A COMMERCIAL THAT I ACTUALLY DIDN'T SKIP THROUGH . . .

I don't know about you, but some of my early weekend mornings (brought about by our way-too-early-to-rise 6 month old daughter) are spent catching up on some of our recorded shows. This morning I was watching a show on The Food Network called "The Cooking Loft" hosted by a dear college friend of mine, Alex Guarnaschelli - who by the way is the executive chef at NYC restaurant/hotspot Butter -- I strongly encourage you to visit if you haven't already.

But I digress! The reason I bring up this show is because as I was going through my normal routine of skipping through the first commercial break, I saw something called "Short Stories" - which as it turns out was a "show within a show" occupying the three commercial slots for the 1/2 hour Cooking Loft segment. I haven't yet been able to find any info or video footage of it online (which in and of itself is somewhat surprising) but the premise of the three-party commercial was two sisters - one the owner of an L.A. based cooking school called HipCooks and the other a jewelry designer who was using the cooking school space as the venue for a launch party - preparing for this event -- the cook cooking and the jewelry designer decorating the space.

What got me to stop and watch all three segments of this commercial montage was not so much the story line as it was the fact that the brand and messaging of the show's sponsor -- SoyJoy -- was integrated in a tastefully subtle yet impactful way. It was one of the few "advertising as content" efforts in recent memory that was done well enough to appeal to my consumer side and make me not hit the fast forward button on the remote.

So to all agencies, brands and creative shops out there trying to figure out a way to keep the TV-watching audience engaged during commercial time, I would highly recommend taking a look at this effort for inspiration -- and to whoever produced this "Short Stories" idea-- bravo!

A BNMW SHOUT-OUT . . . SORTA!!

iMedia's Brand Summit wrapped up earlier this week in San Diego, and as part of Tuesday's keynote session they had Mark Kvamme, general partner at Sequoia Capital, speak.

Selfishly, we weren't as interested in what he had to say (although it is good stuff - a recap of which you can check out here: http://www.imediaconnection.com/summits/coverage/20574.asp), we were excited by the fact that one of his quotes was:

"We're in a brave new world. . ."

We'll forgive him (for now!) on forgetting to add the word "media" in there - but it's a good start!

Even better is the first sentence of this recap - which uses the whole phrase in saying:

"On Feb. 16, 2009 the switch will flip, and TV's conversion from an analog to a digital signal will usher in a brave new consumer-centric media world."

We're committed to having this phrase be part of the new media lexicon - so thanks to Mark and iMedia for helping us out.

THE BEST THING IN TRAVEL SINCE . . . HONEY ROASTED PEANUTS?!

So I know I'm a bit late in the game to comment on the fact that (partial) Internet access is quickly becoming a reality in the not-so-friendly skies, but it's really worth spending a few minutes riffing on because it is probably now the one and only thing to look forward to -- what with all the s**t we have to deal with from the airlines -- checked bag fees, no pillows or blankets, higher fares, less flights, longer lines, more connections, longer delays . . . shall I keep going?!

Yeah, yeah - I know there's those of you out there that are going to complain about the price for this in-flight Internet access, but I for one will be glad to pay it -- in part because when I'm traveling for business on American Airlines (not by choice - my company makes us use them -- and for once they did something right!) I'll just pass the cost on to my employer, who'll be grateful that I used what little down time I used to have while in the sky to get even more work done.

For those of you who haven't seen it yet, here's a commercial put together by the company (GoGo Inflight) that behind the Internet service on American - as well as on Virgin America and Delta Airlines.

And do yourself a favor -- sign up for an account with GoGo before you take your first flight -- that'll save you a few more minutes so that you can eek out that last snarky email.

What's that you say -- not another new media blog?!

Well - no need to worry. We're not gonna try and be all that and a bag of chips (we'll leave that to the really smart bloggers). Instead the plan is to put together for you, our soon-to-be loyal audience, a treasure trove of tasty snippets from the new media blogosphere and add our own toppings.

Our main goal here is to try and capture the essence of what is happening in our society to help create and define this Brave New (Media) World that we live in - and we welcome your thoughts and comments.

Now let's all enjoy the ride together!!