Tune In Saturdays: Menomena

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Dustbowl2I finally got my fucking electricity back! Dallas is in the middle of about the weirdest dust bowl ever, so I had nothing until about 20 minutes ago. That being so, this Saturday is a super duper quickie, cause I gots to get gone.

This week, we feature Menomena, a band with such huge balls that they named themselves after the skit below.

Yeah...I don't know why I find that so badass, but I do. Sue me.

Anyway, Menomena is pretty friggin' weird, and pretty friggin' computer-driven, too. But it works. From Prefix:

"Menomena's musical hash is some of the most interesting stuff you're likely to hear. The Portland-based trio creates its mix 'n' match pop anthems in a decidedly peculiar way: Deeler, a computer program created by drummer Danny Seim, creates loops out of short improvised riffs that each member comes up with. These loops are assembled into some peculiar, but undeniably catchy, shapes."

Also, if you happen to be in Dallas tonight, meet me at the Granada for a show featuring three tune in saturdays alumni - Midlake - St. Vincent - Tacks, the boy disaster.

And, some extra mp3 love.

Midlake - Roscoe (mp3)

St. Vincent - Paris is Burning (mp3)

Tacks, The Boy Disaster  - Forget Me Not (mp3)

And the blog goes to....

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Hug_1With the comment, "How 'bout now?" at 10:41pm on February 20, the Masi Guy himself, Timothy Andrew Jackson became the one thousandth commenter on little old hee haw. And, although his middle name is probably not actually Andrew, I will be handing him the keys to the haw with faith that he will make good of it. He's cool like that.

So, Tim, it's all yours, my friend. Do with it as you wish.

To every one of you who has commented over the past 7 or 8 months, I send much, much love.

And, here's a special wink to the first 5 commenters, without whom, I probably would have given this thing up a long time ago. You guys fucking rock lots.

1. Noah Kagan of OkDork, who has one of the friendliest blogs in the blogosphere (and needs a home).
2. Mack Collier (also known as Frank Burns) of the Viral Garden, the community guru from Alabama, who gets a special thanks for helping connect me with the BMA.
3. Ann Handley of Marketing Profs Daily Fix, a brilliant writer and someone I don't keep up with enough.
4. David Armano of Logic + Emotion, one of the most complete thinkers I've ever read, and someone who graciously allowed me to steal a graphic this week.
5. Karl Long of Experience Curve, who seems to be taking Nokia by storm.

But, seriously, all of you, first five or not, you guys are what makes the blog go. And, without CK, Gavin, Cam, Lewis, Sean, Vaspers, Roger,  Jaynie, Drew, Katie, Lori, Matt, Clay, Ben, Scott, Marcus, Mario, JC and Brian, the whole thing just wouldn't be much fun. And, damnit, I really hope I didn't forget any regular commenters. Cause then I would feel like a huge asshole.

The New "M-E" Generation

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Raisehands7In my last article, I touched on how we, as advertisers, should be working harder to embrace consumer self targeting. They do it already. Hell, you do it already. The simple act of searching for something on Google or Amazon is a form of self targeting, even if in minimalist terms. But, what about when they go to Amazon and read the hundreds of thousands of product reviews already uploaded to the site. No amount of advertising can combat a slew of poor reviews.

So how does this all work, anyway?

I'm an enormous music fan. I spend way too much of my time searching for new music to listen to and write about. Even so, the days of sifting through the album racks at my local CD store are long gone for me, now existing in some state of nostalgia in the back of my brain.

And while I'm constantly looking for new music, I'm hardly ever swayed by any amount of advertising for it. In fact, my general music snobbiness precludes me from buying anything in that fashion. Now, I spend some of my time on trusted sites like...

Continue reading Paul's super-awesome fantastic Mad Ave. Journal article....

Tune In Saturdays: Sondre Lerche

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Sondrelerche_1Norwegian crooner Sondre Lerche (As in Sandra Leer-key) grew up and grew a pair. I found this guy about a year ago while we were toying with music for a TV (yes, TV, I said it) campaign for one of our clients. The guy was pretty much considered a light-hearted jazz crooner. I bet some called him a pop artist, but he wasn't really. But, now, he's fully embracing the electric guitar, the distortion pedal and the power chord. You could say there jazz infused moments, but Phantom Punch is very much a rock record. Well, an indie-pop record, at least.

And while I'd hardly call Phantom Punch as charming as the earlier work, and it's probably not the most original thing I've ever heard, the album grows on you quickly, and doesn't have the quick wear-out that I expected. Here's a taste of both for your musical discernment.

From his earlier work, the first video is Everybody's Rooting For You, sung live.

And, from the title track from his new album, Phantom Punch.

User Controlled Advertising...

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Ifucktheman...or what Jaffe would call Consumer Controlled Advertising.

Apparently, Matt Dickman of Techno/Marketer and I are on the same page. While consumers now get to customize almost every aspect of their internet journey (including blocking out the ads), why the hell are we running so far behind?

And, so speaks Matt...

"While the focus has been placed on the ads themselves, we're missing an opportunity to really engage users and create more loyal customers through User Controlled Advertising (UCA). I pitched this back in 2005 and the world wasn't ready for it, but now seems like the right time to put it out there again. UCA would allow publishers or advertising networks to serve up ads (created by ad professionals) to users and allow those users to decide what they want to see."

And, he couldn't be more right. Unfortunately, large publishers are generally slow to change, because to them, waste = bucks. Simple as that.

Fortunately, there's been some recent movement in this regard, as Bebo and Conde Nast's Flip offer their users some level of control over the ads they see.

It all just sounds like a no-brainer to me. But, then again, these things seem to take awhile before the deep pockets brigade catches up.

Consumers Raise Their Mobile Hands, Part 1

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Handinhand2I've seen various companies recently making inroads into cell phone advertising. Then I saw something with my own eyes on my Verizon cell phone. All I could do was shake my head and chuckle at the ridiculous mini banner ad staring back at me above my weather forecast.

Does Verizon Care About Us?

I love the way we approach each new marketing medium, through the filter of all the other marketing programs we've done. We approached television as we did radio, and the internet as we did television.

It makes sense. It's what we know, and we're busy people. Better to do what we know, even if we're in a totally different environment, right? It makes us feel just a little cozier, more comfortable, and less naked in raw surroundings. It's difficult enough to do what we know in the environment to which we're accustomed, nowadays.

But it doesn't make it right.

People hate advertising. They loathe it, and glow with disdain for our profession. The call us shysters and swindlers, and portray us as liars and cold-hearted thieves. Then they pull out the classifieds, sift through Sunday inserts looking for the best priced pizza, and tend to be more glued to the Super Bowl during the commercial breaks.

continue reading Paul's totally super Madison Avenue Journal article.