It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas

That might seem strange given that the date on the calendar is April 27th. But it is, my friends, and it isn't the teenage Christmas where you know you're going to get a bunch of clothes and probably some stuff you don't like from your relatives. It's the 5-year old kid, "there's so many cool new toys this year" Christmas. Yes, if you're a Green Bay Packers fan, and even a fan of football in general, it's a good week to be a fan.

First off, came Tuesday's breaking news from 1265 Lombardi Avenue that Brett Favre had indeed informed the team that he was coming back to play for the Pack in 2006. This is great for several reasons: a) it gives the Packers a fighting chance; b) new coach Mike McCarthy has a more talented team to work with; c) it's another season of watching Brett Favre. To sweeten things, on Wednesday the Packers made their big free agent splash by signing veteran Cornerback Charles Woodson to a seven-year deal. This move increased the Packers offseason focus on shoring up its defense, adding a much-needed playmaker to a defensive backfield. With Al Harris and Woodson, the Pack could now hold one of the best CB duos in the league. Let's just hope Woodson can stay healthy this year - knock on wood.

As if the previous news wasn't enough to put fans into a state of Green and Gold euphoria, the 2006 NFL Draft still awaits us two days from now. Holding the fifth overall pick, Packers GM Ted Thompson has kept the team's intentions close to vest, though most mocks have them taking either Ohio St. LB AJ Hawk or the draft's most talented receiving playmaker, TE Vernon Davis, whom I must mention is a physical freak running the 40 yard dash in 4.38 seconds at 250 lbs. Either way, I'll be happy and I would expect the like from most of the Packer faithful.

Besides the Packers top pick, the entire first round looks to be quite a roller coaster ride with no picks seemingly set in stone except Reggie Bush at #1. There could also be an unprecedented number of first round trades this year with speculation running rampant about teams wanting to move up to get a player as the days to the draft grow shorter. It's going to be an exciting ride. I don't know what you'll be doing for the draft, but if you're looking to spice things up a bit, this will do the trick: The Official 2006 NFL Draft Drinking Game, courtesy of Deadspin.

To keep the football theme going, I have one more great tidbit to share. For all you '80s kids and other fans of Tecmo Super Bowl, there are emulator versions of the game (replica versions for your computer) floating around various sites on the web, with some even adding updated rosters. So yes, not only can you relive the joy of zig-zagging your way to 80-yard touchdown scampers, but you can do it with Edgerrin James or Antwaan Randle El. See this for more.



Have a great weekend. I know I'll be enjoying mine with the help of some cold brew, NFL draft coverage and tons of random fun via the University of Minnesota's annual Spring Jam celebration.

CURRENT LISTENING: ESPN Radio Podcast

Return of The King

Of course you already heard. But there had to be a post in honor of the news.

Are we in store for a record year? Only 24 touchdown passes needed to tie Marino, 25 to pass him.

Sometimes you just need to go home

For the third consecutive year in a row, I attented the Minnesota Twins home opener at the Metrodome on Tuesday. While every baseball fan gets excited for the home opener, the enthusiasm was a little bit tainted going into the game after the Twins started the season 1-5 on the road. Well, proving that the homefield really can provide a strong advantage, the Twins beat the Oakland A's after staring out the game down 3-0. It was a good time made even more exciting by a strong finish. The only thing that was lacking was the half day of tailgaiting which I missed out on due to not taking time off from work. I did end up sneaking in a few before the game with some friends who were out there all day doin' it up for the rest of us.

Proving that they weren't a one day home field fluke, the Twins won again yesterday after another disappointing early lead by the A's. It was done in dramatic fashion as Justin Morneau came through with a 3-run dinger in the third inning. The Twins never looked back. The funny thing about the start is they've actually got the bats going moderately well but their pitching has left a lot to be desired, which is exactly the opposite of preseason prognostications. Things came together today though as the Twins won 8-2 to complete a three game sweep. Maybe they're headed in the opposite direction of my other team - the Brewers - who have seemed to simmer down after a 5-0 start.

Speaking of going home, this weekend I'll be back in the homeland - visiting family in Wisconsin for Easter. I look forward to getting away from work and Minneapolis for the weekend. It's a quiet, small town environment and although that's quite far from my preferred situation for everyday living it's a nice one to be in a couple times a year. And even though the visiting routine is the same, it's easy to enjoy as I only see the relatives a few times per year. Plus, that side of the family makes the BEST bloody marys after mass on Sundays.

Almost two weeks until the NFL draft.

