Posted on July 3rd, 2009 by Dan Davis
The Internet. The greatest enabler perhaps ever known. The ability to acquire and distribute information at a furious and daunting pace has proven to be the downfall of many a business, political candidate, celebrity etc. However, those who seize control have experienced unprecedented success. Capturing the minds of those fluent in Internet language proves to be the primary goal of advertisers for the future.
In May, the International Society of Human Rights (ISHR) released a group of 3 ads which succinctly and adroitly summarize both the fears and triumphs of widespread Internet distribution.
The political implications are clear: target and mock those who…
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Posted on July 3rd, 2009 by Jeff Louis
Much anticipated, the switch to Digital Television, or DTV, finally took place on June 12, 2009. Despite over 1.5 years of warning, many found themselves with no programmings that fateful day. The original switch date of February 17, 2009 was pushed back due to the “lack of preparedness” of over 10% of US households. The whole effort to switch to DTV, according to the Federal Communications Commission, began on January 23, 2001.
Eight years of planning, $10 billion dollars invested, and you’re now looking at it. Whew! Glad that’s over. Reminds me of Y2K.
Yet, it’s not really funny. Especially for the…
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Posted on July 2nd, 2009 by Rena Prizant
Yesterday marked the largest rollout in Starbucks history. The three-year project is complete and ready for the public. What was implemented? Not a price reduction.
Starbucks is redoing its food menu in an effort to offer “real” food (i.e. no artificial flavors, dyes and trans-fats). The bakery case is getting a 90% overhaul.
What brought on this sudden rollout? Mayhaps it’s the fact that McDonald’s has been promoting its McCafe like crazy. Perhaps it’s the chain’s 8% sales and 77% earnings drop since last quarter. Either way, I think Starbucks is taking the right steps in the wrong direction.
I am speaking as…
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Posted on June 30th, 2009 by Jeff Louis
Last summer, the price of gas skyrocketed. At one point, in Chicago, the cost to fill up my little car was $4.60 per gallon for premium. Thankfully, the price cooled down as the recession heated up, leaving lower prices for gasoline and less buying power for the dollar. Hmm.
Although prices have risen somewhat this summer (at least here in Chicago), it doesn’t seem to have had quite the same impact. This is partly due to the absence of media coverage that pounded the cost of gas into our heads every day, just to let us us know how bad the…
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Posted on June 30th, 2009 by Jeff Louis
How does White Collar crime work? What if the safety harness on the roller coaster broke? What are 10 inventions we use daily that were first used at NASA? How does WiFi operate? Who is Aaron Fotheringham?
Aaron Fotheringham is the seventeen year-old athlete featured in HowStuffWorks.com’s online and television ad campaign in support of the popular website. The spots have been released on YouTube and will also be seen on TV starting this week. And, it’s not who Aaron is; it’s what he does:
Aaron, born with spina bifida and dubbed Wheelz, lives in Las Vegas, Nevada (which may play a part in…
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Posted on June 30th, 2009 by Rena Prizant
Oh gossip, the greatest communication tool ever (next to Twitter, of course). But enough about that. You’ll never believe what I just read.
Microsoft may be selling off Razorfish, as reported in The Wall Street Journal. A mere two years after the purchase, rumors are spreading about a sale to WPP. The clues?
- RF employees have still not been switched over to Microsoft benefits (I know large corporations are slow, but two years?).
- The RF office in San Francisco was instructed not to order new business cards (how will the employees remember who they are?!).
So, what are we thinking? Are the rumors true? …
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Posted on June 29th, 2009 by Sara Barton
I have been writing on a freelance basis and have gotten to sit in on some rather interesting meetings with clients. I am no stranger to client meetings – I have successfully pitched multi-million dollar campaigns to clients, but nothing prepared me for what I saw this week when I sat in on a pitch meeting.
The meeting was between a small Internet development company and a business coach. Being the web company’s writing consultant, they thought I could lend some credibility to the subject of blogging, so I went, hoping that I could add some value to what was sure to…
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Posted on June 29th, 2009 by Jeff Louis
What do you call a company with agency capabilities that is not an agency, but only offers “agency services” as part of a whole range of other services? Enter Active International, a “Corporate Trading Company.” If your company happens to be within the Forbes Top 1000, you may know it by name.
