Ad Age has an informative article discussing Wendy’s new sponsership of ESPN’s “Voice of the Fan” chatroom (access available on the ESPN SportsNation chatroom page – Link); part of their new “Don’t Compromise. Personalize.” campaign. From the article (Link):

ESPN began running the avatar feature on Voice of the Fan last year, but the Wendy’s sponsorship is new.
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Wendy’s International is the first brand to advertise on the Voice of the Fan and has created a contest around it.
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“The Voice of the Fan is embedded in personalization,” said Michelle Fedurek, Wendy’s VP-media strategies. “We make hamburgers the way you want them — it was really a nice sync behind who we are as a brand.”
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Voice of the Fan users can pass on a link for their friends to create their own avatars. So far, the open rate for the pass-alongs is 70%. About 30% of those who receive the link in turn and create their own avatars.

Interesting development. I guess Wendy’s was jealous of the branded-burger avatars available on Yahoo (see my earlier post – Link). Ad Age points out that users/avatars can put on “a T-shirt emblazoned with a Wendy’s hamburger or the fast-food chain’s logo (but not, sadly, the pigtailed Wendy’s girl).” Sadly, is right. I suspect that would give users a bit too much control to … “Personalize” things. A shame.

Imagine if the interactivity specifically included the ability to make a mess of your avatar (just holding the burger doesn’t cut the mustard, folks). Imagine users being able to communicate how much in degrees they like Wendy’s by adding ketchup stains? I’m not sure if Oddcast’s technology allows for that level of interactivity… but it should.

For those unfamiliar with the Oddcast technology being used, it’s worth checking out (Link). For anyone who remembers the McDonald’s AI experiment-thing revealed in October 2003 (I barely recall it, tbh), this is the same company. If you don’t recall the AI campaign, check out both the site (Link) and a couple of not-too-flattering reviews (Link 1 and Link 2).

Most especially however, be sure to check out the “Clients” section on Oddcast’s site for some nice links. You might notice something that has piqued my interest: some avatars remind me of a Jib Jab cut-n-paste animation whereas other stuff looks like 3D geometry exported to vector graphics. For an example of the vector look, check the detail of the above image taken from the ESPN site. And for an example of something that looks like it came straight from an old Monty Python show, check out the IBM/Lenovo website image below (taken from the engaging “Which Side Are You On” website – Link).

My first thought is that the technology is leveraging some of the relatively recent tools for exporting 3D animations to Flash-based 2D vector images, and that perhaps they’re moving increasingly toward 3D (which they probably are). Only the IBM/Lenovo website is relatively new, so it appears a choice was made; maybe even a more expensive choice.

When the 3D content is done, automation (e.g. auto-lip sync) probably lowers costs considerably. So it’s possible that the IBM/Lenovo website using animated 2D was more expensive than going with 3D. And when choice enters the equation, that’s usually a good sign. Wendy’s even has a new ad campaign about it.

{Top two images Copyright © 2005 ESPN Internet Ventures; bottom image Copyright © Lenovo; and there’s more…

Wendy’s name, design, and logo, “Do What Tastes Right” and “Don’t Compromise, Personalize” are trademarks of Oldemark, LLC and are licensed to Wendy’s International, Inc.}

Via WMMNA comes word of architect Andreas Angelidakis’s Neen World project and some of it’s offshoots; one of which sounds somewhat similar to my own effort (only I don’t have plans to construct a real life, hovering “protoSat” platform). From Regine’s entry (Link):

A fragment from Mai Ueda’s home in Neen World is translated into a simulated ruin, a 3D computer pattern whose missing pieces resemble pixels lost in the conversion. Inside the club, the fragmented pattern forms an animated grotto around the stage, its triangle pixels programmed with a disco-floor software.

I have to admit, the virtual pattern looks more interesting to me than the one on the building. Perhaps if the real version lit up…

The SUPERNEEN show is scheduled to open March 7, so keep on the lookout for more images. Who knows, maybe we’ll see nighttime photos with the pattern glowing. That’d be sweet.

Just wanted to post a follow-up to the Second Life/Google Earth “protoSat” structure about which I posted earlier (Link). Most of what I’m doing right now is texture work… a laborious process for me since I prefer to generate original textures. For me that includes quite a bit of CAD work since I model, render, composite and tweak colors (and maybe “dirty” the texture up a bit along the way). Anyway, after spending some time doing basic color studies, I’ve been working to get most if not all of it textured by tomorrow evening. Fingers crossed.

On everyone’s reading list should be a substantial article online in New York Magazine’s Metro section titled “Blogs to Riches – The Have and Have-Nots” (Link). It’s penned by Clive Thompson – a name that is becoming increasingly familiar to many of us, I’m sure. Consequently I don’t want to get into the article as it speaks for itself. Rather I’d suggest people read it and give some thought to the word “meritocracy“; it pops up a couple times and I suspect we’ll be hearing that word more and more this coming year. So much so that it may end up on some linquist club’s “Word of the Year” list (if it hasn’t already).

Via Brands in Games comes word of a short but sweet interview with Michael McHale, Senior Producer at Konami Digital Entertainment, posted over on the Game Tycoon blog (Link). For most of us there isn’t much information that’s new, but it’s still nice to hear from the frontlines. Additionally, this part of the interview regarding the trade offs between static and dynamic advertising got me connecting dots:

Dynamic ads can be tracked and scheduled, but the player must be online while playing the game in order to see the ads. This works well for online multiplayer games, but not as well for single player games. I expect this issue to be worked out in the future, when dynamic ads will be stored and visible even when you are offline.

Or… maybe that issue gets resolved by ensuring that even single player games migrate online. Raph Koster posted an entry about just that sort of thing last week; all part of the big to-do over his talk at the Churchill Club. You can follow the links in my previous entry (Link), but since the talk is now online, you might want to start there (Link – via Raph’s blog). If, however, you don’t have time at the moment to wade through all that, here’s a quote from one of Raph’s entries (Link):

Since the Internet seems to be erupting with commentary on this, a short form of my argument: Very soon, all single-player gaming will happen within a multiplayer context of connectivity, persistent and publicly visible profiles, and awareness of other users.

Sounds like all roads lead to in-game advertising. Anyway, since a post on Wonderland reminded me to go back and read this after surfing past it earlier, you might also want to surf over there for some additional comments (Link).