Guerilla

Twitter is buzzing with the news that last night the Twitter accounts for Mad Men characters Don Draper (@don_draper) and Peggy Olson (@peggyolson) were taken down. At first the outrage was pointed towards the folks over at Twitter, with reports stating that it was because these accounts fall under their new spam restrictions - The accounts were not real people saying real things (yet all were promoting a similar product).

Twitter employees fired back that it wasn’t their initiative, but rather a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notice issued by AMC. Apparently these twitter accounts were NOT all part of a marketing campaign for the show! I will say this, each of the accounts (there’s more than just Don and Peggy on Twitter) seems to have stuck to the character they were portraying. While AMC has the legal right to protect their brand, why ruin a good campaign? Especially one that is free?

Ben Kessler found the rest of the cast who had Twitter accounts and posted them on his blog. They are:

and

- Apparently a new Peggy Olson account has been created, this time with an underscore in her name. One of her first ‘tweets’ was in regards to the account suspension:

MG Siegler from VentureBeat was the first to report of the DMCA takedown:

Twitter has responded back to me on the issue. Apparently it wasn’t a spam issue at all, but rather a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notice that Twitter’s support team responded to, co-founder Biz Stone tells me. I guess AMC didn’t like others playing the roll of its Mad Men characters besides the actors who play them on TV.

I wonder if this was the inspiration for the influx of fake Mad Men accounts (taken from SomeEcards.com):

I don’t think this is the end of this story….

UPDATE! Mario Parisé from the StrategicText blog has come forward to reveal that he has been twittering under the Paul Kinsey (@paul_kinsey) account. It is still (as of 12:45pm EST) online. He’s got a great post about it over on his site. Go check it out.

This was first released a few weeks ago, but better late than never for stuff this good. Here is a BBC commissioned commercial for their Olympic Games coverage set to original music from Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett’s dramatic remake of the Chinese Legend Journey To The West. As for characters, those of you in the USA may not recognize them but they’re from the cult British TV series Monkey. Named The Journey To The East it shows the animated characters on their quest to “The East” or rather the Olympic stadium.

Damon Albarn, famous for being the creative mastermind behind bands Blur, Gorillaz, The Good The Bad And The Queen and various side-projects, is once again reunited with fellow Gorillaz founder Jamie Hewlett for this 2 minute advertisement. They had both just been involved with a massive stage adaption of the Chinese novel Journey to the West which premiered at the inaugural Manchester International Festival in June of 2007. Called Monkey: Journey To The West, Albarn composed the play’s score, Hewlett designed the costumes, set design and visual concept, and the resulting stage adaption was directed by famous Chinese opera leader Shi-zheng.

RKCR/Y&R was the agency used with Passion Pictures, Red Bee Media and Zombie Flesh Eaters as the production companies (Cara Speller and Deborah Stewart were the Producers). It was directed by Jamie Hewlett.

Here’s a recent “viral” (that’s what they’re calling it) for Levi’s jeans from the folks over at Cutwater.

Jake Schreier was the Copywriter, Bill Spangler was the Assistant Producer and Jennifer Golub was the executive producer for Cutwater (where Marty Senn is creative director underneath the infamous Chuck McBride)

Jake Schreier and Steve Mottershead both directed this piece for Park Pictures. Woolgathering (cool name) did the visual effects which meant that Steve Mottershead was the lead flame (Hardave Grewal was the assistant flame). Jeremy Westphal did the puppeteering and Leslie McCartney was the post-production supervisor.

Btw, in case you were wondering what woolgathering means:

woolgathering \WOOL-gath-(uh)-ring\, noun:

Indulgence in idle daydreaming.

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Woolgathering derives from the literal sense, “gathering fragments of wool.”

Now here’s a great example of a company using bloggers to spread the word about a new product - HP and “word-of-mouth” marketing agency Buzz Corps have partenered up for an event they’re calling “The 31 Days of the Dragon” in an effort to promote the new HP HDX Dragon Entertainment Notebook. Essentially it’s a ramped up Pavillion line made for heavy entertainment use, which means yes… I want one badly. I’m sure you do too - so here’s how to get one. 31 laptops were given out to 31 different blogs. Sadly I was not chosen but here is a list of all the sites that were. Each one will be conducting their own form of contest to see who gets the laptop, all having to find a winner within a specific week, so if you’re desperate for one of these media powerhouses, you’ve got thirty-one chances…one laptops will be given out each day for 31 days…. good luck.

The Website List - including which weeks they have to run their “contest” (followed by the actual computer specs):
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Following Chris Anderson’s recent experiment with his latest book entitled “Free,” book publisher No Starch Press has released two of their most popular books by Wired news editor Leander Kahney - The Cult of Mac & The Cult of iPod - in full unaltered versions on the infamous p2p torrent site, www.ThePirateBay.org

Here are brief reviews of both books:
The Cult of Ipod - Leander Kahney:

Wired news editor Leander Kahney follows up his bestselling The Cult of Mac with The Cult of iPod, a comprehensive look at how Apple’s hit iPod is changing music, culture, and listening behavior. The Cult of iPod includes the exclusive back story of the iPod’s development; looks at the many ways iPod’s users pay homage to their devices; and investigates the quirkier aspects of iPod culture, such as iPod-jacking (strangers plugging into each other’s iPods to discover new music), as well as the growing legions of MP3Js (regular folks who use their iPods to become DJs).

The Cult of Mac - Leander Kahney:

No product on the planet enjoys the devotion of a Macintosh computer. Famously dedicated to their machines, many Mac fans eat, sleep and breathe Macintosh. In The Cult of Mac, Wired News managing editor Leander Kahney takes an in-depth look at Mac users and their unique, creative, and often very funny culture. From people who get Mac tattoos and haircuts, to those who furnish their apartments out of empty Mac boxes, the book details Mac fandom in all of its forms. This paperback edition includes an all-new chapter about the iPod, updates throughout, and new photos that reflect current Apple technology.

To Download Via BitTorrent or Direct Download:
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