Cool Hunting

Geared towards communications professionals, After These Messages is the perfect forum for anyone who has ever looked at an ad and thought "How can they sleep at night?" An online campaign, it allows members to review advertising and other forms of communication through both a creative and ethical lens. Once a piece of communication is reviewed, it’s placed on a New York magazine-style marketing matrix with the x-axis being “heaven/hell” and the y-axis being “hack/genius.” The free membership also entitles users to post advertisements, newspapers or magazines articles, packaging, photographs, political speeches, books and other pieces of communication for review. Members earn points for each action they take on the site which can be redeemed for After These Messages-branded swag, like a pillowcase emblazoned with the question "What did you do today?" (Also available here for $14.)

Officially launched on 25 September 2006, the site was created by Green Team, an advertising/communications agency that specializes in reaching the "Awakening Consumer, an educated, ethical, environmentally aware and economically powerful audience that uses its purchasing power to influence policy through the brands it supports." What better way is there to push advertising professionals and the rest of us to reflect on our day so that we'll have an answer when asked, "How do you sleep at night?"