Photobooth to the Next Level

Polite in Public has taken the hipster hobby of photoboothing [not sure if that's an actual term] to an entirely new level.  The photos are incredibly vibrant - not your typical photobooth stuff.  Notcot has a long post here.  An excerpt below and some photos after that ...

So what goes into these photobooths that creates such a glamourous lookfrom what can often be quite the crazy party? Well, their services start at a mere $2500, which includes a custom made backdrop, onsite 5x7 dye-sub printing, onsite slide show, and web hosting for all images. If you’re like me, the first thing you wonder is “how do they clean up the images so incredibly and still manage to have onsite printing and slide shows?”… well they have spent a year developing custom software and hardware that helps them complete the finishing work for each image in near realtime. The average file goes through 40-50 changes before being printed and exported for the slideshow and web viewing. All image filters and lighting designs are custom developed for each project.

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Interactive Display at NYC Wine Bar

[Via]

New York design group, Potion, has created an interactive experience for the wine bar at Alain Ducasse’s new restaurant, Adour, located in the St. Regis Hotel.  According to Potion's website...

The interactive bar allows patrons to browse Adour’s complete wine list by wine type, country, and varietal. When a visitor selects a wine, a rosette appears that contains information about the wine on its five petals. Adour’s Wine Director manages the wine list using a custom-designed content management system, and can update the interactive bar on a daily basis or for a special occasion.

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Wenger Swiss Army Knife - Not For Me, Thanks

Wenger unveiled its Giant Swiss Army Knife.  With 85 implements and 110 functions, it might be a weekend warrior's dream tool.  Not for me.  No way, no how.  In fact, I find it kind of emblematic of what's wrong with so many businesses these days ... lack of focus and no clear consumer value proposition.  I get the iPhone - having a phone, MP3 player, camera and email all in one makes perfect sense.  But tell me again why I need a bike chain rivet setter AND golf divot repair tool all in one?

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Text Messages on Shopping Carts

I recently read on Springwise about a company called Modstream that delivers digital messages right to the handle of a shopping cart.

Modstream_2 My immediate reaction was that it's a great idea.  Then I realized I spend as much time grocery shopping as I do thinking about complex calculus.  So I asked my wife - a focus group of one.  Her reaction: "It's hard enough trying to find what you need on the shelf AND dealing with Henry in the cart.  I don't see what good it would do me."

Oh well.  What the hell do I know?

Strange Maps ... a Blog I Love

Strange Maps is possibly my favorite blog of all time.  Grab the feed and be prepared to be amazed and delighted on a weekly basis.  Here's a recent map [a subway map of Web trends 2.0] and a brief explanation [full post here] ...

Picture_1_3 Intangible and invisible, but omnipresent: that combination of qualities used to describe only God (or the sense of dread left by His absence). Now it also applies to cyberspace. Any attempt to map the internet is bound to fall frustratingly short of its true complexity, or to be so complex as to be illegible.

This is actually the second such mapInformation Architects (here; their Web Trend Map 1.0 is here). As they themselves define it, this map shows “the 200 most successful websites on the web, ordered by category, proximity, success, popularity and perspective.” produced by

The map shows 15 distinct lines, organising the top websites into categories sucs as News, Sharing, Main Sites, Music, Political Blogs, Chinese Line, etc. Obviously, there is overlap. That’s where the Junctions come in: YouTube, for example, is on the Main Sites line, but also on the Movies and Knowhow lines. WordPress sits astride the Social News, Design and Technology lines.

An interesting innovation is a 6 month weather forecast for some of the stations (as the weather’s generally rather stable in a genuine subway), indicating their chances in an ever changing cyberspace. Google’s future is ‘unreal’, Xing’s is ‘insecure’, the Washington Post’s is ‘changing’, MSN is headed for ‘storm’. Whether the wheather may be wet or fine, is tied in with their being web sites of generation 1.0 or 2.0. A few stations are classified more specifically as 0.5, 1.5, 2.5.

Manchester United's Global Digital Plan

Saw this nugget in a few places, including PSFK.  From the Guardian:

"Manchester United is in talks with marketing groups including WPP, Publicis and Omnicom about an ambitious global strategic partnership to drive the club's digital fan base to 50 million users.

The club is in talks with four global companies - the fourth being McCann Worldgroup - with the aim of finding a partner to implement a five year plan to drive the club's global digital operation.

"We are a football club and a global brand, a media phenomenon, but at the moment we are not doing enough for our fans," the Manchester United group commercial director, Lee Daley, told MediaGuardian.co.uk."

This is why Manchester United is Manchester United and, for example, Chelsea FC is Chelsea FC.  Both stacked with great players, but likely that most people reading this post have never heard of the latter.  Man U is a global marketing juggernaut.

By the way, if you haven't seen Man U's Cristiano Ronaldo, watch the highlight video below.  Ronaldo is pretty much hated by everyone (including his teammates).  Probably because he is so young (22), never passes the ball and has a mullet.  But he is so good!

Digital Agencies Grab a Bigger Piece of the Pie

Thepie460PR Blogger points to an article in Marketing Week that discusses the trend of digital agencies taking a bite out of traditional agency business.  The article points to the case of eBay, which last week:

"Appointed self-professed "integrated agency" Albion to handle its advertising highlights.  In this case, eBay rejected the overtures of shops famed for their television ads such as Mother and WCRS in favour of an agency that promises to use the internet as lead medium."

For me it boils down to this ... for traditional agencies to compete for talent, business and respect in a 2.0 world -- against 2.0 agencies -- they must raze long-standing institutional silos, decentralize decision-making, operate with a sense of measured fearlessness and do so with speed.  Easy to say, tough to execute.  But when the alternative is extinction ...