R E F L E C T E U RDI G ITA L C ULTUR E E X P L A IN E DDI G ITA L C ULTUR E E X P L A IN E D

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I S S U E 7 2 N O V 15 2 01 0

A BLIND, BALD MANThe mid-term elections in the US have come and gone, and yet the aftertaste from a season of attack ads lingers. Over four billion dollars were spent this election cycle, much of it in negative campaigning. Charges of witchcraft, demon sheep, and taxpayer-funded Viagra for sex offenders filled the airwaves and bandwidth. Makes us wonder how it got this way – how nastiness has come to absolutely permeate political advertising.

Turns out, it has basically always been like this. The vitriol delivered nowadays was always there – it just used to be

in the form of printed leaflets and public speeches. In this context, the 2010 attack ads are a great source of parody. And Reason.tv was happy to oblige. Backed by libertarian and comedian Drew Carey, the site created its own attack ads – for the presidential election in 1800.

By scouring through historical records of the time, they took the most outrageous, mean-spirited and vilifying statements candidates made about each other in public forums. And then they turned those statements into modern-day attack ads, complete with ominous-sounding voiceovers, menacing portraits and disturbing sound effects. In addition to being just plain funny, these videos do something deeper. They reassure. After all, if this type of politicking has been going on for 200 years, we’ll be OK. Thomas Jefferson, of all people, called John Adams ‘a hideous, hermaphroditical character.’ Ouch. On second thought, some of the charges we heard this year don’t seem so bad. Related Links: Attack Ads- Circa 1880

MY EXPERIMENT IS BET-TERWives’ tales seem pretty silly nowadays. Who in their right mind would have ever believed some of these things? Chewing gum will sit in your stomach for seven years if you swallow it. You have to wait an hour after eating before swim-ming - you might get a cramp and drown. Srsly?

These particular fables might have died out, but a whole new breed of them has cropped up in their place. They’re the online version of wive’s tales; absurd claims that are treated as gospel even though supported only by flimsy evidence. One of the more prevalent and persistent of these has to do with McDonald’s burgers. Several people over the years have claimed that they don’t ever decay, get moldy or do the stuff that food does when it sits out too long. This disturb-ing revelation makes its way around the web every so often via tweets and blog posts pointing to a single photo of a sad-looking, dried out meat patty. Most people don’t question it. After all, there’s the photo. It must be true.

Serious Eats, a food site whose name pretty much sums up its editorial perspective, got a little tired of the ‘Mickey D’s doesn’t rot’ urban legend - claiming that hard evidence was conspicuously missing. So, they conducted an experiment, testing different conditions, to see if various types of burgers (including an all-natural one) decay – or not. As it turns out, the reason why beef jerky doesn’t rot essentially explains these infamous burgers. And even though so many people latched onto the original, faulty claims about immortal meat, a tremendous number of science-appreciators came out of the woodwork to express their support and admiration of what Serious Eats accomplished.

Related Links: Video of Happy Meal Not Aging, Interview with Video Creator, Serious Eats Experiment

R E F L E C T E U R

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I S S U E 7 2 N O V 15 2 01 0

UNTRANSLATABLE WORDSAt times, it can be incredibly difficult to find the right word to convey what we want to say. But sometimes, at least for English speakers, it might not be your lack of vocabulary.

MatadorNetwork provides information about traveling internationally and finding jobs teaching English as a second language around the world. A recent post on their blog tapped into the network’s intimate knowledge of many languages. Entitled ‘20 Awesomely Untranslatable Words from Around the World,’ the post looks at words from various languages that do not have an English equivalent. Often, these words manage to convey shades of emotion or ideas that the closest English translation does not encompass.

The post has over 500 comments, many of which include suggestions for other words that could have been included on the list. This post clearly touches on a widespread interest. There is an active writing, grammar and linguist community online. The struggle to express yourself is something we all grapple with. Finding a single word that manges to describe exactly what we need can be very exciting, even for those of us not obsessed with words.

