With the new “MY ASICS” training app, runners can log workout times, post motivational content to Facebook, and create a comprehensive exercise diary. There are digital timelines and unlockable articles, videos, pictures, and all this is great for athletes who are in need of a capable app. However, in 2013, this type of technology isn’t new. Although the design may be slicker than similar apps, “MY ASICS” could struggle to have an impact in a field where RunKeeper and MapMyRun have already been go-to social exercise platforms for the past few years.

The app is the latest addition to the “Journey of Improvement” campaign, and if it catches on, you’ll be able to scroll through your newsfeed and ridicule all the people sharing their running times and making you hate yourself for watching The Big Bang Theory instead of improving your cardiovascular health. Maybe, just maybe, it will force you to go for a jog and buy ASICS sneakers. Then, you can continue the cycle by downloading the app and posting your own workouts to Facebook. Then someone else can secretly despise you and start jogging. People helping people, it’s a beautiful thing.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

In case you missed it here in Austin this weekend, you may have caught SS+K’s unveiling of its new Vine search tool, dubbed “SX6S,” which lets you plug into all #sxsw tagged Vines from Twitter during the festivities and for specific #sxsw related vines via hashtag. Yes, barbecque lovers need not waste time with other silly apps when this one will fill you in. If you have a minute, watch the teaser above and look for the New York-based SS+K’s full highlight reel after the event closes.

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SS+K alum Joe Sayaman (remember him?) and Peter Cortez, the creators of Citydoping NYC, a new tour guide app, want to help “visitors feel like a local” when they come to New York for a few days. The app was built for advertisers who want to fill in the spaces between conferences and meetings with a trip to a cool restaurant or bar that is presumably off the beaten path. New York has many beaten paths, but the content comes from Manhattaners and Brooklynites who must know low-key venues that are awesome and hidden, because, well, they’re from Manhattan and Brooklyn.

The app seems useful for out-of-towners who want to be towners for a couple of days. And we can empathize with people who want to avoid 90-minute waits at overpriced eateries and/or hate walking behind those people taking pictures and clogging up the sidewalks. However, there is a faulty logic to Citydoping worth pointing out: the goal is to direct tourists to unknown gems in NYC, but if enough people buy the app (for $2.99), then those spots will become just as crowded as the original attractions the creators were avoiding in the first place. Just something to think about.

The promotional video above has the slick production of an Apple commercial, but no Jeff Daniels. Even so, you should watch it and/or just go straight to the App Store.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

And let’s start the ball rolling once again with new monthly contributor, Simon Mathews, currently chief strategy officer at West Coast shop, Extractable, and who’ s also worked at the likes of Isobar as well as Molecular on the strategy side during his career. We think the headline explains it all, but not so sure if he’s striking a Zoolander or Hansel pose in this one. 

The pitch was going well. The large team of potential clients, spread two deep around their boardroom table, were engaged and clearly expressing their business needs. I was heading towards the climax of my section on our agency’s strategic approach. I ended my last slide with the crescendo of, “We build data-driven digital experiences,” ready to hand over to our Creative Director.

Scanning the room, a few people looked a little quizzical. The client’s web manager speaks up, “We are thinking of implementing a mobile-first strategy. What do you think?”

Of course, I knew what they meant by ‘mobile first’. They meant that their current mobile experience was poor, and that they think mobile is important to their future. However, from our analysis their desktop, social and mobile were all poor experiences and there was an opportunity to dramatically improve the experience, and outcomes, for their users across any device.

My inner dialog kicked in. The following is what I probably should have shared out loud, but as they say, discretion is the better part of valor.

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As is the n0rm, Huge marketing strategist lead Josh Seifert returns with his monthly submission, this time veering from politics to the much-publicized death of News Corp’s iPad-only trade, The Daily. Here, Seifert offers more of a lesson for marketers instead of a lament, but why put words in his mouth. Take it away, sir.

What’s left to say about The Daily? As everyone knows by now, News Corp. announced plans to shut down its iPad newspaper this week. While media coverage has included speculation about causes like debatable editorial quality and residual fallout from the News Corp. phone-hacking scandal in the U.K., to me the failure is a salutary example of what happens when a company employs technology for technology’s sake. While The Daily may have been an admirable attempt by News Corp. execs to skate to where the puck is going, just because mobile phones and tablet devices are being rapidly adopted by consumers does not mean consumers were ever ready to use them as a replacement for Murdoch newsprint.

