jwatkins.com

m.jwatkins.com

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 05:10:00 +0000

I finally threw together a mobile page for my site. It isn't much, but I'm just getting my feet wet. Everyone says the mobile web is the next big wave (and I agree) but it is funny that all the mobile websites look like they were built in 1997.

If you have spare moment, check it out on your phone and compare it to the browser version.

m.jwatkins.com

Liquid Love

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 20:33:00 +0000

Liquid 9's Valentine greeting. And although I'm not a Star Wars fan, I can definitely appreciate Chewie and the Plaza's R2D2 mailbox.

OpenID

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 19:16:00 +0000

I've read about OpenID before, but its becoming increasingly attractive to me. Managing and remembering all of your online identities is a real chore. I have my own method, but OpenID could potentially replace all of that.

openid.net/
wikipedia.org/wiki/Openid

Half Of All Clicks On Display Ads Are Worthless

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 22:21:00 +0000

Interesting article concerning banner ads on TechCrunch today. Not very reassuring to a guy who spends a lot of time concepting, designing, and producing banner ads. Of course, I've always been suspect of the effectiveness. I've clicked on 3 banner ads in my lifetime. One was an accident, the other two were banners posted by the site I was already on.

Toner Huffer

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 22:16:00 +0000

With our traffic steadily increasing, we thought it was only appropriate to redesign our viral video blog. Check it!.

Giving birth to great advertising.

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 22:12:00 +0000

Joey the Midwife has set the bar pretty high for other ad agencies and aspiring creatives. Dig around the site to discover the genius within!

NotchUp is Insane

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 16:30:00 +0000

I just received an invitation from a co-worker to join ,NotchUp. The concept is crazy. You calculate the value of your interview price, then if a company finds you through this service, they pay you that amount to interview you.

This is wrong on so many levels.

Copy Goes Here

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 19:03:00 +0000

Great short film by Coudal Partners out of Chicago. Sponsored by Veer.

New Year's Resolution Brainstorm

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 21:22:00 +0000

This is how I spent the work days between Christmas and New Year's.
MMG's New Year's Resolution Brainstorm

My agency, MMG Worldwide, decided to mix it up this year and send a New Year greeting rather than a Christmas/Holiday one like everyone else. I'm particularly proud of the finished product just b/c I came up with the concept, wrote copy, and executed it all within 2 days just in time for the New Year.

Christmas Greetings

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 16:53:00 +0000

It's that time of year again. Time to see the creative Holiday Greetings from local agencies and major brands. Here are a few I've seen so far, and I promise more are on their way:

Salva O'Renick - Dancetime
Producing this was probably a blast. A company that dances together, stays together.

KOKO Productions - Excuses
This is just a great way to show off their services simultaneously.

Barkley - Bad Gift Emporium
Funny and completely over the top. Its easy to see the time and production value put into this site.

VML - Hand Bell Hero
Another great idea and execution. Although I gave up pretty quickly, b/c its more than a little difficult to keep up.

Office Max - Elf Yourself
I had to show this one b/c I've received it half a dozen times already. They also did a Scrooge Yourself as well.

WorkTank - Holiday-O-Matic
Anything listing flying ninjas is worth a mention.

AKQA - Live Stream
Ryan sent this one to me. Apparently its a live stream of some talented gerbils, but they weren't performing when I checked in. How disappointing.

Whopper Freakout

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 18:39:00 +0000

Really nice viral campaign for Burger King.

Blockbuster Christmas

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 17:31:00 +0000

Once I realized the dialog was references to famous movies, I was sold.

BannerBlog

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 17:19:00 +0000

And if you're needing inspiration for banner ideas, head over to BannerBlog for gems like this popular Mac ad.

Firebrand.com

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 17:13:00 +0000

If you're having trouble dreaming up a new TV spot or just enjoy watching commercials, you might check out the newly launched Firebrand.com - The Best Television Commericals on TV, Web, and Mobile.

How fast can you type?

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 19:26:00 +0000

Listening to the radio a few nights ago, I heard an ad talking about applicants for a customer service position must be able to type 30 words per minute. That brought back memories of keyboarding class with Mrs Walker in High School. So I challenged a few co-workers to a Type-Off using this online application.

I took the title the first day by a wide margin with 104 wpm. However, my reign didn't last long. Bethany, a new copywriter, rose to the occasion with a blazing 105 wpm. Respect.

Agency Interiors

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 14:55:00 +0000

Ryan fwd'd this link today of ad agency interiors. Didn't see any KC agencies on there... yet.

Yewknee's Great Logo Inquiry

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 21:55:00 +0000

Interesting post, especially since I'm in the process of designing a freelance logo.

As for me: 13 on me. 6 in my wallet. Which is odd, most everyone commenting had way more in their wallet.

Thanks Apple

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 17:16:00 +0000

I can't get this little video out of my head.

CMS love

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 15:03:00 +0000

Jon and I were discussing CMS tools earlier this week. And I'd like to find a new CMS to use next time I do a freelance site. Jon recommended ExpressionsEngine, sNews, TextPattern, and MODx. While Irish over at Salva O'Renick mentioned Symphony. Poking around last night I found a new resource for open source CMS tools and discovered a few other lightweight applications including Radiant CMS, and CMS Made Simple. Of course if these aren't as easy and user-friendly as Wordpress, I may just stick with it a little longer.

Online is killing the radio star

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 20:11:00 +0000

Looks like online ad spending is expected to surpass radio ad spending by year's end.

Gorilla Cadbury Ad

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 14:11:00 +0000

YouTube link from Ryan.

Real-time traffic

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 22:01:00 +0000

A couple weeks ago I checked out the new traffic feature in Google Earth. It was pretty accurate too. I could follow I-70 from downtown to Blue Springs and the average speed the whole way. I'd really like to see a widget that allowed me to select one of these data points, so I'd know how traffic was moving before I left the office. I'm sure someone will come up with one soon.

Some good news...

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Thu, 30 Aug 2007 21:58:00 +0000

I sent this out last week, but thought I'd post it here as well.

Die Speech Bubble Logo, Die.

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:07:00 +0000

I've noticed this trend over the past year. Designers are Speech-Bubble-Crazy when designing logos. I see them everywhere, including the Commerce Bank billboard and the Taco Bueno on my drive home.

Overhauling Belterra

noreply@blogger.com (Justin) — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:17:00 +0000

I'm in Indiana today visiting with the Belterra Casino marketing staff in regards to their upcoming site redesign. Yesterday we flew to Louisville, drove to Indiana, ate at Jeff Ruby's then drove up to Cincinnati looking for Pachinko's which we didn't find.