According to Springwise, ice cream and Madonna’s boobs aren’t the only things being served in cones nowadays. Companies like Kono Pizza, Conniza, and CrispyCones are making a killing selling conical pizza. Springwise notes that when this story originally broke, they garnered the highest number of readers on this story than on any other throughout the year. The article posits that this popularity proves “You can reinvent everything, you can copy everything… consumers are increasingly TRANSUMERS…” I agree– to a certain degree. However, it’s not as much “copying” as successful reshaping of a classic product. And no need to throw around the trendy marketing word du jour… It’s less “transumerism” than effective product design and successful franchising. In any case, I’d like to announce that I’ll be attempting to make my very own conical pizza within the week; that said, if I don’t post for a few days, I have burned my apartment to the ground. But all for the sake of research. [photo cred to CrispyCones.] Technorati Tags: Beyond Madison Avenue, Advertising, Kona Pizza,CrispyCones,Pizza Cones

On monday afternoon at the Adweek Creative Seminar, Neil Powell, the ECD at MFP, gave a really good presentation on the blurring lines of advertising and design. Mr. Powell comes from a design background, but has continually resisted the “design box” that people always tried to put him in. He talked about the silo-mentality at agencies keeps design and advertising in artificial corners, and also mentioned how some advertising art directors feel threatened by graphic designers working on “traditional” ad mediums. On the website for MFP, you’ll see alot of examples of work that straddles the border between advertising and design, yet remains really compelling. He also showcased his excellent work for Rheingold beer as an example. (the website for Rheingold seems out of order.) Seeing all the Rheingold stuff was interesting to me, because i can remember when that stuff was first running, I looked at it online and thought “cool, but it doesn’t look like advertising.” Now i’m happy to see i’m no longer the sort of dumbass who’d say something like that. Let’s quit trying to decide whether something counts as advertising and just do what works. Update: Corrected agencies’ name. Technorati Tags: Beyond Madison Avenue, Advertising, MFP, Neil Powell, Adweek Creative Seminar

It’s Halloween and I’m calling out our readers (yup, all three of you). Your task: share some scary advertising (interpret scary how you will).

My vote goes to Dr. Scholls for their Massaging Gel Insoles commercials. You want to freak someone out for Halloween, make a giant gel insert and run around screaming “Are you gellin’? Are YOU gellin’? ARE YOU GELLIN’???”

I couldn’t find a link to this. Which I guess is a good thing. At least some segment of our society is smart enough not to aid in the propagation of this crap.

Technorati Tags:
Beyond Madison Avenue, Advertising, Halloween, Scary Advertising

Media Orchard’s Scott Baradell, a PR practitioner, fellow dallasite and supreme appreciator of the well-breasted, has launched a new way for all of us to be sucked further into the internet time warp. Scott explains:

“Spin Thicket, as should be apparent, is patterned after one of my favorite Web sites, Fark.com, along with similar sites like Fazed.net, and others. The difference is that it’s specifically geared to people with an interest in the image-making professions — advertising, PR, marketing, journalism, and politics.

Spin Thicket has no agenda. It’s as much for people who read PR Watch as PR Week. It’s as much for fans (or haters) of Michelle Malkin as Kos. It’s as much for people who see bias in the NY Times as Fox News. Throw it all in the wash and turn on the spin cycle; that’s the idea behind Spin Thicket. “

This actually looks like a pretty damn good way to see and to be seen, so get over there, and get to linking.

Technorati Tags:
Beyond Madison Avenue, Advertising, Media Orchard, Spin Thicket

I can take a joke. Like, almost any joke. And I’m typically the first to take it. People go to say, “Yo, Jaynie, can’t you take a joke?,” but I’ve already taken, like, 5. But, South Park, this goes too far, waa-hay-hay too soon. Steve Erwin at Satan’s halloween party with a sting-ray hanging out of his chest? Really? No. No. NO. Really? Sure, I’m not surprised… but could you at least wait 4 minutes since his death? Or at least until Erwin’s cute little daughter turns 9? When a celebrity brand has an actual person behind it, you need to tread a little bit lighter… even if that’s your schtick. [photo cred to Daily Mail UK.] Technorati Tags: Beyond Madison Avenue, Advertising, Steve Erwin, South Park

When we first talked about Greenpeace and their efforts to make Apple more eco-friendly, they were touting their cause on a website (and that was about it). A far cry from hanging banners on oil tankers and all the other fun stuff that we associate them with.