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We  realize our Movember coverage has been a bit sparse this year as compared to last, so we’ll try to play catch up and help support the annual male cancer awareness cause by mentioning an effort called “Which Mo?” It comes to courtesy of Toronto digital agency, adPioneers, which wanted to amplify its Movember activities by creating an iPad app that the folks behind the cause could use at their various galas to better interact with and learn more about the attendees.

Anyhow, the app has now landed online and visitors to the Which Mo? site  can find out their Mo-dentities by answering a few questions. No joke, the above image shows you our results (though we knew that all along) and we’ve discovered that we’ve got a kindred spirit in Freddie Mercury. Rock on. Sure, we’re halfway through November, but it wouldn’t hurt to give a half-assed effort for a good cause, now would it lads?

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

72andSunny’s marketing blitz for Samsung continues with this new spot for the Galaxy Note II starring none other than LeBron James (whose other, more charitable ad for Samsung was launched simultaneously). We admit we were intrigued ever since we first caught this 90-second clip at the beginning of the NBA season opener featuring James’s Miami Heat versus their hated rival, the Boston Celtics. Directed by Anonymous Content’s Mark Romanek (the man who’s also behind some of our fave music videos as well as One Hour Photo), the Samsung spot is presented as if we’re following the three-time MVP on his first day back on the job in the NBA (it was actually shot a week before Tuesday’s opener).

From morning family time, complete with cereal, to his trip to the barbershop to the championship ring ceremony at American Airlines arena, we get a gist of what James may have actually gone through on game day (or maybe not). We have to say, though, the Galaxy Note II’s stylus arguably steals the show. Credits after the jump.

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In case you were wondering what the latest word is with Mauro Cavalletti, the former Mullen chief digital officer and current JWT Brazil chief integration officer, the exec has filled us in on some interesting work for Coca-Cola.  Specifically, Cavalletti and crew at Group JWT, which includes JWT’s Sao Paulo branch and local units Casa and iCherry, have launched a new print effort to hype Coke’s online radio platform Coca-Cola FM on their home turf. With the FM platform turning a year-old, Group JWT decided to turn the cover of Brazilian teen magazine Capricho into a loudspeaker for the iPhone.  We knew the numerous covers of the Twilight cast and other teeny-bop faves served a better purpose. Check out some of the print images after the jump, which may also explain things, along with Portuguese-infused credits you can pretty much figure out after the jump.

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And now, we get a developer’s perspective on Apple’s latest product, hopefully broken down in simplistic terms for the masses. Olli Siebelt, head of client solutions at Culver City, CA-based digital prodco The Famous Group, offers his initial thoughts on the iPhone 5. Is your wait in line worth it? Let’s take a look.

Here’s a quick-reaction overview on what the new Apple iPhone 5 and iOS6 inclusion means to developers, marketers and ad people:

•    The new A6 processor makes the iPhone 5 twice as fast as the 4S and creates a much more powerful gaming machine in both processing and graphics rendering.  As we’ve seen in previous updates, the jump to IOS6 will keep consumers wanting more.  Will it be compatible with the 4 and 4S?  Yes.  But users on the older handsets won’t be able to play with new toys such as Maps flyover, 3G-enabled FaceTime and turn-by-turn navigation as the older processors won’t be able to handle it.

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Seeing as T3 handles social media, app dev, online, and mobile marketing efforts for Windows Phone, it makes sense that the Austin-based agency is all revved up for today’s great unveiling of Nokia’s Windows Phone 8-powered Lumia 820 and 920 smartphones. To herald the launch, T3 has created a social aggregator highlighting the latest news surrounding today’s events, though reports are already coming in that Nokia shares have fallen following the unveiling. Sorry, we’ll avoid playing Debbie Downer any further, but you can check out the Windows Phone Hub here (screen grab below), which we’ve been told was set up to “to rally Twitter followers to spread the word” about the 820 and 920. We’ll leave that up to you.

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If you like European football and/or steel drum renditions of Joy Division’s 1980 hit “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” then treat yo’self this Friday morning to the above video from Mother London.

To celebrate the kick-off (pun very intended) of Euro 2012, Mother and British style magazine The Rig Out joined forces to create Paszport!, a one-off fanzine in the style of such famed publications as The End and Boys Own. If you’ve heard of either of those two magazines and are not from Europe, congratulations on earning +3 hipster gold!

The above video, which we assume has plenty to do with Beck’s judging how many times the bottles are shown on camera, captures the release party of Paszport! as a slew of stylish individuals praise the zine’s writing and dedication to football tradition. Yes, blogs do indeed lack the tangible nature that fanzines have, and we’re working on creating one called Ajenseespi!, which you will soon be able to pick at your local agency under a pile of unread issues of Adweek.