Not me. While talking to them on the phone, I felt like a complete idiot. Active International has made significant media buys, ranking them with, or close to, the top media spenders in the industry. Not only did I not know what it is, I had not the slightest…
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Posted on June 29th, 2009 by Megan Green
Advertising and marketing have taken new directions with the recent integration of social media and consumer advocacy. Agencies have been forced to rethink their ideas and strategies to reach their consumers. One such agency, 22squared, has done just that with the help of its SVP Director of Brand Planning, Brandon Murphy.
I had the opportunity to catch Mr. Murphy on the phone this past Friday and ask him about the company’s model, The Friendship Model: How to Build Brand Advocacy in a Consumer-Driven World.
“I think that basically it’s an approach for brands to build advocacy. When it was first introduced, it was…
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Posted on June 29th, 2009 by Dan Davis
I first stumbled across the displayed ad in Washington D.C. on the side of a bus stop. Struck by the image of George Bush, I stopped to survey it. Even as a Bush critic I was somewhat taken aback. Taking one of the most memorable images which represents a sliver of the ultimate failure of the previous administration seems brilliant on the surface. The ad and its organization, changeAidsobama.org, are certainly achieving the type of alluring controversy it intended. However, is the ad successful?
Despite its stop-you-in-your-tracks appeal, does the ad effectively communicate the negligence of government (more largely, the country)…
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Posted on June 29th, 2009 by Jeff Louis
Google, the leader in Search Engine technology, handles approximately 66% of all search engine traffic. So much, in fact, that when Michael Jackson died and his name spiked, Google thought that it was a coordinated attack.
Much like AT&T did two decades ago, Google is fighting back over anti-trust allegations although no formal investigation is underway.
Dana Wagner, the Googler known as “senior competition counsel” explains in the New York Times that “competition is just a click away.”
Google has been on the PR warpath, partially due to regulators watching its every move. Other tech companies such AT&T, IBM, Intel, and Microsoft suffered much…
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Posted on June 26th, 2009 by Deanna Lazzaroni
In a world where clutter is king, advertisers everywhere are doing their best to break through the noise. A word of advice (or three) — keep it simple.
That’s exactly what Australian agency Cummins Nitro did in their campaign for Tourism Queensland.
Challenged to “create international awareness of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef” and drive tourism there, the local agency executed a campaign that placed classified ads in newspapers across the globe. Unusual? Not if you’re looking to fill a position for “The Best Job in the World.”
The job profile called for an island caretaker whose responsibilities would involve menial…
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Posted on June 26th, 2009 by Rena Prizant
I am loving the porno wars fast food company’s have introduced into our advertising. While only a few have been spotted here in our U.S. of A, international Advertising is running ramped with the integration of food and sex.
I’m not offended — as a woman, a professional, and an advertiser. In fact, I am completely digging this. When times get desperate, living organisms seek whatever means necessary to survive. Just take a look at any of the popular “survival” shows. So, why should advertising be the exception. Hasn’t advertising always been the medium to push the envelope, to blur the…
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Posted on June 26th, 2009 by Jinean Robinson
Getting in the middle of a conversation that’s already going on, versus creating a conversation and asking consumers to come in is the key to effective advertising.
Doing the latter is as silly as the following conversation:
Person 1: Hey, did you hear about Michael Jackson?
Person 2: Yeah, I loved him. I already miss him!
Brand: Hey, you over there! Did you know most of insecticides have nerve poison that causes a cockroach to have muscular spasms that make it flip on its back? Without muscular coordination the cockroach cannot right itself and eventually dies in its upside down-position. Wanna buy some bug…
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Posted on June 26th, 2009 by Steffan Postaer
I attended the USA Today dinner honoring all the US judges participating in the Cannes festival. As it is every year, the dinner was at famed restaurant, Le Moulin de Mougins just outside of Cannes.
