AIM away from IM ads

Today, social media and communication over the internet has become to prevalent that marketers are constantly looking for opportunities to throw their ads in the way of consumer traffic with the hopes they will be noticed... As an intern at a marketing firm, however, even I think its annoying when I sign onto AOL instant messenger, and half of the buddy list is made up of paid advertisements that simply make the program looked cluttered (not to mention slowing down the computer by using additional memory to run these ads.) In doing research, I was able to find directions on how to disable these advertisements through the AIM program itself. After giving it a try, I restarted AIM, and to my pleasant surprise, the clutter and 'noise' was all gone and just the program's standard buttons (and of course the buddy list) remained, a real treat if you ask me. I was able to see soo many friends at one glance with no scrolling; it honestly made my day. See the picture and/or follow the link to learn how to do this for yourself. Now, i'm a marketing major myself working for a reputable marketing agency in Boston, but sometimes the channels used to advertise are just too much to handle. Who would honestly think to look at an ad squished into an already small buddy list window that contains communication channels with people they know? These ads, at least in my opionin, are nothing more than an inconvenience and waste of space, and have no chance of competing against the screen names on my buddy list.

To remove Advertisements:

C:\Program Files\AIM6\services\imApp\veryour_version\content\uiPluginGadgets.box
Simply change the name of uiPluginGadgets.box; I changed it to uiPluginGadgets_.box

C:\Program Files\AIM6\services\imApp\veryour_version\content\bl\aolBuddyListAd.js
Open up this file in notepad, hit ctrl+f, and search for adcontainer. The first result is the one you want to change--change collapsed=false to collapsed=true.
Save and close the file.
To remove the plugin box at the bottom of your buddy list:
C:\Program Files\AIM6\services\imApp\veryour_version\content\bl\bl.js
Open up this file in notepad, hit ctrl+f, and search for ("adContainer").collapsed = false;. The first, and only, result is the one you want to change--change collapsed = false to collapsed = true.
Save and close the file. Fire up AIM to see if the ads are gone; if not, do the final step below.

Remove Plugin Box

Remove Ad Boxes

Gimme that Fillet-O-Fish

For those of you who have not been paying attention to commecrials over the last week or so, Boston Ad Agency Arnold has put out a McDonald's commercial advertising their special 'fillet-o-fish' in an abnoxiously viral ad. In the commercial, a fish mounted on the wall sings a catchy song that is infectious like the plague... give me that fillet-o-fish, gimme that fish... Definately one of the most annoying commecials i've seen in a while (up there with HeadOn) but over the last few days since seeing the commercial i'll admit that I cant stop singing the tune. At random times throughout the day I find myself singing it. So its easy to say, yes the ad does a great job in getting people to remember the product and spreading the word, but at the end of the day, does seeing a dead fish mounted on a wall singing a catchy tune really make you want to go out and buy a fast food fish sandwich from McDonald's??? I would argue no, and furthermore that the ad is really only good for comedic value. Either way... GIVE ME THAT FILLET-O-FISH! GIMME THAT FISH!

Mark by Ben

So the story goes... a man was laid off from his job of almost 10 years... so whats next? His 14-year old son took the situation into his own hands, creating first a youtube video, and then a website to help his dad find a new job (website has dad's resume attached.) As of now the youtube video alone has over 54,000 views, and the website im sure has just as many if not more... with new technology and the simplicity of social media tools in web 2.0, the limits are seriously endless --- Video resumes as they stand are awkward and a come off a little 'showy,' but I wonder if we'll start seeing trends of 'video-resume' style videos that are less formal, giving more depth and insight into people's real lives popping up on youtube???