Wild Inklings

Radio Firsts

Today in history - On August 28, 1922, historians believe the first paid commercial was distributed via radio. It was an ad for apartment rentals, presented by the Queensboro Corp.

And radio advertising soon became a media staple.

Who among those pioneers would have imagined the deluge of advertising and marketing opportunities - and the amazing variety of media - just 89 years later?

FYI - some audio clips from the great early radio ads.

 

Inspiration

Been reading lately about organizations, big and small, that have appointed chief inspiration officers.

Not a bad idea.

Inspiration officers can perform varied functions. They might publish motivating bulletins or post enthusiastic blogs. Or design team-building programs. Or they might not have formal duties; they might just walk around and praise folks every once in a while. 

Inspiration officers can't hurt. And they might boost employee and business success.

Ben Franklin

 

Ben Franklin's birthday is today. 

This guy was pure energy. 

Among other things, he was a statesman, inventor, optician, printer, scientist, farmer, electrician, politician, writer, philanthropist, business owner, soldier, philosopher, abolitionist, salesman, wide-ranging traveler, educator, librarian, musician, diplomat, unionist, and sailor. 

If there's one person in history I'd like to meet, it would be Ben Franklin. 

But in the absence of meeting him, he's a great inspiration, don't you think? 

Today is also Martin Luther King Jr's birthday. Wonder what a meeting of those two minds would have been like.

The Marketing Value of Trivia

As I was reading the other day about Eastman Kodak Co.'s current problems, I remember the stories and ads from years ago about people who just "pressed the button" and let their Kodak cameras do the rest.

And I remember the story about the Xerox Co. engineers who designed the mouse and then figured that computer users would never use it. So they discarded it. I remember that Bill Gates picked up on the idea, but I also remember Xerox.

And I was eating some Planters peanuts the other day. And I remembered that the peanut design on all the Planters products was created by a kid from Virginia about 100 years ago.

All those trivial facts. Maybe every business, large or small, needs a "trivia inventory" - a collection of trivia, stories and imagery that can help prospective buyers remember ...

Kodachrome Bites the Dust

Kodachrome is history. Eastman Kodak Co. stopped manufacturing the chemicals needed to process Kodachrome film the last business day of 2010.

I remember Kodachrome back in the days of film. Super-rich color on slides. Have a lot of slide shots made from that film. And Tri-X 400, great for sharp black-and-white shots. And Gold200, and the film that preceded Gold (can't remember the name offhand). All Kodak film. Upstate NY was and is Kodak country, and Kodak film was all you ever used.

Not that I want to go back. Picture-taking was brutally expensive - the cost of film and processing, and then if you got a really good shot, you'd have to either pay for cropping or develop it yourself (which was only practical for black-and-white shots, and even then it took time and money).

Digital opened up a whole new world of photography, and made experimentation and trial and error, more accessible. And the editing software sure beats the darkroom most of the time. I haven't used film in four or five years.

But I wonder sometimes if a particular digital shot might have been sharper or stronger with film. 

With Kodachrome gone, there's one less way to find out.

 

A Few Media Links to Check Out

If you have a few minutes, check out these interesting media links ...

11 Most Painfully Obvious Media Stories Ever

The Best Ads of Late 2009

Roster of Great Journalism Blogs and Sites

Some Great Stories and Pics from 2009

At the end of each year The Boston Globe publishes an amazing series of news photographs from the past twelve months.

Here's the series from 2009:

Boston Globe's Year in Pictures, Part 1

Boston Globe's Year in Pictures, Part 2

Boston Globe's Year in Pictures, Part 3

And from Oddee, the oddest stories of 2009.

Oddest Stories of 2009

And how about AdFreak's freakiest commercials of 2009?

Freakiest Commercials of 2009

And last but not least, how about Crunks' top media errors of the year?

Top Media Errors of 2009

May 2010 be filled with as much unique and picturesque content as 2009!

Craig's List - Home to Some Bizarre Ads

Strange ads are all over the place, and Craig's list is home to many of them. Check them out ...

THE 20 MOST BIZARRE CRAIG'S LIST ADS OF ALL TIME

Unforseen Messages

Sometimes ads just don't turn out their intended messages.

Check out more ads with unforeseen messages ... and a few laughs.

A Few Words on a Sign ...

Words on a sign can inform ... warn ... inspire ... or provoke a few laughs.

Want a few more laughs?  Check out these Chuckle-Boosting Signs.