Their reputation seems to have come back and bit them in the ass now. Greenpeace was recently ejected from the London-based MacExpo where they had purchased booth space to make attendees more aware of Apple’s un-green (red?) practices. They were guilty of…drumroll please…passing out flyers outside of their assigned booth area.

MacExpo marketing director explained the situation with the statement, “It was a valid stand with a valid message… they breached their contract.” Greenpeace’s reaction, as well as comments from readers, can be found on the Greenpeace blog, and not too many of the comments are supportive of their efforts. Take Jake, for example, who responded with “You guys are nothing but terrorists and what you do does nothing but harm.”

Technorati Tags:
Beyond Madison Avenue, Advertising, Design, Apple, Greenpeace, Computers, MacExpo

Red, Marketing professionals spend their lives aspiring to create brand personalities that are 1/100th as true, passionate, and distinct as yours. The real beauty of it is that you were never trying to sell yourself to anyone. In short, you’ll sure be missed. [photo cred to TurtleTrader.] Technorati Tags: Beyond Madison Avenue, Advertising, Auerbach

The first speaker at the Adweek Creative Seminar was Tracy Wong, the ECD at Wongdoody, who gave a very funny presentation on “The Zen of Creativity.” With what he calls his fortune-cookie voice, Mr. Wong gave great advice highlighted by work from Wongdoody and other agencies he’s worked for. The most clever of this work, in my opinion, was the campaign No Stank You for Washington State’s teenage anti-smoking efforts. Unfortunately I’ve looked for examples of other work he showed online but cannot drum it up… First advice-No Money No Problem. Lots of people talk about this but Tracy gave a nice run-down on why lack of budget shouldn’t limit your idea. Loved this quote-“Money make you lazy. Poverty your best friend.” He showed Wongdoody’s low budget LA Dodgers work as an example of this. In my opinion, the popularity of clever viral videos with zero production values on You Tube should demonstrate once again that smart ideas work without the window-dressings. Second Advice-Embrace Compromise Can’t remember any specifics of what Tracy said here…but the gist was that while it’s good to have strong opinions and defend the quality of your work, there are good solutions when curveballs come up that must be addressed. In my short career I’ve happily had a couple of experiences where what seemed like a compromise in the creative development process actually resulted in better work. Third Advice-Be Egoless This is a lesson a lot of ad folks have to take to heart. Tracy extolled the virtues of ego-lessness, which in a nutshell was that things run so much better and more smoothly when egos don’t get in the way. Personally, I’m learning to not confuse protecting the overall quality of the work with protecting my selfish opinion of how the work should be. Fourth Advice-Create a Ritual Can’t recall the philosophy of this, but Mr. Wong cited some really cool non-traditional work on behalf of Tully’s, an underdog West Coast coffee chain. Fifth Advice-Trust eliminates Fear Mr. Wong discussed how in his experience, it sometimes takes several years of harmonious relationships and great results before a client will buy into your crazy concepts. Talked about Wongdoody’s long relationship with the Seattle Supersonics, which started with a few down and dirty sales promotions and over time produced several famous tv campaigns and incredibly clever interactive work. Tracy said that you just have to keep bringing your client the crazy ideas, whether they ask for them or not. Over time, as you keep bringing in results, the client will eventually see you really do have their best interests at heart, and will go with your “risky” idea. (thanks to colleague Greg Wheeler’s prodigious note-taking, which supplemented my own) Technorati Tags: Beyond Madison Avenue, Advertising, adweek creative seminar, Wongdoody, Tracy Wong

The hyperdiscussed Sony Bravia ad is being tagged by some as being too closely referential to September 11th imagery. Oh please. High-five to Adrants (via MarketingWeek UK) for calling out this act of unnecessary conspiratheoretical douchery. Listen, Sony wasn’t trying to make a statement about 9/11. They were trying to have cool colors splash and fly out of a building. There are enough real issues in the mediascape; let’s not make more.

