Imagine if they were playing the Bobcats

You gotta love what happened at the start of the Atlanta Hawks playoff game the other night. 'Spirit' - a real life harris hawk from the Atlanta Zoo and unofficial team mascot kicked off the game by swooping down from the rafters.

Channel your inner Hitchcock and read what happened next.

Words can't describe new Scrabble commercials

The new "Word is Beautiful" campaign for Scrabble is _____________. And that's putting it mildly. Created primarily for the French market, these spots serve as a visually and emotionally stimulating departure from your typical "family-time/game night" spots that clutter the bored-game advertising landscape.

Or as the staff at Motionographer puts it: "The whole point of an advert is to stick in your mind, and these will laser etch onto your frontal lobe right down to the cerebellum!"



By breathing new life into the 60-year-old franchise, these spots draw a strong distinction between Scrabble and any other board game. The message is ownable and the execution is bold (especially the music) - a combination that is often striven for in the first meetings, but too often fails to be realized once ideas are chosen and produced. Of course, there's always next time to create a campaign worthy of being shared around the world.

For more inspiration, check out Sumo and Yoga.

Unraveling the Twitter riddle

Twitter me this, twitter me that: How should brands approach this peculiar app? With the networks and the news media making a mountain out of a bird's nest, it's quite easy to forget that the magic of Twitter is real-time conversation tracking. So rather than regurgitate the rhetoric, we hoped to give you our original take on the mood ring of the new millenium.

Social media is a party. Your job is to bring the ice.

Few brands can pull off being the cool parents who have the house with the pool where the kids like to hang out, let alone the hip online friend. So don't crash the party. Just pop in with snacks, make sure everyone's having a good time and maybe they might let you be in charge of the music after awhile. Don't try to make this social platform about you; make it about your customers' benefiting from you listening.

Unconvinced? OK, imagine you're Joe Tweet. One day, you mention that your furnace is conking out on you. How cool would it be to get a tweet back with a link to say, oh, Carrier's dealer locator and offer of a free system upgrade if you go with a Factory Authorized Dealer? The brand wouldn't have to follow that person. That might be creepy. And unnecessary - all Joe would have to do is mention "carrier" or "furnace" again and like Batman's beacon in the sky, the Big C could swoop in and save the day.

Our personal eureka! The purchase decision doesn't get more transparent than this.

Don't value statistics over psychology.

Statistics seem to be the overwhelming motivation for marketers to care about social media. But in our locust-like lust to insatiably amass followers, friends and traffic hits, the social aspect of social media is lost. Yes, demos and stats and numbers are good, but with Twitter, you really can see what people want/need, love/hate at precise moments, and with the right matches, you can change a perception or even convert a sale on the spot.

If you come at it with the mindset that you are here to solve problems, the ROI data will naturally follow.

It's a micro-blog, so micro-connect.

The one thing that Twitter has reinforced is people don't care about you or your product. They care about themselves and how your product affects them. It's what the whole micro-blog is based on - an individual feels something is so important that they have to pull out their phone and text it to the world. And that's the point. Whether it's mundane, insightful, curious or matter-of-fact, each tweet gives us a glimpse into what a person is thinking right then and there and to some degree what a person values.

Let's say someone tweets about picking their Mom up at the airport. Big friggin' deal, you say. Well, if the flower shop in that airport was paying attention, it could send that person a coupon to pick up some flowers to welcome her Mom home. Proving again that one man's online trash is another one's treasure.

Now how does said airport flower shop discover this tidbit in a sea of a million billion tweets? Tweetbeep - one of the many hidden gems in the world of Tw________ tools. It works like Google alerts except for Twitter, so you don't have to be paying attention to be listening (or is that the other way around?).

Tools like Tweetbeep, Twitturly (tracks URLs people mention) and TweetMeme (tracks the hottest stories), all build off the holy grail behind all this madness - Twitter Search. See, it's one thing to amass a following, but hone your listening skills and see the greatest benefits. By being a fly on the wall, you can find out what people are saying about your product and reward the positive comments with super-exclusive deals and mend the negative experiences with direct responses right as they are happening.

