New iPhone commercial features real phone number to Tartine, a San Francisco bakery

We were watching TV last night when we noticed the latest iPhone commercial features the phone number to Tartine Bakery & Cafe in San Francisco. The phone number is pasted into a text message by the Apple hand model, a move meant to show that the iPhone finally has copy and paste.

Since we’re from the era of “555,” we thought it was interesting that Apple flashed a real phone number on the screen. Certainly there are plenty of other people  like us who took the time to call the number.

Here’s the commercial and here’s the recorded message you hear when you call Tartine (appropriately recorded on Ginny’s iPhone 3GS):

It’s not the first time Apple has given real businesses a plug in their commercials. We don’t know if the businesses are paying to appear in the spots or not. One San Francisco food blog reports Tartine’s regularly had lines out the door even before the ads appeared on national TV.

Wacky Pringles banner ad proves you shouldn’t always take company communications too seriously

Banner ads don’t have to be boring and neither does your copy.  Pringles recently proved that when it published an award-winning banner ad that keeps people clicking on the ad.

The ad features a chick with a Pringles can stuck on her left hand (no doubt b/c she was trying to get the last of the stack out … will Pringles make a wider can already?!) and a guy proposing to her. The ad proclaims that “Love can be complicated” and the mustached Pringles man in the corner urges you to “click.” That’s where the fun begins.

Once you start clicking on the ad, you’re pulled into an amusing storyline involving your boss, a joke about facebook and even acknowledgments of how crazy it is that you’re continuing to *click* on this seemingly pointless ad. Click here to see the ad in action.

None of these things have any direct correlation to Pringles, but you clicked through to the last screen, didn’t you? Even if you didn’t, I’m guessing you went at least 15-20 clicks deep, all because of the funny, casual copywriting. Which brings me to my next point: Lighten up!

The next time you’re writing copy for a company newsletter, advertisement, blog, manual, etc., consider whether you need to write for the suits in the conference room or if you can loosen your tie and write like how you talk to the IT guy in the break room.

Sometimes you need the jargon to be taken seriously. Sometimes jargon and formality make you seem stuffy and boring. Know your audience and don’t be afraid to write for them. You never know, it might lead your company to be an Internet buzz instead of Pringles.

Beef Jerky Meets Augmented Reality!

A lot of you guys know I have been obsessed with Augmented Reality and learning to code it using the Augmented Reality ToolKit. I have been working in Processing and experimenting with it in Flash.

Today, I stumbled across an incredible application from Jack Links Beef Jerky. That’s right. Beef Jerky! http://www.livingsasquatch.com/ Developed by Brock Davis, one of my favorite artists of the moment,  it makes great use of Augmented Reality and allows users to create short films with the app. If you have access to a printer and a webcam, you’re good to go. Go to the site, print out the footprint and activate your camera thru the Flash app. When your camera detects the shape (the “Hiro” image), the sasquatch comes to life using a series of 3d files performing the actions you select.

What’s the future for Augmented Reality? Have you experimented with it? Is it a useful tool or just another gimmick? How can we use it in our daily lives?

New Chick-fil-A Billboard Misses Chance to Connect

Chick-fil-A has a lock down on cows in marketing. The chicken-only fast food chain started using cows to promote its brand back in 1995, when the company put up a billboard with cows painting the now-famous misspelled phrase: “EAT MOR CHIKIN.” Since then the billboard cows have turned 3-D and they continue to paint a variety of catchy, anti-chicken messages alongside roadways in America.

In North Carolina’s Triangle area, the billboards appear to be updated with some regularity, often changing to reflect different seasons or trends. The latest billboard we spotted is at I-440 and Hillsborough Street in Raleigh, and it may be the most clever yet. The billboard features a real toll-free phone number (1-866-613-COWS) and when you call it you get a light-hearted recording that features ringing phones, mooing cows and this message:

Chick-fil-A Billboard Recording from This Is Beautiful on Vimeo.

“You have reached the bovine chicken chat line, where you can chat with tons and tons of cows about chicken. All our cows are busy. While you’re waiting, why not get to know some of these fuzzy fans of chicken. Hefer 9672 is a twelve hundred pounder from Kentucky who likes long walks in the pastor, watching cars go by from poastor and eathing the pastor. She’s also an aspiring author, writing a book called “The Burgers of Wrath.”

Bull 5541 is a bull from Chicago, with a pierced nose and a nasty temper, but he loves people who eat chikcen and the good folks at Chick-fil-A who make the chicken. Bull 5541’s pet peeves are cow tipping and the color red — espcially when it’s meat.

All our cows are still busy please try calilng the bovine chat line later. The cows thank you for calling and for not eating burgers. This call made possible by Chick-fil-A. You may hang up and grab some chicken now.”

We think it’s cool that Chick-fil-A is trying to find a new way to reach potential customers. We’re sure a lot of curious drivers have dialed the number while cruising down the road (which raises the issue of safety … but we’ll leave that one untouched today), and they probably chuckled like we did when we heard the cute message. But the recording leaves you wanting more.

We wonder why Chick-fil-A didn’t use the recording as a way to generate fun feedback from its customers. Maybe the message could have ended by encouraging callers to leave a message of their own about Chick-fil-A. Sure, they probably would have to sift through a lot of fratboy humor to get to the few good nuggets (wokka, wokka!) that were recorded, but wouldn’t that be fun? Perhaps, Chick-fil-A could have encouraged callers to do their best cow impression and posted the variety of “moos” people recorded while driving down the road.

The toll-free number, while clever, is also a missed opportunity for Chick-fil-A to build its community and receive feedback from its fans. The restaurant already has a huge fan base, otherwise folks wouldn’t dress up like cows for free food or camp out overnight at new restaurant openings to win free Chick-fil-A for a year.

Chick-fil-A had a chance to engage its community. The chain was almost there. They posted a funny message that sticks to its cow-boasting brand. It may have been better, however, if they took it one step further and let its audience have a voice.