The Curator’s News Feed: October 12, 2012
As the Curator team stays dry from the long-awaited Seattle rain, we are reading up on super-imposed photos, leveraging the power of memes and testing our brand knowledge. Happy Friday!
Wifey-Boo, YouTube. After a long week of late nights pitching (and winning!) big new clients, felt this was an appropriate shout out to all the wifey-boo's who put up with their agency spouses. It's awesome in too many ways to count. – Shawn
Equal Pay for Monkeys, YouTube. This may not be a new video link from this week, but it’s new for me and I’m already addicted to hitting the repeat button. This entire clip cracks me up. Not only do you have a breed of monkey called ‘Chapuchin’ - which saying the name is funny enough in itself - but, to watch how this monkey reacts during this study is sure to make you chuckle at least a little. Although I may be sharing this as my link of the week for your own entertainment, you can certainly derive a deeper meaning from this that goes beyond the video’s comical value. There is a deep sociological component involved here, and I think it’s a testament to the intelligence of monkeys in general. I’ll leave my explanation at that, so now you just have to watch it! If you want to go beyond the humor and really dig into the meaning of this video, you can take a look at the full video link that came from Frans de Waal’s TED talk last year: http://www.ted.com/talks/frans_de_waal_do_animals_have_morals.html. Enjoy! - Annie
International Day of the Girl, CNN. Being that yesterday was International Day of the Girl and that I have a daughter, I found this article particularly moving. – Dan
The Great Logo Challenge, Adweek. This was much tougher than it looks! It put my brand knowledge to the test, that’s for sure! How do you think you would do identifying brands from this logo puzzle? – Chelsey
Messages superimposed on images may be less mind-blowing than they appear, Geekwire. Do you get annoyed by text superimposed on photos? The practice is becoming more and more common, and it's shifting social media from a primarily text-based to image-based medium in a lot of cases (think Facebook, Pinterest and Tumblr). "It’s not that putting messages on images makes them any less interesting, hilarious or, in far too many cases, true. But there’s something about how much it amplifies the meaning, and how quickly my finger will fly to that “like” button — that makes me feel less like a person and more like a megaphone," Mónica Guzmán wrote on GeekWire this week. But there's no denying that putting text on photos can be insanely effective. It's an interesting read, and an interesting thing to ponder if you're in the business of social engagement. – Paul
Harnessing memes for the good, psfk. I’ve always appreciated the #firstworldproblems hashtag, as it’s an acknowledgement that the little things we routinely complain about are not all that significant when put in perspective. DDB NY created a powerful video for Water is Life that captures the absurdity of first world “problems” and strikes a great balance between somber and satire. Check it out, and pass it on! – Matthew
The Silent History: The strange new e-book that makes you travel to read it, The Week. As our entertainment options are becoming more and more interactive, this is an interesting new concept. It’s a mystery novel where the reader physically travels to locations to unlock "field reports" released when the iPhone or iPad's GPS reaches the specific location. The reports use the real life environment of these locations to make you feel like you're living the story, and the reader can also send in their own reports, encouraging two way interaction. Field trip, anyone? – Julia
How Numbers Affect Your Shopping Choices, Gawker. This article grabbed my attention because 1) I love shopping and 2) I am terrible at math (I’d be lying if I said that wasn’t a strong contender for why I chose to work in this field). In all seriousness, this article gives some great insight on the pricing strategies that companies implement in order to convince you (although if you’re like me you don’t require a lot of convincing) that the price on the shelf is well worth forking over your hard-earned dollars. In fact, during one of our coffee chats this week we discussed our shopping habits and how the actual price of an item isn’t what’s important – how much you saved is the important factor. Or at least that’s what my fellow Curators choose to highlight when they explain purchases to their spouses after coming back from a rather fruitful shopping excursion. – Megan