So I know it has been awhile since I have posted here on Contagious and I swear it’s not because I am slacking. It’s because I have been spending the majority of my time here and here recently.

This morning I was inspired to update this blog to talk about being a finger, not a nostril. There is a joke that I heard a long time ago that I always seem to whip out at parties during that time after you meet someone and you realize you have very little in common with that person but you need to say something. Here’s how it goes:

Why do gorillas have big nostrils? Because they have big fingers.

Funny right? Yeah, not one of those jokes where people leave the party commenting on how hilarious I am by any stretch. But this joke does bring up an interesting topic on how you do work, push the envelope, and blaze new trails. The joke insinuates that the gorilla’s nostrils got big because his fingers were so big and it stretched them out. It did not mean his fingers grew larger to accommodate the large nostrils. This is an interesting distinction.

Playing in an existing space, bouncing around on the inside and exploring is fine. You see people and companies do it all the time. But until people start “enlarging the nostrils” by pushing from the inside, nothing will ever grow, evolve, and advance.

We’ve had our fun in the social media/Web 2.0 space. We’ve gone to the parties, the Tweetups, and the conventions. We’ve tried “our best” to convince big companies and clients to have a social media presence only to fall short with a measley Facebook page that hasn’t been updated in 2 months. Now it’s time to enlarge the nostrils. Who’s ready to wield a bigger finger?

Gorilla image from Nailbender. Some rights reserved.

Here’s a pretty sweet idea executed by Erik Nordenankar and DHL: the biggest drawing in the world. Using precise instructions and a GPS, a package was shipped by DHL and flown around the world in 55 days. “When all was said and done, the GPS data formed a virtual self-portrait of the artist that spread over 6 continents and 62 countries covering nearly 70,000 miles.”

[Via Gizmodo]

In 1993, The U.S. Department of Transportation coined the term “The Southwest Effect“. This was in reference to Southwest Airline’s entry into the airline market. By lowering cost, focusing on customer service, and flying to less frequently travelled cities, Southwest Airlines changed the industry.

Rival airlines were scared that it the lower fares would cause them to lose customers. So they lowered fares too. What developed was a surge in demand for air travel, a rise of “all boats”, and a stimulus to some second-tiered cities.

What is very interesting about the story of Southwest Airlines is they started flying to lesser travelled cities because the bigger hubs had no room for them. But what happened was people started flying in and out of these satellite cities causing new markets and new opportunities for growth. Read more…

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKbtTPYZEig[/youtube]

Here’s a great new technology that could make a huge impact. That is, of course, if you  have the right messaging and the right venue.

Thanks to Mike for the tip.

[Via Sellsius]

In this day in age, when sites like YouTube can give just as much exposure to the work of a customer as they do to a company, it is very interesting to see different forms of satire.

In this case, it is the popular Ogilvy video for Dove and the satirical spoof of the video. In the end, each makes the same statement. That advertising can be interpreted as a bunch of idealistic smoke and mirrors. The real question is that bad or good? Regardless of the answer, the sheer effort put in to spoof the original ad means that Dove and Ogilvy did their job: they started a conversation.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0u0wWOMIsE[/youtube]