13 March 2009

Trendables -- 6 products that can

-able, everyone's favorite "can-do" adjective suffix, is enjoying a revival. 20-some years since its heyday, we've found it stitched to no less than six modern product names, deriving for them a certain adroitness that a lonesome noun mightn't have provided. And two of these products, as it happens, have been demoed at TED.

1. Siftables: The cookie-sized computers with motion sensing, neighbor detection, graphical display, and wireless communication. (See David Merrill's demo of Siftables at TED2009.)

2. Inventables: A subscription service used by consumer product companies who want to create unique products. (Watch Keith Schact and Zach Kaplan show off products from the future.)

3. Instructables: A how-to and DIY community where people make and share inspiring, entertaining, and useful projects, recipes and hacks. (Watch Saul Griffith show hardware solutions to everyday problems.)

4. Mashable: Touted as the world's largest Web 2.0- and social networking-related news blog.

5. Reactable: An electronic music instrument with a slick, multi-touch interface.

6. Lunchables: Children's meal combinations, often called "the taste of elementary school" by the Gen Y cohort.

Give us more examples in the comments, if you are capable.

(Image: Mike Femia)

07 February 2009

Grey day: a chat with Grey Group on the "idea booth"

Advertising agency Grey Group provided TED@PalmSprings with an "idea booth" that offered some new tools to help spread ideas. We caught up with them after session 10.

Chel O'Reilly: We're an advertising agency, so we spread ideas, and TED is all about "ideas worth spreading," so we thought we'd combine our skills with TED's interests, which really are the interests of humanity. We have this booth where our colleagues are working. We're saying, "Bring your ideas that you want to spread at TED here, and we'll talk about them, we'll see what things we can come up with, we'll see how we can help you." And we have some special tools for doing so, which Andy Ford is the brainchild behind.

Andy Ford: I think the reason Grey works so well at TED -- as opposed to most advertising agencies -- is because we're people first. The software we've developed is not about amassing data. It's about human interaction. Let's actually dig in to what matters to people. Find out what they love. Find out what they hate. That takes time, and it takes context. And it takes people who give a damn. That's the reason I love the partnership. TED gives a damn. Grey gives a damn. At the end of the day, everybody's got to get paid, but if the world's not a better place, then, fuck, who cares?

I've done a lot of terrible shit in my life. There are a whole lot of products and schemes that I've been behind, and that I'm not proud about. But when you get a chance to really do something and to hear the kinds of messages that are here, you figure that these agencies are going to go back and make real moral decisions for the world. They're going to advise their clients to do things that matter. That's worth it.

True collaboration does require some giving and taking. But I think to turn Madison Avenue from this place where we spend and we run a program up and see how far we can take an advertising dollar to a place that says we can no longer afford to have our blood in the game. We have to turn Madison Avenue into a place of influence. I want to see us stop taking orders. I want to see us start advising on how to make a difference. Frankly, I think that's the only way we'll make it.

Bill Power: I had a great conversation with Jit Bhattacharya of Mission Motors about the need to provide alternative fuel and energy transportation alternatives with as little sacrifice as possible, in order to have the broadest appeal to the market. That's why his kick-ass electric sport bike imposes little compromise to riders, which is what most people believe is the trade-off with electric or hybrid alternatives to fossil fuel bikes and cars. We're both hot rod gear heads, so we were in sync.

We talked about the shocking lack of diversity among entry level advertising recruits, and all the possible reasons why the industry has still not found the appeal beyond white college students -- in comparison to banking, entertainment, technology, publishing, so on. Coming to TED will hopefully inspire some news ideas so tomorrow's agency begins to represent a little more closely the consumer population we aim to persuade on behalf of our clients.

20 April 2007

Seth Godin on TED.com

In a world of too many options and too little time, our obvious choice is to just ignore the ordinary stuff. Marketing guru Seth Godin spells out why, when it comes to getting our attention, bad or bizarre ideas are more successful than boring ones.

15 August 2006

Ross Lovegrove on TEDTalks

Ross Lovegrove is an industrial designer, best known for his work on the Sony Walkman and Apple iMac. In this highly visual presentation, he presents his recent work -- from furniture to water bottles -- which is organic in form and inspired by nature. (Recorded February 2005 in Monterey, CA. Duration: 20:14)

Get TED delivered:
Subscribe to the TEDTalks video podcast via RSS >>
Subscribe to the iTunes video podcast
Subscribe to the iTunes audio podcast
Get updates via Twitter >>
Join our Facebook fan page >>

Subscribe to the TED Blog >>

17 July 2006

Quote of the week: Malcolm Gladwell

"I think I speak for all writers, when I say that I am delighted by marketing efforts of any sort."

