Catharine P. Taylor points us to this salacious story in BusinessWeek:

The former creative director of the U.S. arm of Japan's largest advertising agency sued the company Wednesday, saying he was duped into visiting a brothel and pressured to engage in other sexually explicit activities on company outings across the world and then was fired after he complained.

In a lawsuit seeking unspecified damages filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Steve Biegel said he and other company employees were put in awkward, sexually charged situations by Toyo Shigeta, the chief executive officer of Dentsu Holdings USA.

Biegel complains that he was forced as a condition of his employment to go to a brothel, where Shigeta demanded that he participate in prostitution and became angry when he did not, accusing him of being "no fun."

He also says Shigeta made him get naked and join him in a hot tub and that the man has a predilection for taking crotch shots, including one of tennis star Maria Sharapova, which he later passed around to colleagues.

From the funny because it is true category, Make My Logo Bigger Cream, a viral from Agency Fusion.

L.A. Times is reporting on a looming strike by 12,000 members of Writers Guild of America, the union representing writers in the motion picture, broadcast, cable and new media.

Writers maintain they were shortchanged years ago, when they agreed to a discounted pay formula for home video sales, only to see that business flourish. They currently receive about 5 cents for every DVD sold. And they're determined not to make the same mistake again, now that entertainment is undergoing another transformation, this one on the Internet.

They are seeking to double the current residual rate for home video sales and get higher rates for films and TV shows that are sold online, as well as residual payments for shows streamed for free over the Web.

Studios say the demands are economically untenable.

The two sides also have squared off over reality TV. The Writers Guild wants members who work on so-called unscripted shows to have union benefits just like their peers.

Producers have argued that writers for reality TV aren't writers in the conventional sense and claim the union has no jurisdiction.

As a writer, I can sympathize. Those of us who toil in Adlandia receive zero residuals for the work we do; yet the work we do makes brands and agency principals rich.

Maybe it's time we form a union.

W+K hosted an event last week called Ignite Portland. A bunch of people stood up and spoke for five minutes on a variety of topics. I selected the one above because Keith Gerr looks as interesting as he sounds. When he's not appearing on YouTube, he's running Kemo Active, a brand actualization and invigoration consultancy.

Stuart Elliot took an interest in the consumer generated ad for Apple that led the brand's agency to do a broadcast quality remake. (The original verison is shown above.)

“I was sitting on the bus and I got this e-mail on my phone,” Nick Haley, a native of Warwick, England, said in an interview last week from the University of Leeds, where he is a “fresher,” or first-year student.

The message said, “‘We represent Apple and we’ve seen what you have produced and we’d like a chat with you,’” Mr. Haley recalled, adding: “This seemed ridiculous and far-fetched. My initial reaction was, someone wanted to steal it.”

He was soon persuaded that the message was real and traveled to Los Angeles in October to work on a broadcast-ready version of his spot with creative executives at TBWA/Chiat/Day, part of the TBWA Worldwide division of the Omnicom Group.

Haley, who is studying politics at Leeds. said, “My input was totally respected,” and the experience was “overwhelming, surreal and fantastic."

The report says Haley was paid for his contribution, given a Mac Book Pro and that Apple will help offset some of his education expenses.

The film 10 MPH chronicles the story of two friends and aspiring filmmakers that ditch soul-sucking cubicle jobs to claim a more fulfilling life by making a film about a cross-country journey by Segway.

The filmmakers--Josh Caldwell and Hunter Weeks--are DIY all the way. So it makes sense that they've decided to open up their distribution channel to the Radiohead "pay what you want" model. I just sent the pair $5.00 via PayPal for a download of the film.

I was wondering if Segway offered any financial assistance along the way. According to the filmmakers' DIY manual, it took three years to garner the manufacturer's support.

They gave us a Segway to give away and jumped on to co-develop a 'Do Your Thing' blog and summer giveaway promo. The giveaway was a huge success and helped generate thousands of leads into our database, which we can develop relationships with as we release future films.

That's nice, but a smart brand manager might consider this documentary a content delivery mechanism for the Segway brand, and move to provide more direct and substantial financial support. Even now, there's room for the brand to show this film at trade shows, on their website or support a nationwide tour of art house cinemas.

London consultancy, Joined Up Company has been making short films featuring British brand and agency big wigs like John Hegarty, Hugh Burkitt, Sean Gogarty, Charles Vallance and others.

