When it comes to passwords, you’d like them to be simple enough to remember. Ones that are familiar to you or series of letters and numbers that have certain significance in your life. However, organizations are forcing users to create increasingly complex passwords that are not as easy to remember.
But how safe do either dictionary words or complex patterns really keep us from hackers?
After much research, Microsoft has concluded that complex passwords are just as easily hacked and may not be as effective as other password strategies. Their new approach to online passwords eliminates complexity requirements, like “must be 14 characters long and contain two numbers and a symbol,” while still protecting against both dictionary attacks and statistical guessing. Their new online service counts how many times any user chooses a given password, and if more than a small number of users pick that password, it is banned from all other users to choose. However, this strategy is not a cure-all for hacking protection for everyone—it is intended to be used by organizations with millions of users and heavy traffic, like Microsoft’s Hotmail service.
Read more about password strategy and Microsoft’s new approach to protect its users.
Old Spice has created a wildly successful social media campaign literally overnight. It all started with a commercial of the bare-chested, toweled, ladies man Isaiah Mustafa that rocked YouTube with its masculinity and humorous transitions. “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign appeals to men and women alike, as it brings a sense of humor to a personal hygiene product line that dwindles in a competitive world of advertisements focused on sensuality.
To differentiate the brand, the online ads essentially ask women to compare their significant other to the hunky Old Spice Man. He says in a sultry-smooth voice, “Look at your man, now back to me, now back at your man, now back to me. Sadly, he isn’t me. But if he stopped using lady scented body wash he could smell like he is me.” With over 34 million views on YouTube in less than a week, the 72-year-old brand knew for certain that it had the attention of the younger demographic with this video.
Isaiah Mustafa, his dashing good looks and his witty advice for consumers, have been online since February; but it wasn’t until early July of this year that Old Spice Man really started to “spice” up the social media scene. Keying in on YouTube as a primary medium, the brand produced one more commercial to speak directly to online audiences. The over-the-top charades continue with a “Should your man smell like an old spice man?” question and answer session that invites bloggers, Twitterers, YouTube commenters, and even celebrities big in the social networking sphere to personally ask the Old Spice Man questions—and receive real-time responses.
On July 14th, the Old Spice production team and Isaiah Mustafa met in Portland, Oregon to create dozens of these short, comedic YouTube videos in response to the questions and comments of followers. In two days time, they managed to dish out 185 video responses to tweets that ask favors of Mustafa, seek his advice, or just look to get him to say their name over the airwaves. In three days time, the videos received 5.2 million views on the Old Spice channel of YouTube. And with the open invitation for Twitter followers to speak directly to the Old Spice Man, the brand’s Twitter following grew from a few thousand to now almost 90,000.
So what is it about this campaign that we need to understand? Three things.
1. Realize your true audience
Proctor and Gamble has recently come to understand that their primary target market is not, in fact, men. Their research concluded that women purchase nearly 70% of hygiene products (including shower gel) for the men in their households. With women making the shopping decisions, it just makes sense to target them in these dreamy, idealized advertisements, rather than demean them the way Axe and Tag product ads do.
2. Keep messaging short and simple
The attention span of online users is becoming increasingly shorter as a result of micro blogs and social media sites like Twitter, that require users to sum up what’s going on in 140 characters or less; anything longer and you may lose interest. Messages should be strategically developed to address this and ensure that the audience will stay intrigued or amused with your content. There are very few of these Old Spice ads over 1 minute.
3. Markets are conversations
The Cluetrain Manifesto wisely advises us that the world of marketing does not have to be a one-sided world. The introduction of the Internet has created endless possibilities for advertisers and marketers to interact with, obtain feedback from, and have direct conversations with their prospects. The Internet alone is an incredible tool, but with the addition of social media, viral video, and the blogosphere, it becomes a viable weapon.
Old Spice undoubtedly has the fastest growing viral campaign of any product. Ever. By evading expensive traditional media and surging full speed ahead to the target consumer on their computer or phone, Old Spice has revolutionized the way advertisers and marketers utilize social media. If social media can help a guy in a bath towel connect with customers, just imagine what it can do for your business.
With all the applications available on smart phones today, it can be tedious and oftentimes time-consuming to search for specific apps among the dozens on your phone just to make a call. Or search the web. Or send an email. Or update your Twitter status.
Vlingo is attempting to simplify and speed up that process by integrating speech recognition and artificial intelligence to access your phone’s applications. Vlingo’s SuperDialer analyzes spoken commands and retrieves online information or personal data in order to carry out commands like “Call Mom,” “Find coffee shop,” and “Note to self.”
No longer do you have to search through your applications, open them manually, or even type on a keyboard.
A “rising” trend in the advertising industry is the use of elevator advertising in shopping malls, high rise office buildings, apartment complexes, and other heavily trafficked buildings. These large, entertaining ads captivate audiences and almost guarantee that the ad will be seen and remembered.
The key to elevator advertising is location, location, location. Knowing the audience in a particular location and anticipating their reactions to the advertisement is important to the success of the campaign. But with an estimated 500 people a day* jamming into high-rise elevators in malls and office buildings, it’s hard not to increase gross impressions with elevator advertising.
So whether it’s a dunking oreo in a shopping mall, where the are sure to be hungry children tagging along with their mothers, or a weight-loss ad in an office building, where there are sure to be guilt-driven businessmen and women, strategically placed elevator advertisements can be a tremendously effective medium.
You can see more clever and creative elevator ads here
Wish that you could find a bunch of inspiring, cool design blogs? If you answered yes to this question, skim on.
(Not the kind that make you feel like you should be doing things differently, or like you need to take notes, or re-design everything you ever made.) I’m talking about blogs that just make you want to go out and try new things.
I found a good article that lists 50 design blogs around the world which is worth checking out. Its got some of my old favorites, like DesignSponge, and some new ones too!
When it comes to passwords, you’d like them to be simple enough to remember. Ones that are familiar to you or series of letters and numbers that have certain significance in your life. However, organizations are forcing users to create increasingly complex passwords that are not as easy to remember.
