Digital agency outs deadbeat client in epic fashion

Tim Nudd at AdFreak sent me this phenomenally ballsy digital agency stunt:

Frank Jonen, who runs his own small web design company, claims he wasn't paid properly by Fitness SF, one of his clients. So, he went and replaced the Fitness SF website with an angry letter about how evil the bastards at Fitness SF are. 

Check it out live, while it lasts, at fitnesssf.com.

For a large shop, with big clients, this kind of public airing of dirty laundry could severely limit new business opportunities. But for a small operation, it could also be the key to street cred and infamy among more edgy clients. We'll see how that works out.

This just in: Story is being updated at AdFreak.

SF public transit disclaims racist ad

The above ad, according to Mother Jones, was placed on San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (Muni) properties by anti-Muslim activist Pamela Geller.

Muni felt they had to accept the ad, based on what they (and legal precedent) perceived as Ms. Geller's First Amendment rights.

So they used their adjacent ad space to run a disclaimer:

Apparently, Ms. Geller insists that the Ayn Rand-inspired quote in her ads refers to particular acts taken by Palestinian groups during the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But that's not the Randian context of the copy.

Mother Jones quotes Ayn Rand in full:

Further, why are the Arabs against Israel? (This is the main reason I support Israel.) The Arabs are one of the least developed cultures. They are typically nomads. Their culture is primitive, and they resent Israel because it's the sole beachhead of modern science and civilization on their continent. When you have civilized men fighting savages, you support the civilized men, no matter who they are. Israel is a mixed economy inclined toward socialism. But when it comes to the power of the mind—the development of industry in that wasted desert continent—versus savages who don't want to use their minds, then if one cares about the future of civilization, don't wait for the government to do something. Give whatever you can. This is the first time I've contributed to a public cause: helping Israel in an emergency. 

Dehumanizing your enemy — now who's the "savage"?

Reframing the solar power pitch (sort-of)

"You just heard 'solar" and assumed I'm some weird pickler guy"

A new Fast Company post features this fun campaign by Heat for  SunRun, a San Francisco-based provider of domestic solar power systems.

This one's the best:



By making gentle fun of environmentalists, the approach does two things well:

1) It appeals to people who are more thrifty than "crunchy", and
2) It appeals to people who are a little crunchy, but have a healthy sense of irony

In other words, the ads appeal to smart people who want to live more sustainably — one way or another — and lower the barriers to trial.

It's a refreshing attempt to normalize solar.

A viral so stupid it just might work

From San Francisco SPCA:



I mean, seriously. What does it take to get a YouTube video off the ground these days? As earned media exposure, it either has to be timely, sexy, emotional, shocking, passionate... or just unflinchingly dumb. And it needs cats. Lots of cats. I'll leave the rest of the analysis up to you.



Let's just hope Lady Gaga is amused.