October 1, 2005 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 0 Comments

Well, it's not breaking news to us, but tomorrow's (the Sunday edition) Times finds it fit to print:

But some in the television industry fret that those with less successful track records or at smaller networks will not be able to fend off aggressive marketers.

Also worrisome is the tendency of advertisers who are creating brand integrations to gravitate toward heartwarming shows like NBC's "Three Wishes," in which the singer Amy Grant ladles out assistance to those in need. "It's got to be noncontroversial," said Mr. Riesenberg of Full Circle, whose productions include "Bound for Glory" on ESPN (with Mr. Silverman's Reveille); the show follows the former football star Dick Butkus as he tries to turn around a high school football team.

Television shows that deal with provocative subjects could find themselves at a financial disadvantage in an environment where networks and studios must rely increasingly on this new source of revenue, Mr. Wells said. "I believe in market forces, but I think the quality of content will suffer," he said.

The whole article is a nice overview. Worth a read.

October 2, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Adweek reports that Dentsu's Colby and Partners has added two avocado-promoting clients to its roster--the Hass Avocado Board and the Chilean Avocado Importers Association. The Santa Monica shop already has an eight-year relationship with the California Avocado Commission, an account it retains.

It's right and good that Colby could leverage its experience on the thick-skinned fruit to add business without a review. Normally, the old conflict-of-interest flag would be thrown. In this case, all organizations want the same thing--consumers united in their passion for avocados.

October 2, 2005 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 0 Comments

Here's a news flash: Religious people are a little sensitive about their deities. From Yahoo:

Irish bookmaker Paddy Power was fending off the wrath of Christians in overwhelmingly Roman Catholic Ireland on Friday over an advert depicting Jesus and the Apostles gambling at the Last Supper.

The billboard posters, on display in the Irish capital, adapt Leonardo da Vinci's famous painting of the event to show Jesus with a stack of poker chips, Judas with 30 pieces of silver and other apostles clutching hands of cards.

"There's a place for fun and games," says the caption.

Frankly, I'm a little more partial to The Last Pancake Breakfast.

October 2, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 4 Comments

October 3, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

USA Today: A senior U.S. official rejected calls on Thursday for a U.N. body to take over control of the main computers that direct traffic on the Internet, reiterating U.S. intentions to keep its historical role as the medium's principal overseer.

"We will not agree to the U.N. taking over the management of the Internet," said Ambassador David Gross, the U.S. coordinator for international communications and information policy at the State Department. "Some countries want that. We think that's unacceptable."

Many countries, particularly developing ones, have become increasingly concerned about the U.S. control, which stems from the country's role in creating the Internet as a Pentagon project and funding much of its early development.

In 1998, the U.S. Commerce Department selected ICANN to oversees the Internet's master directories, which tell Web browsers and e-mail programs how to direct traffic. Internet users around the world interact with them everyday, likely without knowing it.

Although ICANN is a private organization with international board members, Commerce ultimately retains veto power.

October 3, 2005 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 32 Comments

How stupid is your marketing department?

I leave town for 9 days and what did I find in the stack of mail upon my return?

1) A Visa "CheckCard" I never asked for, but is just sitting in an envelope any moron can feel has a card enclosed. It's just there waiting to be "instantly activated."

2) A letter containing my PIN number. The one that's supposed to be a freakin' secret.

Had anyone other than my trustworthy neighbor collected my mail, they could've taken #1 and #2 and cleaned out my bank account along with trashing my credit rating.

So fine. Whatever. I threw 'em away. But today, I got:

3) An DM invitation to subscribe to a $9 per month "Identity Protect" service that would supposedly protect me against identity theft and credit fraud.

Well, guess what. It's fuckers like you, National City Bank, that are the problem in the first place by sending Direct Mail shit that can cause identity theft.

Your Campbell-Ewald-created ads use The Pretenders' "Brass In Pocket" to build your brand. Well, guess what, I'm feeling pretty fucking far from "special" today.

And since my e-mail requesting no more solicitations came back with a "please call our customer service" non-answer, I'm using this blog to register my displeasure. This is why banks suck. And bank advertising sucks even worse.

Until Direct Mail and Direct Marketing people get their act together, the ad industry will never get any respect, no matter how many icons parade through Times Square.

[UPDATE] A very pleasant customer service rep told me: "We sent a mass mailing out to all our valued customers..." If some nimrod had gotten a hold of my card and raped my bank account, I wouldn't be a valued customer to them for long.

October 4, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 4 Comments

Lewis Lazare: The Chicago arm of BBDO got a new name Monday: Energy BBDO.

The moniker stems from a two-year effort to develop a model in the Chicago shop, a model that agency executives are convinced has proved effective in winning new business, most recently Wm. Wrigley Jr. brands Life Savers and Creme Savers.

Other new clients include Jim Beam, Dial and Starbucks liqueur.

What is the brand "Energy" all about? According to an agency spokesman, it's an "approach to uncovering powerful brand ideas that re-energize brands by achieving three things: brand importance, brand integrity and marketplace momentum." The spokesman went on to describe brand Energy as "the antidote to consumer brand apathy."

BBDO's Chicago office will be the only shop in the agency network to adopt the new name.

October 4, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

Steve Rubel points to an interesting post on the Socialtext blog.

Google is becoming increasingly prone to Wikipedia. This is because Google's PageRank algorithm, the method by which it ranks search pages, inherently succumbs to the basic structure and social structure of wikis.

The PageRank algorithm is most famously characterized as valuing links that are highly referred to by other people. It seems that is only part of the story. The PageRank algorithm values links to yourself more. That is, a website that has many pages and is densely inter-woven with links becomes a sort of PageRank machine. True, without other websites conferring a little bit of their PageRank onto it, that website will not have a high PageRank, but given enough of a small number of external links from mediocre websites pointing to your very large, densely interwoven website, your website will shoot up through the listings.

There is an important lesson hiding in the subtext here. On the Network, The power of people will kick the backside out of algorithms. While computer sciencey solutions are almost always gameable, communities are equally almost always resilient, adaptive, and intelligent.

The future of knowledge management is not data mining nor document object repositories; that is the science of dead information. The future is telling stories to each other, building knowledge together through those stories, and reshaping ourselves through those actions. That's the vivid, active, powerful future of the Wiki Way.

October 4, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

Reuters: Boeing Co. apologised on Friday for a mistakenly published advertisement for its V-22 Osprey aircraft showing troops dropping onto the roof of a mosque in what appears to be a simulated battle scene.

The ad, coming amid rising concern among Muslims over U.S. military action in Iraq and Afghanistan, prompted immediate complaints from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which demanded the withdrawal of the campaign.

But Boeing, which created the ad with partner Bell Helicopter, said publication was a "clerical error" by the National Journal, which ran the ad on September 24.

The ad shows troops rappelling down from an Osprey craft to the domed roof of a building labelled "Muhammad Mosque" in Arabic as smoke billows from a burned-out car nearby.

"It descends from the heavens. Ironically it unleashes hell," says the ad, published by Boeing and Bell Helicopter, a unit of Textron Inc., which jointly developed the Osprey.

The aircraft "delivers Special Forces to insertion points never thought possible," says the text of the ad.

The ad "clearly portrays special forces assaulting a mosque, a structure dedicated to civilian worship purposes," said CAIR executive director Nihad Awad, in a letter to the two companies. "This gives the impression that 'the insertion points never thought possible' are Islamic places of worship."

Bell said it regretted any concern provoked by the ad, and it was looking into its "creative processes" to prevent a repeat.

October 4, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Our friends at Talent Zoo have launched a recruitment blog, Hiring Revolution, written by TZ Vice Presidents Amy Hoover and Ragan Jones.

Andrea Rizk, the resident PR expert at Talent Zoo, has launched Chasing The Press, a PR industry blog. And word is, this new ad blog is a Talent Zoo property.

October 4, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Fast Company: Branding is the self-help industry of corporate America. Sure, it may be difficult to admit--perhaps even a bit embarrassing--but let's face it: Both branding and self-help have experienced booming growth over the past decade, seemingly in reaction to rising levels of personal and professional insecurity. Both fields are populated with self-anointed experts. And both seem to follow the same publishing principal: The less there is to say, the more literature there must be.

Although sales of self-help books have doubled in the past four years, mental illness, obesity, drug addiction, and alcoholism are very much on the rise. Is the craziness fueling the literature or vice versa? Comedian George Carlin captured it when he said, "If you're looking for self-help, why would you read a book written by somebody else? That's not self-help, that's help! There's no such thing as self-help. If you did it yourself, you didn't need help." So go ahead, leave your shadow alone. Run a good business, and your brand will follow.

October 4, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Some smart people have recently asked me pertinent questions about the value of blogs for brands and branded communications. This is a rich topic--one we might spend days exploring at an expensive seminar on a tropical island.

For our purposes here, I'll offer a couple of scenarios to consider. Before I do, I'd like to point out that blogs are narrative in structure. As a writer, I can't help but be excited by this fact. For here's a chance to make copy important again.

1) A blog (and other conversational media applications like podcasts, wikis, etc.) can deliver brand-sponsored entertainment. Think Mutual of Omaha's "Wild Kingdom," modernized for this new media sphere. The content needn't have a thing to do with a company's product or service offering. I'm talking about pure sponsorship. For instance, a client like Coca-Cola might create a new soap opera that's delivered exclusively via online channels, as a daily podcast and/or in blog format. The possibilities here are endless.

2) Another ripe arena is event and promotional marketing. Because blogs are structured in reverse chronological order, they lend themselves to tracking a campaign through time. Imagine a promotional tour that stops in 16 cities over a 16-week stretch, where contestants show up and participate with the brand in some fashion. A blog can be used to track this tour from city to city, building anticipation for those who plan to particiapte and giving everyone else a window into this experiential activity.

I'm confident this is but a surface scratch. If you'd care to share your own lofty ideas, please leave a comment.

October 4, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

San Francisco Chronicle: In most ads, a company is trying to sell you a product, or a brand, or some oxymoronic notion of corporate philosophy (as if the pursuit of profit wasn't credible self-justification in a capitalist marketplace).

But flipping through a recent copy of the New Yorker -- the Sept. 5 issue, to be precise -- I came across several ads for leading companies that spoke to a relatively new trend in corporate outreach.

Although the companies in question collectively touch nearly all U.S. consumers and are together worth billions of dollars, they're not selling products here, or their respective brands, or even a clear declaration of philosophy.

What these companies -- Chevron, Altria and Starbucks -- are selling is their own thoughtfulness.

"They're trying to elevate the conversation above what it is they do," said Steve Manning, managing director of Igor, a San Francisco brand consultant. "They want to be thought of as something bigger than just goods and services."

This approach, he added, should be a red flag for most consumers.

"Honest people don't tell you they're honest," Manning observed. "Cool people don't say that they're cool. We should all be wondering why these guys feel a burning need to tell us how good they are."

October 5, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Adweek: Havas-owned Arnold will begin laying off staff tomorrow as it prepares to lose its largest account, Volkswagen of America, which last month said it would shift its estimated $400 million account to MDC Partners' Crispin Porter + Bogusky.

Sources said the agency would trim between 50 and 80 employees from its Boston headquarters, or 10-15 percent of the staff at that location.

VW accounted for about 10 percent of Arnold's estimated 2004 overall revenue of $227 million.

In addition, Arnold's Los Angeles outpost, which opened in April as a branded entertainment unit primarily serving VW, will be shuttered. That office had about five employees, but their fate is unclear.

Arnold is not defending the $40 million-plus Goodyear business, which is currently in play, but is a finalist for the $60 million LensCrafters and $50 million Liberty Mutual accounts.

October 5, 2005 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 0 Comments

Well, on Monday I wrote of my displeasure with National City Bank. For the bigger implications of this, check out my new column on Talent Zoo:

Since I work in the ad industry, I know this wasn't a faceless backroom operation. Someone high up at my bank had the idea to send out unsolicited CheckCards. Someone thought the PINs should be disclosed. Someone had to write and proofread the DM letters. Someone had to cross-check the customer database. Someone had to coordinate the printing, the mailing, etc. Dozens of people had a hand in approving this marketing clusterfuck, starting with the client. And no one seemed to think it was a bad idea.

While this week, advertising blogs are debating the relative offensiveness of religious symbols in advertising, I believe what National City Bank pulled, and what other marketers do with consumer data has more far reaching--and potentially criminal--implications. It's just less sexy than the military rappelling onto the roof of a mosque.

October 5, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

Zombie Boy at Beyond Madison Avenue has an interesting rant on the word "copywriter" and its decided lack of sex appeal.

Sadly, for the average person outside the ad industry, the job title "Copywriter", brings to mind either some guy who sits at the end of a long production line of freshly published books with a black ink pad and a rubber stamp bearing one of those little encircled letter c ensignias or some sort of pathetically downtrodden Dickens character like Bob Cratchet hunched over in some extra tiny scribe's cubicle, making sure that all the illegible 3 pt. disclaimer type is spelled correctly with the proper use of style guide grammar or something equally menial and tediously insignificant. Let's face it, to the average person, "Copywriter" is just not the most glamorous sounding job title.

How hard would it be for the industry to replace the title of "copywriter" with something a little more interesting or important sounding?

October 5, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

According to Micropersuasion, Nick Denton of Gawker Media--the English bloke who loves to poo poo the business of blogs--has struck a deal with VNU to distribute Gizmodo's content in Europe.

Gizmodo's content will be translated from English into 6 additional languages, then augmented with local coverage for each market. Besides English, Gizmodo.com now will be available in French, German, Dutch, Spanish, and Italian and covering the Belgium market in Dutch as well.

VNU is a global media giant with over 140 print publications and website equivalents. Adweek, Brandweek and Mediaweek are all VNU titles.

October 5, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 3 Comments

Image from Flickr user V1pro

October 5, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

USA Today is running an article on direct selling.

Amy Robinson, spokeswoman for the Direct Selling Association (DSA), says 74% of consumers have purchased something via direct selling.

"If I bring it to you in your home, there's no real distraction, and I can get you to shop for an hour and a half. If you come in the store I'm lucky to get you to shop for 15 minutes," says Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at marketing information company NPD Group.

Direct sellers see each party as a way of cementing loyalty to their brands.

"Today, we're more removed from people — we pay at the pump, go through express lines at fast-food restaurants and shop online. So what they value about direct selling is the one-to-one service in a party environment," says Jill Blashack, founder of home taste-testing direct seller Tastefully Simple. "It's the relationship piece of this that makes the business grow."

Industry sales, almost all accounted for by parties, were last pegged at nearly $30 billion in 2003, vs. $17 billion a decade ago, according to the DSA.

October 5, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 12 Comments

Car dealers...

How many times have you been driven out of your mind by the lame stumblings of your car dealer? If you're like most Americans, too many times to count.

Lansing State Journal: As a veteran car salesman, Mark Whipple has seen his share of buyer-seller disagreements.

But never in his 20 years on the job has he witnessed what he saw Friday at Spartan Toyota.

"It was an assault; it was a melee," Whipple said.

He should know. His desk is about six feet from where punches were thrown. And by the time it was over, Whipple said, one of the participants threatened to kill him and bomb the dealership.

October 5, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Konstantin Dlutskiy writes about marketing and advertising in Russia.

‘Pelmeni’ are Russian ravioli-like pasta envelopes containing minced meat. Always with meat. Envelopes with mashed potatoes or fruits are called ‘vareniki’ and are more popular in Ukraine. The popularity of pelmeni in Russia is immense. It’s one of the most popular traditional fast food. You simply put frozen pelmeni into boiling water and in 5 minutes you get a nutritional meal.

For long pelmeni were regarded as commodity, such as sugar, bread or pasta. The first Russian brand of premium pelmeni that was aggressively marketed and advertised was Daria. It was introduced by Oleg Tinkov – a Russian marketing enfant terrible. He managed to boost Daria brand recognition to 40% on the budget as low as about 20 thousand dollars. The billboard ads he placed in St. Petersburg and Moscow pictured buttocks powered with flour. The inscription on the ad reads, “Your favorite little pelmeni!!!”

This billboard was banned in St. Petersburg on the next day of appearance. Moscow authorities, being less puritan, banned it in about a week. But it was so outrageous and scandalous that in the next months almost all tabloids, weekly and magazines in Russia republished it.

October 6, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Paid Content is breaking the story du jour. Jason Calacanis is selling his Weblogs, Inc. to AOL for up to $35 million US dollars.

For Calacanis, this is his second company being sold in a space of about two years...his original company Rising Tide Studios was first sold to Wicks Business Information, which in itself was bought out by Dow Jones.

The company's blogs have had an exponential trajectory, with sites like Engadget, Autoblog, BloggingBaby, Adjab and others. In total, the company has about 130 bloggers, with about 15 full time employees, from what I know.

Weblogs Inc. revenues are running at $1 million-plus annually from Google AdSense alone, according to numbers jubilantly released by Calacanis on his own blog; during a panel last week he said the company was bringing in $2 million a year. With that in mind, either of those numbers would be a generous multiple.

October 6, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

Lewis Lazare: Last time we checked, the Coca-Cola Co. wasn't cash-strapped. So it's surprising the company couldn't come up with a more compelling look for the revamped Fresca design hitting grocery store shelves this week.

Fresca's new bubble-inspired design strikes us as something you'd be more likely to find on a third-rate generic cola. Rack it up as another misstep in what has been terribly uneven marketing and advertising across a range of Coke products in recent years.

In addition to the packaging overhaul, Fresca is getting two new flavors -- Sparkling Peach Citrus and Sparkling Black Cherry Citrus -- both introduced as sugar-free, caffeine-free line extensions.

To tout all the changes, Campbell-Mithun/Minneapolis is launching a new ad campaign with the tag "Discover Fresca. Again."

October 6, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

Steve Rubel points to Ogilvy PR's new site where they share their blog reading list and encourage users to put these sites in their own RSS readers, or to use Ogilvy's new site as their RSS feeding trough.

On a related note, Robbin Phillips, Brains On Fire's Courageous President, wants to change the name of RSS.

I suggested we call RSS "Pull Ups," as a tip of the hat to pull technology, the opposite of pushing content out there. Olivier Blanchard suggested we call RSS "Pickles," like morsels selected from a jar.

October 6, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

Hugh MacLeod: One thing you notice when you start attending the blog conferences and hanging around the more well-known and respected bloggers on the planet: None of them seem to take it very seriously. They just get on with it. If what they do works for them, it's because it all comes naturally.

But maybe Big Media doesn't want it to all come naturally- maybe they want it to all come artificially. Maybe that's why it's so utterly dominated by celebrities, advertising and wannabes.

Maybe Big Media is all about being fake and getting away with it.

October 6, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Mike Davidson points to the launch of Blue Flavor, a new web design studio in Seattle. Actually, they're "an experience design company with a focus on new media." Naturally, a firm such as this will prominently feature their blog. On the Blue Flavor blog, Nick Finck, Director of User Experience, waxes poetic about the brand experience company's hope to offer their customers.

