When social media gives you comment trolls who feel entitled to open insults (whether deserved or not), you give ‘em the old sense-of-humor one-two. Make them a joke, and who’s ever going to take them seriously? Well played, Delfina.

via | 7×7

via | Makin’ Ads

The grunts that Jimmy Rollins makes when the baseballs slam him in the chest are so FUNNY. Eminently rewatchable.

via | AdWeek

via | Quipsologies

Drawing comparisons to Banksy, the world’s most famous – and anonymous – graffiti artist, Solveig sat for photos and a quick interview with the London Daily Telegraph. The resulting picture gallery is amazing – the only sign this might be a little girl’s work are the markings at the edge of each piece denoting “Sol’s” age when she painted them. Like the best graffiti artists, she’s mastered huge canvasses (if you’ve never tried painting, trust me, bigger is not always better – it’s just harder), and she’s not afraid to use bold colors and tell a story.

Besides her artistic talents, the little girl has a precocious sense of humor – beside a giant rendering of breakfast, featuring the letters S-O-L as eggs, bacon and toast, she scrawled “bite me.” Shocked? She was nine when she made that piece. Nine.

What amazingly supportive parents, to allow their kid to do this. “Hey Mom, can I go spray paint skeletons and zombies and bacon on buildings?” “Well, I don’t see why not dear! Let’s go get you some cans!”

My parents would’ve put the kibbosh on this immediately. They wouldn’t even allow me to go to church with my friends back when I thought that was somehow cool, so… that tells you something about their parenting style.

Also, I’m not quite sure why she’s the female Banksy, unless they just mean she does street art like Banksy… and a million other street artists. Banksy is A) anonymous and B) does politically/socially motivated stuff. This girl is A) putting her name AND age on everything she does and B) does only the most adorable things ever, like snowmen and breakfast.

via | Babble

Thanks, Micah.

Wonder where Kanye found the inspiration for his latest video? This one’s directed by Nabil, but Chairlift’s was masterminded by Ray Tintori. Hmm.

I don’t mind Kanye biting his style though–it’s what he does. He does it well. He brings things to the mainstream that the mainstream probably would never run across were it not for his biting them. Case in point: the “Good Life” video compared to Justice’s video for “DANCE”.

Absolutely freaking stunning.

Thanks, Snooz.

The quality of the Super Bowl XLIII ads was hotly debated in my Intermediate Ad Concepts class, as well with every patient person I’ve had a conversation with since.

My general assessment: bleh. Most of the spots fell under that brand of entertaining-but-irrelevant commercial that’s definitely memorable, right up until you try to remember what it’s for. They’re fun, but all fluff. Shiny, but no substance. Instead of taking the hand of your customers and showing them the way to your uniquely fantastic product, they’re a beautiful place to get lost. A beautiful and jaw-droppingly expensive place.

Says the one, the only Seth Godin:

The lesson of these ads is simple. Putting on a show is expensive, time-consuming and quite fun. And it rarely works.

The Gatorade commercial, or the guy clipping his toenails or someone throwing a rock through a vending machine… it’s all show biz, it’s not marketing.

Marketing is telling a story that sticks, that spreads and that changes the way people act. The story you tell is far more important than the way you tell it. Don’t worry so much about being cool, and worry a lot more about resonating your story with my worldview. If you don’t have a story, then a great show isn’t going to help much.

(And yes, every successful organization has a story, even if they’ve never considered running an ad, during the Super Bowl or anywhere else.)

Tell the story that sticks. It’s a lot harder, but it’s a lot truer. True lasts.

Thanks Larry.

image via | Share Some Candy