Earlier last week I was driving into work listening to a local morning show talking about the phenomenon of “Bros Icing Bros”.  I sat and listened to what people were doing to one another and was mildly amused at the thought of this.  The rules of the game are as follows: Buy Smirnoff Ice and present it to one of your bros in any manner.  Your bro must instantly get on one knee and chug the Smirnoff Ice on the spot regardless of setting. However, a bro can “ice block.” If a bro is presented with a Smirnoff Ice but came “packin’ with his own ice,” then the initial bro must drink both Smirnoff Ices. 

So after hearing about this story last week I had forgotten about it until I open up today’s edition of Ad Age and one of the stories is about the “Icing” game.  Much of the discussion surrounding this story was the question if Smirnoff was responsible for creating this viral phenomenon.  Smirnoff has stated that they had nothing to do with this, but what a great ride it must have been for them.  All of this PR and added desire to purchase this malt beverage just so you can play a joke on a friend has created quite the buzz.  I think this has been a positive development for the Smirnoff brand.  What do you think?

I had visions of sharing with you some of the best nursing home and eldercare ads out there in this post today. Problem is, I can’t find them - that wouldn’t surprise me too much except that fabulous Brogan intern, Morgan, couldn’t find them either - and she can find anything.

But it looks like healthcare marketers in this realm have identified interactive as a great space to be in (I agree - I’m there, and I’m the target), and there is some fierce competition in paid search - check out the the Google Adwords results for “Long term care insurance.”In fact, using spyfu.com, it looks like an average cost per click could be around $12!

And in somewhat unrelated news, I thought I’d share this terrific blog for those of you who find yourselves in my shoes. Thanks to the New York Times for filling this need.