FWD Thinking

word. daily. (video edition) Short Film Shot by Scanner: The...

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 09:44:00 -0500

word. daily. (video edition)

Short Film Shot by Scanner: The minute-long film Memoirs of a Scanner is composed entirely of still shots from a copier and, despite the length, you feel satisfied when it’s over (#twss). We think that this could have been the kick-off to an amazing consumer contest from Richoh or Xerox.

That Picture is Amazing: Check out this engaging video from Samsung. The brand does an amazing job of creating a short that heavily incorporates their product AND has a shot of actually going viral. How’d they do it? By relying on two hooks: social networking pictures and Weekly World News cover model, Bat Boy.

Oscar Winners Hate Each Other!: Remember the gentleman who accepted the award best documentary short that got Kanye’d (amazing verb) by the lady in the tres-dramatique formal satin jacket? Turns out, they hate each other! They’re suing each other! His 87-year-old mom used her cane to block that lady from getting to the stage first! Read about all the amazing drama over at Salon.

Bonus: We don’t have much to say about Tokyo/Glow except that it is elegant and beautiful; you should check it out.

Click here to let us know that you’d like to be added to the mailing list for the monthly edition of “word.”

—Andrew

The M Booth team is psyched that our very own Danny Urquia is in...

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 11:08:00 -0500

The M Booth team is psyched that our very own Danny Urquia is in the running for the title of Young PR Professional of the Year at tonight’s PR Week Awards. Danny is a valued member of the corporate (and FWD!) team at the agency. He’s an unbelievable asset (and all-around-nice-guy) and we wish him the best of luck!

Here’s a collection of good luck tweets from Danny’s co-workers before the big announcement at tonight’s ceremony:

@dannyUrquia at #PRWeekAwards. Danny is a real star! he should be PR Week’s Young Professional of the Year. Fingers crossed! (@margibpr)

Tonights the night @dannyurquia for ur PRWeek honors #PRWeekAwards Remember you invited “The Cooler”—I’ll do my best to cheer u to victory (@MarkASchroeder)

Good luck to @mboothpr Young PR Professional of the Year @dannyurquia tonight! We’re so proud of you! #PRWeekAwards (@frani_lieberman)

GOOD LUCK AT THE #PRWeekAwards @DannyUrquia (@SirRonNYC)

Good luck to @DannyUrquia at the #PRWeekAwards! The @MBoothPR softball MVP is most deserving of the Young Professional of the Year award! (@jhamrahi…part one)

And by the way, BDD, BPro, & all Mets fans officially endorse @DannyUrquia for PR Week’s Young PR Professional of the Year! #PRWeekAwards (@jhamrahi…continued)

Good luck tonight @dannyurquia at the #PRWeekAwards. Fingers crossed he wins Young PR Professional of the Year! Much deserved. (@bradlaney360)

Good luck tonight @DannyUrquia Congrats on your nomination for Young PR Professional of the Year!! I hope u win, u deserve it! #PRWeekAwards (@RachelPancoe)

Good luck to @DannyUrquia at #PRWeekAwards. If Young Professional was decided by a burrito eating contest, he’d win. He’s the best! (@andrewrossi)

Good luck tonight, @dannyurquia! go get ‘em #PRWeekAwards (@JamieLee)

Sending good thoughts for @MBoothPR’s @DannyUrquia to win Young Professional of the Year at the #PRWeekAwards tonight! Woot! (@Summer21)

So proud of @DannyUrquia for his nom as Young Professional of the Year @ #PRWeekAwards! Remember his first day as my cube neighbor @MBoothPR (@sallymak26)

good luck @dannyurquia! I hope you win the Young PR Professional of the Year award tonight! & can I have your autograph?! #PRWeekAwards (@laurenarthur)

Good luck to my friend and colleague @dannyurquia He’s up for the PR Week’s Young PR Professional of the Year! #PRWeekAwards (@arbetts)

Good luck tonight, @dannyurquia! Regardless of the outcome, you’ll always be our Young PR Professional of the Year #PRWeekAwards (@matthewhantz)

sure, people come younger, but not more awesome… good luck @dannyurquia — kick some Young PR Professional butt tonight! #PRWeekAwards (@kellygene)

— Andrew

word. daily. (march 11, 2010) Taking the Plunge: Childhood...

