Strange, but hilarious. 

I originally found out about the Burger King $1 Holiday Gift Cards from their TV spots and at first I thought it was kind of a ridiculous idea, but now that I think more about it I kind of like it.

The website is pretty cool, as expected from CP+B.  You can scroll through cards depending on how well you know the person you are sending it to, from “casual friend” to “virtual stranger.” The cards feature funny one liners like “You wouldn’t know how much you mean to me… until you open this card.” 

The site says that it’s an “actual dollar bill,” which seems a little suspect to me. How do they know the dollar will go to a double cheeseburger? I’m guessing it’s a fake dollar bill, redeemable for a double cheeseburger, but we will see. 

The thing I like most is that you can buy the card online and send it without every going into a Burger King. I wouldn’t think about doing the promotion if I actually had to walk into the store and purchase the cards myself, but being able to do it online adds a whole new element to it. 

Being a college student (or Gen Y’er), I rarely buy my friends gifts for the Holidays. This would be an easy way to send them something that I know they would enjoy. No, it’s nothing spectacular, but that’s the point. If I send 10 of my friends one it’s only $10 and I don’t have to worry about getting one person something better than the other. It’s a win-win in my book.

That being said, I’m not sure if I will actually do it, but I like the idea. My friends tend to be Wendy’s guys anyway. 

What do you think of it? Will you be sending a Double Cheeseburger Gift Card to casual friends or virtual strangers?

I saw Seinfeld do stand up in San Diego over the weekend and I was thoroughly impressed. I’ve always been a big Seinfeld fan, but wasn’t sure if his stand up would still be good or if I would connect with it since I’m not in his generation. This wasn’t a problem at all. He was funny and energetic throughout the show, I couldn’t have been more pleased with the performance. If you get a chance to see him, do it. It was hilarious.

With the Windows 7 release Microsoft has released a bunch of advertisements, including the two below. This just seems unfair to me. They took a cute little girl, who they have  used in past ads, and now they ad a bulldog. Children and puppies? This is a cheap way out but so far has been successful, so I don’t blame them for pulling out all the stops. 

Sprint: A-

Sprint is featuring three phones for the Holiday season – The Blackberyy Tour (also available on Verizon), the Palm Pre and the HTC Hero. I love this lineup, but is it the most impressive? 

Verizon:  B+

Verizon is featuring a bunch of new phones this Holiday season, including the new Droid phones, the Chocolate Touch and the Blackberry Storm 2. 

AT&T: C

AT&T’s lineup include the iPhone, the HTC Pure and a bunch of other phones that can be found on their website. 

After looking at all of the product offerings, comparing ads, and visiting the individual website, I would say that Sprint has done the best job preparing for the Holiday season. I’m not sure if they have the best phones, but their ads and website are more catered to the Holidays. AT&T and Verizon are caught up in one another, allowing Sprint to focus on their lineup of new phones and offer a more fun and relaxed advertisement. The Android phone by Verizon is my pick for best new phone, especially since AT&T hasn’t done much besides the iPhone. 

What do you think?

Really cool iPhone App, check it out below.

Being a Patriots fan I’m supposed to dislike Peyton Manning, but his ads are always hilarious. See the two most recent ones below:

After the release of the iPod Nano w/ Video, we all know what’s coming next (or what should be coming next) – The iPod Touch with video. This could be the reason Flip has started running TV spots (below), which I actually like because of the simple way they show off the product. If the next generation iPod Touch is released with video this could be the end of Flips reign on the micro video market.

The reasoning is simple. The Flip is a great product but is limited to basic video functionality. The fact that it plugs directly into your computers USB port is helpful, but who doesn’t have the USB cord for their iPod?

The iPod should take down the Flip because of it’s large list of offerings, including internet access, mp3 player, gaming capabilities, and tons of other capabilities seen in the video below.

The Flip ranges in price from $149.99 – $229.99. The most expensive Flip has HD quality, which is the one thing that the Flip will have over the iPod. Of course the iPod hasn’t been released, but I’ll be surprised if it comes in HD. While HD is great the biggest problem is it’s not completely necessary for a mini video camera.

Right now the iPod Touch ranges in price from $199-$399 and the Ipod Nano Video goes for $149.99 – $179.99. For all intensive purposes lets say the 32G iPod Touch Video will go for $299.99. This means that you can get a video camera with a large touch screen that also allows you all of the other iPod Touch functions. Why would you need a Flip? I can understand buying the Flip over the Nano because of the size difference, but the Flip can’t match up with the 3.5inch digital display offered by the Touch.

Now, as a consumer, would you want to carry around an iPod and a Flip camera, or would you rather just carry one? The answer is obvious. The Flip will need to come out with new functions to compete with the iPod and stay alive within the market. What do you think they can do? 

I almost didn’t write this post because Ronnie Brown (RB – Miami) recently went down for the season, which severely hurts my chances of staying at the top of my league. But, as any good coach I will have to deal with the loss and move on.

I’ve been a fan of fantasy football since the beginning. I spend the entire week preparing for Sunday by picking up new players, reading up on the best matchups and trash talking my league because Maurice Jones Drew happen to be playing the worst run defense in the league. There is honestly nothing better. If I have to be somewhere besides my couch on Sunday I’m on my Blackberry checking my teams stats with the Yahoo Fantasy Football App. But most Sundays I’m planted in front of the TV with my MacBook on my lap, hitting the refresh button to see if Reggie Wayne got both feet down inbounds for the touchdown.

I don’t think there is really anything that compares to fantasy football when it comes to cross-channel integration, which makes it even more amazing. Fantasy football gives me a reason to watch any NFL game that’s on TV, because I’m interested for more than one reason. Don’t get me wrong, I love football, but there’s no way I’d watch the Buccaneers play the Texans if I didn’t need Cadillac Williams to get five more points to take down a fantasy win.

So as advertisers what does this mean? Of course it means that ads should be running during football and on my Yahoo fantasy page, but this is the obvious. It also means that the idea of fantasy football should be taken by other brands. Of course it’s not as easy to do as it is to say, but I think you would agree that we’re up for the challenge.

Imagine if a TV show could use the fantasy football formula to keep people engaged on TV, online and even on their mobile device. This is the next goal and one of the biggest opportunities for interactive marketing. Imagine if a television show was able to bring value to the characters so fans would have an extra reason to tune in. There have been forums in place for TV shows where people talk about shows as they are being aired, which is a great start but more can be done. And I’m talking about going deeper than iPhone apps and micro-sites.

Sports have a huge advantage because their content isn’t scripted and the competition outline is already there, the scoring system was the only necessary addition. Can you think of a “scoring system” that brands or TV shows could put in place to engage consumers on multiple levels?

Subway came out with the Buffalo Chicken $5 footlong a few months ago, they must have been reading my diary. Buffalo Chicken has been my favorite kind of sub for a very, very long time and I’ve always been a fan of the Subway version.

There are a few reasons I’m so pleased with this new menu item, they are below:

1. It’s now $5, instead of the $7 it used to be. 

2. It’s now carried at most (if not all) Subway locations, when it used to be a somewhat rare menu selection. 

3. The chicken is marinated in the buffalo sauce, rather than poured on the sandwich. This is good for a few reasons, it allows for equal distribution of sauce, as well as keeps the bread from getting soggy. 

So, if you haven’t tried the Buffalo Chicken from Subway, I highly recommend it. I like mine with lettuce, tomato, onions, jalapenos and a tiny bit of ranch, on wheat bread, not toasted. 

How do you like yours?