For many of the world’s men, the airtight equation for camaraderie consists of one or both of these addends: beer and sport. The summation quite often includes both in the case of a big game. THE big game. Such as the UEFA Champions League game between AC Milan and Real Madrid football teams.

In a brilliant activation strategy,  Heineken Italy proposes that the “most sacred time men have left” is at risk, then devised a stunt to call out the increasing influence external factors have in pulling a fan away from his set (and his buddies, and, well, a profitable beer occasion). More narration will only act as a spoiler, so spend a few minutes with this excellent case study to see how, ultimately, Heineken went viral, celebrated the sanctity of male bonding and created authentic engagement with its brand.
Cheers to the weekend.

I love the Evian couture bottle program. With the proliferation of bottled water brands that span the market from packaged tap water to luxury designer water, there is a natural comparison between bottled water and fashion.

Fashion sells textiles at extreme markup through design. Doesn’t Voss, Bling2O, Antipodes and other ‘Fine Waters’ do the same thing? Evian is clearly keeping a foot in this trend.

Here are some of the Evian designs so far. The latest one by Paul Smith is definitely my favorite.

I’m inspired by my friend Mike’s new renegade promotional efforts to stir up some commotion over his client/friend Rachel Nasvik’s handbag line. Inspired by the book The Pirate’s Dilemma, Mike decided to subvert the New York City street stand piracy game by beating those vendors to the punch.  Using Twitter, he alerted fans when a limited number of genuine Rachel Nasvik bags (normally sold at high end department stores) would be available at those ubiquitous street stands for a discounted amount – then sat back and let the excitement build.   Fans were delighted to be let in on the deal, and Mike strengthened the Rachel Nasvik community by giving loyalists a reason to stay tuned in.  Plus, by accessing an irreverent and fun new “channel,” the brand made a statement about its personality and, I’ll say it, joie de vivre.   Sounds like a brand worth staying in touch with.  More here.

Our Chicago office founder and MD recently turned 39 again, and in honor of his birthday, his loyal troops wanted to find a cool little t-shirt store and print up a customized tee (”39 4Eva”). It’s not too hard in Chicago (or any big city) to find these niche type boutiques, and none really seemed to stand out until they found the T-Shirt Deli.

One thing that inspires us at Egg is finding brands that really pay attention to their story. In order to be able to do that, they have to be obsessive about the details. The T-Shirt Deli’s story is about mimicking the best delis, offering t-shirt aficionados as many fonts as cheeses as well as the promise of something fresh and totally unique.

There are two elements of the story that they deliver so well.  One virtual, one real world.

First their T-Shirts are served up wrapped sugmarine/hoagie/hero style in butcher’s paper with the packaging held together with ironically contradictory stickers like “lean ham and kosher meat”. Great little details that show they care. Second, on their website the navigation looks like an old plastic deli board complete with miscolored letters and their mailing list invitation is a deli “take a ticket” stub. Nice little touches like this make a difference and suggest that if they care enough about these details, then their product will be similarly high quality.

I am totally inspired by the groundbreaking force-to-be-reckoned-with of social media it what is proving to be pivotal in the historic events in Iran this week.

It has catapulted a technology that I was previously entirely cynical about into the realms of the truly revolutionary with average Iranian citizens able to get their personal experiences out to the world despite media blackouts and internet censorship with simple micro-blogging.

Hooray for a media coming of age and finding it’s worth. I am brimming with ideas to incorporate Twitter methodologies into our work!

Every day, these days, we are bombarded with bad news articles concerning the decline of the printed press industry. Today is no exception as it marks the final day of circulation for Denver’s own Rocky Mountain News whose print presses finally go silent after nearly 150 years of continuous publication. Amid this barrage of bad news a gleaming beacon of positivity appears to be flourishing. Draft Magazine celebrates beer’s role as a timeless, democratic american social glue – less dedicated foodie magazine, more beer lovers lifestyle magazine. Launched in 2006 the title boasts strong advertising revenue, an enviable 200,000 paid subscription base and an additional 70,000 newstand circulation. It is even doing the unimaginable – considering increasing its yearly output from six issues to ten. It would appear in these purse string tightening days that the old marketing adage of standing for something deeply, to an audience that cares, holds unassailable consumer sway. So before you blindly attempt to court consumer favor with your next marketing campaign… step back and ask yourself this simple, but time critical question. Who (think the 1 not the many) will truly respect a simple, more personally relevant message about my brand and reciprocate that considered thought with growing loyalty… back to basics anyone!

