Get in the festive mood with these clips from all your favourite Christmas movies and shows.
And if you like the movie "It's A Wonderful Life" you have to watch this:
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Brilliant: The Honest $10000 SPAM just in time for the holidays
What happens when an unbelievable offer of $10000 risk free money is actually genuine?
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Gift ideas for advertising people on your list
Adfreaks's Gift ideas for advertising people on your list made me laugh ... especially this one:
For the Account Executive - a pocket watch
"How are we coming on deadline?" "When is the talent supposed to get here again?" "Crap, it's still not 5 o'clock?" These are all questions best asked while pulling out a stylish pocket watch and giving it an intense glare. This chrome-plated model from Charles-Hubert Paris ($85) is minimalist enough to work for a man or a woman. As a bonus, it requires daily winding, which gives you a whole new nervous habit to annoy people with during creative presentations.
See the whole list (including ideas for Art Directors, Copywiters, CEOs and more) on Adfreaks here.
For the Account Executive - a pocket watch
"How are we coming on deadline?" "When is the talent supposed to get here again?" "Crap, it's still not 5 o'clock?" These are all questions best asked while pulling out a stylish pocket watch and giving it an intense glare. This chrome-plated model from Charles-Hubert Paris ($85) is minimalist enough to work for a man or a woman. As a bonus, it requires daily winding, which gives you a whole new nervous habit to annoy people with during creative presentations.
See the whole list (including ideas for Art Directors, Copywiters, CEOs and more) on Adfreaks here.
Most popular YouTube videos of 2009
According to the BBC, Susan Boyle, the Britain's Got Talent runner-up was the star of the most popular video of 2009 on YouTube. The Scottish singer's surprising rendition of I Dreamed A Dream on the show has been watched by more than 120 million viewers worldwide.
In second place, with more than 37 million views, was a video featuring a disorientated seven-year-old boy recovering from dental work.
Third place went to JK Wedding Entrance Dance, which showed an convoluted dance routine featuring members of their entourage just before their wedding. It attracted 33 million views.
1. Susan Boyle (120m+ views)
2. David After Dentist (37m+ views)
3. JK Wedding Entrance Dance (33m+ views)
Here they are in case you missed them:
Read more in the BBC article here.
In second place, with more than 37 million views, was a video featuring a disorientated seven-year-old boy recovering from dental work.
Third place went to JK Wedding Entrance Dance, which showed an convoluted dance routine featuring members of their entourage just before their wedding. It attracted 33 million views.
1. Susan Boyle (120m+ views)
2. David After Dentist (37m+ views)
3. JK Wedding Entrance Dance (33m+ views)
Here they are in case you missed them:
Read more in the BBC article here.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Turkey Drive exceeds goal!
We are so pleased that the Sue Stultz Turkey drive has once again reached and exceeded it's goal. Well done Greater Moncton.
This article appeared in this morning's edition of the Times Transcript. Thanks for the mention Sue. Glad we could help.
Alison Scott drops a turkey into the trolley as Joel Murray, 11, watches yesterday at the Moncton fire station on St. George Boulevard.
VIKTOR PIVOVAROV/TIMES & TRANSCRIPT
Published Friday December 11th, 2009
Sue Stultz doesn't mind being called the "turkey lady."Whatever helps collect turkeys for families in southeastern New Brunswick to enjoy over the holidays works for her, she says.
But while she doesn't mind the nickname, Stultz refuses to take credit for the drive's success, instead offering that it's the entire community that makes her annual turkey drive successful.
After 12 years, it's one of the most successful charitable campaigns in the region.
This week, Stultz visited Riverview Middle School to speak about hunger, and she says all students raised their hands when asked if they knew who the "turkey lady" was.
Stultz says she was amazed how many of the kids she recognized, youngsters who have been supporting the drive their entire young lives.
"They're the ones that have to carry the torch for us and keep it going, and they're doing a fabulous job," she says.
Today is the final day for the campaign, which is seeking 3,528 turkeys to ensure everyone across southeastern New Brunswick has the perfect Christmas meal. As of last night, the drive had gathered 2,482 turkeys.
There's still a long way to go, but history has proven Metro Moncton residents always come through for Stultz and the drive.
Last year's goal was 3,384, and turkeys were still being donated days after the drive closed, bringing the final total to about 4,300, nearly 1,000 turkeys more than needed.
Yesterday, Stultz wasn't concerned at all that there was still a long way to go to reaching this year's total.
