You Sneaky Mom, Jimmy Kimmel’s Halloween Challenge Goes Viral

Jimmy Kimmel crowdsourced brilliance! The comedian issued a challenge on his show Jimmy Kimmel Live! asking parents to play a practical joke on their children. The premise was simple, Kimmel asked parents to “tell your children you ate all of their Halloween candy and record the response.” The responses were aired on the Thursday November 3rd of Jimmy Kimmel Live!…

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Terrifying Take This Lollipop, No Creepy Privacy Concerns

Have you been too afraid to click on TakeThisLollipop.com and give the site access to your Facebook profile and private information? This site has seen its “Likes” on Facebook grow from a very small 13,000 yesterday morning to over 182,000 as of this afternoon. As you enter the site, you see the message “Take This Lollipop, I Dare You.” But…

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What Happens After the Take This Lollipop Countdown?

What happens after the countdown clock on Take This Lollipop reaches zero? Nothing apparently. To update my previous posting, I expected that the site may post a link to your Facebook profile, generate a similar video with the friend it mentioned, or perhaps reveal more about the campaign. Unfortunately after waiting until the clock reached zero on multiple instances I did not see…

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Take This Lollipop and the Importance of Facebook Privacy

As a child your parents teach you to never take candy from a stranger. Take This Lollipop is the 21st century re-imagination of that conversation, reminding consumers why privacy should be a concern. And, perhaps, why you should never trust virtual strangers. Reminiscent of Intel’s Museum of Me, the experience begins innocently enough when Take This Lollipop presents you with a Facebook branded sucker asking…

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Should You Script Social Media Content?

On Monday Mark Evans and Sysomos posted a blog asking “How Scripted Should Social Media Be?“ I felt compelled to respond to Mr. Evans because he came to the conclusion that scripting social media content is “the wrong way to go.” He also added that “companies that insist on a scripted approach is they are either scared of social media,…

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Social Media Analysis of the “Where’s Bernie” Promotion

Just how negative were the online conversations surrounding the “Where’s Bernie” promotion on May 24th, 2011? While at least one marketing firm in the Milwaukee area thought the event was a PR home run, it was clear that the Milwaukee Brewers actually had a public relations nightmare. If you haven’t heard the story by now, the Milwaukee Brewers teamed up…

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Greed Ruins Milwaukee Brewers’ “Where’s Bernie” Scavenger Hunt

The Milwaukee Brewers received a lot of attention this week with the “Where’s Bernie?” promotion. There is the photo above, showing a trunk of at least 10 of the Bernie Brewer lawn ornaments. There was the story of a woman who hoarded dozens of the “Where’s Bernie” gnomes. And of course, there were the reports of the lawn ornaments being…

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Social Media Curation, Not Automation

What’s wrong with Social Media automation? In a word, everything. I ran across this post from Danny Brown about Social Media automation. In short, I think it is a dangerous process. There isn’t a system in the world, with the possible exception of IBM’s Watson, smart enough to automate responses in social media channels. If the goal of automation is…

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Adventures in Hipstaland: Dennis’ Historic Route 66

Historic Route 66 is timeless and well traveled. The open road escape has been well documented in movies, books, photographs and other stories. And as I headed west in July of 2010, armed with my iPhone 4 and Hipstamatic installed, I wanted to take the opportunity to return home from Las Vegas, Nevada on the historic highway. As a fan…

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Marquette Warriors Logo

I’m looking for a vector version of the iconic Marquette Warriors logo. Can you help me in my quest to secure one? Just before my freshman year at Marquette University the school decided to change it’s mascot and logo from the Marquette Warriors to the Golden Eagles. I wasn’t devastated, but I was disappointed. The university, particularly then-president Father DiUlio,…

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We The People

We the people…the people of this great nation have come together with a message – a message of change. It is just after the 10 o’clock hour in the midwest and America has elected the first African-American president of the United States. As sunshine flooded my bedroom this morning, I awoke with a feeling of great excitement and optimism. And…

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Remembering Sherman Galbreath

One of my best friends, and high school buddies, gave me some bad news today. An old schoolmate, Sherman Galbreath had passed away. I hadn’t seen him since we graduated, but he was a very interesting character. While many of the people I remember from high school pop in and out of conversations, Sherman was almost a monthly occurrence (if…

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