— Tipping Point author Malcolm Gladwell, commenting in The Guardian on film-style trailers for books, being released online by publishers to build demand for new titles

15 July 2006

good repositioning

(From The Guardian)

22 June 2006

Ads We Love: Pac-Man Puppet Show

Some of the best-loved TV ads can hold their own as short films, with compelling characters, surprising twists, emotional resonance ... and maybe a mariachi band. For example: Pac-Man Puppet Show, an exceedingly endearing ad, which may well be the sweetest spot we highlighted at TED2006. Created for Gametap by Mullen (Wenham, MA), and filmed on location in Tijuana, Mexico.

13 June 2006

Ads We Love: Adidas football fresco

In celebration of the World Cup, Adidas has launched a series of unconventional, high-profile ads across Germany. We just laid eyes on this one: A 9,000-square-foot fresco, painted Sistine-chapel-wise on the ceiling of Cologne's central train station. It took Hamburg-based illustrator Felix Reidenbach 40 days to complete this pantheon of soccer gods, featuring 10 superstars of the sport (all Adidas-sponsored, of course). Click the image below for a closer look at the lads, who include the UK's David Beckham and Germany's Michael Ballack. Created for Adidas by TBWA/Germany. (Hat tip to Bruno)

25 April 2006

Ads We Love: "Bouncy Balls"

Bouncyballs_1 The NY-based TED team spent much of last week in San Francisco, remembering just how much we love that gorgeous city. It seems a fine moment, then, to share another of our favorite ads, which screened at TED2006.

Many of you have no doubt seen this spot (a testament to its wide appeal, since it hasn't actually aired in the U.S.). But in case its escaped your attention ... Imagine 250,000 colored Superballs, bouncing down the hills of San Francisco. Now watch ... No CGI here. These are real balls, real hills, real color. Even a real frog.

Created by Fallon London for Sony Bravia.

[Other Ads We Love: Boardroom | noitulovE (Evolution)]

31 March 2006

Ads We Love: "Boardroom"

Each year at TED, we punctuate the program with interstitial videos: TV commercials, short films, music videos and montages that represent some of the best work of the year (or, rather, the best work of the year that can double as an interstitial). Over the weeks to come, we'll share many of them with you here.

First up: Boardroom, a provocative pitch with a punchline. And the most-requested spot following TED2006. Created by Vancouver ad agency Rethink for Science World.

03 February 2006

Stay tuned for ... Michael Montes's Superbowl premiere

During the TED salon this fall at Joe's Pub, we were treated to the world premiere of Colobus, a dark and unsettling orchestral piece by TEDster Michael Montes, who also composed the title sequences for TED2005 and TED2006. This weekend, Montes has yet another premiere: This time, a TV commercial for the Cadillac Escalade, scored by his company, Sacred Noise, for ad agency Leo Burnett/Detroit. There's a great TED connection here: Montes met Don McKinney, a creative director for Leo Burnett, at TED2005. And executive creative director Tor Myhren will attend TED2006. And we'll watch for an update, this time next year ...

03 February 2006

Tis the season for Superbowl ads

Terrytate As Superbowl Sunday approaches, our thoughts turn lightly toward ... TV advertising, what else? And if the build-up to the game has you hungry for those great ads of Superbowls past, it might be time to revisit Apple's legendary 1984 commercial (which aired only once), as well as the delightful 2005 spoof.

And to really get in the mood, giggle your way through this extended 3-minute version of Terry Tate, Office Linebacker, one of the most amusing Superbowl ads of all time.

14 December 2005

The Accidental Artist: A TV ad

A German TV commercial invokes the age-old question: It's entertaining ... but is it art?

05 December 2005

Zen and the Art of PowerPoint

As TED veterans know, it's not uncommon for first-time speakers to completely overhaul their presentations in Monterey, after realizing their standard talk won't do. And it's true: The bar is set intentionally high at TED. It's not enough to have a great idea. You have to engage the audience, craft a meaningful story and pace yourself for the 18-minute slot. It doesn't hurt to know your way around PowerPoint either.

Mastering all these elements is a skill unto itself, and Garr Reynolds has some of the best advice I've seen for delivering great presentations. His deceptively simple tips ("Limit bullet points and text;" "Move away from the podium") would qualitatively improve 90% of the talks I see (and, believe me, I see a lot of talks). And his blog, Presentation Zen, provides regular pointers for professional presenters. Though he delves into the nitty-gritty of slide design and technology, he never loses sight of the big picture. His No. 1 tip on delivery? "Show your passion." We couldn't agree more.

(Hat tipped gratefully to metacool for the link.)

28 November 2005

A TV commercial to wake up with

Playstation2 Sleepy? Sluggish? Having a hard time focusing after four days of food? This 60-second spot – which begins with modern art making a break for it – is the triple venti latte of TV commercials.