New York Times Magazine writer, Rob Walker, points to a post by Wired editor, Chris Anderson, that unloads on people for him sending unwanted solicitations via email.

I've had it. I get more than 300 emails a day and my problem isn't spam, it's PR people. Lazy flacks send press releases to the Editor in Chief of Wired because they can't be bothered to find out who on my staff, if anyone, might actually be interested in what they're pitching. Fact: I am an actual person, not a team assigned to read press releases and distribute them to the right editors and writers.

Anderson then lists all the people who sent him something inappropriate at some point in the past 30 days. Ouch.

I must say, I can relate. And I just love it when people send me their pitches but address them to Matt. It happens all the time.

”Creative kids used to start bands. They’re starting brands now.” -Rob Walker

Polygamous Wedding, the innaugural one-day "connection planning" conference that went off last month in New Orleans is now offering some of the presentations on their blog. The offering above is from Robbie Vitrano, principal of New Orleans' agency, Trumpet.

The presentation I'm nost interested in learning more about is from Rob Walker of The New York Times Magazine. Word is he tapped a 1939 Harvard Business Review article that presents many of the same issues we're grappling with today. I have an email in to Rob to find out more about it.

Jack Paar and Ed Sullivan used to pitch their favorite cigarette midshow. Now Ellen's doing it.

DeGeneres, on Friday pitched the hybrid gas/electric version of Toyota's Highlander SUV during her daytime television series, resurrecting a ritual from the golden age of television.

In the 30-second retro "spot," she compared features of the 2008 Toyota Highlander Hybrid to elements of her own show.

In addition to being broadcast on the show, the commercial will be featured on YouTube and on her show's site, Ellentv.com.

Ellen--a Prius driver--approached Toyota about the deal.

[via Media Post's Marketing Daily]

Courtesy of the beautifully twisted minds at Words & Pictures.

The New York Times reports on NBC's Green Week, now underway.

With all the greenwashing going on, the paper brings a cool eye to the effort, but gives NBC room to explain.

“For a very cynical world, this is a very earnest effort,” said Lauren Zalaznick, the president of Bravo Media and head of the NBC Universal Green Council. “We have to leave our world more sustainable than it is right now. If we can use our power as media to do that, and take a whole lot of consumers along for the ride, why wouldn’t we?”

"Taking consumers along for the ride" seems backwards to me and a poor choice of words.

Scott Karp has an interesting (as always) take on the Gray Lady's move to aggregate content not their own.

NYTimes.com wasn’t the first traditional media brand to aggregate third-party content — and it certainly won’t be the last. But the New York Times, once considered the national newspaper of record, represented one of the last bastions of the traditional media approach to content, i.e. we produce it ALL ourselves.

But in a networked media world, where news consumers have access to EVERY piece of content produced by EVERY news outlet large and small (and with high quality news outlets proliferating on the web), media is undergoing a seismic shift — it’s no longer strictly about producing and distributing your OWN content.

Media is now about distributing the BEST content — and Times has embraced this new reality.

The paper has thus far limited this activity to its Tech section, but can the other sections be far behind?

Well, even Tina Fey got on the picket line in New York City yesterday, so you know it's serious.

A few years ago, with a looming baseball strike, I wondered what would happen if advertising creatives had a union.

Advertising is a commercial art--just like TV is. But copywriters and art directors don't have a union, generally don't get paid on the level of TV writers, don't have the slightest bit of recourse for job grievances, or get any kind of residuals pertaining to what they do. Hell, there are things I wrote 6 years ago that are still in use, long after I got shitcanned.

So I'd like to know what you think: Do you have any sympathy for Hollywood writers? Are you jealous and wish advertising creatives could unionize?

According to Adweek, Burt's Bees is partnering with the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign to tackle the Colony Collapse Disorder issue (an issue 60 Minutes recently addressed).

The natural personal care comany, which recently agred to be acquired by Clorox, addresses the environmental issue in a new public service announcement, online marketing and consumer sampling.

Burt's Bees co-founder Burt Shavitz said, "We believe the bees' survival depends on how we manage and protect our world. Burt's Bees is funding research to help find a solution and you can help too. Support your local organic farmer. Plant a seed. Make a healthy place for the bees to live."

According to Rocky Mountain News, Centex Homes and the Denver Newspaper Agency have screwed up a promotion and caused a family that won a new home great sadness.