When I started creating sites in 1995, the only experience we were concerned about was if there would be an online experience at all. It’s been quite a long time since those days. Today, most companies are interested in what kind of experience a person is going to have when they visit their site. Now, I am not just talking about pretty logos and cool colors with some fancy interaction. I am talking about the holistic online experience.

In this day and age of the experience economy its not simply about why you're better than the competition, it’s about how you make yourself better than the competition. I feel that the next big factor to extending the experience economy and adopting this new approach is the return of the personal human touch. This is to say moving beyond the sterile brochure copy of business practices of the past, and putting a human face on your product. A person that your customers can trust and can establish a business relationship with.

Ask yourself this: when was the last time you purchased a service or product where the salesperson remembered your name? And I am not talking about reading your name off their computer screen or your credit card. Think about that for a moment. Do you remember that experience? Was it memorable? Is that little step something that set that business aside from the rest in your mind? That, my friend, is part of the experience economy.

October 6, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

USA Today: A spike in gasoline prices is fueling what could be the biggest year for U.S. bicycle sales since the Arab oil embargoes more than 30 years ago.

"It should be close to 20 million units. If you look back historically, the three best years for bike sales were 1972, 1973, and 1974," Tim Blumenthal, executive director of Bikes Belong, a national coalition of bicycle suppliers and retailers said.

Last year's U.S. bicycle sales were just under 19 million.

October 6, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

The New York Times: According to a study released this week by the executive search firm Spencer Stuart, which surveyed 100 companies, marketing chiefs had an average tenure of 22.9 months - compared with chief executives with an average stay of 53.8 months. Nearly half of the chief marketers surveyed had been on the job for less than a year, and 14 percent for at least three years.

Marketing experts attribute the job's short lifespan to several factors, including the tendency of the chief executive to have unrealistic expectations.

"I think at the end of the day, there's a malalignment of expectations of what a true C.M.O. can do," Greg Welch, a consultant at Spencer Stuart, said. "These people who are being bounced out of these jobs are quality, smart, creative, proven marketers. Either they're not giving people time to be successful, or our expectations for what they can achieve are just too herculean."

Rob O'Regan, the editor of the 25,000-circulation C.M.O. Magazine, said the nature of the job makes it difficult to quantify results. "It's hard to measure some of the effectiveness of what marketing does, especially when it deals with customer loyalty and brand building," he said. "It makes it hard to justify all the budgets that you're getting."

In the end, who has the power in the boardroom depends on the economy, said John Quelch, a professor of business administration at Harvard Business School.

"Marketing always receives a little more respect during upticks in economic cycles," Mr. Quelch said. "When the economic cycles go down, the finance and economics guys will get to the forefront again."

October 6, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

According to C|NET, software baron Dave Duffield is returning to the San Francisco Bay Area, and he plans to do it in style.

The PeopleSoft founder has drafted plans for a mansion bigger than the Hearst Castle on 22 acres of land in the town of Alamo, about 30 miles East of the city by the bay. At 72,000 square-feet, the house would also surpass the White House and Bill Gates' home in size.

A move to Alamo would bring Duffield, 65, closer to the Walnut Creek offices of Workday, his new software company. He founded it after a brief return to the helm of PeopleSoft that ended when the company finally succumbed to hostile takeover by rival Oracle.

PeopleSoft made Duffield a wealthy man. With a net worth of $1.1 billion, he ranks No. 320 on Fortune magazine's list of the 400 richest Americans this year.

Contra Costa Times, Alamo's local paper, supplied a list of other large edifices, for reference.

Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris: 64,108 s.f.
Hearst Castle: 60,645 s.f.
The White House: 55,000 s.f.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates' Medina, Wash., home: 40,000 s.f.
Michael Dell's Austin home: 33,000 s.f.
Oprah Winfrey's Montecito home: 23,000 s.f.
Apple founder Steve Jobs' Woodside home: 17,000 s.f.
Oracle CEO Larry Ellison's Atherton home: 8,000 s.f.

October 7, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Lewis Lazare: While breweries are scrambling to come up with a national marketing strategy to elevate beer's image among a customer base that increasingly has turned to other drink options, a number of major liquor and spirits brands are positioning themselves as classy alternatives to beer.

Add Brown-Forman's Appleton Estate Jamaica Rum to that group. This month the brand is launching a print campaign with the telling tagline "Raise Your Rum."

The various executions from Northlich Advertising in Cincinnati juxtapose a photograph of a hand lifting a glass of Appleton V/X over various atmospheric background shots, including a jazz player, an upscale patio party and a high-end nightclub.

The copy includes the line: "Sip or mix. But always raise."

October 7, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 4 Comments

Coke asked for ideas. Now they're about to get some.

According to Adweek, Portland-based independent, Wieden + Kennedy has picked up duties on the soft drink giant's flagship brand. Billings are rumored to be in the neighborhood of $200 million.

Pio Schunker, vice president of advertising for the Atlanta-based soft drink giant, made the decision to move the flagship brand.

W+K already handles Coke's PowerAde brand, and had produced Coke ads for the 1996 Olympics and the 1998 World Cup.

October 7, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

Steve Rubel shares Yahoo's data on RSS penetration.

• Awareness of RSS is quite low among Internet users. 12% of users are aware of RSS, and 4% have knowingly used RSS.

• 27% of Internet users consume RSS syndicated content on personalized start pages (e.g., My Yahoo!, My MSN) without knowing that RSS is the enabling technology.

• 28% of Internet users are aware of podcasting, but only 2% currently subscribe to podcasts.

• Even tech-savvy “Aware RSS Users” prefer to access RSS feeds via user-friendly, browser-based experiences (e.g., My Yahoo!, Firefox, My MSN).

• My Yahoo! has the highest awareness and use of any RSS-enabled product.

I know I'm old-fashioned, but I actually enjoy seeing posts in their original context (unless the site is poorly designed).

October 7, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

Monster Outreach is a new viral from Coors Light. The brewer purports to want to help monsters, since they are only in demand one day of the year--October 31st. This clever ruse to support the Halloween selling period is good to see from a marketer who really hasn't embraced the web up to now. Only one small problem. Capitol One is already doing this idea in a big way on TV, with their efforts to help the rampaging Vikings from previous commercials who now can't find work because everyone has Capitol One.

October 7, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

According to this site, brand evangelism does not stop at the human race.

For yet another twist, see this iconic cowboy enjoying his sucker.

October 7, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

The New York Times picked up the Weblogs, Inc. story today from Bloomberg News. The piece is so poorly written, I can hardly believe it appears in the Gray Lady.

The America Online unit of Time Warner agreed yesterday to buy Weblogs, the owner of 85 Web sites that serve as hosts to the popular online diaries called blogs.

The closely held Weblogs publishes about 1,000 blogs a week on topics including technology, parent issues and video games, AOL said. The company, based in Dulles, Va., did not disclose the price, but it was widely reported as $25 million.

The acquisition will help AOL attract advertisers as the company looks for new sources of revenue. Although anyone with an Internet connection can post a blog on the Web, Weblogs hires experts to write the columns on the 75 topics it covers.

1) Weblogs, Inc. blogs are websites. They're not sites that "host" blogs.
2) Blogs are not online diaries (for the most part).
3) Weblogs, Inc. publishes 1000 posts a week, not 1000 blogs a week.
4) Anyone with an internet connection can make a comment on a blog that allows comments. Not the same thing as making an actual blog post.

October 7, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

Image courtesy of Room 116.

October 7, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Associated Press: VeriSign Inc., a supplier of Internet security products, said Friday it has acquired Weblogs.com, an Internet site that automatically notifies subscribers each time a blog or Web site is updated.

Mountain View, Calif.-based VeriSign said it paid $2.3 million in cash to purchase Berkeley-based Weblogs.com, which was started by Web log pioneer Dave Winer.

VeriSign said it will continue to operate Weblogs.com, which supports thousands of daily feeds from bloggers and other publishers, as a free service. But a VeriSign spokesman said the company could charge for additional services in the future.

Weblogs.com started as a host for scores of bloggers before Winer changed directions and transformed it into a "ping" service that provides automatic notification to subscribers.

Weblogs.com uses really simple syndication, or RSS, a format designed for sharing headlines and other Web content.

Winer said in a phone interview that Weblogs.com had grown too big for him to handle. The site is sending nearly 2 million pings a day.

Note: Weblogs.com and Weblogs, Inc. are two different business, both of which sold for millions this week.

October 8, 2005 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 18 Comments

So there I was, getting a haircut on Thursday and lamenting that I was getting a few grey hairs. But I'm feeling better today. Why? 'Cause I know things could be worse...

I could look like Boy George. Yes, that's freakin' BOY GEORGE! He's only 44, by the way.
He got arrested on Thursday. They found a stash of coke in his apartment. He's denying it, of course. C'mon now folks, do we really want to hurt him?

No, it's not really advertising-related. But so what. It's the weekend.

October 9, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Inbound links are commonly used to rank blogs by services like Technorati. The more inbound links a blog has the more status it enjoys in this ranking system. Clearly, it's but one key factor, but this simple model has become a leading indicator for the bloatosphere at this early juncture.

One blogger, Tristan Louis, compiled Technorati's numbers for each individual Weblogs, Inc. blog. He determined that one incoming link to a Weblogs. Inc blog is worth betweeen $564 and $903 depending on the exact amount of the AOL/Weblogs, Inc deal. Reports have the deal ranging from $25 million to $35 million.

AdJab, a Weblogs, Inc. blog on our blogroll, has 593 inbound links, or 1.34% of the network's overall count. This creates a blog valuation of $334,831.51 on the low end or $535,730.42 on the high end of the deal.

Tristan further considers the data:

Should we now assume that traditional media companies are willing to pay between $500 and $1000 per site that links into a blog?

Not quite. The incremental value is in the size of the network and the underlying tools. Jason and Brian have been working on developing a blog authoring technology, called BlogSmith, that sits at the core of their network and one has to believe that AOL saw some value in the software too. However, one can easily say that blog valuations are going to be easier to make after this deal since it provides the first yardstick in that space.

AdPulp has 569 inbound links according to Technorati.

October 10, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Blook (bluk), n. A printed and bound book, based on a blog (cf. web log) or web site; a new stage in the life-cycle of content, if not a new category of content and a new dawn for the book itself.

Not only do blooks already exist, there's a new competition to judge their merit, the Lulu Blooker Prize. The Blooker will be awarded in three categories—fiction, nonfiction and comics. $4000 in prize money is available to the winners.

October 10, 2005 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 0 Comments

Paul MacFarlane is the founder of The 10/05 Experiment in St. Louis, and has spent years challenging the conventions and practices of the ad industry. Which is not an easy path to walk down. But that doesn't begin to describe Paul. His online diary will give you some insight into his thoughts.

In the first of a three-part podcast from St. Louis' Act3i called "Designing the Story," you can hear Paul talk about his life and his philosophy. You can download it from Act3i or go to iTunes and do a podcast search on "Designing The Story." The first podcast is 10 minutes, and leaves you wanting to hear more.

October 10, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

David Carr writing in The New York Times considers a futuristic newspaper reading device.

What the newspaper industry really needs is an iPod moment.

Consider if the line between the Web and print matter were erased by a device for data consumption, not data entry - all screen, no baggage - that was uplinked and updated constantly: a digital player for the eyes, with an iTunes-like array of content available at a ubiquitous volume and a low, digestible price.

October 10, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 4 Comments

October 10, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Tim Nudd at Adfreak picked up on Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor's disgruntlement over L’Oréal's big hair adverts. Sinead particularly disdains the ads for L’Oréal' featuring American actress, Andie MacDowell.

"I absolutely hate those hair commercials she's done. They drive me crazy. She looks so prim and proper.

"If I ever get the opportunity to meet her, I'm going to shave all her hair off."

October 10, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Business 2.0: Google co-founder Sergey Brin made a surprise appearance yesterday at the tail-end of the Web 2.0 conference, and had a few choice words for all the previous guests who had engaged in Google-bashing.

"We fundamentally believe in sending people to other Websites. We believe in giving people access to content, not producing it. If you search for a stock symbol on Google, the top site that comes up is Yahoo Finance. We want to send people to the best sites. We are really not about creating our own content to keep people on Google," Brin said.

Everyone is trying to cast Google's ambitions in terms of past metaphors like the operating system or the Web portal. Google is something significantly different. It's value comes from its ability to match people with what exactly what they are looking for, when they are looking for it, and taking a cut of any advertising that might be associated with such matches. Brin doesn't want to keep people on Google because he knows there will always be something more interesting somewhere else on the Web. And if he can keep on helping you find it, Google will continue to thrive.

October 10, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 16 Comments

Chicago Sun Times: Some Sears salespeople may now dress in any color they want -- as long they wear Sears clothes.

Salespeople in apparel, jewelry and accessories departments can tear off those dull black or white pullovers and black or tan pants -- which they could get from any store -- and replace them with colorful Sears duds, starting today, according to an internal memo.

Men may pick their colorful clothes from Sears' brands such as Lands' End, Covington, Structure, Dockers and Arrow.

Women have a wider selection, including lines such as Apostrophe, A-Line, Latina Life, First Issue, Belongings and c.l.o.t.h.e.s.

The new dress code comes a week after Sears' new CEO, Aylwin Lewis, ordered employees to prove their loyalty by no longer bringing rival stores' shopping bags, packages or anything advertising competitors' logos onto Sears Holdings property.

October 10, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

At lunch today, a friend (who works in IT) asked what platform I'm running my sites on. I stumbled for an answer, before blurting out, "Not Windows!"

I run my personal sites and we run this site on Apache servers. Apache currently enjoys 70% market share, with Microsoft, Sun and Zeus running as distant finishers.

According to Netcraft, an Internet services company based in Bath, England, there are 74,409,971 websites on the internet. Over 50 million run on Apache servers.

Netcraft also says that 2005 is the strongest year ever for internet growth, as the web has added 17.5 million sites, easily surpassing the previous annual mark of 16 million during the height of the dot-com boom in 2000.

For reference, Technorati is tracking 19.1 million sites, most, but not all of which, are blogs.

October 11, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

With all the deals being made in internet land these days, it's only right that a blog called "Bubble 2.0" would float.

Bubble 2.0?

The signs are all around us. First a mainstream business publication quotes Howard Rheingold. Then Esther Dyson starts making investments. Before you know it, there's a new Vespa store in downtown Austin. Is it Internet 2.0? Maybe. Is it Bubble 2.0? Only time will tell. But along the way, we'll be following the signs, and invite you to follow along.

This site is maintained by Charlie Wood, a Bubble 1.0 survivor and avid blogger.

The site's tagline, "Please God, just one more bubble!", was seen on a bumper sticker in Silicon Valley during the nuclear winter of 2000-2004.

October 11, 2005 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 0 Comments

Adfreak heaps praise on a new ad from Goodby for Comcast that lifts an old episode of The $10,000 Pyramid and dubs in new copy. And rightly so, they did a good job with it.

You can see the spot here.

Not that anyone at Goodby would have heard it, but I did the same concept in a radio spot for Nortel. 7 years ago. And somewhere I have a cassette tape (not even a CD or mp3) to prove it. Happens a lot in this business, which is why I try to be careful not to heap too much praise or too much scorn on certain concepts and certain agencies, 'cause originality is in the eye of the beholder. And we're all working from the same palette of words, images and pop culture.

October 11, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 7 Comments

Vinny Warren--the DDB Chicago copywriter responsible for unleashing Budweiser's "Whassup?" dross on the culture--apparently has some anger issues to work through. Here's how he recently introduced himself to the bloatosphere:

This is a blog about creative advertising, Wow Factor style.

Be warned. I know my shit and I've got mad skills. I'm doing this anonymously because I don't want to reveal my true identity. If I did it would probably intimidate potential posters. But just so you know, I am NOT Dan Wieden.

If you're looking for a good fight about advertising, you've come to the right place. I will kick your ass.

I really wouldn't give a shit, except that he turned his particular brand of venom on us last night, after failing to realize our older posts are closed to comments (in order to fend off unwanted comment and trackback spam). He thought we were censoring him.

I said "CUNT". which apparently is not appreciated over there at adulp.completecunts.blogspot.com. so my comment was refused entry to their pedantic little sub-adweek shite. but you know what, it's their blog. maybe they're tiresome christian types. who the fuck knows?

I suppose the guy is sort of funny, in an "I wish I worked for The Onion" kind of way. But it's hard to tell. I'm only able to make out a small slice of what he's about from his blog. That's the nature of the net. As is the tendency for its users to jump to all sorts of misguided conclusions. While we technically have the ability to engage in honest back-and-forth on blogs, that ideal is rarely realized. It's much easier to judge, rant, bitch or make a scene.

October 11, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

USA Today: Anna Wintour, editor in chief of Vogue magazine, was hit with a tofu pie by anti-fur demonstrators as she attended Paris fashion week.

Dan Mathews, vice president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said the vegetarian tofu tart was retaliation for Vogue's decision to run fur ads while refusing to use PETA's anti-fur messages.

The animal rights group offered to pay the same fee, Mathews said.

Wintour, editor of the U.S. edition of Vogue, was hit with the tart as she waited to see the Chloe fashion show Saturday. It was the second time in a year that PETA has hit her with a pie.

October 11, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

New to the bloatosphere? Listen to Joi Ito. Hell, listen to him no matter who you are, regardless of your Technorati ranking.

A number of people have asked me to help new bloggers by giving them advice. In retrospect, I was giving people very specific advice based on my personal style. I thought I'd share some of the tips.

1 - You're probably stupid - Well, maybe not stupid, but at least ignorant. Often you are the last one to figure out that you're not as smart as you think. Assume that someone will think you're stupid and will kindly point this out in the comments. Preempt that by assuming you're stupid and uninformed. In other words, be humble and don't try to write something conclusively smart-sounding. Start a discussion where someone smarter than you can step in easily.

2 - You need help thinking - Focus on the parts that you can't figure out. Ask people to help you think. Most of the people who comment on my blog are helping me think. In other words, don't say, "Blah blah blah. I'm an authority. Now talk amongst yourselves while I go pat myself on the back." Say, "Gee, I'm not that smart, but here's something interesting I'm noodling on. I've gotten this far on these pieces. Help me out here... someone?"

October 11, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Need a costume idea for Halloween?

Jaffe Juice points to PETA's suggestion.

[NOTE] There ought to be a law against making two posts about PETA in one day, but there isn't.

October 11, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 6 Comments

October 11, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

NewsGator Technologies, Inc., the leading RSS platform company, has acquired NetNewsWire, the leading RSS reader for Mac OS X. NewsGator also announced that NetNewsWire will integrate tightly with the NewsGator Online synchronization platform. Brent Simmons, the creator of NetNewsWire, will be joining the NewsGator team as a product architect.

"Many of our online customers who are Mac users have asked if we had plans to extend our product platform to the Mac desktop," said Greg Reinacker, founder and CTO of NewsGator. "NetNewsWire is the dominant RSS application for the Mac OS, and was an obvious choice for us. We’re very excited to integrate our advanced synchronization and other capabilities into the product and roll it out to our combined customer base."

