Bed feeling a little empty? How about a virtual girlfriend?

NYU student Drew Barrows recently unveiled a new invention he devised to combat the loneliness he'd been feeling as of late. Called INBED, he brought his idea out at the Interactive Telecommunications Program Spring Show at the Tisch School of the Arts.

A few excerpts on how it works:

"INBED, an “infrared-sensitive” light projected virtual girlfriend"

"So what is it exactly? It’s a single mattress with an attractive brunette who is perfectly quiet. So far sounds like a good girlfriend! Once you sit or lie down on the mattress, she will respond to your every move."

"New York Magazine explains, “Lie on your back, she snuggles up right next to you in a log position. Curl up in the fetal position, she spoons. The only hitch: She’s 2-D."

Odd? No doubt. But I imagine there's a market of lonely guys out there who might get down with something like this. Even though its not real, its the idea itself that I think could find it some success- someone waiting for you to come to bed. It's a comforting thought and helps in part to meet our needs for deep emotional connections with other people. And while this invention can't (nor does its inventor want) to replace the actual thing, the mind has a funny way of believing and seeing what it wants. I bet that if you were that lonely, even the appearance of someone waiting for you could be a soothing thought.

via TrendHunter

Politics 2.0: Things Younger Than McCain

I don't care if it is "age-ist", I'm loving this blog. It's not just how many things McCain is older than (I'm sure that list is much longer than any blog could ever cover off), but it's the odd things they've found that make it so entertaining.

My favorite so far? McCain is older than plutonium. I don't know why that's so funny to me, but it is.

Peep the blog for yourself and find your favorite younger-than-McCain goodie.

The Humanitarian Lion Project

Found this last night thanks to a guy I'm following on Twitter named @johnny_bones...



Great idea. Seems like a cool way to encourage/standardize efforts like the Tap Project. Not sure how far along they are but this vid was posted to YouTube on May 5 (so what were YOU doing to change the world this past Cinco de Mayo?).

I'll see about getting Fallon to help them out. Look for updates here on the Planning Blog.

Politics 2.0: Senator Mike Gravel Tries His Luck With Obama Girl

New from the guys at Barely Political, just over 112K views since it was added yesterday. The haters will hate, but BP and OG still do appear to be drawing at least a few eyeballs for their efforts.

Some of this one in particular is just painful to watch (like hearing Gravel stumble his way through an already lame rhyme) or the attempt at some sort of Soulja Boy steps near the end.

But whatev- its a Thursday afternoon and around that time when people start to hit the wall. It's good for a few laughs.

ROFLCon Musings

Just because it wasn’t a high school student council conference, doesn’t mean it didn’t feel like one. For serious. I used to attend those. The “it” I am referring to was the ROFLCon conference in Cambridge, MA. The energy was palpable. I hit up the conference and have a few take-aways to impart.

It should be duly noted that this conference has already been documented within an inch of its life. Between Twitter and blogs and video and and and…. The focus on the immediate can hardly be overstated. The play by play of what happened has certainly been delivered, but there were also big ideas discussed.  It is fascinating to consider the way in which our collective responses to provocative ideas are being shaped by the desire, nay the demand of an immediate response. Immediacy fundamentally changes the way in which we respond.

Mostly, what this demand for immediacy underscored for me last week was the inevitable changes it means for brand communications. Especially in the online space, if what you are delivering isn’t “eternal beta,” if it isn’t conversation based --- don’t bother doing it. Really, the propaganda machine is dead. We buried it in the ground next to dinosaurs, nuclear waste, and New Coke. Moving quickly means - you’ve heard it here before - letting go of some control and letting people be in charge. 

What doesn’t get enough attention is the reality of immediacy of action that is required to play. It isn’t about what you are thinking about doing. It is about what you do. During the opening panel there was a discussion surrounding the fluke that Internet celebrity often is, and it was pointed out that everyone on the panel actually did the “stupid shit” that everyone always talks about doing. You can’t win if you aren’t in the game.

And yet, there must be something more. Something beyond “stupid shit” – there is, my friend, there is. It involves a willingness to play by other peoples’ rules. Most brands, in all honestly, aren’t willing to play in the sandbox with the other kids. Other kids smell funny and don’t care that we have color corrected that video for like, hours and hours. Brands need to be respectful and understand the space they are in. As Ben, from Barbarian Group, brought up during the marketers panel, if a brand aims to hold someone’s attention online for a minute, their competition for that minute isn’t their traditional “competitive set” but every single other thing on the internet that people could be doing with that minute. In order to meet this demand brands will need to focus on collaborations. Brands, like people, should have a lot of friends. Play in the same sandbox people. Make nice.