CURRENT LISTENING: Bob Dylan - The Man in Me

Sometimes you need this kind of validation

Some days I get really bored at my job. Whether it's not having enough to do, not being challenged or thinking about how I'd rather be concepting/writing copy all day, it happens. All there is to do is try to make the best of it and some days that's pretty damn hard. Especially the days when I have to call VPs of corporations ("soft" cold-calling) or put together another powerpoint presentation. Others it's easy, when I'm putting MY ideas into action, working on a B-2-B execution or online marketing initiative. Today has definitely fallen into the category of the former. Luckily, either myself or Mark Cuban had great timing because he wrote a post on his blog, Blog Maverick, about "getting paid to get experience." Cuban (Mavericks owner/billionaire) outlines the story of himself right out of college. Working at jobs he wasn't crazy about and having to cold call and do some things that you despise early in your career. The moral of his story is that in the end, doing those things on a regular basis will be better experience is sales and other types of skills that almost every career requires at some point than going back to school and learning in the classroom.

While I'm convinced I never want to work in a full-fledged sales career, it's easy to see what he means by this because in any creative career you'll always have to sell your ideas to people. I'm still convinced that I'll only be truly happy as a writer, brand manager or best of all - running my own business, but it's a bit inspiring to know that a billionaire who is incredibly passionate about his work was in the same situation in their young career and can illustrate how it benefitted them.

I don't know why I write about so much serious stuff.

Opening day and the comfort of new socks

One of the most awaited days of the sports calendar arrived today: the opening day of the MLB season. Baseball has lost much of it's luster for me since my childhood: big market teams can buy their roster due to a lack of collective bargaing system (what makes the NFL successful) and in general, I usually don't have much interest in watching a full game. But, I'm still a casual fan - attending a few games and watching the highlights of the rest on Sportscenter - and Opening Day still stirs my interest. There's nothing like the start of baseball to signal that spring is here and we have the warmth and fun of summer to look forward to.


This year, my Twins and Brewers are both being touted to be surprise teams in their respective divisions. For some reason the Twins were one of the only teams not to open today, taking the field tomorrow against Toronto (was today a Canadian holiday or something?). But the Brewers played in front of a sold-out field in Milwaukee and I'm sure the sausage was good and the tailgate lots were rockin'. In what hopes to be a sign of good things to come the Brew Crew won 5-2 on a two-run single by pinch hitter Jeff Cirillo, a former Brewer who returned this year facing the twillight of his career.

On a completely unrelated note, I bought some new socks this weekend. I needed them badly as it seemed every time I did laundry the number of socks diminished and the ones that remained gained more holes. After today I gotta say that wearing new socks has to be one of the most underrated comforts out there.

That's all for now. If you're bored this week round up a bunch of conservative friends and take them to see V for Vendetta.

CURRENT LISTENING: T.I. feat. Pharrell and Common - Goodlife

Awake is the new sleep

I am the antithesis of a morning person. Every morning I wake up and have to hit the snooze a few times before I'm actually ready to get out of bed. I've always been this way. In high school and college I would doze off to sleep during class - not because I was completely disinterested - because I just couldn't keep myself awake. You can probably see my natural connection to Red Bull somewhere here...

I've tried solving this by going to bed earlier, but even on the mornings when I've gotten a nice 7-8 hours of sleep it doesn't seem to help much. Well, the other day, BoingBoing, a blog I read from time-to-time - and probably the quirkiest one on the web - had a post that covered a "How to..." article someone had written on another site about how to become an early riser. I was a bit skeptical at first, but read on. The approach detailed by the author (who seems to have had the same plight as me) is actually pretty simple. In the author's words:

The solution was to go to bed when I’m sleepy (and only when I’m sleepy) and get up with an alarm clock at a fixed time (7 days per week). So I always get up at the same time (in my case 5am), but I go to bed at different times every night.

I go to bed when I’m too sleepy to stay up. My sleepiness test is that if I couldn’t read a book for more than a page or two without drifting off, I’m ready for bed.

So simple, but I can see how it might be easy on the body clock. So I've decided that I'm going to try this out starting this week. We'll see how it goes. If it works out you'll know. You'll start seeing more posts with a timestamp around 7:00 am.

CURRENT LISTENING: Matt Pond PA - Athabasca

Counting down the hours

Approximately 6 hours until tip-off of the first game of the NCAA's Sweet 16.

About 9 days until the Major League Baseball season opener.

36 days, 20 hours, 30 minutes, and 42 seconds until the 2006 NFL Draft.

Guess which one I'm anticipating most?

