Space: Within our Reach… or, Redefining iCloud

A while back, I saw this news item about Lenovo & YouTube’s Space Lab project, and was reminded of an equally, if not more-so awesome father-son team who sent an iPhone into space by themselves. Best of all, they have video of it from start to end. It’s truly inspiring, gives iCloud a new meaning, and is worth a few minutes if you don’t mind being totally blown away.

Ship My Pants! Is Kmart Being Smart?

A little blue humor and the blue light special

Original photo by DoppioM via Flickr

I remember being in a Kmart a hazy handful of times in the ’70s seeing a blue siren flash after an announcement over Kmart’s intercom. It was exciting, and an obvious gimmick to get some quick attention while having a little fun.

Something similar is happening now with Kmart’s latest ad campaign, dubbed “Ship My Pants.” Highlighting the retailer’s offering of in-store shipping, excited customers riff about shipping their pants, drawers, a bed, and… you get the idea.

I love some wacky wordplay, so I’m naturally a fan of the ad. I don’t know that I’ll be shopping at Kmart any more because of it, but I’ll definitely be smirking the next time it happens, or maybe even the next time I drive by a store.

It reminds me of the “Make 7up Yours” campaign from the ’90s…

I noted the similarity to Kmart through Twitter, and they acknowledge the connection.

@rsmithing Same idea! Thanks for the compliment #ShipMyPants

— Kmart (@Kmart) April 20, 2013

My take away is that, although this might be a bawdy approach, it gets us talking (blogging) about the brand when there was absolutely no chatter before. In the case of Old Spice, this did get me interested in the product, and it will be interesting to follow Kmart’s business as consumers start to, um.. ship their pants.

What do you think? Can you recall a similar campaign? Would this make you more or less likely to shop at a Kmart or similar advertiser? Let us hear from you in the comments.

Related articles

• Kmart’s ‘ship my pants’ ad causes shockwaves and smiles (usatoday.com)


• Kmart’s Hilarious New Ad Will Make You Ship Your Pants (dailyfinance.com)


• Lessons for Communicators From Kmart’s Wildly Successful “Ship My Pants” Viral Video (prnewsonline.com)


• How Kmart Used Social Listening (And Some Nerve) To Create A Ship-My-Pants Funny Viral Hit (fastcocreate.com)

Adrian Peterson Orange Peanut Awesomeness

I love it when real life and entertainment collide for humorous effect, and social media is especially great for that.

My favorite example of this lately is Minnesota Viking Adrian Peterson’s now-famous post-game confession of his passion for orange peanuts.

This comes courtesy of Bad Lip Reading. If you haven’t seen their full set of YouTube videos, your life is not as rich as it could be.

Culture Jamming? Orange Peanut!

The best part of this is when Peterson was presented with a real-life orange peanut at an autograph session. And he was a great sport about it. Look at that smile.

Image via tchrox

Importantly, as USA Today notes, “The craftsmanship on the peanut is spot-on.” Excellent.

What do you think? What’s your favorite example of real/online/entertainment world convergence? Have you ever participated in culture jamming? Let us hear from you in the comments.

Related articles

• Adrian Peterson Gets His Orange Peanut (thevikingage.com)
• Yes, Adrian, An Orange Peanut For You (dailynorseman.com)
• Orange Peanut! Bad Lip Reading Finally Does the NFL and It’s the Best (VIDEO)(manolith.com)
• A Healthy Perspective on Peanut Butter (leanonlife.com)

Your Own Personal Grammys

Are your favorite performing artists underrepresented for their work? Does the mainstream “best of” not reflect your tastes? Then make your own awards. This is my blog, with my completely biased opinions – The Grammys, this is not. That said, thersmithing.com music awards for the past year go to…

Best Video: Melodysheep, Happy Little Clouds

I interview the mastermind behind Melodysheep, and all-round cool dude, John Boswell, here.

Best Concert: Beats Antique, Cat’s Cradle, May 4, 2012

I recount how I discovered Beats Antique here and document another of their gigs here.

Best New Artist: How To Destroy Angels

It’s atmospheric Nine Inch Nails with a female voice. Totally works.

Best Comeback: Quicksand

The band’s breakthrough album, Slip, is a certified classic.

Best Shoutout to Me: Garbage

One of my favorite bands featured my artwork in a promo video. Full story here.

Album of The Year: Deftones, Koi No Yokan

The Deftones‘ enduring talent surges ever forward.