Lastly, as I sat in the panels, I sank a little lower in my seat every time I heard the people talk about how they were doing whatever they were doing because they just loved doing it. Could these people smell the stink of advertising on me? Would the suit I was wearing under my skinny jeans and artfully deconstructed t-shirt be noticed? And then I exhaled; I realized that there is room in this equation for brands that are passionate about what they do. We talk about authenticity, and I think it makes us, collectively nervous. What does authenticity even mean? I don’t know that I have an answer to that one, but I have come to believe that if brands focus on people they will naturally be authentic. The people that built their company, the people that use their products – if they think about themselves as having human attributes and can talk about themselves in a human way, they won’t have to force it. Lets just all start by being a little more human.

Lifestreaming: Twitter Helps To Free A Student From Eygptian Prison

via CNN

Quite a story. A graduate student at Berkeley- James Buck- was in Eygpt covering some anti-government protests. He and his translator were nabbed and tossed in jail, and with a one word tweet ("arrested") his network lit up and started taking action to get him out. This may be one of the more powerful examples I've ever seen of how the networks we establish for ourselves online can benefit our lives.



Some excerpts from the story (but check the whole story for all the deets):

"Buck, a graduate student from the University of California-Berkeley, was in Mahalla, Egypt, covering an anti-government protest when he and his translator Mohammed Maree were arrested April 10.

On his way to the police station, Buck took out his cell phone and sent a message to his friends and contacts using the micro-blogging site Twitter.

The message only had one word. "Arrested."

Within seconds, colleagues in the United States and his blogger-friends in Egypt -- the same ones who had taught him the tool only a week earlier -- were alerted he was being held.

Buck's urgent message is proof of the value of Twitter, Stone said. Buck's entry set off a chain of events that led to his college hiring a lawyer on his behalf.

"James' case is particularly compelling to us because of the simplicity of his message -- one word, 'arrested' -- and the speed with which the whole scene played out," Stone said. "It highlights the simplicity and value of a real-time communication network that follows you wherever you go."

Fast Strategy (PfG and IPA)

The IPA (the UK's AAAA's) are conducting a conference on Fast Strategy this Monday 28 April.

Mark Earls, one of the brains behind Planning for Good is taking part in a live contest against some of the sharpest minds in the London Planning scene and needs to build an army to tackle a brief from the Central Office of Information (the UK Government's communications 'client').

Mark has assembled a crack group of planners - Jon Leach (of HHCL fame), Chris Forrest (ex DFGW and now of the research company The Nursery) and Ian Tait (of Poke to work on the brief as the P4G Allstars. BUT THEY WANT YOUR HELP.

Mark wants to demonstrate the power of P4G by involving any of us with internet access (and favorable time zones) to contribute to the the thinking. Here's the deal.

Monday, April 28, 10amBST brief posted on wiki site; responses by 12pm (noon) at the latest. Mark and the team will present at 2pm BST.

Please try and contribute - it will be fun and a great demonstration of the power of P4G at work.
If you're interested please email faststrategy@planningforgood.org and/or keep an eye on Planning for Good.



Details about the IPA event below..

How can you come up with the right strategy fast? A selection of Adland’s finest will be giving practical advice on how to achieve this at the IPA and Times Media Strategy Conference on Monday 28th April.
Speakers will include:

- Tim Lindsay, President, TBWA Group: 'How taking the disruption approach can help you get to the right answer fast.'

- Tim Hames, Assistant Editor & Chief Leader Writer, The Times: 'What planners can learn from those that write the news and the pressures of doing it fast and accurately.'

- Gurdeep Puri, Head of Effectiveness, and Janey Bullivant, Board Planning Director, Leo Burnett: 'How, counter to popular belief, data can help you to get to the answers fast'.

- Jon Wilkins, Founder, Naked: 'Fast strategy in a media environment'.

- Stuart Smith, Head of Planning, Wieden & Kennedy London: 'Strategic and creative dovetailing - Fast'.

- Rob Forshaw, Founding Partner, Grand Union: 'How to develop thinking quickly from a digital perspective'.

These short, sharp and fast presentations will be presented throughout the morning, whilst leading communications consultant Mark Earls; Phil Georgiadis, Chairman of Walker Media; Johnny Hornby, Founding Partner of CHI & Partners, and their respective teams, will be putting into practice what they do best and responding to a highly realistic but fictitious COI brief, set and delivered by Peter Buchanan, Deputy Chief Executive, COI.

You, the audience, will then get the opportunity to vote for who you think is the fastest strategist in town, when these three teams return to the stage in the afternoon to pitch live in front of the audience.

