these4wallsgroup

MARS CHILLED: THE ODDEST AD EVER MADE?

One of the oddest ads that you will likely ever see. Creative for the Mars Chilled range. So cold that it makes your penis disappear. Now tell me, why in God's name would any man want to consumer this product? Random ...

MORE LYNX WORK

More guerilla work for Lynx/Axe in a "spray more, get more" style.

CHE MAGAZINE CAMPAIGN

Smart ads for men's magazine Che. Loving the work.

BBC WORLD CAMPAIGN

Thought that this was a really strong piece of work for BBC World. A great piece of creative thinking that has gone around the creative community in a way that is almost viral.

MORE ON THE ETHICS QUESTION

As predicted, the question of Microsoft's ethics in distributing free "review" computers has continued.

There is  a piece that sums up the debate from thenewmarketing weblog HERE. However, this is not the only side of the story and TechCrunch doesn't see a problem with it ... read their piece HERE.

Perhaps most tellingly, there has been general disdain for the whole thing amongst the tech journalist community ... Dan Warne, News Editor at APC:

"This is a PR disaster for Microsoft. Within a few days it’ll be in every newspaper and tech publication in the world; I guarantee it.

"It’s bizarre for one of the world’s largest PR companies, Edelman, to think it could get away with this. Perhaps they don’t know bloggers as well as they thought they did. As you’ve pointed out, Long, now that some of the bloggers have disclosed the receipt of the gift, the public knows. Whatever the subtleties of the offer were, it comes across as nothing more than a bribe, and that is a very bad look for Microsoft."

It does bring into question the whole thing ... will bloggers be careful enough to protect their own reputations for a degree of independence in the way that a media brand has to by either disclosing the freebie or by being honest in their review. And what does it mean for PRs who want to get products reviewed by influential bloggers? Will they continue to offer review machines if this is the possible result. Views?

As predicted, the question of Microsoft's ethics in distributing free "review" computers has continued.

There is  a piece that sums up the debate from thenewmarketing weblog HERE. However, this is not the only side of the story and TechCrunch doesn't see a problem with it ... read their piece HERE.

Perhaps most tellingly, there has been general disdain for the whole thing amongst the tech journalist community ... Dan Warne, News Editor at APC:

"This is a PR disaster for Microsoft. Within a few days it’ll be in every newspaper and tech publication in the world; I guarantee it.

"It’s bizarre for one of the world’s largest PR companies, Edelman, to think it could get away with this. Perhaps they don’t know bloggers as well as they thought they did. As you’ve pointed out, Long, now that some of the bloggers have disclosed the receipt of the gift, the public knows. Whatever the subtleties of the offer were, it comes across as nothing more than a bribe, and that is a very bad look for Microsoft."

It does bring into question the whole thing ... will bloggers be careful enough to protect their own reputations for a degree of independence in the way that a media brand has to by either disclosing the freebie or by being honest in their review. And what does it mean for PRs who want to get products reviewed by influential bloggers? Will they continue to offer review machines if this is the possible result. Views?

A QUESTION OF ETHICS

So Edelman are now giving away Acer laptops with Windows Vista on them to bloggers.

This is another corporate scandal in the making, says blogger BL Ochman on his What's Next blog (HERE). Nonsense, says UK blogger Hugh McLeod (who has made his name giving wine to bloggers), it's a perfectly legit way of starting conversations.

Consider this the latest salvo in what will be a major debate in coming months about corporate involvement with bloggers. While media houses have ethics and editorial independence to protect, do bloggers have the same degree of self respect (or preservation) to turn down "pay-per-post" PR campaigns?

Any views out there?

HONDA ASIMO AD (OR "WARM TECHNOLOGY" AS IT'S CALLED)

Honda's latest Power of Dreams features its little humanoid robot, Asimo. The ad can be seen on the these4walls sister site, thedepartureslounge.com on THIS LINK HERE. Lovely ad, well worth a watch.

THE BEST VEN DIAGRAM EVER...

From Hugh McLeod's Gaping Void blog ...

BILL GATES FACES THE BLOGGERS

For anyone who thought that the big bloggers weren't to be taken seriously, it was today reported that fourteen of the biggest bloggers spent an hour with Bill Gates. There are various reports of the event from bloggers including Niall Kennedy, Michael Arrington, Steve Rubel, Molly Holzschlag, Liz Gannes and Chris Pirillo.

No audio, video or photos were allowed (beyond the team photo published on a few of the blogs). Coverage ranges from straight reportage of the Q&A, to politely critical analysis of Bill's viewpoint (all 14 used Macs, which must give some clues). Most of the posts from the bloggers garner large numbers of of comments.

For the record the 14 bloggers selected by MS were: Evan Williams (Obvious), Jeremy Zawodny (Yahoo), Kelly Goto (Goto Media), Liz Gannes (GigaOm), Mike Arrington (TechCrunch), Molly Holzschlag (Molly.com), Niall Kennedy (Niallkennedy.com), Rael Dornfest (Values of N), Ryan Freitas (Adaptive Path), Ryan Stewart (Digital Back Country), Shaun Inman (ShaunInman.com), Steve Rubel (Micropersuasion), Tantek Celik (Technorati) Chris Pirillo.

No audio, video or photos were allowed (beyond the team photo published on a few of the blogs). Coverage ranges from straight reportage of the Q&A, to politely critical analysis of Bill's viewpoint (all 14 used Macs, which must give some clues). Most of the posts from the bloggers garner large numbers of of comments.

For the record the 14 bloggers selected by MS were: Evan Williams (Obvious), Jeremy Zawodny (Yahoo), Kelly Goto (Goto Media), Liz Gannes (GigaOm), Mike Arrington (TechCrunch), Molly Holzschlag (Molly.com), Niall Kennedy (Niallkennedy.com), Rael Dornfest (Values of N), Ryan Freitas (Adaptive Path), Ryan Stewart (Digital Back Country), Shaun Inman (ShaunInman.com), Steve Rubel (Micropersuasion), Tantek Celik (Technorati) Chris Pirillo.

SHAKESPEARE GOES CGI

They are now having a crack at taking Shakespeare into the virtual world. SO ... who's up for doing a complete play with avatars, then?! READ ALL ABOUT IT.