Best Electronica: Photek, KU:PALM

Photek came back after many years with a sparse-yet-rich new record.

Best Topical Humor: CollegeHumor, Look at This Instagram

Thanks to Sarah Khanna, food blogger at butteredup.com, for turning me on to this. I think.

What do you think? What were your best musical moments of the past year? What other categories would you include? Let us hear from you in the comments.

Related articles

• Photek’s KU: PALM Embraces Past, Present, Future (rsmithing.com)
• Deftones December Wrap Up (cgiovanniwrites.wordpress.com)
• Melodysheep: ‘The Face of Creation’ – Higgs Remix (VIDEO) (blippitt.com)
• Who is Skrillex and Why Did He Win Three Grammys? (…What is Dubstep Anyways?!?!) (CA Music Industry Summit)
• Abum Review: Photek – KU:PALM (Five Fist Reviews)

My Best Concert Ever: Bauhaus

The best concert I’ve ever seen was Bauhaus at the 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C. [setlist] [discussion] I’ve always been a big fan of their music, yet they broke up long before I was old enough to go to concerts. So I only had references from others’ experiences, and the occasional glimpse of a video to experience anything resembling a performance.

Note: although embedding has been disabled by request on all these videos, they still play at YouTube and are definitely worth checking out. Just click that “Watch on YouTube” link.

Going to see the band after they’d reunited was not just a personal thrill, but the show itself was absolutely phenomenal. Their performance was right on, and Peter Murphy‘s remarkable voice only seemed to have gotten better with time. The lighting and set design were breathtaking, yet intimate and appropriate for this band and their dramatic aesthetic.

Bauhaus In Concert = Chills

It gives me chills just to think about it now, and I still have frozen in my brain, and probably will forever, images of every song as they came to life before my eyes – these pieces of music which we’re so compelling-yet-mysterious now happening in front of me and a room full of 1000 people. The experience was an electric, hair-raising religious one.

I was never a totally goth kid growing up, although I did appreciate the music and style. I was more into metal and punk than new wave or alternative when my musical tastes were forming, but I’ve always appreciated many types of music. The unifying factors I do appreciate most, however, are creativity, skill at craft, and overall dedication, all of which Bauhaus and myother favorite bands have in abundance.

What is your best concert ever? Is there a band you would like to see but haven’t yet, or may never get to see? What would be your fantasy best concert? Let us hear from you in the comments.

Related articles

• The Postelles’ Daniel Balk Riffs on Concerts, Tours and His Favorite Venues(seatgeek.com)
• “Gangnam Style” played at Maroon 5 Concert in Korea (allkpop.com)
• Day 14: Wild Nothing Concert @ The Great Hall (findingtrudy.com)
• Official Bauhaus Website (bauhausmusik.com)
• Peter Murphy Official website (petermurphy.info)

Tide Turns Tide with PR

I love it when fiction and real life intersect in clever, funny, or serendipitous ways. I especially like seeing that happen to the mutual benefit of everyone involved – including the public at large – in terms of culture jamming.

That’s what happened this week with Tide and The Onion. The publication ran a faux story on a product that doesn’t necessarily translate perfectly to social media releasing a “cool new viral video.” About… detergent? You get the joke.

Tide Turns Tables on The Onion

It just so happens that the actual company noticed this post and, in what must have been a Herculean effort of corporate teamwork, crafted a brilliant, self-aware response. And they even publicized it via a promoted tweet. Here’s the video and The Onion’s response.

Kyle Ryan@Kyle_Ryan

So @TheOnion wrote this onion.com/Lc7F52, then @tideresponded with this youtu.be/clt8cjOgUbI. Well played, Tide, well played.

2 Jun 12

• Reply
• Retweet
• Favorite

I hope other corporations can enjoy and learn from this as an example of PR done right. Keep the funny videos coming, Tide.

What do you think? Was this the right move on Tide’s part? Have you heard of the story elsewhere, or does publicity like this actually amount to anything? Let us hear from you in the comments!

P.S. I really love embedding tweets. That’s awesome, Twitter.

Related articles

• Tide Detergent Releases Viral Video In Response To The Onion Spoof(mediaite.com)
• The Onion Describes ‘Cool New Tide Video’ Before Digitas Creates It(adrants.com)
• Check Out This Cool New Tide Detergent Video (adweek.com)
• Tide, P&G, Embraces Onion Lampoon of Their Viral Videos (reelseo.com)
• Tide creates ‘cool new’ video in response to The Onion article (Ragan.com)