This panel was a really good discussion about why ad agencies are so resistant to non-traditional approaches and how to go about fixing them. Panel participants were two big-agency CD’s-Jimmy Smith at BBDO NY and Robert Rasmussen at JWT NY, and two former agency bigwigs who have recently founded non-traditional shops-Bruce Bildsten of BREW and Carl Johnson of Anomaly.

I didn’t get notes for the whole discussion but here’s what stuck out to me.

This discussion opened with comments on the ad industry’s reliance on a prehistoric, counterproductive model of compensation. Most agencies are paid with a combination of a retainer and a fee system based on the number of hours worked on a project. According to Carl Johnson, this structure protects bad agencies because they get paid whether a project gets results or not. Instead, it was suggested that agencies set up a compensation system based on ideas. Mr. Smith and Mr. Rasmussen both said their large agencies are negotiating new pay structures with receptive clients.

Another pay issue discussed was the resistance of traditional agencies to creating non-traditional work because they can’t fit it into their money-making silos. Which, in a nutshell, means that an agency is more comfortable pumping a client’s budget into stuff like broadcast and outdoor, where there’s an established money-making process, rather than using budget for ideas that haven’t been “boxed” yet.

Also an interesting discussion about intellectual property created by non-traditional ideas. If things “outside of advertising” like movie deals, toys, games, clothes, etc. come out of an advertising agencies’ concepts, both sides need to decide who has the rights to that as well. Jimmy Smith talked about how sometimes the shareholders of companies prevent their clients from creating branded content because they see it as outside of their business model. But another panelist said that if clients see they could get an unexpected revenue stream from it, they may be more open to non-traditional ideas.

Besides pay issues, there is a larger cultural problem at ad agencies. Bruce Bildsten described agencies as a high school, where different disciplines divide off into cliques that stay on their own turf and work together mostly unharmoniously only when they have to. This happens because of ego, and beliefs like “I’m the creative, so my ideas are the best” or “I’m the AE, so nobody can make my strategy any better.”
The panel discussed how this is bad business in the changing advertising world, because to create non-traditional ideas a lot of disciplines need to work together. All the panelists discussed how vital interactive and media are to the mix.

There was a fascinating discussion about how new ideas and new approaches call for people with backgrounds beyond advertising. Disciplines like poet, playwright, architect, interior designer, and painter were all mentioned as creative professionals that had worked on projects at the panelist’s agencies.

Bruce Bildsten said that traditional ad creatives are about the last thing that he’s looking for in his business. Interestingly, he said the role of a future creative director may be as a facilitator, who can keep these non-traditional groups working together, as well as ensure the crazy cool ideas maintain allegiance to the strategy and the brand.

I believe it was Bruce who said that ad schools were doing a really good job of helping students build a portfolio of print ads that look like every other student’s portfolio, but a terrible job of preparing students for the future. The other panelists agreed.

A couple of the participants discussed what traditional creatives need to do to stay relevant. Carl Johnson said that they just need to keep coming up with non-traditional ideas and trying to start some momentum around them at work. If it doesn’t ever happen, they’ll have to find another job. Jimmy Smith added that people should develop their talents outside of concepting ads, copywriting, and design, and show how those talents could help a current or future employer.

(Thanks again to Greg Wheeler for his notes)

Update:posted with Technorati tags

Technorati Tags:
Beyond Madison Avenue, Advertising, adweek creative seminar, BBDO, JWT Anomaly, agency culture

“The McRib sandwich is a great way to get consumers excited about pork…” MMMMMMM! (That was dripping with sarcasm, in case you couldn’t tell). The McRib is back. And along with it comes one of the best advertising-related quotes I think I’ve ever read. I also think that our last installment on pork did a much better job of getting me excited. Technorati Tags: Beyond Madison Avenue, Advertising, Design, McDonalds, McRib, Pork