"After hearing so many NetNewsWire users ask for synchronization – not just between copies of NetNewsWire, but with their PDAs, with newsreaders on Windows, with a browser-based service – we thought about how to make this happen, and found that NewsGator had the technology already in place," said Brent Simmons. "But they didn’t have a Mac client! So it was a perfect fit, and we couldn’t be more excited."

As part of this deal, existing NetNewsWire full-version customers will receive a free 2-year paid subscription to NewsGator Online.

October 12, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Common Dreams: Britain's most boycotted company, Nestlé, will attempt to claim the moral high ground today in the battle for "ethical shopping" by becoming the first multi-national to launch a Fair-Trade coffee.

In a link with the Fair Trade Foundation, the Swiss food firm announced it will become the first of the big four coffee roasters to agree a "fair price" for farmers who are put into poverty by a glut of coffee on international markets.

The move by Nestlé, the world's biggest food and drink company, has caused a row among aid and trade workers over whether multi-nationals with controversial records should be given the "Fair Trade" seal of approval. Under Fair Trade rules, farmers and growers of everything from tea to pineapples are paid a "fair price" guaranteed higher than that on world markets.

But despite Nestlé's adoption of Fair Trade - which will be backed by a £1m advertising campaign - the company will still buy almost all of its coffee at the prevailing, low world price.

The Fair Trade Foundation said that Nestlé's move would put pressure on the other big coffee roasters - Kraft, Procter & Gamble and Sara Lee - to adopt Fair Trade practices.

Amy Barry, the trade spokeswoman for Oxfam - a member of the Fair Trade Foundation - said Nestlé's move was "a very small step" in the right direction.

"We would welcome it, but with very big caveats," she commented. "There is an enormous amount more that Nestlé and the other major coffee roasters need to do to address the crisis facing the world's coffee farmers.

October 12, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 3 Comments

Ernie Schenck asked why Hispanics need their own advertising awards show. There have been 39 responses to his question thus far.

Here's a segment of one response, from High Jive:

I think we need Hispanic shows for many reasons. The first is to generate positive pr for Hispanic agencies. The work being produced in these shops doesn’t get the respect and coverage it deserves. Publications like Advertising Age and Adweek do a miserable job of reporting on multicultural efforts. I’d hazard a guess that the overwhelming majority of your visitors have never even heard of Marketing y Medios.

You're right, High Jive. I've never heard of Marketing y Medios. Thanks for the pointer.

October 12, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

Barry Scott is a character created to sell Cillit Bang, a cleansing agent marketed in Great Britian. Scott may also be a real person, but there can be no question what this real person, or made up character, wants. He wants to sell you more Cillit Bang.

Hello cyber web space countrymen! I'm Barry Scott here and I'm here to tell you about...me! Hmmm, what are my interests? Well, despite fans sending me thong underpants, I'm actually a bit of a patterned sweater kind of guy. Bring back the Xmas jumper, that's what I say! I'm also a bit of a music buff. I have a large collection of easy listening hits on different formats - 8-track, vinyl and even CD. I love artists like Chris De Burgh, The Nolan Sisters, Shakin Stevens, and - when I'm in the mood for romance, some Hot Chocolate. I'll tell you even more about me later. For now, I have get my Cillit Bang out for some big time banging!

Catherine Taylor at Adfreak breaks it down for us.

If you want to creep yourself out about the future of marketing, one anecdote on the Word of Mouth Marketing Association blog should do the trick. Seems a guy named Tom Coates, who works for the BBC, posts a long item on his personal blog, plasticbag.org, about how he hasn’t spoken to his father in 30 years. Among the sympathetic postings is one from a “Barry Scott,” who says he went through a similar ordeal but decided to make amends with his dad. He even says Coates can "drop [him] a line" if he needs further support. But as it turns out, Barry Scott doesn’t exist—except as an alleged spokesperson for Reckitt Benckiser’s household cleaner Cillit Bang.

October 12, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Brandweek: Oakley, which created film company 1242 Productions to promote awareness of its core board-sports market and its athletes, is releasing The Community Project, a snowboarding feature. The film is stocked with action/adventure scenes from many of the world's top snowboarding locations. Oakley markets eyewear, apparel, gear bags and wearable electronics.

"1242 Productions gives us the ability to provide a unique visual platform to showcase [our] athletes in their respective core sports," said Pat McIlvain, Oakley global sports marketing director.

The film features some of the world's top snowboarders including Travis Rice, J.J. Thomas, Zach Leach, Tyler Lepore, Terje Haakonsen, Bryan Iguchi, Andy Finch, Kyle Clancy, Eero Ettala and Shaun White, among others. They're filmed on location in New Zealand, Japan, Jackson Hole, Wyo., Alaska and British Columbia. The production team includes veteran cinematographer Rich Goodwin, editor and cinematographer Curt Morgan, and Circe Wallace and Travis Rice serving as producers. The film's major sponsors are Oakley and Red Bull.

The Community Project will be sold by Oakley retailers, Ally distribution, Champion Visions, Method Media and Platinum distribution with a manufacturer's suggested retail price of $29.95. To publicize, the film is currently showing at select theaters and colleges, and is shipping to specialty retailers nationwide.

October 12, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

ZD net: Internet service provider EarthLink is taking big steps to gain its independence from the cable and DSL providers it relies on for access to broadband customers.

The company has taken some heavy knocks in the past few months. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an earlier ruling declaring that cable providers do not have to share access to their networks. The Federal Communications Commission soon followed with a ruling that essentially said DSL providers don't have to offer discounted rates to ISPs, such as EarthLink, which use DSL networks to deliver services.

"We have been so disenchanted about our ability to get access to broadband pipes that we felt like we needed to take a more proactive stance," said Garry Betty, chief executive officer of EarthLink. "But it's a hard living. It's like being a sharecropper. They are basically selling (access) to me for almost what they are selling it to consumers. And it's hard."

The company has been busy exploring new technologies that would allow it to bypass the cable and DSL networks altogether. Examining opportunities in everything from broadband service delivered via power lines to wireless broadband systems such as WiMax and citywide Wi-Fi, EarthLink is determined to find a technology that puts it in control.

Municipal Wi-Fi looks to be the technology with the most legs at the moment. The company announced a contract to build a wireless broadband network for the city of Philadelphia. EarthLink will shoulder the $10 million to $15 million it will cost to blanket the 135 square miles of the city. In exchange, EarthLink gets access to the rights of way to build the network and will also benefit from the city's marketing efforts to promote the new service.

October 12, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

Ben McConnell at Church of the Customer points to an interesting promotion for Ban Deodorant that attempts to capitalize on the move toward consumer generated content.

Ban (the deodorant) is trying out citizen marketing with a viral twist by inviting people to write captions for photos in its "Ban It" campaign. Winning slogans will be featured in a future ad campaign.

The hoped-for virality is that friends will tell friends about their content creation. (My contribution in the picture at left is strictly from a scientific viewpoint.)

This campaign is a good start for getting customers involved with a product that's rather utilitarian, especially for mass-market goods. I'm sure KAO Brands finds it immensely challenging to develop relationships with its end-customers, as do all consumer packaged goods manufacturers.

October 12, 2005 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 62 Comments

Well, I don't have any direct quotes or transcripts, but apparently Neil French had some choice words to say about women creatives at a speech in Toronto last week.

Nancy Vonk, Co-CCO of Ogilvy in Toronto and co-author of the new book "Pick Me," had a response, clearly taking exception to Neil's views that women don't belong in the creative department:

It’s too easy to discount Neil’s views as those of a man from an era and geographies that reinforced that the role of women should be reserved for pleasing the men, marrying them, bearing and caring for their offspring. What struck me so hard as he described a group that will inevitably wimp out and “go suckle something” after their short stint in advertising, was that in his honest opinion he was voicing the inner thoughts of legions of men in the senior ranks of our business. Before us was a big part of the explanation of why more women aren’t succeeding in advertising. If male CD’s even a little like Neil see the female creative coming towards him with her work and he’s already convinced she’s extremely limited in her ability and value, what lens is he seeing her work---her---through? Would you expect that CD to offer the same support and guidance and consideration he gives the men? Might that woman keep herself down on the farm when her leader conveys in countless ways she’s not as good as the boys? Might she respond with less than her best effort when the adored leader expects little of her? Might she want to leave, not to have babies but because the conditions for her to succeed don’t exist and the message she can’t succeed is too discouraging?

Whether you agree with Neil or not, the face of the ad industry, and the face of the consumer, is changing, at least in America. There will be more women and more minorities all around, and it will change the nature of the creative work, whether it's in the tonality or the sensibility. It seems like we're reaching a tipping point in the ad industry, where middle-aged (or in Neil's case, old) white males won't be the sole standard-bearers of what constitutes great advertising, or what constitutes the "universal truths" that go into the making of great advertising. Or are we?

October 12, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 3 Comments

The LA Times is running a story on John Densmore, the drummer for The Doors. Mr. Densmore won't sell out and that is a story today, especially considering that you have Dylan, Sir Paul, Led Zep and The Stones all lending their creations to corporate interests.

"People lost their virginity to this music, got high for the first time to this music," Densmore told the paper. "I've had people say kids died in Vietnam listening to this music, other people say they know someone who didn't commit suicide because of this music…On stage, when we played these songs, they felt mysterious and magic. That's not for rent."

Yet, offers keep coming in, such as the $15 million dangled by Cadillac last year to lease the song "Break On Through" to hawk its luxury SUVs.

If Densmore is a dinosaur, he is not the last surviving one. Bruce Springsteen and the Eagles continue to say no to commercials. So do Neil Young and Carlos Santana. But all of them still pull in concert revenues that make that choice far easier. Densmore himself points out that if he were poor he might make a different choice.

But his stance against commercialization has won a chorus of support from the true believers of rock. In the Nation, Tom Waits wrote a letter in praise of Densmore: Corporations "suck the life and meaning from the songs and impregnate them with promises of a better life with their product. Eventually, artists will be going onstage like race-car drivers covered in hundreds of logos."

October 13, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 3 Comments

I rarely use Instant Messaging (IM), but maybe I would use it more if there weren't so many cross-platform obstacles. Why can't we all just talk to each other?

USA Today: Sometime before mid-2006, MSN and Yahoo messenger users will for the first time be able to communicate with each other. Now, Yahoo users can communicate only with Yahoo users. Ditto with MSN users. The union will result in the world's biggest instant-messaging community.

Still, the partners won't easily supplant America Online's pioneering IM service as the most popular among U.S. consumers.

Microsoft and Yahoo aim to stake out turf as a superior text, video and voice messaging service. "Video and voice is becoming a more used component for real-time communication," says Irving, corporate vice president at Microsoft MSN.

Analysts say MSN and Yahoo will need to mesh well quickly to stave off rising competition from Google and eBay. Google launched Google Talk, its free instant-messaging service, and eBay bought Skype, an IM-like service that specializes in streamlined voice communication.

Most folks mainly use IM to send text messages. Microsoft and Yahoo are betting they can win the global race to broaden instant messaging to routinely include video and voice.

October 13, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Indiana Daily Student: Not only are "dirty boys getting clean" by Axe hygiene products, but so are their bathrooms.

In an effort to promote their new shower gel, the makers of Axe products are holding a nationwide "Pimp My Fraternity Shower" in which members of fraternities are asked to take a picture of their soiled, mildew-ridden bathrooms. The public will vote on the most appalling lavatory online and the winner receives a $15,000 bathroom makeover, according to the contest Web site, www.pimpmyfraternityshower.com.

"Most fraternity showers are just disgusting and people wouldn't even think about using them," said Tina Reejsinghani, AXE brand marketing assistant.

In addition to a glorious new place to brush their teeth, "Pimp My Fraternity Shower" winners will host a party with representatives from Axe, including "Axe angels," -- described by Reejsinghani as "very good looking girls that like to party at Axe get-togethers" -- at their house to celebrate their pimped-out bathroom.

October 13, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

Jon Fine at Business Week explores the move by The Wall Street Journal to reduce its paper costs.

Some day-after coverage of the Wall Street Journal's decision to shrink its physical dimensions by about 20% focuses, smartly, on newsprint costs.

The dynamic is this: Newsprint is--surprise--a newspaper's second biggest expense after labor. In the Nineties and well into this decade, an unconsolidated paper industry made it easy for newspapers to play one supplier off another. It's harder to do this now, so newsprint prices are finally rising from artificially low levels--and this happens as newspaper companies almost universally report persistently lousy revenue and earnings.

Each medium takes a turn at being the media's whipping boy, and now it's newspapers' turn. Some of what's been written is likely overstated, but I'm struck by the pessimism I've heard in recent private conversations with media and newspaper executives.

Addressing the greatest cost for newspapers--labor--Steve Baker, another BW writer points to this Cleveland Plain Dealer article in Fine's comments section.

"We're losing so many hard-news students to public relations, advertising and marketing," one professor told me. "They just want to make money."

"They want to keep the baby-boomer lifestyle to which they've become accustomed," said a professor at a school that boasts a boatload of Pulitzer Prize winners among its alumni. "The thought of starting out at $25,000 or $30,000 to expose corruption and champion the underdog just doesn't do it for them. They have no interest."

One journalism professor told me that hordes of women are opting for the softer -- and more lucrative -- career in public relations.

"A lot of them want to be event planners,' " she said. She nodded at my raised eyebrows.

"Seriously," she said. "They want to plan parties."

Professors who care deeply about the mission of journalism worry that the values we old poops hold dear in this profession hold little appeal for the many budding journalists who'd rather shill than grill.

October 13, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

I want to be interested in this, but sites built in Flash piss me off.

Luckily not everyone feels that way. Our friends at Randon Culture, for instance, who determined that Heineken's Greenspace initiative is a series of events featuring art, music, film and more in temporary spaces.

October 13, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

According to ZD Net, Yahoo has acquired social events calendar site Upcoming.org in an effort to expand its local-content offerings.

Upcoming.org, now operating as a Yahoo company, lets people manage their social calendars, share information about upcoming events like local concerts and festivals, and post events calendars to their own Web sites. People can also comment on events others have attended and can include a continuously updated listing of Upcoming.org events on their own Web sites.

Andy Baio, founder of Upcoming.org says, "I'm unbelievably proud to announce that Upcoming.org is now a member of the Yahoo! family. I've always had a warm and fuzzy feeling about Yahoo. It's been my browser homepage since forever, and I still have akebono.stanford.edu/yahoo/ stuck in muscle memory. Recently, the nostalgia has been replaced by admiration as I've watched them making smart decisions, acquiring great companies (Flickr, anyone?), and hiring all of my friends. The end result is that they're doing some of the most interesting work online."

October 13, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Cynical-C points to this story in Variety.

"We had the option to buy Netflix for $50 million and we didn't do it. They were losing money. They came around a few times," Blockbuster's CEO, John Antioco, recalls.

Instead, in 2000, Blockbuster inked a 20-year exclusive video-on-demand pactpact with Enron as the energy conglomconglom launched into telecom. Blockbuster canned the pact after nine months.

Netflix is now worth $1.4 billion. Blockbuster's market cap is about $850 million.

Missed opportunity is such a bitch.

October 13, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

These fools want to change things that have seemingly always been. Good thing they have the powers of identity, branding, pr and web design at their disposal.

For centuries, rats have been maliciously and unjustly impugned as evil, disease-ridden vermin, shunned by society and deemed unworthy of our respect...our love. But now, The Great Pointed Archer Society is putting things right!

Our society was founded by concerned animal lovers with the mission to mend the distorted, and ignominious image of this fury little mammal. Our first order of business is to eradicate the name rat from the popular lexicon when referring to this most misunderstood city-dweller. (Today, the word rat is associated with everything from knotted hair to picket-crossing Union scabs to petty criminals and snitches.) These damning definitions continue to blemish the already tattered image of sigmodon hispidus.

October 14, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Lewis Lazare: They must be doing something right. Former Ogilvy & Mather advertising executive Kim Holstein and her husband, Scott, began making pretzels 10 years ago in Kim's Lincoln Park studio apartment.

A good product and some savvy marketing and publicity efforts have enabled the Holsteins to grow Kim & Scott's Gourmet Pretzels into a company that produces 40,000 pretzels a day in a 50,000-square-foot bakery. The pretzels are distributed to Whole Foods, Jewel and Barnes & Noble stores, and on television through QVC, among other outlets.

On Thursday, the Holsteins will take the next step, opening their first pretzel-themed eatery called the Twisting Cafe inside the Kohl Children's Museum in Glenview. They also have tapped Dawn Schultz from Lou Malnati's as the company's new marketing director to help with the cafe brand launch.

Good Studios/Chicago also was brought on board to design various aspects of the cafe concept, where customers will be able to twist their own pretzels and dine on "pretziolas," a toasted pretzel sandwich.

October 14, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Union Square Ventures: Anyone who has been to our site before will notice a very different look and feel today. When we launched Union Square Ventures last year, we put up a web site that described who we were, how we saw the market and where we planned to invest. Today, we are still the same people, but the market we invest in is changing rapidly and we learn so much every day about the market that the investment thesis on our prior site already seems dated. We thought about updating our thesis, but realized that we would find ourselves in the same place six months from now. We realized that our thesis evolves incrementally as a result of our dialogue with the market, and that the best way to manage that was to accept that we would never get to an answer, so we should just publish the conversation. The best way to do that is with a blog. So here it is.

Thanks to Steve Rubel for the pointer.

October 14, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

Pop star wears headdress for Pepsi

October 14, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

The New York Times: Curtains, a large blue pair to be exact, are the images being used in an estimated $50 million campaign to promote AOL.com as a free Web portal. The campaign, in online and offline versions, depicts computer users parting the curtains to reveal a bright white light on the other side.

"The new AOL.com," the ads proclaim. "Now open to everyone."

The campaign has been in development for months, ever since AOL's parent, Time Warner, decided to shift strategies (again) and offer at no cost much of the content and features that had been available only to subscribers of America Online. The reason is that despite all the elaborate previous changes to the subscription service, paying users continue to flee.

Still, Web sites that are part of AOL, which include Moviefone, Mapquest and Netscape, remain popular destinations with computer users. Their continued appeal is the reason behind the recent talks between Time Warner and other major media companies regarding potential investments in America Online.

October 14, 2005 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 2 Comments

Regular AdPulp readers know that I'm not a huge fan of the massive movement to collect data to track individual consumers. And while I haven't read it, I am aware of the new book Spychips, because the author of the book has been making the rounds of talk shows.

Well, the popularity of the book has caught Ad Age's attention.

Potential marketing applications of radio-frequency identification chips -- which range from in-store marketing to tracking readership of magazine ads -- may be harder than ever to implement now that a new book lambasting the companies behind the technology is showing surprising popularity.