You can also take the pulse of a given metro area. So if you are looking to pick up slumping sales in Wichita, Kansas or Warsaw, Poland, use the advanced search with the city and you'll get just what you're looking for and then some.

Give your followers a reason to follow.

Twitter is useful to brands as a customer service tool, as a way to offer ultra-limited time only deals and pop-up events exclusive to followers and as a keep passionate fans updated on scheduled promotions and events.

Consider creating a separate account for scheduled events, so participants don't have to wade through the clutter to get what they want. Then, dispose of the account (after you capture all of that data, of course).

Give a hoot, don't pollute.

With everyone trying to demonstrate how green they are, let's not forget to conserve and be good stewards of our virtual spaces as well. There's enough Twitter litter already. If you're doing more than dabbling in any social media, make sure you have a clear plan with objectives, so you can earnestly see what's working, what's not and how you can get the most out of your micro-presence.

We recently read somewhere that a pharmaceutical company was automatically sending out a message regarding their pain medicine to anyone mentioning they have a headache. Now this is pollution, plain and simple because ‘headache’ is used so much as an idiom. But what if they took the same approach, except using a more targeted keyword like ‘migraine’ - something whose meaning cannot be misinterpreted and that might result in relieving a real and immediate pain. Although not casting as wide of a net, it would certainly target people who were crying out for help, not just noting their caffeine withdrawal.

Tag your tweets.

As is convention on Twitter, tweets are tagged with keywords so anyone could search for the keyword and read the stream of posts. These hashtags (#tag) are a very easy way to track fans or encourage people to participate in a promotion. For example, #bigmac for a BOGO burger from Mickey D's. And you can do it all without interrupting.

So after all this, what's the answer? Be a part of the conversation. Just don't think you have to lead it. web articles

@hrwideas to be last with 1 million followers

In this era of lofty expectations, we have decided to go against the grain. Our aim isn't to amass a following that would make Ashton Kutcher blush or CNN wolf in its blitzer. Ours is to help clients play the game a little smarter because if you're like 95% of the brands out there, the secret to Twitter isn't about being followed. Find out why tomorrow.

And it has nothing to do with Oprah.

Com-post

To celebrate Earth Day, we're doing our part by recycling a couple of posts. So enjoy...again.

Roids all the rage in baseball

I watched Alex Rodriguez's interview where he admitted using steroids. It was so fake and scripted - for a minute I thought I was watching 'The Hills'. I wish A-Rod did like Sammy Sosa a few years ago, and suddenly forget how to speak English. I have nothing personal against A-rod, just Major League Baseball. It's turned into a convoluted sport that's traded peanuts and cracker jack for asterisks and hall-of-fame debates.

So, sports fans, until baseball cleans up its drug mess we'll have to watch other sports, like swimming, or cycling, etc.

_____________________________

Generation Why

There are the Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y and the Millenials. But what about the recession generation? Don't they deserve their own distinction? After all, they're the ones who will have to clean up this mess. A few humble suggestions:

The Busters
A respectful nod to their grandparents - the Boomers. ["...the circle of life..."]

Billion Dollar Babies
We're investing in your future. And sending you the bill.

The Misers
Like the Depression-era generation before them, these kids are going to learn to reuse paper towels and coffee grounds like never before.

Generation Why / Generation Whine
Rather than doing something about it, they'll probably blame the generations before them and pass the buck to the generations to come. It's worked before.

The Crunched
Even street cred is hard to come by these days.

HRW attracts the Best Places

A humble huzzah to both Blue & Co and VMS for making the Best Places to Work list. This is Blue's debut, while VMS is a perennial powerhouse of the award.

We sure know how to pick 'em.

Surviving consumers' shift to thrift

Belts have tightened, but while it may take a little more to wrest those hard-earned dollars from consumers' hands, it isn't impossible. You just have to know what they're looking for.

1. Image up your retail.

The tents are up and the prices are down, but what makes your BOGO better than the next guy's? We're not suggesting you sacrifice the price points. But consumers won't care about the difference between you and Brand X if you start ignoring the brand you've built. Spice up your messaging by hitting the benefit beyond 'saving you money.' People can save a lot of money by not buying anything.

