Does this sound familiar? You want to get in shape and start training, so you sign up at the gym only to find yourself never getting around to going. To justify your laziness you come up with all sorts of excuses - you feel tired, you’re too busy, you feel out of place, you can’t [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "No excuse for not working out", url: "http://www.ginocosme.com/no-excuse-for-not-working-out/" });

Two gay rights ads promoting Singapore’s Pink Dot day this Saturday have surfaced on the Web, and they’re moving, eye opening and worth sharing. You don’t have to be gay to appreciate this, and in a country (South Africa) where gay marriage is legal (albeit in my opinion still not widely accepted) we often forget that other countries don’t have it so lucky!
Hopefully this excellent campaign goes a long way to attract awareness and positive change not only in Singapore, where sex between two men carries a two-year jail sentence, but also across the globe where narrow-mindedness sadly still prevails amongst society.

Via
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There are so many social networking sites out there. MySpace, Bebo, Facebook, Xing, Twitter, LinkedIn, Second Life, Friendster, Digg - in fact, there are thousands of social networking sites on the Internet. And while each can serve its own purpose, I think too many people have spread their personal and business brands too thin, and as a result find it too exhausting and too time consuming to manage all of their social networking profiles in a meaningful manner while at the same time living a “normal” life.
As an online consultant specialising in social media strategy, I obviously get and advocate the strategic use of social networking sites for various outcomes, including to access new information, exchange diverse perspectives, maintain or strengthen relationships, find new opportunities, encounter new romantic relationships, to name just some. I also know that there are many applications and website that help people update their numerous profiles, such as ping.fm, twitterfeed, friendfeed, to name some. But on a personal level – and that is what this post is about - I think that anyone who manages more than a handful of social networking profiles - and even that’s a lot for many – must have a difficult time living a life outside of their office or bedroom.
Sure, social media (including social networking) offers fantastic ways of feeling a part of a community, keeping in touch and maintaining basic relationships. But I also think that we need to ask and be brutally honest whether the amount of time we spend using various social media and networking tools is really worth all our time and effort. Which begs the questions: How many social networking profiles is enough? How many do you have?
If you have five minutes to spare, here’s some comic relief related to this post.

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While researching some upcoming trips to Europe, I came across a work of art by Scholz & Friends (via). They’ve put together a great video that explains the shift that marketers and advertising agencies have been and are facing thanks to social media marketing. If anything else, they do a good job of explaining advertising vs. social media in a way I like best - simple, easy-to-understand and less all the techno-jargon. The amazing visuals and animation also do wonders.

More people should see this!

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An hilarious look at Adam And Eve. Imagine…

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Across the globe there are high expectations of what President Barack Obama can do to counter terrorism now that he has taken office. One reason for this is his new strategy to fight global terrorism, which he outlined during his campaign:
“When I am President, we will wage the war that has to be won, with a comprehensive strategy with five elements: getting out of Iraq and on to the right battlefield in Afghanistan and Pakistan; developing the capabilities and partnerships we need to take out the terrorists and the world’s most deadly weapons; engaging the world to dry up support for terror and extremism; restoring our values; and securing a more resilient homeland.”
Amnesty International has launched a campaign called 100 Days asking President Barack Obama to take realistic steps to counter terror  in his first 100 days in the Oval Office. With 93 days to get through Amnesty’s 17 point checklist,  the President is being asked to:

Close illegal detention centers including Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib (Barack Obama has already taken steps in the right direction)
Ban torture and ill treatment
End impunity

As Amnesty says, don’t expect the impossible from the US President but do expect concrete steps to fight terror with justice.
The campaign has been created with three interlinked objectives in mind: get the attention of the White House through a viral word of mouth campaign that solicits the community’s support to petition for change. They’ve done this through a two-minute viral video (embedded below), creating widgets and banners that people can share on their websites and blogs, “PDFing” the President’s checklist, and  soon  launching wallpapers and mobile ringtones, all of which lend themselves to getting the message out there. The community is also being encouraged to sign a petition asking Obama to demonstrate is commitment to human rights in his first 100 days in office. The true test will be, as Beju states, whether he stays true to hi

