Author Archives: MortarMark
August 31st, 2007

Jamba and Nike, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S…

This morning I had an overwhelming craving for a Jamba Juice smoothie. I suppose I should preface that with the fact that I have not been to Jamba in a very long, long time. From the looks of it, they’ve been busy.

Not only has Jamba introduced new smoothies based on a deeper understanding of their customer (low-cal, yogurt-based, functional smoothies like "Heart Defender" and "Acai Super-Antioxidant"), but they’ve developed a partnership with Nike to promote their "healthy energy" mission. Jamba is working with Nike to promote its fitness events throughout the nation, and Californian Jambas have dubbed a smoothie the "Nike Protein Berry Workout" in conjunction with the Nike Women’s Marathon.

Nike_jamba

Cool stuff. Go Jamba. Seems like a match made in heaven. (Sorry for the crappy pic – it’s all I managed to shoot before being thoroughly reprimanded by the ever so helpful Jamba staff)

August 31st, 2007

The Livingroom Of The Future….TODAY!

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This 1979 Omni Magazine spread depicts "the future" with eerie accuracy.
Satellite dishes on roofs? Check. DVRs? Check. Flat screen TVs? Check.

But what’s with the jumpsuits? Why is it that every time someone "predicts the future," everyone is wearing too-tight jumpsuits? We imagine a futurist saying "Pants are inefficient. I predict a future where man is liberated from the tyranny of pants. I predict…The Jumpsuit!"

The soccer player isn’t wearing a jumpsu…wait a minute…Is that the GEICO caveman?
How the hell did they predict that
And if they’re right about that, could they be right about the jumpsuits? 
It’s a future too horrible to contemplate.

Unless we get robot bartenders.

Thanks to our pals at Freakgirl for the tip.   

August 30th, 2007

Labor Day: More than b-b-q and beer

In honor of the holiday, enjoy the hairstlyes, fashions and oh-so-catchy tune (Seriously, what was it with jingle writers in the 70s? Oh, that’s right.) from this delightful union-friendly clip.

Happy Labor Day, y’all!

August 29th, 2007

WE’RE IN UR HEDZ, KILLIN YER TRENDZ.

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You’ve seen LOLcats.  You’ve even built one.

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Maybe you even have a neighboring cube dweller with a semi-creepy number of them pinned to his wall.

But, since you depend upon Mortarblog to keep you up on the latest, we can now pronounce them "played."
Why? Simple. Once the Wall Street Journal starts talking about a youthful trend, stick a fork in it. It’s done.

It’s like your parents trying to be cool.  (shudder)

Naturally, a couple remoras tried to create LOLdogs, but trendfollowing like that is a classic, terminal symptom of brand erosion.

What’s now?
Intellicats.

Intellicat

And they say no one reads the copy.

August 29th, 2007

…‘skinvertising’…

What product would you advertise on your skin? Wine? Lotion? Condoms?

PaceTat
offers on-skin advertising in the form of pacing guides. Pacing guides
are used by runners in marathons and races to help them maintain the
speed needed to finish a race within their goal time.
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Marketers see this as branding opportunity (of course):
PaceTat offers custom branded versions for advertisers.  But who is seeing the message?  As you can see by the photo…it’s pretty small and not to mention these people are RUNNING…what’s next?

Article found on Springwise