So I’m in a jam packed pub in Charlotte, NC with my buddy “Vinnie the Concrete Salesman” watching Davidson play Kansas yesterday. (I know this sounds like a joke but any attempted fabricated humor does not do Vinnie justice, he is a breathing billboard of excessive humor in his own right). For those of you who don’t know, Davidson is a small college right outside of Charlotte. Their marque player is Stephan Curry who has been tremendous in Davidson’s march to the Elite 8. Stephan’s father is Dell Curry, a former Charlotte Hornet who is still revered by the Charlotte community even though the Hornets packed their bags long ago for New Orleans.

About half way through the second half, the camera cut to Dell who was sitting in the stands wearing a NIKE WITNESS shirt.

 

The Witness brand of apparel is getting a huge push by NIKE via spokesman Lebron James (who coincidentally was in the stands on Friday night).  When I saw Dell Curry I just looked at Vinnie and asked “Coincidence”. Vinnie gave me his familiar sarcastic look of disdain and said, “Dude, when I get a beer from this crappy bartender in less than ten minutes after I’ve finished my last one, that’s a coincidence. Curry is totally shilling for NIKE.”

And Vinnie is right. NIKE had to knowthat Dell would get air time, he had in all the other televised games. So the shirt was donned. Maybe it was a favor to Lebron but more than likely it was a marketing move. And a good one. NIKE’s style of brand and logo pronouncement is legendary. What may be even more impressive is that they consistently come up with innovative ways to subtly get their messaging out there. Very impressive. Oh and by the way, Vinnie is still parched.

Here is a piece of good news to all advertising professionals. If you are hooked on to the advertising binge and wondering what options you may have, check out the Middle East countries. From this report, a huge demand for advertising professionals will be needed due to shortage of people with creative minds. Just like other growing economies, it seems that the periodic demand for specialized skills will continue. This time around, advertising experts will be the main attraction.

“As an emerging market, the region still has significant challenges to meet such as growing the pool of available advertising talent. The Arab world shares the same culture, language and understanding amongst its states. From an agency’s perspective, this homogeneity should boost the advertising industry and reduce the people’s shortage as markets with high advertising demand could recruit people from less demand markets who still have strong grasp of the region as a whole.”

– Shadi Al Hasan, Managing Director of Flagship Projects Marketing, one of the fastest growing integrated marketing solutions providers in the region. (Source) Middle East Events

Newly launched hair care brand Salon Selectives is scheduled to kick off a national advertising campaign that will surely bolster its brand and service towards the people who put value for their hair. In these modern times, if you have the budget for aggressive advertising, it is best to plan it and implement it with a bang. Salon Selectives is putting a lot of weight on this advertising campaign and the results are expected to be great for them.

“The new campaign leverages the brand’s original core messages of transformation and customization while modernizing the theme. We have developed a new ad approach for the hair care category, moving away from product demonstrations and impossibly beautiful hair close ups, to connect with women through fantastical action-adventure stories.”

(Source) Business Wire

The following Taco Bell commercial from last fall has had a recent inexplicable resurgence on broadcast TV over the past few weeks, and it’s got me thinking a bit about tv spots and the music chosen to accompany them.

Aside from the bizarre appearance of the grim reaper and a few other oddities, the most bizarre (or at least thought provoking) thing about the commercial is the use of Modern English’s “I melt with you.” While the song has a special place in my heart, I’m not sure that the connection with Taco Bell really works for me. New Wave and Cheesy Beefy Melt don’t really go hand in hand in my mind, and I’m left thinking about Modern English - not ye old Bell.

It’s really no different than a few other fast food commercials over the past year, most notably the Wendy’s spot that used the Violent Femmes’ “Blister in the Sun” on TV and radio. There was also the Nintendo DS commercial with all the kids singing “Santeria” by Sublime. Not necessarily horrible, but peculiar choices, and ones that I don’t think i would have consciously made.

Does dumping a cult classic or one-hit wonder song into a commercial always make sense? Is it always the best idea? Does the grim reaper really eat at Taco Bell? Just a few questions that have been mulling around in my head lately.

