Kodak just did something cool.
I've been waiting a long time to say that.

The company that has provided me a means to live the last six years has also had it's head up it's ass most of that time about anything digital, advertising related or remotely 21st century. But now they've hitched their star to the same agency that did that "Elf Yourself" thing for OfficeMax last year and come up with "Make Me Super". You upload your photo, and WHAM! Before you know it you're a full-fledged super hero complete with theme song (see mine here). I started passing this around the office this afternoon and I fully expect 50 super videos in my inbox tomorrow (wouldn't it be great if Kodak had planted the seeds of this viral site by informing it's 25,000 US employees about it so they wouldn't have to read about it somewhere else? or does that violate the "rule of viral-ness"?) Of course, you can buy customized mugs, mouse pads, etc., as well as upload your super picture to your Kodak Gallery account. What? You don't have a Kodak Gallery account? Well now would be a good time to start one, wouldn't it?

Labels: awesome stuff, funny, kodak, make me super

It's now been five days since the tornado hit Windsor, Colorado (see my previous post here). The Kodak plant where I work is still closed because the power hasn't been restored and there is some roof damage. I went in to work this morning (not realizing it was closed) and found the hallways dimly lit by generator power and numerous offices with trash cans collecting the water leaking through the roof.

Help out the relief effort by donating to the Red Cross or United Way

Here's a short video of what it looks like outside my building:



Here's one of the stop signs entering the plant.

I then drove through Windsor on hwy 257 and here's what it looks like:

Labels: kodak, windsor tornado

I was microwaving my lunch at about 11:30 am at Kodak in Windsor when the hail started. Everyone was watching out the windows as it went from pea sized to golf balls to baseball sized. Then it stopped and they announced a tornado warning. We went to the lockers rooms in the center of the building and the lights went out around 11:50. We stayed there for an hour and then were moved to another more central room. We were let out about 1:45pm and found trees uprooted all around the parking lot. Many of my co-workers had windows broken out in their cars and one car was actually forced under an SUV from several parking spots away. One employee got stuck in our lobby when the power went out and shut off our electrically controlled doors. He witnessed the tornado passing through and described it as a "total blackout". The tornado's path went down highway 257 which is about a mile west of the building I was in at Kodak. Given that the tornado was reported to be between 1/2 and 1 mile wide we're lucky we weren't hit worse. On my way home I was redirected trying to get back into Greeley and passed by some houses that were completely leveled just a few miles southeast of the State Farm building across highway 34. There were also some irrigation systems and high voltage power lines tossed to the ground. It appears most of my friends in Windsor are safe, although some have very damaged houses. See the video below to get a sense of the tornado.


Watch at around 3:10 to see the twister hit the state farm building in the background.

Labels: kodak, windsor tornado

Find out what people think of your brand or ad your own thoughts over at Brand Tags. They produce tag clouds for brands based on words or phrases people submit. Pretty interesting stuff. Like if I type in Kodak you see words like Old, Film, and Dead in great big font (more people said it) and digital in itty bitty font, meaning few people said it (yeah, that whole turnaround is going great!). (via AdFreak)

Labels: brand tags, cool sites, kodak

Disclaimer: I work for Kodak.
That said I'm willing to admit that Kodak missed the boat on digital and have been sluggish at best in turning things around. But I have to give credit where it's due and I think this spot, based on Kodak's celebrity apprentice hoopla, has something to it. Also, while we're talking about them, an interesting look at Kodak from Adrants.

Labels: celebrity apprentice, kodak