This is where I want to be right now

Well actually it ended a few days ago, but Austin's annual music industry SXSW (or South by Southwest) took place March 15-19 and it sounds like it was bigger than ever this year. Now in its 19th year, SXSW has been known for rockin' showcases that put bands on the map and create a buzz, and of course rockin' parties. As someone who interned at a major music distributor and once dreamed of being a record label exec (before I realized the only way to get hired was to be an unpaid intern for 3 years), this would be a dream environment to me. This year the conference expanded to include interactive and film components, most likely only exponentially increasing the fun.

I do have to say that last weekend was quite a blast. I spent two days consuming large amounts of basketball and beer in the company of some friends. I've come to the conclusion of no matter how much basketball you watched the first two days of the NCAA tourney, you still want more. Those upset moments are just addicting.

And of course march madness brings the ubiquity of NCAA pools. While they're usually referred to as "office pools," that term holds no significance to me because when you work at a 22-person industrial design firm there's none taking place. Luckily, I managed to enter three different pools with groups of friends. After sitting in the middle of the pack at the end of round one I've moved to the top three in each thanks to some nice sweet 16 picks. Gotta love having extra incentive to watch the rest of this thing play out.

I wasn't planning on talking about anything marketing-related in this post, but I just read about one of the coolest online marketing initiatives I've ever seen. Nike and Google have quietly launched the first invitation-only Web site for soccer-mad fans around the world. The site, Joga.com, went live late last week and will be running in 140 countries and 14 languages. It looks like the site will be incorporating profile pages, forums, video and rich media conent, and more. It sounds very similar to MySpace, but the bigger thing here is this is the first example I've seen of a brand getting the social marketing thing right. If the content is as good one would expect from these brands, this thing could really catch on with soccer hooligans worldwide and provide an authentic, interactive brand experience for Nike (not to mention further cement Google's reputation for amazing content). If it does catch on, we're also going to see A LOT of shitty, contrived attempts at the same sort of thing. Gotta love clueless marketers.



Alright, I'm out. Go UConn! (Daddy needs a new pair of shoes)

CURRENT LISTENING: White Stripes - Walking With The Ghost cover
LAST MOVIE SEEN: Good Night, and Good Luck

Meet idiot #2

Not to be outdone by Mr. Culpepper's idiocy, the most notable athlete to score under a 10 on the Wonderlic test since Vince Young is also demanding a trade: Javon "I wear my own jersey to the the club" Walker.

As reported by ESPN.com this morning, the Packers star receiver who sat out most of the 2005 season with a torn-ACL in the first game is seeking a trade due to what he views as "unfair treatment" stating that he has "no interest in being in a Green Bay Packers uniform or playing for Green Bay again." But it doesn't stop there. He even goes as far as to say that he'd rather retire next season than play for the team he has no desire to be a party of. Quite a threat for a guy who has no leverage considering he's coming off a major injury and has only performed at a Pro Bowl level once in his career.

Of course the Packers could not less let this mess pass without commenting. GM Ted Thompson issued the following statement:

"During his time as a Green Bay Packer, Javon Walker has been well thought of by everyone here. I like Javon, certainly as a person and as a player.

That said, Javon is under contract, which he signed as a 2002 first-round draft choice. That contract is governed by the Collective Bargaining Agreement, which was negotiated between the National Football League and the National Football League Players’ Association, and we expect him to honor it.

There have been several highly publicized cases of player discontent in the National Football League. I don’t anticipate us making any concessions in this matter.

We will continue to stay the course, and the Green Bay Packers will have no further comment on this topic."

Javon, meet brick wall.

All kidding aside I think the Packers will probably end up trading Walker as it would be more of a detriment to have a tantrum-throwing player like this around to become a cancer in the locker room. It's too bad. I used to really like Walker. He seemed like a hard-working player and improved each of his first few years in the league. But he's not the player he is in his own distorted, little mind and for that, I hope he gets traded to some team with a shit QB and learns how good he is when he isn't catching passes from a future Hall-of-Famer.

QUARTERBACK FOR SALE

If you give a rat's behind about the NFL offseason, you've probably noticed that everyone's favorite Sex Boat Captain, Daunte Culpepper, has been part of an ongoing soap opera thus far. Said soap opera also stars the Minnesota Vikings front office, including owner Zygi Wilf, and carries a varying plot-line based on the Quarterback being on the trading block, off the trading block, receiving his soon-due roster bonus, to finally demanding for a trade or release. The main catalyst for all the controversy has been e-mails to the media, who seem to be the only people in Minnesota who still love Culpepper.



