Film Friday: Death Race

I don't need much convincing to watch a movie with Jason Statham in it.

Bad reviews? Bad marketing? I will take the risk.

So far, what I see online isn't too bad.

Site: At first glance the site offers the necessities, wallpapers, downloads. What I really liked was the race experience. It gives me a rundown of the track and car details.

I am not a car or racing enthusiast, but to support the movie - it works and is interesting to play with and get engaged.

Game: They have a simple racing game that lets you challenge your friend. Although the game is really bare bones, it is good enough to go viral.

Bad Search Results: I did a simple search on the movie and the site was at the bottom of the first page. Some simple SEO, SEm and third party buy could have fixed that - even if the buy was just for the first month the movie is out.

Intimate Reinforcement

My two best friends are Behaviour Analysts - so this is an apology to them if I get this all wrong.

Renita made a freudian slip last week and said the words, Intimate Reinforcement. I forgot what she was supposed to say but that phrase stuck with me.

Intimate Reinforcement - I am going to loosely define as the change in response due the addition or removal of an emotional (maybe unknown, like flirting) response.

For example, the doorman at Holt Renfrew always greets me with a smile, so I always feel welcome at the department store.

The ladies at Beestung Lingerie call me by my first name when entering their store, and I feel welcome and my trust level with them and their service increases.

For the online world, an example could be entering a site, going through a series of strategic pages and it giving me a great offer due to my path. Or, being an online brand contributor and getting 'perks' for being a fan...

This is still a thought-process in progress so let me know what you think.

Bell + Starbucks = Free Wifi

I know, I know...I blog a lot about Starbucks. I have a love/hate relationship with that brand.

I can't help it. There are six locations for me to choose from by my home and four by my office.

Around my home, they are advertising their latest offer - free wireless Internet access at more than 650 Starbucks stores in Canada! For Bell Sympatico Internet customers.

You get unlimited access by using your Bell ID to login to the Starbucks wireless access points. There's more information at www.bell.ca/wifi (currently that page doesn't seem to redirect properly in FireFox but works in Internet Explorer).

Starbucks customers get more limited access but that still amounts to 2 hours of free Wi-Fi per day by using your Starbucks Card and entering the number on the back to login.

So today, I love them.

Why?
- I am also a Bell customer. This partnership fully supports Bell's new branding to be recognized as Canada's leading communication company. As a customer of Bell - I win.
- I occasionally visit Starbucks with my laptop - so I win again!

Film Friday: The House Bunny

Rumer Willis and cast in scene from "The House Bunny"
Originally uploaded by beastandbean

Sorry I missed last week - it has been a few crazy days.

I don't have an inclination to watch The House Bunny but absolutely love their poster of Anna Faris with the contorted face and cute pink bunny ears. Classic.

After a quick look at their online campaign, I was pleasantly surprised with what they had to offer. For what I thought to be a B rated movie, they have definitely pulled together a decent web campaign filled with all the necessities to match the playfulness and silliness of the movie.

Website - Interactive with lots of fun content that makes sense to their audience. Nothing is too long, items are easy to find.

Facebook and MySpace pages are nothing spectacular but presence is enough to start things going - take a look at the number of friends are on them to see.

Mobile - Although nothing more than wallpapers and ringtones - I forsee this being a popular place once the movie is over and fans have their fave line from the movie.

Sorry I missed last week - it has been a few crazy days.

I don't have an inclination to watch The House Bunny but absolutely love their poster of Anna Faris with the contorted face and cute pink bunny ears. Classic.

After a quick look at their online campaign, I was pleasantly surprised with what they had to offer. For what I thought to be a B rated movie, they have definitely pulled together a decent web campaign filled with all the necessities to match the playfulness and silliness of the movie.

Website - Interactive with lots of fun content that makes sense to their audience. Nothing is too long, items are easy to find.

Facebook and MySpace pages are nothing spectacular but presence is enough to start things going - take a look at the number of friends are on them to see.

Mobile - Although nothing more than wallpapers and ringtones - I forsee this being a popular place once the movie is over and fans have their fave line from the movie.

