Just So You Know That I'm Alive

Hokay, here's my wrapup post for MIPTV, which links to all the liveblogs I wrote for the conference over the course of the week. In terms of promise, creativity and where the future is, the last set of talks was my favourite -- and probably the least coherent in terms of post-session coverage.

One thing I got out of it was this data visualisation of SMSes sent in Paris when the New Year hit, courtesy of Orange and faberNovel!



Doesn't it make you happy to be alive right now, in a time when maps can share so much more than topography?

What's coming in terms of TV? More reality show fare, but the following three trends were cited as hot this year:

• Family/emotainment. And I don't mean friendly family fare like Step by Step; I mean reality shows about family members. One involved taking a mass of people and finding which family members went with which, then matching the completed family to their living room. Another locked strangers with vague and unknown familial ties together in a house, where a series of terrible events lead to the discovery of how they're related. There is much screaming and crying.
• Flashmobs.
• Mobile. You'll be seeing a lot of reality shows that incorporate smartphones heavily in the plot; networks like the BBC have gotten more imaginative, with live quizzes you can take on your phone while watching EastEnders, for example. (The quiz loads on your phone while the episode kicks off on TV. A microphone indicates to the software where you are in the plot, then shoots you an appropriate question.)

After MIPTV, drama involving a certain volcano turned travel into an arms race. Most of my UK-based colleagues for the week got trapped in the south of France. Not a bad place to be stuck, all things considered, but annoying nonetheless.

One of my favourite quotes of the week came from the editor of a major industry newspaper, who exclaimed, "A stupid volcano is affecting the TV industry! It's bloody inconsiderate."

(This is in the event you ever wondered which industry is more insane than advertising.)

I got back to Paris easily enough but not unscathed: since my return, I've spent most of my time emptying the contents of a red nose into enough sheets of Kleenex to clear a small community park. Sorry, Greenpeace.

Hope you missed me. As always you can catch my ad reviews on Culture Buzz or via AdVerve. Bob Knorpp recently also had me on the 100th episode of The BeanCast, where me and a pile o' smart girls talked about Twitter and, appropriately enough, who deserves to die. If you miss it, your soul will cry.

Family on the Cannes Croisette

...because I'd rather show you this than a larger-than-life potshot promotion of Korean reality TV.

On the Conference Docket Now

My conference moderator face.

There's a number of events I attended in the last few weeks that I wish I'd had time to mention earlier: Plugg Brussels, Marketing 2.0, TechCrunch Paris. But, deadlines being what they are and with the internet constantly throwing stuff like this at you, I never really got around to it.

Let's try moving backward.

Humor me ››

AdVerve Episode 26: The George Parker Edition

It’s George Parker, bitches! He of AdScam blog fame. Of non-Twitter fame. Of MadScam and Ubiquitous Persuaders book fame.

Normally, we do a timeline breakdown of the topics, but that wasn’t happening this time out as we cover in no order the arrogance of Apple, child labor, Modernista!, Crispin, critics, lawsuits, Domino’s pizza, Microsoft, eBay, tag sales, iPad, Will it Blend, French things, cigarette penis envy, GoDaddy and a buncha other stuff.

And we even manage to drop a few F-bombs *here and there.*

Play the show now:



Download the show directly here. Or subscribe via iTunes:

Linkage:

• The very first flashmob. 


• Will It Blend? 


• The Most Interesting campaign.


• Old Spice campaign.


• Kohler campaign.


• Windows campaign.


• Domino’s Turnaround.


• Form and function with the iPad.

Send questions, comments or requests for newsletter inclusion to advervepodcast [at] gmail [dot] com. You can also leave a review

The Industry Reacts to Humongo

Quite possibly the cutest agency promo in all the land for the next half-hour. I love how Darryl Ohrt has this oh-please-not-me attitude and then, faced with having to rename his agency, he's like, "Oh! Humongo!"

The vid features "reactions to Humongo" by Alex Bogusky, Scott Monty and Ashton Kutcher. Kinda. (You can almost smell his hat hair.)

Can't wait to see the humongo work that'll come out and efface all this self-effacingness. (Can I say either of those words?) Also, if you feel like it, listen to Darryl talk about things he likes in AdVerve Episode 14: Music Madness.

Life Moves Fast; Modernista, Not Fast Enough

Word on the street has it that, following the rise and fall of all those surreal ads that gave us Oasis Project nightmares, and consequently bungling the debut of a really awesome product, Palm has given agency Modernista the shaft.

Sucks for Modernista, given that Cadillac recently also cut it loose. A boutique shop can't afford the loss of too many big-label clients in succession. It also sucks for us, because the ad above, which launched last month, tells us Modernista finally found its Palm Pre stride.

Too little too late. It's not exceptional, but it should've been the launch work: anything, really, that showed how using multiple apps at once, on a nice clean interface, can bring method to a multi-tasker's life.

Better luck next product. And if you're an agency on the market for a flub to fix, here's your chance: Palm's looking.

Thanks to Atif, the haut-tech emperor of Ithaca, for passing this over to me.