Yeah, but have you heard the good dig Iron Man gets on Batman ABOUT all that Viral marketing?


Screw the Justice League, what I want is a movie about this

Technorati Tags: Batman, Dark Knight, Iron Man, Marvel, DC, Comics, I’m a Nerd

I’ve been staring at this ad for two days trying to figure out if I like it or I don’t.

I love the image on the right. I think it’s clever and pretty.

I don’t like the break in the middle of the page (it appears to be a corner?) because it distracts the text.

I find the usage of “bold” and “light” superfluous in the copy but most of all my nagging is over one word:

“soulmates”

I’m trying to decide if I’m being too tough or if, my initial reaction that it’s just a cookie and the melodrama of the word soulmate is reaching a little high.

I get what the writer is trying to say. I don’t necessarily mind the attributing of human qualities to inanimate objects, which is often death, but can be done well.

But my initial reaction was there are other ways to say what the image is conveying than the use of the word “soulmates”–”together forever,” “a perfect match,” “inseparable,” “love,” “perfection,” “perfect” etc.

To be honest I kind of scoffed at the use of the word when I first read it, even though I love the image on the right.

While searching for a picture of the ad, I found another take on it, one that not only takes the writer to task for making “soul mates” into “soulmates” but also claims the ad is racist compared to other ads that define chocolate as “the devil:”

Is the primary intent selling cookies or white supremacy?

…

When studying the racist idea of chocolate over white you clearly see it defined as a devil

When it is white over black it uses captions that are definitively described as Angel’s food. In the case of the ad with the white male image and the black female image it clearly reads soulmates.

Even the written grammar “soul mates” in the Pepperidge farm ad becomes a conjunction and is now one word thus you have soulmates. Angel’s food and Soulmates both quantify as a relative meaning. The further you go into this mindset the more disturbing this behavior gets (pathological).

Comedian and Writer Warren Hutcherson used to have a great bit on how is father could find racism in foods at the grocery store (green olives are in clear jars, black olives are in cans; white Frosted Flakes are “great” but black Cocoa Puffs make you go cuckoo, etc.)

After reading this guy’s take on the Milano advertising, ironically enough my reaction was the same as the first time I saw the word “soulmates.”

“Dude, it’s just a cookie”

Technorati Tags: Pepperidge Farms, Milano, cookies, racism, copywriting, Warren Hutcherson, reading too much into things

I wanted to write a response to Jessica’s great coverage on the One Show

The first lesson you learn when you pursue a creative endeavor for money is that you have to be willing to “kill your darlings” to set aside your great idea should someone want to change it.

When I was first taking concepting classes, I was the only one not working in the industry in some capacity, and also the only one not able to recite line and verse of last year’s One Show winners. I found it almost freakish in a way.

I’m not totally against using these as a guide post for your work. In fact, my class partner at Book Shop, Kari Yu was a finalist this year in the college competition and I was happy to see her on the list.

I didn’t start in advertising, it honestly wasn’t my lifelong dream. I got my start in another creative field and then got into advertising. Something I’ve learned–acting classes, screenwriting trade magazines, etc. can be a helpful tool and help you with the technical aspects of your craft, but if they also make you second guess your natural creative instincts.

I also find if you watch or immerse yourself too much in some creative endeavor, two things can happen–you become a less interesting person, as all you talk about is “your passion for the industry” which after a while is the equivalent talking about how sausage is made. No one’s interested in how the pig gets to market, they just matter if it tastes good. There’s a natural progression that happens–start learning craft, get to the point where it’s all you can talk about with each other, eventually get the point where you burn out talking about it.

The other danger, which I learned the hard way doing stand up comedy in my late teens and early twenties is you’ll find other people’s great ideas seeping into your own work, either consciously, by people who have no soul, or unconsciously, by well meaning people who make an honest mistake and honestly think they came up with the idea. Then you fight a two front battle, coming up with your own great ideas, while systematically fighting off other people’s ideas that enter your head.

Imitation is only flattery if everyone knows you did it first.

Or even worse, you start comparing your work and feeling inadequate, which can be more harmful in the long run.

Like anything else, being a well rounded individual can only feed your creativity, so I shudder when people tell me I “have to” look at the new Communication Arts and hear them deconstructing every ad that’s between the covers. In my case, ignorance may be bliss.

Conversation is always welcome.

Technorati Tags: One Show, Communication Arts, Cannes, Golden Pencils, Ad Shows, Sacred Cows, I like talking about myself, How much you wanna bet I can throw this football over them mountains

You know when I think of troubled third world nations who need our help, I can only think of one celebrity who might be able to adequately convey the pain and suffering of living in a disaster ridden country ruled by a junta.

KIM KARDASHIAN!