I love Apple. Not because I’m a geek or a bouncing-off-the-walls creative but because one look at any Macintosh and you just want to touch it. Their ads, old and new, are equally as powerful as their products.
Most of us are familiar with the more modern ‘Get a Mac’ adverts, however Apple’s history showcases a pool of creative talent that resulted in who they are today. Below, in order of preference, are three of my favourite Apple television adverts from the 80s and 90s. What do you think?
Think Different
I’ve already blogged about how we should all live by Apple’s Think Different print ad. I thought I’d share with you the 1998 television advert featuring Einstein, Ghandi and Amelia Earhart, to name some. Influential stuff!

1984
Apple introduced the Macintosh Computer to the world in 1984 with a remarkable television modelled from the George Orwell novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. The ad also introduces Apple’s very powerful message of “not conforming to the norm”. It’s an absolute classic.

The Y2K Computer Bug
Part freaky, part funny, Apple’s 1999 Superbowl ad promoting Macintosh’s immunity to the Y2K bug leaves an imprint in your brain. Perhaps it’s the voice or something in that red eye. You be the judge.

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Hilarious!

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This engaging PSA (public service announcement) as created to encourage the American youth to register to vote in the American election, currently underway. Brilliant!

Quite frankly, this is something that needs to be created for our own country.
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In a revolutionary video, the late “The Father of Advertising David Ogilvy calls for a shift in the role advertising plays; how direct response advertising is far more powerful than “general” advertising. His brilliance translates to how social media and online marketing - in fact, all communication activities - should be about bottom line results.

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According to UNICEF, 26,500-30,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world.” In 2006, about 9.7 million children died before they reached five years of age. 923 Million people across the world are hungry resulting in one in three people dying prematurely or having disabilities.   
This is the reality. All over the world there are people - mainly children - who don’t have eno

Advertising to the gay community is nothing new. MTV, General Motors, Nivea for Men, D&G, and Levi’s are amongst the many brands that have done so.  In fact, according to a report on mygayweb.com, 78% of gay online users prefer to buy from companies that target market to the GLBT (Gay Lesbian Bisexual Transgender) community (via). And a Gay Press Report in 2006 reported that the total buying power of the GLBT population in the United States was $641 billion in 2006.

However, this post is not about c

On 15 October 2008 it’s Blog Action Day, an annual nonprofit global event that aims to bring together the world’s social media community to post on the same day about an important issue for the sake of raising awareness and sparking a powerful global discussion. 
This year the issue of focus will be poverty.
Living in Africa, this is of course something that is very close to not only my but all of our hearts. Millions of people are deprived of basic common necessities such as food, water, clothing a

In July Steve Rubel wrote about the rise of the Digital Nomad, independent and corporate workers - myself included - who work from wherever they want, be it an airport, hotel, plane or coffee shop, thanks to digital- and web-based services, mostly laptops, mobile phones and wi-fi.
Mike Gunderoy, Chris Brogan, Hugh Macleod and John Jantsch each report on Dell’s launch of Digital Nomads, a community-focused website that aims to help its users discover and share ideas, tips, tricks and best practices 

Do you want to know how to make a good viral video? This smart and useful video teaches us the “secret strategies” behind the viral videos we come across on the Internet. Spread it on
 
Kudos to Alister.
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In a video post trio for today, I love this video by SocialDesignSite.com that shares insight into what social design is.
Watch it. Share it.

Thanks Kate
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Every day, children are inappropriately targeted by peers on the Internet, mobile phones and similar technologies. This behaviour is called Cyberbullying, and its effects are felt across the globe.
To help spread awareness of online bullying, Sony Creative Software, The Ad Council and the National Crime Prevention Council organised the Cyberbullying PSA Development Contest. As winners of the content, the below two videos help relay a very important message about electronic cyberbullying.
Be sure

Mario Sundar, a Community Evangelist at LinkedIn, points us (via Lee) to a Common Craft video that explains the business social network. These guys are good!

Be sure to also check out Common Craft’s “Social Media in Plain English” video as well.
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