I’m a pretty big fan of Instagram these days, so I’m pretty excited that they’ve introduced both web profiles (check out mine at Instagram.com/ParkerNow) and badges, like the one below:

For both myself and a lot of my friends, Instagram is pushing Twitter and Facebook aside as a way to see what my friends are up to and sharing. I’m not saying it will replace either, or that it will last forever, but it’s fun for now.

I really like this video from John St. Advertising in Toronto:

What do Punk Rock and Bird Watching have in common? Paul Riss. That’s because he has just finished a “big year” (birdwatching lingo for seeing as many bird species as you can in one year) and is making a documentary about it. He’s also getting a tattoo of every bird species he spotted, and there’s punk rock involved.

 Paul is a creative and talented individual at DDB Canada (my employer), so I’m really interested in seeing how this will turn out. Here’s what he says about the project:

“I’m most excited about the fact that younger people might take a second look at birding because they always thought it was just for retired people. If they get interested, it generally leads to a love of the environment on a grander scale. “

Follow Paul on Twitter (he’s @ThePaulRiss), support Punk Rock Big Year on IndiGoGo or just check out his blog (it’s got lots of interesting notes on his bird watching travel and info on ways you can support bird conservation.

In Saturday’s edition of the Globe & Mail, the Focus section featured an incredible piece by journalist Patrick White, who had whittled down hundreds of hours of interviews with key players and organizers of the 1972 Summit Series between Team Canada and Russia into a few pages.

One of the most interesting parts about the article for me (besides Phil Esposito’s stories of training camp partying) was the role advertising played in the series. While setting it up, the organizers hired the agency Vickers & Benson to help them promote the games.

In the beginning, it was supposed to be the “NHL All Stars” verus Russia. However, the agencies creative director said no no was interested in this match-up. They had to tell a different story, and it seems his insight was to make it more of an international match-up. From this, one of his copywriters came up with the name “Team Canada.” (Interestingly enough, this was the first time this naming convention for national sports teams had been used.)

The other part of the article that I thought was super interesting was that the iconic Team Canada hockey jersey was designed the night before the press conference by the ad agencie’s art director. Apparently, he went out and bought one plain white jersey and one plain red jersey and just had his wife sew them together into the famous pattern.

Would we even remember this series if it hadn’t been for those jerseys and the very idea of Team Canada instead of the NHL All Stars?

Check out the article and more on the Globe & Mail website. It goes into a lot more detail than the print edition.

This video from Globe starring “Neon” Dion Agius might be the best thing ever. And it’s filmed in wave pool in the UAE. And there is also a Lamborghini and 10 Russian models.

Watch the video here. Headphones and fullscreen are worth it.

I’ve been a a huge fan of Instagram for the past couple of months now. I know it’s all about the people you follow, but Facebook is too full of brand posts for me, Twitter is just news and often I’m not interested in clicking through. Instagram is a quick-hit of beautiful images.

Anyways, here’s a great shot of a Vancouver sunset on Instragram from my friend Natalie that she uploaded to Instagram:

Below, you can see the shot I took of Natalie taking her photo:

Are you on Instagram? Follow me. I’m Parker now there.

I’ve been obsessing over news about the Mars Curiosity rover ever since it touched down last month. One video, created by someone who worked on the project, captures some of the magic about what was done:

Did you notice some of the animations of the landing in that video? Did you notice how it was LOWERED ONTO THE SURFACE OF MARS WITH A CRANE FROM A ROCKET-POWERED PLATFORM?

Just watch the first few minutes. You’ll be blown away.

I also think it’s pretty cool that NASA has given Curiosity it’s own voice via a Twitter account. This is a great way to more easily connect with those who might be interested in learning more about space exploration.

Finally, there’s a really good “Ask Me Anything” on Reddit with a bunch of the engineers from the Curiosity project. The Reddit audience is perfect for this sort of thing, asking a combination of human-interest questions and highly technical questions and making for a better read than anything else on the subject.

For more on all of this, you might also want to check out the Radar DDB 10am One Thing: Space Edition, written by Ed Lee.

The following post appeared originally on the the DDB Canada blog as part of the Radar DDB 10am series of blog posts and emails I contribute to at work. 

A few months ago, Pepsi launched a global campaign, “Live For Now,” by redoing Pepsi.com to feature a waterfall of branded content and fan comments about the beverage. It was a unique way to embrace social media while not relying too heavily on third-party networks. More recently, Pepsi also partnered with Twitter.

On Tuesday night, we started to see what that partnership was capable of as Pepsi delivered on that “Live For Now” promise by streaming a Nicki Minaj concert on any Tweet with #NickiMinajNow hashtag. As the go-to site for what’s happening now, we think Twitter was a perfect channel for Pepsi and this campaign. It’s also a great reminder that the world still loves a super-star endorsement deal.

Check out an archived version of the concert or just take a look at some of the tens of thousands of Tweets from users talking about it.

If you liked that, you might be interested in knowing that Nicki Minaj also wrote a song for Adidas just for the “All Originals” video.

We also wrote about Pepsi’s year-long partnership with Twitter here.

Good news, everyone! Tribal DDB is going to be hiring a number of Community Moderator/Writers for a five-week contract starting in mid-September. These positions will be for a high-profile, national campaign. It won’t be an easy job, but it’ll definitely be interesting.

The official job posting from the DDB website is as follows:

 Tribal DDB is looking for 4 English writers with a passion for social media for an intense, 5 week contract on a high profile national campaign, beginning in mid-September through to late October. This role involves constant and ongoing interaction with our client’s target audience – from adorers to detractors – around a sensitive and polarizing topic. Common sense or street smarts are mandatory.

As a high-energy creative, you have a solid understanding of advertising, are an active participant in social networks and have a history in community management and moderation. Strong writing skills are a must and a writing sample is required along with your resume.

RESPONSIBILITIES:
You will be responsible for responding to consumer questions with engaged, quality written responses on a social media website in Tribal DDB’s Toronto office. Primarily, this will include assessment, triage, moderation and creative responses to consumer questions. Developing answers to these questions will require navigating detailed product information.

QUALIFICATIONS:
– 1-2 years experience is required
– Passion for social media and marketing/advertising
– Strong written communication ability (grammar, formatting, creativity, spelling)
– Ability to follow a process
– General understanding of agency process and capabilities
– Bilingualism a plus
– Proof reading/copy-editing ability a plus

Interested candidates please send resume and cover letter to hr.toronto@ddbcanada.com.

We appreciate all expressed interest in this position, however, only the candidates selected for interview will be contacted.

This spot to promote Channel 4′s coverage of the Paralympic Games is one of the most amazing advertisements I’ve ever seen (click through to view on YouTube):

It’s too bad that the organization wasn’t able to get the proper music rights to be able to allow embeds (as per the description on the YouTube link), but I still think that this is a powerful enough video that it will be shared anyways.

It invoked emotion, made me think and perhaps most importantly of all, is driving me to act and try and watch the paralympics. The music choice was great, the footage was cool and the sound editing really helped, but it the real highlight of this video was the inspiring people in it.

Thanks to my friend and colleague Sandra Moretti for sharing this.