Do you ever walk by an ad, or a piece of a marketing campaign and think, “Why didn’t I come up with that?” If something makes you take a “double-take”, chances are they did it right.

When it comes to advertising, you basically have anything to work with. From the usual billboards and magazines, to the toothbrush at the dentist office, or the shopping bag you walk out of the store with. There are only about a million ways you can tie your name to something. But it’s the ideas above and beyond that really catch your eye.

Here are a few of my favorite pieces of creative advertising:

So, utilize whatever it takes… your only goal is to grab the user. Think creatively and turn your marketing efforts up a notch!

A few bold and daring members of the lifeBLUE team have decided to embark upon a great adventure…cleansing their bodies! Everyone knows that we, as a nation, are in the middle of a Food Revolution with recent thought provoking movie/books such as Food Inc and Fast Food Nation, and the LB is no different. Five noble team members have embarked upon this valiant quest filled with yummy shakes, delicious fruits and vegetables, and enough pills to choke a majority of small animals. On the first day of the cleanse we have suffered our first casualty (Note to Self: If you refuse to eat vegetables, fruits, brown rice, or drink protein shakes, this might not be a good diet for you). With that being said, the other four are still going strong with the exception that one person hasn’t started yet because they somehow don’t think they will be able to control themselves on an upcoming visit to New Orleans…good call.

How did the LB get started on the cleanse? Well truth be told one of our clients, Watters Creek Chiropractic, located not 500 yards down the road from our office has included overall health and wellness in their list of services as part of their effort to promote a healthy America. They are helping the LB along on their mission providing their expertise making the shakes tasty and likewise coming in to make a few shakes for the team. Thanks WCC!

All in all the 21 Day Cleanse is a good way to promote a different way of eating and likewise force us to commit to a system that doesn’t allow the bad food choices we are faced with each and every day. Hopefully we will be better citizens and web designer/developers when it is all said and done. If we’re not then we will at least decrease the gravitational pull on the earth by being 10% lighter. For more information on the 21 Day Cleanse and Watters Creek Chiropractic, visit their blog.

So I was intrigued by a recent blog I read where a company gave their team a set of questions, to see how varied the answers would be. You can take a team of designers, all having the same “job” and see how their perceptions differ, or take a team of all different positions and see how polar opposite they are. There might even turn out to be some similarities. So I decided that for my own personal good, I’d take our production team, all which play different roles on our team, throw the same set of questions at each of them, and see what comes of it. So here goes, 15 questions to make us stop and ponder…

I would just like to point out that you can tell the difference between the 1 girl in the group answering questions and all the guys doing it. Oh, the fun in working with men.

How would you answer?

2009 was definitely an exciting year in the web world. At least it has been the most exciting since the prominent emergence of Google. 2009 saw the unleashing prominence of two new browsers; IE8 and Google’s Chrome (lucky us, we get more browsers to support!). A new search engine’s attempt take on Google, was tried by Bing. And of course it wouldn’t be a good year if Microsoft didn’t just unload a new operating system, for the sake of washing the Vista taste right out of its mouth. With that being said, lets take a sneak peek at some of the things we might see for 2010. Keep in mind this is just the opinions of a lowly, lowly, lowly web developer who just happens to see it all, all the time. Did I mention lowly?

1. Twitter goes tweet tweet out the door. Thanks Twitters. Its been real, its been fun; but it hasn’t been real fun. To me, Twitter was an online chat room when you have nothing else to do. While it won’t really go away for good, its value added to the social community has been obviously overshadowed by Facebook, which is not going away just in case you were wondering. But I wouldn’t be surprised to see this site go the same way as MySpace. Speaking of Myspace, those poor fellers just don’t know what to do with themselves. Every three months, I log in, only to see something they added that Facebook added 12 months ago. I digress….

2. You guessed it, Facebook gets even bigger. Not much of a prediction really, but you have to admire the possibilities Facebook can offer… not only to social stalkers of the world, but businesses as well. Very few businesses are capitalizing on the opportunities Facebook has to offer. While many are hell bent on just generating fans by giving away a cannoli to the next 100 fans, there is still so much potential to use Facebook as an extension to promotions, advertising campaigns, and many other facets of reaching out to one’s customer base. As these secrets get unveiled and lowly, lowly web developers and marketeers get creative, FB might actually begin to find a way to get profitable.

3. Bing peeters out. I just don’t see Bing being able to complete with Google. The only thing that is going to keep it alive is the fact of who is backing it, but ultimately there just isn’t room for another player.