"The people of the Greater Moncton area will come through," she explained. "This turkey drive belongs to the people, and they will ensure that every family is going to have a turkey at Christmastime. They'll make it happen."
Because it's been around for a dozen years, the drive has taken on a life of its own. And while it's easy to simply swing by "Turkey Central" at the Moncton Fire Department's St. George Boulevard station and drop off a turkey, the charitable campaign has turned into a bit of a social event as well.
"It's just like old home week here," Stultz says. "We have people come in and they stand and they talk to each other, and they reminisce about the years that they've had gone by with this turkey drive."
As the week has gone on, Stultz has been moved by the donations and help from both individuals and businesses throughout Metro.
On Wednesday, The Moncton Hospital's food service department dropped off 40 turkeys they bought after saving their tips all year for the drive.
"These are people that work very hard at what they do, and here they are helping out somebody else."
The turkey drive benefits Moncton Headstart, the Salvation Army and all families signed up to any of 23 food banks in southeastern New Brunswick through Food Depot Alimentaire.
"I never like to refer to people that are in need as poor people, because they're not," Stultz says. "Most people that are in need have more gifts to give than you can possibly imagine. They just need a little bit of help from us. They would give to us if we needed. That's the way it goes -- people helping people."
Stultz thanks all supporters of the turkey drive, and she wanted to extend a special thanks to Richard Gould and Stephen Brander of Razor Creative for designing the drive's website, www.suestultzturkeydrive.com
BeckTek Computer Consultants is hosting the website and Red Ball Internet is providing Internet service so turkey drive volunteers can update the drive's Twitter page at twitter.com/suestultz as each day winds on.
For the most up-to-date Turkey Tally, click here.
This article appeared in this morning's edition of the Times Transcript. Thanks for the mention Sue. Glad we could help.
Alison Scott drops a turkey into the trolley as Joel Murray, 11, watches yesterday at the Moncton fire station on St. George Boulevard.
VIKTOR PIVOVAROV/TIMES & TRANSCRIPT
Published Friday December 11th, 2009
Sue Stultz doesn't mind being called the "turkey lady."Whatever helps collect turkeys for families in southeastern New Brunswick to enjoy over the holidays works for her, she says.
But while she doesn't mind the nickname, Stultz refuses to take credit for the drive's success, instead offering that it's the entire community that makes her annual turkey drive successful.
After 12 years, it's one of the most successful charitable campaigns in the region.
This week, Stultz visited Riverview Middle School to speak about hunger, and she says all students raised their hands when asked if they knew who the "turkey lady" was.
Stultz says she was amazed how many of the kids she recognized, youngsters who have been supporting the drive their entire young lives.
"They're the ones that have to carry the torch for us and keep it going, and they're doing a fabulous job," she says.
Today is the final day for the campaign, which is seeking 3,528 turkeys to ensure everyone across southeastern New Brunswick has the perfect Christmas meal. As of last night, the drive had gathered 2,482 turkeys.
There's still a long way to go, but history has proven Metro Moncton residents always come through for Stultz and the drive.
Last year's goal was 3,384, and turkeys were still being donated days after the drive closed, bringing the final total to about 4,300, nearly 1,000 turkeys more than needed.
Yesterday, Stultz wasn't concerned at all that there was still a long way to go to reaching this year's total.
"The people of the Greater Moncton area will come through," she explained. "This turkey drive belongs to the people, and they will ensure that every family is going to have a turkey at Christmastime. They'll make it happen."
Because it's been around for a dozen years, the drive has taken on a life of its own. And while it's easy to simply swing by "Turkey Central" at the Moncton Fire Department's St. George Boulevard station and drop off a turkey, the charitable campaign has turned into a bit of a social event as well.
"It's just like old home week here," Stultz says. "We have people come in and they stand and they talk to each other, and they reminisce about the years that they've had gone by with this turkey drive."
As the week has gone on, Stultz has been moved by the donations and help from both individuals and businesses throughout Metro.
On Wednesday, The Moncton Hospital's food service department dropped off 40 turkeys they bought after saving their tips all year for the drive.
"These are people that work very hard at what they do, and here they are helping out somebody else."
The turkey drive benefits Moncton Headstart, the Salvation Army and all families signed up to any of 23 food banks in southeastern New Brunswick through Food Depot Alimentaire.
"I never like to refer to people that are in need as poor people, because they're not," Stultz says. "Most people that are in need have more gifts to give than you can possibly imagine. They just need a little bit of help from us. They would give to us if we needed. That's the way it goes -- people helping people."