Had Mr. Culpepper not suffered a major injury or been involved in the lewd acts of that Lake Minnetonka boat cruise last year, he probably would've been gone by now. But it turns out, while there has been interest for the QB, the Vikes haven't exactly been offered the type of value that they're expecting. But never fear Vikings fans, for one of your sharp-thinking faithful has found the solution: send Culpepper off to the highest bidder...on eBay!

The bidding starts at $1 million and the questions are already flying in like the strippers were last October. Damaged? Only slightly. Young? Definitely. Talented? That's debatable.

If only it were this easy (and fun!) in real life. In reality, it turns out the Vikings have found some offers and are getting ready to pull the trigger.

Speaking of trades, Green Bay bonehead receiver Javon Walker is seeking one for himself now as well. More on this crap later.

Are we ready to see it on the big screen?

On Saturday afternoon I went to see the movie 16 Blocks with my girlfriend. It was a great action flick with an outstanding performance by Mos Def, but that is not the significance of this post.

About halfway through the previews, I was completely taken-aback by the start of a preview that featured the visual of an airport flight-tracking grid that seemed to be depicting something eerily similar to the events of 9/11. It turned out, that's what it was.



The movie is called Flight 93. The trailer was not very telling, mostly omitting any actual film footage except for a small, blurred segment. But the audio told the story. It was filled with air traffic control checks, passenger phone calls to loved ones, talk amongst themselves and screams. And paired with the simple, but chilling digital depiction of the planes changing course on a monitor, it was enough to get your heart racing.

The first thing I thought to myself upon seeing the preview was "holy shit." The events of that tragic day are less than 5 years behind us. The movie comes out in April. Is it too soon? How soon is appropriate? This is the debate that's sure to be all over the media within a few weeks. Given that the movie comes out in April (the 28th is the release date I found upon some research), I couldn't believe I hadn't heard a thing about the film yet.

I'm completely compelled to see this movie. In fact, it's the only situation where I think someone could be moved to tears seeing and hearing a preview, as I almost was. But for how many people is this situation going to be the same? I remember that day as clear as any of my four years of college and maybe as clear as any day of my life. But I was blessed enough not to suffer the loss of any family member or friend, or anyone I knew for that matter. Many people were not.

As intrigued as I was by the preview, the first thing I did when I got home was jump online and do some research on the film background. Somehow I had missed this New York Times article that was published on January 1st (though I can imagine why I was not reading any newspapers that day). From this article, I not only learned more about Flight 93, I found that there are three other films in the works with storylines related to 9/11, including a picture by Oliver Stone. Not only is this arguably going to be too early, it could be too much.

The question must arise whether Hollywood studios are capitalizing off of America's pain, or if there are just too many Producers/Directors with a desire to show the world these events in a different way and spread larger messages. There isn't much information on the other three films yet, but I can tell you that Flight 93 fits the latter. The movie is being directed by Paul Greengrass, best known for directing The Bourne Supremacy and the less well-known, but more intention-showing Bloody Sunday, a 2002 movie that depicted the 1972 incident in which 13 unarmed civil rights demonstrators were killed by British soldiers in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.

Upon reading even further, and discovering this website devoted to the movie, I am convinced that Mr. Greengrass is serious about magnifying the true story of what the individuals on that plane experienced, and creating a dialogue about how these people were really the first conversation in how to deal with terrorist attacks in our modern world. According to the website, the movie "tells the story of the day through a meticulous re-enactment of events surrounding United 93, the last of the four hijacked aircraft, in the belief that by examining this single event something much larger can be found - the shape of our world today." The film run in real-time of the 90 minute flight with phone calls to loved ones and conversations between passengers, pilots, etc. being as authentic as possible. That being possible from the two dozen phone calls and 30 minutes of cockpit recordings that stand as the only true records of the events.

I'm preparing myself for an intense, emotion-wrenching viewing experience. Will you be going to see it? (View the teaser trailer here)

Speaking of movies, I just got done watching the Oscars. If it wasn't so inappropriate this would be an easy time to make a joke about a looming Armageddon after members of Three 6 Mafia won an Academy Award for "Best Original Song."

It's that wonderful time of year

When I was at the peak of my sports-crazed youth, in junior high, I once declared that March Madness was the second best time of the year only to Christmas. While I no longer devote quite as much attention to college basketball as I once did when I was playing the sport, I'm still a fan and the upcoming start of the greatest tournament-style playoff in sports still gets my blood rushing. I can hardly wait for that first day of simultaneous and back-to-back-to-back hoops contests. I even heard something on the radio the other day that with all of the people watching the games or checking for score updates online during the first two days of the tournament, U.S. employers lose something like $3 billion in productivity. Bummer.

