Brand Noise

Radio Shack Up for Review

According to Brand Week, Radio Shack recently launched a creative review. Going forward, we envision Radio Shack taking it old school. A place powered by electronic modders. Sort of Apple's Genius Bar meets Best Buy Geek Squad meets Circuit Benders. Then best them all with the likes of the smart girls at TekServe--a new Radio Shack should be gender neutral. Wikipedia reports the company was started as Radio Shack in 1921 by two brothers who wanted to provide equipment for the cutting-edge field of amateur, or ham, radio. Curious to see who gets to be the chosen one after the review process ends in March. Will incumbent Arnold hold on?

Assurance Should be an All-around Positive Declaration

Hyundai's new "Assurance Program" allows new-vehicle buyers or those who lease to return their cars for up to a year after purchase if they lose their income due to a job loss. Here's the official policy: Hyundai Assurance.

Not so sure exactly how I feel about that one. One, if you lose your job...you'll desperately need that car to get back in the saddle again and start interviewing. Two, how high is the threshold of pain that you must muster to actually bring the car back. And how do you explain that to your friends? "I'm so down and out, I had to turn my Hyundai in..." In an era where social credibility among peers can make or break a person, this sounds like lip service. Now, if Hyundai wants to put its money where its mouth is, how about: If you lose your job, they suspend your payments until you land a new position...or some pre-determined amount of time.

You keep your car, your pride and you just might get that slim next job.

Hmmm...kind of reminds me of another insurance policy. Last year, when we bought our daughter an electronic panda, Sharper Image told us we could trade it in whenever we wanted as long as we purchased a Replacement Guarantee. Our thought was that within six months (or hopefully before the company started bankrupty proceedings), the kid would tire of the Panda and much prefer a kneading massage cushion...yeah right...we still have the panda. He gets played with just enough to warrant him staying in our home. I suspect we'd hold on to a Hyundai too as long as he was worth his driving weight.

Air Force Reaching Out Through Xbox

The US Air Force is partnering with Microsoft to promote the Xbox LIVE "Horror Meets Comedy" original short film series premiering this November 19th. The series features eight well-known horror directors who will bring their comedic visions to life. Directors include James Wan & Leigh Whannell creators of the "Saw" franchise, James Gunn ("Slither", "Dawn of the Dead") Andrew Douglas ("The Amityville Horror"), David Slade ("30 Days of Night") and Lucky McKee ("May").

Air Force will create custom intro billboards that will run with each pilot and interactive media placements that will live across the Xbox LIVE online entertainment network and the Xbox.com website. Users can click on these custom units and engage directly with the Air Force Brand Destination which offers users the opportunity to learn more about the Air Force through video downloads, gamer pictures and theme packages.

Seems to me there’s a bigger picture to explore…

Army is Watching Twitter

Recently, Wired’s Noah Shachtman first blogged that the Army’s 304th Military Intelligence Battalion report details three Twitter scenarios:

1. Terrorists use phones with Twitter to relay real-time updates of troop movements in order to coordinate an ambush.
2. Terrorists use cell pics and tweets to coordinate the timing to explode a device.
3. Terrorists follow a soldier’s tweets and use Twitter to obtain logistical information.

A ZD Blogger put it this way: "Twitter is just communication. If it didn’t exist, terrorists would use plain SMS. Or whatever. In a perfectly secure world, there would be no communication."

From our perspective, the key is to understand the power behind the networking and its underpinnings...Twitter today, something new tomorrow. That holds true for military ops, as well as any other brands. The future is filled with opportunities for grassroots movements to gain global reach--which should be a good thing, but there's always another side. It's a study in behavior. You can build stop gaps in, but human nature is to work around it. The issue poses a deeper mindset issue.

