Returning back to the best ideas of 2007, I will discuss in more detail one idea from the NYTimes list, which definitely is noteworthy not so much for its originality as for its impact. In October 2007, Radiohead released their new album “ In Rainbows ” on-line. As the frontman of the band, Thom Yorke stated in an interview with Wired magazine , that it had been a natural and successful choice even though only 38% of those who downloaded the album chose to pay for it. This was not the first time a band made their album available in such a way;however this occasion will be quoted by many, because this was done by one of the world’s most popular bands. Such a step was a big nail in the record industry’s coffin whose first nails were driven by Paul McCartney, Prince, later joined by Madonna and...

Continuing the retrospect of 2007, it is absolutely (!) worth taking a look at the New York Times selection of the 50 best ideas of the year. This is a highly interesting (and long) list from which I have selected only a few. Thumbs up to those who will read all 50! (It will require both curiosity and registering on the NYT Web site). Please write below which of these 50 ideas inspired you the most… Next time I’ll reveal my best idea of 2007. P.S. By the way, one of the most natural ideas in 2007 was introduced by the New York Times themselves, namely, after several years of hesitation they no longer charge a subscription fee for reading their online portal.

There is no better way of seeing into the New Year than watching this classic movie followed by a thorough “auditing” of the year passed. The dominant Internet search engine Google provided a glimpse of what's been on our collective consciousness and thus reflected in search queries during the last year. Elegant graphs show levels of on-line interest in the most significant events that shook the US pop culture in 2007 – death of Anna Nicole Smith, Virginia Tech massacre, leaking of private nude photos of teen pop star and TV series actress Vanessa Hudgens, and the death of Luciano Pavarotti. The nature of man has not changed in 2007 and is the same both at the other end of the world and also in Latvia;this can be clearly seen when looking at Latvian magazines at every newsstand or petrol station....

One of the ways in which ad-makers (“communication makers”) react to an audience that is trying to isolate itself is to create “sticky” ideas… or to use already well-known and proven “sticky” ideas. One such example is the following Dr. Pepper commercial which uses the song “Chocolate Rain”, which has become an Internet legend. Why invent something new if you can collaborate with an Internet celebrity? P.S. A good idea for spending an evening is entertaining yourself with the PC World review of this and other viral legends – “ Greatest Hits of Viral Video ”.

The promise I made in my previous post (to write about my best idea of the last year) turned out to be a very difficult one, mainly because it is very hard to separate the ideas of a planner ( account planner, strategic planner ) from the ideas of others. I think that in the last year I succeeded in writing a number of good consumer briefs, however it is clear that a good brief is not a goal in itself - the quality of a brief can be judged only from the effectiveness of advertising. And I leave the assessment of the effectiveness of the 4 campaigns submitted by DDB to the jury of the Password contest. I will outline a very simple yet efficient idea which during the year has certainly helped create a favourable environment for creative solutions to the client’s business problems. Early last year, I regularly...