"Surprising popularity?" Bullshit. Consumers don't want their every move and purchase to be tracked. And when they find out about it, it pisses them off. Which is why marketers are going to great lengths to hide their pryin' eyes.

October 14, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Erick Schonfeld of Business 2.0 details some new wave economic theory that makes sense, even to an ad guy like me.

So far in the history of capitalism, we've had two major ways to organize economic activity: through companies and through markets. They work in tandem, of course, but they represent two different approaches. Companies coordinate resources (such as people, money, and equipment) through the management hierarchy. A market does the same thing by setting a price on the ultimate economic output that those resources will produce. Now we're seeing the beginnings of a third way to coordinate economic activity that, in some cases, may be more efficient than either the company or the market. It's called peer production.

The Web is creating new ways to coordinate economic activity by allowing individuals to create products for themselves and others to enjoy. Yale Law School professor Yochai Benkler coined the term peer production to describe "the emergence of a vibrant, innovative and productive collaboration, whose participants are not organized in firms and do not choose their projects in response to price signals." Peer production is part and parcel of what I call the culture of participation -- that is, the explosion of user-generated goods (mostly digital), including open-source software, the Wikipedia online encyclopedia, blogs, podcasts, and photo-sharing sites like Flickr.

Yochai Benkler

Just as companies and markets coordinate economic activity (through management control and contracts, respectively), the Web allows individual producers and consumers to swarm together with like-minded individuals to create complex products. It also allows them to easily find an audience to test, use, and provide feedback on the content and products they create. Either way, peer production in some cases threatens to decimate the information advantage of companies and markets.

But why do people participate in peer production in the first place? Why do they donate so much time and effort to write their blogs, upload their photos to Flickr, or tag their webpages on del.icio.us? It's certainly not for the money (as nearly any blogger can attest to). Some say it's for the sheer enjoyment of contributing to something you're really interested in. Others point to the ego boost that comes with burnishing your reputation online. I find all of these explanations unsatisfactory. (After all, nobody knows you on Wikipedia. There are no bylines.)

Rather, the strongest explanation is also the simplest: It is in people's self-interest to contribute. People participate in peer production because a) it's cheaper than buying the product outright, or b) the product would not be available otherwise. At its best, the final good is the result of a collective intelligence and could never be produced any other way. The peer producers are their own consumers. They get a better product by tapping into the knowledge pool. And they get a product that exactly fits their needs because they help design it (often with minimal effort). How do you compete with that?

To better understand how micromedia, peer production, and personal media are atomizing value chains and transforming the media industry, see Umair Haque's site, Bubble Generation. He will also explain how edge competencies and distributed, viral, & strong network economies can lead to a transformative, disruptive competitive advantage, and revolutionize your market.

Heady stuff.

October 14, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

How cool is this?

BootsnAll hosts scores of travel blogs written by intrepid travelers.

October 14, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

With Mighty Goods, Margaret Mason has taken a page from Manolo's Shoe Blog and another page from Josh Rubin's Coolhunting. The result is sure to satisfy online shoppers.

Mighty Goods is a shopping blog that’s updated five days a week. We spend a great deal of time finding and posting things we love. These aren’t just any old things, these are exactly the right things. They will brighten your eyes, match your couch, and fix the annoying problem that’s been bothering you. They will make you want to fortify the economy with your purchasing power.

No one pays us to post products, though we do have associates accounts with some of the vendors, like Amazon.com.

Mighty Goods is written and curated by Margaret Mason, who is a sucker for good stuff. You’ll also find her at Mighty Girl and at The Morning News, where she’s a contributing writer.

October 14, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

Ad Age: It turns out getting frisky with value-added lubricants is fast becoming as American as apple pie.

Suddenly at the forefront of taking sex aids mainstream, conservative marketer Johnson & Johnson almost overnight has doubled sales of its once-sleepy K-Y brand for the second time in four years thanks to the blockbuster summer rollout of a new line of massage oils. And nowhere has that success been greater than at naughty-magazine-yanking retail nanny, Wal-Mart, where K-Y Touch Massage oils have hit the list of top 10 new health and beauty products of 2005.

J&J VP-Personal Care Marketing, Jim Peterson said, “Part of our biggest challenge is just having the courage to talk about this in our company. It’s not an easy thing to do the consumer research. We had to go into the subculture and understand the patterns and behaviors that are out there, which are more common than you’d think.”

Thanks to Devon Suter for the pointer.

October 14, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

Hyku points to Publix I/S Associate Against Offshoring, a blog which is highly critical of outsourcing, particularly outsourcing of Information Systems work by Lakeland-based grocer, Publix.

More and more of the business knowledge at Publix is being transfered to Infosys contractors. More and more of the development is done offshore. Our strength at Publix requires that we not relenquish this knowledge, however we do so on a daily basis. I think anyone who refused would find themselves cleaning their cubes.

October 15, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Bob Cargill, a Sudbury, Mass-based creative director, copywriter and communications strategist is stoked about the launch of two new blogs directly in his realm of expertisedirect marketing.

It was inevitable that both DIRECT and DM News would eventually establish a presence in the blogosphere, but whats the chance of two of my favorite trade publications launching their own respective blogs just days apart?

As a dyed-in-the-wool direct marketer who just so happens to write a blog, I cant help but be beside myself.

Yes, as if it wasnt exciting enough to see that DIRECT was finally blogging on Wednesday, I almost fell off my chair when less than 24 hours later DM News announced that its blog was now open for business.

Of course, the near simultaneous debut of these two blogs is more than just a coincidence. Both promise to provide extensive, live coverage of DMA.05, The Direct Marketing Associations Conference & Exhibition taking place this Saturday through next Wednesday in Atlanta, Georgia.

I want to show my cohorts in direct the respect they deserve, so it's with all due respect that I ask, "What took you so long?" Wasn't Bob Bly's tumultuous entry into the bloatosphere enough proof of the fun that could be had?

October 15, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Presentation Zen: Even legendary jazz artist and master performer, Wynton Marsalis, couldn't help but be impressed by Jobs' presentation skills. Just seconds before Marsalis raised his trumpet to play, he paused and said (without a direct mic)..."That was a great presentation." The audience laughed at what was clearly a spontaneous gesture. Marsalis and his band were the "encore" to Steve Jobs' special presentation and media event in San Jose, California yesterday (October 12). And Marsalis was right: It was a great presentation...as usual.

October 16, 2005 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 4 Comments

Watching football today, I saw an odd spot for Subway. We see B&W images of hurricane victims and a solemn voice-over saying how Subway will donate an upcoming day's profits to hurricane victims.

You can see a :15 version of the spot at Subway's web site where it says "Hurricane Relief Efforts."

It's all perfectly tasteful until the last line of the spot comes. The VO says:
"Because it's tough to pick up the pieces when they've all blown away."

Now, like a lot of copywriters, I was taught that the last line of copy should always have a little extra zing, or wrap-up nicely, or whatever you want to call it.

But this one just creeped me out, for some reason. What do y'all think?

October 17, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Lewis Lazare: Hello!

We'll be hearing the aforementioned sweet and simple greeting a lot in various contexts over the next two weeks as financial services giant JPMorgan Chase & Co. launches a "Hello"-themed ad campaign to herald the formal rebranding of some 330 Bank One outlets in the Chicago area -- as well as many hundreds more throughout Illinois and northwest Indiana -- with the Chase name.

New York-based JPMorgan Chase, you might recall, acquired Bank One last year, but waited until now to formally commence the huge task of putting the new Chase branding in place throughout the local market.

Perhaps the most dramatic advertising move in the rebranding effort is a massive "station domination" ad display at all of Chicago's major rail stations, including the Ogilvy Transportation Center, the La Salle Street Station, Randolph Street Station and Union Station. At each location, commuters will be bombarded with outdoor executions boldly using the "Hello" theme, and announcing the changeover to Chase from the Bank One brand.

Finally, lest Chicagoans think the former Bank One has abandoned the city altogether after the JPMorgan acquisition, two permanent, illuminated 11-foot Chase signs with the octagon icon are going up atop what was formerly the 57-story Bank One Plaza Building at 10 S. Dearborn, now being rebranded as Chase Tower. The facility will remain the headquarters for JPMorgan Chase's consumer and commercial banking business.

So no need to say goodbye. Chase will still have a major corporate presence here.

October 17, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 7 Comments

USA Today: The 1980s are back, and they've landed smack dab in the middle of a Bacardi Rum ad.

As moviemakers rush to revisit the days of oversized hair and shoulder pads with remakes of 1980s TV hits, the spirits marketer spoofs the era in TV ads. Why wait until next year for Universal Pictures' Miami Vice revival when you can enjoy a parody of Crockett- and Tubbs-like characters in Bacardi's ads now.

In the ads, Bacardi Guy and Cola are a dynamic duo saving the night — and amply endowed women — by unwittingly fixing partygoer problems. They are macho men wearing Members Only-style jackets, mustaches and well-coifed hair.

"It's so over the top," says David Angelo, chief creative officer of agency David and Goliath, which made the ads. "If you go back to Tom Selleck and Matt Houston days with their large cellular phones, women with exposed cleavage and guys with the big mustaches, you look at it and laugh."

Bacardi is looking for the ads to drive sales by reaching twentysomething men who are hip to the '80s parody. The world's biggest rum brand has been losing share not only to its top rum rival, but also to currently chic luxury vodkas.

"In the past couple of years of tracking, we've been losing some share of that audience to Grey Goose (vodka) and even losing some share to (rum rival) Captain Morgan," says Joe Metevier, Bacardi's group marketing manager.

Captain Morgan has broken through the clutter by promoting the Captain, with his curly mustache and swashbuckling style, in whimsical ways.

October 17, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Dean Gemmell is having trouble with his Brother printer. Brother isn't helping matters. Surprise, surprise.

No matter what we tried, this printer spat out pages only when the spirit moved it. Despite our best efforts, made in a spirit of cooperation with the HL-1440, this cantankerous little bastard would not cede control.

Yo Brother, ever heard Jeff Jarvis and his issues with Dell? Okay, that was rhetorical. Clearly, the Brother pr people and legal team have not heard. For here's how they responded to Gemmell's frustration with their product:

Brother Customer:

If you decide to publicize any comments regarding Brother, I must caution you to take care that any and all statements you make are accurate and verifiable.

We contract an outside agency to monitor the Internet for all information posted regarding Brother. This information is periodically reviewed by our legal department. Brother pursues legal action and
seeks punitive damages against any individuals that post information which is either untrue or slanderous to Brother's reputation.

We say this not as a threat, but only to advise you that you consider your actions carefully.

In short, one's complaints must be acccurate. My guess is Dean Gemmell can make a solid case for his claim that "Brother printers suck."

October 17, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Info World: Taiwanese government officials said on Monday they plan to make Taiwan the world's largest testing ground for WiMax, and inked a pact with Intel to work together on the wireless broadband technology.

WiMax, also known as 802.16, is intended to provide users with wireless, high speed Internet access at far greater distances than the current mainstream wireless technology, Wi-Fi.

Taiwan hopes to become a leader in developing products for WiMax, such as PC cards and notebook computers, as well as broadband services, by making itself a leader in the technology, according to Ho Mei-yueh, Taiwan's economics minister.

Taiwan chose to team up with Intel because the Santa Clara, California, chip maker is among the staunchest proponents of WiMax and already has WiMax chip products available, she said.

Officials said they hope to have WiMax network coverage for all of the island's 23 million people by 2007.

October 17, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Fast Company interviewed Dany Lennon, president, of the Creative Register Inc. for their October issue. Lennon is a high profile recruiter who has recently placed Paul Silburn, executive creative director, Fallon North America; Dan Morales, creative director, TAXI NY; and Kevin Roddy, executive creative director, BBH.

Creatives managing creatives sounds like a nightmare. What kind of leaders are best at managing creative folks?

The most rewarding trait a leader can have, as far as I'm concerned, is the ability to hire people who are better than himself. It takes a huge person to be able to come to terms with that. I can usually get a good sense of this by asking a candidate what sort of structure he would devise for his creative department. I'm suspicious of people who are more fixated on hierarchies than the purest creative potential of the people who work for them.

Is the ad industry looking for a different type of creative person today than it was a few years ago?

Two years ago, clients would still call me and say, "I'm looking for a copywriter," or "I'm looking for an art director." Today, people are saying, "We want creatives, period." I just got a call yesterday from an agency looking for an executive creative director, and they don't care if the candidate has a background as a copywriter, art director, or designer. They want a visionary--someone who can see not only what's happening now but what's possible in the next 15 to 20 years. Someone who understands what's beyond the 30-second commercial. Someone who understands participative media and that TV and the Internet are going to be the same thing.

What do you listen for when you interview potential candidates?

I'm very into the tone of the conversation. The words may be all the things I want to hear, but the tone is more revealing. If there's a roller coaster of emotions going on, it's usually a sign of insecurity, and I've got to say there isn't a creative person out there who doesn't suffer from that. The advertising world is the most insecure business in existence. But while some of our greatest leaders have fearful tempers and hotheaded natures, they've learned how to monitor and control them. Creativity in itself is temperamental, but leadership can't afford to be so. For creative people to lead others, they have to learn to restrain themselves.

TV and internet are going to be the same thing? Really? Now, that's news to me.

October 17, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

According to New York Post, WPP Group is unraveling Red Cell, the mixed bag of agencies it tried to knit together in 2001 into a worldwide network.

The move comes on the heels of Coca-Cola's decision to shift creative duties on its North American ad account for its namesake brand from WPP's Berlin Cameron/Red Cell to independent Wieden + Kennedy without a review.

Red Cell did not live up to expectations, writes the Post, becoming instead WPP's repository for some 65 agencies that didn't fit elsewhere - or with each other, having no culture nor vision in common.

October 17, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

I love first hand accounts like this. So without further ado, the real story from True at Beyond Madison Avenue.

When Target Audiences Attack

The other day I was driving on the highway to Chicago. I was behind a Red Bull Energy Drink promotional car, which is basically a modified compact car with a giant Red Bull can on top.

Then, a rusty pickup with two teen boys in the front seat comes barreling through the left lane, and pulls dangerously close to the Red Bull car. The passenger in the pickup throws an open Red Bull can at the Red Bull car, which bounces off and falls under my tires. And the driver of the Red Bull car, understandably freaked out, is swerving in his lane and honking his horn as the pickup speeds away at about 85 or 90 mph.

So, I'm wondering just how much Red Bull those guys in the pickup had been drinking.

October 18, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

October 18, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

Beans: The Musical Fruit from Liggett Stashower in Cleveland is ostensibly a chili party invite, but it's meant to double as a viral.

Farts are fun. To a point.

October 18, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Adweek: Nearly six weeks after evacuating New Orleans to escape Hurricane Katrina, the Trumpet advertising agency returned to its headquarters at 839 St. Charles Monday with job openings and additional work, the agency said.

Trumpet founder Robbie Vitrano and other members of the staff have been working in space donated by Blattner Brunner/SRC in Atlanta. The host agency's co-managing director Frank Compton cleared office space for Trumpet as executive assistant Sylvia Fox helped find housing and other accommodations.

"In the days following the storm, our people went to New York, Baton Rouge, Los Angeles and Atlanta to reassure our clients that Trumpet would not miss a beat," Vitrano said. "We didn't"

Vitrano said the agency has actually added clients and increased its workload since the storm. The shop is looking to fill five positions, ranging from office manager to senior account executive.

October 18, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

Ad Age editor, Scott Donaton, wants more industry leaders like Carat Americas CEO David Verklin.

I can't really say why. Maybe so he can have more interesting luncheons. Maybe he likes throwing a little cheerleader in with his journalistic critique. Maybe he's genuinely moved by the guy.

You tell me.

October 18, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Brand strategist, Marc Babej, speaking with Tom Asacker last week:

Conventional branding wisdom assumes that “emotional” and “rational” are somehow mutually exclusive, or opposed. That’s a false dichotomy. In reality, the two are very much intertwined. Save for a few image-driven categories, an emotional connection is the result of delivering against a tangible – call it “rational” benefit. By any standard, mileage per gallon is a rational benefit. But it elicits quite an emotional response, particularly with gas prices hovering around $3 per gallon. The Prius, is probably the most “rational” car in decades. It’s not cute, fun or sexy, but owners are quite emotional about it, for quite rational reasons.

October 18, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 4 Comments

The Gainesville Sun: This past summer, Anheuser-Busch unveiled a game it calls Bud Pong. The company, which makes Budweiser, is promoting Bud Pong tournaments and providing Bud Pong tables, balls and glasses to distributors in 47 markets, including college towns like Oswego, N.Y., and Clemson, S.C. Bud Pong may soon expand into more markets, said Francine Katz, a spokeswoman for Anheuser-Busch.

"It's catching on like wildfire," Katz said. "We created it as an icebreaker for young adults to meet each other."

Beer companies like Anheuser-Busch have made promoting "responsible drinking" a matter of corporate philosophy, partly as an answer to criticism that they market to youth. But Katz said Bud Pong was not intended for underage drinkers because promotions were held in bars, not on campuses. And it does not promote binge drinking, she said, because official rules call for water to be used, not beer. The hope is that those on the sidelines enjoy a Bud.

On the ground, though, it may be a different story. At the Esso Club near Clemson University, Jessica Twilley, a bartender, said she had worked at several Bud Pong events and had "never seen anyone playing with water."

"It's always beer," Twilley said. "It's just like any other beer pong."

When told about the Esso Club, Katz responded that her information was that the club used water, and that distributors were instructed to "conduct retail promotions responsibly."

[UPDATE] Anheuser-Busch has discontinued its Bud Pong promotion in retail accounts, saying that in some instances the promotion was not being carried out as had been intended.

“It has come to our attention that despite our explicit guidelines, there may have been instances where this promotion was not carried out in the manner it was intended,” said Francine I. Katz, Anheuser’s vice president of communications and consumer affairs.

"As a company that has invested more than US$500m to promote responsible consumption among adults and to discourage abuse, we believe it is important that our intentions with Bud Pong not be misperceived," said Katz.

October 18, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Web India 123: Irked by Cartier watches and Gucci glasses, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has asked party colleagues not to flash their wealth and not to waste tax payers' money.

The stern warning went out from her office recently after she noticed that some party leaders who called on her were sporting expensive luxurious items and travelling in luxury cars.

A Congress source said Gandhi was visibly irritated and promptly dashed off a letter to all party leaders across the country, reminding them about the values for which the country's oldest party stood for.

Thanks to Flypaper for the pointer.

October 18, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Danah Boyd has been thinking about the practice of remixing, or repurposing, content (something we do a lot of here):

A huge part of the identity process is to consume culture, mix it and personalize it, and share that with our friends because it has identity implications. Why can't we consume for identity, for culture, for life? Why can't we recognize that remixes are active consumption where we've made culture personal and for our friends?

Adina Levin left this comment on Danah's blog:

It is folk art. We're seeing a revival of folk art and folk culture after a brief interlude of mass media domination. Folk art is usually about remixing traditional materials: musical themes, stories, plays, etc.