4. Internet via your TV. Ok, I just had to pick something big that no one else is talking about. This currently exists in small doses through gaming systems, but I am predicting standard couch potatoes of the world will get their daily dose of Y&R with the exact same remote and couch position to browse the Internets, all of which to become quite commonplace before year’s end.

Ok, take this for what its worth and check back with me in 365 days to see if I am right. Mark your calendars…thanks for listening.

Inevitably, as the calendar turns to December and we get closer to closing out another year, our attention turns to one of our favorite pastimes – making lists.

We’ll have the “top athletes of the year,” “the top movies of the year” and even the “top celebrity scandals of the year,” but what about the Internet?

Fortunately, we have a really simple way of measuring what the top “buzz” on the Internet was for 2009 – search engine terms. Each of the top search engines just published their top 10 lists for the Top 10 Searches of 2009. Let’s take a fun look at the lists published in Business Week that might give us a little bit of insight into the modern human being’s head.

Google’s Fastest Rising Search Terms (Global)

1. michael jackson
2. facebook
3. tuenti
4. twitter
5. sanalika
6. new moon
7. lady gaga
8. windows 7
9. dantri.com.vn
10. torpedo gratis

Yahoo’s Top 10 Searches

1. Michael Jackson
2. Twilight
3. WWE
4. Megan Fox
5. Britney Spears
6. Naruto
7. American Idol
8. Kim Kardashian
9. NASCAR
10. RuneScape

Bing’s Top Trending Topics

1. Michael Jackson
2. Twitter
3. Swine Flu
4. Stock Market
5. Farrah Fawcett
6. Patrick Swayze
7. Cash for Clunkers
8. Jon and Kate Gosselin
9. Billy Mays
10. Jaycee Dugard

What are the trends? Well, one thing is obvious – nothing created more of an Internet stir in 2009 than the death of the King of Pop. No person or thing was searched for more than Michael Jackson. In fact, the Internet probably played a fairly unique role in the whole saga as millions of people got the news from either a Facebook post or someone’s Tweet on Twitter.

The next thing that is obvious is that Internet users love celebrities. Just take a look at these names that showed up prominently in all three lists – Lady Gaga, Billy Mays, Patrick Swayze, Farrah Fawcett, and Jon and Kate Gosselin. People love reading about celebrities especially when they die or are involved in something controversial. (This list was published before the Tiger Woods news broke so you can bet he’ll be high on the list as well!)

You can also gauge the hot topics by looking at this list – swine flu, stock market and cash for clunkers all made their way onto a list of the top trending topics for 2009. With the world becoming as “wired in” as it ever has been, it’s not surprising that the same hot topics that frequent the evening news broadcasts and the daily newspapers also top the search engines as well.

It’s always interesting to see what’s on the minds of the average Internet user (other than World of Warcraft and Porn, of course) and these lists give you a pretty good idea of that for this past year.

All of this is to basically say that, hey, our society has become intertwined with the Internet. You can’t separate one from the other any longer. Armed with this knowledge, you might ask, what’s going to be the hot topic for 2010? Bring up your favorite search engine and you just might find out!

As we approach the best time of year, everyone’s getting in the spirit in their own ways. Whether it be decorating the house with Santa’s and snowmen, hanging the mistletoe, dressing the dogs up in ridiculous jingle bell outfits, or putting antlers on the family car, there are so many ways to kick start the holiday season and begin getting into this blissful time of year. But as we add a little fa-la-la-la-la to the house, and spoil the children with candy canes, are we taking everything into consideration when adding that holiday touch to our lives. What about your website? They have feelings too, right?

What better way to dive into the hearts of your users than to give them a warm seasonal welcome when they come to your website. And you don’t have to go into over-kill mode with the green and red, balls of holly, and stockings. Something subtle will do. Tidy up your logo with a fresh holiday look, add a few presents, or simply change out a few images. A little bit of touch up work could go a long way and quickly turn your site into a winter wonderland.

Here are a few companies that have gotten into the spirit and made their websites festive for the holidays.

Let’s start with one of our own. Mom and Popcorn, a lifeBLUE designed website, here in McKinney Texas, went seasonal with a logo makeover and a Santa hat incorporated into their vintage look. These 2 very subtle features really give you a warm holiday welcome.

Even the biggest names in the industry change up their sites. Google and Yahoo are two that are notorious for logo changes.

Even something as simple as changing your main background can give your site a nice touch. Old Navy uses a nice Christmas collage as the background, as well as ornaments for displaying prices. Michaels took the very clean approach by adding snow flakes to the main background, with a touch of green and red accents throughout.

