Transparency & Creativity

Altitude Design Summit is happening this week in Salt Lake City. Most of these big blog conferences aren't my style, but this one is right up my alley. It's been fascinating following the coverage on Twitter thanks to the hashtag #altsummit. One of the panels yesterday was on advertising and giveaways and based on tweets there seems to be a split between seeing it as good/bad, or rather how it is used to drive revenue. While none of us are going to say we love advertising on blogs, I realize it's often a necessary evil. What I do mind is when every post seems like a paid advertisement and so over the top it's a turn off (and believe it or not, many bloggers charge companies to do giveaways on their site). This all brings about the issue of transparency in blogging...

When I saw this My Little Paris "street style" video, I like how it feels more like a collaboration than a commercial. Yes, it's promoting a product, but they've found a way to integrate the product into the style of the project/site, and it actually makes sense how it's being used. I also like the video because the project is a call for people to take street style photos (à la Garance Doré and The Sartorialist) with your iPhone. But I think I really like it because I think the girl in the red cape may just be my doppleganger. Watch the video here, it's quite charming. (You can submit pictures via your phone until February 3rd).

Have you seen any other creative marketing these days?