The article does a poor job of explaining the details of how the promotion went wrong. Apparently finalists in the contest were given a key to the home and more than one key fit the door.

The promotion's official rules stated that in the event of a "malfunction," a random drawing would determine the outcome. That secondary drawing has now taken place and a different winner has been announced.

"Who gives you a house, a brand new house, and then takes it away from you?" Veronica Baca said. "It's unbelievable."

[via Romenesko]

[UPDATE] ABC's Denver affiliate also has the story with a few more details, but no clarification as to how the error occurred.

The U.S. dollar is in trouble. And people with money know it.

According to Bloomberg, the dollar has lost 34 percent of its value since 2001 and investors say it will weaken further as home sales fall and the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates.

The dollar plummeted to its lowest ever last week against the euro, Canadian dollar and Chinese yuan. It is also the cheapest in 26 years against the British pound. Which is why Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen wants to be paid in euros, or any currency other than the dollar.

When Bundchen, 27, signed a contract in August to represent Pantene hair products for Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble Co., she demanded payment in euros. "Contracts starting now are more attractive in euros because we don't know what will happen to the dollar,'' Patricia Bundchen, the model's twin sister and manager said.

Many agencies desire a fast food account. It's a good way to fatten up their bank accounts. Of course, consumers also put on weight when desire for fast food is manufactured.

According to A Calorie Counter, the QSR category is peddling a dangerous product—trans fat—in frightening quantities.

The writer looked over the nutrition facts of literally every single item from the menus of McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, A&W, Arby's, Hardee's, In-N-Out Burger, Jack in the Box, Little Caesars, Papa John's, Pizza Hut, Domino's, Sonic, Subway, Taco Bell, Wendy's, White Castle, Popeyes, Del Taco, Carl's Jr., and Dairy Queen to put together a list of the 88 fast food items highest in trans fat.

Jack in the Box tops the list with 24 items in the top 88. BK and White Castle aren't far behind with 16 items each.

Reflections of a Newsosaur shares some bad news for the newspaper biz.

An ongoing decline in Sunday readership, if unabated, could have a disproportionately greater impact on the already weakened economics of newspapers than a corresponding reduction in daily sales. That’s because Sunday sales historically have generated half of the advertising revenues at most newspapers.

I often ask myself what the world is coming to, but rarely do I find suitable answers to my rhetorical questions.

The Sunday paper I receive in my driveway recently shrunk the size of their pages to save money, and I don't like the change much. I hold it and I know it's a diminished product, and that's not the tactile sensation I'm looking for at 10:00 am on Sunday.

According to The Wall Street Journal, American firms seeking large piles of cash in China are faced with more than day-to-day business challenges. They're faced with tough moral choices.

An unusually dramatic congressional hearing on Yahoo Inc.'s role in the imprisonment of at least two dissidents in China exposed the company to withering criticism and underscored the risks for Western companies seeking to expand there.

"While technologically and financially you are giants, morally you are pygmies," Rep. Tom Lantos (D., Calif.), who called the hearing on Capitol Hill, told Yahoo's co-founder and Chief Executive Jerry Yang and General Counsel Michael Callahan.

Mr. Yang apologized to the mother of journalist Shi Tao, who was jailed after Yahoo China, then a unit of the company, handed information about him to Chinese authorities in 2004. She was at the hearing, sitting directly behind Messrs. Callahan and Yang. Addressing the families of the dissidents, Mr. Yang said: "I want to say we are committed to doing what we can to secure their freedom. And I want to personally apologize for what they are going through."

Great. Buy them out of jail then.

Me channeling Mark Zuckerberg: Hey, I know, instead of brands pitching products, let's get regular people to do it for them. You know, it'll be like word-of-mouth on crank.

According to stories in Ad Age and The New York Times, Facebook's CEO told a group of clients and press gathered in New York yesterday that his firm will "help you create some of the best ad campaigns you've ever built."

Zuckerberg spoke in grand terms about of the death of mass advertising and said that in the future, ad messages would increasingly be conveyed from friend to friend through online networks.

Facebook is also letting advertisers set up their own profile pages at no charge and encouraging companies like Blockbuster, Condé Nast and Coca-Cola to share information with Facebook about the actions of Facebook members on their sites.

When asked about people who might not like ads, Mr. Zuckerberg shrugged and said, “I mean, it’s an ad-supported business.”