I spent the weekend moving, which took a good bit out of me, both physically and mentally. In my semi-exhausted mental state, some of the more complex thought processes and mental connections just aren’t happening, and I’m fully willing to acknowledge that. The same can be very true for any communication, advertising included. While I’m not always in the midst of catastrophic brain flatulence, sometimes the simple ideas are just easier to grasp. I’m all for complex, multi-stage campaigns that ask for a good deal on the part of the viewer/reader, but it’s important to realize that it isn’t necessarily the best course of action, and sometimes the complexity overrides the effectiveness of the message. Convoluted and deep might just yield more confusion (or complete lack of awareness). On that note, I wanted to point out a recent commercial I stumbled upon while surfing the internet that’s aimed to the young Japanese audience that speaks well to the idea of “simple,” and amuses me in my exhaustion.

The spot, done by Australian commercial production company Plaza, is so simple, it works. I got it. And the message sunk in. Quickly. Which is the ultimate goal, especially when promoting for groups like The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society. It could just be the classic Godzilla fan in me (and my mental exhaustion), but there’s something about the simplicity, the creativity, and the slight weirdness that just makes everything come together. And I payed attention. That simplicity and effectiveness doesn’t need to be reserved for children’s communication and simple messages. Sometimes the most complex ideas can be communicated unimaginably simply.

Full creative credits @ youtube, via Osocio.

I hate Mondays — bottom line. Today is a particularly tough one because a lot of my buddies who I spent Easter Weekend with watching NCAA Basketball and drinking beer are off today. Frankly, if I was off , this column would be a tribute to Bud Light’s brilliant “Dude” commercials. But that column will have to wait.

As I went through the drudgery of putting on my “business casual” uniform of a heavy starched oxford shirt, “relaxed” fitting Perry Ellis slacks, and loafers (lace shoes never make the dress list on Monday) that infamous voice from deep within my soul orated its familiar lamenting baritone utterances, “What is this all about? ….. Are you really making a difference? ……There has to be more to life”. I hate that voice; it’s honest, sage and almost always accurate.

This day and its accompanying anxieties happen. Hopefully for most of you not very often. Don’t get me wrong, I love creating. But sometimes you just do not have it. I thought about calling in sick, trying to work up some self induced, hyprochondriatic ailment. No luck, too tired and drained to even feign illness. So I went in, muffling the “voice” with powerful adjectives like “dedication”, “strength”, and “pride”. You know the ones that you hear at those ridiculous staff meetings all the time.

I guess it was at that time that it dawned on me that the reason that I persevere on days like today is I am my work (which my boss says is mostly crap but I think he got that one from my wife). I think we are fortunate that being in the realm of advertising and marketing we get to put ourselves into what we do and create. It’s what gets me through. I know so many people wrestle with that emotional “voice” and it literally destroys them because they cannot find their place. I suppose it has to do with the lack of self within the creation of their work.

So, next time you hear the voice, listen to it. Heed those words. Embrace that pain. Then, slip on the loafers, go to work and engage. Because that “voice” is the same one that helps you create. That voice makes your work great. That voice is you, so put it in your work, you are more fortunate than most because you have a place for it.

New, trendy, and flashy products are often ripe targets for competitive ads. I always secretly enjoy when one company directly targets another via their advertising, despite knowing that a more creative (and ultimately more effective) solution most likely exists.

Lenovo seems to have had enough of the ever-so-popular Macbook Air, and takes a shot at it with the release of their new ThinkPad X300. Not only do they say “everything else is hot air,” but they even go as far as to loosely reference the Apple typefaces, gradients, and button styles of apple (below). It kind of takes the whole Mac vs. PC thing to a whole different level.

As far as creating advertisements are concerned, it is best to keep them simple. Not too wordy or too sophisticated. Remember that the first thing you have to consider is that people are not too fond of seeing ads with too much on it.Background colors are nice or even silhouette pictures. Use one or two expressive but general words that can capture the attention of your target market. The essence of a good ad is luring in the wandering eyes of the public. Once they are up and close, that is when they will start to read the fine print and see what you really have to offer.

It never ceases to amaze me what runs through my mind right before I have to give a presentation or demo. One of the most vivid and entertaining saunters down this twisted psychological path happened a couple years ago and provided a good rule of thumb when presenting.