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:28:00 -0500

word. daily. (march 11, 2010)

Taking the Plunge: Childhood sweethearts, Jeff and Stacey are tying the knot…or taking the plunge, if you will. For their “Save the Dates” they took pictures underwater and the results are H²O-mazing!*

Awesomest Harmonica Ever: Frustrated that your perfect blowing-the-dust-out-of-a-Nintendo-cartridge skill doesn’t come in handy anymore? Well, no more fretting — selling on eBay are NES cartridge harmonicas.

First Position: Sometimes the best ideas are also the simplest. Check out the minor tweak that Vivianne made to her homemade advertisement for her ballet studio to make it really stand out.

*Editor’s note: we’d like to apologize for using the phrase “H²O-mazing.”

Click here to let us know that you’d like to be added to the mailing list for the monthly edition of “word.”

—Andrew

JetBlue's Bday Scavenger Hunt....Sort Of

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:51:00 -0500

JetBlue's Bday Scavenger Hunt....Sort Of :

A previously reported Monday, JetBlue hosted a Twitter-based “scavenger hunt” today for their followers in New York to celebrate the airline’s 10th Anniversary. Wow, has it been 10 years since I first flew them on a marine biology trip to Florida in high school!?

Usually a scavenger hunt involves something along the lines of clues leading to more clues that lead to your final destination/find…not simply, “We’re here at X street now, bring us a birthday card!” Nonetheless, the airline gave out 1,000 free tickets today on the streets of NYC, which is a pretty sweet deal and a great example of the guerrilla work brands can accomplish by docking their efforts successfully online.

Happy b-day to you, JetBlue!

-Sally

word. daily. (march 10, 2010) Pencil You In: If you think a...

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 10:21:00 -0500

word. daily. (march 10, 2010)

Pencil You In: If you think a wall calendar with pictures of babies in flower pots is the bees knees, you ain’t seen nothing yet. From designer Oscar Diaz’s archives, we bring you the “ink calendar.” Diaz uses a slow absorbing ink to indicate time; a new calendar number is “printed” daily.

NYC’s Building Blocks: At the beginning of the month, German artist Jan Vormann of Jarmuschek+Partner gallery, along with a motley crew of volunteers, took to the streets and began filling in building cracks with Legos. Is this part of a larger Lego trend? Perhaps. Check out this Lego conference room table and this Lego kitchen.

Haul Video Blogs: What’s the newest trend among the tween girls? Well, its something called “haul videos” where they show off their most recent purchases via YouTube. That’s actually a pretty simple explanation, as you’ll see from the video linked above, these ladies wear a lot of hats (or toboggans, as SoCalAshleyDanielle might say), including:

Economist “I have been trying to save a lot of money, not just because I need to, but because I feel like I spend way too much money on makeup and I need to spend more money on clothes.”

Dentist “The original Crest Whitestrips sucked, saliva would start accumulating and the strips would start foaming.”

Personal Trainer “…If you want to look skinny, wear dark wash skinny jeans.”

Computer Whiz Kid “Just type in ‘fashion’ and ‘Marilyn Monroe’ or whatever you want to find and you can find it on Photobucket.”

Philosopher “Is it ‘Nordstrom’ or ‘Nordstrom’s’?”

Click here to let us know that you’d like to be added to the mailing list for the monthly edition of “word.”

—Andrew

word. daily. (march 9, 2010) Great Balls of Fire: Even the...

Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:15:00 -0500

word. daily. (march 9, 2010)

Great Balls of Fire: Even the worst pool players can look like sharpshooters thanks to CueLight. After all, when fireballs are shooting across the pool table, who’s paying attention to anything else? Featured in Esquire’s “Ultimate Bachelor Pad” in SoHo, this pool table is hooked up to a projection system that follows the motions of the pool balls (in this one setting, a trail of fire follows each ball), creating an interactive art display.

This Too Shall Pass: Actually, it won’t (well, not until their next ingenious music video goes viral). Getting six million hits in six days, OK Go’s new (embeddable!) music vid “This Too Shall Pass” features a giant Rube Goldberg machine. To top it all off – the entire video was done in one shot (it took them 70 tries for everything to work without a glitch, but still, awesome)! Perhaps most interesting is the fact that insurance giant State Farm actually sponsored the creation of the video.

Home Sweet Home: Check out some of the innovative work of designer Mark Reigelman including his “bite cutlery,” “urban vases,” and a bus shelter that he turned into a cozy home. We love all of these concepts, but wonder why he chose carnations for his urban vases.

Click here to let us know that you’d like to be added to the mailing list for the monthly edition of “word.”

—Andrew

10 Years....10 Bucks...Thanks, JetBlue

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:40:00 -0500

10 Years....10 Bucks...Thanks, JetBlue:

Thinking of hopping on a jet tomorrow (March 9) or Wednesday (March 10) but haven’t booked your flight?