You’ve probably seen a few manifestos floating around over the past few months, but by far my favorite belongs to David Armano of Logic + Emotion. I literally have this up on my desk. Every once in awhile, we all need a little kickstart, and this one seems to work wonders for me. Normally I’d break it up a bit, and just send you along to L+E, but, damnit, I like it all, and it deserves a full reposting. So, if you like cool shit, go see David, but for now, just enjoy a welcomed kick in the pants. An Incomplete Manifesto: Ask. Ask questions. Lots of them. Ask the silly ones. The ones that no one else wants to ask. Ask about the bigger idea. Ask about the details. Ask why—but also ask yourself why you are asking the questions. Believe. Do you believe in what you do? Would you rather be doing something else? Believe in what you do. Or find a new career. Be Someone’s Hero. Everybody needs a hero. We just don’t want to admit it. Find someone who needs a hero. Not your boss—but the person looking for guidance—a word of encouragement or inspiration. Be that hero even if your own heroes don’t exist for you. Stop Talking. Talk is cheap as the cliché goes—what have you produced lately? Make it a point to end your week with at least one tangible piece of something that can be saved, printed, shared, or produced. If you can’t do it in your job—do something on your own. Be The Change Agent. There are two types of people. Those that dream of change and those that make change happen. But we all start out as dreamers—the difference in going from Dreamer to Agent includes taking ACTION. Build bridges. Get out of your discipline. Infect others with ideas. Don’t be satisfied with “OK”. Change Agents are not Rogue Agents—if you are really interested in change, you’ll do whatever it takes to make it happen. Play In Someone Else’s Sandbox. Traditional people don’t like it when you get up all in their space. They’ll become possessive, protective and territorial. All the more reason to get in their sandbox. Invite them to play—even if they don’t want to. One day, they may change their mind. Let Go. People are more informed and empowered than ever. And there are no signs of this slowing down. By handing over control to customers, you’ll be sending this message: “we trust you”. After all, a brand lives in the hearts and minds of the customer—and as many are discovering, an “open source” brand helps generate delight, demand and authentic loyalty. Give your customers the tools they want and the experiences they crave. Then get out of the way and see what happens. Be Experienced. The brand is the experience and the experience is the brand. That said—you can’t generate a successful brand experience if you haven’t experienced some things for yourself. Do you know what it’s like to schlep a mini-van full of rowdy children from location to location? Have you wired up a home theatre? Take extreme measures to relate to your customers. Be them for a day. And if you can’t—spend some time with them. It’s the fastest way to go from theory to reality. Being experienced equals better experiences. Think Rational. Be Emotional. People are both unpredictable and predictable in the same breath. We all act upon logic at times and emotion at others. It’s the Human Condition. So how do we satisfy our fickle, unpredictable selves? Meet people’s rational needs—and do this exceptionally well. Then, surprise and delight them on an emotional level. It’s common sense thinking—yet difficult to pull off. If it weren’t, every experience would be as satisfying as an iPod, RAZR, Google or Harley-Davidson. Tear Down The Wall. Corporations thrive by having distinct departments and teams. Collaboration is encouraged—but authentic collaboration rarely happens. Why? Because it’s messy business. People are born with egos. Egos need to be un-learned. Replace your natural born ego with intense curiosity. Do this and you’ll be able to break down barriers, and do great things. When Harley-Davidson wanted to design their first high-performance motorcycle (the V-Rod), they went to Porsche for help. That’s checking ego at the door. Get Real. Few people know that the hugely successful Motorola RAZR was nearly scrapped before it ever had a chance. Why? Because some manager thought it was too much form over function. Rather than request further research, the designer simply had the concept prototyped. Once the phone was made real—it quickly gained internal momentum. The rest of the story is history. Make something real—and people will decide for themselves. Be Both Evangelist and Agnostic. Do you believe in something? Be an advocate for it. Others will see your passion and know that you have a vested interest in what you do. But when it comes to using creativity to solve real-world business challenges—be an agnostic. Throw pre-conceived notions out the window. Don’t make assumptions and do your best to avoid personal bias. Innovation comes from seeing the world through the eyes of a child. Make Sponge Bob Your Hero. Sponges soak up the world around them. When squeezed, they give some of it back. Do your best to learn from others—soak up the everyday knowledge and expertise that others have to offer. Then, when it’s your turn—give something back. Just Do It. The best theory is the one that gets practiced. Thinking is great. Thinking without doing is not.

