Can You Guess The Famous Fonts?

On of the reasons I started blogging was because some of the feedback I wrote for the Marketing Today podcast gave me some great ideas for posts. My second ever post, and a post that was shortlisted for the 2008 Moggies, was all about how recognisable famous logos are once they are dumbed down to their basic shapes and colours. The post provided a spreadsheet that presented a whole lot of dumbed down logos and readers had to try and figure them out (as per the example on the right).

If you haven’t seen it then check out the original dumbed down logos here >>

I have wanted to write a second version of the spreadsheet ever since but it is hard work finding the right types of logos and since I have been looking it is amazing how many logos are just text and colour – but still instantly recognisable.

So I decided, that instead of logos, it would be easier to create a spreadsheet of famous fonts from brands, movies, TV shows etc. Click on the famous font below to download the spreadsheet and see how good you are at recognising the famous fonts.

Make sure you use the poll on the left of the screen and let me know how many you got correct. If you are struggling with any then let me know and I’ll give you some clues …

Big thanks to Jules Mann at http://www.soulmann.com for showing me a trick for hosting files and hosting the original dumbed down logos file.

Why Must We Obey Social Media Rules?

Over the last few weeks we have seen some campaigns and actions in the social media space that have pushed the boundaries. You would have to be living under a rock to have missed the whole Witchery and QLD Tourism sagas. Both of these pushed (or broke the boundaries) in terms of what some of us argue are the rules of social media.

Additionally, Julian Cole and Laurel Papworth have both provided some other examples of individuals (not companies) that have pushed the boundaries of social media.

Julian recently wrote about how "Cash for comment is alright in Social Media" and that there is currently a trend amongst Youtube Vloggers (US) that transparency is not a rule of social media. Laurel recently wrote about "Twitter: Bots gone bad" and interruptive ads on Twitter.

Peter Wagstaff, Zac Martin and I also briefly touched on this subject in episode 84 of the Marketing Today Podcast where I wondered whether in the future, brands will set up Twitter profiles and quickly harvest loads of followers with the aim of spamming them. So what if people block them? They can easily set up loads more profiles and repeat the process (especially when people auto-follow).

The argument of "brand reputation" may stand up in regards to large and reputable companies but these are not necessarily the ones who spam anyway. The risk of brand damage certainly doesn't stop us getting spam in our inboxes.

In Lauren's case, she received an apology. But what I am starting to see is a lot more examples of companies breaking the so-called rules and I am not so sure the consequences are all that much of a deterramt. For example, it can go one of three ways.

1. A company breaks the so-called rules and then pleads ignorance but still benefits (QLD Tourism),

2. A company breaks the so-called rules and benefits (Withchery, Vloggers), or

3. A company breaks the so-called rules, gets caught, and just says "sorry" and everyone gets on with it but they still benefit (@wibbler).

I posed the question on Julian's blog that "For a while some of us have been noting that the rules of social media are being defined by those that practice it (by that I mean active bloggers, twitter users etc) in the hope of keeping the corporate/brands from “polluting it” … but maybe the cracks are starting to appear?"

You will note that each of the 3 scenarios still results in a benefit being received by the company/person breaking the so-called rules. So my question is - why would they bother taking much notice of the so-called rules? Can we build stronger defences or should we resign ourselves to these new channels being polluted just like TV, Radio and Newspaper?

Is Television Actually Killing Itself?

I see lots of proclamations that traditional media is dying with dwindling viewers/listeners/readers and that traditional advertising doesn't work. I am not sure if this is true or not but cannot see in the foreseeable future that radio/tv/newspapers will fall over all together.

However, it occurred to me, that in the case of television, that maybe it is the TV stations who are to blame for the spruiked decline. And maybe this is linked to reality TV.

I think TV stations are lazy and are too happy to trundle out some shitty reality TV shows. In turn, I think the viewers are bored of the same concepts and if others are anything like me then they don't know which show they are watching because half of them look the bloody same! So I don't bother watching TV as much.

Here is an example - Bondi Vet. You won't check it out but if you want to click here. WTF! Who cares? This show sounds so boring that it will be lucky to make it into a 2nd season. Is it really that different from other animal shows such as RSPCA Rescue or Animal Hospital (I think that is what they are called :)

Hey TV execs ... no wonder people turn off and advertisers are jumping ship. Wake up to yourselves! Create some good shows and people will watch them. If a restaurant serves shitty food do expect that the customers will return? Of course not. So stop serving up shitty shows. It is not a hard concept. If you can't grasp that concept then maybe you should check out this link.

However, as more and more advertisers jump ship, then does the space left, which is occupied by less advertisers, actually become an easier space to advertise in? Will advertisers get better returns because there is less clutter?

Ok, that's enough of a rant. Here a a few things to round off with ...

MARKETING TODAY PODCAST

Wags has asked me to provide some regular content to the podcast. It was born from a suggestion that he incorporate a social media moron award into the podcast. He suggested back that I should do it myself! So I will and am about to record my first segment after I finish reading this blog. I will be talking about a bloke doing 200kmh on his motorbike and David Armano's recent efforts. Be sure to check out the Marketing Today podcast here ... not because I will be on it but because Wags and the gang do an outstanding job.

CANBERRA SOCIAL MEDIA BREAKFAST

I got in contact with Stephen Collins of acidlabs to instigate a Canberra Social Media Breakfast (ala Friday coffees in Sydney and Melbourne). If you are in Canberra, or know of anyone who is, and would be interested then we will be starting this Friday at Cream in Civic. Check out the event here.