In case you have the sudden urge to travel to Buffalo, Rochester, or maybe even Burlington, JetBlue is offering $10 fares for travelers who book tonight by 11:59pm CST to tout its 10th anniversary in the air; to be fair, you can also go to cooler (or shall I say warmer) destinations like West Palm Beach.

For those of us who can’t request vacation days with less than 24 hours notice, JetBlue will be tweeting all kinds of giveaways on 3/10, so hopefully we can take advantage of this milestone anniversary in that regard: @jetblue.

-Sally

word. daily. (march 8, 2010) Car-puccino: In the coming weeks a...

Mon, 08 Mar 2010 10:00:00 -0500

word. daily. (march 8, 2010)

Car-puccino: In the coming weeks a 1988 VW Scirocco will be making a 210-mile trip (a feat in itself) using coffee grounds as fuel. The trip across England will cost up to 50 times the price tag of regular gas or about the same as buying a frapa-mocha-latte-chino from Starbucks everyday for just shy of a year (based on the specs of a 2001 Jetta and yes, we did the math ourselves).

Faking It: To maintain the appearance of human existence, a UK town that you’ve never heard of is taking an unusual approach. They are turning out-of-business store fronts into fake store facades using large graphics.

Quack, Quack: Notcot’s Jean Aw alerts us to a simple and clever teaser from the puff-luxe brand Moncler. In the middle of the night they texted her asking, “What size are you?” Once she responded, they followed up with, “Black or white?” Two days later, a black coat in her size was sitting on her doorstep. Perhaps even cooler is the comic strip inside the jacket featuring a bilingual duck explaining how to wash the garment. Also, scroll through the full posting to see some golden retrievers wearing expensive jackets…if you’re into that (cc: @woodlandalyssa, @kellygene)

Click here to let us know that you’d like to be added to the mailing list for the monthly edition of “word.”

—Andrew

word. daily. (oscar edition) Best Dressed: Remember this dress...

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 09:11:00 -0500

word. daily. (oscar edition)

Best Dressed: Remember this dress that Best Actress front-runner Sandra Bullock wore to the Golden Globes? Well, it’s a Bottega Veneta gown made with a Japanese chiffon so heavenly it can only be cut out using the tip of an angel wing (okay, it’s cut by lasers, which is cooler). The fabric is actually so light that it is impossible to wrinkle it, no matter how hard you try…so if Sandy ever finds herself on a bus that will explode if it goes less than 50 MPH, she should wear this so she has one less thing to worry about.

Best Picture: Designer Tavis Coburn created retro re-imaginations of the five films nominated for the BAFTA – the UK equivalent of the Academy Awards. Check out his throw-back work that actually looks quite modern. (via Shelly Silver)

Best Actor / Worst Spokesperson: Great news, a few years ago Hyundai signed down-on-his-luck Jeff Bridges to do the voice over work in their commercials. Now, he’s a lock to win an Oscar. So Hyundai bought advertising space during the show to run their spot with Bridges! The Dude, that’s awesome for Hyundai! Oh, except that The Academy rejected the commercials because it doesn’t allow nominees or presenters to participate in commercials that air during the ceremony. Getting around that, Hyundai is replacing Bridges’ voice for the evening with a rotating cast including: Kim Basinger, David Duchovny and Catherine Keener.

Click here to let us know that you’d like to be added to the mailing list for the monthly edition of “word.”

—Andrew

Terrified of your taxes? Take advantage of a tax-free stay at Kimpton Hotels

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 14:23:00 -0500

Terrified of your taxes? Take advantage of a tax-free stay at Kimpton Hotels:

Gadling reported today on Kimpton Hotels’ “Sweet Tax Relief” deal that will be implemented in April. All guests who stay with the hotel chain in April will not pay room taxes; Kimpton will take care of it all. And if you’re afraid your tax return won’t be as large as you’d like…you can eat at Kimpton’s in-hotel restaurants to save yourself some dough on food taxes, as they’ll pick those up for guests as well.

I don’t know if I’m more excited about the no taxes or the free Sugar Daddy, PayDay, and 100 Grand candy bars available for guests through the month.

-Sally

word. daily. (march 4, 2010) Most Snuggies in a Single Room: Not...