The attempt by powerful owners to suppress folk culture is our generation's heresy. In premodern times, powerful churches held a monopoly on the kinds of stories that could be told about Jesus. Today we consider this totalitarian and absurd.

These days, Disney has a monopoly on the stories that can be told about Mickey Mouse. It's the same plot with different characters. At least Disney isn't burning heretics at the stake.

Ben Hammersley, writing about the topic on his site, says:

The forms of culture that are fighting remix the hardest - music, film - have failed to understand that not only is their product made to be consumed and that remix is a fundamental part of that consumption, but that remix isn’t an optional activity: it’s part of the core driver for the consumption of the media in the first place.

October 18, 2005 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 2 Comments

Today, Commercial Alert, an organization that keeps an eye on excessive commercialization, today sent a 6-page letter to the Federal Trade Commission requesting an official investigation into the various forms of "buzz marketing" that have appeared in the last several years.

Commercial Alert’s letter urges the FTC to thoroughly investigate Proctor & Gamble’s Tremor, which has enlisted about 250,000 teenagers in its buzz marketing sales force.  “The Commission should carefully examine the targeting of minors by buzz marketing, because children and teenagers tend to be more impressionable and easy to deceive.  The Commission should do this, at a minimum, by issuing subpoenas to executives at Proctor & Gamble’s Tremor and other buzz marketers that target children and teenagers, to determine whether their endorsers are disclosing that they are paid marketers.”

The letter is interesting to read, as Commercial Alert suggests that buzz marketing is a deceptive practice, and uses many quotes from marketers and marketing agencies to, essentially, hang them with their own words. Let's see if this gets the FTC's attention.

October 19, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

AGENDA INC.™ is looking to hire talented researchers, account planners, strategists, bloggers and videographers for contract work on a range of upcoming projects. Please send information, resumes, including experience and typical day / week rate to work@agendainc.com.

October 19, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

USA Today: Internet giant Yahoo — locked in battle with Google and Microsoft over who will dominate the Web — said Tuesday that the red-hot online advertising market helped boost its quarterly revenue 47% over last year.

"The results highlight the power of our brand," Yahoo CEO Terry Semel said in a conference call with analysts.

The company reported earnings of $253.8 million, or 17 cents a share, on revenue of $1.3 billion. That beat analysts' estimates of 14 cents a share for the quarter.

Yahoo is the most-visited site on the Web, with more than 100 million monthly users in the USA.

October 19, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

The New York Times: Nintendo of America will offer free wireless Internet access for its Nintendo DS portable game system at McDonald's restaurants. Customers will be able to play select DS games with other players around the world.

McDonald's offers wireless Internet, or Wi-Fi, access to laptop users for a fee in 6,000 restaurants nationwide, but the free Nintendo arrangement will permit the DS machines to play without a laptop.

"This is such an interesting direction for McDonald's," said Anita Frazier, an entertainment industry analyst with the NPD Group, a research firm. "This could encourage kids to go to McDonald's to play games. It is like the kids' version of Starbucks' wireless hot spots."

Wireless access for the DS will be provided by Wayport of Austin, Tex., which supplies Wi-Fi to McDonald's. Nintendo will pay Wayport an undisclosed fee for the service.

October 19, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Talent Zoo has launched The Naked Career, a podcast from Sally Hogshead.

Her first effort features an interview with Lance Jensen, President & Co-Founder of Modernista! Future episodes will feature Luke Sullivan, Group Creative Director at GSD&M; Scott Goodson, Co-Founder of StrawberryFrog; Avi Dan, Managing Partner & CMO of Berlin Cameron/Red Cell and Brad Brinegar, President & CEO, McKinney + Silver.

On a related note, Sally is feeling a bit shy about blogging.

I have to admit, as a new blogger, there’s a certain intimidation factor. I get uncharacteristically demure when it comes to daily entries… hence the posting fits and spurts. But I’m getting over the stage fright.

It's interesting to see an industry star embrace the new tools.

October 19, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

Gawker takes a look at H&M's print work sans Kate Moss.

As found in the latest issue of Paper, the interim ad in all of its empty, purple glory. It’s amazing how they perfectly articulated that “fuck, Kate’s on coke and we gotta pull her at the last minute” sensibility.

October 19, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 4 Comments

Fortune takes a hard look at The Donny's book, the agency he built and the man himself.

The book, which Deutsch co-wrote with author Peter Knobler, is more about Donny Inc. than Deutsch Inc., his advertising agency. It's a primer on how to become a buff, swinging multimillionaire ... like Donny Deutsch!"

"There's just this big disconnect between brand Donny and Deutsch Inc.," says Rob Schwartz, executive creative director of TBWA/Chiat/Day in Los Angeles. "Here's this guy who has positioned himself as the voice of the ad business. Clients see him on TV and say, 'I like this guy.' But when they go to his agency, they meet these other people who say, 'No, we're the brains behind everything now.' The client goes, 'Huh?' "

Deutsch Inc. has never been known for doing industry-transforming work like TBWA/Chiat/Day's Apple ads or Wieden + Kennedy's campaigns for Nike. What set Deutsch Inc. apart was Donny. He doesn't write about this in his book, but early in his career, when he was frustrated with his lack of press coverage, he went to New York public relations guru Howard Rubenstein for help. Rubenstein told Deutsch that veteran Madison Avenue provocateur Jerry Della Femina was leaving the stage, and there was an opening for another loud, irreverent adman. Deutsch filled the void (he says he doesn't remember any such conversation, though Rubenstein does).

Thanks to Adfreak for the pointer.

October 19, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Lifehacker is justifiably concerned about random companies hosting personal, mission-critical information.

Call me paranoid, but what if Gmail goes down, or Google decides to stop being “not evil”? What if angry project management trolls hack 37 Signals and record my every to-do, building a too-personal-for-comfort profile of my every day activities? What if del.icio.us disappears? What if Flickr, who has photos of my baby nephews and the inside of my house, is really in the surveillance business?

I’m much more comfortable using my own hosted email and blog solutions. My own disk space, my own database, my own server just feel safer to me. Sure, it’s harder to set up and it costs (*gasp!*) money, but what do we give up in the name of easy?

October 19, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Hugh has been carrying on about global microbrands, of late. While such entities are rapidly multiplying online, it's neat to learn about the old school variety, from time to time.

The New York Times: The beauty of Diane St. Clair's pasture beneath the Green Mountains draws the occasional tourist. But Ms. St. Clair recalls one who stood out. She was wearing Gucci shoes. And she wanted to photograph the cows.

The woman had dined at the French Laundry, Thomas Keller's renowned restaurant in the Napa Valley in California. When customers there, and at Mr. Keller's Per Se restaurant in the Time Warner Center in New York, ask the source of the rich, tangy cultured butter on the table, they are told it comes from Ms. St. Clair's "special cows" in Vermont.

But Ms. St. Clair, 49, said of her visitor, "I think she thought I was made up."

After reading about Mr. Keller, she wrote to ask if he would taste it. His response startled her.

"He wanted all the butter I could send him," Ms. St. Clair said. Every Monday she sends his restaurants about 50 pounds of the 60 she makes each week. She ships a small amount to the restaurant at the Keyah Grande hotel in Pagosa Springs, Colo., and sells the rest at the Middlebury Natural Food Co-op.

"When you're small you can have a relationship with the people who buy your food," Ms. St. Clair said. "The reason I'm not big is because I'm a perfectionist. I've got to sell to someone who is the same way."

October 19, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

"Working sucks" seems to be a popular theme finding its way into several current ad campaigns, says Adpulp user, Tim Wassler (who kindly sent us this image).

These two billboards are currently running on a building side in the financial district of downtown San Francisco.

October 20, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

The New York Times: Rarely does an agency, particularly one with only six offices, have as satisfying a week as the one enjoyed last week by Bartle Bogle Hegarty.

First, the agency landed the worldwide creative account for British Airways, wresting it away from M&C Saatchi, which had handled the assignment for a decade. The airline's estimated annual spending on advertising is £60 million, or $106 million.

Then, a couple of days later, Bartle Bogle gained a bigger prize, the lead role in developing marketing strategy and advertising for several detergents sold by Unilever, with spending estimated at $250 million a year.

In one week, Bartle Bogle, whose clients spend about $1 billion a year on advertising, bolstered its business by around 35 percent. No wonder the agency's chief operating officer, Simon Sherwood, was in a joking mood.

"All of these people who have had nothing to do around here are going to be getting busy," Mr. Sherwood said.

October 20, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Technology powerhouses, Yahoo, Google and AOL, are helping to legitimize blogs. Makes sense. Smart businesses go where customers take them.

Yahoo News: Internet "blogs" get a boost from the big search engines, which make the personal journals more accessible and move them toward mainstream journalism.

Yahoo this month said it would include blogs on all its news searches, saying it would give readers more access to "grassroots journalism."

While blogs have long been frowned upon by traditional media as amateurish, analysts say the public is increasingly looking to blogs for a fresh view on news.

Michael Cornfield, a senior research consultant at the Pew Internet and American Life Project, said blogs are useful even if they may not be on par with traditional journalism.

"Blogs are discussion forms, and I don't see any reason why they can't be indexed" so Internet users can search them, Cornfield said.

"Discussion is an important part of the democratic process."

Meanwhile, short-sighted U.S. government officials attempt to keep bloggers in their place, that is, far from the inner workings of important things like government.

c|net: Politicians indicated on Wednesday that a proposed law offering journalists special privileges might not be extended to Web loggers.

"The relative anonymity afforded to bloggers, coupled with a lack of accountability, as they are not your typical brick-and-mortar reporters who answer to an editor or publisher, also has the risk of creating a certain irresponsibility when it comes to accurately reporting information," Sen. John Cornyn, a Texas Republican, said in a statement prepared for a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on reporters' privilege legislation.

October 20, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 11 Comments

Sally Hogshead, famous copywriter, author and mom, is now one of Tom's Cool Friends.

Who's your target audience for this book?

SH: Great question. First, let me say who it's not for: bureaucrats, whiners, cynics, or wimps. Anyone who cherishes linear hierarchy or traditional corporate games will hate this book.

Radical Careering is for people who want to make big things happen in their lives, in their own way. They aren't afraid to break the rules or disregard the status quo. Most of all, they have big ideas and nerves of steel.

My research focused on the 25-to 45-year-olds, because as a group, they tend to have a much more aggressive, entrepreneurial, independent perspective on their careers. They've had a few years of experience, and they already know what they want out of their work. You can't succeed by following the convention these days—Tom Peters teaches us that!—and anyone who just wants to push papers or watch the clock is going to have a really tough time of it.

They're goners, in short?

SH: Uh-huh.

Click over to Tom's world for the full interview.

October 20, 2005 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 4 Comments

Ad Age has the scoop.

Weeks after a public address in which he called female creative directors "crap," WPP Group's worldwide creative director, Neil French, is leaving the holding company, according to executives familiar with the matter.

OK. Some thought starters for you all:

Is it easier to push an old man aside for making these comments vs. someone more involved in the day-to-day workings of an ad agency? Or someone who brings in new business?

Will this lead to a crackdown on supposedly uninhibited speech in ad agencies, where people are no longer inclined to speak their minds and freely discuss ideas?

Does this mean that hero-worshipping at all costs will no longer be tolerated in the ad industry?

12:54 PM UPDATE: Not so fast. Adweek has more:

A representative of the holding company confirmed that French offered to leave, but declined further comment. WPP CEO Martin Sorrell could not immediately be reached.

Sources said WPP is waiting to review a transcript or tape of the event before deciding on a course of action.

French's disparaging comments prompted a barrage of e-mail complaints from female executives in WPP companies to Sorrell, sources said.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Now Neil's talking to Ad Age.

It’s death by blog, isn’t it? You had to be there. I laugh a lot on stage and I say outrageous things, but people come to be entertained. They paid [$125] to sit there. If they wanted Martin Luther King, they went to the wrong gig. I’m well-known for being as outrageous as I can to make the point that I want to make. Advertising is hyperbole and I exercise hyperbole as much as I can, but I laugh when I’m doing it. You can’t storyboard a smile, as somebody said.

October 20, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 3 Comments

USA Today: America Online is laying off more than 700 employees, mainly in call centers, as its base of dial-up subscribers continues to slump.

AOL is closing its Orlando call center and laying off the 450 employees that work there, spokesman Nicholas Graham said Wednesday. It is also cutting positions in centers in Jacksonville, Fla., Tucson, and at its headquarters in Dulles, in northern Virginia.

Graham attributed the cuts to a decline in members and an increased base of "computer-savvy" users that do a lot of their own troubleshooting.

A number of companies have expressed interest in AOL's growing, advertising-supported online content business, including Microsoft Corp., Google Inc., Comcast Corp., and Yahoo Inc. But the companies are not interested in AOL's Internet service business, which is large and highly profitable but also in decline as consumers shift to faster broadband access services.

October 20, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

BBC: Recent figures suggest that since 2000, the US has dropped from third to 16th among nations worldwide in terms of per capita broadband access.

Studies suggest that 86% of households with income of more than $75,000 have broadband access. But the share is just 38% for those with an income of less than $30,000.

Municipal WiMax hopes to make on-demand information affordable/available to all.

Ironically, one of the frontiers of wireless accessibility is found in a rural swathe of Oregon. Here a 600-square mile cloud of wireless connectivity provides free, high-speed internet coverage to schools, emergency services and residents alike.

The brains behind the network is Fred Ziari, an Iranian immigrant who is CEO of EZ Wireless, a Portland-based hi-tech firm that contracted with local authorities to provide the wireless service.

Police in Hermiston County now carry wireless computers with which they can download images from video monitors, floorplans of buildings and, soon, access a database of suspects' fingerprints.

October 20, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

We Make Money Not Art points to this Japanese firm that makes inflatable robots.

Given the popularity of inflatables at point-of-sale, it seems like these robotic versions could make this time-tested tactic more compelling. Imagine, for instance, an inflatable robot of any brand icon--Col. Sanders, Captain Morgan, Ronald McDonald, etc.

October 20, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Luxist: Hot on the heels of Hooters’ announced foray into the hotel and casino business, Larry Flynt, whose Hustler empire already includes casinos and retail outlets, has announced plans to move into the restaurant business. Hustler Bar & Grille, a casual themed restaurant with a menu featuring steaks, fish, rotisserie chicken, baby back pork ribs, specialty salads and wood-fired pizza and decor including Hustler and Flynt memorabilia, is seeking hoteliers and developers in Las Vegas for its debut.

October 20, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 3 Comments

CBS News: For the first time in its 37-year history, 60 Minutes will feature an exclusive advertiser, Philips, which will give back half of the program’s commercial time to allow the news magazine’s stories to run longer.

Under the arrangement, Philips will purchase all of the commercial time typically allotted to 60 Minutes, but only use half the time for ads. The result will be longer stories and only half the usual commercials, with the first two stories airing uninterrupted.

“Selfishly speaking, this is a dream come true because we’re getting more time to tell the stories that have made 60 Minutes the most watched newsmagazine on television,” said Executive Producer Jeff Fager. “It’s also a bonus for the viewers, who will get to see longer stories with fewer interruptions. We’re very pleased to be participating in this unique arrangement, and we look forward to other opportunities like it.”

Andrea Ragnetti, chief marketing officer of Royal Philips Electronics, said the company chose 60 Minutes because of its simple, yet straightforward format. “By reducing commercials, we could actually help the show extend the length of the stories, thus simplifying and enhancing the viewing experience for the audience,” the spokesperson said.

October 20, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 8 Comments

October 20, 2005 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 1 Comments

Well, I'd never heard of Harry Janavey, but I do think it's interesting that on the same day that Neil French laments his "death by blog", Adweek reports on Harry Janavey, a 46 year-old Sr.VP of Initiative Media and his death by heart attack.

Let's keep things in perspective. Neil French will keep pontificating on bitches and sucking on his big brown cigars. Just maybe not on WPP's dime.

October 21, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

Lewis Lazare loves him some good copy. Writing about Miller High Life's new "World Series" spot from Wieden + Kennedy, he says:

What is now apparent is that lushly evocative copywriting will be at the heart of this campaign as it recounts vivid moments in the lives of a variety of characters. Moments that also happen to involve savoring Miller High Life.

Mikela and Philip Tarlow predicted the return of the storytellers in their prescient book, Digital Aboriginal.

Fewer people are listening, those under 25 are already out the door. The 30 second ad will be history, as far more compelling, multi-dimensional, imbedded storytelling arises. We have created a nation of digital artists and their creative expectation will redefine how we need to communicate.

Here's what I find intriguing. The Tarlows were spot on about storytelling's elevated importance, but not entirely right about the 30 second spot. The best in the business are simply bringing this learning to TV, as Wieden and Miller Brewing have done.

For more thoughts on this topic, please jump over to davidburn dot com.

October 21, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

It takes guts to be transparent. Blog eveangelists often cite transparency as a key blog benefit, but they don't say a giant set of cojones is required to operate the thing.

Robbin Phillips is a CEO up to the transparency challenge. Here's how she handled a recent flub up.

Brains on Fire was given a gift this week. In the form of a hard lesson learned. We let a client and friend down. We didn’t live up to our promise. And now we are picking up the pieces of an valued relationship. As people who understand the power of Word of Mouth and the role it plays in a company's identity, we also know that negative Word of Mouth is the most powerful virus of all. It spreads quicker.

October 21, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Have you seen or heard the GM line, currently in play, "It's not a promotion. It's a promise."? It's being used to support the manufacturer's "Total Value Promise" on GM cars and trucks.

What I find interesting is how willing GM is take a dig at price promotions and other retail offers so common to the showroom floor.

October 21, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Shaghaiist: Online do-it-yourself encyclopedia Wikipedia, every lazy blogger’s best friend, will not load in Shanghai without the aid of a proxy server. The site worked yesterday. Most assume the free information source has been blocked by the Chinese government. We can’t imagine why.

October 21, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Management Issues: The battle to break through the glass ceiling into the boardroom leaves many women negative, worn down and disillusioned that they are not being used to their full potential.

The study of 6,000 managers by consultancy ISR found a quarter of women in senior jobs did not feel adequately involved in decision making.

Many did not have confidence in what decisions were made, were not encouraged to give their best and, worst of all, sometimes did not think it safe to speak-up at all.

The leadership of an organisation was the single most important factor in motivating both men and women, the study concluded.

People with positive views on leadership were more motivated and more likely to fulfill their full potential, and more senior women than men expressed concerns in this key area.

October 21, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Walter Mossberg for WSJ: In some quarters of the Internet, the three most hated letters of the alphabet are DRM. They stand for Digital Rights Management, a set of technologies for limiting how people can use the music and video files they've purchased from legal downloading services. DRM is even being used to limit what you can do with the music you buy on physical CDs, or the TV shows you record with a TiVo or other digital video recorder.