Stultz thanks all supporters of the turkey drive, and she wanted to extend a special thanks to Richard Gould and Stephen Brander of Razor Creative for designing the drive's website, www.suestultzturkeydrive.com
BeckTek Computer Consultants is hosting the website and Red Ball Internet is providing Internet service so turkey drive volunteers can update the drive's Twitter page at twitter.com/suestultz as each day winds on.
For the most up-to-date Turkey Tally, click here.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
New appreciation for Pitchmen
I've been watching the TV show Pitchmen on Discovery that stars famous pitchman Billy Mays and Anthony "Sully" Sullivan . It's a great show that illustrates how they choose the products they pitch, how they make the spots and best of all the results.
I always knew that Direct Response TV worked, but never really appreciated it fully. People might think spots for products like Oxyclean, SlapChop, Shamwow, Mightyputty (and hundreds more before them) are corny, but you can't deny that they work.
Last week's show was likely the last in the series due to the untimely death of Billy Mays. But the show went out in style with a pitch-off at a home show. For one hour Billy went up against Anthony in a selling content. Billy was selling a salsa maker and Anthony a mop. The person with the most sales in an hour would win. Even though Andrew cheated he still couldn't beat the mighty Billy Mays. Billy pulled in over $900 in sales ($20 bucks at a time) in 60 minutes. That's 45+ salsa units sold in an hour. Andrew only managed around $600 in sales - impressive but not enough to win.
So why does Direct Response TV work?
There is actually a lot that goes into these spots whether they be short form (2 mins. or less) or long form infomercials.
But the basics are the same:
Build suspense:
This means gradually doling out -- and creatively rehashing -- the benefits of the product.
Repetition:
By repeatedly driving home the benefits and purchasing information of a product, you increase the chance of hooking someone and getting them to buy.
Subconscious cues:
you can be subconsciously swayed by a variety of things -- celeberties, beautiful people, relaxing landscapes, engaging environment and of course convincing testimonials of enthusiastic people explaining how lost they were until this product changed their lives. Throw in some canned applause and cheers from live audience and it's getting real hard to resist.
Call to action and price:
Finally a strong call to action and a killer price point like $19.95 brings to all together. Lets not forget the final ... "but that's not all" ... doubling the offering, throwing in something free or some other hard to resist - sweetening the pot beyond the ability to say no closing.
Read more on the psychology of selling here.
Here's some classic Billy Mays demonstrating his great skill and a winning formula for sales.
Now compare these to an all-time classic.
I feel like buying something.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Razor turns six.
Wow. It's been 6 years (or 2192 days - but who's counting) since Razor started. In keeping with the tradition that began on day one, here's our anniversary picture complete with doodle board.
Here's what we looked like in previous years.
Monday, December 7, 2009
It's always a good idea to proof the translation.
The Welsh translation reads “I am not in the office at the moment. Please send any work to be translated”.
Found on the Publication Design blog.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
This is our league - the CFL
Anyone watching the pre-game coverage of the Grey Cup may have seen a "This is our league" video about the CFL - it was so awesome I just had to find it. I've looked but without any luck (when I find it I will post it). I did find this one from last year that is equally as good.
If you are not from a city they has a CFL team it is hard to explain what the league means for so many Canadians. This video gives you a taste of what the CFL is all about.
A line in the video "One Sunday in November it's the nation's glue" really sums it up (I've been to the last 6 Grey Cups - so I know).
Next September Moncton will be hosting a regular season CFL game so that this part of the country can begin to get a sense of what so many others in Canada are so passionate about. I know Moncton will put on an amazing show as always and should be a stepping stone (I hope) towards Atlantic Canada getting a team.
The line "This is our league" sums up beautifully what the CFL means -- but for it to be truly all of ours, we need a team in the East.. the real East... Atlantic Canada.
If you are not from a city they has a CFL team it is hard to explain what the league means for so many Canadians. This video gives you a taste of what the CFL is all about.
A line in the video "One Sunday in November it's the nation's glue" really sums it up (I've been to the last 6 Grey Cups - so I know).
Next September Moncton will be hosting a regular season CFL game so that this part of the country can begin to get a sense of what so many others in Canada are so passionate about. I know Moncton will put on an amazing show as always and should be a stepping stone (I hope) towards Atlantic Canada getting a team.
The line "This is our league" sums up beautifully what the CFL means -- but for it to be truly all of ours, we need a team in the East.. the real East... Atlantic Canada.
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