We’ve discussed how Brand Obama has been open to being appropriated by its supporters. Now other brands are jumping into what might be called the “O-conomy.”

Here are some products drawing on Obama’s brand equity.

In a Plea for Relevancy, Pepsi Steals Obama’s Logo

Business Week’s David Kiley writes,
“This is a special time in America—difficult and historic. This ad and its language comes off as a ripoff. Not an homage, but a ripoff. And it cheapens the ad and the campaign.”

Dollgate: “Marvelous Malia” and “Sweet Sasha”
The maker of Beanie Babies recently rolled out two dolls that look a lot like the Obama daughters. Ty now says it’s a coincidence, and they just just dug these alliterative names. The First Lady isn’t buying that.

Nanotechnology Promotes Itself By Making Smallest Ever Obama Images
After watching a long Reuters ad, you’ll see microscopic Obama images. I’m not sure I think one whit better about nanotech because of this, but it got coverage, which seems to have been the goal.

Audi Corners Inauguration Advertising
Audi was the exclusive sponsor of streaming live coverage of the ceremony on ABCNews.com, CBSNews.com, MSNBC.com, and WashingtonPost.com, and has purchased an eight-page “Progress Is Beautiful” newspaper insert. Hey look, an auto manufacturer spending like it’s 1999.

“Yes We Can” Perfume
Have other presidents had their own scents? Marketing “Eau de Reagan” just wouldn’t work, I suspect.

The Classic Obama Thong
The use of the word “classic” on Cafe Press somehow asserts this is a Yankee tradition.

The Head O’ State Presidential Pleasure Toy
Insert your comment here.  Is that change in your pocket or….oh, come on, you can do better than that!

It seems that Harvard Law Professor Charles Nesson has really put a bee in the RIAA’s bonnet. As part of the Sony BMG vs. Tenenbaum case, Nesson filed a motion to compel a deposition of Matthew Oppenheim, a legal heavy-hitter for the RIAA. As a result, the RIAA countered with the threat of certain sanctions under a federal rule in civil procedures dealing with “Failure to Make Disclosure or Cooperate in Discovery; Sanctions,” known as Rule 37.

Basicaly, Nesson is trying to compel testimony by Oppenheimer, who has represented the RIAA in many cases. The law firm of Holme Roberts & Owens, LLP, operating on behalf of the RIAA, believes such a motion is groundless, and would introduce the obvious problems associated with privileged communications.
Continued

Many have argued that the Internet put Obama over the victory threshold in the Presidential race. We’re starting to see this influence in the new administration’s policies and use of technology, which seem to recognize that people who use the web (and geeks) are a constituency.

Change Geeks Can Believe In
Jason Kottke notes the new robots.txt file at whitehouse.gov—down to a single “disallow” from more than 2,400 before inauguration. Some people judge their government by .txt files.

The White House Website Changed at Noon Inauguration Day.
The Obama web team rolled out their pretty new site. Jonathan Bailey of PlagiarismToday gives it a glowing B+.

Obama Seems to Give a Darn About Tech Policy
The Obama team has set a goal of responding to Freedom of Information Act Requests in a day, and with a presumption of openness. This is obviously a huge change. Additionally, whitehouse.gov responded to criticism about third party cookies being served on it with YouTube videos.

High expectations:
Four minute video on the promise of openness in government.

The more difficult reality:
Staff Finds White House in the Technical Dark Age

A different kind of high expectations:
Pot lovers storm change.gov with their top suggestion for change.


There is speculation Obama won’t appoint an IP-CZAR (or WHIPER), or that new ethics rules will eliminate all the obvious candidates. For the record, my hunch is he will make an appointment.

Blackberrys are in | Instant Messaging is Out
The Secret Service approved the President’s use of his Blackberry. Apparently the FBI uses them for secure communication.  However, Instant Messaging was curtailed, as the Presidential Records Act would require disclosure of every IM communiction five years after Obama leaves office.