Unfortunately, this ill-advised Public Service Announcement does less for the poor people of Burma and more for illiteracy. As. she. remembers. what. was. in. the. script.

I don’t watch their reality show, but I know Mom married Bruce Jenner, former awesome Wheaties spokesman and the man who spawned the “Princes of Malibu” (and “please make famous” Hills “star” Brody Jenner). So it’s like a perfect storm of fame-whoring suck.
. Dad on the other hand, was OJ Simpson’s lawyer. So in other words, everyone has a deal with the Devil

A sack of hammers could beat them all on Jeopardy.

I’m not against celebrity PSA’s per se, just ones where celebrities with no real higher education try to lecture me about stuff (looking at you DiCaprio) and to seem more caring than the common man just because they have more influence.

Here’s a good primer on what good PSA’s involve.

A good PSA, even if you don’t agree with the content.



Simple, straightforward, to the point, and fairly genuine, which I think is the key to a good PSA. Kim Kardashian couldn’t find Burma on a map with 3 guesses and an encyclopedia.

Technorati Tags: PSA’s, Burma, Kim Kardashian, Bad Spokespeople, Tom Hanks

First email spam, now cell phone spam.

The New York Times has your hook up:

The fees that customers pay to receive messages are a source of profit for the phone companies. It is hard to estimate how much they make. Many consumers pay for a monthly plan that allows them to send and receive large numbers of messages. But for those without a plan, getting as few as 10 unsolicited text messages a month at 20 cents each would cost an extra $24 a year.

Communications companies say they are not interested in spam as a profit center. They want to one day exploit the power of customized advertising on mobile phones, and tawdry spam pitches threaten to make their customers hostile toward all commercial messages. The companies are trying to head off the

That’s just b.s. If they weren’t interested in this spam as profit, they wouldn’t allow it in the first place. Anyone who has had an accidental internet pay-per-use charge can tell you how unsympathetic the cell phone industry is to your plight if you get a message that links to a video of some sort that ends up costing you 400 bucks (he speaks from personal experience). Plus, since regulators have had a tough time getting rid of email spam, I don’t suppose the vigilance for cell phone spam will be there. Phone companies already sell my information to interested parties, why should I take their word that *NOW* they’re not in it for profit but rather research purposes on the extent of customized advertising.

I love technology but all this meddling is making me want to find a cabin in Montana and start writing my manifesto. Preferably on a typewriter, which is immune to porn spam.

Spam spam sausage spam

Technorati Tags: mobile technology, cell phones, spam, stuff that sucks, Monty Python nerds

For those of you who are not sports fans, you may not know the awesomeness of one Charles Barkley. As a player in the NBA he played above his capabilities to be a dominant power forward in a small forward’s body. As a commentator on TNT, he is honest and forthright without any niceties.

As a pitchman for T-Mobile his commercials with Dwayne Wade are funny and bring out his personality.

Technorati Tags: T-Mobile, NBA, National Basketball Association, Turner Network Television, TNT, Dwayne Wade, Charles Barkley, Live Television, I’m Ron Burgundy?

This ad for Moccona coffee by M&C Saatchi is getting rave reviews.



Now, me being a cynic, I’ve never really connected coffee to romance of any kind. I’ve connected it to being tired and bleary eyed and needing a jolt to start my day. Or a jolt to get out of wherever I woke up. But I do find it interesting when you use packaging to define a brand, rather than taste or aroma when it comes to coffee.

I can’t help but draw connection to these 80’s Taster’s Choice ads that were all the rage.

Technorati Tags: M&C Saatchi, coffee, Moccana, Taster’s Choice, romance, branding, packaging, Cinderella, It’s just coffee people

I have to put on my hater hat for a moment concerning the latest ads for Belvedere vodka

Apparently 20 million bucks won’t buy as much as it used to, or you get what you pay for:
I saw this ad over the weekend:


Further research led me to the news that Belvedere had hired Terry Richardson to do some high concept high fashion ads or something. I’m no fan of “fashion photographers” because much like “fashion designers” or “fashion models” their pretentiousness far outweighs their total value to any sort of culture, but I realize they’re good at being artsy and if you need a living mannequin, that’s the world you need to embrace.

But THANK GOD they got famed self-indulgent “filmmaker” Vincent Gallo (he of the Brown Bunny, a blowjob and a round of boos at Cannes) to look like a homeless guy to shill for their vodka.

Is that really luxury? Really?

Oh, but it gets classier:



You see, because she’s checking her lipstick at crotch level in a belt buckle. The crotch level of Vincent Gallo no less. Did we not learn anything from Chloe Sevigny? Were Quentin Tarantino and Michael Bay not in the mood to tell you they’d put you in their next movie?

Oh we’re sooooo naughty…

Like any douchebag in a room with attractive ladies, Gallo also breaks out a guitar at parties trying to convince them that he’s sensitive and a non-hacky version of John Mayer. Does this still work? I thought most women stopped being impressed after their first year of college.