The best-known example is the music Apple Computer sells at its iTunes Music Store. Using a DRM system it invented called FairPlay, Apple has rigged its songs, at the insistence of the record companies, so that they can be played only on a maximum of five computers, and so that you can burn only seven CDs containing the same playlist of purchased tracks. If Apple hadn't done this, the record labels wouldn't have allowed it to sell their music.

Instead of using Digital Rights Management to stop some individual from copying a song to give to her brother, the industry should be focusing on ways to use DRM to stop the serious pirates -- people who upload massive quantities of music and videos to so-called file-sharing sites, or factories in China that churn out millions of pirate CDs and DVDs.

October 21, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 3 Comments

Wired: Blog addicts overwhelmed by information may have found their savior.

Memeorandum, which started with a focus on political blogs in 2004 and launched a technology version just weeks ago, aims to be the automated newspaper of the online world.

It attempts to solve the problem of information overload with a few smart algorithms that constantly track the hot topics in tech and politics blogs.

Memeorandum isn't the only site trying to make sense of the real-time web. Others like digg, reddit, del.icio.us, newsmap and Blogniscient have similar goals, but many of these rely heavily on users voting on or submitting stories.

Memeorandum also has a fan in Nathan Torkington, an O'Reilly Media editor.

"Memeorandum is as much about aggregating reader intelligence as it is about aggregating articles," Torkington said in an e-mail. "It's a great step toward a tool that can turn a flood of grapes into a trickle of fine wine. Google News aggregates the editorial judgment from newspapers, but Memeorandum treats blogs and newspapers equally, which means it's tapped into the collective zeitgeist of the net."

October 21, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

I renewed my subscription to Communication Arts recently and the Interactive Annual 11 arrived today. I'm struck by how far this media environment has come in such short time.

Aiwa's winning entry

There are 38 winners in five categories--advertising, business, entertainment, information design and self-promo. Maybe blogs could be added to the list for next year.

October 22, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 7 Comments

Designers Who Blog kindly featured AdPulp on their site this week.

Catherine (cat) Morley, blogger and founder of the Katz-i International Web & Graphic Design with operations in SE Asia and the UK, said we need an "About" page, since we weren't giving her a lot to go on. Her prompting makes me think of a story.

In the spring of 2001, on my 36th birthday no less, Shawn (our publisher) was all of a sudden packing his boxes at Bozell Omaha and headed down the elevator. I had just been fired by Morey Mahoney in Denver six months earlier, so I could relate. I asked if I could help him out to the car with his stuff. He said no.

Minutes later I was summoned to the conference room, where my boss and the HR person were already positioned. "This isn't personal," my boss said.

I said, "I can't believe this. I just moved here for this job."

Being fired or let go due to loss of business--Bozell had just lost Mutual of Omaha, its biggest client and an account they had held for 50+ years--can be a psychic wound, one that for the most part goes unseen, but nonetheless is always present, like a scar. When a group of people endure these war wounds together in a mass layoff, a bond forms.

You could say AdPulp rose from these very ashes.

October 23, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

VW is going with a decidedly retro/dayglo/superhero pitch to sell the new Beetle.

Here's some "Force of Good" copy from a print execution:

Who will champion snooze buttons, clouds that look like furry animals, and all-you-can-eat buffets?

Who will step into the ring and become

A Force of Good?

The print and online components encourage interaction, as the user/consumer selects an everyday foe which will "do battle" against the 2006 Beetle. Why, I'm not sure. Must pay off the concept. At any rate, I chose a guy in a bikini (note the headline of this post).

The campaign also features a significant event marketing component to round out the experiential offerings.

Auto Channel: Volkswagen's updated New Beetle, one of those truly rare cars that brings an automatic smile to peoples' faces, begins the 'Force of Good' tour traveling the country showering goodness upon the unsuspecting. The heart and soul of the Volkswagen brand is taking to the streets with nine 'Force of Good' Ambassadors from September 20 - November 8, 2005, spreading joy across the country with stops in New York City, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Seattle, San Francisco and Miami. These Ambassadors will battle every day evils by surprising drivers with paid parking meters and tolls, supplying IZZE all-natural sparkling juice to thirsty people on a hot day, distributing coffee during rush hour and participating in local volunteer opportunities.

Join us in your city while we spread a little goodness in a world filled with everyday foes. The 'Force of Good' Tour will be bringing positive, uplifting, do-gooding, silly fun to people in your community soon and will actively participate in charitable events across the country. Remember, goodness prevails!

Reintroduced in 1998, the New Beetle has been updated for 2006. The exuberant updated New Beetle has an even bigger smile (thanks to some changes to the front bumpers), a faster 2.5 litre engine (to spread joy more quickly), and happy new colors including Salsa Red and Gecko Green (to brighten any day). The updated New Beetle is available in both hardtop and convertible models.

The "Force of Good" language is a bit over the top for my tatses, but it works too, kind of like The Onion works. You're left dismayed, but intrigued. "You can't be serious," you say. "Who are these clowns that dare to sell cars with hippie-dippie jibberish?" Then you realize it's highly targeted marketing, that the tone is self-mocking, and critical of the entire charade--selling cars, hippie idealism, and the return of retro dayglo. Or do you?

October 23, 2005 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 0 Comments

Janet Kestin is a Creative Director at Ogilvy Toronto. She works alongside Nancy Vonk, whose comments about the Neil French event got the brouhaha going.

We haven't heard much from Nancy since Neil offered his resignation last week, but today, on I Have An Idea, Janet throws in her 2 cents. And she's right on. Two snippets for you:

It’s embarrassing how slowly we change. Of course, advertising isn’t unique. Many industries think like ours. And women’s progress is slow everywhere. The systems of business were created by men and large numbers of women in the workforce is a comparatively new phenomenon. In the past, if women wanted to succeed they behaved like men. Now, 60% of the students graduating from universities are women. They are the new intellectual capital and they’re not so willing to change. Every day, there are articles about how business is trying to become more liveable, more humane in order to keep the best employees. A lot of those employees are now women. Sabbaticals, training, heck, even yoga, are making their way into the halls of corporate life – or what I might call nouveau corporate life. It dares to suggest that you can succeed in business without giving everything else up.

Let’s all get a grip: advertising is a thinking job. It doesn’t require being tied to a desk. It can be done before breakfast, and after tucking in. What it does require is having a brain and the last time I looked women had at least as many of those as men.

Incidentally, this entire episode was picked up on Fox News, and in hundreds of newspapers throughout the world. If Advertising Week was Woodstock, this sure looks like Altamont. And doesn't WPP have a few thousand PR folks on its payroll, a few of whom could mop up this mess for their own company?

October 23, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

I used to ride the Brown Line into the Loop, so it was with piqued interest that I followed Adrants pointer to this great piece of front line reporting from the CTA Tatler, a blog that covers Chicago's rail and bus lines.

I ride the brown line from Western to Chicago during rush hour. At Fullerton, an eye-catching gent gets on the train, cell phone pressed to his ear. He wears gray pants, a blue zippered hoodie, and a black backpack. There is a large white logo on the left breast of the hoodie, and a smaller one on his backpack. Aaaand...his face is painted blue. From hairline to jawline. Blue Man Group blue. Bears fan blue. I don't recall any major sporting events today, but maybe I've missed something. So, like a good little city mouse, I ignore him and his blue face. He enters at the opposite end of the car from me, but at Armitage, he moves to the doors nearest me. He's yapping away on his cell phone, which is annoying enough, but as he contrives to turn completely around in the unoccupied doorway, I can finally read his logos: "Talk Until You're Blue in the Face, with U.S. Cellular."

This makes things more interesting and more distressing. Not only is he a complete dink, he's being paid to be a complete dink. Not only is his yapping intruding on my aural landscape, but his yapping constitutes an ad.

I want to know if the CTA is complicit in this crappy ad campaign. If they aren't, I want them to come out against this kind of activity on their buses and trains. If they are, however, I want the riders to rise up and demand that the soundscape of the CTA remain unsold.

And a comment on this post: I was on the platform at Sedgwick, when four of these characters were performing/advertising. I got on the Purple line, and one of them stood right next to me, yapping in my ear. Granted I didn't have a long way to go, but no one ever likes "that guy" -- the one who's yap yap yapping on his cell for everyone to hear. And, that morning, US Cellular was "that guy." I hope the CTA doesn't condone this. What's next, commercials playing over the speakers between station announcements?

Nice work, US Cellular. You got people talking. But they're saying the wrong things.

And what about Blue Man Group's reputation? Is this the kind of risk an artist or group must accept when they sell the rights to their creations? If it is, no wonder the price is so high.

October 24, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

"Wideeyedgirl," an award-winning creative in Australia--commenting on the Neil French story that won't go away-- believes we need higher standards in advertising creative departments. In fact, she's so discouraged she may opt to become a suit, in order to be viewed as a professional with something valuable to say.

I believe there is a strong link between mysogynistic beliefs and an incredibly poor education. I am looking forward to the day when Creative Directors stop celebrating that anyone off the street can get a job in the creative department of advertising. One highly paid CD brags about coming from sign writing, another working as a waiter and the list goes on. And we wonder why suits are taking over the running of agencies? We wonder why we don't (or can't) be client facing? Because on the whole this breed of Creative is ill-educated and unprofessional. Yes they may be able to write some good copy but how relevant can their copy and creative comprehension be to a society that has moved ten years ahead in attitude, responsibility and indeed, intelligence. I hope this is the start of an educated and therefore non-ignorant, business savvy creative department that is a true counterpart to Account service in moving the industry forward.

October 24, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Steven Levitt, a University of Chicago professor and author of Freakonomics, will share his insights on how ad executives can tell if their ads are working at an invite-only workshop at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place later today. The event is the first of three to be conducted by the Advertising Research Foundation.

October 24, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

I wrote this iota on October 4th.

Because blogs are structured in reverse chronological order, they lend themselves to tracking a campaign through time. Imagine a promotional tour that stops in 16 cities over a 16-week stretch, where contestants show up and participate with the brand in some fashion. A blog can be used to track this tour from city to city, building anticipation for those who plan to particiapte and giving everyone else a window into this experiential activity.

It sure didn't take long for Budget to act on my suggestion.

In a first, car rental company Budget has launched a blog-based, four-week, 16-city treasure hunt, called Up Your Budget, which offers a total of $160,000 in prizes.

The contest itself will be promoted almost entirely within the blogosphere with sites like Adrants, MarketingVOX and Boing Boing breaking the story and with advertising promotion on 74 weblogs, including Buzzmachine, Metafilter, Gothamist, Jossip and Busblog, through the BlogAds blog advertising network. There will also be some minimal search engine keyword and IM buys. It will be a true test of the weblog medium's ability to propagate information and main stream media's capacity to rely on (and credit) bloggers as sources.

Thanks to Adrants for breaking the story.

October 24, 2005 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 0 Comments

Two interesting stories about blogging & business pop up today. Read 'em back to back and then make up your mind.

In Ad Age: "What Blogs Cost American Business"

About 35 million workers -- one in four people in the labor force -- visit blogs and on average spend 3.5 hours, or 9%, of the work week engaged with them, according to Advertising Age’s analysis. Time spent in the office on non-work blogs this year will take up the equivalent of 2.3 million jobs. Forget lunch breaks -- bloggers essentially take a daily 40-minute blog break.

In The New York Times: "Brand Blogs Capture The Attention of Some Businesses"

Some companies are starting to pay attention to blogs, using them as a kind of informal network of consumer opinion.

"In addition to viewing blogs as another media channel, it allows us to keep our pulse on the marketplace," said Ken Ross, a vice president of Netflix, the movie rental company based in Los Gatos, Calif. One of the best-known blogs about Netflix, hackingnetflix.com, was started last November by Mike Kaltschnee, who lives in Danbury, Conn.

Then get back to work.

October 24, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Equal parts vanity project and career suicide, Words & Pictures is a new webcomic produced by a creative team eager to bite the hand that feeds them.

New strips are published every Monday, with the latest weighing in on the Neil French scandal.

October 24, 2005 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 2 Comments

The Los Angeles Times reports today on Sizzler's attempts to make a comeback in the minds of consumers.

Every change has been focus-grouped to within an inch of its life. And scarcely for nought: When the company brightened the color scheme and decor of a prototype restaurant outside Sacramento, visitors remarked on the sudden improvement in the food, which actually had been upgraded the year before.

Sizzler's recovery will be interesting to watch, as the business graveyard is filled with companies that couldn't overcome a damaged reputation. (Howard Johnson's, anybody?) Sizzler President & CEO Ken Cole insists that a residual fondness for the chain among people who remember the good old value days will carry it through.

"We're rebuilding a great American brand," he says.

According to the company's web site, there isn't a Sizzler around me for hundreds of miles. Anybody been lately? Can the brand be revived?

October 24, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

USA Today: The latest "Got Milk?" commercial hit a little too close to home for Major League Baseball.

Poking fun at the league's steroid scandal, the television ad for the California Milk Processor Board talks about a player getting pulled from a game "after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance."

In the next scene, a coach pulls a carton of milk from the slugger's locker.

"There is nothing humorous about steroid abuse," says Tim Brosnan, executive vice president for business for the league. "I would think that the California Milk Processor Board and their advertising agency would know better regarding an issue that threatens America's youth."

Jeff Goodby, co-founder of the San Francisco advertising agency Goodby Silverstein & Partners, which has produced the memorable campaign since 1993, says the ad was never meant to be taken so seriously.

"It's just milk," Goodby says. "Believe me, we know parody is based on a serious topic. So we wanted to make sure that it was goofy enough so that people didn't get upset."

October 24, 2005 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 6 Comments

Nancy Vonk appeared on a show today called Canada AM.
See the video and the related story here.

Vonk says she never expected French to step down.

"When I wrote that piece, I absolutely didn't have an agenda to push him out of his job at all. Frankly, I'm glad I didn't know as I wrote it, that when I post this thing, it's going to cost him his job. That would have made it much harder to push Send."

But she says she's glad he was forced to resign.

"I think that his attitude is absolutely unacceptable and it obviously hurts women in the workplace," she says. "So I can't disagree that maybe he should have left that position."

October 25, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 3 Comments

We opted to pass on the big advertising story du jour, wherein Apple copies an old Lugz ad. Hey, we can't cover every single story. Anyway, Adfreak and Adrants were obviously wiser in their editorial decision making, as they're choice to cover the story is now a story in and of itself, in The Gray Lady no less.

The New York Times: A dispute over the uniqueness of a popular new commercial for the Apple iPod is again raising the issue of what constitutes originality in advertising.

The commercial, featuring the rap artist Eminem, is the most recent in a two-year-old campaign from Apple Computer that uses silhouettes of singers and iPod users to promote the iPod digital jukebox and the iTunes service. From Times Square to Turkey, the Apple commercial has been sending eyebrows skyward among writers and readers of Web logs devoted to advertising.

In the last week, the bloggers have posted scores of comments describing and decrying what they have deemed to be far too many similarities between the Apple commercial, created by the longtime Apple agency, TBWA/Chiat/Day, and a spot produced three years ago by another agency, which was selling the Lugz brand of boots.

The comments last week on the blogs, including Adfreak.com and Adrants.com, prompted the senior executive of the agency that created the Lugz spot, Avrett Free Ginsberg, to write Apple and TBWA/Chiat/Day, questioning what he called the "many similarities" between the commercials.

In a statement late yesterday, its first since the debate began a week ago, TBWA/Chiat/Day said any resemblance between the commercials was "disappointing and surprising" as well as "regrettable."

Avoiding the "controversy" for a moment, I'd say Eminem and Apple have an effective ad here, and the pr storm isn't going to tarnish their respective brands in the public eye. TBWA/Chiat/Day's image takes a hit inside the industry, but they'll rebound. The creative team responsible? That's another story.

October 25, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Playlist: Market research firm Intelliseek reports that iPod users are among the most likely on the Internet to create and spread consumer-generated media. The company also thinks this will increase with the proliferation of Apple’s new video-enabled iPod hardware.

iPod users are twice as likely to have authored a weblog than consumers who don’t have MP3 players, according to Intelliseek’s 2005 Consumer-Generated Media and Behavior Study.

Intelliseek also reports that iPod users are 2.5 times as likely to exchnage text messages on cell phones, three times as likely to take photos with a camera phone, and three times as likely to download video clips and movies to their computer. They’re more likely to own Digital Video Recorders (DVRs), PDAs, digital cameras, laptops and cell phones, too.

The study looked at the habits of 660 online consumers and was conducted in August, 2005. The full study — which focuses on all consumer generated media, not just that which is iPod-related — will be released in November.

October 25, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

Inspired by Willie Nelson's 1978 hit song of the same name, Old Whiskey River is an 86 proof, small batch bourbon. According to the brand's site, the bourbon is handcrafted by seventh and eigth generation master distillers in Bardstown, which is located serendipitously, in Nelson County, Kentucky.

Willie has truly made his mark on the music industry and on the American landscape. In addition to recording over 200 albums, he has been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Country Music Hall of Fame and has also received the prestigious Kennedy Center Honor for preeminent performing artists.

Time will tell if this new Kentucky whiskey can measure up to its namesake.

October 25, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 4 Comments

ABC News: Thirteen-year-old twins Lamb and Lynx Gaede have one album out, another on the way, a music video, and lots of fans.

They may remind you another famous pair of singers, the Olsen Twins, and the girls say they like that. But unlike the Olsens, who built a media empire on their fun-loving, squeaky-clean image, Lamb and Lynx are cultivating a much darker personna. They are white nationalists and use their talents to preach a message of hate.

Known as "Prussian Blue" — a nod to their German heritage and bright blue eyes — the girls from Bakersfield, Calif., have been performing songs about white nationalism before all-white crowds since they were nine.

"We're proud of being white, we want to keep being white," said Lynx. "We want our people to stay white … we don't want to just be, you know, a big muddle. We just want to preserve our race."

"It really breaks my heart to see those two girls spewing out that kind of garbage," said Ted Shaw, civil rights advocate and president of the NAACP's Legal Defense Fund — though Shaw points out that the girls aren't espousing their own opinions but ones they're being taught.

October 25, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Business 2.0: When companies like Apple, JetBlue, and Toyota want to build structures that articulate who they are, they turn to Gensler, an architecture and design firm with 28 offices, 2,000 employees, and 2004 revenues of $264 million. Using architecture to express identity doesn’t necessarily mean bombarding visitors with “experiential” gimmicks like those in a cartoon-encrusted Disney Store. Done Gensler’s way, buildings become a subtle expression of corporate personality. “We design everything to fit the message of the brand,” says Dian Duvall, principal in the firm’s San Francisco headquarters. So how do you translate the ephemeral qualities of a corporate image into tangible structures of concrete, steel, and glass?

I'd like to know more, but one must subscribe to the magazine for the full article.

October 25, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

We Make Money Not Art: Farmers have teamed up with scientists to create a farm where the cows choose when they want to be milked using automated booths. The farmer can even go on holiday and allow the animals to look after themselves.

