Durex: Get it on

Durex Condoms have recently released a clever (and hilarious) viral ad called Get it on, a video suggesting that you use condoms in all kind of situations. Maybe more folks in India should see it. That way we can fight AIDS and the population explosion.

(via Condomunity)

If Shakespeare had Twittered

Here's what the first nine lines of the "To be or not to be" passage would've looked like had Shakespeare crammed them into the 140 characters of Twitter.

"2 be, or nt 2 be: tht's the q:
Whether 'tis nblr in the mnd 2 sffr
The slngs & rrws of trgs frtn,
Or 2 tk rms gnst a sea of trbls,
by ppsng end thm? 2 die: 2 zzz;
No mr & by a zzz 2 say we end
The hrt-ache & the thsnd ntrl shcks
That flsh is hr 2, 'tis a cnsmmtn
Devoutly 2 be wsh'd. 2 die, 2 zzz;"

Here are The Simpsons performing "To be or not to be":

The original from Hamlet:

To be, or not to be: that is the question:

Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,

Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them? To die: to sleep;

No more; and by a sleep to say we end

The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks

That flesh is heir to, 'tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wish'd. To die, to sleep;

To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;

For in that sleep of death what dreams may come

When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,

Must give us pause: there's the respect

That makes calamity of so long life;

For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,

The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,

The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,

The insolence of office and the spurns

That patient merit of the unworthy takes,

When he himself might his quietus make

With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,

To grunt and sweat under a weary life,

But that the dread of something after death,

The undiscover'd country from whose bourn

No traveller returns, puzzles the will

And makes us rather bear those ills we have

Than fly to others that we know not of?

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;

And thus the native hue of resolution

Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,

And enterprises of great pith and moment

With this regard their currents turn awry,

And lose the name of action. - Soft you now!

The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons

Be all my sins remember'd.

41 commercials in one music video

How many of the 41 commercials mashed up into one music video can you recognize? How many brands can you name?

(Via Adverlab)

President Obama's life used as pro-life argument

No matter your stand on abortion, you have to admit this pro-life commercial from CatholicVote featuring President Obama moves you just a little bit. Doesn't it?

Oh sure, CatholicVote is milking this for all its worth but there are two sides to every story and this is one of the better Pro-life arguments we've seen in recent memory.

(Via AdGabber)

Free Monty Python videos on YouTube lead to 23,000 percent increase in DVD sales

Have you checked out Monty Python’s YouTube channel? It has got a selection of their brilliant (as always) clips, and it’s got links to buy their DVDs on Amazon. As those crazy Monty Python dudes put it:

“We’re letting you see absolutely everything for free. So there. But we want something in return. None of your driveling, mindless comments. Instead, we want you to click on the links, buy our movies and TV shows and soften our pain and disgust at being ripped off all these years.”

And you know what? Despite the entertainment industry’s constant cries about how bad they’re doing, it works. Monty Python’s DVDs climbed to No. 2 on Amazon’s Movies & TV bestsellers list, with increased sales of a staggering 23,000 percent.

Similar approach worked for Nine Inch Nails and other artists. And yet, lately we hear more about various restrictions to free redistribution of copyrighted content than ever before.

Will Bollywood follow suit and hand out freebies as a hook?

(Via Mashable)

Cadbury's: Eyebrow Dance

Cadbury's is getting famous for it's weird but memorable commercials. I'm sure you all remember the Gorilla ad, and maybe even the bizzare and incomprehensible trucks tv commercial. All courtesy of A Glass And A Half Full productions. Just released is the follow up called Eyebrow Dance - which is pretty much what is. But it's good and engaging.

Levi's: Towing

From days when products demonstrated tangible benefits. In this case, the strong seam at the crotch of Levi's jeans. One of my all-time greats. UK, circa 1989.

Xerox: Monk

Created by my friend Allen Kay of Korey Kay Partners, New York, circa 1976. Voted one of ESPN's all-time top ten Superbowl commercials.

