Today is the final day in the Kickstarter campaign that set all-time record high pledges on the popular crowd-funding platform.  Two hours after launching the campaign, the Pebble—an e-paper watch for iPhone and Android—had raised over $100,000, $5 million in less than a week and now, as the campaign comes to an end, they have raised over $10.2 million. It’s been interesting to watch how quickly the Pebble raised money but not necessarily surprising—the product is that cool!

The watch connects to your smartphone via Bluetooth and alerts you with silent vibrations for incoming calls, text, Facebook alerts, weather alerts, alarms—really any notification that you could want to be aware of. There are customizable apps also available for added functionality. For example, golf range finder app, a remote control for your phone media player and athletic applications.

The Pebble is truly the first watch made for this century. I say this not only because it’s a smartwatch, but also because it embraces a new and more integrated customer/product relationship right from the early developmental stages.

The customer has the opportunity to be an active participant in the narrative behind the product, which is automatically engaging and ultimately helps mold them into brand ambassadors—things that are highly important in the modern day marketplace.

Click here to check out the Pebble Kickerstarter page.

Before entering strategic communications, photography was where my passion laid—especially black and white photography. The ability to capture raw emotion and intense communicative snap shots is simply beautiful. Photographs are really worth 1,000 words. After hearing that Associated Press combat photographer, Horst Faas, passed away last week, I took a moment to scroll through some of his most infamous work—specifically from the Vietnam War era.

As I browsed the shots, I couldn’t help but wonder about the change in photojournalism in the past few years. Between the rise of smart phones and social platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Flickr, we are now in an era where both citizen and professional journalists work together in order to break news, change public opinion or just share something completely honest with the public.

While reading about Faas, I came across a quote that not only summed up his philosophy of photojournalism, but what I believe is also relevant to modern day media.

            “You’re the man on the ground…don’t let someone hundreds of miles away decide it for you. Just tell me where you are going and call back when you have the pictures ready. And stay safe.”

With the current changes evolving in the media landscape, there seems to be some controversy over the line between a professional and citizen journalist. I certainly believe there is distinction between the two; however, it’s not realistic to think that one can thrive without the other—they should work in harmony. In a day and age where news is developing faster than ever before, Faas’ notion of not planning for what you hope to uncover, but just going out and discovering it is useful wisdom.

In this day and age, there doesn’t seem to be enough time to complete all items on your “to-do list,” so infographics are a great way to get a lot of very specific information quickly without having to read a long document. With their growing popularity and usefulness, these colorful graphics are beginning to be the future of business presentations. Below is not only a great example of a well done infographic, but also depicts some mind-blowing data on the enormity of Apple.

Branding is everywhere around us. There are very few places one can go and not come in contact with some form of it. I had always recognized the influence of brands; I mean I grew up in the south where every soft drink is referred to as “Coke.” Not until I moved to Ohio did I have to make a cognitive effort to say the actual product name, “soda” or heaven forbid “pop.” I remember sitting in a large auditorium classroom in college, watching as the professor flashed logos onto the screen that had the company name removed—seeing if we could identify the logos without the associated brand name. For the most part, it was not difficult. But it wasn’t until this exercise that I not only recognized branding, but also truly understood its power.

The one thing that my professor didn’t address was that branding goes past just a company’s color palette, logo, font, tagline, tone, etc. It also includes the packaging, an element that is becoming increasingly important as the marketplace becomes even more congested. I recently came across designer Andrew Miller’s “Brand Spirit” blog. Every day for 100 days, he paints one branded object completely white, stripping it down to its purest form.  Miller says that the project “can be interpreted as a celebration of the brands I chose, or as a criticism of consumer society.”  As I scroll through the images, it provokes me to truly look at the object itself—the packaging. Similar to the logo exercise in college, many of these objects are pretty easily recognizable, which does celebrate the fact that the company/brand has been truly successful in their efforts. Almost classics if you will.

However, I can’t help but wonder if people would buy these products if they came across them in this pure form. Take the Wonder Bread for instance—if you saw it on the shelf among all the other brands of bread, would you think about buying it? Is the packing enough or do you need the brand’s visual component in order for you to actually make a purchase?

In today’s congested media landscape, it takes a well thought out strategy to keep your brand top of mind among consumers. The use of technology is increasingly important in order for brands to be not only interactive with their audience, but also to be seen as leaders within their industry.  This week, adidas proved to be an innovative leader in sports, specifically in soccer.

In collaboration with the Major League Soccer (MLS) Association, adidas announced this week that they will debut their new miCoach Team Tracking System during the July 25^th All Star game. It will be the first “smart soccer match.” The miCoach product line is changing the way that players, coaches and fans see the game. The Team Tracking System provides coaches with immediate access to player metrics—such as player position, power output, speed, distance covered, intensity of play, acceleration and GPS heat mapping. Furthermore, it creates a way for adidas to interact directly with fans through accompanying consumer applications and other digital products.