I was in charge of a major ad campaign for a new dot com company. It was an ambiguous initiative: major web presence, flashy ad copy and all sorts of hip new techno bells and whistles that I was hoping would role into not only printed copy but also streaming content.

About twenty minutes before the start of the presentation, I was going through my roller coaster rides of emotions, “I’m not smart enough, they’re so much better than me, what if I fail, this is cool, trust yourself, I’m number one, etc…” For me, a certified neurotic spaz, this was business as usual. Then, I flashed back to an old Merv Griffin talk show that Neil Sedaka had appeared on. He told the story of how Calendar Girl was created on a whim right before he was going to demo another song. He and his writing partner were informed that they needed a second song (the “flip side”). They wrote out the catchy but simple song in about 10 minutes. Needless to say, the record executives loved Calendar Girl and it became a big hit in 1960.

Thus, I scrambled to create something of a back up plan. I found some old black and white stock photos of young professionals working in an office environment. I threw them into an MS PowerPoint file, not even bothering to adjust the skewing that PowerPoint had caused. I wrote some simple captions, and printed them out.

As the meeting started and I was going through my presentation I noticed that the CEO had picked up the PowerPoint slides and started leafing through them. About half way through my demo, he stopped me and started querying me about the pictures. He loved them, saying that this style combined a new hip cutting edge look (skewed and all) with established business processes and principles. Me, never one to not cease an opportunity, changed my song and dance and focused on the slides and how we could cultivate the idea into a major marketing initiative. It became one of the most successful campaigns of the year.

The moral of the story — always have a back up. It does not have to be elaborate, just something unique. Just ask Neil, he’s really good at the “song and dance”.

In a gaming landscape that seems to be focusing more and more on relationships and connectivity, it’s no surprise to see greater emphasis put on features like xbox live and the communal aspects of the Wii (”wii would like to play“). At the same time, differentiating one on-line gaming service from another in the eye of the non-initiated public is no simple task. While it may be the gaming wave of the future, getting more people to jump on board takes some skill, and sometimes a slightly different approach.

This newest spot for Sony’s Playstation Network definitely sits outside of the traditional gaming system mold. The art direction, filming style, and soundtrack all give it an atmospheric quality not usually seen with video game systems. It’s certainly a different answer to the question of online gaming.

As I was attempting to be the quintessential creative mind yesterday, sitting in a coffee shop with my apple laptop & black sketchbook, i carelessly gazed around the coffee shop only to notice something I hadn’t given much thought to: advertising was everywhere. The Coffee sleeves had ads for an upcoming movie, courtesy of BriteVision. There were table toppers for local events and restaurants. There were even ads under the table glass. And then the dozens of concert, performance, festival, etc. flyers in the window. It was as if when I wasn’t looking, someone bombed the coffee shop with advertising. And then I realized maybe I just haven’t been paying attention.

It’s one thing to see one “new media channel” evolve or to discover a new medium, like human skin, corneas, the ocean, or on an escalator, but as a consumer (and a human), it’s only good up to a certain point. Ad after ad after ad, in the same environment, certainly changes the effectiveness. As new technology evolves and allows us to place messages in new and often unheard of locations, the question has to be asked “is it necessary?” Just because we can, does that mean we should?

On the subject of the coffee shop, where branding never seems to cease: we now have ads on the top of the cup. Yes. the top. (or we could, potentially). Inventor Oleksiy Pokalo has created a fairly simple device that can “print” a logo on top of your cup of coffee.

Just on the off chance that your coffee shop doesn’t have enough logos floating around as is. What’s next?

Out here in the Pacific Northwest, things are occasionally done a bit differently. Politics is obviously not exempt from the sometimes bizarre. As the political campaign for State Senator is ramping up, one candidate in particular is standing out in the crowd, so to speak, enough so to be gaining a fair bit of national attention.

And another Steve Novick political spot that’s been playing pretty much ’round the clock:

An interesting turn in Novick’s advertising and marketing is the recent release of Left Hook Lager, “A Battling Brew”.

That’s right, a politically endorsed beer. Nothing speaks to Oregonians quite like craft beer, so labeling bottles from small Eugene, OR craft brewer Ninkasi only makes sense (in a bizarre sort of way). If you’re so inclined, more info on purchasing the beer is available here.

