So last night I get two telemarketing calls at dinnertime.  One from Bank of America offering me some new program and another from Audi seeking input on their customer service.

Considering both organizations have my email and home address I find myself amazed that their corporate marketing honchos continue to approve home phone invasions.

But then today, I get an email from a client about this incredible story of customer service by the tiny, online shoe company Zappos:

"One bright, extraordinary note in all of the sad stuff of the last few weeks – in May we had ordered several pairs of shoes from Zappos for my mom. She’d lost a lot of weight, and her old shoes were all too big. She had a whole new wardrobe of clothes in pretty colors, that fit, so I wanted her to have some pretty shoes that fit, too, when I took her up to Oregon to stay where her sister is. Out of seven pairs, only two fit….

Yesterday, when I came home from town, a florist delivery man was just leaving. It was a beautiful arrangement in a basket with white lilies and roses and carnations. Big and lush and fragrant. I opened the card, and it was from Zappos. I burst into tears. I’m a sucker for kindness, and if that isn’t one of the nicest things I’ve ever had happen to me, I don’t know what is. So…" (Original post here).

Why is it that the big brands are willing cede decency and flexibility to the little guys?

Let’s hear it for the challengers. Thanks for the note Tim!

From Shepard Fairey, the artist who brought you the nearly ubiquitous André the Giant “Obey” stickers/posters/toothbrushes/lunch boxes in the ’90s (we kid about the last two but for a while there it sure seemed like it), comes this new campaign poster:

This doesn’t mean MortarBlog is endorsing the candidate, just cool design. MortarBlog is entirely apolitical – well, as apolitical as an amorphous object that only exists as a series of ones and zeros on a server somewhere can claim to be.

In case you forgot what the André visual looked like:

via Towleroad

The Life of Riley is a blog penned by 108-year old Olive Riley, of Broken Hill, Australia.
She gets a bit of help with the typing and coding, but the thoughts are all hers, and she’s more "with-it" than most of the Creative department on a Monday.

An excerpt:

OLIVE’S THIRD POST
Good afternoon everyone. This is Olive here. First, I want to thank all
of you who visited my blob. Gerard says there’ve been 192,000 visits
but that can’t be right.

Mike
It’s a blog, Ollie. Not a blob.

Olive
Oh, really?

Say it with us, people: Awwwwwwwwwwwwww.

Pay her a visit. She’s talking wind farms today. Pretty cool.

San Francisco is a relatively colorful city – even without the colorful residents – but lately it’s been looking a little muted, a little gray even. The clouds seem to be hanging especially low and our notorious year-round coldness (or mildness depending on where you’re from) seems even more cold (or mild?) than usual. Actually, it’s definitely more cold than usual.  And definitely more dark and gray than it should be. Which is probably why this video made me smile.

The fantastic thing about marketing a music device is that you can do whatever the hell you want as long as there’s music playing.
(So why has iPod been doing the same exact thing for six years…?)
Fun times.

Thanks AdRants.