A European Definition of Thanksgiving

I've got my mashed potatoes boiling and the pie is in the oven and all I can think about is wathcing the Thanksgiving parade and dog show and what I will be stuffing into my face tomorrow.  So I've just been watching Thanksgiving videos today to set the mood.

Here is BuzzFeed's, British Friends Describe Thanksgiving.

Helping Others

Something about this video irks me, but in the end, they did something good, and with Thanksgiving coming up, it's a good time to be thankful for what you have and share the love.

Since this is a blog for branded video, I will just say that the music and close-up clips of this man crying feel like it's screaming at the viewer to cry.  This kind of coaxing doesn't make for a strong video.  The story itself holds the power, not the dramatic music.  This is a simple, touching story, it should be told that way.  Also advertising clothing when this man has been homeless seems strange and missing the point.  I don't want to sound cynical, it's great they helped him, but I wish they just helped him, instead of promoting the clothing line too.

Harvard vs Yale

Oh man, I couldn't resist sharing this article I read on Business Insider. 

Coming soon, Harvard and Yale have their annual football game, known by all as "The Game".  As you can imagine there is a lot of competition between the schools.

Harvard's student comedy group, On Harvard Time, played the ultimate prank.  They went on to the Yale campus dressed as Yale students to give tours to prospective parents and students, giving such helpful information as Yale are "stupider", "less attractive" and "less successful" than Harvard students.  The host does a great job, I'm reminded of Van Wilder watching this spoof.

Foot Locker's Week of Greatness

This ad has been shared on my facebook feed quite a bit today.  Foot Locker and their advertising partner, BBDO put together what they envision a whole week of supreme sports greatness would look like.  Here it is, all the way down to Mike Tyson apologizing and returning the piece of ear he bit off of Evander Holyfield in that 1997 boxing ring.

GoldieBlox - Inspiring future engineers

Dismayed by the small percentage of women in her program, Stanford engineering student Debbie Sterling founded GoldieBlox, a construction toy meant to "prove to the world that engineering for girls is a mainstream concept."  

The company strives to encourage little girls to remain interested in engineering by engaging them in story-oriented building.  GoldieBlox, has made a set of interactive books and games to “disrupt the pink aisle and inspire the future generation of female engineers.”

Posted on YouTube November 17th, it already has over 3.5 million views.

Volvo Live Tests

Perhaps you were one of the over 35 million people who have watched Jean-Claude Van Damme's spectacular stunt, showcasing Volvo Trucks Dynamic Steering.  If not, you should check it out immediately.



This is test six of Volvo's live tests.  It's an interesting campaign that I believe will help put Volvo back in the minds of car buyers.

The Ballerina Stunt (almost 8 million views) was the first of the tests, also quite impressive.

Dumb Ways to Die is Smart

I've loved this ad campaign for awhile and just came across this article on AdAge with a bit of a breakdown of the campaign and why it's been so successful.

Is Summer the best time to promote the "Little Guys"?

I came across an interesting article today on iMediaConnection.   It seams, that while the Fall and Winter commercial and viral video content seasons tend to be capitalized by larger companies, like car and electronics.  Summer is when the "little guys" may have an easier time being seen.

Many of the larger companies don't put as much money into advertising during the summer months, when television is mainly playing reruns.

One of the examples they talk about coming from the summer season was the viral ad for the new period subscription service, helloflo.com.  As of today, this video has over 6 million views.

To read the full article, (and you should, it's short), check it out here.

Univ of Phoenix

From our research, the majority of universities in the US have some work to do on the social media front.  One university that is on top of things is the University of Phoenix.  It would make sense that a university that is online would adapt more quickly to social media.

This video is from a campaign they have with NFL wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald, who has decided to finish up his degree here.

AOL & Nicole Richie

This past spring AOL rolled out a whole new group of web series, 15 of them to be exact, many of them hosted by well-known celebrities.  One of my favorites that has become an addiction is Nicole Richie's series called #CandidlyNicole.

In it, "Nicole Richie brings her unfiltered sense of humor and unique perspective to life in a new series based on her irreverent twitter feed. The show follows the outspoken celebrity as she shares her perspective on style, parenting, relationships and her journey to adulthood."

In my opinion, she was the best part of the reality show "The Simple Life" with her and Paris Hilton.  Lukily it appears she hasn't lost any of her sarcasm and willingness to make a complete fool of herself.  Here's one of the episodes.  Nicole raps for today's working woman.

CANDIDLYNICOLE – Fashion icon, creative director of House of Harlow 1960 and Winter Kate and mom, Nicole Richie, brings her unfiltered sense of humor and unique perspective to life in a new series based on Nicole’s clever twitter feed and will follow the outspoken host as she muses on her own daily insights and shares her uncensored perspective on style, parenting, relationships and her journey through life. Produced by Telepictures Productions and World of Wonder with executive producers Nicole Richie and Michael Baum.

Life lessons from an astronaut

Posted October 28 and already over 850,000 views on youtube, Chris Hadfield has a sweet two minute short promoting his new book.



If you're unaware of who Mr. Hadfield is, perhaps you'll remember him from this clip. Canadian astronaut, Hadfield, was a mission specialist on STS-74. He started documenting his time in space to put out on social media to get people excited about space again.  If you'd like to learn more about his book, NPR did a great interview with Hadfield.