[UPDATE] For some brilliant commentary on this development, click over to Rough Type. Here's a quick sample of Nicholas Carr's bite:

It's a nifty system: First you get your users to entrust their personal data to you, and then you not only sell that data to advertisers but you get the users to be the vector for the ads. And what do the users get in return? An animated Sprite Sips character to interact with.

Good writers detest puns. But that hasn't done a thing to deter businesses from deploying them.

The latest entry comes to us from Las Vegas, where Sexxpresso is now serving up some hot coffee.

For more on this emerging trend, see this news segment from Seattle.

"If you will look, by and large, at the present-day practice of any profession you will see a sordid picture. Absolutely a sordid picture." -Frank Lloyd Wright, speaking in Biloxi, MS in 1949

Few creative professionals in any field fought as long and as hard to maintain their particular vision as did Frank Lloyd Wright. It's amazing what the man achieved in his 92 years on earth, and also amazing what he endured. His career and his life had some vicious downturns of the sort that would put an average mortal out to pasture.

How did he stay focussed on his mission? Some say he was an egomaniac. But the answer is deeper than that. Wright believed that beautiful buildings made people happy and gave them a better life. He believed that the pursuit of beauty was an ethical act.

When I think about my own battles in my chosen profession and how I've been willing to compromise, I realize that advertising, unlike architecture, is far from a sacred practice (or one worth falling on the sword for). Although, it could be more sacred than it is. Writing, on the other hand, is like architecture. It is worth fighting for against any and all odds. I guess that's why I'm more excited about the words I place here than I am about any ads I've made.

This month, the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta will host folks like Ani DiFranco, Shawn Mullins, and Suzanne Vega. But last night, it hosted Alex Bogusky, in an Atlanta Ad Club Event.

Going in, I thought this would only perpetuate the dude's so-called "rock star" image. (I've always said there are no rock stars in advertising.) But it turned out to be a nice, informative evening. The whole thing was set up like an "Inside The Actors Studio" episode, with Patrick Scullin of Ames Scullin O'Haire as the host.

Alex talked, showed a few case studies, and took questions. He's sharp, dryly sarcastic but fairly mellow as a speaker. He didn't turn Whoppers into wine or drop the secret to the universe. But he did talk about the CP+B process and how he, along with Chuck Porter, took a small shop and turned it into what it is through trial and error.

I can't summarize everything he said, and I'm sure he's said it at other places, but basically, CP+B likes ideas that can turn into PR opportunities, even to the point that creatives pitch ideas in the form of press releases. They look to hire people that have talent but have been ground down by other mediocre agencies (hey, maybe I have a chance). They keep their AEs very involved, and AEs are critical to any account's success but don't let them kill work.

If there's a lesson here, it's that great agencies reflect their leaders. Seems to me Alex didn't have a master plan, he just knew the kind of agency he wanted to lead and the kind of work he wanted to do. So if you interview at a place that wants to become the "next Crispin," forget it. You can't replicate their culture.

All in all, it was an evening well spent. A good reminder that the people at the top of the agency set the tone for everything that goes on at the agency, which is something to always keep in mind.

Typically it's unwise for a category leader to respond to an attack ad. But Anheuser-Busch has done so in a refreshing way, turning that age-old advise on its head.

After a new Miller spot that depicts A-B's Dalmatian jumping ship when it sees a Miller Lite truck, Budweiser responded with a full-page ad on the back of USA Today's sports section.

Their headline: Keep up the bad work, Miller Beer. It's getting a lot of good things done.

The body copy: Apparently, Miller Beer believes they have to say negative things about our brands to sell their beer. At Budweiser, we're positive there's a better way of doing things. In fact, we're committed to creating something positive out of their recent negative advertising.

A-B goes on to say they're making donations to a number of animal rescue groups across America.

[via Ad Age]

Tangerine Toad believes that sites like Facebook promote an "unnatural degree of intimacy." I'm inclined to agree with him.

So there’s an art director I work with who asked to “friend” me on Facebook.

Now this art director seems like a nice enough guy, his office is not far from mine and I say hello to him in the hallway. But honestly, friends, all I know about him is his name and the state he hails from (long, not-very-interesting story). I don’t know what accounts he works on, who his friends are, where he’s worked previously: none of that.

But now, due to Facebook, which he is quite active about updating regularly, I know all sorts of things about him.

