Every so often, we as a global internet community are blessed with an amazing flaming debacle of a failure of a campaign.  A company takes its ad people, sit around together, circled around a singular concept, and begin drinking pitchers and pitchers of their own branded conceptual Kool-Aid and they don't stop 'til it comes to life.  Occasionally, someone stops drinking, speaks up, and the concept dies a deserved death and the company is spared potential humiliation.  Today, Motrin was not so lucky.

If you haven't already seen the ad, spend 43 seconds and catch up:



They're obviously trying to be a little "edgy".  And I'll be honest: of all badvertisments, this one is not that bad.  But it's not my singular, off-target opinion that matters.  It's the hundreds of thousands of moms that they've targeted with a supposedly humorous message about what a pain carrying their newborn babies can be.  Their selfish, selfish babies.

Well, that community has spoken, and rather quickly.  Motrin has since pulled the campaign from it's site (after having been down for half the day today), posted an apology, and the web continues to stay lit up; blog posts abound, and a Twitter storm to boot.  (It's been moving so fast, there's already a backlash to the backlash.)

Hubbub aside, here are two key learnings for brands, to avoid this kind of disaster in their future digital marketing:

1. Motrin was clearly not being authentic.

I'm sure multiple people involved on the campaign - both from Motrin and Taxi NY (the creative agency behind the marketing) - are mothers.  And I'm 98% sure they all love their kids very much.  But they made the assumption that if they created a profile type - hip n' snarky mom - and tried to rally their consumer base around this one tiny, private truth (I mean, really; carrying kids probably does cause some aches and pains), that the people would follow.  So again, while the ad may speak some truth, Motrin is not authentically representing the greater  population, and thus, the population revolted.

2. Online, there is such a thing as bad viral.

Take a look at this pitch-perfect flowchart for assessing whether your video is "viral" or not.  (Because you can't make a viral video; videos go viral, or they don't.)  What it doesn't take into consideration however is whether your now-viral video is being perceived positively or negatively by the masses.  The ratio of good viral videos to bad viral videos on the internet is pretty lopsided, in a good way.  But ultimately, and before the age of the internets, the word 'viral' had carried a negative connotation - as in, viruses - which is being resurrected by the Motrin ads, and other negative marketing attempts like it.

The positive takeaway from this whole mess is the reminder to brands and content creators that content is still king.  Muck up your creative online and it'll spread like wildfire  ...but with terrible wildfire-like consequences.

The other night, I was walking with some coworkers to an after-work meet up with a bunch of strangers, when I started mentally running through things to talk about.  As I jumped through mental hoops, I remembered a funny, personal thing that had happened earlier in the day, which - metaphorically speaking - stopped me in my tracks.

It wasn't particularly "ha-ha" funny, and it wasn't deeply personal, but I'm sure not going to blog about it here.  Which is exactly the point.

If you're a part of the social web - and you probably are - a lot of what makes you you is essentially available to the world: your likes and dislikes, people you know, places you've been, accomplishments, etc.  And if you're a good citizen of the social web, you likely consider this kind of public knowledge a true and honest extension of who you are as a person.

Thanks to network effect and emerging technologies, our connections are all overlapping and ever-growing, but there are remarkably few barriers to information flow.  So as I recalled my funny personal anecdote, I felt more comfortable telling it to complete strangers than both online and offline friends.

Over the course of the last decade, we've traded our embrace of personal face-to-face connections & digital privacy with public online socialization & in-person anonymity.  Of course, we (mostly) all still desire quality in-person interactions.  And we still love juicy gossip and hearsay online.  (PostSecret is forever.)  But as I watch my cousins (who are siblings) update one another on each others' lives via Facebook wall-to-wall, I start to wonder how close I am to telling the stranger behind me on the line for coffee exactly where I hid the body.

The morning after the election, as I ran through my morning routine, I thought I might pick up a copy of The New York Times on the way to the office, for posterity's sake.  After a week's worth of reporting, it's well known that newspapers were incredibly hard to find on the morning of November 5, 2008.  But over the course of that morning - until I could get online, that is - what I was experiencing was very singular and personal.

