• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, February 12, 2014

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Louisville-based agency OOHology (think they're an out-of-home agency?) is out with a poem generator they have named GIT-LUV. Hmm. Kinda like Get Some. Yeah, I'm not going there. When visitors arrive at the site they are presented with a status selector that offers options such as "single, full of regret," "wishing someone would arrange a marriage for me already," "happily divorced, not looking to make that mistake again" and more. You are then presented with a poem tailored to your situation -- which, of course, you can share with your friends on Facebook, Twitter or Google Plus. My favorite poem? After selecting "single, full of regret," I was presented with "Roses are red. Violets are blue. If you wanna have a baby, I'll freaking seduce you." Okay, maybe not. I don't want a baby.

Watch out, ad execs. You may soon receive an email from Eyeview that you might find creepy because it's quite personalized and will include familiar photos, your location, where you work (duh), your recent tweets, where you went to college and whom you last slept with. Okay -- I lied about the last one, but it's all to demonstrate Eyeview's personalized online video advertising solutions. More than 1,000 of you will receive the email. But according to Eyeview, only if you are "prominent." How's that for subjective targeting? Of the technology, Eyeview SVP of Marketing Amit Mashiah said: "By incorporating personalized messaging into the content of the ad, brands are providing a more relevant and engaging customer experience.”But do people really want companies digging into their social footprint?

Agencies, you have yet another fast food-style competitor. If you recall, several months ago Floyd Hayes launched the World's Fastest Agency. His pitch? He promises to deliver creative ideas within 24 hours of receiving the brief. Now, a few Hyper Island creatives are out with the One Hour Agency. As the name would suggest, clients are promised a creative concept within an hour. Inside the hour, One Hour agency will receive your brief, evaluate it, spend 30 minutes coming up with the concept and ten minutes presenting it. What's next? The Time Travel Agency? Delivering pitches before you knew you even wanted them?

Watch out, agencies. A company called Expion may be eating your lunch soon. The rapidly expanding firm, which provides in-depth social media analysis and content proliferation services, has hired 360i CEO Bryan Wiener as chairman of the company. Wiener, who will stay on at 360i as chairman, will be charged with growing Expion's footprint in the marketing space and leveraging his existing relationships with Facebook and Twitter. More and more of these companies are chipping away at agencies. The smart ones will survive. The others -- well, you know what's going to happen to you.

advertisement

advertisement