17 February 2014

Agency (Viral) Video Competition


My agency is hosting a competition. A competition to come up with a video that has potential to go viral. There are eight offices and only one prize. You know I'm going to try and win this. It's just my nature to compete.

To compete, you are required to develop a video three minutes or less, focusing on a charity of your choice. The only thing is you must include our agency's website and a provided end card. The strategy is pretty wide open, drive people to help.

This weekend I spent concepting an idea, getting all the supplies and finalizing the storyboards. It really took me back to Grad School when we were competing to be accepted into the program.

Making a video that "goes viral" is not easy. It's like guerrilla marketing, it could be wildly successful or it could fall on it's face. Here are some things that help a video go viral:

  1. Connect with the viewers - People are more likely to share something they can relate too. People in the midwest and east coast are going to relate more to a video that has someone stuck upside down in the snow than someone in the southwest.
  2. Evoke an emotion - It doesn't matter which one, but some of the best to work from are happy (funny or feel good), anger (expose something bad that people don't know about) or impressed (something that is just too good to not share).
  3. Be easy to share - This is probably the most obvious. Provide quick share buttons because if you don't the next button they will probably choose will be the close button. 

Basically everything you do for this video is a calculated risk. That's why you have to commit. Go big or go home. Be willing to embarrass yourself or be willing to do something that people are going to remember and talk about.

And at the end of the day, have a lot of fun.

10 February 2014

Imma Grow Me Some Food

It's about that time! Spring is coming and that means it's time to get my seedlings started. My last name is George which means Farmer, I feel this innate need to grow things from the Earth. I think it's just in my blood.

One thing my family does is make our own salsa. It's so much better than anything you buy in the supermarket. This year I want to expand beyond tomatoes and peppers to include lettuce, corn (my Iowan roots) and watermelon.

To start my seedlings I always let them germinate in a ziploc bag. If I don't do that, I always loose them in the soil and it's an epic fail. It takes me back to elementary school when you put the lima beans in the bag and let them sprout.




Once these sprout I will transfer them to smaller pots until they are healthy enough to be transplanted into the garden.

06 February 2014

Heart Month: Foods For Your ♥

Since February is heart month, I started looking around for heart heathly foods in hopes of adding in some new nutrition to my diet. I came across a great list on Reader's Digest and I chose my three favorites. Ironically I can call them the ABC ♥ foods. Here  they are:

via mynameisharsha
"...B vitamins and magnesium help produce serotonin, which helps regulate mood. Zinc has also been shown to fight some negative effects of stress, while vitamin E is an antioxidant that destroys the free radicals related to stress and heart disease..." 
Read more


via  Jeff Kubina 
"...these blue-hued beauties work overtime to provide you with antioxidants and vitamin C, both potent stress busters...Blueberries are also a good source of fiber, which can help relieve the cramps and constipation that can occur when you're stressed out..."
Read more
via peter pearson
"...researchers at the University of Scranton in Pennsylvania, showed that eating 6 ounces of dark chocolate a day lowered bad cholesterol...another researcher found that cocoa contains phenols — antiseptic, anti-inflammatory compounds that reduce your risk of heart disease by keeping fat-like substances from oxidizing in the blood and clogging your arteries." 

Best food I found out that is heart healthy is CHOCOLATE . . . Duh. Get healthy this February for heart month.

03 February 2014

Super Bowl Review

First of all, thank you Seattle for making my prop bets legit.

Now, let's get to the commercials. There are always the best and the worst of the Super Bowl but since I almost crashed my blog last year by uploading all the commercials I decided to make up my own categories of winners.

BEST COMMERCIAL - #bestbuds by Budweiser and Anomaly
I'm a dog lover, but this commercial makes me a sappy dog lover EVERY TIME. Fucking amazing job guys this is amazing.



WORST COMMERCIAL - Hum by Heinz & Cramer-Krasselt
Why would you ever promote the most annoying thing about your product?! WHY?!



WEIRDEST COMMERCIAL - Doberhuahua by Audi & Venables
This is definitely the weirdest commercial, but not in a bad way! I remember playing softball against Venables and they were always a little off (in the best way).



FEEL GOOD COMMERCIAL - Deaf Player by Duracell & Saatchi NY
This commercial just makes you want to go out and conquer the world.



MOST CONTROVERSIAL - America the Beautiful by Coke & W+K
I'm amazed at how many people think because America the Beautiful is not sung completely in English that it is bad. Yes, you are correct. Our official language is English . . . that doesn't mean people can't speak other languages! Wow. Ridiculous. Good job Coke, the ad is beautifully done.



SEX SELLS COMMERCIAL - Big Game Tease by Oikos & Y&R NY
Wow. John Stamos you still have it. That is all.



BEST DORITO COMMERCIAL - Time Machine by Raj Suri
This spot deserves to win. It's cute, funny and doesn't include raunch. Give 'Em the $1M!



FUCKING AWESOME COMMERCIAL - Come On Bring On the Toys by GoldieBlox & RPA
I love GoldieBlox. They are doing something that is awesome. They are providing toys to girls that start to get them to think cognitively. LOVE IT. #FuckYouBeastieBoys



BEST SUCK IT BITCHES COMMERCIAL - Just Checking by Cheerios & Saatchi NY
Thank you Cheerios for having the balls to run this commercial again. Love this family.



NON SUPER BOWL SUPER BOWL COMMERCIAL - If We Made It by Newcastle & Droga5
This is probably the best way to not spend millions of dollars in media and still reap the benefits. I'm in Newcastle.