noggBLOG

noggBLOG header image 1

A Hair Out Of Place

January 24th, 2012 · Ad People, Advertising Agency, Augmented Reality, Brands, Happenings, Indianapolis, NoggNews, Techy

noggBLOG permalink

Next time you find some weird hair in the bathroom at the airport, examine it closely.

Gillette, the popular men’s shaving and facial care brand, have taken pervasive advertising to a new low, so low in fact you’ll have to bend, squint and fight back the geebees just to see it.

With the help of super-smart science types, they’ve etched specifically designed ads, the smallest in history, onto several segments of human hair. The ads, less than 100 microns in length (or .003937 inches) are carved into each segment using an electron microscope, a piece of equipment usually reserved for such applications as cryobiology, nanometrology and, of course, electron tomography- only occasionally for shaving ads.

The hairs are currently on display in unidentified airport bathrooms and accompanied by QR codes, which not only defeat the premise, when scanned they allow a normal Magoo to view the text and ponder, if his goatee could talk, what would it say?

→ No CommentsTags:·····················

Communication Breakdown #22: When I Was Your Age…

January 5th, 2012 · AntiTechy, Art + Design, Communication Breakdown, Culture, Happenings, Indianapolis, NoggNews, Techy

noggBLOG permalink

“When I was your age,” your Grandpa says, “we used to have to walk 13 miles to school, in the snow, with no shoes! Sandwiches were a quarter. You got tongue between two slices of bread and mayonnaise was extra. Don’t even think about a malt or a soda to wash it down. That foolishness was for the two-quarter crowd! Why, in my day, I would sweep a three acre parking lot just for the sense of satisfaction and a pat on the back!”

Yeah, yeah, Grandpa.

Thanks to students at MIT, next time your Grandpa traps you in his weird “When I was your age…” vortex of suck, you can stuff that Depression-era brand of braggadocio right back in his stubborn, dyed-in-the-wool face.

Enter AGNES.

[Read more →]

→ No CommentsTags:··························

“It just doesn’t get any better than this!”

December 21st, 2011 · Ad People, Advertising Agency, AntiTechy, Brands, Culture, Eats, FilmGeek, Happenings, Indianapolis, NoggNews

From the man who brought you such exclamations as “he’s glorious!” and “by the beard of Zeus!”, comes a new one to add to your repertoire of quotes to impress girls with at parties: “It just doesn’t get any better than this!”.

Will Ferrell has been hard at work promoting Old Milwaukee, the more successful, less bald brother of Milwaukee’s Best, writing, shooting and airing the ads entirely in specific, local markets on his own dime.

Ferrell has visited Davenport, IA., Terre Haute, IN., and most recently Milwaukee, WI., where once Old Milwaukee was made, and so far, he’s made at least a total of 19.

Unfortunately it takes a little ingenuity to score a peak at his new, off-the-cuff, rapid fire insanity, because each add airs only where it is shot, forcing us regular schmoes to squint at the grainy, handy-cammed bootlegs slowly trickling onto YouTube.

The upside? The rerecorded quality of these shaky screenshots make the dingy, crossroads charm of Terre Haute, IN., once the whorehouse capital of the Midwest, now the mecca of fried fast food and Flying Js, and Ferrell’s attempt to fit in fashionably, all the more endearing.

It just doesn’t get any better than this!:

For more, Google it or search directly on ye olde YouTube.

→ No CommentsTags:·····························

Communication Breakdown #21: The Resurgence of the Mythopoetic Man

December 12th, 2011 · Advertising Agency, AntiTechy, BookWorm, Brands, Communication Breakdown, Culture, Happenings, Indianapolis, NoggNews, Techy

Are you a man?

The answer to that question, I now know, has less to do with gender and appearance than many of us might think.

I know my answer. I am a man. Am I the manliest? Certainly not. I make my living as a writer. You won’t see me logging anytime soon.

But are you a man? You may or may not be. I have no way of knowing, but you should find out if you don’t already. Of course, not all of us can be burly, bearded oil riggers who kick back by swinging the old kettle bells and drinking rotgut, but should we not strive to embody the best incarnation of ourselves?

Furthermore, the gruff, hard-drinking, hard-cussing cocksmen of Deadwood aren’t what fundamentally constitute a man, nor are the casually condescending, hard-drinking, hard-to-love Mad Men.

So what is a man?

Cue the resurgence of the mythopoetic man: a muscled, masculine, ex-Boy Scout of the most exceptional character, physical prowess and leathery, meat-like odor.