Advertising in a recession, 2009

Ads on Edge

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: branding recession)

A pretty presentation from the sales department at The Economist about why marketers should be increasing their budgets during a recession instead of doing otherwise. No arguments we haven't really seen before, but very well laid out.

Perhaps media publishers should get together and put out a deck of generic slides agency folks could use in their own client meetings.

The environmental impact of Google searches

Performing two Google searches from a desktop computer can generate about the same amount of carbon dioxide as boiling a kettle for a cup of tea, according to new research.

While millions of people tap into Google without considering the environment, a typical search generates about 7g of CO2 Boiling a kettle generates about 15g. “Google operates huge data centres around the world that consume a great deal of power,” said Alex Wissner-Gross, a Harvard University physicist whose research on the environmental impact of computing is due out soon. “A Google search has a definite environmental impact.”

Google is secretive about its energy consumption and carbon footprint. It also refuses to divulge the locations of its data centres. However, with more than 200m internet searches estimated globally daily, the electricity consumption and greenhouse gas emissions caused by computers and the internet is provoking concern. A recent report by Gartner, the industry analysts, said the global IT industry generated as much greenhouse gas as the world’s airlines - about 2% of global CO2 emissions. “Data centres are among the most energy-intensive facilities imaginable,” said Evan Mills, a scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California. Banks of servers storing billions of web pages require power.

Though Google says it is in the forefront of green computing, its search engine generates high levels of CO2 because of the way it operates. When you type in a Google search for, say, “energy saving tips”, your request doesn’t go to just one server. It goes to several competing against each other.

It may even be sent to servers thousands of miles apart. Google’s infrastructure sends you data from whichever produces the answer fastest. The system minimises delays but raises energy consumption. Google has servers in the US, Europe, Japan and China.

Wissner-Gross has submitted his research for publication by the US Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and has also set up a website www.CO2stats.com. “Google are very efficient but their primary concern is to make searches fast and that means they have a lot of extra capacity that burns energy,” he said.

Google said: “We are among the most efficient of all internet search providers.”

Wissner-Gross has also calculated the CO2 emissions caused by individual use of the internet. His research indicates that viewing a simple web page generates about 0.02g of CO2 per second. This rises tenfold to about 0.2g of CO2 a second when viewing a website with complex images, animations or videos.

A separate estimate from John Buckley, managing director of carbonfootprint.com, a British environmental consultancy, puts the CO2 emissions of a Google search at between 1g and 10g, depending on whether you have to start your PC or not. Simply running a PC generates between 40g and 80g per hour, he says. of CO2 Chris Goodall, author of Ten Technologies to Save the Planet, estimates the carbon emissions of a Google search at 7g to 10g (assuming 15 minutes’ computer use).

Nicholas Carr, author of The Big Switch, Rewiring the World, has calculated that maintaining a character (known as an avatar) in the Second Life virtual reality game, requires 1,752 kilowatt hours of electricity per year. That is almost as much used by the average Brazilian.

“It’s not an unreasonable comparison,” said Liam Newcombe, an expert on data centres at the British Computer Society. “It tells us how much energy westerners use on entertainment versus the energy poverty in some countries.”

Though energy consumption by computers is growing - and the rate of growth is increasing - Newcombe argues that what matters most is the type of usage.

If your internet use is in place of more energy-intensive activities, such as driving your car to the shops, that’s good. But if it is adding activities and energy consumption that would not otherwise happen, that may pose problems.

Newcombe cites Second Life and Twitter, a rapidly growing website whose 3m users post millions of messages a month. Last week Stephen Fry, the TV presenter, was posting “tweets” from New Zealand, imparting such vital information as “Arrived in Queenstown. Hurrah. Full of bungy jumping and ‘activewear’ shops”, and “Honestly. NZ weather makes UK look stable and clement”.