Thu, 04 Mar 2010 10:18:00 -0500

word. daily. (march 4, 2010)

Most Snuggies in a Single Room: Not only do they have LeBron (we say this like we know what we’re talking about), but the Cleveland Cavaliers want to have a Guinness World Record, too; this Friday, the Cavs are giving out Snuggies to every audience member in attempt to set “the largest gathering of people wearing fleece blankets” record. Total bummer alert: the people have to give the Snuggies back! What are you going to do with 20,562 gently-used Snuggies, Cavs?

Word Nerds, Read On: The American Dialect Society voted on the words of the year and the decade…yawn. But they also voted on the most creative word of the year: Dracula sneeze (def: covering your mouth with your elbow when sneezing), most unnecessary word: sea kittens (def: a fish), and they weigh in on the twenty-ten vs. two-thousand-and-ten controversy (spoiler alert: twenty-ten wins). You can read all about it here.

The Type is IN: Check out this series of typefaces created in honor of Project Runway. Our favorite: “Where’s Andrae?” In fact, we love it so much, we want to take it on a date to Red Lobster.

Click here to let us know that you’d like to be added to the mailing list for the monthly edition of “word.”

—Andrew

word. daily. (march 3, 2010) Cadbury Creme Eggs Benedict: Well,...

Wed, 03 Mar 2010 11:00:00 -0500

word. daily. (march 3, 2010)

Cadbury Creme Eggs Benedict: Well, ladies and gentleman, what we have here is more than just a “same name” puzzle on the Wheel of Fortune, it’s a breakfast treat — the Cadbury Creme Eggs Benedict. This glorious creation involves doughnuts, brownies, frosting, Cadbury Creme Eggs, and fried pound cake masquerading as hash browns. We’re literally tearing up thinking about it.

Skin Is Amazing: Carnegie Mellon University and Microsoft have teamed up to make “touch screens for our bodies” that they are calling Skinput. What does that mean? Well, imagine a standard keyboard being projected onto your arm. When you touch the “keys” with your fingers, Skinput uses soundwaves to determine what keys have been pushed – meaning that one day you could replace the keyboard in front of you with a light projection on your forearm. But that’s not all, this could also mean huge innovation for gaming, mobile and the skincare industry.

Pizza in a Cone: I hope you’ve Scotchgarded your chair, because this will blow your mind. Opening yesterday across from the Empire State Building was K! Pizzacone, promoting “pizza on the go.” As its names suggests, this pizza is shaped like a cone. It starts out with a crust cone filled with cheese and your choice of a sauce or pesto; you then have the option to add more fillings. Congratulations, human race, you did it!

Click here to let us know that you’d like to be added to the mailing list for the monthly edition of “word.”

—Andrew

Facebook Fanpages Get 'Professional' Treatment

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:48:00 -0500

Fan Appz launched a platform yesterday to help Facebook page administrators create and distribute brand-specific polls, quizzes and promotions that fans can share with friends to extend brand awareness and drive traffic.

The platform, called Professional, provides built-in social marketing tools for businesses at a monthly subscription fee of about $50. Each time a fan takes a quiz or participates in a poll, responses can publish to their Facebook stream.

Brands that are already using the platform include Hulu and the National Basketball Association.

-Maria

South Africa Wants You to Diski Your Way to FIFA

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 11:28:00 -0500

South Africa Wants You to Diski Your Way to FIFA:

In a brilliant online move, South Africa Tourism has partnered with the “dancing while traveling” phenomenon Matt Harding (a.k.a. “Dancing Matt”) to promote the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

You may know Matt from the videos of his ridiculously embarrassing dance moves that got him tons of sponsored trips around the world to dance in high-profile places and post his dancing videos online. South Africa Tourism signed him on board to encourage online users to submit videos of themselves dancing the Diski - a silly dance inspired by the slick moves of South Africa’s soccer team. The best Diskier diskies his or her way to a World Cup Soccer match in Cape Town, sponsored by South African Airways.

Matt’s video - already taped - airs on YouTube this coming Friday (March 5) and instructs viewers on how to dance the Diski as he travels through portions of the surrounding Capetown area.

Just another example of a high-profile destination understanding how to have a little fun and put its best foot forward…while diski-ing.

-Sally

word. daily. (march 2, 2010)

Tue, 02 Mar 2010 09:38:00 -0500

One Million Giraffes: The Challenge: collect 1,000,000 pictures of hand drawn/made giraffes by 2011. The Challenger: Some guy from Norway trying to prove to his friend wrong. The Stakes: Um, we’re not sure. Why?: Again, not sure. At time of print, 601,905 giraffes have been uploaded to the site and with 306 days left, it looks like his goal might be reached. Oh, the powers of the internet.