A Brief Guide About Bridesmaids

In the months leading up to my wedding in June, I subscribed to many a blogs for ideas, solutions and stories. My fav is Darcy Miller's.

Even though the wedding is done, I still read her blog for good ideas on other items relating to design and just learning about the online initiatives in the crazy bridal industry.

Here is a great one from Dessy.com - an online bridesmaid dress store - Dedicated of course, to JennyB.

Film Friday: Twin Peaks

When Mr. Lan gave me/us the fabulous Twin Peaks box set, I was overjoyed!

A. I have finished season one of Mad Men.
B. I am having a difficult time finding something to watch on tv.
C. I love a good season
D. Twin Peaks actually brings me fond memories of watching a 'forbidden' show
E. Twin Peaks introduced me to the world of David Lynch
F. Twin Peaks introduced me to what film and tv should be...and expect nothing less.

So, like an excited little girl - I went online to see if there was anything going on online. I suspected there wouldn't me much since David Lynch has many a new projects and well...the show was done in 1991. A time when, well, having a computer in ones home was a luxury.

Website:
The site itself is what I expected - a 90's website that offers past reviews and other typical press materials. There are a few links to purchase items like music but no big promo for their box set. This surprised me.

Fans:
After conducting a Google Search on the show, I couldn't find the fans?

Social Search:
Ah ha! Here you all are.
- You Tube results - 2,130
- Flickr 'Twin Peaks Show' - 523
- Google Blog Search for 'Twin Peaks and David Lynch' - 12,788
- Facebook Fans - 28,149

Design the World a Coke

I know quite a few people who love the Coca-Cola brand. In fact, I have a few small vintage items which include a poster from the 50's and a straw container.

So when I came across Design The World a Coke - I was excited, then confused.

The mission of this campaign?

"As the Olympic Games come to Beijing, China this year, we are inviting youth from around the world to express themselves creatively through our Design the World a Coke digital experience and share with the world. We're psyched for you and your friends to be a part of it!

It is our hope that by participating in our design community, each of you will have the opportunity to share your ideas, aspirations and creativity openly with one another. This experience is about individual self-expression, but at the same time, it's also about learning and understanding about one another across cultures and geographies too. So what you say and create counts! As we're a planet of nearly 6 billion carbon-beings,…"

My thought-process:
I initially thought that this campaign was for the coke advocate who loves the brand soooo much that they would want to design their own bottle and be well, the evangelist and then be able to purchase a case (trust me, this would be a popular item at weddings) - similar to personalized M&M's.

Second thought - the advocate/evangelist would probably contribute anyway, so no need to focus on them.

Third thought - where does the Olympics come into play here? I realize it is about diversity and expressing your culture - but should there still not be a tie in to what most think about the Olympics? Most of the initial designs I came across in both the gallery and tool didn't allude to what I think of in regards to the 'the games'? I am missing the connection?

Fourth thought - the site itself has a lot of great functionality and interactivity and is great for a lover of coke - but if you are not a fan? Then what? Does your 'Creator' audience change?

Fifth and final thought - Coke is already an international brand so this makes perfect sense. Is the message lost though with the connection to the Olympics or is it just a timing thing?

Film Friday: Choosing a URL (yes I know it ain't no movie...again)

Space Chimps
Originally uploaded by Dheebak Kumaran

Last night, Eden told me about a great site that fit just in time for Film Friday.

Bill Sweetman's- Hollywoozy. Sweetman is a domain expert and former movie critic - so it only make sense that he rates movie URL's.

Movie URL's may seem quite obvious to you. The new Dark Knight would/is www.darknight.com (Sweetman gives this 5 stars).

How about Space Chimps? The obvious would be www.spacechimps.com right? But they went with http://www.spacechimpspower.com(Sweetman gives this 2 stars). I am sure you can see the issues with this URL.

You get the gist. I recommend you check out Hollywoozy and Bill's site for domain consulting...because sometimes it may not be so obvious.

BTW, Space Chimps does not render well in my FF. Although the site looks like it is packed with good stuff...I have to give it ** (out of 5)