Archive for December, 2009

Thursday Links, because tomorrow is a holiday

• Worst Gadgets of the Decade
• AT&T says New York City is not ready for the iPhone.
• This one’s only for the hardcore. Wipe The Slate Clean For 2010, Commit Web 2.0 Suicide which is program that deletes your Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and LinkedIn friends/tweets/updates and then changes your login information so you can’t get back in. Wow.
• Top Digital trends from 2010, predictions from AdWeek.
• The Decade summed up in icons.
• Where Digital Marketing Is Heading in 2010 (Part 1).
• The Batman villain project.

Ads we hate

Slate’s got a piece on Ads We Hate and it features a few good ones including that creepy windup doll depression ad and the Charmin bears who get toilet paper stuck to their fur. However, it misses the ad I despised the most out of all the ads on TV this year. The Target Christmas commericals featuring all kinds of passive aggressive holiday behavior. Really, they were uncomfortable to even watch. Don’t you agree?

What ads did you hate this year? Let it all out, it’s a time of venting and then a time of healing. (and if you mention the adorable Talk to the Moose commercial, I might cry.)

Nerdery Class of 2009

(a few of our nerds were inadvertently excised thanks to a software glitch, but let’s not speak of that lest we bring up some deep-seated feelings of inferiority)

Local Agency Holiday Cards

Earlier this week Agency Spy did a nice round of some of this year’s Ad Agency Holiday Cards. So here, I did a mini-round up of some of the holiday stuff the local agencies did to celebrate the holidays.

The people over at Sevnthsin have offered up the spectacular ECARD MAKER WEBSITE.COM which is truly a wonder to behold. (Random Aside: I used to work with a woman a long time ago who had a website that look just like this one and on it she featured WAV files of herself singing karaoke versions of Christina Aguilera songs)

For Christmas Colle + McVoy gave the world Squawq which is like Google Analytics for Twitter.

Olson asked people to circle ’round the mistletoe.

This Christmas, our pals Zeus Jones teamed up with Puny to raise funds this Christmas so they can help send all the kids at Richard R Green Central Park School on a field trip. You can read more about the story at Holiday Bus drive.

This one’s not local, but I sure did like it:
Mother London took their Christmas gift budget and gave it away in a SPAMesque sort of way. You can see the whole story at Giving Glorious.

Band Aid – Pollywog Stew Challenges You

When volunteer/team registration opened for the next Nerdery Overnight Website Challenge, Pollywog Stew wasted little time and few words in firing a first shot that echoed around the world: “The star-studded legends of web development – Pollywog Stew will rock your face off with the passion of one thousand Steve Balmer speeches.”

If you’re just now for the first time reading Pollywog’s opening statement, please count to ten, nice and calm…So, how does your face feel after that? Rocked off, completely. Now, you can either just sit there and take it or you can rise up, right now, and accept the capital “C” Challenge. Build your Dream Team and tell the world what’s what. Spam your user group, post on your blog and shout it out loud to your friends, rivals and friendly rivals.

It has been said that while The Velvet Underground’s first album was a commercial flop, everyone who bought it started a band.

Put the band together.

Do it here.

Do it now.

Friday Links: Understanding designers, holiday newsletter MadLibs, and more greatness

• The 10 Commandments of Brand.
• Must See! Infographic showing browser share from 2002-2009.
• Evolution of Horror Movie Poster Designs from 1922-2009
• 72% Of Advertisers See More Digital Spending In 2010.
• It’s been awhile since I’ve pointed out a stunningly beautiful print ad campaign, so take a gander at Words Create Worlds for a bookshop in Prague.
• Check this one out when you’re not on the billable clock, Merry Newsinator. It’s an awesome holiday e-newsletter generator that’s kind of like playing MadLibs.
• 7 rules to understanding designers.
• The World’s 10 most-successful logo designers.

Agency Primer Notes on Mobile Web Design

If you missed Tuesday’s Agency Primer on Mobile Friendly Web Design, don’t worry there’s still time to sign-up for tomorrow’s primer (that’s Thursday, December 18, at 3:15 p.m. CST). Still can’t make it? Well, we have the second best thing the slides from the primer as well as a video you can watch to go along with them. Sure you won’t be able to ask your own questions, but you know that you can always contact us if you want a live-action private session for your agency, right? Well you can.

The slide deck:

And the video:

The Nerdery’s Mobile Friendly Web Design Agency Primer from The Nerdery on Vimeo.

10 Top 10 Lists before ‘10 begins

1. Top 10 Agencies of the Decade
2. Top 10 Brands that will Disappear in 2010
3. Top 10 Astronomy Pictures of 2009
4. 10 Signs the Worst of 2009 Is Behind Us
5. Top 10 Viral Videos of 2009
6. Top 10 Ideas of the Decade
7. Top 10 Media/Marketing Innovations of the Decade
8. Top 10 Spec Ads That Went Viral Over the Past 10 Years
9. 10 Worst Marketing Blunders of 09
10. Top 10 Defunct Advertising Characters

Agency Primer: Mobile-friendly Web Design for Agencies

This week The Nerdery continuse its series of Agency Primers with Mobile-Friendly Web Design where you can learn what you need to get your clients’ big message to the small screens of millions of on-the-go web users.

RSVP for one of our public sessions held on Tuesday December 15th at 10:15 a.m. CST or Thursday December 17th at 3:15 p.m. CST. If you’re interested in a private session, the contact information is on the RSVP page.

This primer offers a one-hour tour of the things your agency needs to know about when it comes to making your web projects mobile-friendly. We’ll cover:

• Sizing up the mobile web market.
• Understanding the difference between mobile users and “normal” users.
• Technologies available to enhance the mobile web experience.
• Common mistakes brands make in the name of mobile-friendliness.
• Example implementations and cost estimates.

Sign-up today, it’s totally free!

Friday Links: When logos wrong and the color of 2010

• Phail-adelphia, when logos go wrong.
• Pantone names Turquoise the color of 2010
• Top 10 Strangest Lego Creations.
• Upside down face potraits are kind of creepy and yet oddly compelling at the same time.
• Infographic coins
• 25 awesome gift ides for designers and developers.
• If social media sites were books.
• Computing for Dummies: Five ways N00bs Annoy Geeks. Reading lists like this always makes me laugh and remember that time I exasperatedly told one of my sisters, “You’re clicking wrong.”
• 12 days of design holiday gift guide.