20 November 2005

Occasionally, you have to tip your hat...

...to masters of dark humor. There I was innocently surfing the web, when I came across this site, purveyors of profoundly demotivating posters such as the one below... (or, even better, this one.)

Demotivators_1872_6266267_2 Naturally sunny, upbeat person that I am, I tut tutted for several minutes, before buying a dozen of their desktop plaques as Xmas gifts for people who are almost my friends. Here's the order confirmation email I received. Pure genius.

Thank you for your recent order from Despair, Inc.

I'd like to personally welcome you to our growing body of Dissatisfied Customers(tm), but to do so might evidence some actual concern for service and protocol. This might then lead to customer satisfaction, which would defeat the purpose altogether. That is why you have received this generic, form-generated email, written by some nameless lackey in our marketing department.

Having established that any pretense of consideration for *your* needs would be counter-productive to our raison d'etre at Despair Inc, let us now ponder a subject of greater interest to those among us who are worthy of both of our collective attentions - that person being me.

While you sit there wincing in disbelief at these bons mots of authentic insincerity and vexed by the intrinsic contradictions, I find I am beside myselfwith awe at the specimen of unparalleled angst that is our most recent Despair Catalog. Hardly a man given to superlatives, I must nevertheless assert with David-Lee-Rothian boldness that we are demonstrably without peer in the Art of Demotivation®.

If any of the information shown below is inaccurate, please notify us immediately using our new Troubled Ticketing system. We will rectify your error immediately, and on some occasions,
without snickering.

It is the least we can do, which, as a matter of policy, is the most we can do.

Sincerely not really writing you this email,
E.L.

16 November 2005

An astonishing sentence...

...is the lead in today's Wall Street Journal online (as of 8am). Few who experienced the melt-down of online advertising-based business models 5 years ago would have imagined that on this day in 2005 they would read the following at the top of the WSJ's news agenda:

YAHOO, AOL, MSN and other leading Web sites are selling out ad space far in advance, allowing for big rate increases...

Despite the exhilarating turnaround of web advertising in the last three years, logic says we've only just started. The ultimate asset in the media business is "attention" and on the simplest measure of attention -- eyeball hours -- the Internet's share is a significant multiple of its dollar-share. For example nationally, the Internet attracts around one sixth as many ad dollars as TV... Do YOU spend six times as much of your time and attention watching Tivo-free television?

Over time, dollars will adjust to mindshare. The flow of money into Internet advertising is only going to accelerate.

15 November 2005

Changing the World One Cookie at a Time

Speaking of Malcolm Gladwell, I bumped into him at a story-telling fundraiser last night, and reminded him of the brilliant talk he gave at TED2004 about Howard Moskowitz and the search for perfect pasta Mattson_image1 sauces. Turns out that at the same conference he bumped into another TEDster who wanted to talk to him about cookies. The result: another great story that the New Yorker just released to the Internet, starring Steve Gundrum of Mattson (and his colleague Barb Stuckey, who joins in February for the first time).

You might think that a five-year obsession to create a new cookie is a little strange... except this is no ordinary cookie. It had to be both mass-market... and healthy: A hard problem; and one solved not so much by the wisdom of crowds, but a little individual inspiration.

If you have an interesting tale that sparked from a recent TED, please let me know...

10 October 2005

Intriguing launch from Seth Godin

Squidoo logo Marketing guru Seth Godin, whose "Purple Cow" talk was a hit at TED2003, has launched an ingenious new site called Squidoo.

It plans to accumulate content from anyone willing to play where each page (he calls it a lens) is a self-contained piece of expertise on a single topic. Seth believes this will help make searches much more productive and allow an army of individual mini-experts and bloggers to promote their wisdom to the world. About.com meets Wikipedia.

The free e-book accompanying the launch is a great, fast read with real insights, I think, on the future of search. Whether or not Squidoo gets to critical mass, the concept is cool.

TEDBlog Entries related to “marketing”

13 March 2009

07 February 2009

20 April 2007

15 August 2006

17 July 2006

15 July 2006

22 June 2006

13 June 2006

25 April 2006

31 March 2006

03 February 2006

03 February 2006

14 December 2005

05 December 2005

28 November 2005

20 November 2005

16 November 2005

15 November 2005

10 October 2005

Read our exclusive Q&As with TED speakers -- like these:

See 500+ TEDTalks in a spreadsheet:

Spot a glitch on TED? Report a bug

Recent Comments

News from TED

TED takeaway

Subscribe to TED's weekly newsletter

Get the latest news on the TED Prize on TEDPrize.org >>

Archives

TED Bloggers

Blogs we watch