Obama Speaks: The Din of Search Quiets
When Obama spoke on Inauguration day, Google searches noticably declined.

Yesterday, Google announced a limited time offer to bring its employees stock options back to par, by trading them for what their stock will be worth on March 2nd, 2009.

About 85% of Google’s (remaining) employees have stock options with a value which is, well, below zero. That is, their exercise price is higher than the market price.  I can say from experience that keeping options above water help preserve a firm’s entrepreneurial mindset.

This will cost Google approximately $460 million over the remaining vesting period for these shares, which ranges from six months to five years. That’s what Google’s board is ready to pay to keep staff motivated, and preserve some of the tech-start-up mentality that can fade with corporate growth.

Some months back, the Monster Cable company (not to be confused with Monster.com) filed a suit against Monster Mini Golf of Rhode Island. It seems that Monster Cable (not to be confused with Monster Energy Drinks) felt that the public would become catastrophically confused between “stereo cables” and a “chain of glow-in-the-dark wicked-cool mini-golf courses in New England.”

Monster Cable (not to be confused with Pixar’s “Monsters, Inc.”) seems to have a track record of frivolous suits (e.g. Monster Sound Recording, Monster Vintage clothing and Blue Jeans Cable.)

However, Monster Cable (not to be confused with Monster Trucks) has decided to drop its suit. In a post-settlement letter sent to the owners of Monster Mini Golf by Noel Lee, founder of Monster Cable (not to be confused with Cookie Monster):

“I will say that this is a landmark kind of situation, as public opinion wins over what is the right thing to do for trademark protection of a famous mark. We have made the decision that public opinion, and that of our valued customers is more important than the letter of the law that requires us to prevent the dilution of our mark and risk losing it.”

Such a load of manure. Clearly, no company would cede a vital corporate asset for “public opinion.” This pathetic face-saving measure by Monster Cable (not to be confused with Monster Park in San Francisco) simply underscores the need for some first-line-of-defense against frivolous lawsuits. I don’t know, maybe the legal equivalent to the Green Monster at Fenway?

Avatars may not be taxed directly yet, but their creators may soon be.

China and Australia are already experimenting with taxation of sales in virtual worlds. Now, in the US, the IRS’s “taxpayer advocate” has encouraged the service to consider taxation in virtual worlds. The Washington Post suggests the IRS could improve voluntary tax compliance by issuing guidance on how taxpayers should report economic activities in virtual worlds.

It used to be that the only thing avatars needed to worry about was avoiding virtual packs of flying phalluses. But pretty soon they may also need chops in accounting, paying taxes, and avoiding virtual audits.

It seems that only natural disasters happen suddenly. Man-made ones begin small. The EU is adopting policies that secretly allow the police to hack into personal computers anywhere, at any time, for any reason – all without any judicial oversight, which would be the start of a man-made disaster.

According to the TimesOnline:

The hacking is known as “remote searching”. It allows police or MI5 officers who may be hundreds of miles away to examine covertly the hard drive of someone’s PC at his home, office or hotel room.

Material gathered in this way includes the content of all e-mails, web-browsing habits and instant messaging.

Under the Brussels edict, police across the EU have been given the green light to expand the implementation of a rarely used power involving warrantless intrusive surveillance of private property. The strategy will allow French, German and other EU forces to ask British officers to hack into someone’s UK computer and pass over any material gleaned.

Make no mistake – this is the equivalent of the police knocking down your door and entering your house at any time.
Continued

Web Videos of Oakland Shooting Fuel Protests “The devices people carry in their pockets give them the ability to turn what would normally be a case played out in the courtroom into one in which anyone with an Internet connection can serve as virtual judge and jury.” This both shows how online movements start, and how video has jumped from being a novelty to a standard tool in online discourse.

