New York City Council is on the right track!

I can imagine that New York City officials have to constantly deal with the threat of illegal and invasive outdoor advertising given the fact that NYC is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. And it turns out that the New York City Council is cracking down on illegal outdoor display advertising.

Ahhh...finally a place where logic and financial interests coincide with making the world a better , "intrusive advertising free" place.

Some of the best advertising is done in public spaces but only when it is thoughtfully and usefully done and does not grotesquely intrude on our day to day existences.

Where should the lines be drawn? At what point do city officials have to step into the mix and start to crack down on guerilla or less than guerilla tactics that could border on grafitti or worse? Do some of these tactics work and serve a good purpose or are they just simply intrusive and downright polluting?

Whaddya think?

Dell...Direct Connection...Smart!

Now here's a company being direct...

I am a Dell customer but I have to admit I have not tried this service, mostly because I have not had my machine break down:

http://support.dell.com/support/topics/global.aspx/support/en/
dellconnect?c=us&l=en&s=gen

This is the type of technology, however, that appears to be putting the customer's interests first. I would be interested in hearing reviews of the service and to know how it is working both for Dell and their customers. I did notice that your machine has to be under warranty to qualify for the service (that seems to be a bit of a drawback), but didn't notice any other snags. Do still get hooked up with a technician 10,000 miles away for whom English is a forth language or is the service speedy and quick and efficient?

If I were in the market for a new laptop, this kind of service would definitely sway my purchase decision given the propensity of laptops and other electronic devices to break down.

Kudos to Dell, at least in concept, for developing a technology that puts the individual in control and improves on the user experience. I hope the strategy sells more computers, not so Dell can make more money, but because it is a technology that thinks about the customer's needs first.

(Now hopefully they can get that exploding battery problem under wraps!)

I nice stroll in the grass and what...more advertising!

So this comes in from Ad Age about advertising to golfers via the GPS enabled golf cart screens.

http://adage.com/article?article_id=111168

Let's see, I am out to play a nice leisurely game of golf at my local course...what is it that I want most?...I know, more intrusive advertising. I can't get enough of that in my everyday life so where can I go to get more...yes, of course, the golf course.

If I want to connect to a product, I'll choose to connect to it, otherwise, let me play golf...

Enjoy being outdoors, have a nice walk in the grass and get away from all the noisy advertising...that sounds like the best solution to me. Whaddya think?

Here we go again...!

"Yo, yo, yo here we go again." I think that was a verse from an old Bobby Brown song.

Unfortunately I am not here to write about hit tunes from the past but it does appear that some advertisers are singing the same old tune.

Check out the latest in cutting edge intrusive advertising:
http://adage.com/article?article_id=111183

Steve Hall has something to say about it over at Adrants as well:
http://www.adrants.com/2006/08/grocery-conveyor-
belt-ads-to-cause-insani.php

Not much more needs to be said, let's just keep working on innovative ways to deliver content to the individual that they actually want and eventually these invasive solutions will go the way of the Dodo due to their ineffectiveness.