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

According to Bud Light’s (from DDB Chicago) newest commercials, one word says it all - Dude. While the spots themselves are hysterical and can pretty much guarantee a laugh out of anyone, it’s the new website that really brings it all together – dudemadness.com. Here you can not only test your “dudeness” by clicking on the poster your prefer, dude, but you can also send coded dude messages to your friends (which will be decoded via text message). And in case anyone out there was wondering, I happen to be 68% Righteous Dude, 17% Game-On Dude and 15% Redneck Dude (where did THAT come from?!?).

Technorati Tags: Bud, Bud Light, dude, tv, commercials, beer, Las Vegas, drinks, DDB, websites, viral

After the ABC series about Geico’s Cavemen, well, bombed, I was sort of hoping it would be the end of the cavemen altogether. My wish has yet to be granted and now the cavemen have entered the disco world. The new commercials show off their sweet dance moves, think “The Hustle,” and “Jazz Hands.” The purpose of the ads are to direct you to not one but two new viral sites from Geico - CavemansCrib.com and DancingCaveman.com. Visit the latter and you can even download your very own dancing caveman to put on your desktop. Hours of entertainment… or maybe just seconds. 

Technorati Tags: tv, commercials, Geico, cavemen, sitcoms, websites, viral, dancing, disco

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.

Great time waster, courtesy of the Swedish telecom giant Tele2 is something called BeatBox that lets you record your own beat box tune with a basset hound DJ.

This is the sort of fun, not-available-elsewhere-in-a-superior-format toy that brands should strive for online. It’s a quick little hit, has enough of a connection with a telecom company to be relevant, and is very well-done: you don’t have to speak Swedish to get it. Perhaps one of our European readers could fill us in on whether the basset hound figures in their advertising at all.

Matt Dickman, author of the most excellent Techno//Marketer blog referred me to one of the coolest links I’ve found in a while. It’s called “Google Hot Trends” and it’s an hourly update of the most Googled terms. Fascinating because you can find out all sorts of things, from who’s being traded before the NBA trade deadline, who’s having Jason Kidd’s baby, and which congressman is being indicted. It’s one of the ways that search, and the analysis thereof, is changing the way we approach advertising and marketing. Because rather than rely on the specious output of Nielson families or million dollar focus groups, we get uncensored, unbiased accounts of what people are doing when they are not conscious of being monitored or watched. The possibilities are endless for this sort of research, but in the meantime, it’s a fun way to keep abreast of the news and to see how many of terms you recognize before you click on them.Well at least for a nerd like me, it is. 

HELLLLLOOOOOOOO EVERYBODY - Although I doubt any of my posts from here to eternity will incite as much ire as my “Can’t Wanda Sykes go away” post, I feel some perspective… or lists or “best of” are always a good way to sum up periods of time because as trite as they are, they sure do get people’s blood boiling.

This first one for me is this: what is the best TV spot this year? My choice is Tiger Beer, Reincarnation. And although there were some great ones I am obviously not choosing, this one cracked me the hell up.

Technorati Tags: wanda sykes, tv spot, beyond madison avenue

One of my favorite David Ogilvy quotes is the very famous, “I notice increasing reluctance on the part of marketing executives to use judgment; they are coming to rely too much on research, and they use it as a drunkard uses a lamp post for support, rather than for illumination.”

This video puts that sentiment in context like I’ve never really seen before. You’ll see actual clips from the pre-testing of the most famous advertisement of all time, Apple’s 1984. If consumers had their way, the soldiers would have been robot dancing and their might have been achimpanzee involved somehow. Anyway, great stuff.

A couple of months ago I joined what was then a small social networking site for advertising folks called AdGabber. Since then, it has grown to a slightly larger community of 1509 members and has been featured in "The Week" and "The Wall Street Journal." Created by Steve Hall, the head honcho of AdRants, AdGabber was created in May of 2007 for advertising execs, creative directors, art directors, writers, authors, and anybody else in the field of advertising, media, and marketing. When asked why he created AdGabber and what he hopes to accomplish, Steve said:

"Well I had a social network before AdGabber. It was over at Soflow with 4,050 members. Unfortunately, the folks that ran the platform closed it and launched something new called wis.dm which wasn’t what I was looking for so I found Ning, funded by Netscape’s Mark Andresson. Ning is the platform that AdGabber runs on.

Lots of people would comment on Adrants stories and so I thought why not expand that? Why not build a place that would allow for greater discussion, socialization and networking. The growth of MySpace and Facebook probably had something to do with it also. People love to network. Why not create a place that was specific to the ad industry. I hope it fosters community. I hope it helps people be more creative. I hope the conversations that occur on AdGabber help improve people’s work and the industry overall. And for the purposes of covering the ad industry on Adrants, it just brings me that much closer to what’s really happening and not going just by what’s said in a press release."

So jump on the AdGabber bandwagon and look me up- I’m Max Katsarelas.

