Pandora Advertising

I love Pandora and listen most everyday as I am working. Today I created a new channel, and although I don't typically pay much attention to their advertisers, they do a nice job of wrapping the messages into and around the player. Today was different...I started a new Flaming Lips channel and noticed an odd looking ad from TaxAct that didn't look like it fit. TaxAct and their agency failed by not designing an ad that fits better within the Pandora interface...lazy and frankly wasting money on their part...the creative is brutal as well...why would a 70+ grandmotherly looking lady appeal to the under 40 crowd looking to do their taxes online?? I know the campaign is part of an RFP and subsequent buy looking for the biggest audience in advance of the April 15th tax deadline, but this is just sloppy.

Could Twitter Challenge Google?

The San Jose Mercury News

Google's search engine is so dominant that it's hard to imagine how anyone could knock the Mountain View company from its pedestal. And yet if history is any guide, such reigns never last. IBM gave way to Microsoft, which now has been usurped by Google.

It could be a shift in technology. It could be a more nimble, innovative rival. But something always comes along and turns things upside-down, often emerging from a direction so surprising that the incumbent never sees it coming until it's too late.

See the full article from Chris O'Brien here:

Why Didn't I Think Of This...

Jason Sadler is selling his upper body 365 days a year to companies and/or individuals who want him to wear there logoed t-shirt for a full day. He produces a 1-2 minute video that is streamed via Ustream and blogs about the company and experience. It costs $1 on January 1st and the price goes up a dollar a day to $365 on December 31st. He is sold out through August. It will be interesting to see where this concept goes, I ran across Jason when he started following my Twitter feed this morning...he currently has almost 4,900 followers.

Check out Jason's site here:

http://iwearyourshirt.com/

Chicago Tea Party

CNBC's Chicago Merc reporter Rick Santelli went off yesterday in reaction to the housing stimulus package...pretty spot on, why subsidize someone who may not be able to afford the house in twelve months. Here is the link to the video:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1039849853

Amazing Growth

So I posted on February 11th, that according to Apptism the Apple App Store had surpassed 20,000 Iphone applications. Well, here we are today exactly one week later and there are now 21,678 applications available, that is an amazing 8% growth in a week! If this rapid growth continues there will be nearly 100,000 applications by December 31st. I guess Apple's decision to open up the developer platform for the IPhone was a pretty good decision.