Facebook is getting bigger. So big, that soon Facebook will burst through the side of a concrete wall in an oversized red jug and yell “Oh Yeah!” (pardon the joke).

Not too long ago, MySpace, RateMyBody, and HotorNot were the only social networking sites that teenagers and young adults had online. At the time, Facebook was nothing more than an online directory project of Mark Zuckerberg for Harvard University Students. It wasn’t long before the Facebook phenom caught on and spread to Ivy League schools and just recently opened its’ doors to high school students. Not too many students predicted that Facebook would open its’ doors to regions across the but as the company considers a $1 billion buyout by Yahoo!, web sites like MySpace are losing their niche. With the move, MySpace won’t be the only “anyone can join” social networking powerhorse online.

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Yahoo! will launch a contest in which five amateur produced Super Bowl ads will be voted on during the game. It’s about time that marketing companies recognize the social networking and YouTube revolution of user generated content.

Both Frito-Lay and Chevrolet are looking to make a jump in the bandwagon of buzz. Both companies are holding ad making contests with winners receiving cash prizes and advertising spots in conjunction with Super Bowl XLI campaigns. Even the NFL is in talks with having their own ad contest in October.

Ad spots not chosen by viewers for the Super Bowl may still be posted on YouTube and blogs. The risks of such a move are tremendous and brand image will remain heavily guarded as 30 second Super Bowl commercials cost upwards of $2 million. Advertisers know that the Super Bowl, which kicks off on CBS on February 4th, is a very valuable promotional time with 90.7 million viewers tuning in. “Consumers really have strong brand preferences and when they prefer a brand, they begin to associate themselves with that brand,” he said. “We enable this kind of brand evangelism.”

Frito-Lay will be accepting video submissions and post them on Yahoo! Video now until December 1st. The top 5 ad spots picked by Frito-Lay will make it to Yahoo! Video in a featured section for the Super Bowl where television viewers can vote for their favorite. As thousands of user generated ad spots (and mockeries) are created everyday by internet users, the company hopes the discover new talent and fresh ideas.

Chevrolet wants to target the 18 - 25 year old consumers who they hope will buy one of their four new car models. Unlike Frito-Lay, Chevrolet will only be “soliciting ideas” for its’ Super Bowl spot. The idea will be used in a commercial developed by professionals. A company called Personiva in San Francisco is busy convincing Super Bowl advertisers to post their ads on a web site design by Personiva after the game.

Microsoft announced Tuesday that they will take Facebook and MySpace social networking websites head on with new tools users can buy and craft to improve the look and performance of their personal websites. The site created by Microsoft will be called Wallop which began four years ago and is backed by $13 million from Microsoft and venture capitalists including Norwest Venture Partners, Bay Partners and Consor Capital.

Wallop stated that they will allow users to purchase software through their social networking site from an online shopping marketplace will characters, graphics, games, backgrounds, and more to put on their “personal profiles.” The ad ons will cost anywhere from $0.99 to $4.00 a pop said Karl Jacob the CEO of Wallop. Oddly, users will only be able to sign up for the site if an exsisting member invites them (an approach that Facebook is looking to abondon in December).

With a domain name like MyWallop.com and only allowing members who are already registered to refer a friend to sign up, I see an early fall of the social networking site. Already, there are thousands and thousands of free MySpace layout, background, and games websites on the internet that allow MySpace users to add the ‘extras’ to their profiles free of charge. The people who create the ‘extras’ create websites that they generate Google Adsense revenue off of and do not charge the MySpace user a dime. That my friend, is the flaw of the system of social networking sites that Microsoft is not seeing with Wallop.

Now I really wish I worked at the Red Bull Corporate Office. Their corporate office is insanely decorative and just screams “techno-advanced.” Click the picture below for additional pics. The new Red Bull Headquarters was recently opened in London. The designers of the project, Jump Studios, said “The stunning interior generates adrenalin and a sense of dynamic excitement, emotions associated with the Red Bull brand and its various activities.”

Let’s see how many times we can cram the words “sex” and “advertising” today in one article. A Burger King in New Zealand has a new ad spot with beaches, white horses, and girls ridding in bikinis. Now doesn’t that wet your whistle for a delicious cheese, bacon, barbeque sauce, and chicken Cheest Bacon Tenderchrisp sandwich? That just makes my mouth water. The girl ain’t too bad either.

Last week’s Time Out New York featured a “Cosmopolitan Furnishings” advertisement for f*ck f*tons. Well, swearing is always a good way to get my attention. I like the way they lay out the futon too in a way that makes you combine the word f*ck and f*ton together so that that become almost synonomous. Who wouldn’t want to f*ck on a f*ton? Well, for $400 - $1500 bucks I don’t think I’ll be doing so anytime soon.

The annual eMarketer report now shows that an economic slowdown has lowered the annual forecast on advertising expenditures and growth for 2006.

The report shows an annual adjustment from $16.7 billion to $15.9 billion in 2006 and the report predicts that a slow down will occur from 30% to a smaller a 26.8% hike. The eMarketer report shows U.S online ad spending will reach $21 billion in two years and surpass $25 billion by 2010. Paid search engine placement, such as advertising with Google Adwords or Yahoo Publisher, will make up the bulk of this increase and is seen to be the most profitable form of online advertising.

Bambi Francisco of Market Watch recently announced that News Corp’s MySpace is the top video site according to a new report. The report, generated by comScore, shows that MySpace beats out Yahoo, YouTube, and Google with a staggering 20 percent of “the 7.2 billion video streams viewed via the web in July.” Yahoo come in a far second with 812 million video streams and YouTube was a close third behind Yahoo with 649 million video streams in July. Time Warner, ROO Group, and Microsoft came in a far fourth through sixth place. According to the comScore report, 60% of all internet users watched online videos with an average of 39 videos per month on MySpace.

A company called “Rookie Driver” believes that it is best if your teen driver has a flag and a large magnet on the side of their vehicle warning boadly warning other drivers “of your inexperienced new teen driver.” Created by teens and for teens, the Rooke Driver in Training Alert Products alert other drivers that your teen only has their permit. For only $30 (haha) you can warn other drivers with 1 window flag and 3 car magnents. Created by teens, this product is a complete joke but well worth checking out for a quick laugh or two.

By clicking very fast on Digg comments you can either Digg or Bury them multiple times (as many as three times) by clicking fast. Check out the video.

I never knew where the YouTube.com headquarters were but apparently this kid named Kelly Magovern has and he produced a video and interviewed a bunch of people with his semi ghetto accent. I also would have never believed the YouTube headquarters is run out of a unmarked white building with a glass window and nothing else. The best part is that no one he interviews outside the YouTube.com headquarters know what YouTube.com is. I guess thats just California for you. They’re not “good with computers.”

Straight from the Brit’s come this great commercial for Women’s Health Magazine featuring a woman answering what she thinks is a vibrating phone (and puts it up to her ear) but turns out to be her pearl vibrator. How clever!

A few days ago I reported on a full page fold out magazine advertisement for Apple’s “Get a Mac” campaign. Today, I was able to hunt down the associated television commercial for the “Get a Mac” campaign.

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This is an excellent represenation of taking advertisement to a level that will truely get people talking. The advertisement features what appears to be a very obsese representation of Marilyn Manson on stage if he were in fact viewed through the lenses of “Victory Company Binoculars.” The print advertisement was developed for ZEISS binoculars with the tag line “Victory Company Binoculars: See Everything 10 Times Bigger.” The ad was developed by TBWA in Paris, France.

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