As a marketer, I tip my hat to adidas for being innovative, interactive and just plain smart. They have been building the miCoach brand since 2010, starting with the personal coaching system, then apps, the adizero f50 cleat in 2011 and now the Team Tracking System. Truth be told, this is just the beginning. The release of each new product generates more buzz and media publicity, which just continues the conversation with consumers and ultimately keeps the brand top of mind.

Not only is adidas developing software that has the potential to change the way sports are viewed and statistics measured, but the smart soccer match is basically a 90-minute, live promotional segment for the miCoach brand. It is proven that brand recall percentages increase during in-game and in-studio segments—and those last what, a few minutes?  Adidas has created the perfect platform to debut the new product line and initiate an extensive conversation with their consumers. Currently, the miCoach Facebook page has 14,327 likes and 691 people talking about it this week. It will be interesting to watch how that number grows between now and the Smart Soccer Match. Oh wait…just reached 14,346.

I had been hearing little things here and there about this new app Draw Something but paid little attention. Not until I heard about a 30-minute long radio morning show discussion about it on my way to work did I actually decide to download it.  I’m not sure if it was a good thing or not, because I can truthfully say that Draw Something has taken over my life!

I started doing a little research on my newest addiction, and who would have thought that something as simple as a modern day Pictionary would be worth so much. Below is a series of Draw Something-esque slides that show the success of the app. To me, the amazing part is that it was only launched 7 weeks ago and there has already been over 3 billion drawings—and counting.

The simplistic idea of Draw Something just proves that you don’t have to bank on the next Mega-Million, because the next million billion dollar idea may be right under your nose!

Created by MBAOnline.com

I thought that ordering food online couldn’t get any easier, but I have been proven wrong! Red Tomato Pizza, located in Dubai, just introduced a new, basically effortless ordering system. They have provided their VIP customers with a magnet for your refrigerator that is connected via Bluetooth to their ordering system. Your favorite order is set to default, and whenever you want pizza, all you have to do is press a button on the magnet—and whahla, order placed. A confirmation text is sent to confirm that your order was received, which also gives you the opportunity to cancel the order if it was pushed by accident or if your 4 year old thought it was entertaining to push it repeatedly.

The thing that fascinates me most about this little magnet is the marketing opportunities that I expect are now right around the corner. This is definitely a trend that will catch on quickly and has the capability to really push the boundaries of interactive marketing. I personally cannot wait!

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Then every so often, I come across work that reminds me–it’s not always what you add to the work, but sometimes what you leave out that makes the piece come to life. Jung von Matt’s new Lego campaign was just that for me. A powerful reminder of how beautiful simple communication can be.

It only takes three elements to communicate the world of possibilities that is Lego; vertical stacks of colored blocks, a one-word tagline, “Imagine” and a small red Lego logo in the top left corner. It took me a moment to understand the story that was being told, but as a collective campaign the story becomes more and more clear.

Spend some time and scroll through these images and see if you can identify which characters these vertical stacks of colored blocks represent.

Sometimes it really is that simple.

People always say that good things come in small packages, and that is definitely true when it comes to the iconic Oreo.  I can use the word “iconic” with no hesitation as this year marks the 100th birthday of Oreo—an oldie but certainly a goodie! Not only is the cookie itself good, but the Happy Birthday, Celebrate the Kid Inside campaign is awesome.  It pulls together bits and pieces of not only our culture’s last 100 years, but also from the brand’s past. For instance, the tagline Celebrate the Kid Inside is a throwback to the 1980 tagline, For the Kid in All of Us. In a day and age where everyone is too busy to even live in the moment, I appreciate that the brand honors where it came from and celebrates all that has been accomplished—something I believe we do not do enough of.

My personal favorite is the print portion of the campaign. The visually dominant, but minimalist approach to the ads instantly draws viewers in. The creative direction behind this captured it all: art, social movements, science, technology, entertainment, and sports.  In total, there are 17 images that visually depict the last century—even down to the emoticon!

To see all 17 print ads, click here. But first I must ask, how do you eat your Oreo?

The 100th Anniversary Celebrate the Kid Inside Oreo Campaign was created by DraftFCB New York and Paris

At 99% Conference 2011, energy expert Tony Schwartz broke down some productivity myths and showed these creative thinkers how to get back on track and make the most of everyday. So pause, take a break and be inspired. It is how great ideas are brought to life!

Tony Schwartz: The Myths of the Overworked Creative from 99% on Vimeo.