Says Guy Murphy, Chairman IPA Strategy Group and Worldwide Planning Director, JWT, “The most important skill that strategists need to learn in this era is speed. The quality of a strategic answer is now partly determined by the time taken to create it. Slow-baked strategy, no matter how good, can never be great.”

The conference will take place between 9am-5pm on Monday 28th April at the Royal Society of Medicine, 1 Wimpole Street, London, W1G 0AE.

Networked Self: Axe on Yahoo! Live

Looks like Axe Brazil is using Yahoo! Live to good effect.


I guess it beats lookin' at my channel

*Unfortunately, the dudes here seem creepy. Put a shirt on!

Politics 2.0: 3Trillion.org

Who needs the lame tax stimulus check, when I got a $3 Trillion gift certificate to spend?




3trillion.org, is a web site that gives you 3 trillion dollars - the money American tax-payers are projected to spend on the Iraq war - and use it in a virtual shopping spree for your friends and family. Lets go shopping!

I picked up a few tchotckes including a space vacation, a Wii, the Yankees, the Beatles catalog, and a lil' somethin'-somethin' for New Orleans.

Guilty Pleasure: Subway Crush

Subway Crush is a new missed connections site for all those times you were on the train but just didn't get to talk to that stranger at the other end of the car. Simple really, the site just takes what Craigslist already does and focuses on one area where missed connections occur- and puts a little more attention on web design than CL.

Still thinking about that girl you saw on your way to work last week? Now you may have a chance after all...

Panic Button: Water

Good Magazine explores the stats and realities of our planet's most abundant (and scarce) resource, water.

Fallon Brainfood: The Social 10 Redux

10 Things Marketers Should Know About Social Networking.

On March 26th, 2008, Aki Spicer, strategic planner at Fallon Worldwide, conducted a presentation about social media, using social media, live, across a mashup of social web touchpoints including Fallon Planning Blog on Blogger, Yahoo! Live, NetVibes, Plannersphere on Ning, and Facebook. View the accompanying slides at Slideshare or download the pdf directly to your desktop at Dropio.

Below is the recorded videos (1,2,and 3) and slideshow links of the presentation in case you missed it live on the web:

| View | Upload your own

What is Brainfood?
Brainfood is a monthly all-agency lunch conducted by Fallon Planners. Wide-ranging topics explore trends, business issues, and actionable opportunities for our brands. Moreover, Brainfood offers us a chance to come together, share a beer and some pizza, and engage in a stimulating discussion on a variety of interesting topics that affect our business. Previous topics have included Virtuality, China Rising, Design For All with more stimulating editions still to come.

Ad/Packaging vs Reality

Found a great site, pundo3000.com, which showcases global food products (with their well-art directed "perfect spoonfuls") VERSUS THE PRODUCT REALITY inside the package.

MMmm, tasty.

Introducing Billy Bones

Fallon art director Chris Lincoln, is debuting his new children's book Billy Bones and its now available in USA via pre-order on Amazon, or in UK via LoveReading4Kids.co.uk or via Amazon UK.


*Here's what Little, Brown & Company Books for Young Readers has to say about Billy Bones.

View more Billy Bones BooTube here.

Mass Interactive: We Think

Vid promoting Charles Leadbetter's new book "We Think".

Age Of Conversation '08

Age of Conversation 2.0 - The authors and topic have been announced!

275 (yes...275!) authors of Age of Conversation: Why Don't People Get It?, including myself and many Plannersphere names you'll recognize.

Adam Crowe, Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob Carlton, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Bradley Spitzer, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Clay Parker Jones, Chris Brown, Colin McKay, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Cord Silverstein, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Goldstein, Dan Schawbel, Dana VanDen Heuvel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Darryl Patterson, Dave Davison, Dave Origano, David Armano, David Bausola, David Berkowitz, David Brazeal, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Emily Reed, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, G. Kofi Annan, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Graham Hill, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, J.C. Hutchins, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeremy Middleton, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, Joe Talbott, John Herrington, John Jantsch, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Flowers, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kris Hoet, Krishna De, Kristin Gorski, Laura Fitton, Laurence Helene Borei, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Barnes-Johnston, Louise Mangan, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Marcus Brown, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Mark McSpadden, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Hawkins, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Monica Wright, Nathan Gilliatt, Nathan Snell, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul Marobella, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Beeker Northam, Rob Mortimer, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Cribbett, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tiffany Kenyon, Tim Brunelle, Tim Buesing, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Longhurst, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem

Buy the first book here and here

AAAA Jay Chiat Planning Awards 2008

Deadlines for AAAA Jay Chiat Planner Awards submissions approaching fast (Apr14). Application deets here and on Facebook

| View | Upload your own

| View | Upload your own

I also understand they are seeking big ideas for Breakout Sessions. More info on the conference here.

