Do you want that to hurt now or later?

It's bacon! Bacon, bacon, bacon!
Despite being one of the worst things you can eat, it's on all of this year's food and flavor trend lists. It's in chocolates and cocktails. Even in envelope flaps and lip balm. From the guys who brought the world bacon salt, here's more smokin'-good (and bonus, kosher) products http://www.jdfoods.net/products/mmmvelopes.php . (source: Elaine.) And a bacon-obsessive's blog http://bacontoday.com/ complete with dessert recipes.

Must do better
Clients don't think their traditional agencies are doing a very good job of digital. In a recent survey, half gave them poor to so-so ratings. Only 3% said they were excellent. Check out the full "Clients' Perspective on Agencies" study here http://www.adweek.com/aw/photos/stylus/125186-Survey.pdf (source: Adweek/RSW US, 2/8/10)

Kid kredit
Now your child, no matter how young, can buy stuff like imaginary Alpo ($3) or a rustic bungalow ($333) for online game pets through Kwedit.com. Game fans, mostly tween girls, can pay off their fake purchases at 7-Eleven. Foo Pets, with about 1 million current members and 20K-ish joining every day, encourages participants to take their responsibility to care for their fake pets seriously because they're real online. Americans spent over $1 billion on virtual goods last year. Kwedit's founders hope their credit system becomes more widely accepted, so even though credit to minors is non-binding, they are compiling credit scores on all their little clients. Seriously, have we learned nothing? (source: NY Times, 2/7/10) http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/07/business/07digi.html?ref=business

Typo of the week
Yikes. Thank you for a good laugh, Marketing Daily

Tubas rock
Every generation needs a marching band pop song. Here's OK Go's version with the Notre Dame band http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJKythlXAIY (source: The Very Short List, 2/11/10).
For those of you too young to remember the last one, here's Fleetwood Mac with USC http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHRWi6vSV-E&feature=PlayList&p=00CFC80D27F6C6BC&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=36

At least it wasn't Go Daddy
This is the TV commercial with the largest viewing audience of all time. 116, 231,920 people watched it Super Bowl Sunday http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNH2lCoau-k . (source: Media Daily, 2/10/10)

Bush nostalgia
Proving once again that you don't need a big budget when you have the internet and a compelling conversation-starter, this lone billboard in rural MN spawned one of the most-researched topics on Google Tuesday and has generated a ton of press. (source: Christian Science Monitor, 2/10/10)

You're glowing
Especially in the afternoon, around your lips and cheeks. Humans are bioluminescent. (source: Discover, March 2010)

53
According to cognitive researchers, that's the age when we're at the peak of our financial decision-making prowess -- experience meets brain cell freshness. There's still time to plot your killer deal. (source: PBS Nightly Business Report, 2/8/10)

WOM less powerful
The recession has made us more skeptical, even of our friends. Only 25% of us think peers are a credible source of information, down from 45%. WOM is still a useful tool in the marketing arsenal, but more people are going to need more supporting evidence before they make their purchasing decisions. (source: Ad Age/Edelman Trust Barometer, 2/8/10)

Not tasty
The first time I saw this ad for honey & yogurt online, I thought it was clever. The honey drips down, but the yogurt doesn't proving it premise of being "ridiculously thick." But now that I've noticed that the honey invades the ad below it, in this case running down the model's arm, I'm just ooked. They were going for sexy and didn't get there. Knowing that Beeberg & Co. is a fake company and part of the yogurt ad doesn't make it any better. (source: NY Times.com)

Rare and cold
Scientists sent to conserve the hut used in 1909 by Ernest Shackelton during his failed attempt to reach the South Pole have rescued his stash of whiskey and brandy. The current master blender for the whiskey brand Whyte & Mackay doesn't know how well the hooch will have cellared under those extreme conditions, but he's going to attempt to reverse engineer it to rediscover the long-lost blend. (source: NY Times, 2/5/10)