At the event were many of our country’s leading advertising and marketing professionals, including the following: Bob Greenberg, Gerry Graph (jury), Michael Roth, David Lubars (head juror), Tom Bernadin, Ty Montegue, Howard Draft, Tom Bedecarre and dozens of others whose names and faces you’d recognize. Other jurors invited were Rich Silverstein, Nick Brien and David Droga. In addition, I was able to identify various marketing big…
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Posted on June 25th, 2009 by Megan Green
We all know social media is changing the way we connect with people, but it’s also affecting the way we communicate with each other; that is when we actually speak instead of text, tweet or write on someone’s wall. I have one friend in particular, who tends to use the phrase “O.M.G.” for everything (for those few out there who do not know what that stands for, it’s “Oh my God”) in normal conversations.
At first this didn’t bother me much; however, it’s now affecting more than just my personal online life. Even getting asked out on a date no longer…
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Posted on June 25th, 2009 by Tommy Liu
What can you do with $70 and some social networking? How about produce an interesting zombie flick from the point of view of the zombie that will wow audiences and critics at the Cannes Film Festival and then have the rights of the film bid on by Japanese as well as American distributors? According to CNN, this is what is happening to the no-budget film Colin from emerging British director Marc Price. That’s right, Price made a film for $70.
How in the world is that possible? “The approach was to say to people, ‘OK guys, we don’t have any money, so bring…
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Posted on June 25th, 2009 by Steffan Postaer
“We’ve created a system that rewards work that is increasingly unknown to anyone outside the business. We have become connoisseurs of esoterica. And in the process, we’re becoming more about us, and less about changing the world.
“We are becoming irrelevant award-chasers.” – Jeff Goodby, in AdAge
There was a comment on my blog, Gods of Advertising, from an anonymous person that said, “awards shows (such as Cannes) are for people who like the smell of their own farts.”
A revolting notion but is it a criticism? First off, I believe people do secretly marvel at the odor they are capable of emitting!…
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Posted on June 24th, 2009 by Steffan Postaer
Here are some of the big Lion winners for direct marketing, promotion and PR, by client: The Obama campaign, Haagan Dazs, Tourism Queensland, Guinness, and DeBeers Diamonds. There were others but the above-mentioned fared particularly well. Tourism Queensland managed to get the Grand Prix in both PR and Direct.
Look at that list again. What do these seemingly disparate interests have in common, besides excellent campaigns? They are all very wonderful things.
Even if one voted against him, the idea of President Obama was pretty spectacular. Electing a black President elicited tears of joy even from die hard Republicans… some anyway. And…
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Posted on June 23rd, 2009 by Jeff Louis
And now, from the lighter side of advertising…
Kush Support is a company that manufactures and markets what they call “breast supports.” These are not your surgically prepped and sterile packets of silicone or saline installed at the local cosmetic body shop. Nor are they fitted items of clothing meant to hold everything in place during duress.
No, the supports were developed to help pregnant women, women with implants or large breasts, and women with wrinkles in the bust area get a full night’s rest. The inspiration behind the Kush came when founder, Cathinka Chandler,
“began to notice the appearance of wrinkles in my…
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Posted on June 23rd, 2009 by Steffan Postaer
All right folks, this is my official Cannes guide to people watching. For the sake of this discussion, we will be limiting our research to only advertising professionals migrating here for the International Advertising Festival.
As you know, species from all over the world congregate on this balmy coast to network and compete against one another for Lions. The creatures have much in common, but let us focus on the differences, for that will make them easier to tell apart.
We begin with the European varieties, as Cannes falls within their home continent. By far the most common, the Anglos (UK, German,…
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Posted on June 22nd, 2009 by Steffan Postaer
The first time I went to Cannes, my agency booked me into a villa. A villa in the South of France! You can imagine how excited I was. Alas, though my trip had many high-points, said villa was not one of them. The accommodation was a warren of un-air-conditioned cubbyholes dug into the side of a hill, many kilometers away from town. The property did have an outdoor Jacuzzi.
Unfortunately, it was almost constantly inhabited by a group of drunk,
sunburned Germans. Vile in every way, I never went near them or it. I did, however, befriend a mouse-cat that had found…
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Posted on June 21st, 2009 by Jeff Louis
It’s one of those tough predicaments: your client wants to be the spokesperson for your new TV spots…well, his new spots. He’s the man driving the company-the brand-no matter how much time you’ve put into it.