Then there’s always using your favorite seasonal characters as a way to get in the spirit.

And if you still need ideas, simply replace graphics, or add a few holiday images throughout. Some snow, a couple presents, or a Santa hat. No matter what your idea is, just one graphic could change the whole feel of your website.

Do you have any seasonal favorites that come to mind?

Inspired by David Letterman himself, here is a look at the top 10 problems with the internet.

10. Great Scott! If you click the back button enough times you will be transported back to 1955.
9. Google will become self aware in the year 2010. The Apocalypse is near.
8. True Story:  It is possible to eventually run out of Internet.
7. Unfortunately scratch n’ sniff monitors have not yet been invented or…released.  Experts think this technology is being withheld by the military until it is to be declassified in the year 2025 for civilian use.
6. Using IE6 is like driving a Ford Model T.
5. People are stalking your Facebook account just as much as you are stalking them. Likewise your “ex” does look better than you.
4. You cannot build Facebook, YouTube, Myspace, or Google for $199 w/ free hosting.
3. Odds are you will never win that $50 gift card to Chili’s by correctly guessing the picture of Jennifer Aniston in a lineup with Whoopi Goldberg, Rosie O’Donnell, & Barbara Walters.
2. I am still waiting for my $1,234, 467.72 from Bill for forwarding the Microsoft Beta Test Email to 1,131 of my closest friends 12 years ago.
1. Your children know how to find what sites you visit better than you do.

Benefitting from Virtual Development Communities

Are you lonely? Tired of looking for solutions to particular programming issues without having any reliable sources? Sure you’ve got the latest version of “Your-Programming-Language-Here for Dummies”, but manuals and APIs tend to lack substance and examples. For nerds like us it’s like high school prom all over again. Fortunately, there are others like you longing to rid themselves of the indecipherable semantic garble that has bottlenecked open-member solution sources.

Utilizing technical forums and blogs to learn about development questions used to be a painstakingly difficult process that first required hours of intensive searching before even finding relevant posts. Of course, there was always the 50/50 chance of there being no solution, advice, or response at all! Finding a reputable open-discussion source has become easier with time as developers began to realize the necessity for such resources and started integrating more and more functionality into their web-based newsletters and virtual communities. A few examples of such communities are stackOverflow, a free language-independent developer discussion forum, and Experts Exchange, a subscription based discussion forum with extended services and assistance.

These rich communities can be seen as archives of wizardly knowledge, endowing us with otherwise non-existent knowledge and providing tried and tested methodology. These grandfathers of discrete mathematics and algorithmic analysis (with their punch cards and pocket protectors) are met with the modern day programmer in one environment, blending knowledge with youthful ingenuity and energy. It is no wonder that software companies have made such communities a staple to their processes as it provides immediate feedback, user testing, and allows for announcements concerning their products. For the individual user these communities can have limitless potential. Developers are exposed to new technologies, collaborate on ideas with like-minded developers, and collectively contribute to a rich and diverse technology base.

Getting involved in these communities not only provides developers with an additional resource to turn to when confronting programming obstacles, but also extends their capacity to understand other programming styles. While at first this may seem to pose a threat to the unification of programming styles and semantics, it actually has the opposite effect. The need for a concise terminology when dealing with programming and development is critical in being able to discuss and work with others. As people become more involved with these communities they begin to pick up on the lingo frequently used by other users and start integrating it into their own questions and solutions to better describe their problems or answers. In this manner users are not only learning coding solutions but are also adapting more widely used terms and concepts, which, in turn, increases their potential as developers.

For several developers pride and skepticism are grand deterrents to participating in such community-based solution sources. To those who fall under this category I challenge you to really flex your programming muscle by solving the convoluted and complex issues of others (and in return showing off that hubris of yours). One great addition to these emerging discussion forums and blogs is the integration of social-networking components such as instant messaging, friend/relation managers, and (for those prideful people) ranking systems based on your activity and the accuracy of your responses/posts. Personally, my favorite example of such integrated functionality is on the ASP.Net site which provides tutorials, videos, discussion forums, a relation manager, software toolkits, and a reflective ranking system (but then again the .Net framework is my niche).

So whether you are looking for a simple solution to a required introductory programming course, writing your dissertation on Quantum Computing Theory, or just an ASP.Net developer for a small company building web-applications in a flour mill, there is much to learn from these grand archives of information. You never know when you will meet that certain someone that lights up your life…or at least knows one method call that simplifies your program by a couple hundred lines.