Tag Archives: starbucks

Why Old Spice Is Killing Social Media in 2011

Okay first check out this top-10 list of social-media marketing fails and wins. I just happened to find the Canadian article titled “Top 10 social media hits and misse in 2010,” and my own video hiding in it. Can you find it? Yeah that’s me as the press secretary for Tony Hayward. The accent is fake. I’m not British.

I love the Old Spice campaign, but it’s going to cause some serious road kills in 2011. Why?

Wieden + Kennedy , the advertising agency behind Old Spice’s grand 2010 marketing campaign, turned actor Isaiah Mustafa into a household name. And they made it look easy, so now everyone’s going to want to “pull an Old Spice..” In fact I’ll have to write a new book called “Beyond Old Spice.” Caution ambitious agencies and brands… this was a major coordinated effort that involved significant media spending and crafty use of social media. It’s going to be imitated a lot in 2011 and poorly so.

Anyway I’m giggling that the Globe & Mail (Amber Macarthur) article happened to select my YouTube parody about BP to demonstrate that fail online.

You can’t imagine how weird it is to be reading about social-media marketing, and notice your video is the example.

I’m really big in Canada. I keep telling you that, and it’s like you don’t believe it. Nalts is to Canada as Jerry Lewis is to France. I’m the friggin Shanecarl Wheezyhiga of Canada.

Someone needs to put the computer down and leave Starbucks immediately, as he rapidly tumbles down the hill of unproductivity entering hour number 10. I feel the Via coursing through my veins. The irony is that I’m in the Starbucks at which I shot the exterior shot of the via sponsored video, but they wouldn’t let me tape in the store. I wonder if BP would let me tape in its lobby. Maybe the BP Canadian office.

The Economic Recession Commuter Show (episode one)

Yesterday my wife and I were finalizing our information for a financial counselor who will tell us that we’re too deep in debt, not saving enough, and have precious little buffer. So naturally I found myself humming this intro tune all morning. I shot half of this on the way in, and then wrote a little more at lunch and shot the rest on the way home.

I probably should have dumped a lot of it, and made it one show. But I grew too attached to parts that (in retrospect) are a bit slow. So now I have a few more minutes of footage for a sequel tomorrow… I think it will be better because Nalts gets more and more desperate. Trying to give blood, stealing from his courier packages, and driving off without paying for gas.

This video goes in the “it’s funny because it’s true” file. But at least I’m listening to the self-help audio tapes you hear throughout this video. Can you guess which ones they are?

Here’s episode 2.

P.S. I didn’t really get laid off yet! Why does everyone think that’s real?

100 Boring Videos (call for montage)

Are you really, really bored? No- I mean SUPAH FREAKY bored? Okay then here’s a challenge. Make a montage out of these nearly 100 video replies to my “bore me” challenge (where more than a year ago I invited people to make 30-second videos that reach into their inner bore).

I’ll feature your montage here on the blog and my youtube channel page. It might be funny to select a handful of the best and return to them a few times as you rotate through the rest.

Here’s the collection. Get rippin’ and editing!

I had forgotten about this contest until Chris sent me this YouTube Poop version of my video (youtube poop is when someone mixes up your video to make it even stupider).

Watching Chris’ video made me realize why Starbucks people don’t understand me. My wife sometimes wants half caffeinated and sometimes defaffeinated, and the words started to blend together. So when I say “half caf decaf” I mean “half caffeinated and half decaffeinated, or “50% caffeinated.” Now I realize they’re hearing a contradiction (I want half caffeinated… no, I want defecaffeinated) and they’re seeking clarity. As they pursue clarity about the caffeine I’m too busy thinking about whether I’ve translated the size correctly (Tall/Venti) and trying to remember how many pumps of vanilla and what the french term for hot milk is (latte).

Two years of anxiety ordering my wife’s Starbucks, and now I find out why the whole thing breaks down.

“Farting in Public” Kid Goes MIA: Campaign to Bring Back Spencer

Spencer is my nephew’s friend who appeared in “Farting in Public” (now almost at 5 million views). We’ve done about 12 mostly public videos together, and here’s a playlist so you can watch them all on YouTube: “Best of Spencer.”

Spencer has a unique ability to suspend social anxiety and do just about anything without cracking up. Meanwhile, I stand behind the shaking camera laughing with tears in my eyes. He reminds me of The Man Show boy.

I’m starting a campaign to bring him back, because I miss him more than my online-video viewers. And he hasn’t returned phone calls lately. Maybe another creator has signed him. Well rest assured I pay better, Spencer! Free food, iTunes cards, gift certificates, Target trips and even a free Hamster that debuted in “Hamster on a Walk” (I hope Beaowulf is still alive).

Here’s my “Best of Spencer” video, appealing to viewers to charm him back in the “comments” section.