It wasn't until I was settled in the warm cozies of the Undercurrent office, sucking in news like a Dyson, did I realize what a shared experience even the aftermath of the election was having on us.  Which sounds obvious, since we had just elected a new leader of the free world.  But I'm thinking beyond just an insignificant morning whim.  The inability to find a copy of a newspaper is an ironic microcosm of the print industry itself.  In fact, the sweeping morning paper sales wasn't just a byproduct of the election: the election itself may have been the (second of two) tipping points that accelerates the end of the printed newspaper.

I point to two significant indicators: President-elect Obama's transition towards more transparency, openly communicative government, and the Christian Science Monitor shifting to a web-based strategy, the first newspaper to do so.  CSM transitioning online can be valued in and of itself, but when we look back, it will be recognized for it's role in the larger scheme.  And President-elect Obama's continued embrace of the internet for open information flow - and hopefully more community development online, like barackobama.com - means more people going first to the web for their information, since they can get it faster and with less filter.  If CSM was the snowball that kicked off the larger avalanche, then Obama's use of all things digital are the rocks and trees and slopes that shape the coming landscape.

Printed newspapers are fast becoming collectors items that stamp and date in history, and that's all.  The majority of those November 5, 2008 issues will end up in a mylar bag in a basement, like a first edition comic book.  It's hard to imagine institutions like the CS Monitor, the NY Times, and the Washington Post becoming so radically altered that they no longer physically exist, nevermind fathoming the entire newspaper print industry actually disappearing.  But the limbs - all of them - very well may need to be amputated if the head (reporting) is ever going to survive.

I don't remember where I ran across this the other day.  But what's important is that I found it, and it's making me happier than any blog should be able to affect someone.  The blog?

Presumably named after the film which highlights its curator, Will Shortz, the blog is where you'll find:

As a quick update to yesterdays post, it turns out Netflix will in fact be providing HD quality streaming to Xbox 360 users only.  According to Gizmodo and Engadget, an initial limited run of about 300 movies will test the waters.

What's most interesting about this decision is that PC & Mac users can't yet stream HD through the web.  Newegg specs out 360's as having Fast Ethernet (10/100BASE-TX).  And as far as I can tell, the Roku box is capable of 4-6 mpbs, pending firmware updates, which is roughly DVD-quality but not HD quality.  So if your average computer user also has Fast Ethernet, all things being equal, it would seem the decision by Netflix to turn on HD streaming for Xbox users only (for now) is rooted in their business agreement with Microsoft.  An exclusive angle makes sense, since we're talking about a company facing revenue challenges and, well, Microsoft.

This situation raises another question about our all streaming, modular-less digital future.  If the era of modular content is in fact over, how long before the hardware war ends, if ever?  If content providers all 'agree' on their format - that is, digital - will partnerships and exclusivity continue to put a stranglehold on consumers ability to receive the content in different ways?  Since Netflix outputs their content in a standard format over a standard line, will the hardware manufacturers - Roku, Microsoft, Apple, Dell, third-party cable box makers - continue to just throttle the consumer?  And will the PC forever be the most open box?

On November 19th, Microsoft rolls out it's Xbox 360 software upgrade, New Xbox Experience ("NXE").  It looks pretty sharp and improves on some serious interface flaws.  But interface upgrades and avatars are just sauce.  The real meat lies in the new features.  The day it debuts, I'll be able to stream Netflix' online content directly to the Xbox and watch on my TV, from the oh-so-comfortable position on my couch, as though I were watching a DVD and not an .mov.

This got me thinking about how little I watch DVDs versus downloads and internet streams, which got me thinking about how glad I am I didn't jump into the Blu-ray / HD-DVD format war. I then wondered about Blu-ray's livelihood.  It was just a few weeks ago we heard Steve Jobs dismiss it as a "bag of hurt" - and it's not even a new format.

With all of this looking forward and looking back, my slow-to-respond brain starting putting pieces together and making projections.  Here's how I see things shaking up in the short--to-mid-term.

Present: Xbox 360, NXE & Netflix
NXE includes the ability to stream all of Netflix' online library directly to / through your 360 console.  All you need is a qualifying Netflix subscription and an Xbox Live Gold membership, which can be had for $40 for 13 months (1 free with the year), or a little over $3/month.

A quick primer on Netflix streaming: Netflix has a fairly robust catalog of online content, and until recently content had only been available on PCs, and by the end of this year Macs.  This past summer, Roku released its Netflix box which, for $99, pulls in content and outputs directly to your television, with no more complex a hook-up than your typical cable box.

