Nick Cave Creates a Spotify App with Themes of Murder and Mayhem
Artist playlist apps on Spotify have been around for a while now and so far they’ve all been fairly vanilla. However, to promote his new album, Nick Cave has created a Spotify app that’s anything but. Select your theme – sex, murder, mayhem (amongst others) – then spin the wheel and you’ll be presented with a playlist of music spanning his catalogue that fits the bill.
More Brand Prank Videos
First there was Candid Camera, then Punk’d and now brands. In 2013 we’re getting at least one or two new brand ‘prank’ videos a week and each are getting millions of views. This week it’s Carlsberg (again) with ‘Carlsberg Puts Friends to the Test’ and Pepsi Max with the ‘Pepsi Max and Jeff Gordon Test Drive’. The former involves young men setting up their best friend to bail them out of a seedy poker game in the wee hours and the latter sets up a car salesman by having Nascar car driver Jeff Gordon take him for the ride of his life in a new Camaro.
Optimising Google Image Search to Create ‘Organic Ads’
A group of advertising students from Willem de Kooning Academy have created the first ever ‘organic ad’ out of Google image search results. By optimising five URLs via self-proclaimed “hardcore SEO-craftsmanship”, they were able to cleverly create a Volkswagon ad out of the top five image search results for “ultimate business car”.
A Toaster that ‘Prints’ Topical Images
Everything is becoming connected, even toasters. University Student Scott van Haastrecht has built a prototype toaster that scours the net to find the most popular image of the day and then burns it into your toast. Whilst this may not be the best application of such technology, it does stretch the imagination as to what is possible when connecting every day items to the internet.
Fragrances Enter the Digital Age
Commodity, a Kickstarter campaign running at the moment, has the potential to shake up the fragrance industry with a new way for people to trial and buy fragrances online. They’ve created a process called ‘Scent Tailoring’ to help you find your perfect scent. First customers answer questions to work out their style and then Commodity sends them mini fragrance samples to trial at their convenience.
