Google released its year-end Zeitgeist (the tool that tells what people are looking for on the internet) today. The interesting thing for me was the fastest rising Global Queries. Sarah Palin, Obama, Beijing 2008 and people searching for Facebook login, Heath Ledger, Jonas Brothers tells me that people using the internet are obsessed with pop culture, and not necessarily weighty world topics, or even great products/brands. Today's top videos as reported on Ice Rocket support that claim.
When pop culture has such a grip on our attention( carrie fisher, call in gay day, cc sabathia...all hot on Google 12/10/2008) how does a brand, a specific product, an "unsexy" but worthy idea cut through the cluster? If who is playing for what sports team is more important than which brand is saving the world one green initiative at a time, then getting a brand/company message to cut through the pop culture noise, requires a great deal of creativity and some calculated risk on behalf of a brand.
When pop culture has such a grip on our attention( carrie fisher, call in gay day, cc sabathia...all hot on Google 12/10/2008) how does a brand, a specific product, an "unsexy" but worthy idea cut through the cluster? If who is playing for what sports team is more important than which brand is saving the world one green initiative at a time, then getting a brand/company message to cut through the pop culture noise, requires a great deal of creativity and some calculated risk on behalf of a brand. 
