What comes to mind when you think of McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish sandwich? If you’re like the 80% of Americans* out there, words such as gross, repulsive, or dysentery probably spring to mind. But if you’re like me, godlike ambrosia would be the only appropriate description; but I’ve digressed. This commercial gives a more refreshed feel to the Filet-O-Fish as if trying to re-brand that “disgusting” image most Americans have, and the catchy tune is sure to make an impression. Whether you will change your mind about how you feel towards this square fishy patty between two buns smeared in tartar sauce, the next time you’re in any Micky D’s, “Give me back that filet o fish, give me that fish” will undoubtedly swim inside your head. Now, seriously, give me that Filet-O-Fish. * statistic completely bogus
At San Francisco’s Pizzeria Delfina, they know how to own their pain. Rather than wringing their hands over Internet sourpusses who give them one-star Yelp ratings, they’ve printed up tees with excerpts from the most scathing reviews (“This place sucks”) and given them to the staff to wear.
I love the opening sequence for the new Showtime series the United States of Tara. If you haven’t seen the show, it is about a woman named Tara (Toni Colette) who has dissociative identity disorder. The intro shows three of her other personalities. The first, Alice, typifies a 50′s housewife. The second, Buck, is a cigarette-smoking, Lynard Skynard-loving, Vietnam vet. The third, “T”, is a perpetual 16 year old with all of the typical vices: boys, booze, and bong hits. The into was directed by Jamie Caliri using stop motion. You can read a little more about the production here. Jamie also directed one my all-time-favorite commercials.
In order to get us over hump day, Jonathan and I have been re-watching our favorite Super Bowl commercials. Mary’s top 3: Career Builder Pedigree Doritos Jonathan’s top 3: Pepsi Max NBC Bridgestone
2008 brought many great changes and many exciting projects to Fearless Future, so Jonathan and I wanted to take time to thank all of those people and companies that made it such a great year. Whew!
January—Mary moved back East in January to central Pennsylvania. After one year as Director of User Services and Outreach at Musselman Library, Gettysburg College she continues to be engaged and excited about her work there. She and her wonderfully smart and creative colleagues are currently in the process of creating an integrated approach to marketing in libraries. Stay tuned for more details.
April—Jonathan continues to receive accolades about the IM marketing effort he was involved in with American Univerity Library and in April he presented about it at Computers in Libraries with our amazing colleagues Alex Hodges and Patricia West. This campaign proved that a library could create a great looking campaign that matched perfectly with its target audience and clearly stated the benefit of using the IM service to that audience.
May—Mary was invited to be a panelist at the opening session Branding Bravely of at Amigos Library Services and at the same conference Mary and Yvonne conducted a three hour workshop version of “Can Libraries be sold as Soap?” We worked with the wonderful Laura Kimberly and Eddy Smith of Amigos who made us feel so welcome in Texas. Last but not least we got to catch up with one of our favorite fearless friends, Tommie Wingfield.
May—Mary was invited to be a panelist on College of Dupage’s Library Challenges and Opportunities Teleconference—Rules of Engagement: Attracting and Engaging Library Users. This was the first time Mary was involved in a live, produced teleconference and it took her a while to get used to this format. The entire production crew at Dupage was so amazing, so patient and professional. Ellen Sutton who coordinates the Dupage Library Challenges and Opportunities asked Mary to work with her on the 2009 Library Challenges & Opportunities and together they put together two new programs for 2009. More about them later.
August—Mary conducted a three-hour version of “Can Libraries be sold as Soap?” for the Tri-state College Library Cooperative. Mary worked closely with Joy Dlugosz of Eastern University to adapt the workshop to the needs of the organization. Joy first met Mary when Mary was a guest lecturer for University of Pittsburgh’s School of Information Science. Mary does this every April for professor Susan Alman who is the director of the Fast Track program at Pitt. Joy is amazingly energetic and committed to librarianship.
September—Fearless Future begins work with the Adams County SPCA. First we redesigned their unchaining brochure and in 2009 we will be working on their membership campaign. We are so impressed with the commitment all of the ACSPCA employees and board bring to this shelter; we are honored to work with them.
October—Jonathan conducts Adobe Illustrator® training workshop for ARGY
November—Mary brought together three librarians to talk about Information Literacy for Life. This was the first teleconference that Mary helped shape and facilitated. It could not have gone any better. Alex Hodges, Niketha McKenzie and Roshin Matthew all presented about information literacy and their particular populations but more importantly the collaborations that can be created to create a seamless continuum of information literacy throughout one’s lifetime. Keep your eyes of all three of these librarians because you will undoubtedly her more about them.
November—Fearless Future works pro-bono for ArtLitho to design their holiday card.
November—Mary has chapter published in Staff Development Strategies That Work! Stories and Strategies from New Librarians. Mary chapter is titles Knowing and Showing : from a good to a great boss. In this chapter Mary recounts eight lessons she remembers from her greatest mentors and bosses. Working with editors Georgie Donovan and Miguel Figueroa made bring this chapter to fruition easy.
December—Fearless Future submits manuscript for their how-to marketing book soon to be published by ALA entitled “Bite Size Marketing”.
December—Fearless Future starts work with Julie Strange at Maryland Askus Now to create a commercial to promote their state-wide virtual reference service.
Thank you to everyone for making 2008 a great year!!! Mary & Jonathan
I know we have been on a little bit of a video kick here, but I saw these and wanted to share. Credits:
Advertising Agency: Rethink, Vancouver, Canada Creative Directors: Chris Staples, Ian Grais Art Director: Chad Kabigting Copywriter: Katie Ainsworth Graphic Designer: Rory O’Sullivan Producer: Ann Rubenstein Account Services: Tricia Bradshaw Client Supervisor: Bill Rice Production Company: Holiday Films, Toronto Director: Adam & Dave Executive Producer: Josefina Nadurata Producers: Josefina Nadurata, Chris Pavoni Director of Photography: Jonny Cliff Editorial: Melanie Snagg, Tonic Post, Vancouver Music/Sound Design: Chris Hobbs, Koko Productions, Vancouver Visual Effects: Tonic Post, Vancouver
Cool! Look at this video produced by the New York Public library in collaboration with one my my favorite blogs Design Sponge. Essentially, they are going to follow around five different kinds of designers/artists as they cull the NYPL looking for inspiration. In this first video of the series they introduce the designers and their respective mediums. Very neat stuff! Can’t wait to see the other parts of the series.
The New York Public Library holds a wealth of unexpected sources of inspiration for artists and designers—from vintage valentines and textile patterns, to fabric samples and turn-of-the-century menus from around the world. For this online-only miniseries, “Design by the Book,” the Library partnered with the leading design blog Design*Sponge to invite five New York City-based artists to sift through our collections in search of inspiration. Stay tuned for future episodes as the artists, who range from a glassblower to a letterpress printer, create unique works inspired by what they found; special guest Isaac Mizrahi will also join us to share his sources of inspiration. The artists are: Lorena Barrezueta, Rebecca Kutys, Mike Perry, John Pomp and Julia Rothman. Music by Clear Tigers.
I think this is amazing!
In order to get us over hump day, Jonathan and I have been re-watching our favorite Super Bowl commercials. Mary’s top 3: Career Builder Pedigree Doritos Jonathan’s top 3: Pepsi Max NBC Bridgestone
