Thinkubator - A Thoughtprocess Interactive Blog » James Fawcett

That takes nuts… Grape Nuts

James — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 15:59:21 +0000

The crunchiest cereal in the history of cereal, has a new angle they’re using to market their whole grain goodness. I just came across this site, obviously targeted at men, more specifically, middle-aged regular working Joes.

http://theguysmanual.msn.com/

It’s actually pretty cool, and they’ve done a pretty good job making some web videos that are fun, and make you want to eat Grape Nuts (the make me want to them at least). Will this angle work? I haven’t had Grape Nuts in forever, but I’m definitely jonesin’ for a bowl now.

Niche Social Networking

James — Wed, 27 May 2009 13:44:48 +0000

I’ve read this before from other big names in the social networking game. Gina Bianchini, CEO of Ning, probably knows more about niche social networking than anyone. Here’s what she said in a recent CNN interview:

Niche social networking sites are absolutely something people want to do. People clearly want to do this. . .[and] as people get more comfortable with social networking via Facebook, Twitter, they will look around and say, ‘I want a social network for this particular group.’

Read the whole interview…

When Big Brother is really Mom or Dad

James — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:37:23 +0000

I’ve got two kids, and while they’re not quite Facebooking it just yet, I’m sure they will be soon enough. CNN recently had an article about teenage usage of social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. Nothing most of us don’t know, but they make one point that I rather liked:

Beyond keeping a watchful eye on risky interests and pictures, parents should also use social networking sites such as MySpace — which had about 120 million users as of this summer — as an opportunity to learn about their childrens’ favorite movies and hobbies, as well as their top friends, she said.

“You so often hear parents say ‘I don’t even know my kid anymore.’ Here’s a very easy tool to get to know your kid again,” she said.

Here’s the whole article: http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/01/05/myspace.teens/index.html

Holiday Card Redux

James — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 14:09:36 +0000

Last week we sent out our holiday e-card to all of our clients, vendors, and anyone else that we can rightfully email to without being called spammers. We did, however have a couple of people report that our email ended up in their spam boxes anyway. So in case you missed, it here’s the link:

http://www.thoughtprocessinteractive.com/holidaycard

It was a collaborative effort for sure, but expert snow-manimator, Abram, really made the magic happen. I hope you all enjoy it. Happy Holidays!

Search… is dead

James — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 21:59:16 +0000

Or as this author puts says, search as we know it is dead. Search becomes social, essentially:

And apparently Microsoft is working on just this thing, with collaborative searching:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/industry/4292830.html?page=2 (see #7, collaborative search)

My mind’s too simple to make sense of it all, but it looks like there are some big things coming.

Wanna annoy Abe?

James — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 15:16:19 +0000

Put two spaces between your sentences. It’s not proper typesetting (which Cathy also pointed out). I’ll work on it.

Anybody else sick of Trajan?

James — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 14:09:00 +0000

I’m working on a logo, and I was considering Trajan as a font choice. But how the heck do you pronounce it? So I Googled it, sorry, performed an Internet search for it… Turns out the “j” makes a “j” sound, not like in Spanish. Anywho, I didn’t realize just how widely Trajan is used, until I saw this…

I think I’m gonna use it anyway…

ROI Challenge Results Are In

James — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 14:39:06 +0000

Can anyone guess who won the ROI Challenge: PPC or Print Advertising. I’d like to say it was an exciting match…

Check it out: http://www.thoughtprocessinteractive.com/roi/

Remember when…

James — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 06:56:46 +0000

…Hyundai first introduced cars here in the US? They were tiny, egg shaped, econo cars that, if I remember correctly, you could get for $5k or $6k. Apparently they’ve come a long way in 15 years or so. They’ve got their new Genesis that they’re advertising, and they’ve got a pretty slick microsite for that model.

http://www.hyundaigenesis.com

I’m pretty impressed. Makes good use of video, some cool pseudo 3D stuff, and… I got there by clicking on a banner ad, so their ads are good too. Pretty nice campaign altogether.

Riding in gears 6 and 7 just got cheaper

James — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 13:57:27 +0000

The new bailout bill does officially include a tax credit for employers to help reimburse bicycle commuting employees. It’s a $20/month credit per cyclo-commuting employee so that the employer can reimburse for reasonable expenses incurred by the employee “for the purchase of a bicycle and bicycle improvements, repair, and storage, if such bicycle is regularly used for travel between the employee’s residence and place of employment.”

So, that new bike you’ve been eyeballing at the bike shop, now’s the time get it. Maybe save $20 to $40 a month in gas, plus $20 from the gov.

http://www.bicycleretailer.com/news/newsDetail/1878.html

funny video spoofs

James — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 12:44:42 +0000

http://www.makemylogobiggercream.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpJQMshmF6s(you’ll probably only get the second one if you’re a designer, or just know your fonts somehow)

Does anyone remember the one with the web design shop that does all the work for free? I can’t find it for the life of me.

Black In America

James — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 18:38:40 +0000

I think these are clips taken from our kiosk…http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/05/29/hbcu.tour.irpt/index.html