So, will it be Spain or Italy who will emerge victorious from Euro 2012? Buy your copy of Paszport! here, and leave your pick for the new ruler of all Europe in the comments section. And if you want to talk NFL or the new BCS playoff system instead, we won’t fault you for it.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Okay, so it isn’t the greatest video you’ve ever seen, but a successful Kickstarter campaign doesn’t require a flashy video to go along with it, right? (Wrong.)

Well, if you couldn’t make it through the full 56 seconds, we’ll give you a breakdown. Roger Wehbe, best known as the founder of Tribble Advertising Agency News and President of Yooter InterActive Marketing, has taken to Kickstarter to raise funds for his new project, “GPS Powered Real life iPhone / Android bombing video game.” No, it’s not a very catchy title, but taking into account how much Wehbe evangelizes about the importance of SEO and SEM on Tribble, we assume he has some reason for it. Basically, the app/game would allow mobile users to set digital bombs for each other using GPS coordinates, and reward points for successful bombings/diffusings. He’s even built an interactive prototype that depicts how the game would work here (and image below).

Why should you care about Wehbe’s worrisome obsession with bombing innocent people? According to a post on Tribble, his idea fulfills exactly what Facebook needs to succeed. By his math, “GPS + Game + Mobile = advertising dollars.” He elaborates by saying the majority of his early investors are advertising industry denizens who see the potential in “the concept of being able to tell Dunkin Donuts that they have 27 potential customers at this exact moment are within 800 feet of their location at 1st and Main Street.” In other words, its like reverse Foursquare, but with bombs. Currently, Wehbe’s raised only $44 of his $5000 goal he needs to hit by July 5. So, if you’re an advertiser who thinks what Wehbe thinks you think, think about donating to his Kickstarter campaign here.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Sure, it’s got a name that can be easily confused with bands young and old, but Urban Airship is actually a three-year-old mobile tech company that’s joined forces with fellow Portland-based operation Wieden + Kennedy to define what the hell a “good push” is. From what we gather, there’s good and bad mobile engagement that could be created via push notifications including social push, news alerts, geo-based, or traffic/weather events.

Well, W+K and Urban Airship, the latter of which was actually developed in the former’s Portland Incubator Experiment (why are we itching to watch the Prometheus trailer again?) and has now evolved into an agency client/partner, aim to illustrate what positive push entails. How else? Animation, of course, and the parties involved regale us with “Tales of Good Push” via a handful of clips featuring a variety of cartoon characters who, without the help of narration, can perhaps better explain the whole message here.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Those of you ad folks who’ve been playing in the Twitterverse for the last few years have probably grown familiar with Midwest creative director/writer Jason Fox, or perhaps more so with his Twitter alter ego, @leeclowsbeard. Well, Fox, who has been tweeting out pearls of wisdom under the guise of said TBWA legend’s famous facial hair since 2009, has grown popular enough (25,000+ followers and counting) to merit bitter knockoffs and most significantly, both a book and an app. The title? You guessed it, @leeclowsbeard, which will hit bookshelves on June 12.

To promote the app and book, which you can pre-order here, Mr. Fox offers a slideshow that gives you the history of his Twitter effort. We’ve been told that Lee Clow himself flew Fox out to meet in person before deciding to go ahead and publish the title under the banner of TBWA\Chiat\Day LA’s content innovation studio, Let There Be Dragons.

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Expectant parents, rejoice! You can get sarcastic, pop-culture laden quips from your baby before its born with “Wee Mail,” a new mobile app from Charlotte, NC-based BooneOakley and developer Limbua.

Now, if there’s anything a pregnant woman want to help her ease into pregnancy, it’s daily mobile updates from the tiny human growing inside her. And, Wee Mail’s nearly 300 one-liners aren’t limited to such zingers as “I’m always naked and demand a lot of attention. You sure I’m not a Kardashian?” for girls and “I have to admit, most days I feel like a man trapped in a woman’s body” for boys. In fact, by setting the baby’s due date, the baby will send you Wee Mail about growing various extremities, organs, and appendages as it prepares to burst forth into a world where people create iPhone apps likes this. Well, at least you no longer have to worry about going into labor unexpectedly, right?

Wee Mail is currently available as a free download from the iTunes app store (where it already has two glowing reviews), with themed add-on packages expected to be available soon for $.99 each. A marketing campaign for the app is currently being targeted toward mommy bloggers, baby photographers and parenting magazines. Credits after the jump.

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