"The cows set their own agenda," said Neil Rowe, manager of Manor Farm in Oxfordshire. "It’s about autonomy, it’s about enrichment, it’s about stepping back and allowing the cows and the system to develop a relationship."

Cattle wander from field to parlour when they want to be milked. They find their way into automated milking stalls, where a computer scans a microchip implanted in the animal’s collar which holds information on its milking history and health.

Robotic milking machines then locate the cow’s udder guided by lasers and ultrasound. The equipment prepares the cow by washing, sterilising and massaging its teats before collecting the milk — which is instantly cooled and stored.

The animals are lured into the parlour with inducements including a hair-brushing and scratching device which they can turn on themselves using a "nudge trigger" and a fan to blow away flies.

October 25, 2005 by Shawn Hartley | Permalink | 0 Comments

Courtesy of the tip line (thanks George), it didn't take long for someone to capitalize on the Neil French Debacle.

Hart + Larsson, an upstart studio in NYC found by two "deviant creatives, or creative deviants, whichever you prefer," offers a humurous play on a help wanted ad.

(note to Hart + Larsson: make your text in Flash selectable so I can copy and paste - you could have had a bigger writeup)

October 25, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 4 Comments

October 25, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

The New York Times: You might have thought that the White House had enough on its plate late last month, what with its search for a new Supreme Court nominee, the continuing war in Iraq and the C.I.A. leak investigation. But it found time to add another item to its agenda - stopping The Onion, the satirical newspaper, from using the presidential seal.

"It has come to my attention that The Onion is using the presidential seal on its Web site," Grant M. Dixton, associate counsel to the president, wrote to The Onion on Sept. 28.

Citing the United States Code, Mr. Dixton wrote that the seal "is not to be used in connection with commercial ventures or products in any way that suggests presidential support or endorsement." Exceptions may be made, he noted, but The Onion had never applied for such an exception.

"Despite the seriousness of the Bush White House, more than one Bush staffer reads The Onion and enjoys it thoroughly," Trent Duffy, a White House spokesman said. "We do have a sense of humor, believe it or not."

October 25, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

Josh Spear dot com: Over the past year, I 've been overwhelmed by emails and calls asking for my opinion on brands, products, design, etc. Several large companies, that will remain nameless (for now), have sought me out for my thoughts on how to beef up both their image, and their product line. As a result, I've been involved directly with a variety of brands in a very short time, helping to launch startups, as well as addressing problems in already well established and successful lifestyle companies--who were looking for a leg up in their industry. In response to this demand, I'm proud to publicly announce that I am launching my own consulting agency.

Josh Spear (not to be confused with Josh Rubin) is 21 years young. He is a part time student at University of Colorado at Boulder but has a very hard time staying still. He plans on moving somewhere new and exciting soon...London? Tokyo? No doubt both eventually. He's a climber, writer, designer, trend spotter, and a DJ.

Thanks to PSFK for the pointer.

October 26, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

According to Lewis Lazare, the marketing communications division of Lowe in Mexico City is being rebranded as Draft Mexico. The operation in Mexico brings Chicago-based Draft's global presence to 40 offices in 26 countries.

In other Lazarian news...

Berlin Cameron, a relatively young boutique agency, lost the $200 million Samsung account to Leo Burnett. The defection is a huge, potentially fatal blow, coming on the heels of the loss of the $150 million Coke Classic advertising account to Wieden + Kennedy in Portland, Ore. The Coke defection forced Berlin Cameron to slash more than a third of its 100-person staff just days ago. Samsung was perhaps the biggest of the agency's remaining clients.

October 26, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

From a public relations perspective, a blog can be a great tool to help manage a brand crisis. Too bad Volvic doesn't have one in place.

Yahoo News: French food and drink group Danone said it was investigating a report in Britain that a potentially harmful chemical had been detected in bottles of Volvic, one of its leading brands of mineral water.

Danone said it was "actively investigating the exact cause of this problem", adding that it was an "isolated incident and no other complaints have been received from the same batch of product and remaining samples have been checked."

A BBC television programme reported earlier Monday that laboratory tests on a bottle of the premium mineral water, marketed as a product for the health conscious, "showed that the water contained a potentially harmful chemical called naphthalene".

Naphtalene is derived from coal tar or petroleum and is used in manufacturing dyes, moth repellents, and explosives and as a solvent.

October 26, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 3 Comments

The New York Times: To reintroduce a struggling brand, the Campbell Soup Company is giving consumers a song and dance - literally.

A campaign that began this week for the Campbell's Select line of higher-priced soups features the actor John Lithgow singing and dancing in commercials that offer humorous tributes to the brand. The campaign, carrying the theme "Why settle when you can Select," is being created by BBDO Worldwide in New York, part of the Omnicom Group.

In the commercials, Mr. Lithgow performs over-the-top songs about Campbell's Select and a new variety, Select Gold Label, that were written by David Yazbek, who also wrote the music and lyrics for the songs Mr. Lithgow performs in his hit Broadway show "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels."

The campaign is the most elaborate send-up of musical comedy to be sponsored by a premium-priced soup brand since 1970, when Stan Freberg presented Ann Miller in a commercial, tap-dancing atop an eight-foot replica of a can of Great American Soup, sold by the H. J. Heinz Company.

The Campbell's Select campaign, with a budget estimated at more than $20 million, is part of efforts by giant food marketers to persuade consumers to pay more for products that are presented as being of better quality than ordinary brands.

October 26, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

Marc Babej, president of Reason inc., is tired of all the creative window dressing. He skewers Wieden, Crispin, FCB and Publicis for blathering on about "creativity".

He also brings to light this classic Ogilvyism:

“If you spend your advertising budget entertaining the consumer, you’re a bloody fool. Housewives don’t buy a new detergent because the manufacturer told a joke on television last night. They buy the new detergent because it promises a benefit.” -David Ogilvy

In an interesting response to Ogilvy's admonition, Fresh Glue isn't having it.

Fortunately, housewives (and househusbands) will buy detergent in a creative vehicle. Ask Method, maker of yuppie soaps and detergents. Are their creative packaging and company identity a "tangible difference?" I say yes. They're what we call a non-rational benefit. They satisfy a desire that doesn't include clean dishes. Method's identity differentiates a banal product by delivering a "benefit" that has nothing whatsoever to do with the actual soap. Under this theory, Method chalked up sales of $25 million in the 52 weeks ending Aug. 7, 2005.

Which demonstrates that, indeed, creativity and effectiveness can be synonymous.

I'll add to this debate the notion that 99.99% of agency web sites--the place where "creativity" is most often espoused--currently in existence suck ass, including sites by agencies whose work is otherwise outstanding. Which is ironic, given that you'd think agency personnel would be eager to turn their brand-building abilities on themselves, but no.

I do like La Comunidad's site a lot. Yes, even in Flash.

[UPDATE] On second thought, the long load time on La Comunidad's site significantly diminishes the user experience. Content, good. Execution, bad.

October 26, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

Sedgwick Road says they do pro-bono work for Seattle Art Museum, "because we believe in making advertising that's not just effective but aesthetic. The campaign for the Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera, and Mexican Modernism exhibit generated attendance 59% over goal and revenue 69% over goal."

October 26, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

Adfreak picked up on a London Times piece detailing Sir Martin Sorrell's divorce. Sorrell is chairman of WPP, the world's second largest ad agency holding company.

Court papers reveal that the advertising magnate must hand over a £23.4 million lump-sum plus their £3.2 million Georgian townhouse.

Also among Lady Sorrell’s spoils are two underground parking spaces at Harrods in Knightsbridge, West London, worth nearly £200,000, and £2 million of bank deposits.

Lady Sorrell’s payout is the latest in a long line of judgments that recognise the contribution of women to the financial success of their husbands, regardless of whether they have worked themselves.

A comment left by Peter D. on Adfreak's site:

How the hell does this meet the criteria of news worthy. I thought AdAge should have been ashamed of themselves for sensationalizing this thing. It has no business being reported on in a trade/business journal.

Yeah, that's what blogs are for.

October 26, 2005 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 2 Comments

Neil's been tarred and feathered aplenty, so in my new column in Talent Zoo I've decided to focus on a larger issue: why there's so much hero-worshipping in the ad industry.

Frankly, Neil French isn’t the problem. The problem lies with the starstruck suckers who treat his every utterance like it was the word of Moses or the Dalai Lama. And then insist his comments are above reproach simply because, well, he’s Neil French and we’re not.

The cult of personality that surrounds certain people in advertising is silly at the very least, and in the case of Neil French, dangerous. It was bad for business at WPP where he worked, and it’s bad for the ad business as a whole.

Enjoy. And hey, I'll tender my resignation to AdPulp if this causes a worldwide shitstorm.

October 26, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

Business Week is running a fascinating look at how resilient America's leading tobacco marketer is in the face of 1998's Master Settlement Agreement--a landmark piece of legislation designed to significantly curtail big tobacco's reach.

There may be a cloud of condemnation hanging over cigarettes, but the companies nonetheless have plenty to celebrate. Long the U.S. market leader, Marlboro has been hitting all-time highs this year. Despite the sharp advertising restrictions agreed to by cigarette marketers in 1998 and a dramatic rise in state excise taxes since 2002, Marlboro is galloping ahead of the competition. The brand, which commands an average $3.28 per pack, now owns more than 40% of the market, up more than 21/2 percentage points in as many years. That surge has driven a broader gain for Philip Morris overall, which also makes Virginia Slims, Parliament, and other brands, and added significantly to the company's profits, possibly more than $200 million a year.

Marlboro became one of the world's most valuable brands the old-fashioned way -- traditional mass marketing. For decades, Chicago ad shop Leo Burnett burned Marlboro into the consumer psyche with TV, magazine, and billboard images of freedom and cool personified by the rugged, horse-riding, Stetson-wearing cowboy.

But if Marlboro got to the top using an old tool kit that's now restricted, it's holding on to that spot with a blend of tactics for the new age: so-called "buzz" marketing at live events and bars that spur Internet chatter and sign-ups for promotional offers; a Web site where smokers sign up for a chance at discounts and bling; plus a healthy dollop of price promotions and direct mail.

Antismoking advocates may find it ironic that Philip Morris has become a more deft and efficient marketer as a result of the legal settlement that sought to hobble the cigarette makers. Back in 1998 the Master Settlement Agreement (MSA) with the state attorneys general ended tobacco advertising in most of its traditional forms. But by forcing Marlboro to go viral, be aggressive in retail stores, and be more creative in its media plan, it put the company on a successful path now being followed by every marketer from General Motors and Audi to AXE deodorant.

Contests and rewards may keep smokers loyal, but to add new acolytes, marketing experts say some low-tech means of persuasion are also important -- most notably in-store promotions, price cuts, and other deals. "The ballgame's in the store," says Marvin E. Goldberg, a marketing professor at Penn State.

October 26, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

Danny G's post on Mr. French and his antiquated views is the entry that keeps on giving. Today, "Gay Like A Fox" chimed in with this:

I suspect the dearth of top-level women creatives is rooted in nature. Looking beyond the realm of advertising we see that, historically, very, very few of the top contenders in any field have been women. In other words, there are relatively few women among the world's best chess players, chefs, mathematicians, composers, painters, bloggers, web designers, etc... People who say this is because of discrimination might want to explain why FEWER women won Nobel Prizes in Mathematics between the years 1950-2000 than between the years 1900-1950, despite the mass opening up of educational and vocational opportunites for women in the 60's and 70's throughout the very countries from which most Nobel Prize winners are drawn.

Maybe it's because women really just don't have the same capacity for work-obsession that men do. Maybe women are more interested in personal relationships than they are in their own selves and their careers. Maybe there's something to what Camille Paglia once said about there not being a female Beethoven because there is no female Jack the Ripper (i.e. that men naturally embody the extremes of human behavior much more frequently than do women, and thus have a much higher chance of being geniuses and serial killers). However you look at it, the reality of female underacheivement relative to men is a long-standing and universal phenomenon. Non-p.c. explanations for it shouldn't just be shoved down the memory hole because they hurt your feelings.

October 27, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

MSNBC: Starbucks Corp. and Fortune Brands Inc.'s Jim Beam distilled spirits unit are bringing out a second product in their jointly developed line of liqueurs, the companies said Wednesday.

The new drink, which is called Starbucks Cream Liqueur, will be sold in 35 markets in the United States, starting this fall. It will be rolled out nationally by February 2006.

Starbucks Coffee Liqueur, the first drink developed by the two companies, is the top-selling new spirit of 2005, said Larry Plawsky, a vice president at Jim Beam, who is overseeing the rollout of the new drink.

Starbucks, the world's largest coffee-shop chain, will not sell the drink in its retail outlets. The company said it has no plans to seek a license to sell alcohol in its stores.

The cream liqueur category, which is led by Bailey's Irish Cream, is nearly three times the size of the coffee liqueur market. Because of the size of the market, Plawsky said he expected Starbucks Cream Liqueur to eventually be a bigger seller than the first drink.

October 27, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Promo Magazine: Kahlua has teamed up with Condé Nast Traveler and the Oxygen Network to push its coffee liqueur through a new TV show, Bring Home the Exotic.

The five-part series lets viewers travel with a Condé Nast Traveler editor and a couple to exotic locations around the world, where they explore the new terrain and experience local foods and cultures. Once home, the travelers host a themed party in which they recreate their exotic travel experiences.

Each week's show features a different exotic location and targets women 30 and older. The first episode showcases Merida, Mexico. Subsequent episodes will feature Riviera Maya, Mexico, Costa Rica, Big Island, Hawaii and Kauai, Hawaii. During each show, Kahlua will offer drink recipes especially themed to each episode.

Bring Home the Exotic premieres Oct. 29 at 2 p.m. PT/ET on the Oxygen Network. The campaign marks Kahlua's first-ever branded entertainment initiative.

October 27, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

c|net: Yahoo has teamed up with Target to offer image printing to members of its online photo-sharing service, Flickr.

The new printing service, which Yahoo launched on Wednesday, will allow Flickr users in the United States to order prints online and pick them up at Target stores nationwide or have them home-delivered. The company notified Flickr members of the service on its blog.

In addition to prints from Target, Flickr members will be able to order mugs, T-shirts, stamps, photo books and other items with their photos printed on them through official partnerships with online specialty printers Zazzle, Qoop and Englaze.

Flickr, which Yahoo acquired in March, is among the most popular photo-sharing services on the Web. The tool allows people to upload digital photos from computers and camera phones, assemble photo albums, and post photos to blogs.

Several photo-sharing sites are adding printing services through partnerships with big national photo labs. One is Snapfish, which recently teamed up with Walgreens.

October 27, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Butler Shine shows its respect for Patagonia's "Let My People Go Surfing" management style.

Patagonia needs to be a case study for all future business leaders, because not only does it make environmental responsibility front and center, it has also built a culture that empowers the individual. It motivates them through the passion of the outdoors and encourages them to seek play within their work. Too often, corporations ruin the potential of their best assets, their people, by turning them to dispassionate drones. At a time when innovation, creativity and sustainability are values that companies need to acquire to survive, Corporate America could learn a lot from Patagonia.

I wrote about Yvon Chouinard a year ago, but frankly I ought to write about him, and his truly remarkable company, more often. Agency peeps are repeatedly called on to "think outside the box" but to do so successfully, visionary thinkers (and doers) have to be at the forefront. It seems to me agency leaders are too busy trying not to lose, to focus on what it means to win big.

Let's drop in on Chouinard's world, again:

Outside: I've been a businessman for almost 50 years. It's as difficult for me to say those words as it is for someone to admit to being an alcoholic or a lawyer.

I've never respected the profession. It's business that has to take the majority of the blame for being the enemy of nature, for destroying native cultures, for taking from the poor and giving to the rich, and for poisoning the earth with the effluent from its factories. Yet business can produce food, cure disease, control population, employ people, and generally enrich our lives. And it can do these good things and make a profit without losing its soul.

My company, Ventura, California–based Patagonia Inc., maker of technical outdoor apparel and gear, is an ongoing experiment. Founded in 1973, it exists to challenge conventional wisdom and present a new style of responsible enterprise. We believe the accepted model of capitalism, which necessitates endless growth and deserves the blame for the destruction of nature, must be displaced. Patagonia and its thousand employees have the means and the will to prove to the rest of the corporate world that doing the right thing makes for good, financially sound business.

Note, Patagonia's mission has nothing to do with selling more clothes and gear. They've given themselves a much bigger, and ultimately more rewarding, task.

What tasks do we set for ourselves in the ad biz, other than to stay afloat?

October 27, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 4 Comments

We're contributing to someone else's media property and hey, we didn't even know. So is Frederick Samuel, John Moore and David Vinjamuri. I bet they lacked prior knowledge of their valuable contributions, as well.

So what is this? Are we to be delighted our content is worth picking up? Or pissed that an interloper dares to frame us as willing participants in his project?

October 27, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

Ad Age has a new blog. But it's not written by the countless journalists under the Crain's flag. No. It's the work of Bart Cleveland, Partner and Creative Director at McKee Wallwork Cleveland in Albuquerque, NM.

This blog is for the future of creativity in our industry. For if that future is to be one of creative excellence it lies in the hands of small agencies. I know this can sound a bit arrogant. I assure you it doesn’t come from ego, but from history. All the great things that have happened in our industry started from small agencies. Their success caused them to sometimes grow into giants. But when the “magic” happened, they were small.

Pretty bold opening salvo.

October 27, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

CNN: Activists want Paramount Pictures to take down billboards promoting the upcoming film "Get Rich or Die Tryin'," claiming the advertisements promote gun violence.

The billboards depict Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson holding a gun in his left hand and a microphone in his right. One of the advertisements is next to a preschool.

Najee Ali, who organized a rally Tuesday, accused Paramount, which is owned by Viacom Inc., of irresponsibility for marketing in high-crime areas a movie that he said glorifies carrying guns.

"We're calling upon Paramount Pictures to remove these billboards out of our neighborhood and from this city," Ali said.

"Get Rich or Die Tryin' " stars Jackson as a drug dealer who turns away from crime to pursue his true passion, rap music. It's scheduled to open November 9.

October 27, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

USA Today: Wal-Mart's critics, opening a new front in their war on the retail goliath, are borrowing from actor-director Mel Gibson's promotional playbook.

Producers of a new documentary, Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, will show it at about 1,000 churches, synagogues and religious sites nationwide on Nov. 13 in a bid to force changes in Wal-Mart's employment and other practices.

The film, by the director of Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism, comes as Wal-Mart mounts a new effort to polish its battered image. The movie is part of a broader campaign by a disparate group of critics who now include ministers asserting Wal-Mart's tactics are a moral as well as economic issue.

Producer Robert Greenwald hopes for the same success Gibson had last year building grass-roots support through churches for his blockbuster, The Passion of the Christ.

The Wal-Mart film features interviews with company employees, small-business owners, teachers and others who sharply criticize it with charges of low wages, skimpy health benefits and a poor environmental record.

"Those are moral questions," Greenwald said Wednesday. "They're questions of who we are as people, who we are as a country."