Although the NCAA tournament is still a couple weeks away, March Madness officially started with a BANG yesterday with Florida State upsetting #1 ranked Duke at home, after arguably getting a Duke upset stolen from them earlier in the season with a lack of an apparent foul call. As any jacked-up fans would, members of FSU's student section rushed the court. The one tiny detail they overlooked was that there were still seconds on the clock. I could really care less about this. It happens all the time and the game was realistically out of Duke's hands. But the downside of this is, Coach K got the opportunity to take attention away from FSU's performance by acting all miffed about the whole thing. Sorry Coach K, but there are bigger fish to fry, such as is your team even going to beat North Carolina and when is J.J. Redick going to get his stroke back?

Unfortunately I will have no home team to root for in this year's tourney. While my Minnesota Golden Gophers have been playing their best ball of the season in the last month and beat several ranked opponents, they also started the season 0-6 due to injuries and an overall lack of identity. Thus, my loyalty will probably be turned to my home-state Wisconsin Badgers (and of course whoever I pick to go far in my bracket).

Anyway, it's been a while but I gotta get back on track with the Top 5. Here goes for March:

1. March Madness
2. St. Patty's Day - to steal from a sports blog I read I'll be "0% Irish, 100% drunk"
3. A big tax return
4. My new Panasonic digital camera (in the mail!)
5. Dave Chappelle's Block Party

Be cool.

"24 is a soap opera for men"

Said my friend Jon, also a devout fan of the show.

I never thought I'd say this, but I'm a soap opera addict.

Mankato, MN: Most drunk students per capita?

Over the weekend I hung out with one of my best friends from high school where he goes to college: the town of Mankato, MN. This was probably the fifth or sixth time I had been to Mankato for "leisure" purposes, though I've been to their campus area in the double digits because of my part-time job with Red Bull in college.

My friend, who I jokingly refer to as "The Mayor" due to the fact that he seemed to know everyone down there as a freshman, is truly enchanted with his college town, even going as far as calling it "the greatest place on Earth." On the surface, this town of 32,427 people looks anything but a potential treasure to a twenty-something from a major metropolitan area, though it could easily seem to be an exciting place for someone from a bit of a smaller town. But dig a little deeper (translation: go out at night) and you'll find what all of the fuss is about. From campus house parties to the highly concentrated few blocks of bars fighting for students with cheap drink specials, it is as big of a party school atmosphere as you will ever see. Sure, UW-Madison holds the official title, which if I'm not mistaken is awarded anually, but they have the bias of a larger and more visible student body. Of Mankato's approximately 14,000 students, I have to believe that at least 70% of them "binge drink" on a weekly basis (the def. of "binge" states "5 or more drinks in a single setting"). And sure, my friends and I did a fair share of partying ourselves at the U of M, but when you go to a school that's actually academically rigorous, you can't drink 5 out of 7 nights of the week (though I'm sure a few people I've met would argue with me). My counterparts at Mankato can do this when they choose to, and they love their school for it. I don't know how they'll all turn out, but at least they have Timberwolves owner and MSU alum Glen Taylor for inspiration.

He said it

Reggie Bush on what he likes most about the possibility of playing pro football in Houston: “No state tax.”

What about-to-be-rich twenty-something would blame him? Reggie Bush knows he's money and he knows he's all but solidified the number one pick in the upcoming NFL draft. What comes as a refreshing deviation from what's becoming the norm in pro sports is that the NFL's next big superstar is a surprisingly humble, level-headed guy. You won't find Bush talking himself up when the microphones are in his face. He just lets that ankle-breakin' play on the field do the talking.

Speaking of the NFL draft, the thing is still about two months away, yet the hype and speculation has already started to occupy at least 20% of each SportsCenter broadcast. I guess I really can't blame them though. As much as I love baseball, the stories from spring training tend to be as exciting as quarterly corporate financial statements.

The NFL draft combine has gotten exponentially bigger each of the past three years and this year it's almost as big of a media circus as Super Bowl week. This draft prospect meat market is now even being covered on the NFL Network and the event itself has garnered corporate sponsors (I'm personally waiting to see The BenGay NFL Draft Combine). Personally, I still think scouts put way too much stock into the draft. Just get some "football players." You know what I mean. Favre. Urlacher. John Lynch.

