SMS Slingshot

Nice. The SMS Slingshot draws on gaming culture, seamlessly combining digital and meatspace. I wanna have a go.

The Mighty Artline - turning stupid into cupid

Does your Valentine's message lack lustre? Add some erudition to your prose and turn stupid into cupid with The Mighty Artline's Love Translator. Go to Pitt Street Mall today to get your personalised lurve message from Mills & Boon author Melanie Milburne, or visit the Facebook page.

Bingoogle?

That's a bloody big visual for Google. Particularly in the context of all the clandestine activity the search engines have been engaged in lately - dubbed the "Bing Sting". Is Google becoming more visual, stealing Bing's thunder in retaliation?

When you click on the Google logo, it directs you information about Jules Verne, in celebration of  the author's 183rd birthday. Rather like Bing's homepage hotspots allow you to explore the visual.

BrandZ

BrandZ's study of the Top 100 Brands 2010 has some useful data, which support arguments we repeatedly make about the value of brands.

The resilience of a strong brand: over the past five years, the value of BrandZ's Top 100 Global Brands appreciated by 40% to $2.04 trillion, even as the S&P 500 declined by 11.5%.

Rebuilding trust: trust works in tandem with recommendation to build brand value.

Value is more important than price: even during the recession, only 7% of people bought on price alone.

Value is delivered by own-label brands: while people select brands for the reassurance of authenticity, quality and value, these needs are increasingly fulfilled by own-label, across all price brackets. 

Value is important not only to everyday but to luxury brands: even those who can afford to spend lavishly choose not to spend frivolously.

Strong values and leadership: all of the world's Top 10 most valuable brands were created by visionary leaders. They continue to be lead by the same people, or by successors who share the same unshakable principles.

Philanthropy or "CSR" isn't enough: post-recession and natural disasters, people are feeling personally responsible towards others and to the environment and they choose brands that reflect their wishes and values.

Position brands for emerging markets: as Y&R points out in "How to Dominate the World" 85% of humans live there.

Epic Fail

You sometimes learn more from failure than success. Not in this case. It's such a blindingly stupid blunder that flouts any basic manners or empathy.

For more epic fails, see ViralBlog's social media fail compiliation.

Update: The post was followed by an apology and a whole load of parody and it quickly blew over, as Adage reports. It was that misguided it was almost laughable.

Wish Tree

The Wish Tree is a way to share your wishes for your local environment and help realise them. An iPhone app geolocates your suggestions so others can see them and build on them. An apt metaphor and visualisation, each wish starts life as a seed, then grows into a tree and bears flowers as it's cultivated.

Tag Clouds on Steroids

Check out Tagxedo. You can make tag clouds in all sorts of shapes, drawing in data from your blog, Twitter account, or just about any data source. Hours of fun.