A very charismatic and charming man, unfortunately he’s “got a face for radio,” standing 5′ 5″ tall with wispy hair that seems to start in his ears and wind it’s away around the back of his bald head. From the looks of it, the ears have never seen a trim. (Yummy…)
You weigh the options; he’s definitely not stupid, so the whole “we need a perfect…
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Posted on June 19th, 2009 by Jeff Louis
Beyond Madison Avenue requested submissions on progressive action in trying times, and the response thus far has been respectable. There really isn’t a choice left to agencies; stealing the title from a book by Timothy Labadie, it’s time to Evolve or Die
Truth be told, the industry may never recover. This week, the PricewaterhouseCoopers’ (PwC) Global Entertainment and Media Outlook: 2009-2013 report was released. It states that PwC doesn’t foresee ad spending returning to last year’s levels until 2013 (still $15 billion down), and although the levels may return, the media mix is likely to look a lot different. Online advertising is expected to…
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Posted on June 19th, 2009 by Deanna Lazzaroni
If you’re looking for another reason to cry yourself to sleep tonight over this whole “recession” thing, here’s a whole nine minutes chock-full of reason.
Warning: The following video may lead you to question your allegiance to the media world as we know it. (Or cling to it for dear, dear life.)
Okay, so if you’re anyone in the advertising or media industry, you might have gotten a chuckle or two out of that rather painfully long parody of a Don McLean classic. (And I think the creator, Terence Kawaja, had intended for such a response.) The video, which was recently shown at…
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Posted on June 19th, 2009 by Jinean Robinson
I know. I know. The NBA finals are over and Kobe is in bed cuddling his trophy but I had to post this funny Nike Basketball commercial that played throughout the finals. When we talk about building true affinity for brands we must emotionally tap into consumers and truly engage them not just our numbers, research, and spreadsheets. In the onslaught of meaningless buy my product fodder, this spot stands out for all the good reasons.
I have heard sports lovers and not so sports lovers talk about “that funny Nike Basketball commercial”. Ahhhhh cooler talk, marketing heaven–and isn’t that what…
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Posted on June 19th, 2009 by Jeff Louis
Microsoft launched two “Hulu-esque” online TV spots this week that star Dean Cain, the actor known as Superman from the TV series “Lois & Clark.” The spots are a bit surreal, much like the Hulu commercials that have were released earlier this year. The two spots, named F.O.M.S. (Fear Of Missing Something) and S.H.Y.N.E.S.S. (Sharing Heavily Yet Not Enough Sharing Still), are in support of Internet Explorer 8 (IE8), released in its final version on March 19th of 2009.
It’s unclear if Microsoft is experiencing low download rates for IE8, or are simply running the spots to support the new software in a…
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Posted on June 18th, 2009 by Jeff Louis
They don’t have a cool name, like Razor Burn, Cloud Nyne, or inVisible. In fact, they sound like an accounting firm. Thankfully, they’re not into accounting. What they are into is corporate survival, and other things that will make your accountant giddy.
Atlanta-based Nolen & Associates is proof-positive that contempt prior to investigation is foolish. Judged solely by name, they’d never be classified as an agency that is boldly progressive, unafraid of saying “no.” Yet, that’s exactly what they are, and they have a simple message: Market through the tough times and emerge stronger.
And that, in a nutshell, is Cricket Theory. They call it…
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Posted on June 17th, 2009 by Will Gorsuch
It’s that time of year again – Cannes is coming. Does the lure of hardware, sunshine, and glamour call you like a siren song? Are you dying to add a trophy to your office or brag to clients that you were nominated the umpteenth time for an award? If so, perhaps you’re in the wrong business.
Don’t get me wrong – I love awards. I have a box in my basement, full of old trophies and ribbons from high school standing as a monument to a time in my life when I lived for my work (at the time, my work…
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Posted on June 16th, 2009 by Jeff Louis
Is no news truly good news? A common phrase, it reportedly stems from King James I of England, according to Dictionary.com. The phrase, by definition, means, “Having no information means that bad developments are unlikely, as in I haven’t heard from them in a month, but no news is good news.” Or, it could mean they were eaten by lions.
Today, no news is better than most news, especially for the ad industry. The current trade news has been built on lay-offs, agency closings, and executive shake-ups. Unfortunately, there are not enough agencies deeply imbeded into the economic flow of the US…
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