Okay, 180-degree topic switch. Last night I was out for an ultra-belated holiday party for my previous part-time employer, which I was graciously invited to even though I was done working for them in January now that I have a full-time job. The first part of the night was a group trip out to ComedySportz, a live improv comedy show that offers good, clean fun for the entire family, but also manages to be completely hilarious. Since we were in somewhat of a mall-type complex -- it's called Calhoun Square and has various shops and restaurants -- we had some bars at our disposal. I rounded up a few of the guys and threw out the idea of us going to get a shot before the show. So we scurried over to the bar and I was hounded by a few people to buy the round, being one of the only guys with a full-time, "real world" job (although I can't say my disposable income is much higher than any of them, especially when one of the guys still has his rent paid by his parents). So I give in. The shitty part is, one of my friends takes the liberty in choosing what shot to order and has the audacity to choose a $6-per shot selection. Fine, whatever. I didn't have a whole lot of money set aside for the night, but my friend tells me everyone will hit me back later. Okay, cool.

A few hours later, everyone's at the sushi bar chowin' on sushi rolls and putting back sake. Without much money left and wanting a brew, I'm patiently waiting for one of the guys to step up and offer to buy one. Well, no one made the move. The great part is, when I subtley ask the friend discussed earlier if he would be kind enough to hit me back, he relies "I'm not going to buy a drink here" like the prices made the idea blasphemous. Nice. Real nice.

Well, I've fulfilled my rant obligation for the week and while it's quite possibly the slowest day I've experienced since that time I actually watched grass grow, I can't think of anything else I want to write about to extend the life of this post. So this is it.

CURRENT LISTENING: Built To Spill - You Were Right

Now THAT'S good advertising

"People don't read advertising. People read what interests them, and sometimes that happens to be advertising." - Howard Gossage

In an age of DVR, product parity, thinly spread individual media consumption, and perhaps marketing overkill, this statement rings especially true. That's why Crispin Porter and Bogusky is so amazing. Campaign after campaign, they deliver, engaging viewers and building their clients' brands in ways that have profound impacts on sales (see: Burger King, MINI). Well guys, it looks like they've done it again.

The latest and greatest campaign from CP+B is their first work for Volkswagen and features some of the most entertaining commercials I've seen in a long time. After U.S. sales slumped for five consecutive years, Volkswagen picked up their $400 million account and took it from Arnold Worldwide to CP+B without a review. It looks like it was a good idea.



The new TV ads for Volkwagen's just-released GTI performance car made their debut during the Winter Olympus coverage on NBC and have been running constantly throughout the coverage. The campaign theme is "Make Friends With Your Fast," with the "Fast" being the "thing" inside drivers that makes them want to drive...fast, naturally. The thing that makes the campaign ridiculously entertaining is that the "fast" is embodied in a strange little black creature figure that looks like it was the spawn of Darth Vader and some type of rabbit. Various plots have the "fast" riding with the owner of a GTI and start speaking to the driver in an evil voice as if it's their conscience. These humor-inducing situations include being pulled over by a police officer and driving around with a girlfriend.

The quick impact of the campaign has been unmistakable with all of the ad blogs and trades producing stories on it. More importantly, viewers are loving the spots and talking about them with their friends. All four commercials made their way onto a GTI fan site called myfastgti.com before Crispin Porter could even launch a campaign minisite for Volkswagen. But you know you're really creating a buzz when you have people wanting to get their hands on some type of figure of the brand icon you've created. There were several reader comments similar to this one following a BusinessWeek feature on the campaign:

Nickname: Michelle
Review: Where can I get a "My Fast" character? Every time the commercial comes on everybody stops what they are doing to watch it! We have Tivo so my sons have been taping the commercials so they can watch them over and over again. Does the "My Fast" come with the car?
Date reviewed: Feb 19, 2006 3:56 AM

The geniuses at Crispin Porter + Bogusky have created yet another amazing brand icon. But this campaign doesn't only demonstrate the impact of creating an icon that really personifies a brand: it's another lesson that in order to be successful in building a brand, you must find it's true soul.

As a Wisconsin-born and loyal guy, I'm sure glad to see Miller moved it's Lite brand over to CP+B. That's the best call (bad pun intended) they've ever made.

CURRENT LISTENING: Rogue Wave - Postage Stamp World

Coffee, coolness, and human disposition

- As a college student and generally morning-challenged person, I've always needed something to get me going in the morning whether it's a shower or a caffiene-loaded beverage. Working for Red Bull for 2 1/2 years that was never a problem. While from time to time I'd mix it up with something else in the morning, that was my fuel of choice. Since I started my full-time job in December, I've started to mix it up a bit more having coffee or tea some mornings and if possible, just water (which is tough and rare). One of the most frequent consumer beliefs we had to dispel when I worked for Red Bull was the idea that the stuff is chock full of caffiene. While it does have a solid amount of caffiene (80 milligrams), lately I've found myself much more wired on the mornings that I drink coffee. Today in particular my mind seemed to be whizzing in all sorts of directions and putting me in an ADD-like state. I'm sure it has something to do with the fact that I'm so used to Red Bull it doesn't affect me in the way it once did, but on the other hand coffee doesn't have an ingredient to help focus as taurine does in the Bull. Either way, I was about as focused as a kindergartener after a jumbo pixie stick this morning.

