POST DIGITAL

ON: 5 A Cool & Refreshing Approach To Gum

Wrigley has launched a new sugar-free gum - “5”.  The name references the five flavors of the gum, which produce cooling, warming, and tingling sensations.  The broadcast spots and microsite offer futuristic imagery that is meant to emulate these sensations.   Wrigley continues to look at the media landscape with a deep understanding of what its consumer wants out of its brand building and product innovations.  What this site shows is that it does not arrogantly work in a vacuum with out the guidance of consumer input and sophistication of developing experiences that appeal to their psyche.

While this was a fun site there are a number of disconnects for me.  1.) the use of old world technology to pass along the 5 to friends.  2.) the lack of portable content.  It is obvious that they spent a penny on video and 3D production that cannot be embraced or worn as a brand badge. and 3.) It could have taken this Sci-Fi feel to a number of online communities where people could continue dialogging with 5.  These addition would have only costed a few more bucks.

Check out the site at http://www.5gum.com. 

Wrigley continues to invest in unique interactive experiences and it continues to pay off in lift in awareness and sales.

ON: A Fun Fashion Community

I have never been a fashonista other than to wear my geek sheik attitude on my sleeve and in my wide array of sport shoes.  When I ran across the MySpace Fashion I found myself getting into the nuances of the community.  It’s all about the clothes at MySpace Fashion. The brand that seems to know no-limits is now in your closet and on the runaway, as they bring news from the fashion industry to the world’s largest social network.  The community features an all new look, and a host of new programming such as MySpace Presents: The Fit, MySpace Muse presented by Who Wear What Daily, InStyle News and a collection of amateur and professional fashion videos from runway shows and MySpaceTV. You’ll also be able to see featured designers, profiles, and videos.

Leveraging the MySpace name, they will also be able to bring you news from the hottest events now such as Olympus Fashion Week behind-the-scenes videos, coverage of Paris Hilton’s new fashion line launch at Kitson (editor: is there nothing Paris Hilton can’t do?), coverage of the Fashion Rocks red carpet event on September 6th and more.

It’s another attempt by MySpace to take control of a niche, and sell some very targeted ads at the same time.

ON: Slacker

Slacker, the online radio provider, has launched a MySpace widget that lets you insert a radio station onto your profile. With this widget offering, you can choose an existing station or create a custom station to play on your MySpace page.

 

  The widget will display artist info for songs it plays. One of the larger benefits is of course the ability to play a much larger selection of music on your profile than you’d otherwise have through MySpace.

The option to embed the Slacker player on another website is not promoted, on Slacker’s site or on the widget, either. You’ll need to go to the player’s options to find the “Add to MySpace” button, where the embed code is provided.

ON: Flickr Video

Flickr needs video. Too often I return from a trip, upload pictures to Flickr and then just store the videos on my hard drive. I want those videos right next to the photos, with the same tags and in the same sets (albums).  So are the rumors true?  Is Flickr going to be Yahoo's CGV platform?

ON: FUZE

FUZE is an all-in-one instant messenger built on top of Adobe Air  FUZE allows me to connect to IM services such as AOL, YAHOO, MSN, GTalk, and more! The transfer of messages are handled by an Openfire Jabber based server.

The messenger was built using FLEX, HTML and takes advantage of AIR’s windowing, SQL, and File System API’s.

Click here to check out FUZE.  Thanks to Sean Scott for the find!

ON: My new platform & look

It was time for an update.  I created my new platform "simply fun". 
The platform stems from a feeling of accomplishment in my career combined with the comedic value I offer my friends, colleagues and family.

At this point in my career, if it is not fun - it is really not worth doing.  It was time to break from the convention of neutral colors while offering a clean way to display my work, presentations, and passion projects.
Thus the new improved http://joannapenabickley.net

ON: Advertising Week Schdule - Come Meet Me

I will be attending a number of of the events including the Mixx Awards Gala.  Here are a few of the conferences I have signed up for...

Monday, September 24th
8:00am	-	NARC presents The NAD Annual Conference
8:00am	-	IAB's MIXX Conference and Expo 2.7
8:30am	-	OMMA Conference & Expo
Tuesday, September 25th
9:00am	-	Venice Festival of Media/Cream Masterclass
4:00pm	-	USA Today Presents
Wednesday, September 26th
7:45am	-	AWNY's Media Insights Breakfast
8:00am	-	Passionistas: The New Empowered Consumers presented by Yahoo!
10:00am	-	D&AD: How to get into the industry
Thursday, September 27th
8:00am	-	Advertising Ages Digital Bites Breakfast
2:00pm	-	Brand America: The Creatives Perspective (Part II)
Friday, September 28th
9:00am	-	Activision Video Game Symposium
12:00pm	-	MSN and MRM Worldwide present Hispanic 2.0

ON: Advertising Week & What I Want To Be When I Grow Up

As Advertising week approaches and I prepare for the Mixx Awards ceremony (my baby WatchandWhoa.com is a finalist), all the creative conferences and media learning I will learn and write about next week. Ahh fleeting thought of award night brings a tear to my eyes.  I reflect on what I do, and why I love what I do.  I was born to be an Creative Director living in the digital world. 

This video is to fun and reflective of our world and industry.
The question is:"What do you want to be when you grow up?"

ON: Diesel + Dating

I really enjoyed the concept of the Diesel dating idea.

The peeps over @ Diesel really hung it all out there, riding the Web 2.0 ideas and making a sale into social networking. It never hurts to put pretty people on a site and mix in some quasi dating rituals combined with video, sassy content and an option to email the beautiful people you're looking at. 

Another smart angle was the ads. Like everyone else, Diesel features link to its ads. However, the ads on this site are online ads. If you work in digital as a creative, you have to appreciate that nod to the online space. Great Idea - Great Execution!

ON: HBO's Poligamy Game

As a kid I was always a big fan of sitting with the family back home in San Antonio and playing boardgames like Life.  When I caught a glimpse of Deep-Focus' virtual Salt Lake City I immediately clicked through to play the game of Life as a polygamist. This time Ian and Deep-Focus took a simple idea and put two runners on base.

At first blush I found the instructions to be a bit confusing.  The use of natural progressors or even integrated instructions would have made the app much easier to navigate which would have made it a home run.

I would have loved to seen interactive play with other would-be polygamists. Enjoy this sweet game at http://www.hbo.com/biglove/boardgame/