Jonathan Ross was Twittering even more, with posts such as “Am going to muck out the pigs. It will be cold, but I’m not the type to go on about it” and “Am now back indoors and have put on fleecy tracksuit and two pairs of socks”. Ross also made various “tweets” trying to ascertain whether Jeremy Clarkson was a Twitter user or not. Yesterday the Top Gear presenter cleared up the matter, saying: “I am not a twit. And Jonathan Ross is.”

Such internet phenomena are not simply fun and hot air, Newcombe warns: the boom in such services has a carbon cost.

(via The Times)

How to access Gmail when it's down

If you can't access Gmail for some reason, try some of these URLs:

Safe mode - http://mail.google.com/mail/?labs=0. It disables the experimental features from Gmail Labs, just in case some of them are buggy. You can remove some of the features from Gmail's settings page.

Secure mode - https://mail.google.com/. It encrypts the traffic between your computer and Gmail's servers. Use it from public computers, Wi-Fi networks or to bypass some proxies and web accelerators. There's a Gmail setting that redirects the standard version to the secure mode ("Always use https").

Older version - http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=1. This version has been replaced in October 2007 by a rearchitectured Gmail, but the old version is a little bit faster.

Basic mode - http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=html. It's the version that doesn't use JavaScript, so it loads faster and it works well with older browsers. Unfortunately, many Gmail features are missing (contacts autocomplete, chat, spell checker, rich formatting) and each click loads a new page. If you like this version, click on "Set basic HTML as default view" at the top of the page.

Mobile mode - http://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=mobile or http://m.gmail.com. This is a simplified Gmail interface for mobile phones that has even less feature than the basic mode. Use it if no other Gmail mode works for you.

iPhone mode - http://mail.google.com/mail/x/gdlakb-/gp/. A more user-friendly mobile version for iPhone and other mobile phones that use WebKit-based browsers.

iGoogle gadget - http://www.google.com/ig/gmailmax. This is the canvas view for the updated Gmail gadget which can be found in the new iGoogle. Some people found that this interface bypasses most corporate filters that prevent them from accessing Gmail at work.

"No browser checking" mode - http://mail.google.com/mail?nocheckbrowser. If you use a cutting-edge new browser and Gmail serves you the basic HTML mode, try this URL to bypass browser detection.

(via email)

Lenovo Thinkpad: Grandma

A hilarious tv commercial for Lenovo (IBM) Thinkpad, starring an adorable grandma.

If Pandavas were on Facebook

This image came as an email forward to me with no attribution.
However said creator is deeply offended that I used it without his permission. I apologize for this but what I don't like are the ridiculous comments made on my comment page. Also these guys can't structure a single coherent sentence in English.
To this end I have removed the work of offended creative genius.
A thousand apologies.
Let us not forget the original idea:
http://newnimproved.blogspot.com/2009/01/if-god-was-on-facebook.html



krishashok said...

Dude. There are two possibilities here:

1. You received this through an email forward and found it amusing enough to share it everyone on your blog. Fair enough. Just wanted to let you know that I did this back in 2007 and the original link is here - http://krishashok.wordpress.com/2007/11/29/facebook-mahabharatha/
I'd be happy if you attribute this back to me.

2. More unlikely, but you knew this was not yours, and while I have no problems with you reposting my facebook-mahabharatha image on your blog, the least you could do is attribute the creation to me, instead of making it seem like your creation :)

I am inclined towards believing that it is nr 1) so request you to oblige :)
11:37 AM
K said...

You mentioned your experience as copywriter ... Do you mean, copying other's posts and writing them here ????

Ofcourse, new and improved, you copied an image.
12:46 PM
Anonymous said...

Dude ... you are a copy cat!
Please mention krishashok's name..that guy really rocks! n we have read this almost 2 yrs back!
10:48 PM
SelvaGK said...