Careful, if you get him wet he either melts or multiplies.

Technorati Tags: Alcohol, advertising, Vincent Gallo, bad ads, Terry Richardson, Belvedere, vodka, snark

I think if you’re going to do PSAs for drugs, they should creep you the hell out, and the Montana Meth Project campaign across all mediums sure did the job–to the point where I almost filed this under “ads we don’t like” but they’re effective as hell. I sure as hell don’t want to do meth after looking at these.

Granted, upon further review the guy in the picture looked stunningly familiar



The TV spots were directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu who directed Babel and 21 Grams and gives you your fill of junkies doing horrible things to people, and not in a glamorous Hollywood way but in the creepy white trash way.

The “Family” spot alone outcreeped me more than Funny Games and made me want to clean my bathtub just to be sure I never used it for concocting quick highs.

Personally, I was never cool enough to be offered drugs so I could say no

Technorati Tags: Anti-drug spots, Drugs, Meth, PSAs, Public Service Announcements, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Brawny, Montana Meth

For those of you not savvy on tv lingo, every year the major networks parade out their new shows for the media and advertisers in something called “upfronts” These were generally used to generate buzz for their showcase shows and get advertisers on board with the “next hot thing” before anyone else

the problem is in this day and age of the video, video on demand, tivo, the internet, even cable’s shows, which are becoming edgier and attracting major talent are outdrawing the networks

So far this season, according to the Nielsen Company, ABC (DIS, Fortune 500) has a 5.2% share of the TV-viewing households, down from 6.4% from the 2006-2007 season. CBS (CBS, Fortune 500) has a 5.6% tally, down from 7.9% last season. Fox (NWS, Fortune 500) has garnered 5.3% of households so far this season, down from 6.4% last year. And NBC (GE, Fortune 500) has captured 4.8% of the viewership, down from 5.8 during all of last season. Meanwhile, many of the largest cable networks have seen an upsurge in viewers.

Broadcast networks typically generate about half of their ad income during the upfronts. During the 2006-2007 television season, the upfronts brought in $9 billion of the U.S. broadcast networks’ combined $18.6 billion in ad revenues. But that take has fallen by 4% and 3% respectively over the last two seasons.

So the question is, for the savvy media planner, is network advertising still the way to get your product seen by the most people? Remember more than half of these new shows at the upfronts won’t even make it out of their first season.

My guess is that this trend will continue, much as blogs and the internet have replaced “old media” such as newspapers, the more options given to people, the more they will be drawn away from network television

More at CNN Money

Technorati Tags: CNN, advertising, television, state of the industry, networks, dinosaur media

Apparently with the rise in prices, worries about recession, and the real estate debacle, the advertising agency is doing just fine.

More from an article in Wired

Omnicom, the largest marketing-services holding company by annual revenue, just announced organic growth in the U.S. at 6.7 percent in 2007, just 1 percent lower than in 2006. Randall Weisenburger, Omnicom Group’s executive vice president and C.F.O., characterized Omnicom’s outlook for the year as “cautiously optimistic,” in his February conference call announcing annual results to analysts. “We’ve been to this movie, and we’ll weather it very well, I think,” he said.

Last Friday, WPP Group, Omnicom’s closest competitor, announced 5.1 percent like-for-like revenue growth for North America, as opposed to 3.9 percent in 2007. “North America remained relatively strong and better than last year, and global revenues were in line with budget,” materials for its first-quarter trading update stated.

Of course, business, good or bad may not matter for Creatives, as their job security goes hand in hand with their last campaign :).

Technorati Tags: Wired, Omnicom, WPP Group, advertising, recession, finance

Do you see it?

More with the creator of the logo, Lindon Leader, of Leader Creative here

Technorati Tags: FedEx, logos, Lindon Leader, Leader Creative

I’ll come out of hiding and say it

My name is Jeff and I’m a hockey fan

..and since I’ve been on the negative flow and down on some ads, I thought I’d give a little love to a couple spots from the Verizon Wireless NHL ads that have been running during the Stanley Cup playoffs (which are on a channel deep in your cable box)

Technorati Tags: NHL, hockey, Verizon, vcast

I find most companies asking for user generated content want one of two things:

1)Other people to do their work for them on the cheap and/or
2)Don’t want to pay an advertising agency

Sometimes it works (Doritos and the Super Bowl) and rubs advertising creatives the wrong way and we all get in a tizzy and think of ways to criticize the work as “unprofessional” when really we’re thinking “we should have thought of that.”

