The Viral Garden has published their list of the Top 25 Marketing Blogs (for week 15). Interesting strategy - justifying gratuitous linking to many of the high traffic blogs in an attempt to generate traffic and build recognition. I don’t see any criteria for how the rankings are sorted…but I’d like to.

Coming in at #17 was Logic + Emotion, which I found an ineteresting read. A lot of ideas here that seemed much more - how can I say it? - grounded than what’s published in a lot of other blogs. A post entitled “The New PR” is worth a look (or two).

Marketallica, despite its name, was an excellent read. Anecdotal and interesting, with a strong visual presence and images. Images! There’s still just way too much text on the web (ahem - yes, even here). At any rate, “11 Forces that will shape the Future of Entertainment (sic)” is a must-read. In that article, there’s a link to a chart that needs to be printed out and memorized. I won’t give the link here because I want you to read his blog.

Do it.

Her ‘real’ name is Christine Dolce, and she has a Wikipedia page in her own name - so you know she must be someone. Online, she’s known as ForBiddeN, and 976,420 ‘friends’ currently link to her MySpace page, making her one of the three most popular personas on that website.

A recent Economist article describes Dolce as follows: “Bleached, buxom and with impressive marketing savvy, she is arguably the most successful brand to emerge from MySpace, and has already launched a line of clothing.” (That line of clothing is “Destroyed Denim.”)

The print version of the Economist ran a photo of Dolce with the caption, “The future of marketing? Really?” underneath. It does seem a bit hard to believe. Blogger Mathew Ingram points out that MySpace superstars such as Dolce and Tila Tequila are, “busy making themselves, rather than having others make them.”

That’s the part I don’t buy. As Scott Karp at Publishing 2.0 points out, “It’s not clear whether MySpace is getting any revenue from ForBiddeN’s [commercial] deal[s] or any of the ads she runs for her own products…MySpace is serving ads on ForBiddenN’s page.”

Both Dolce and Tequila remind me of Japan’s Kano sisters, who are famous for…well, just for being famous. In this case, the Kano sisters were essentially a pre-packaged product developed by media and PR firms that knew exactly what they were doing and how to build an image that would sell.

I don’t know who’s behind Dolce’s “brand building” efforts, but it’s clear that what has been done so far goes beyond the bounds of what one person could reasonably do. A recent Stuff magazine piece on Tequila noted, “Being famous now has become it’s own reward…Tila Tequila has used simple, and some might agree Punk DIY ethics to create her stardom, one fan at a time…”

That last line is what I don’t (and you shouldn’t) believe. It’s part of the ‘brand’ image, what a PR firm somewhere would like consumers to believe. Rupert Murdoch didn’t pay $580 million for MySpace to stand by while other people collect the ROI.

Experience the Message had a little entry the other day about US Airways’ decision to place advertising on air sickness bags. ETM asks, “What’s worse: this or urinal advertising? Piss or vomit? You decide.”

I’m not sure we have to choose what’s worse. Both are seemingly obvious bad marketing decisions. However, what’s even worse is the motivation behind the idea to place advertising on air sickness bags. US Airways spokesperson Morgan Durrant stated, “It’s a way to boost revenue to keep fares as low as we can.”

So, it’s for the good of the consumer. Now I see. Some other folks weighed in on the decision:

US Airways Spokesperson Phil Gee: “[Air sickness bags] are in every back seat pocket. We figure while it’s there, why don’t we make it multipurpose?”

Aviation consultant Michael Boyd: “Barf bags have a lot of shelf life. people aren’t barfing as much in planes as they used to.”

Back to Mr Durrant: “When you think about it, the audience is captive. That’s a draw for most advertisers.”

I hear a lot of buzzwords being abused here: multipurpose, shelf life, captive audience. The problem is that they’re being misapplied. There’s a line being crossed here, one that everyone who desires to build a successful brand image needs to keep in mind: Don’t associate your brand with bodily excretions or fluids…

…unless you happen to be the Red Cross.

Today, Slashdot reported that a Japanese company has found a way to write characters on standing water. According to Engadget, it’s “difficult to coax a standing pool of water into forming recognizable shapes and characters.” Pink Tentacle tells us that the device is called, “Advanced Multiple Organized Experimental Basin,” or AMOEBA for short (Japanese article at FujiSankei).

One Slashdot poster wondered what practical applications this device might have. For one, still water sits all over Japan. Such a device might generate advertisements in the sento (pubic bath), onsen (hot springs) or even a urinal (place where men pee while standing). Public ponds or swimming pools could be transformed into wonderfully offensive floating advertisements.

And with the spread of Google Earth and the viewership of satellite imagery in general, wouldn’t creating advertisements within bodies of water seem like a good idea right now? Imagine if you could take out ad space in Lake Michigan near Chicago or inside of Tokyo Bay. How much might such ad space be worth? How many millions of people might see such a promotion on Google Earth? What if they could click through that ad and get to your website?

What other practical purposes do you see?