Brand Mix

Here's my summary of interesting things I read or seen recently, this time focusing on the ones that looked forward or back.

1) Uncle Jay explains: A year-end review of the news. As he says on YouTube, Uncle Jay "explains the news to the innocent, wide-eyed and ignorant. Also to children. He depends on the Internet to reach kids, now that he's no longer allowed within 200 feet of a school."



2) An Unhappy Year: Freakonomics
Justin Wolfers takes issue with Sonja Lyubomirsky who suggested in this New York Times article that we're all still happy because we're all in the same, sinking boat. Mr Wolfers says "no." We are, in fact, unhappy and he then provides the data to prove it. We're struggling, suffering and, despite Kaiser Permanente's best efforts, not thriving.

3) In a 'Bad' Year, the Good News of Our Times: FOXNews.com
Fox News found the silver lining in 2008. The list of good news events includes: Crime rates are falling, life expectancy is up and we have more leisure time than we used to.

4) As if Things Weren't Bad Enough, Russian Professor Predicts End of U.S.: WSJ
"Mr. Panarin posits, in brief, that mass immigration, economic decline, and moral degradation will trigger a civil war next fall and the collapse of the dollar. Around the end of June 2010, or early July, he says, the U.S. will break into six pieces -- with Alaska reverting to Russian control." Insert Sarah Palin joke here.

5) "Best Message Creation of 2008": The Winner is Will I. Am: BusinessWeek
David Kiley nominates this video as the best piece of message creation in 2008 because, amongst other things: "The passion for Obama, the product or brand in this case, is infectious not contrived."



6) The top rated YouTube video: brandgym
#1 in the UK and #9 globally (with 73 million views) is the video: "Charlie bit my finger"


As David Taylor points out, it's the perfect video: Brilliant "casting," amazing execution (comic timing par excellence), based on a real human truth (about the games kids play), has drama, ups and downs... and yet ends on a happy note and is short and sweet: less then 60 second long.

That's it. See you next week for more stories from the world of brand strategy.