So: content provider (Netflix) streams content directly to you through compatible hardware (PC, Mac [soon], Roku box).  And in just a few weeks, Xbox 360's will be added to the compatible hardware list.

Past: Formats, hardware, and modular content
This new addition of previously undefined (though not incompatible) hardware devices, I believe, marks the death of the physical formatting of content.  That is to say, while hardwares, compatibilities, and playback will continue to be standard issues, content will no longer be bound to formatting restraints.

It's a little obvious and very evident; modular content has been on the wane for a few years.  You can already (legally) download or stream hundreds of thousands of songs, movies, and television shows - the iTunes store has sold over a billion downloads alone - directly to your computer.  CDs gone and DVDs are almost there.  And Blu-ray, while still young, isn't being adopted as quickly or as readily as it needs to live a full lifecycle.  But my guess is this is the tipping point at which we will look back and point to when discussing the end of "format wars".  And in terms of participants, I believe Blu-ray will be the last modular, physical format for all of our entertainment consumption.

NXE's arrival is delivering another major blow to modular content with the advent of downloading and ripping new, full-featured Xbox 360 games directly to your 360's hard drive.  All three of the current gen systems - 360, PS3, and Wii - have the ability to download games but most of the selections are older or smaller, indie titles.  And until now, none of them had the (legal) ability to rip titles straight from discs.  The method of downloading will likely eclipse - and I believe eventually eliminate - physical discs for gaming altogether.  So while platform specs requirements will remain, they'll be purely for basic compatibility.  (Proprietary constraints will be around for some time, but perhaps we'll see eventual intercompatibilities, like running Windows on a Mac.)

Future: Subscription-based services
So we're moving away from designated 'media centers' and spreading into - almost retrofitting - existing systems, like game boxes.  Even some Blu-ray players will be capable of streaming the very same Netflix content.  Soon, all of our proprietary hardware systems will have a standard Ethernet port, making it more ubiquitous than USB.

This will lead to more subscription based entertainment services, like Netflix.  You already subscribe to your internet, cable, and phone services as utilities.  Now you'll be subscribing to all of the content that flows through the pipes, similar to premium cable channels like HBO and Showtime.  All that's needed to sustain it are fat enough pipes to provide higher quality content from service providers that don't limit throughputs.

Where do we go from there?  Since we're already at the brink of what our eyes can perceive, in terms of quality, streaming and throughputs will need to catch up and more readily provide HD quality.  Netflix on Xbox 360's will be standard def to start, just like the Roku box.  As soon as Netflix flips their switch and outputs HD, both Roku's and Xbox's will be ready to receive.

The question that remains is how will all content and service providers afford infrastructures that support downloading and streaming current HD quality content?  Or are we waiting on a major breakthrough in technology to rethink how data is transmitted at its most base level?

Back in 1999, a bunch of fellow Ithaca College freshman went over to one of Cornell's theaters to check out a movie in which one of the guys had a bit part.  (It turns out he was on screen for all of 0.8 seconds.)  The movie was called Puddle Cruiser, the first movie by the Broken Lizard guys, who you might (or might not) know from Super Troopers and Beerfest.

All of the guys in the troupe were there in person for the screening; they and the movie were great.  But the best part of the experience was the short film preceding Puddle Cruiser, entitled True, which involved a bunch of guys on phones, saying "Wassup", which escalates into an excellently edited cacophony of shouts, extended tongues, and bugged-out eyes.  The film had everyone in the theater screaming in laughter.

And yes, the only reason I've preceded the main point of this post with that story is to gloat about having seen a bit of recent pop culture phenomenon earlier than 99.999% of the population.  Firsties, indeed.

By the end of that year, those guys remade their concept as a spot for Budweiser which aired during football games, and solidified their art into a historic serialized advertising campaign, which neither deviated from their original concept or pandered to anyone, in my opinion.  (Remember the subsequent, "What are you doing??", etc.?)

Eight years later, the same guys have an absolutely brilliantly biting follow-up to their original film, called - on YouTube, anyway - "Wassup 2008", which is essentially an ad for Obama-Biden '08.  If only you share one video this weekend, make it this one.