- A recent study discussed on Agenda, Inc. this morning found that technology is a huge factor in in being 'cool' among today's youth, with cool kids now being defined as the "creatives."

No longer are today's generation of cool kids defined by the brand names they wear -- now they're defined as being the "Creatives," according to a recent study. According to the Energy BBDO study of teens across 13 countries "Creatives are the most wired, most innovated and most influential teens worldwide."

My question: does this mean the teenage bloggers and Sidekick users are getting laid more than the jocks?

- Finally, the other day I was thinking about my career choice and how I couldn't see myself in any career other than marketing/advertising or something that involves writing. Besides my natural proclivity for creative outlets, I was thinking on the larger scale of my personal dispositions to certain types of thinking . Though I can be pretty good at analyzing thinkings and making deductions, I absolutely hate math and never really had a strong interest in how machines worked or other things that engineering types are sometimes into at a young age. Moreover, my interests have largely been in activities involving human emotion/relation or expression, which are obviously a huge part of branding, marketing, and advertising. Now it could be a rather narrow and short-sighted view, but it seems to me that you could place (white collar) careers in one of two categories: people/emotion-oriented or analysis/logic-oriented. This is like the whole left brain and right brian argument where it's pretty ignorant to say people completely fit one or the other, but relatively speaking I think it applies. Thinking of the people I know and what type of job they're in, I can definitely see those dispositions having a magnetizing effect.

I know, lots of cerebral stuff today. I'll write about something fun next time. For now, go read about modern day yacht pirates.

CURRENT LISTENING: Stevie Wonder - "As"

Hallmark: The kings of PR

Like millions of people, I will be spending the night celebrating this "lover's only" holiday with my girlfriend. We'll be going out to a nice dinner at a restaurant that we haven't checked out before and of course have bought each other some little gifts as the Valentine's tradition has come to be. Now I'm not a huge fan of the holiday for several reasons. While I truly love my girlfriend and celebrating the fact, I am one of the believers that I don't need one specific day of the year to recognize it by spending copious amounts of money. The fact that this tradition has been created by the PR Machine of America's largest greeting card company only makes my opinion of it dip even more. But, as a advertising/marketing student, I have to believe this whole phenomenon would make a pretty damn good case study for one of the college courses I took.

The lady and I have a good practice of setting spending limits for holiday gifts. Of course I like to go above and beyond that sometimes, particularly when I have an awesome gift idea in mind. For this Valentine's Day we decided to keep things on the low end, which I like. I'm not a chocolate fan at all and I really don't need any stuffed animals so my girlfriend's options often fall into more personal things like framed photos or out of the realm of traditional "romantic gifts," which is quite fine with me. As for what I buy her, I bought her flowers on Valentine's two years, but am no longer going that route. I try to stay away from the standard gifts and I think flowers are better given in spontaneity anyway.

A few things outside of V-day that I've been chewing on:
- Is it just me or do people have a slightly different work habit/schedule on Mondays? The last two weeks I've noticed that when I leave for work around 8:00 in the morning (about a 10 min commute, mind you), the roads have been considerably less congested with cars than the rest of the days of the week. On my commute home, the roads are even more wide open. Now as the sole marcomm guy at an industrial design firm I'm almost never busy to the point where I have to put in time outside of my normal work day. But based on the way the Monday drives go for me, I'm led to the conclusion that most Americans trickle into work a bit late on Mondays and put in longer hours than the rest of the week. Is this assumption correct? Friends of mine (who have full-time jobs): how often do you end up putting in a day longer than 9 hours? Even though I'm sometimes unhappy that I'm not working in the exact industry I'd like to be in and don't have the level of passion I've had at previous workplaces I definitely can't complain about my work environment and the culture there. I'm sure a lot of recent grads have some big gripes in that area at their workplace.
- Speaking of commutes, in addition to the low traffic PM commute I enjoyed yesterday, it was great to get home when it's still completely light out. Yes, the dark Minnesota winter is starting to pass. Unlike many people winter doesn't get me down too much, but when you work until 5:00 and it's completely dark out when you get out it can be a little depressing sometimes.
- I'll leave you with just one link today (because everyone already knows the Vice President shot a lawyer): T.O. is getting his own reality show. Yes, everyone's most hated receiver is coming to prime time. Here's a brief synopsis courtesy of Businesswire.com:
"The show will combine T.O.'s passion for working out with his natural curiosity about other people. Guests on the show will come from the worlds of sports, entertainment and even politics -- and no subject will be off limits. The show will rely on T.O.'s witty personality and tendency to speak his mind."

