Did anyone notice something peculiar on page 9 of the April 9, 2007, issue of Advertising Age?

On page 9 is a full page advertisement for Advertising Age’s “The Green Conference,” created to promote eco-sensitive marketing practices.

The message is somewhat obfuscated, though, by the media attached to it. There - in the middle of the page is a tipped in piece of paid advertising - a large and thick piece of lenticular plastic. Probably not eco-sensitive.

The promotion has nothing to do with the conference or vice-versa, as far as I can tell. Nonetheless, such an unfortunate juxtaposition can’t be a good thing for Advertising Age or its paid-advertising client. Definitely not marketing-savvy.

It’s all, most likely, an unfortunate accident. Yet, it serves to provoke some thought on how Green Trumps Green. In this example, Advertising Age jumps on the current, cyclical wave of eco-friendly orientation, while it still gladly accepts dollars from advertisers whose offering may be otherwise.

Did anyone notice something peculiar on page 9 of the April 9, 2007, issue of Advertising Age?

On page 9 is a full page advertisement for Advertising Age’s “The Green Conference,” created to promote eco-sensitive marketing practices.

The message is somewhat obfuscated, though, by the media attached to it. There - in the middle of the page is a tipped in piece of paid advertising - a large and thick piece of lenticular plastic. Probably not eco-sensitive.

The promotion has nothing to do with the conference or vice-versa, as far as I can tell. Nonetheless, such an unfortunate juxtaposition can’t be a good thing for Advertising Age or its paid-advertising client. Definitely not marketing-savvy.

It’s all, most likely, an unfortunate accident. Yet, it serves to provoke some thought on how Green Trumps Green. In this example, Advertising Age jumps on the current, cyclical wave of eco-friendly orientation, while it still gladly accepts dollars from advertisers whose offering may be otherwise.

Did anyone notice something peculiar on page 9 of the April 9, 2007, issue of Advertising Age?

On page 9 is a full page advertisement for Advertising Age's "The Green Conference," created to promote eco-sensitive marketing practices.

The message is somewhat obfuscated, though, by the media attached to it. There - in the middle of the page is a tipped in piece of paid advertising - a large and thick piece of lenticular plastic. Probably not eco-sensitive.

The promotion has nothing to do with the conference or vice-versa, as far as I can tell. Nonetheless, such an unfortunate juxtaposition can't be a good thing for Advertising Age or its paid-advertising client. Definitely not marketing-savvy.

It's all, most likely, an unfortunate accident. Yet, it serves to provoke some thought on how Green Trumps Green. In this example, Advertising Age jumps on the current, cyclical wave of eco-friendly orientation, while it still gladly accepts dollars from advertisers whose offering may be otherwise.

How to get a bike pump always at hand without attaching it to the bike? Dumb question, isn’t it? Just put one in your bag, will you answer. Okay, but how do you do if you want to carry a bag, if your bag is too small or that your pump is just too big? Ah.

British designer Philip Robinson proposes another way to solve the case: Hide it in the bike itself.

Its BioLogic ZorinPump is a combination of a seat-post and a floor-pump, hiding the pump mechanism inside the seat-post without adding extra weight to the bike. When you want to pump your tires up, just detach the seat and use it as the outer wall of the pump. (A variant use would be to sit on your pump; your tires would take a bit longer to get in shape, but at least, you don’t sweat.)

You’ll get a chance to find Robinson’s ZorinPump. He managed to get it manufactured by Dahon, a bicycle and cycling equipment maker, and the pump is currently on sale in nearly 30 countries.

Concrete
Some great publication and typography from Canadian firm Concrete.

Ron Sluik
Some interesting photography from Dutchman Ron Sluik.

Stylo
Nice set of work and ultra sexy site from Stylo in London.

Desorg
Graphic design blog from Chile. Nice!

Dan Zoubek
Nice fashion photography from Dan Zoubek.

Yuxt
Yuxt (YouTube clone?) collection of showreels.

Kate Moss Topshop
Kate Moss does Topshop. Intriguing.

CS3 Styled Icon Replacements
Make your whole Mac desktop look like the horribly confusing new CS3 suite icons.

Zenvironments
Stunning work from illustrator/designer Zach Johnsen.

BB/Saunders
New hot motion goodies from BB/Saunders.

Bryce Wymer
Some really fantastic illustration from Bryce Wymer.

Anthony Hurd
Diverse set of work and great style from Anthony Hurd.

Alex King
Devoted Wordpress developer with some great plugins!

Carol Brown
Some nice fashion shots from photographer Carol Brown.

Lately I’ve found myself having the following “discussion” (I prefer “heated debate” myself) regarding ‘Web 2.0’, usually with someone who has consumed a certain amount of Web 2.0 Kool-aid:

cultist: “I want to make sure we have enough Web 2.0 features in our application.”

me: “‘Web 2.0’ is just a term, and doesn’t signify anything important in and of itself. Sure, it’s a way of easily defining things like improved usability, user-centric design, friendly applications, and other tangible concepts that developers and designers can and should take to heart, but it only refers to those practices because we’ve decided it should, as a community.”

cultist: “But ‘Web 2.0’ is such a simple way of saying all those things! It makes it much easier for people to understand what they should be doing!”

me: “Just like ‘AJAX’ makes it easier for people to lump ‘superfluous JavaScript visual effects’ under the same terminology as ‘communicating with the server without a reload’? ‘AJAX’ is not synonymous with ‘animation’, people! It’s important to know the difference as web developers and designers; it’s up to us to be the responsible party.”

cultist: “But people don’t understand those things if there isn’t a simple term to describe them!”

me: “Then perhaps they shouldn’t be using something they don’t understand.”

Ask Germans what they think of beer in can, they’ll answer you it’s lame. Glass bottles are much better for the aroma, plus they could be recycled easier than white tin and paper brick. Remains this problem: glass bottles are harder to store.

Hopefully, the problem has its solution. Bottle Cycler issued a bottle crusher machine which, according to the Australian company, reduces the disposable volume of your empty bottles by 80% (enough to store some 200 wine bottles). The machine is intended to equip bars and night clubs, doesn’t make noise while turning bottles small glass debris.

The idea is smart, although we wish Bottle Cycler could even more be greener by issuing an all mechanical power version of the machine for instance. But depending on your situation, you could just use a solar panel to power the bottle crusher. (via playgreen)