The Scoop on Facebook's Lifechanging Box Sponsor

Facebook has a pretty "sharp" (!) new game circulating...The Lifechanging Box. It's like hot potato in reverse. If the box opens while it's in your possession, you win its prize. But I'm one of those curmudgeons who walks past raffle tickets even when they go to a good cause--because I NEVER win at games of chance. "Maybe this time" runs through my head...but I'm pretty quick to squelch the notion. And so I did the same when I saw the application for Lifechanging Box (sans its sponsor name) fly through my Facebook site. Now that the sponsor has been revealed to me and I see colleagues have already won some pretty cool stuff, I'm rethinking that decision. Is there a vacation in that box? I'm so ready for one.

What About Viewers Under the Radar?

Nielsen Co. is unveiling its "fusion" research products that integrate data from disparate media and brand research. The latest product, which was created for Sony Pictures Television, fuses audience ratings data from Nielsen's TV and online surveys with the product purchasing data from Nielsen's HomeScan panel to create a unified view of what TV programs and Web properties consumers use and what brands they buy.

Meantime, MediaPost also reports that Fox is pairing with social networking service Passenger to launch a private online community giving the network access to ongoing audience feedback on programming and marketing efforts. Made up of some 2,000 loyal Fox Network viewers invited to join, the community lets members preview new shows, interact with TV producers, post comments, engage in online discussions and participate in polls.

But what about the audiences that aren't so quick to raise their hands? Often, today, these are the most compelling viewers. They're in. They're out. They leave an indelible mark. They do follow behavioral patterns. Think of the Rachael Ray Sucks Community that thrives online throwing jabs or the case of Friday Night Lights, so well written it fell off the radar.

Game Tech Treats Soldiers

In a small, windowless room at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, researchers are using the latest video game technology - plus a smell machine and a vibration platform - to help patients suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
Known as "Virtual Iraq," the treatment may help many soldiers who don't find relief from medication or traditional psychotherapy." It really jogs their memory," says Col. Michael Roy, who runs the digital therapy program at Walter Reed. "It puts them back there very powerfully and makes them realize a lot of things they had consciously or subconsciously repressed."
 Read more from the Baltimore Sun.

It's 2008. Do you know where your consumers are?

Bunch of stuff happening along the lines of media in the past week:

1. Microsoft announced it will buy Navic Networks, an addressable advertising technology provider that enables marketers to dynamically target and measure audiences based on patented technology available in 35 million set-top boxes nationwide.
2. And the race to own the web's platform is still very much alive and well. Like Google, Microsoft has ambitions in the online ad space to be the platform through which ads flow -- to use targeting and technology to make publisher inventory more valuable and give advertisers better returns.
3. The addressable advertising market has had major momentum in recent months in the wake of Project Canoe, a consortium of the country's top cable operators whose mission is to create universal metrics for video on-demand ad opportunities to national advertisers. Part of Canoe's initiative will be to introduce its own addressable and interactive ad products to the marketplace, with an additional data-and-analytics product to help advertisers assess the effectiveness of Canoe's ad-serving technology.

The value of these emerging networks is about how well they identify and engage their consumers--something very different from old school top-of-the-mount origins.

Good Technology Makes Good Pictures, Not Smiles

Why is a smile synonymous with a good picture? Sony has been banking on the connection with its new Cyber-Shot camera with its Smile Shutter technology. Yet reviews are less than favorable: “Smile shutter sounds appealing in theory…But it strikes me as a work in progress.”

My own favorite photos of my six-year-old daughter are when she’s at her most contemplative. Maybe they can fine-tune a camera for me with a Brood Button? This is a case of where technology is not keeping up. The smile thing as good photography is something that lives in the realm of boomers and silents.

Not such a provocative concept considering that the first successful picture was produced in June/July 1827 by Niépce required an exposure of eight hours. Who could have possibly smiled that long?  Things didn't get snappy until about a century later.

(photo: Sabine demonstrates that pain makes a great picture.)

Parent/Kid Sharing is About Fun

Check out this bit of kid/parental sharing. Can someone give me one compelling reason to act like an adult? The idea of play doesn’t stop when a Gen Xer or Yer becomes an adult, let alone a parent. Now it's about seeing the fun side of all things. Even when your house is being overrun by Littlest Pet Shop, as demonstrated by director Rebecca and her dad, the cameraman.