Israel’s Web 2.0 Strategy for Gaza War PR Israel is becoming increasingly tech-savvy, taking its war message to the blogosphere, using live webcams, social networking sites and YouTube to explain its assault on Gaza.

Amtrack Photo Contestant Arrested by Amtrack Police in Penn Station Amtrack marketing asks riders to photograph their trains; Amtrack police arrest them for doing so.

New York “Amazon Tax” Upheld by NY Supreme Court The court found that Amazon’s affiliate program created a sufficient nexus to allow it to be taxed for conducting business in the Empire State. Other states are certain to expand online taxes.

Massachusetts May Tax Internet Sales Governor Patrick supports a law that would collect taxes from Internet retailers. Because participation is voluntary, Massachusetts officials estimate the state would collect an additional $15 million in taxes a year.

Feds Want to Snoop on Your Dialing – Federal Judge Disagrees The Justice Department says it doesn’t need to a wiretap order to extract dialing noises from telephone calls in progress. A federal judge says otherwise.

Fake CNN Site Delivers Trojan An e-mail looks like it comes from CNN but links instead to a fake CNN Web page offering “graphic” video related to the Israel-Hamas conflict. Visitors are infected by a Trojan that steals sensitive data.

Your Front Door Managed Over the Web Lock company Schlage is launching a suite of products to allow over-the-Web control of a home’s locks, lights, and thermostats. Do you think just maybe there’s a built in back door, to give authorities access to, well, your back door.

Massachusetts Introduces Bill to Ban Non Compete Agreements for Employees We’ve described non-competes as the “DRM of human capital”, and cheered California’s recent banning of such agreements. Now the Bay State may join-in.

Dr. Dimitri Christakis of Seattle Children’s Research Institute and Dr. Megan Moreno of the University of Wisconsin analyzed MySpace profiles of 18-year-olds. Better than half contained information about high-risk behaviors: 41 per cent mentioned substance abuse, 24 per cent sexual behavior and 14 per cent violence.

Sex, drugs and violence on the minds of teens?  That’s just so surprising.

And further, no doubt, some portion of this is bravado. After all, can you imagine rap music without these topics?

The doctors describe the “high risk” behavior not necessarily as the acts themselves, but just writing about them publicly. The researchers note this could “lead to future problems with employers or universities.” Or perhaps being approached to engage in such behaviors.

I have no issue with the researchers who are gathering data, and frankly gaining some ink that could support future funding of their good work. However, Reuters, in reporting the research, accepts that engaging in known risky teenage behavior, and posting about such behavior, are similar despite the lack of stated evidence.

And that’s the rub. The research doesn’t attempt to quantify the results of such unwise online disclosures.  We know that teens should be more prudent. That’s not news. What if they are not? That’s what parents and policy makers need to know. And research published this week from the Harvard’s Berkman Center (see below) disagrees with this assertion.

Continued

Lexus believes it’s a good thing to speak to its customers about certain things occasionally, and that’s usually an indicator of excellent marketing. But of course, choosing the right communication channel can make all the difference.

USA Today reports:

[Toyota] announced Wednesday that new Lexus vehicles will start being delivered later this year with a system that includes capability for voice messages sent directly from the automaker to its drivers.

Called Lexus Insider, the service will let Lexus send audio messages to participating owners on whatever subject it chooses, from tips on making the best use of the vehicles’ features to suggestions for a scenic drive.

Toyota claims no verbal spam will be included, but they do say their messages will be targeted with such information as car model and zip code.

It remains to be seen how useful the information will be or if the user can set preferences not to be bothered with certain messaging. If done right, this can be an extraordinary marketing opportunity. Think of Lexus providing small bite-size audio tours about things of interest in your area, or anywhere you may choose to visit. A trip to Maine could be punctuated with a timely message about some festival in Ogunquit. A business trip from LA to Phoenix could be enhanced by an engaging description of the George S. Patton Memorial Museum in Chiriaco Pass, CA.

Continued