In our awesome office at Undercurrent, on occasion, we lark.  That is to say we execute a well-meaning, good-spirited prank with our coworkers and, in all hope, results in a roffle.

Last week, two of the partners, Aaron and Josh, were out of the office until mid-afternoon and a few of us thought it clever to go all Home Alone on 'em when they got back.  While I can't say I'm entirely disappointed, I wouldn't go so far to say I was appointed.

Two guys in Silicon Valley, who want to "make advertising not suck".  I don't know exactly how their sole application will do that (though I do know a killer digital thinktank who can do that), but they - AppLoop - have created the AppLoop Application Generator, which is pretty rad.  The generator simply takes your RSS feed and turns it into a standalone iPhone app.  It's free for you (once they open it to the public at large) and free for your customers - that is, if you decide not to charge them.  They provide enough customization for your specific app(s) to feel authentic, and leave it up to you if you want to provide to the world either for free or at a cost.  (I'll be interested to see who pulls off their app at charge, for how much, and why.)

I've already submitted info to sign up as soon as it's available to me.  As you wait with baited breath for the Official EricTabone.com iPhone App of Awesomeness (at $100 per download, of course), check out their demo video.  I haven't been this excited for an iPhone app since Dice Bag.


[learned about through TechCrunch]

I put off posting about the 2008 elections long enough to really let the issue bake a nice golden brown.  But the timer has buzzed, the oven turned off, the windowsill has cooled it, and it's time to take a bite.

You have absolutely no reason or excuse to remain undecided.

This is without a doubt the most important election in decades.

• The economy is collapsing as fast as our aged infrastructure.
  
• The current national energy policy puts the globe at greater environmental risk.
  
• The war in Iraq is essentially unwinnable and the war on terrorism is being fought the wrong way.
  
• America's foreign policy is offensive to the rest of the world, yet we're not prepared to be defensive, nationally.
  
• Our only education policy is broken and for poverty there is none.
  
• Health care and social security are unfunny jokes.

Even if you don't think you care about these issues, you do.  Everyone needs health care and education.  Every American should be secure, militarily and financially.  Every person should breathe clean air and drink clean water.  Practically every core principle of living healthy, productive lives in America is at risk right now, and it's every single American's civic duty to take a stand and vote.

I don't particularly care for this quote, but Martin Luther King, Jr. once said:

"The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of great moral conflict."

Never has this been more true.

You vote on the issues.

Sure, it's fun to poke fun at the other candidate for his or her flaws.  And while it's shallow and completely irrelevant, privately making small, non-hateful jabs at appearances is occasionally good for a laugh.  But if you take any trite peripheral factors into consideration when you vote, you absolutely should not be voting.

Yes, it's everyone's Constitutional right to vote however they want.  But the foundation of the Constitution assumes some degree of intellect, logic, forthrightness, and objectivity when it comes to voting in a democracy.  So logically, if you're unable to handle those minimal requirements, then you should not be participating in either the American democratic process or America, period.

Here's a little guide.  If you agree with any of the following statements, please pack up and be out of the country before November rolls around:

• If a candidate is not attractive, I can't vote for them.
• Unfounded rumors about candidates are very important.
• Race, gender, and religious beliefs are important factors.
• I choose my elected officials based solely on my own immediate personal interests.

So civic duty calls on everyone to vote, and everyone should vote in an educated and clear manner; thus, on the issues.  Find out what John McCain's plan is to save the economy, and think about whether you believe it is sound.  Read up on Barack Obama's energy policy, and think about whether you agree with it.

And if you are the truly lazy, here, let me help you.

You should vote for Barack Obama.

Obama's economic plan is sound and best for the majority of the country.  McCain's is risky and best for corporations, banks, and the rich only.  Look:

Obama's energy policy not only puts America on track for energy independence and environmental stability, but it helps national security and the economy.  McCain's puts at risk the country's security through foreign dependence, your financial security through ever-climbing prices with ever-diminishing oil sources, and the health of the planet, which in turn threatens the health and future of generations to come.

Obama has plans and policies that create, improve, and grow our country.  In the rare instances in which McCain isn't being utterly vague on an issue, he's making dangerous policies and assertions.

John McCain is using lies and hate to try to steer you away from the issues on which he has no good answers.

Barack Obama not only has answers for the next four years, but his policies would put America in the right direction for decades to come.