[Read more →]

→ No CommentsTags:·········································

Communication Breakdown #20 – The XX(X) Edition: ‘Jersey Shore’ Skanks Up School

November 2nd, 2011 · BookWorm, Brands, Communication Breakdown, Culture, Happenings, Indianapolis, NoggNews

noggBLOG permalink

The last thing college needs is more skankiness, but what happens when a cultural phenomenon exudes so much of it that it forcefully permeates every aspect of society? You analyze it. I think. Either that or Coinstar that change bucket into singles and go wild. UChicago (yes, UChicago, the school with the student-crafted motto that reads, “Where fun comes to die”) chose the former.

That is so weirdly right. The show, until now, responsible for numerous arrests, awful Halloween costumes, mind-numbing colloquialisms and the cultural institutions “GTL (Gym, Tan, Laundry)” and “shirt-before-the-shirt”, The Jersey Shore, and Ronnie, Vinny, Pauly D, Mike The Situation, Deena, Angelina, JWOWW, Sammy and Snooki, get the full academic treatment.

[Read more →]

→ No CommentsTags:·············································

Blow Me

October 24th, 2011 · AntiTechy, Culture, Happenings, Indianapolis, NoggNews, Social Media, Tunes

Times is tough. We’ve all heard them say it. The newscasters, financial advisors, teachers, parents, the internet start-up guy who bags your groceries, they all seem to be saying the same thing. We should be grateful for the work we can get, and do it with verve, lest we lose it. But if it sucks and you hate it and you would rather do nothing and suffer a future of innumerable Ramen cups instead, which I think many of us would, then why not quit with verve, too? So look your boss dead in the eye and let the huge flippin’ brass band behind you say, “blow me.”

That’s what Joey DeFrancisco did. And we applaud him, but not too loudly. Our boss is right there, and I hate Ramen.

→ No CommentsTags:···················

Why The Long Face?

October 11th, 2011 · Culture, Happenings, Indianapolis, NoggNews, Techy

Yes, summer is over, Steve Jobs is dead and 30 Rock doesn’t come on ’til January, so it’s understandable to be a little down in the dumps these days.

But cheer up! Not all is lost. The iPhone 5 will come. Winter is pretty cool (pun intended). Snow is rad. And there’s Christmas. You know, you get gifts and stuff. And there’s this:

So, hey! Turn that frown upside-down and grin like an idiot! Tell us all the things that make you feel aces this time of year and maybe, just maybe, the best comment will get a prize! (Prolly.)

→ No CommentsTags:····················

Communication Breakdown #19: A New Kind of Internet Launch

October 3rd, 2011 · Brands, Communication Breakdown, Culture, Happenings, Indianapolis, NoggNews, Social Media, Techy

noggBLOG permalink

It’s no secret that Americans and Canadians are very different. Canadians talk funny. They socialize medicine. They put gravy on their French fries and call it “poutine”. Terrifying, but these differences pale in comparison to the way one Ottawa woman is choosing to use Facebook.

[Read more →]

→ No CommentsTags:···································

Great Scott!

September 8th, 2011 · Ad People, Art + Design, Brands, Culture, Fashion, Happenings, Indianapolis, NoggNews, Techy

noggBLOG permalink

With the 80’s nostalgia craze at a terrifyingly enthusiastic peak, one would think that there’s nothing left to be done to get the neon and day-glo Kool-Aid into the mouths of the masses. One would think….

Wuhh-bam! Air McFly’s??!?!? You better believe it. Hipster sneaker blog Nice Kicks brings us exclusive details on the brand spankin’ new Nike Air Mags, McFly’s self-lacing sneakers from Back To The Future. More after the jump.

[Read more →]

→ No CommentsTags:····························

Communication Breakdown #18: Electrotelekinesis?

August 30th, 2011 · Ad People, Advertising Agency, Apps, Art + Design, Augmented Reality, Brands, Communication Breakdown, Culture, NoggNews, Social Media, Techy

noggBLOG permalink

I know. I’m thinking the exact same thing. Life is not a corny TV show about a genie or an old Hanna-Barbera cartoon.  How in the world can people possibly move things with their minds? I don’t know exactly, but, holy Christ on a cracker, apparently they can.

Most of us have heard about Google’s self-driving cars (click here to take a ride). Most of us have also heard about Google’s self-driving cars getting into accidents, like, all the time and generally being total P’s O’ malfunctioning S. With BrainDriver and Prius X Parlee, we can reattach a human brain to the equation of man + vehicle = potentially successful/non-life threatening/Google-less experience.

[Read more →]

→ No CommentsTags:·············································