Stephen Colbert recently suggested that viewers of The Colbert Report futz around with this Wikipedia entry on elephants. The result was a couple of hundred modifications to the entry (click on the “history” tab to view them) and this notice now placed atop the page:

“Because of recent vandalism or other disruption, editing of this article by anonymous or newly registered users is disabled (see semi-protection policy). Such users may discuss changes, request unprotection, or create an account.”

Colbert has a pretty Web-savvy audience. Seems to me that if Wikipedia can withstand this sort of an assault, that the integrity of its information should continue to remain at least as good as any other encyclopedia out there.

You have to try this latest piece of Snakes on a Plane silliness: this cool application that lets you send a personalized message in the voice of Samuel L. Jackson to any phone number you want.

(I would have liked it better if “muthuh#%$&!n’ snakes” was somehow incorporated into it, but it’s still pretty good.)

Be sure to try it now, though, before New Line is forced to pull this offline due to something nutty — like tens of thousands of Snakes on a Plane messages choking the White House switchboard.

AUGUST 5 UPDATE: Looks like the White House is safe: The application is programmed to allow only one call to any given number.

OCTOBER 10 UPDATE: The application link above isn’t working anymore. Learn more, though, over at the Varitalk site.

Takeaway for marketers: When all is said and done, Snakes on a Plane will replace The Blair Witch Project as the go-to case study for marketing a movie online.

“Always laugh when you can. It is cheap medicine.”
—Lord Byron

Steve Hall over at Adrants alerts us to Agency.com using this YouTube video as part of their pitch to get the Subway account. Even if you can’t endure all nine minutes and 21 seconds, be sure to check out the comments.

After watching it, I can’t say they strike me as the kind of creative group I’d like to be working with closely on a long-term basis. Now these guys, on the other hand …

AUGUST 3 UPDATE: This site from Agency.com is worth a visit, too.

This article is kind of interesting, but not necessarily for the information in it. Check out the headline: “Search Marketing: The new, hip way to reach your target audience.” Would have been quite the newsbreaker … in 1998. (Or 1963, given the use of the word “hip.”)

Seriously, though, it’s a worthwhile reminder: As steeped in this stuff as some marketers in general and online marketers in particular tend to be, there’s a whole population of professional marketers out there for whom the online world remains a vast uncharted territory.