Last weekend I inadvertently turned a craving for alcohol into a marketing conversation. Thinking I wanted something bubbly and fun, I took a quick glance over the wine list and opted for a glass of “Sofia,” the first on the short list of sparklers. The bartender promptly corrected me: I would not be getting a glass, but a can. A cute can, sure, but nonetheless aluminum. With a pop-top. And a miniature straw. Yo, what is this? Red Bull for ladies-of-leisure? Fully-Loaded Tab Energy? I mean, that’s fine… Long story short, I continued to enjoy Lil’ Miss Sofia for the rest of the night. It was not only bubbly, but “baubly,” with a decent enough base product to amply warrant each concurrent “sure, I’ll have another.” Truth be told, I gave a private salute to their CMO with each (oh so delicate) sip. Sure, Sofia Coppola (after whom the lovely cans were named) would likely never be caught dead toting around one of these aerated novelties, but I can imagine a slew of 21-25 year olds who would suck these down like, well… Like how Bartles and Jaymes used to be sucked down. [Interested? 4-packs are $15 at the FF Coppola main site.]

Here’s BMA’s Top 25 Advertising Blogs for Week 27: 1 - AdRants - 9,441 (LW - 1)(-6) 2 - Advertising/Design Goodness - 27,079 (LW - 2)(+792) 3 - Media Buyer/Planner - 29,525 (LW - 3)(+162) 4 - Werbeblogger - 30,195 (LW - 4)(-151) 5 - AdFreak - 33,307 (LW - 5)(-1,019) 6 - Adverblog - 37,835 (LW - 6)(+76) 7 - Adland - 47,136 (LW - 7)(+441) 8 - AdverBox - 51,018 (LW - 8)(-67) 9 - AdJab - 58,989 (LW - 9)(+734) 10 - Logic + Emotion - 95,005 (LW - 10)(+5,332) 11 - TWENTY FOUR - 106,901 (LW - 11)(+2,811) 12 - ….HOW ADVERTISING SPOILED ME…. - 110,320 (LW - 14)(+4,009) 13 - AdPulp - 114,085 (LW - 13)(-1,236) 14 - Experience Curve - 116,945 (LW - 12)(-6,481) 15 - Advertising for Peanuts - 126,675 (LW - 15)(-761) 16 - Jaffe Juice - 133,411 (LW - 16)(+9,688) 17 - Russell Davies - 178,488 (LW - 17)(+1,605) 18 - American Copywriter - 197,683 (LW - 18)(+15,404) 19 - Beyond Madison Avenue - 232,398 (LW - 19)(+16,209) 20 - Room 116 - 331,446 (LW - 20)(-32,274) 21 - CMM News - 332,196 (LW - 24)(+71,846) 22 - AdverGirl - 332,230 (LW- 21)(-25,985) 23 - BrandFlakes for Breakfast - 397,149 (LW - 23)(-4,280) 24 - AdVerb: Man of Action - 423,964 (LW - 25)(-1,316) 25 - AdHurl - 432,009 (LW - 22)(-39,187) Since the start of the Top 25, there’s been several bands in the Top 25. One of these bands was that there’s always been a sizable gap between the #9 and #10 spots, with AdPulp all but owning the #10 spot. That’s changed in the last couple of weeks, and it appears that L+E may have not only passed AdPulp for good, but may have the legs to make a run at the rest of the Top 10. David’s blog has been on fire for months as everyone is starting to wake up to his wonderful content and amazing visuals. But TWENTY FOUR continues to move up as well. In actuality, #10-16 are all moving upward as a group, even Jaffe Juice seems to have its mojo back as Joe has put together a couple of nice weeks, and the recent announcement of Crayon will no doubt continue to boost JJ for the immediate future at least. Past the Top 16, American Copywriter is once again the big winner. Those crazy midwesterns continue their torrid streak, and may have the momentum to join the Top 16 in a few weeks. Apparently AdverGirl now has her priorities straight again (c’mon Leigh you can get another job!) and her blog should reverse itself soon now that’s she’s back in the saddle. And BMA also has a nice week, which again I’m attributing to the ‘Critical Haw’ affect. The daily and weekly rankings suggest this could be the start of a nice rebound run for this blog. Next update is next week.