As much as I hate T.O., I have a feeling this is going to be like a bad car crash for me (I won't be able to help but watch). It'll be interesting to see if Drew Rosenhouse ends up on there pretty often. I'm sure he'll end up proving to the two people that don't already know that he's T.O.'s bitch, reminding him that he's the greatest wide receiver in the world as he does his laundry and washes his car. Let's just hope they find a way to work in Ron Arest, Jose Conseco, and the infamous Flava Flav.

Cheers,

EH

CURRENT LISTENING: Rocky Votolato - "White Daisy Passing"

Tearing through the terrain of...the skyways?

Last night I volunteered to help on the course at Red Bull SkyRide, their latest major original event to take place in Minnesota. SkyRide was a mountain bike race through the skyways of downtown St. Paul complete with stairs and many a hard corner. There were 50 racers (mostly from MN) and each racer got two runs through the time-trial course. The coolest thing about the event was the complete originality of the idea – the birth of MN Mountain Bike fanatic Adam Buck. He also happens to work for the company on the local field marketing team that I used to be a part of. Unfortunately, because of the nature of the event it wasn’t very spectator friendly. It should get a lot of press though. Here’s an article and an unedited video of the entire course via bike-cam from one of the local news stations.

Just another great example of Red Bull involving the brand within a core culture that it fits in a unique and authentic manner. Keeping with the brand personality, they threw a nice lil’ V.I.P. after party too.



More Awesomeness:
If you’re a Google mail user, like myself, you’ll probably dig their latest and greatest feature addition to your mailbox: Google chat. Yep, they went and embedded instant messaging right into the mailbox page. Apparently only a limited amount of users have the feature upgrade showing up right now but Google promises that everyone should have it within a few weeks. The one catch: the only “contacts” on your buddy list will be other Gmail users that you have sent or received e-mail from (but they’ll show up automatically). So whaddya waitin’ for friends? Go get a Gmail account!

CURRENT LISTENING: Birdmonster - EP

Hooray for Steel City! Hooray Beer!

Congratulations to the Pittsburg Steelers for reaching the pinnacle of all sports by winning Super Bowl XL, even if it's disputable to some. I can't say the play was anywhere near spectacular on either side of the ball, but with a few big plays and a little help from the men in the black and white stripes they did enough to fend off the potent Seahawks offense. I am glad to see "The Bus" ride off into the sunset in an ideal fashion. It'll also be nice to not have to hear any more of the human-interest pieces about him playing his last game in his home town.

I had a great time at my Steeler friend's bash, consuming plenty of food and even more of the official beer of football (unfortunately no twins were present). Winning the first half of our football pool didn't hurt either. But ultimately, the thing that makes Super Bowl Sunday the most enjoyable for me is being surrounded by good friends with everyone from your hardcore fan to the "I'm just here for the beer" guy engaged in the event. It's a day that falls just below Christmas, the 4th of July, and New Year's Eve in my book.

As an advertising major (and hopefully lifetime professional), I take even more interest in the entire spectacle that game day due to the infamous multi-million dollar commercial spots (a cool $2.6 mil per :30 this year). I'm not going to give an in-depth analysis like every ad and marketing blog out there seems to be doing, but I will say I thought the commercials were above average as a whole this year. Generally speaking, the humor was a bit smarter than last year, staying away from the crude and crass stuff in favor of more outright quirky stuff. My favorite spot was either the Fed Ex Cave Man spot or Bud Light's "Magic Fridge." I was definitely a little disappointed by Burger King, though my dwelling on the concept would never go as far as this funny little diatribe in comic form.

I've also found it interesting how many advertising and media experts have argued the "value," or complete lack thereof, in the Super Bowl :30 spot. There's good arguments on both sides of the coin. While marketers could surely find a lot more effective (and more creative) ways to spend $2.6 million dollars, it's hard to argue against the post-game buzz and the number people going online to watch free downloads of the spots available via countless major websites.

Well, that's my little "Post Super-Bowl Wrap-up." It's going to be a long three weeks without any worthwhile sports to watch (see: March Madness). Yes, I did just discount the winter Olympics.

Before I go, let me remind you that the next time you're out on the town, do it up like Big Ben does...