According to the LA Times, the artist – Cyrus Yazdani – has been sentenced to three years and eight months in [...]]]> According to Mashable’s Adam Ostrow, a graffiti artist in Los Angeles who climbed onto a freeway overpass to spray paint his tag has been arrested after police discovered his YouTube video showing the entire incident:

According to the LA Times, the artist – Cyrus Yazdani – has been sentenced to three years and eight months in jail and ordered to pay $117,196 in damages resulting from 32 acts of felony vandalism.

Here’s the video, for anyone curious to see what goes into freeway tagging. I was surprised to see it happen in broad daylight. (I always assumed these guys would want to do their thang under cover of darkness.)

This incident shows just how quickly law enforcement is realizing the power of social media to help it detect criminal activity.

via YouTube Fame Lands Graffiti Artist in Jail [Video].

Although social media marketing is clearly on the rise, it remains a relatively small part of most marketing budgets. [Association of National Advertisers]  reports that the bulk of spending will still go to maintaining a company website, [...]]]> Social media is slowly, but surely infiltrating marketing budgets. Its favored platforms? Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Ostrow explains–

Although social media marketing is clearly on the rise, it remains a relatively small part of most marketing budgets. [Association of National Advertisers]  reports that the bulk of spending will still go to maintaining a company website, search marketing, and online display ads.

That said, social media (including blogs) remains the quickest growing marketing segment, and as we recently reported, it’s expected to grow to a $3.1 billion industry by 2014.

Expect marketers to get more savvy along the way as they learn the subtleties of getting social.

via STUDY: Two-Thirds of Marketers Now Use Social Media.

In a manner similar to Starbucks’ recent efforts to establish its grassroots origins, Gap is emphasizing its heritage over innovation:

The campaign, which gets under way on [...]]]> In an effort to breathe new life into its brand, Gap Inc. is engaging in a centralized re-branding campaign in which social media will play a significant role.

In a manner similar to Starbucks’ recent efforts to establish its grassroots origins, Gap is emphasizing its heritage over innovation:

The campaign, which gets under way on Thursday, promotes the newly named 1969 Premium Jeans line with the theme “Born to fit,” which lends its name to a microsite, or special Web site (borntofit.com).

The year in the name is a tip of the hat to the 40th anniversary of Gap, which opened in 1969 selling Levi’s jeans and records. (Gap’s own jeans label arrived in 1974, and the chain sold its last denim made by Levi Strauss & Company in 1991.)

The campaign is meant to convey that Gap has “taken our heritage, denim, and re-energized it,” said Ivy Ross, executive vice president for marketing at the Gap division in San Francisco. “It’s like building a new house.”

Although the campaign features several social networking tools, including–

• Facebook fan page
• YouTube page
• iPhone application

–it is not limited to social media. The campaign will integrate traditional TV and print outlets. This holistic, integrative marketing approach is exactly what most companies fail to undertake. Instead, quick-fix efforts are greenlit in a desperate attempt to “get social”, rather than consider how social media fits into the organization’s broader marketing goals.

While the campaign is just getting underway, I’m going to stick my neck out and predict it will be a huge success for Gap.

via Advertising – Covering Many Bases for a Brand of Blue Jeans – NYTimes.com.

The left side is dedicated to exploration: finding videos to watch through search and browse. The right side is all about organization of the videos that matter most to you: your subscriptions, your recent viewing history, and your [...]]]> YouTube redesigned its masthead yesterday, increasing the prominence of its site search box. On its blog, YouTube explains:

The left side is dedicated to exploration: finding videos to watch through search and browse. The right side is all about organization of the videos that matter most to you: your subscriptions, your recent viewing history, and your own uploads.

This latest move illustrates that search and discovery remain top priorities for YouTube, which was acquired by Google in October 2006 for a whopping $1.65 billion stock swap.

The renewed emphasis on search reminds me of similar moves taken by comparison shopping engines like PriceGrabber and Shopzilla, which significantly increased the size and prominence of their search boxes over the previous 24 months.

YouTube Blog: Masthead Undergoes Redesign.