Web 2.0 in Plain Hip Hop

In the vein of Comm Craft's web 2.0 in "plain english" vids, we now got Chuck at PopLabs who explains Web 2.0 in rhyme styles.

Recognize. SEM and SEO rap.


Put ya hands up. Social Media Addiction rap.

Fallon Brainfood: The Social 10

A live event/webcast presentation about social media, using social media!

Wednesday March 26, 12pm CST/1pm EST/10am PST, in person (for Fallon employees) or on the social web (for everyone else).

| View | Upload your own

How do you attend this social?
For Fallon employees, come on down to 27 Rotunda and you can see the presentation live (lunch provided).

For everyone else, it's an open social on the web (lunch not provided)! Attend Aki's presentation (slideshow, live sound and video) on your choice of a range of social web touchpoints including Fallon Planning Blog on Blogger, Yahoo! Live (sound and video only), NetVibes, Plannersphere on Ning, and Facebook. View the accompanying slides at Slideshare (slides only) or download the pdf directly to your desktop at Dropio (slides only).

URL Links- have it your way:
http://fallontrendpoint.blogspot.com/
Aki recommends you watch here - click along manually via Slideshare or download the pdf at Dropio.
http://www2.netvibes.com/akispicer#AKISYSTEMS2600
or here, again just click along manually via Slideshare or download the pdf at Dropio.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=803440172
or here, just click on the Y! Live box to activate live you will prob need to activate the Slideshare in a separate window
http://live.yahoo.com/akispicer
try here for just the video/audio, you will need to launch Slideshare in a separate window or download the slides to your desktop via Dropio
http://accountplan.ning.com/profile/akispicer

View the slides here on Slideshare http://www.slideshare.net/akispicer/
or download the slides to your desktop in pdf format at http://drop.io/fallonplanningsocial10

*Social web attendees will be able to talk/text questions via Yahoo! Live and AIM (akiattacks).

What is Brainfood?
Brainfood is a monthly all-agency lunch conducted by Fallon Planners. Wide-ranging topics explore trends, business issues, and actionable opportunities for our brands. Moreover, Brainfood offers us a chance to come together, share a beer and some pizza, and engage in a stimulating discussion on a variety of interesting topics that affect our business. Previous topics have included Virtuality, China Rising, Design For All with more stimulating editions still to come.

Watching the Detectives: Account Planner Survey 2008

Time for the 4th annual Planner Survey, by Heather Lefevre.

Please only fill out this survey if you are working as an account/brand/strategic planner. If you're a student or a recruiter please do not take the survey.

Last year's results here

Some last thoughts from SXSW

Now that I have been chewing on the vast amount of information that was fed into my brain during my stay in Austin, there is one thing that has been a constant whisper in the back of my mind. It comes from a conversation that I had with a woman from another agency.

As I think we all realize, advertising is changing. Well actually, the world is changing and advertising is caught in the ripple effect. Technology has opened another world where there are unlimited possibilities for the marketing of products. We, as people who work in advertising, have to open our minds, think differently, and try to explore all the amazing ways to utilize this new space. It is intimidating, daunting, and for some of us, incredibly exciting.

So, back to my conversation with this woman. She was hired to help structure a new in-house agency for a large corporate entity. The part of our conversation that has been gnawing at me is that she has eliminated all account people and made both the Media Strategists and Project Managers client facing. She was able to remove a whole layer from the org chart. The first obvious benefit is speeding up the flow of information to the client. These Strategists are knowledgeable in traditional advertising, and also able to keep abreast of all the new trends in online and event types of marketing. Since they are able to keep current on all the trends, they are natural in selling the creative. In fact, she has them ingrained in the creative process working closely with the Art Director and Copywriter on brainstorming ideas. From brief to completion, they are involved.

Of course Strategists can’t do everything that a traditional Account Person does. The PM has the responsibility to manage the budget, come up with schedules, put meetings on the appropriate calendars, as well as trafficking the information internally within the agency. As a team they are able to do everything an Account Person did, only streamlined.

I understand this blog entry won’t help me get closer with our account people. I certainly don’t mean any disrespect, and I am not sure what the solution is for Fallon. What I am trying to say is that our canvas is changing. If we as an agency try to retain the processes and structure that we have always had, we will fail. If we are able to explore, learn and change according to our new environment, then perhaps we can excel in this ever-changing world. It’s not a revolution, but an evolution. Let’s evolve!