MOTHERBRAIN

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Signs of the Times

From my two-block walk from BART to the office this morning:

Eat Fresh (tm)

For future reference...

(via FFFFOUND)

Wednesday

Friday

Bonkers

Make yer head asplode

(Via Amber)

Advergaming Works.

Water Cooler Games points us towards a study done by the Missouri School of Journalism that shows advergaming to have a positive affect on brand opinions. This makes a lot of sense if you subscribe to Raph's theory that games are essentially teaching mechanisms.  I think that work like this shows that there is incredible value in understanding why we game ... Here's hoping we see a continued emphasis on research like this. 

 From their incredibly academic mouths:

Our results provide further evidence that the transfer of positive affect elicited by entertaining media content to the sponsoring brand likely involves a mental process that could improve brand attitudes. According to an associated network view of human memory, advergame features that increase the mental connection between game content and the sponsoring brand also should increase the ease of positive affect transfer, leading to a stronger relationship between attitudes toward the game and brand attitudes. Our finding that increasing the thematic connection between an advergame and the sponsoring brand makes attitude toward the game a stronger predictor of attitude toward the brand is consistent with a theoretical explanation of this phenomenon based on affect transfer.

The immersive and interactive nature of the advergame might distinguish it from other advertising platforms such as product placement, which in turn could facilitate stronger affect transfer in advergames than in product placements. However, it remains unclear how the relevant/irrelevant distinction might differ between these two context. Researchers also have suggested that these features may weaken memory for in-game advertising by increasing demand for cognitive resources (Yang et al. 2006). These distinguishing features of an advergame provide a unique opportunity for researchers to study nuances in the relationship between ad attitudes and brand attitudes, as well as memory for advertising messages.

Palin Didn't Know Africa Was a Continent

Under the bus she goes ... but also, how did they pick someone so shockingly ignorant?

44 Presidents in Convenient Chart Form

(Via Agency Spy, Thanks Krissie)

(via the Onion via Matt)

Kobe goes Seger

(Thanks Jamie)

"There's no Red America, no Blue America. There's just one Scared Shitless America"

People are scared right now. Really, really scared. Which is concerning as we head towards what some consider to be the most important presidential election in history. Rational thought has been cast aside more readily than I've ever seen during an election. People are crazed with wild fantasies of how the other candidate is going to destroy the country. We are living in a Kingdom of Fear.

And maybe it's always been this way.  After all, I've only been alive for one (1) election that didn't involve an incumbent or a sitting vice president.  And I was 3, going on 4.  It's been a really long time since the last time an election didn't involve an incumbent or sitting vice-president.  But I think what seems different this time around from anything I remember is that this election has become the perfect storm of a country that appears to be at a major crossroads and a presidential election featuring two fairly unknown quantities who are both promising big change and the way to salvation from the current mess we're in, both using very emotional appeals.  People are whipped into a frenzy.   

It's funny, because 8 years ago I would've thought people were being overly dramatic and in need of calming down.  I remember thinking in 2000 that no matter who was elected, things would continue along more or less the same course, with slight tweaks here or there depending on who won.  Politicians aren't interested in shaking things up and ruffling feathers, after all. They are interested in not pissing people off so that they can get re-elected.  I was of the mindset that candidates are never as bad as they seem or as good as they seem.  But after seeing what has taken place during the current administration, suddenly all of the election related hyperbole bouncing around seems a little less ridiculous.

Anyways, the Daily Show did a piece on the irrational fear that seems to be common across party lines this time around.  And while it's funny, I think it's also really insightful. 

Nintendo will be short on Wii's for Christmas again

OK.  This is starting to get ridiculous.  Nintendo is reporting that once again, despite Wii production being at an all time high, despite having already been out for three years, despite being smack in the middle of the worst financial crisis since the end of the Roman Empire, and having three years of sales data to help plan for the holidays, they're STILL not going to have enough inventory to meet demand during the holiday season.  Again.  For a third time.  Yes, really. 

"We're producing an unprecedented level of hardware to try to meet demand... Look at retailer circulars. Go to their websites. We're flowing products into stores on a very regular basis. Once you see it on the shelf, you ought to buy it." [emphasis mine]
~ Reggie Fils-Aime, President, Nintendo of America

Football coaches like to justify running the same kind of play over and over again with the  saying: "keeping running it until they show you they can stop it."  Nintendo seems to be borrowing liberally from that way of thinking right now.  Tell people it's sold out, and they will become so overtaken with rage-lust for a Wii that rational thought couldn't POSSIBLY get in the way of their animal desire to have one and have it NOW.  If "must-have" Christmas items have taught me anything in my life, it's that product scarcity is a very. powerful. marketing tactic.

After checking around briefly, it looks like Best Buy.com and Target.com are both sold out, but it looks like there are bundles available around at places like EBGames. 

So you heard it here first.  Buy some Wii's now and enjoy a foreclosure-free January. 

Jazzhands!

An Ideal Saturday Night

 

Vote with your Dollars—How Companies Have Donated Politically

I've been meaning to post about GoodGuide for a few months now, ever since someone at work first emailed out the link. The basic gist of the website is that it helps you make more better purchasing decisions based on "what is important to you." It rates products on health, environment and social performance. Anyways, I just went there for the first time in a while and noticed that they've created an embeddable app that maps out political leanings (Rep. or Dem.) of companies based on their donations. I've had to temporarily increase the size of my middle column ... which is annoying, but I couldn't get it to fit otherwise. See below:

Democratic

Republican

GoodGuide.com political contribution data for over 100 companies
View data for other companies at GoodGuide.com

Hollywood Directors for McCain

(Via Paul)