Consumers may be receptive. Moral values ranked No. 4 among top non-economic worries in a Gallup Poll this month.

October 27, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

OfficeMax®, one of the nation's largest office supply distributors, unveiled a new store prototype that dramatically differentiates OfficeMax from other office supply stores. The design replaces the industry-standard warehouse format with an engaging, colorful environment that highlights small- and home-office solutions.

The first prototype opens this month in Macedonia, Ohio, with many more stores opening across the country soon. This design represents the future of OfficeMax's retail stores and the company's customer-centric approach.

"To create this prototype we not only talked with customers, but we also watched them shop. That insight helped us create a new store concept that is truly 'built by customers,'" said Sam K. Duncan, OfficeMax chairman and chief executive officer. "The new format gives customers a reason to shop here more often and stay longer, turning our store into a resource, rather than just a warehouse."

Thanks to PSFK for the pointer.

October 28, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

Danny G. sent me the much maligned Forbes article on blogs last night, and at first I thought it was some sort of Onionesque spoof. There's a lot of that going around these days. Anyway, sorry to say it's no spoof, just shoddy thinking masking as journalism.

Web logs are the prized platform of an online lynch mob spouting liberty but spewing lies, libel and invective. Their potent allies in this pursuit include Google and Yahoo.

Blogs started a few years ago as a simple way for people to keep online diaries. Suddenly they are the ultimate vehicle for brand-bashing, personal attacks, political extremism and smear campaigns.

"Bloggers are more of a threat than people realize, and they are only going to get more toxic. This is the new reality," says Peter Blackshaw, chief marketing officer at Intelliseek, a Cincinnati firm that sifts through millions of blogs to provide watch-your-back service to 75 clients, including Procter & Gamble and Ford.

Google and other services operate with government-sanctioned impunity, protected from any liability for anything posted on the blogs they host. Thus they serve up vitriolic "content" without bearing any legal responsibility for ensuring it is fair or accurate; at times they even sell ads alongside the diatribes.

This Forbesian diatribe goes on to encourage brands to litigate against bloggers they don't like.

It's hard for me to take this kind of fear-based scare rhetoric seriously. Sure, it annoys me. I find it distasteful and ignorant. In the end, it's just too base for words, even though I've supplied these. Oh, the contradictions...

Visit Bug Me Not to bypass the magazine's registration requirement.

October 28, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

BugMeNot.com was created as a mechanism to quickly bypass the login of web sites that require compulsory registration and/or the collection of personal/demographic information (such as the New York Times).

I had never used this tool until moments ago. I'm impressed.

On their site, they point to the anti-registration reasoning behind the service.

-It's a breach of privacy.

-Sites don't have a great track record with the whole spam thing.

-It's contrary to the fundamental spirit of the net. Just ask Google.

-It's pointless due to the significant percentage of users who enter fake demographic details anyway.

-It's a waste of time.

-It's annoying as hell.

-Imagine if every site required registration to access content.

October 28, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

The New York Times: For a 47-year-old advocacy group, AARP is acting a lot like a for-profit corporation these days.

Look at the products it has in the wings for next year. There is an investment fund aimed at people over 50, the first such product it has developed on its own. There is a consulting service to help companies develop their own products for the 50-plus crowd. There is a "seal of approval" program in which, for a fee, AARP will endorse products it likes.

AARP is also talking to several drugstores about possibly selling AARP-branded items that are now available only by mail. And it is prodding companies to develop new products for older people, not just passively vetting the products that industry comes up with. For example, it is looking for a telecommunications partner to help it devise an elder-friendly cellphone service, and for vendors who will make easy-to-open luggage, better home lighting and other products that AARP can sell.

"We're finally being proactive, instead of waiting for companies to come to us with ideas, " said Dawn Sweeney, president of AARP Services, the for-profit subsidiary that handles product sales.

October 28, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

Random Culture and MIT Advertising Lab point to World Wrestling Entertainment's move to get viewers to skip commercials.

In an unusual maneuver that one media agency executive described as a dangerous precedent for advertisers, World Wrestling Entertainment has started pushing viewers to its Web site during commercial breaks in "Monday Night Raw" on USA Network.

Rather than halting the event when USA cuts to commercial, WWE shifts its live wrestling coverage to its web site. Several times throughout each "Raw" telecast, viewers are prompted by graphics and comments from on-air talent to use the commercial breaks to go to WWE's web site and view "WWE Unlimited," where they'll find an exclusive online feed of continuing "Raw" coverage.

October 28, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Pollstar: Fighting an addiction is tough, just ask Microsoft.

Already under close scrutiny for its antitrust habit of pulverizing competing companies into so much dust and dirt, the software giant was recently admonished by a federal judge for distributing a proposal to potential clients outlining an exclusivity deal that would prevent competitors from entering the personal music player playground. In was described as "a rare display of indignation," U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly demanded that the company explain itself, saying, "This should not be happening."

What should not be happening? Simply put, Microsoft sent a proposal to several personal player manufacturers stating that if they wanted Microsoft's software for transferring songs from computers to those players, the manufacturers could not include similar programs from competing software companies.

Called "Easy Start" and described as a "draft specification," Microsoft's marketing plan called for personal player manufacturers to refrain from including similar software by any company other than Microsoft on their players.

Microsoft says it had second thoughts about the "draft specification" after the company's lawyers looked it over. Oh, yeah, and after an industry rival complained. A Microsoft spokesperson said that the draft had been sent to manufacturers in order to get their feedback, and that the proposal was not a contract, hence it wasn't vetted by company lawyers.

"It's somewhat amazing it even happened," Howard University law professor Andrew Gavil said. "It's troubling that anyone inside Microsoft was still thinking this was a legitimate business strategy."

October 28, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

USA Today: The hottest potential endorser coming out of the 2005 World Series is not a pitcher, catcher or center fielder. It's manager Ozzie Guillen of the victorious Chicago White Sox.

Managers and coaches almost never outshine players on Madison Avenue. But sports marketing executives are jumping on the bandwagon of Guillen, the rollicking, 41-year old "Wizard of Oz" who's threatened to retire after leading the White Sox to their first World Series title since 1917.

"People love watching him. They never know what he's going to do, or say, next. What other manager have we seen gesture for the fat guy in the bullpen?" asks Bob Dorfman, creative director at Pickett Advertising in San Francisco.

October 28, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

What are creative wunderkids, Gale Venosdel and Chris Rock, doing in Springfield, MO?

Zagging, when others have zigged, that's what.

Other entries in this series: Memphis, Greenville, Lincoln, Bozeman, Coeur d'Alene, Burlington, Omaha, Venice Beach and Bend.

October 28, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

October 28, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Boston Globe: McDonald's is giving a jolt to the New England coffee market.

Starting next week, the fast-food chain will replace its brew in all 600 New England stores with Newman's Own Organics Blend produced by Green Mountain Coffee Roasters Inc. in Waterbury, Vt.

It's the only place in the country where McDonald's is making the switch, and the move, analysts say, will help the Golden Arches capture part of the growing gourmet coffee market and better compete with Dunkin' Donuts and Starbucks.

Newman's Own Organics, run by Nell Newman, the daughter of actors Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, is producing an exclusive blend of light and medium roast for McDonald's stores. Previously, McDonald's sold its own blend of java.

Gourmet coffee drinkers are increasingly buying their cup of joe outside the home, growing to 54 percent this year from 42 percent last year, according to the National Coffee Association, a New York trade group.

October 28, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

October 28, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

B of A is running a truly unique (if not brilliant) promotion, which benefits customers as much as it will benefit the bank.

Every time you buy something with a Bank of America Visa® debit card, we'll round up your purchase to the nearest dollar amount and transfer the difference from your checking to your savings account free of charge. Every bag of groceries, every coffee and every tank of gas adds up to more savings for you.

For the first three months, we'll match your Keep the Change™ savings at 100%. That means for every Keep the Change transfer, we'll contribute the same amount to your Bank of America savings account. And when the three months are over, to make it even easier to save, we'll continue matching 5% a year, every year.

The bank's matching funds turns one's personal savings account into something more closely resembling a 401K. I don't know who thought of this, but I wish I had. And isn't that the true test of a great idea?

October 28, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

USA Today: Hershey wants to stop a California company from using the name Milkdudz for a line of clothing designed for breast-feeding mothers.

Hershey, which makes Milk Duds candy, said in a complaint to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that the nursing wear company's proposed brand name is confusingly similar to that of the round chocolate-covered caramels Hershey sells.

Milkdudz — "not your mommaz nursing wear" — sells garments for nursing mothers ranging from "Goddess Gowns" to tank tops.

Kiersten Wall, who co-founded Milkdudz with Stephanie Schulte in March 2004, said Hershey owns the trademark only for candy, not for clothing, and vowed that her Temecula, Calif., company will fight the candy producer.

"It's not like we'd be right next to them in the candy aisle. We're in boutiques," Wall told The Patriot-News of Harrisburg, Pa. "We're not anywhere close to competing with Hershey's."

October 28, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 7 Comments

Orange Yeti asks some tough, and oh so pertinent, questions.

Why do clients love to pretend they can write? Time and time again we stress the importance of good copy. And almost always we get an, "I can handle that," or a "No problem!" There is a problem though. Most people have poor writing skills.

Writing is hard. Communication is difficult. Why is it so often sloughed off as a trvial task that anyone can do well?

I wouldn’t tell the contractor building my new home that, “I can handle installing all that sheet rock and insulation. No problem.” Sure, I could do that work, but I probably wouldn’t do it as fast or as well. And after I finished making a mess and wasting time and energy, I know I wouldn’t have the cahonés to hold the contractor accountable for the delay.

So why do people think writing good content is easy? Well-written comments only please.

What's even worse is when a client lets you go through the motions of writing their copy, when they have no intention whatsoever of running with it. You know, because they prefer to "save the day" at the last minute with their own version.

October 30, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

The New York Times: Larry Page and Sergey Brin seem an unlikely pair to lead an advertising revolution. As Stanford graduate students sketching out the idea that became Google, the two software engineers sniffed in an academic paper that "advertising-funded search engines will inherently be biased toward the advertisers and away from the needs of consumers."

They softened that line a bit by the time they got around to pitching their business to venture capitalists, allowing that selling ads would be a handy safety net if their other, less distasteful ideas for generating revenue didn't pan out.

Google soared in popularity in its first years but had no meaningful revenue until the founders reluctantly fell on that safety net and started selling ads. Even then, they approached advertising with the mind-set of engineers: Ads would look more like fortune cookies than anything Madison Avenue would come up with.

As it turned out, the safety net was a trampoline. Those little ads - 12 word snippets of text, linked to topics that users are actually interested in - have turned Google into one of the biggest advertising vehicles the world has ever seen. This year, Google will sell $6.1 billion in ads, nearly double what it sold last year, according to Anthony Noto, an analyst at Goldman Sachs. That is more advertising than is sold by any newspaper chain, magazine publisher or television network.

October 31, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

The New York Times: You could argue that reading a newspaper online is much like reading one offline, but one thing is unmistakably missing from the Web: when you log on, an advertising circular does not fall into your lap.

Until now, that is. Gannett, one of the nation's biggest newspaper publishers, said it would introduce a new service on its newspaper Web sites next month that displays banner ads that readers can expand into a virtual version of the weekly local circulars so familiar to offline newspaper readers.

Industry executives said the service, called PaperBoy, devised by a unit of Gannett called PointRoll, would give national advertisers a way to reach online readers in local markets with promotions tied to neighborhood stores.

Newspapers are trying to protecting their turf from Google, Yahoo and other Internet companies that have moved more aggressively to serve local information and ads to readers.

PointRoll was bought by Gannett earlier this year for roughly $100 million, a price that raised many eyebrows in the online community.

October 31, 2005 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 1 Comments

This month's issue of Colors Magazine is a really good one. With the help of Reporters Without Borders, they tell stories of journalists all across the world and their fight for free speech.

One thing they do in the issue is rank each country by how "journalist-friendly" they are. And then, one per page, they focus on an individual country. As a graphic element, they highlighted that page's country from a map, along with a person whose story is told.

It's a fascinating issue. But I think someone at Colors needs a geography lesson. I put 3 separate page graphics side-by-side. See which one doesn't belong.

And no, I didn't make this up.

October 31, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 39 Comments

According to Brandweek, Saab USA, the GM division, will amp up its “Born From Jets” campaign in December, after a dealer council meeting to study first-month results of the campaign.

Sadvertising isn't buying it, though.

Now, SAAB is owned by GM and uses GM and Subaru technology - good, but off-the-shelf. The "Born from jets" is supposed to awaken us to SAAB's heritage - but where's the Jet-like technology? Where is the unique styling? Where is the discussion of safety?

"Born from Jets" is going to fail. Using a heritage as a sell-job is always a last-ditch defense but even more so when the heritage bears no resemblance to the offspring.

October 31, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

I challenge you to show us a nicer deck in all of advertising.

Thanks to W+K brand planner, Sudeep Gohil, for sharing his images, and to Steve Hall for uncovering them.

October 31, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Business Week: Media strategists used to rank just above accountants as the kind of people advertisers wanted to meet in the industry. In recent years, however, disdain has been replaced with adulation as the attention spans of consumers have shrunk. With the Internet, ad-skipping digital video recorders (DVRs), video cell phones, and portable music and video players all vying for their attention, consumers are getting harder and harder to track. And that's putting media strategists on the speed dials of advertisers befuddled by the changing landscape.

Rishad Tobaccowala, chief innovation officer of Starcom MediaVest Group, is of one of the new oracles of Madison Avenue.

Tobaccowala's message to clients now is that they must get used to being in a permanent state of discomfort. The forces unleashed by tech on the ad world are gaining momentum and leading to ever more unexpected developments. "Blogs and podcasting have gone from 'What are those?' to mainstream in less than two years.

He's less than impressed with some of the supposed solutions offered by others on Madison Avenue. One example: product placements in movies and TV, a common tactic advertisers are using to combat the popularity of DVRs. Tobaccowala dismisses most of them as "lazy" and then adds an expletive that can't be printed in a family magazine. "The spine of our business has collapsed, and what we are looking at are the organs, blood, and connective tissue on the floor in a pile of goo," he says. "We have to imagine what the new structure is going to look like."

Tobaccowala joined Leo Burnett in 1982 immediately after earning an MBA from the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business.

October 31, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

"Human nature hasn't changed for a million years. It won't even vary for the next million years. Only the superficial things have changed. It's fashionable to talk about changing man. A communicator must be concerned with unchanging man - what compulsions drive him, what instincts dominate his every action, even though his language too often camouflages what really motivates him. For if you know these things about a man, you can touch him at the core of his being." -Bill Bernbach

Thanks to Tom Asacker for the quote.

October 31, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Wired: Steve Case, a co-founder of AOL and one of the key architects of the disastrous AOL-Time Warner deal, said Monday that he has resigned from Time Warner's board of directors.

Case had relinquished the role of chairman two years ago, but remained on the media conglomerate's board of directors, despite the opposition of shareholders angered by the fallout of AOL's purchase of Time Warner at the height of the Internet bubble in 2000.

Other key executives involved in the deal had already left the company in a management purge, including former Time Warner CEO Gerald Levin and Bob Pittman, a former AOL executive.

Time Warner has agreed to pay a combined $510 million to settle shareholder lawsuits and regulatory charges that AOL fraudulently inflated its online advertising revenues and subscriber counts. The company also took massive write-downs and removed AOL from the beginning of its name.

Case said he intends to focus on his new investment company, Revolution LLC.

October 31, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Happy Halloween from Coors Light (and the energy drink that inspired them).

October 31, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

El Universal: A prominent art critic is trying to stop Frida Kahlo's niece from selling tequila under the famous Mexican artist's name.

Putting the name of Frida Kahlo on a bottle of tequila is no less than "disgraceful," said Raquel Tibol, adding the "atrocious act" was inspired by the fact that Kahlo was an alcoholic who drank at least a bottle of tequila daily.

The new brand of tequila is backed by the Frida Kahlo Corporation, a partnership between Kahlo's niece and companies that claims it has the right to license products with the artist's name in Mexico and overseas.

However, Raquel Tibol is questioning whether Isolda P. Kahlo really has the rights to commercialize the name of her aunt. "This is a dirty shame! Who gave the permission to use her name?"

Tibol says that only one foundation can legally do so.

In 1955, a couple of years before his death, Diego Rivera established the creation of the Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo Museums Trust run by the Banco De Mexico and now led by Guillermo Ortiz. The body was established to hold the homes, works and possessions of the two artists in a public trust.

Tibol says this is the only organization authorized to give permission to use Frida Kahlo's name for commercial purposes.

The tequila is the latest in a growing number of commercial products on the market with the Kahlo name attached to them. Also on sale: a perfume; a line of clothes and jewelry; and a soon-to-belaunched doll of the artist.

"Tequila Frida Kahlo" will come in three varieties: blanco, reposado and añejo, at a cost of US50, US65 and US90, respectively. The bottles are adorned with labels showing the artist in a three-quarters profile, framed in a crown of flowers.

October 31, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

October 31, 2005 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Johnnie Moore writes today about More Space, the book he co-authored with eight other bloggers.

Rob's chapter is a great polemic and rousing stuff. I think some of us bloggers have learnt to tone down our rhetoric so as not to alarm the uninitiated - and it's fun to be reminded of the idealism that actually motivates some of us to keep this up.

Rob is Robert Patterson, the Principal of Renewal Consulting Group. He lives on Prince Edward Island on the fringes of the old economy and at the edge of the new. Like Johnnie Moore, Patterson is an Oxford graduate.

Here is a selection from Patterson's chapter, available on the More Space site.

Knowledge is more than facts; it is about understanding and participation. Google enables you to find the best person and the best conversation. This is what is behind the marketing revolution. This is what is behind the impending revolution in education and health. Conversation is also the force behind the generation of a new community.

Google provides the connective tissue that will make important conversations and communities the paramount places of informed power in the world and will put dogma back into the waste bin of history.

At the center of conversation is the blog.

At the heart of the blog is the authentic voice. The product of the authentic voice is community. The end game of community is identity. Identity is the answer of the greatest question that any human can ask: “Who am I?”

It is also a generative space in which we can give birth to our lost voice. As we find our voice, we begin to wake up. We start to become human again.

How does the blog awaken us? This open space invites us to speak in public. Hesitant, at first we speak the old way. But now and then the occasional real voice pops out. As it does, others notice and drop by and encourage us. Encouraged, we use our real voice more often.

Community begins to form. This is not about the communities of A-list bloggers with thousands of readers. This is about having a small group of fifteen or thirty strong connections with an inner circle of five to eight. These are magic numbers. They are the core numbers of our ancient tribal hunter-gatherer past. It should be no surprise that we become most human again in the context that we are designed to be most comfortable in, the tribe.

I know what Patterson means. Our tribal core of supporters makes a big difference. It might be nice to think we can affect the masses with our ideas, but the fact that we do reach a core community helps drive this project forward day-to-day.