No phishing

As a public service, I thought it would be a good idea to illustrate what phishing looks like.

This e-mail arrived this morning and it stinks to high heaven. Never mind that the request is absurd and rife with sloppy grammar. Official Google correspondence never comes from a Gmail address.

As a side note, if you have a Gmail address, be sure to register it fully with Google. Google will shut down a Gmail account if its security has been breached. Once that happens you're screwed unless you filled out the contact information completely by associating a mobile number or alternative, non-Gmail e-mail address.

Should you find your Gmail account's been shut down there's a procedure in place to identify yourself and get it unlocked. Google will send you a message and on it will be a link that tells Google you want to claim your account and get it unlocked. Once they know you want to get back into your account, they will send an access code via text message or e-mail to a non-Gmail address. If they can't get that access code to you you're in for a whole lot of heartache. So if you're a Gmail user, add a mobile number to the account.

If they have a mobile number to work with, it takes about five minutes to get an account unlocked from my experience. Register those accounts!

Interesting mosaics from VetroVivo

VetroVivo is an Italian company with a new idea.

Their mosaics made their debut at Cersaie this year and I just found out about them the other day.

Their glass mosaics come in 18 individual shapes and there are 53 colors available in the entire collection. These mosaics have to be designed and they have to be set piece by piece.

It's an interesting idea and I like the fact that the grout plays as big a role in the appearance of these mosaics as do the glass pieces.

But in order to pull off some of the designs shown on their website, you'd end up skim coating an entire wall or surface with grout. You'd use a sanded grout obviously but I'm left wondering how well  wide swaths of skim-coated grout hold up to use and time.

Aside from that, these mosaics are really beautiful. Don't you think?

Would you install these VetroVivo mosaics in your own home?

The Queen won't friend me back

The other day I sent a friend request to Her Royal Highness, Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Windsor. It was a gesture of good faith and I looked forward to witty exchanges about Welsh Corgis and ingrate relatives. But alas and alack, I just learned that the Queen's not going to be responding to friend requests.

Madame, you wound me.

Here's another great ad campaign, this time from Merillat

Yesterday, I was Tweeting with the great Leah Thayer from Daily 5 Remodel. Leah interviewed me on Tuesday on part of a webinar series she's putting together about social media and the remodeling industry. Part of the sidebar conversation we were having on Tuesday dealt with remodeling industry marketing and advertising and we were continuing in that same vein on Twitter.

I have a relationship with a couple of Masco Brands, most notably Brizo Faucets and KraftMaid Cabinetry. In spite of that I can say without reservation that Masco Brands position themselves exceptionally well and as a whole they are in the forefront of whatever market segment those brands find themselves in.

Leah pointed out to me a video Merillat Cabinetry produced last year and one I'd all but forgotten about. The video in question is a fantastic example of a marketing video done right. Here it is.






Merillat made that video to introduce a contest they ran through 2009 called The Good Life Contest. People were encouraged to make a home video about what The Good Life means to them and the winner would be rewarded a complete kitchen makeover.

The contest went on for the better part of last year and the winning family ended up with the kitchen of their dreams. It was a pretty heart warming promotion.

But I keep coming back to this video. It's really great work and it does a great job of talking about cabinetry indirectly. Merillat's not a brand that's in the headlines very often but for this video and The Good Life contest the ought to be.





So what do you think? Is this kind of indirect marketing effective? Do you think it works? I don't have a dog in this particular race but I think it's an interesting topic. Is Merillat onto something?

Delta Faucet's TV ads keep raising the bar

Man, I remember singing along to this movie's title song like it was yesterday.




Although I have to admit Rose Royce's 1976 mega hit didn't exactly have staying power. Almost as soon as it peaked it went away to make room for Mary MacgGregor's Torn Between Two Lovers. I'll stop now before I date myself even further.

Anyhow, last year's ad for Delta Faucet's Pilar by Leo Burnett still gets my heart pumping.




Delta's follow up this year (also by Leo Burnett) is for the In2ition Shower and it breathes new life into Rose Royce's one and only chart topper to terrific effect.




Have you seen it?

I love the effects in addition to jiving to the theme song.

Here's how they did it.




Pretty slick Delta, good job! Check out the Rest of Delta's offerings on their website.