Yahoo is reporting ont the richest dead celebrities. Yes, dead celebrities are still raking in more cash than I’ll ever see in my lifetime. Talk about a coup in branding. In the last year, the King has been bested in postmortem earnings by none other than…Kurt Cobain. That’s right, the leader of the grunge-rock revolution has beaten the universal symbol of rock and roll, Elvis by earning $50,000,000 (yup, MILLION) last year alone. Elvis came up shy of the title by about $8M. Rounding out the top five were Charles Schulz at $35M (if you don’t know who he is, shame on you), John Lennon at $24M, and (get this one) Albert Einstein at a cool $20M. Technorati Tags: Beyond Madison Avenue, Advertising, Design, Kurt Cobain

Sometimes it’s the little things. Granted, I’m completely in love with Borat, and his whore sister, for that matter. I was already going to see his movie.

But now, I’m talking even more about it, too, after he left me the following MySpace comment, which made me giggle like a girl for almost five minutes:

“I would like this very much - myspaces friend. We can brush each other hair and watch a television programmes together totally nude! My preference porno.”

Now, we’ve all been talking about this massively brilliant campaign surrounding the new movie, but actually reaching out like this? On a mass scale? Beautiful. I want to send him 50 bucks right now. And, I might just do it if the Kazakhstan postal service weren’t run by donkeys.

Here’s some more I’ve found so far:

“I would like very much make romance inside you but first I need know how much history of retardation there is in your family?”

“I love you too! You must come my village! You can stay my house, you can use my sister - or my brother Bilo if your flavor more boy. You can do anything to him - he do not remember nothing! He is a sex crazy!”

“Thank you! I would like to be your friend - it very important that you non-luli luli… maximum contact hand party!”

And, in case you’ve missed it, Borat has also put the first four minutes of the movie up on YouTube. Check it below.

According to paidContent (via Boston.com), rumor has it that former GE frontman Jack Welch and Hill Holliday co-founder Jack Connors are heading up a local crew looking to bid on The Boston Globe. The Globe, bought by the NYT in 1993 for bit over a bil, has been valued around $600 mil. (And here I was laboring over my decision as to whether or not to buy a pumpkin this year.) NYT execs claim that The Boston Globe is not for sale; however, even their mothers don’t believe them. In any case, it’s an interesting look at how internet pressure has driven the market local.

This year, Adweek’s Creative Seminar was held in Miami on Oct. 23rd and 24th, and my employer was nice enough to spring for myself and a couple of colleagues to attend.

I have to say, it was a total blast and really inspiring. I learned so much, met some cool folks, and got totally smashed at the Delano in South Beach thanks to the good people at Corbis.

I’m sure Adweek will have a comprehensive review of the seminar up very soon, if it isn’t already, along with lots of great pictures. I’m not going to try competing with them, but over the next few days I will be sharing some of the nuggets that stuck out to me as I get time to do them justice.

Stay tuned!

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University have taught a computer how to turn a 2D image into a 3D rendering. Imagine where school yearbooks will be in a few years if this catches on! Thanks to Wooster Collective for pointing this out, and props to Dave (one of the UT/Amalgamated crew responsible for B&J below) for mentioning it to me first. Technorati Tags: Beyond Madison Avenue, Advertising, Design, Wooster Collective, Carnegie Mellon University

This is one of the greatest pseudo-spots ever made by SNL, on par with the brilliant Schmitts Gay beer ad with Sandler and Farley, and one of the few funny things associated with the past few years of SNL. It’s also a great metaphor for the state of our industry. This is just how we react with our products and our messages when faced with any lagging sales. Broaden Appeal, broaden appeal! Then you broaden appeal so much that you’re not sure if you’re making tacos or pizza, or even breakfast or dessert.

So, the obvious lesson here is, focus your products, people. If I want a cookie, I’ll eat a fuckin’ cookie. How is this so difficult?