Let them know how your product/service will help them be a hero to their kids though things are tight, make them smarter than their neighbors, give them an edge over their colleagues or simply provide for a surprise-free summer vacation. Go local with sponsorships or just go all ABA with your promotions and let consumers escape in the fun. After all, the tents are up; you might as well have a (branded) circus.

2. Make it OK to indulge.

Consumers want to consume. And while they are being very good about trying to stay within their means, they need to reward themselves for being so good. Or cheat on their dollar diet. Either way, you need to be there to enable. Whether you have mini versions of your signature offering or that lagniappe to lure people to take a bigger bite, help consumers feel good about being a little bad about their new savings regimen.

3. Tell your best-kept secret.

As consumers become more discerning, they are digging for those services and items that give them more bang for their buck. But what if you've already been providing some bang. Rather than leap headfirst into a bidding war for customers, make sure people know all the reasons they should have been with you in the first place.

Example: A writer here was going to save a lot of money by switching to Geico (ok, Progressive). But by calling his current agent just to be sure, he comes to find that his policy just needed a bit of review via a quick survey. Turns out he saved a lot of money by staying put, more so than if he had switched. Maybe the 'high-end' issuer should tell its customers to call them first before they just up and switch. Or better yet send them the survey to fill out for the reassessment.

4. Publish or perish.

From blogs to tweets to bookmarking to recommending, there is a world of free spaces out there where you can get the word out about your product. And with advances coming rapidly in technologies incorporating consumer goods and online content, you need to start building that web cred now because that will be what the next-generation of technologies will be drawing upon for information.

And it's coming up faster than you think. In fact, simple, cheap and highly measurable technologies like QR are already out there. It's only a matter of (a short) time before these are incorporated into or rely on the info from social media platforms.

5. Don't overshoot yourself in the foot.

While corporate budgets are being slashed, R&D piggy banks have been spared the rod for now. But if your innovation focus is limited to simply improving existing products you run the risk of improving products beyond what most customers really need and are willing to pay for. When you focus on continually tweaking your bread and butter, you end up missing out on the rest of the feast, probably while ultimately tearing the toast in the process.

Innovation consultant Scott Anthony calls this 'overshooting' and it's why your refrigerator could've probably beaten Bobby Fischer in a game of chess. He says, "Too much focus on the corporate equivalent of comfort food — close-in innovation opportunities — will leave companies stuffed with empty calories and out of shape for the battles still to come." Like we said, too much bread and butter. (anyone else hungry?)

If your company was built on innovation, now is not the time to rest on your laurels. Flaunt your new endeavors and let consumers know what you've done for them lately.

Deja screwed

It happens to the best of us. You create a never-before-seen campaign that you're sure is going to cut through the clutter. But then you see it. One week before the campaign goes live, there it is on the small screen: Your idea dressed up in someone else's logo.

Take for example Subaru and Superpages. Both have their caped crusaders fighting for truth, justice and your hard-earned dollar. Of course, they're not competitors and each brand has its own unique creative tone and integrated follow-through, mind you. But now Mazda has thrown their billowing banner into the fray to take a little more wind out of everyone's sails. Sure, one has a cape and the other has some flags, but in the ever-shortening attention span of consumers, imagery is everything.

If that Superpages mechanic is checking out a Subaru SX4, we might have a rip in the space-time continuum.

But that is a rather innocent, innocuous example to be sure. What about when this double-take happens between direct competitors? Glad you asked. Currently, financial giants Prudential and Fidelity, both have very similar "road to retirement" campaigns. In one corner, we have Fidelity with its green arrow pathway mapping out your route to financial security like a TomTom (not Tauntaun). In the other corner, we have Prudential leaving little logos in the wake of every step you confidently take.

As casual observers, consumers might not know if they're coming or going. I saw these run within the same show.

Used to be, companies had to ride out this awkward duplicity and say, "May the best brand win." But now there are so many opportunities to tweak and enhance an idea through web, mobile and offline efforts to create greater distinction and flesh out the legs of the campaign on the fly to make it smarter, better, faster than your competitor's.

Unfortunately to date, neither has really taken their concept to another level to play out the total campaign. I've seen nothing beyond the TV spots for Prudential (though there is undoubtedly more.) And although Fidelity has wisely attempted to incorporate the pathway idea into their online presence in the form of a Guide to Personal Savings, the path to get there is ironically complicated, woefully buried and sets up like the opening credits of My Two Dads.