Yes i Admit, Your are an Experienced Copy Righter! hmmm..!
By the way i think you are not aware of this..!
http://labnol.blogspot.com/2006/07/dealing-with-website-plagiarism-when.html
I recommend you to remove this post or include Ashok name..! Else You need to pay for it..! :)
9:53 AM
വടക്കൂടന്‍ | Vadakkoodan said...

Hmm.... Great work of COPY writing. Keep it up. krish has a lot of good stuff that u might be interested in.
12:06 PM

If God was on Facebook

Monty Python: Logic Versus Sex

The Professional Logician, from the album of the soundtrack of the trailer of the film of Monty Python and the Holy Grail:

"Good evening!

The last scene was interesting from the point of view of a professional logician because it contained a number of logical fallacies — that is, invalid propositional constructions and syllogistic forms — of the type so often committed by my wife.

“All wood burns,” states Sir Bedevere. “Therefore,” he concludes, “all that burns is wood.”

This is, of course, pure bullshit! Universal affirmatives can only be partially converted. All of Alma Cogan is dead, but only some of the class of dead people are Alma Cogan. Obvious one would think.

However, my wife does not understand this necessary limitation of the conversion of a proposition. Consequently, she does not understand me. For how can a woman expect to appreciate a professor of logic if the simplest cloth-eared syllogism causes her to flounder.

For example: given the premise, “All fish live underwater” and “All mackerel are fish”, my wife will conclude, not that “All mackerel live underwater”, but that “If she buys kippers it will not rain” or that “Trout live in trees” or even that “I do not love her any more.”

This she calls “using her intuition”. I call it “crap” and it gets me very IRRITATED because it is not logical!

“There will be no supper tonight,” she will sometimes cry upon my return home.

“Why not?” I will ask.

“Because I have been screwing the milkman all day,” she will say, quite oblivious of the howling error she has made.

“But,” I will wearily point out, “even given that the activities of screwing the milkman and getting supper are mutually exclusive, now that the screwing is over, surely then, supper may, logically, be got.”

“You don’t love me any more!” she will now often postulate. “If you did, you would give me one now and again so that I would not have to rely on that rancid Pakistani for my orgasms!”

“I will give you one after you have got me my supper!” I now usually scream, “but not before” — as you understand, making her bang contingent on the arrival of my supper.

“God, you turn me on when you’re angry, you ancient brute!” she now mysteriously deduces, forcing her sweetly throbbing tongue down my throat.

“Fuck supper!” I now invariably conclude, throwing logic somewhat joyously to the four winds, and so we thrash about on our milk-stained floor, transported by animal passion, until we sink back, exhausted, onto the cartons of yoghurt...

I’m afraid I seem to have strayed somewhat from my original brief. But in a nutshell, sex is more fun than logic. One cannot prove this, but it IS in the same sense that Mount Everest IS, or that Alma Cogan ISN’T.

Goodnight."

Levi's: Dangerous Liasions

One of the most trite briefs a copywriter can get is "do a range" tv commercial.
Levi's does it in a brilliant and sensual manner.

Hovis Bread: Go On Lad

Iconic British bread brand Hovis have released a new advert showcasing over 122 years of Britain’s history. Part of Hovis’ huge re-launch advertising campaign, the tv commercial is a mammoth 122 seconds long celebrating the 122 years since Hovis was established.

Filmed in Liverpool, with a cast of over 750 extras many of whom are ordinary Brits cast off the streets, the ad depicts the highs and lows experienced by Britain during Hovis’ existence, including World War I, the Suffragette Movement, the first motor car, World War I & II, the 1953 coronation, the Swinging Sixties, England winning the FIFA World Cup, the 1970s immigration from India, the launch of color television, the 1980s miners strike and the Millennium celebrations. It ends with the poignant message - as good today as it's always been - reinforcing Hovis strong brand heritage and marking the beginning of a new Hovis era.

Simplicity and great attention to detail is what drives this gooseflesh-inducing tv commercial.