Clare Townhill

Marcel the Shell with shoes on

I just adore this little video. Like the brilliance of Pixar's best characters Marcel's cuteness, hopes, dreams and desire for a dog lull the viewer into the bliss of suspended disbelief. Enjoy.

Transforming the Lone Nut

 

A great talk about the over-glorification of leaders and the importance of the follower; it's that first guy who transforms the loner into a leader by dancing next to him. Those that subsequently join in emulate his behaviour (i.e. the joining in) and do not go off and emulate the leader by starting another dance. The movement starts with the followers and not the leader.

Spot the difference

Ok, here's the first ad:

And the second:

The first is of course John Lewis's latest nostalgia extravaganza. A whopping £6 million pounds spent to garner the eyeballs of the masses and a mighty 300k (ish) views on Youtube.The second an ad that cost the Suffolk Safer Roads team a modest £10k to produce and has so far been watched by a global audience of 6 million people. It also has it's own Facebook fanpage and a growing number of people calling for it to be aired on TV in their respective countries. Interesting times.

The Daily Fail

see more pwn and owned pictures

Motherly Fail

Apparently the text in the red box says 'My sons are supporting me in spirit'. Dear God. Failblog.org a panacea of pity.

Niche Marketing: The Fine Art Of Taco

Interesting post from the Pastafarian creator of the Flying Spagetti Monster about niche marketing as a key to creating a viral effect.  Since Bobby Henderson launched his 'pretentious fine art taco' photography collection a few days ago, the site has received thousands of hits and made it onto Boing Boing and the New York Magazine and perhaps most crucially, a few of the top-tier blogs. His post makes really interesting reading on the power of niche to appeal very strongly to a select audience and gain momentum from the few really interested vs. the failure of more broad appeal attempts to capture a wide audience with slight interest.

Bobby Henderson's Blog
Henderob: Fine Art Taco Photography
NxE's Fifty Most Influential Bloggers