Related Links: 20 Awesomely Untranslatable Words from Around the World

THAT’S NOT WHAT I MEANT TO TYPE!For those of us who can’t spell, the autocorrect feature included on many phones is a great perk. But who among us hasn’t had autocorrect change our word to something very, very different? And then hit send before realizing our texts said ‘Tossed’ instead of ‘Yo dawg’? (That one might not be too common.) But either way, autocorrect mistakes have become a part of the digital experience for many people.

Damn You, Autocorrect! is a photoblog that collects screen shots of these amazing typos. Sent in by readers, the examples are hilarious and often incredibly confusing. It makes you wonder about the process used for determining suggested words. Plus, more often than not, the switch causes a much raunchier or inappropriate message than was originally intended.

Anyone with a smart phone can relate to these messages - both to accidently sending the wrong one as well as the frustration of trying to send the correct word after. These frustrations are part of the new mobile experience. Sharing the examples is a great way to turn the embarrassment into a great story. It’s one of the few places where saying the absolutely wrong thing is the goal.

Related Links: Damn You Autocorrect!

US States by Movie

I Can’t Find My Phone

S.W.O.T. Life

Paris vs New York

Boba’s Invoice

High Expectations Asian Father

Cats & Dogs Photobombing Each Other

From Assy to Classy

Dogs Looking Depressed in Halloween Costumes

A VIVAKI PUBLICATION • © 2010 VIVAKI • All Rights Reserved

R E F L E C T E U R I S S U E 7 2 N O V 15 2 01 0

NEW AT VIVAKI:THE POOL AND AOD TAKE HOME AWARDSThe Pool and AOD (Audience On Demand) were recently recognized for their best-in-class efforts in strategic thinking and display advertising.

The Pool picked up a Silver Award in the ‘Research Innovation’ category of the Jay Chiat Awards – a global advertising awards show that recognizes brilliant strategic thinking. While the Jay Chiat Awards are open to efforts across all markets and types of companies, creative agencies have traditionally taken home the honors in years past.

This year, VivaKi is the only winner that is not a traditional creative agency. To view the list of other winners and view The Pool’s final entry, visit here.

Meanwhile, the VivaKi Nerve Center received the first-ever ‘Best in Audience Targeting’ award at the

2010 TARGUSinfo Interactive Insights Summit (IIS) in Las Vegas on October 14.

The award acknowledges the way VivaKi has responded to the rapidly evolving technology and media landscape via Audience On Demand (AOD).

Paul McLenaghan, TARGUSinfo Vice President of AdAdvisor, had this to say, ‘VivaKi is consistently ahead of the curve. In such a fast moving, multi-faceted environment, Audience On Demand establishes harmony between creative, data and media to identify, target and analyze audiences. VivaKi provides tremendous value for the Publicis Groupe media and digital agencies and their clients.’

Congratulations to the Pool and AOD teams for their well-deserved recognition!

This issue’s agency conTribuTors

reflecTeur creaTed & curaTed by

Ellen Bird

Christian Kugel

ellen.bird@vivaki.com

christian.kugel@vivaki.com

Mary DeBrunner

Erin Vogel

Rhiannon Apple

Eric Bee

ABOUT REFLECTEURagencies. We rely on Web 2.0 tools and ethnographic techniques to identify and interpret key digital behaviors. We then augment the most culturally significant observations via original articles with a focus on the rich layer of insights. Its focus on digital culture allows Reflecteur to provide a unique glimpse into the digital space.

For more information, please contact:Rufus Chuter, rufus.chuter@smvgroup.co.uk

Reflecteur is a proprietary VivaKi tool monitoring digital culture that provides ongoing intelligence and unearths practical insights used by our clients, our partners and us. It keeps track of a continually-evolving area and is used to ensure marketing efforts are calibrated to align with current digital culture.

Reflecteur is a product of the collective wisdom of the VivaKi organization, including all member

ABOUT STARCOM MEDIAVEST GROUPStarcom MediaVest Group (SMG) is one of the largest and most awarded agency networks in the world. In the UK we’re a group consisting of agency brands Starcom and MediaVest, powered by a range of specialist resources from Research to Performance Marketing, Search to Social and beyond.

We’re a member of Publicis Groupe’s VivaKi, a global digital knowledge and resource centre that leverages the combined scale of the autonomous operations of its members to develop new services, new tools, and new partnerships.

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