In its latest installment of viral goodness, Burger King offers you ‘Flame’, the IT-fragrence of 2008 and perfect holiday gift for the spicy-hot-man-who-has-everything on your holiday list. Check it out at the brilliantly named website: firemeetsdesire.com.   

Reported to make your man smell like “the scent of seduction with a hint of flame-broiled meat.”…..mmmmmm, sexy.

It is a bargain at its $3.99 price point and available at Ricky NYC or online. 

Happy Holidays!

After 9-11 the President told Americans that the best way to defeat the terrorists was to go out and shop because shopping was the epitome of the American way.  I just received an interesting email with a warning about buying gift cards this holiday season.  The email mentioned that stores are still selling gift cards that may not be redeemable after the new year as many of these stores will be closing down.  It mentioned Circuit City (filing for Chapter 11),  Ann Taylor (closing 117 stores), the Gap (closing 85 stores) etc etc.  Apparently the stores are legally allowed to keep selling gift certificates as it’s part of their “bankruptcy planning”, but are not obliged to honor them after January 1st.  Seems to me like a way to seed in some fear over the holiday season and create a need to spend within a confined period rather than hold on to gift certificates and spend later. Recessionary behavior self perpetuates - it’s about consumer confidence and demand and there’s nothing like bad news (like, say, constant news telling us we’re in a deep recession) to make us feel like we need to adopt “recessionary” and cautious spending habits.  The holiday season spending habits of Americans is another barometer of global economic health - anything that can help boost those numbers is a good thing.  Nothing like a bit of fear-mongering to get people to part with their dollars.

The new Bond movie, Quantum of Solace is out in a few weeks and I'm excited about it. I'm a big Bond fan - have been since graduating from super heroes in tights and capes to a man in a dinner jacket who kills for a living. As a character in books and movies, Bond has been inextricably linked to brands.  It's been said that Ian Fleming used brands like Rolex to ground Bond's implausible adventures in something concrete, but it's been the movies, from Connery to Craig where brands have enjoyed significant benefits from association with Bond. Aston Martin has been voted the UK's coolest brand, undeniably because of its link to Bond and Omega continues to enjoy rugged and stylish epithets as Bond's watch of choice (although having said that, Rolex, Bond's original choice trumped Omega in the aforementioned CoolBrands list). While Omega and Aston Martin have obvious links to Bond through usage, this time around there's also sponsorship from Heineken, Bollinger, Smirnoff, Virgin Atlantic, Sony Ericsson, Sony Electronics and most interestingly from Coke Zero. All of the brands above have at least some possible link to 007 (Sony's perhaps a bit of a stretch and Smirnoff lost its luster in the vodka category years ago), but Coke Zero?  The promo spot by Wieden and Kennedy in Amsterdam is great as it's evocative of the classic Bond title sequences. On a bigger strategic level, the intent is clear - make a zero sugar Coke seem more masculine. But really, it's a bit of a stretch. My benchmark for association is based on whether Bond would use it or not and I can't imagine the Daniel Craig version slugging back a can of "zero zero seven" as it's being promoted.  Maybe Roger Moore or perhaps Pierce Brosnan would have been a better choice - he could have put it in the cup holder of his invisible car.

Ok, now I get it. 

At first, I admit it, I was one of those left lost and confused with the Seinfeld/Gates spot.  I felt I was left without message, without call to action, without purpose. 

But now, with the new I’m a PC work, I totally get it. (View the new spot here)

And may I just say – Bravo.