Tweet Receipts! NYC computer programming aficionado (read: nerd), Matt Richardson (full disclosure: a friend of the agency…sorry about calling you a nerd, Matt) posted pictures of his most current project, entitled “Tweet Receipts,” on Flickr. The concept is simple, the machine is set up to check Twitter once every minute for messages containing Richardson’s screen name. Whenever it finds one, it prints it out using the tiny receipt printer so he’s sure not to miss it.

Lick a celebrity: Okay, that title is a little misleading. But, it’s kind of true because our Australian friends have created Auspops – a popsicle maker where celebrity portraits are etched onto the holders. When you’re done eating the frozen treat you’re left with an etching of the famous figure. But, don’t get excited about licking Aussies like Nicole Kidman or Hugh Jackman just yet, the inaugural batch of etchings includes the likes of Dame Edna.

Click here to let us know that you’d like to be added to the mailing list for the monthly edition of “word.”

—Andrew

"Speaking as the last stegosaurus, I hope that we dinosaurs [journalists] continue to stagger along...."

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 10:38:25 -0500

“Speaking as the last stegosaurus, I hope that we dinosaurs [journalists] continue to stagger along. We need to try to evolve, and so that’s one reason why I shoot videos for the New York Times website, why I blog, why I Twitter, why I Facebook, why I have a YouTube channel.”

- Nicholas Kristof in Time Out New York

Facebook Addiction Has No Effect on Grades

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 14:34:00 -0500

Log into Facebook and you’re bound to be inundated with (mostly unwanted) updates about how Jenny bought 3 trillion more acres of tillable land or how Tommy is now a made man and wants to recruit you. And you wonder to yourself how these people get any work done, given the amount of time and energy they spend on this social networking site. You might assume these students’ grades must suffer, much like the unfortunate stories of teenagers whose lives have been put on hold because of role-playing games like World of Warcraft.

Well, you know what they say about people who assume (Oh you don’t? Don’t worry, neither did this person)… A new study from the University of New Hampshire has revealed that heavy users (defined as those logged on for more than 61 minutes a day) do not do fare worse academically than the light users (those logged on for less than 31 minutes a day) do.

Surprising, no? Especially when you also subscribe to Lamebook’s RSS feed and see gems like this. (These kids are our future, people!)

-Kelly

Disclosure: A How-To Guide

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 18:37:34 -0500

Since the FTC was pretty vague in its new(ish) regulations, brands and bloggers alike were pretty confused about what exactly they’d have to do to stay on the right side of the law. Luckily, WOMMA has got our backs, and they’ve developed a Social Media Marketing Disclosure Guide in an effort to standardize the disclosing process. They outline exactly what a blogger must do to disclose their material connections, whether it’s on a blog, forum, social network, video- and photo-sharing Web site or podcast.

We’ve previously written about how disclosure can be tricky when posting in status updates where the number of characters is limited, but WOMMA suggests using hashtags such as #spon (sponsored), #paid or #samp (sample). I’ve also seen some people use the hashtag #ad for a paid tweet. It should be interesting to see how these catch on, especially in comparison to a tool like CMP.ly. Now WOMMA just needs to develop an industry standard for how public relations professionals should disclose posts or tweets about clients!

—Alyssa

Fashion Feed Frenzy

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:19:00 -0500

I have never experienced a Fashion Week through social media like I have this season. I think it’s a huge sign of the extent to which the fashion industry has increased its embrace, or at least acceptance, of the medium in such a short span of time. My Google Reader is bursting at the seams, my Twitter feed is off the charts and I seem to know everyone’s opinion about each show before I’ve even had the chance to form my own. I can’t figure out whether I love the crossfire of information or if it’s just too overwhelming. Did I love the simple lines and soft beiges of the Marc Jacobs collection, or did I just read that somewhere? How does social media change the way we think for ourselves?

-Kristin

Chef Wars on Twitter

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 11:46:00 -0500

Chef Wars on Twitter:

There’s an interesting article in The New York Times about how well-known chefs are using Twitter as a marketing tool for their restaurants and to “air their grievances” virtually. I thought Chef Joe Dobias (@chefjoedoe) of the East Village Restaurant JoeDoe said it best:

“JoeDoe is a character I play online to keep my name in front of people. I just need them to come into my restaurant, and then my food will do the talking and I can shut up.”

JoeDoe was recently in a Twitter war with a local supplier after he criticized them for not delivering produce on time (or something). Not going to lie, I am now following all the chefs listed in this article to see what other Twitter controversies are happening in the culinary world!

- Rebecca