Sorry, this new campaign from Century 21 doesn’t sell me on wanting to create a wacky video of me doing wacky things for “exposure”

I’m personally of the opinion that payoff doesn’t match the efforts, but then again, closing costs are a pain

Being that I hang out with people who do these things, I’m sure I’m going to get a lot of emails asking for my vote…but that teaser ad. Yikes

Technorati Tags: Century 21, user generated content, marketing, things that rub me wrong

From The Canadian Press

MONTREAL — Historic Quebec City hopes to take down a modern roadside decoration - the ubiquitous billboard.

The 400-year-old city is proposing a bylaw to wipe out large ad panels across much of the Quebec capital region in the next five years.

Serge Viau, the city’s assistant director general, says billboards mask Quebec City’s European architecture and stunning views.

“With the goal of cleaning up the urban landscape in mind, we decided to make the signs disappear,” Viau said of proposed changes to the city’s urban plan.

I defy the Quebecers to say this view is not stunning


People move to the city for the urban landscape, next thing you know, Quebec City will be getting rid of their strip clubs.

Also remember, if you’re going to have a billboard, the French part must be predominant if you’re also going to have your signs in English…silly separatists

Technorati Tags: billboards, Quebec, civil action

The smiling face above is Mick Cornett, the Mayor of Oklahoma City, who has teamed with Taco Bell to challenge his city’s residents to lose 1 million pounds this year.

According to the AP:

Taco Bell’s new Fresco Menu, which debuted in December and includes nine items with less than nine grams of fat, has been dubbed the “Official Menu of the Mayor’s Challenge.” Life-size cardboard cutouts of the mayor, which began appearing Thursday in Oklahoma City-area Taco Bell stores, feature the slug, “Because you can’t lose 1 million lbs. by yourself.”

…

The idea for the campaign began shortly after officials with Irvine, Calif.-based Taco Bell learned of Cornett’s initiative and contacted the mayor, telling him about the new menu items being launched in their stores, including 42 in the Oklahoma City metro area.

From a marketing standpoint, it’s both genius and dangerous, and a natural fit for a fast food company with resources. You have a built-in focus group, the problem is they a) have free will and aren’t required to buy Taco Bell every day and b) they aren’t required to get items off the Fresco menu, which isn’t price equivalent even if it may or may not be taste equivalent, which seems to be the major problem concerning fast food and obesity.

Do people care that they’re eating a bean burrito with 6 grams of fat versus the kind with a regular tortilla and nacho cheese that may be “less healthy?” Do they realize that a Fresco taco doesn’t mean you should get a regular soda? Does this new campaign mean the employees of Taco Bell have an obligation to the people of OKC to keep them on a healthy regiment or to plug the healthy menu when an obese person orders the Nachos Bell Grande?

I’m more skeptical. When it comes down to it, on your way home from work, it matters more if you’re paying $2.29 for the healthy menu item or $.99 for the regular one from the value menu. If you want to really be effective, you either have to make the price comparable or get rid of the unhealthy items and replace them entirely, thus taking the choice factor out.

But let’s hope for the best and expect the worst. Maybe the advertising blitz in OKC will educate and change behavior, which is part of the point.

Technorati Tags: Taco Bell, Oklahoma City, Mick Cornett, politics, fast food,

On the left, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners’ ad for the NBA Playoffs

on the right, Time Magazine’s cover

Technorati Tags: Time, NBA, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama

Brett Favre looks to break the Madden Curse as it was announced yesterday that he would be on the cover of Electronic Arts’ 20th Anniversary Edition of John Madden Football.

Seeing as Favre no longer is in the league, it’s safe to say either:
a) Favre will get back in the league only to suffer an injury
b) He should look to the skies for random falling pianos

The obvious question is– will there be weepy press conferences as an option?

Am I the only one who remembers Madden’s commercials for Miller Lite?

Technorati Tags: Electronic Arts, NFL, Madden, video games, Brett Favre

Don’t get me wrong, I am a fan of Danica Patrick

But unfortunately this pun from airTran makes me think they’re shooting for a different demographic than race fans, or telling us something about their spokesperson that’s none of our business.

Seinfeld disclosure: Not that there’s anything wrong with either

Technorati Tags: Danica Patrick, airTran, celebrity endorsements

In the vein of the Harvey Dent campaign site and the short lived “Joker-ized” version comes a new campaign from Warner Brothers in support of The Dark Knight the new Batman film.

Operation Slipknot, which is about corruption in the Gotham City Police Department. Apparently all the slots in the game were taken within 45 minutes of this email being sent out from Commissioner Jim Gordon.

“OK friend, you’re up to bat now. You have yourself a new assignment: Operation Slipknot.”



Another site for the Gotham Intercontinental Hotel has gone live, but the telephone number for the “concierge” has been disconnected.

I’ve been loving the way that Warner Brothers has been including hardcore fans who want in on the action without ruining the movie for those of us who don’t have the time.