After years of allowing Mac to abuse the image of PC users like the too-cool-for-school playground bully that it is, this new campaign is taking back the power for those of us who don’t need our laptops to tell us how cool we are. 

And, in this day and age… rightly so.  Geeks are chic, smart is in, nerds have all the power, we all wish we were Bill Gates…or at least Tina Fey.  Take that, aging hipster with the Vans and the faux vintage organic cotton tee!

And not just a parade of geeks are standing up and proudly proclaiming themselves PCs, average guys, artists, blue color workers, sports stars, aid workers, teachers, Hollywood starlets, and even hipsters with Vans and faux vintage organic cotton tees.  PC users no longer have to hide in shame and sheepishly give all the cool credit to the all mighty Apple.

So now, seeing where this all was heading, the fun-ification of Bill Gates by Jerry Seinfeld makes perfect sense.  By, highlighting the Chic in Geek Chic, Bill himself becomes the new stereotype for the PC, aspirational, successful, smart, cool in his own way.  But beyond that, PCs don’t discriminate like Mac.  You don’t have to be the 'cool design guy' or Bill Gates to be one of us, you can be Eva Langoria or a fisherman in Alaska.  We take all kinds.

Solidarity comrades!

My dogs are fed the most premium of premium pet foods.  They get organic biscuits and sockeye salmon oil supplements on a daily basis.  To top it all off, they have an eternally flowing doggie water fountain, complete with filter, on a plush mat in my kitchen.

At bedtime, they have their choice of my bed or one of four special dog beds:  a ‘cooling’ bed for those nights when central air conditioning just won’t cut it, two faux fur beds with extra supportive inserts and an orthopedic (molds to their body) bed with a soft suede exterior.

I thought I was really pampering my pets until I read an article in USA Today recently.

Apparently, for a premium price, hotels in both the U.S. and Europe are offering gourmet meals to pets traveling with their humans.  Here’s an example of what’s available:

At the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa in Phoenix…. your pooch can enjoy “Zen Yo” ($11), a vegetable stir-fry served with poached eggs and steamed brown rice that's meant to help pets with jet lag.

Chicken liver pâté ($7) and braised New Zealand lamb served on a bed of rice ($15) are some of the decadent doggie offerings at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Tampa.

Would I, personally, order these for my dogs?  Probably not…however, knowing that these places cater to my best friends, I would definitely put them at the top of the list of places I’m likely to stay.

Incidentally, my dogs think crunching on lettuce cores, gnawing toilet paper right off the roll and nabbing a piece of pasta that’s fallen onto the kitchen floor are absolute ‘prizes’ .  To them, that’s even more of a treat than their gourmet bison and blueberry biscuits. 

In addition, sleeping on the cool hardwood floor (in summer) or inside of a freshly laundered basket of clothes (in winter) is their idea of ultimate comfort. 

However, whether or not my dogs partake of the amenities I offer them, the one thing these dog-friendly brands give me is peace of mind.  I know I’m doing the best I can for them … even if they choose a plastic soda bottle for fetching instead of an ‘ergonomically-designed’ chew toy that claims to clean their teeth and improve their dexterity.

We can reasonably assume that all adults living today, even those that work in marketing, were once teenagers.  But it is amazing to see how soon we forget how it felt to adolesce; that above all, most teenagers want to be treated and spoken to as what they are – young adults – and not coddled, patronized or dismissed by society as we so often do.

A few groundbreaking campaigns in recent years have dared to communicate with young adults as they are: intelligent, thoughtful, fully aware participants in society.  Most notable of these is probably the Truth anti-smoking campaign by Crispin Porter + Bogusky. 

Following close in its heels, however, is this anti-binge drinking campaign (a realistic goal advocating moderation not abstinence in alcohol consumption - click on the picture to see one of the spots) launched in England introduced by Amelia Torode in her blog.  Similar to the truth campaign, these TV spots de-glamorize the over-indulgence of alcohol by displaying, in naked clarity, how very unaspirational drunkenness really is. 

Bravo, well done. 

Three spots featured:

The Girl's Night Out

The Boy's Night Out

Fashion Show