And unlike many of these slightly bizarre campaigns, Novick’s campaign is quickly gaining ground and winning supporters. Last week, he received the endorsement from former Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber, and this week won the support of the Oregon Education Association. I hope this means we’ll be seeing some more entertaining political spots before this campaign is over. *And just a note - I’m definitely not proclaiming my political support for Novick - merely pointing out my appreciation for the advertising and marketing strategies that we’re seeing*

In today’s environment, with technological advances, marketing strategies and celebrity endorsements, shoes have become much more than just footwear. Brands are scrambling to assert their top-dog status, and today finds Nike is in the midst of launching one of their broadest multimedia campaigns to date, including a :60 spot to air on American Idol and college basketball tournaments asserting that “my better is better than your better”:

The emerging Nike campaign is in direct response to the Under Armour Superbowl spot proclaiming “The Future is Ours,” announcing their entrance into the cross-trainer marketplace. Under Armour quickly rose to dominance in the “compression fitting apparel” category, and after entering the market less than a year ago, has taken a 1/5 market share of football cleats. An interesting article in today’s Oregonian has some interesting info and quotes regarding the Nike campaign and the shoe/athletic apparel battle:

“This was definitely an all-out attempt to stop Under Armour in its tracks,” said John Horan, publisher of trade newsletter Sporting Goods Intelligence. “They want to make sure they don’t get surprised on this category.”

Follow the jump for the Under Armour spot, a bit of Adidas, and some Pony action
(Read on …)

SXSW Interactive. And that’s where you should be too.

If not physically, then at least checking out the website, talking to people who were there, etc.SXSW (South by SouthWest) is perhaps the most important showcase for new media and new technologies out there. (There’s also film and music parts of the festival which are pretty important in and of themselves, but we’ll focus on the interactive part.)

A good place to start is this list of finalists for the Web awards. You’ll find inspiration from a variety of sites– everything from individual portfolio sites to corporate sites to media sites to random cool websites. Since the awards don’t just focus on things ad agencies have done, you get a more complete vision of what’s noteworthy on the web right now.

Two other place sto get a great overview of SWSX are (a) Deep Focus’ Ian Schafer’s blog. Schafer’s been assiduously documenting the conference and his insights are (as the line goes) the next best thing to being there.  (b) Adpulp’s David Burn’s coverage on his agency’s blog, where you get a different, but equally in-depth account.

Maybe it’s the little kid in me that likes popping balloons and throwing water balloons. Maybe it’s the music from Cinematic Orchestra that captures my attention and sucks me in for the full minute and a half. It could be the stunning cinematography with outstanding depth of field, color, etc. Or it could just be that it’s so bizarre, I can’t stop looking. Anyway, there’s just something about this new spot from George Patterson Y&R out of Melbourne that really tickles my fancy, so to speak. And I have to say that I’m a sucker for the Schweppervesence tag. It just makes perfect sense to me.

Politics aren’t exactly my thing, and I’m definitely not directly expressing any views or endorsing anything here. I just read through Andrew Romano’s Newsweek Blog article from last week on Why The Obama Brand is Working. I hadn’t taken the time to really step back and look at what was going on - and I’m greatful that Romano did for me. A very interesting read. He writes:

Reinforced with a coherent, comprehensive program of fonts, logos, slogans and web design, Obama is the first presidential candidate to be marketed like a high-end consumer brand. And for folks who don’t necessarily need Democratic social programs–upscale voters, young people–I suspect that the novel comfort of that brand affiliation contributes (however subconsciously) to his appeal.

Interesting to look at in those terms. And also interesting to analyze everything from a marketing campaign level rather than a political campaign standpoint. I realize there are many similarities, and that many political campaigns are purely advertising, but, as Romano points out, it’s much more than just advertising. It’s a politcian producing branding that would make most companies envious.

The other day I mentioned the possibility of billboards with head tracking in the future. Well, this isn’t exactly the same thing, but the end result may be just as effective. Placed in Beijing’s Fang Zhuang passage back in December, the WWF billboards by O&M Beijing were removed after only one day due to the alarm they raised. Effective would probably be an understatement. An interesting and creative way to turn the traditional billboard into something more powerful - without a whole lot of effort. [click the image above to enlarge]