First Comes the Sale, Then Comes the Social

If you don't read The Ad Contrarian already, you should.

"When is the last time you were engaged with a product you hadn’t yet used? When have you ever spawned a conversation about a brand you had no experience with? When have you joined a community devoted to goods you’ve never tried? The answer is, probably never. That's because the twits have it all backward. And that's why the purpose of advertising remains, as it has always been, to sell someone something."

YouTube's Most Viewed Ads in the UK

Google have put together a Top 10 of viewed ads in the UK for 2011. Some aren't that surprising, some are - included the Christmas ad from John Lewis coming in at number 7 despite only just (relatively speaking) launching. Anyway. Here they are. I'll admit I've never seen number two before, but I like it quite a lot. Procrastinate for roughly 12 minutes. Go on. Do it. 

I've never seen that last one before and to be honest, I wish I never had. Barbies, pink, and Sugarbabes. Let's condescend women just a little more and throw in a fucking pony. 

Social Blood

I'm off to India in January for two weeks (that's not entirely relevant here I just wanted to let you all know I'll be sunning myself while you're not), and while doing some random research about jabs I came across a pretty cool initiative going on over there - Social Blood.

Social Blood is a very simple Facebook app, where users register their blood type and are directed to a group for their particular type. In this group, they can post messges asking for blood in an emergency, or help someone else out. 

I love the idea of using Facebook as a platform for emergency help. There's not much going on in my blood group (0+) but I'd love to see what the 0- page is like. I've signed up just in case. You never know. 

Check out Social Blood, or their Facebook page - Socialblood.org.