Technorati Tags: Beyond Madison Avenue, AdGabber, Steve Hall, AdRants, WSJ, The Week, Advertising, Marketing, Media

 

Red Interactive Agency may, quite possibly, have the best agency website I have ever come across. I like my Mother London’s and Wexley School for Girls‘, but I absolutely love the Red Interactive Agency website. At first, when I saw their URL, which happens to be ff0000.com, I thought, "Wow! What a clever URL, this could be the best URL ever." Then after seeing how the page was designed and what users can do, I thought, "Wow! What a clever way to design a website, this could be the best website ever." Then I began writing a post after I thought, "Wow! I should write about this agency on Beyond Madison Avenue." Then I re-read the first paragraph of this post and thought, "Wow! Why am I using all these quotes?" Then I looked at the paragraph again and thought, "Wow! I got way off topic, it’s time to get off the chuckle train."

THE LAST STRAW
MAY I PLEASE HAVE SOME BLUEBERRY PIE? (BMA Recommends)
NAY NAY GIVE ME SOME HAY
JIMINY CRICKET!
I SHOT A MAN IN RENO
DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES
RUMPELSTILTSKIN IS MY NAME
I DREAMT I WAS A BUTTERFLY
SURLEY YOU JEST

Oh yeah, Red Interactive Agency has done some good work for Spider Man 3, Sony, and Spectre Performance. So even though there website is off the chain, there work is too.

Technorati Tags: Beyond Madison Avenue, Red Interactive Agency, Interactive Website, Website, Design, Fun, Codes, Advertising

 

 

Just in case you’re the one person who hasn’t heard, the Age of Conversation has launched, and with it, the age of me not seeing fellow BMAer Sean Howard’s nipples has ended. That’s right, it’s been a bit of a roller coaster over the past week.

If you haven’t heard about the book, first, pull your head out of your ass. Second, read about it here. It’s actually pretty damn good, despite my unfortunate contribution. The book is ranked 2nd, 4th and 8th on Lulu (ebook, paperback, hard cover), and will raise to number one after you buy it here.

 

It’s unfortunate that members only jackets aren’t really all that cool anymore. I admit, I own a white one. And I’m bringin’ that shit back. Nothing you can do about it.

As most agencies are attempting to prove their new media chops by building offices and avatars in Second Life, DraftFCB decided to take the opposite approach. They’re bringing Second Life back into the first one. Watch out, it’s a giggle.

via AdFreak.

 

Technorati Tags: Beyond Madison Avenue, Havaianas, BBDO, New York, outdoor advertising, Sandals

Microsoft calls out their own clients, the advertisers. Hey guys, you’re a bunch of ego-driven, pretentious assholes!

Fortunately, plenty of us in the industry feel that sort of self-loathing.

Great find from the brilliant David Armano.

Shameless cop-out/copy post, but well worth it in the end.  American Copywriter has a list of rules that everyone (yes, everyone) should read.  Like this one:

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: Creatives are very literal people. If we can’t use blue or have to use the word “Crisp Crumb Coating” just tell us. We’re professionals, we’ll deal with it. What we hate a lot more is when we’re not told that orange and blue are out because one client hates the Florida Gators (true story) or that another one hates the word “administrate” because it reminds her of the word “menstruate” (Again, and sadly, true.) When we can, let’s move this stuff from the creative review to the kickoff meeting.

Read the rest here.

Technorati Tags: beyond madison avenue, american copywriter, advertising

Check out this pretty cool start-up called 10ton. They are an online video production company that does online commercials, viral marketing, shorts, and a bunch of other internet related stuff. The concept is really cool and I am going to venture out and say it is only going to be a matter of time until agencies like this are a norm in the industry. I can’t wait to see their work in the future.

They have a great video to emphasize this new field and how viewers will be amused and attracted to the work instead of feeling like it’s all, "in your face."

Technorati Tags: Beyond Madison Avenue, 10ton, Online Advertising, Get Engaged Quickly

With the news that Joe Francis, the king of questionably-aged spring break nudity, has been jailed, people are left wondering, maybe there’s a better way?

Enter the NoJoeGirls.

Think of it this way. Say you’re 21 on your way to Mexico, with plans to go from zero to hammered within 8 minutes of stepping of the plane, and likely to end up flashing a camera or two, as well. Why not get that do-good feeling at the same time?

Check it out the video explaining the idea. I think you’ll love it. Go to the NoJoeGirls blog to hear more. Thanks, Fred!

Just in case you’re in the mood to see a bunch of cool facts about the kiddos, check out this video from the 3 billion project. Guess what…the youngin’s use the internet a lot. And cell phones. And Ipods.

Max, can you back me up on this one?

via Only Dead Fish.

In case you’re looking for a little inspiration, or maybe a "just do it" moment, maybe you should read through this list of lousy predictions.

Here are a few…

• “I have traveled the length and breadth of this country and
  talked with the best people, and I can assure you that data processing
  is a fad that won’t last out the year.”

The editor in charge of business books for Prentice Hall, 1957

• “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.”

Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

• “This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously
  considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no
  value to us.”

Western Union internal memo, 1876.

• “Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible.”

Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.

Alright, now it’s time for you to do something that’s never been done. Something someone said was impossible. Go ahead, BMA believes in you.