Our Gas Got Soul!!!!

Cleveland is the city.

Chances are, some of you have seen the (semi) viral hit "HASTILY MADE CLEVELAND TOURISM VIDEO" and its follow-up "Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Video: 2nd Attempt"

If not, here's a primer.




Brand Flakes for Breakfast has, in my humble, a perfect take on this: here. (via Adrants)

So it seems that somebody at Positively Cleveland, our Visitors and Tourism Circlejerk, thought it'd be a good idea to capitalize on the aforementioned YouTube hits, and counter them with a fully sanctioned contest. It launched last week.

See here: witness poop.

and...

i got laid off. Sweet start to 2009.

Cleveland...

... is in the comment section.

7/14/44 - 11/20/08

If any of my 2 or 3 regular visitors happen to pass by and wonder, "what the f*ck is up with Franklin,"

Pops passed away about a month ago. (still doesn't quite fully explain the hiatus before that, but... whatever.)

Obviously not in the blogging mood these days.

But I'll be back in effect mode soon.

Until then, I'll close with one of his favorites.

Barackin' The Q

CLEVELAND — NBA superstar LeBron James and Grammy-winning recording artist Jay-Z want people to get out early to vote for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.

James and Jay-Z will host a rally Wednesday at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland which will include a free concert by the hip-hop star.

James attended a Cleveland rally earlier this month to encourage people to vote for Obama. He's also contributed $20,000 to a committee supporting the presidential nominee.
--------
Looks like Franklin will be ducking out of the office tomorrow to pick up a ticket.

Eagle Woman

The Hate Continues

via Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish

Quite literally changing the game.

Presidential candidate is the first to buy ad space inside a video game.

Ready

I can honestly say, It has been a while since I've been this hyped for a flick.

I'm about 1/4 through the graphic novel and it's hella dope.

The last shot alone gives me a semi.

I'm an idiot and I get my news from Sean Hannity.

Cleveland area blog bloggerinterrupted took some cringeworthy video at a McCain/Palin event in this area.*






* The campaign event was held in Strongsville, a suburb of Cleveland. If you know anything about the Cleveland area, there has been a long-standing geographic racial divide (easing up a little recently) between the East and West Side of the city and her suburbs. Strongsville is about as "west side" as you get.

***UPDATE***

I also came across this one today. This is from a McCain/Palin rally in Bethlehem, PA.



This could get ugly. It's one thing to paint your opponent as a wine-sipping, latte-drinking, wind-surfing frenchman. It's something a lot more sinister to paint his as a Terrorist-sympathising, america-hating radical-muslim Mancurian candidate.

Now I'm starting to worry a lil' bit.

My Daily Reminders for the Office

• When saying words that end in 'ing' ... say the 'g.'
• When listening to hip-hop, always use the headphones.
• Don't look angry, even when you're fuckin' angry.
• When greeting clients, don't say "wuddup?"
• When greeting clients, don't say "howdy!" either. There's no need to compensate.
• Don't allow Black panhandlers to guilt you into giving them money because you're walking with your white coworkers. Give them money because you want to... or don't.
• You've gone this far without playing drinking games. Don't start now.
• You are in no way inferior because you didn't travel to Europe before, during or immediately after college.
• Save the CB4, Fear of a Black Hat, Major Payne, Last Dragon, Dolemite, Malcom X, School Daze and Hollywood Shuffle references for another time. They won't get them. Even if you find the clip on YouTube and e-mail it to them.

A-funkin-dorable

I guess these have been around for a while, but they're new to me.





::::props to The Martin Agency::::

Headphone Heat - Blitz the Ambassador

Brooklynite by way of Accra, Ghana.

Blitz is actually a college homie of mine currently making moves in NYC.

This video is about 2 years old, but timely.



Visit Blitz the Ambassador on MySpace

Branding Ineptitude

Currently making the rounds among Browns fans under the subject heading,

"Why we keep losing."

Palintology

More good stuff at drawger.

The real measure of success

If any marketing folks out there come across this post, please chime in.

This comes from a client presentation I was party to a couple of months ago.

(This also comes from my notebook of posts I was planning to make this past summer.)

You work for "Company A" making widgets.

You are in competition against Companies B, C & D.

Is it a common measure of your brand's success and reputation in the marketplace by comparing the percentage of buyers that are "Caucasian" for each of the four brands?

So if 75% of Brand C's buyers are Caucasian and 50% of Brand A's buyers are Caucasian, Brand C is the stronger brand.

Is that normal?

Learning the ways of the force.

I recently came across this post from the guys at American Copywriter that I've found to be especially helpful this week.

If you get a chance, check it out.

Jedi Copywriter.

"Shiiiiiit. I'm broke m'damn self."

1) I'd love to see what they passed on to produce this.

2) I wonder what percent of revisions had to do with logo size.

I'm not your damn 'Bro.'

"Don't mean to be a dick, but you can stop calling me bro."