we're slathering on the sunblock at 10:30 PM, then the answer is no.

Clarification: On the show, I'm uncertain whether it's melanin or melatonin that controls human sleeping and waking cycles. It is melatonin. Melanin is for skin and hair colour. (Albinos, for example, generally have none.)

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AdVerve Episode 61: A Grand Communications Condom

But will it protect them from pop-ups? Via.

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Theoretical artist Ben Kunz (@benkunz) of Thought Gadgets and Media Associates kicks off the year with us in a conversation about what the cool kids are after: Quora, curation, and a bigger TV in the basement.....?

We also squeeze in some ruminations on the future of the postal service, Netflix and Ben's suspect affinity to the youngest son of the 12 sons of Abraham. Trust us though, it all comes 360° and wraps nice-and-tidy into the title which drew you hither: users manifesting a profound subconscious need for a communications condom.

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AdVerve Episode 60: The Cold Eggnog Holiday Edition

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We actually recorded this show early last week but time didn't permit us to post it. Consider this a retreat back to winter break.

(For a proper year-end wrapup, GET YOU SOME BEANCAST! Bob's two-hour special features John Wall, Ken Wheaton and us truly.)

We do a quick run-through of holiday likes and gripes, including agency cards, holiday traditions, films, ads and music. There's also a brief but beefy manifesto on why we hate flashmobs more than anything else made by man.

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AdVerve Episode 59: Psychedelic Curation Station

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Guillaume Decugis (@gdecugis) of Scoop.it joins us to talk about the curation age, what makes the HuffPo model “special,” protecting journalists while serving users’ desire to share, and Silicon Valley versus the French tech scene. (Email us for a Scoop.it invite: advervepodcast [at] gmail [dot] com.)

That’s a lot to cover in 30 25 minutes. Hold onto your hats, cowpokes.

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AdVerve Episode 58: How (Not...?) to Get Ravished at Tech Conferences.

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Aka, tech conference date rape. We had other things on our minds what with the wrapping of LeWeb 2010, but as often happens one big topic dominated the score: those whose hands traverse the endless expanse of your inert spinal cord after a watered-down cocktail or two. What to do? Do you out them? Or do you play it cool, like Sam L. Jackson?

Second big topic: we WikiLeak all over the place on why Julian Assange is both hero and villain.

That, and myriad little else, in another superfast 30-minute show. (Are you liking this BTW? WE GOTTA KNOW.)

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AdVerve Episode 56: Get Whirled with Joe Sabia

Pi-tastic Joe.

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Joe Sabia of SF-based Whirled (@getwhirled), of Rockmelt demo vid, zombie speeding and Mad Men cigarette fame, joins us for some good clean all-natural fun. What's the difference between Vimeo and YouTube? Why plug a manifesto? What makes Tumblr so awesome?

We get to the heart of what makes something catch an audience's eye, why mediocrity might not be so bad ... and why the internet may be the best thing that ever happened to really boring people.

Also, Joe busts out the Morse Code chops. It's a riot in dots and dashes.

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