Having said all that, each of these TV campaigns has a lot to be proud of in terms of simplicity of idea and strength in execution. It's just uncanny that all of this is happening concurrently, and that I caught it all despite Tivoing everything these days. I mean, what are the odds?

Just goes to show how difficult it can be to uncover that one thing you can say about a brand that no one else can. And like I said, it happens to the best of us.

Banned in Kokomo

One of our radio spots for Indy Tire & Auto Service was apparently a little too risque for the virgin ears of Kokomo. After we had passed the ten or so scripts from the campaign that would be airing along to all the stations, we heard back from WWKI-FM saying they thought it best if we didn't send this one. It was either that or having the DJ yell "Earmuffs! Earmuffs!" before playing the spot.


The stations in the Indianapolis MSA, on the other hand, all embraced it, and we've even been able to use the creative as leverage for more optimum spot placement. One group (WFBQ) went so far as to say it "sits well" on their programming.

Have you ever experienced anything like this?

HRW gets UHU! of the Day

We were floored to discover our site was named UHU! of the Day by BILDBUNT.

Never hearing of this distinction, we eagerly looked for what UHU stood for. Could it be 'Unbelievably High-Concept URLs'? Or possibly 'Uber-Hip Underground'? Of course, we came to find, 'uhu' means 'owl' in German. So, yes, we were the Owl of the Day.

But as far as obscure awards you never knew existed go, this one is pretty cool. And with the keen and discerning eyes of these designers, we feel very good about the honor. So thank you, BILDBUNT.

Ich bin ein Uhu!

Must See Conference

This Saturday, feast your eyes on the See Conference in Wiesbaden, Deutschland - the premier data visualization and design event. The line-up for its 4th year includes experts on architecture, interactive and experimentation including the likes of Gijs Joosen, Sebastian Oschatz and Aaron Koblin, creator of the Tron-trippy video for Radiohead's House of Cards.

Nowhere near the Fatherland? Watch the live stream April 18. But if it crashes, we're blaming you.

You can also follow them here to brush up on some of the latest in data dissemination, including this one from Sprint.

Tax time stress relief

Rollover your cursor.
Feel marginally better.

Web 3.0 preview?

Sure, Web 2.0 is a tired buzzword, and any hipster knows it's never cool to acknowledge the phase of technology you're currently living in, but the phrase does serve an important purpose. It provides the necessary launching pad to dream and wonder what Web 3.0 will bring.

The Wile E. Coyote supergeniuses of the Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT Media Lab offer up this what-if that'll have you saying "what the?" Especially when the guy starts taking photos with just his fingers. Yeah, really.


Prepare for your Monday mindscrambler. Things start getting juicy around the 3:25 mark.

No need for a URL. Comparison shopping can occur naturally within the flow of purchase behavior.

OK, so it's not exactly hands-free.                                         Maybe the Web will save newsprint after all. web articles

Photographic memories

Thank goodness a picture is worth a thousand words because the images taken for Flashes of Hope might leave you too choked up to speak.

This tender not-for-profit effort works with families of children fighting life-threatening illnesses. Photographers and other professionals donate their time and talent to give these kids the spotlight to celebrate their innate vitality and give their families and friends a lasting impression of why the world is greater for them being here.

These children and young adults who are all too aware of how illnesses have stolen a part of their childhood shine with this chance to let the world see them not as patients whose lives may be cut short, but as kids with the whole world in front of them, IV tubes and all.

There are 36 or so chapters nationwide. And these poignant portraits are often on display in traveling exhibits throughout the country, including the latest one being displayed in the Columbus Learning Center featuring photos taken at Riley Hospital for Children.

Novelty apparel giant selects HRW

Initech Brands International has selected HendrixRaderWise as their agency of record. We were up against 5 other national agencies including BBDO, TBWA, CPB and ABC/BBD.



Details of the scope have not been finalized, but we know it will include packaging, social networking strategies and possibly a full page ad. Our task will be to increase the U.S. sales of their Visorganizer and Kleen Stride products.