Personally, I resisted joining MySpace and Facebook as long as I could. I finally caved because my job requires that I stay up on things. In other words, it's pretty lame to plan a soc net strategy for a client, when you are not active in the community. So, I'm a member of both now. As such, I've wasted untold hours tending to my profiles. And I continue to be distracted by email alerts telling me I have an email, not in my inbox where it should be, but on Facebook.

So clearly, I have my own problems with Facebook. But what about Toad's intimacy issue? On the surface, it seems simple enough—delete one's profile so it's a non-issue. Or keep the profile going for whatever reason, and then as requests come in, say. "I'm glad you want to be my friend, let's go to lunch." Or in the case of a long-distance friendship, say, "Let's talk on the phone."

Of course, it's not really that simple. For these friend requests don't equate to actual friendships. Rather such a request means, "Let's be virtual friends." There's something maddening about that.

[via Scamp]

If you're gonna play the soc net game, you need to score high. You know, like Tila Tequila. Numbers matter!

Which is why we need to thank Catharine P. Taylor for keeping score. Despite the fact that Facebook turned her away from their big press conference this week, the lady's a pro and pros keep score.

Facebook wouldn't let me into its press conference about the reinvention of advertising, but I remain undaunted. Therefore, I'm debuting, the first, and maybe last, edition of the Facebook advertiser fans scoreboard, in which we see which advertiser—among those who have already built a profile page on the site—has gotten the most fans. (Advertisers don't get friends on Facebook like the rest of us, apparently. They get fans.)

She names the New York Times the winner in her contest. But is there really a winner in this kind of ponzi scheme?

Paste Magazine—a media brand I have a ton of respect for—just asked me to be their "fan" on Facebook. The very thought of it upsets my stomach. I'm already a fan of the mag in REAL FUCKING LIFE.

It appears that Truemors may have a scoop.

Customers attempting to activate their new Apple iPhones have been receiving “Activations are disabled at this time” errors due to a failed daylight savings patch at AT&T. Apple has deleted forum threads on the activation issues and there have been no reports of the issue in media or web news sites.

Buckley's not only makes coughs disappear, it makes MySpace layouts better. I kid you not.

Do you know Schematic's Trevor Kaufman? AT&T does. They awarded their $2 billion dollar account to WPP based upon his pitch, according to The Wall Street Journal.

AT&T spokesman Michael Coe says the telecom company was impressed by the Internet capabilities of the WPP team. "That's an important channel for us."

WPP aims to sell Schematic's expertise in video and entertainment to its existing clients, which include many of the world's largest advertisers, such as Unilever, Procter & Gamble and Ford Motor.

"The next big thing on the Internet is going to be video and that's going to become more attractive to our traditional clients," says Mark Read, chief executive of WPP Digital and WPP's director of strategy.

Within WPP there was squabbling as executives from several of the company's big ad agencies argued that Schematic should be folded into their digital operations, according to people familiar with the negotiations. But WPP Chief Executive Martin Sorrell decided to make Schematic part of WPP Digital, an umbrella group for its technology firms, Mr. Kaufman says.

Chris Albrecht at NewTeeVee calls the above episode of Roommates a bad commercial.

We’ve talked before about what role product placement should play in web video, and how web video is turning into a shill game. But this makes the massive product placement in Kate Modern look like PBS.

I’m no hippie. I get and appreciate commerce. Independent producers want to make web shows, but have no money. Brands have lots of money and want to connect with today’s hip, young audiences. Today’s hip audiences hate pre-roll ads, so advertisers must find other ways to get their message out. Which brings us back to the independent producer who will gladly take the brand’s money.

Speaking of shill games, Ad Age has a piece on Droga 5's Honeyshed.

It's not an e-commerce site, but it does aim to facilitate online shopping on behalf of multiple marketers by offering a curated hub of brand information and culture. "Everyone is scrambling to do branded content, but for the most part, there is no real home for it," Droga says. "The strategy has mainly been to create entertaining content and then seed it, put it on YouTube or elsewhere. So content is king, but the king didn't really have throne. Our idea was to have a site where you could be overt about the brand. The site gets at the entertainment value and the sociability of shopping."

Great, but being "overt about the brand" is not content, it's advertising. So content isn't king in Honeyshed land, advertising is.

According to Ad Age, IPG is looking to connect with consumers in new ways.

Former Ogilvy & Mather design guru Brian Collins is joining Interpublic Group of Cos., where he'll run a stand-alone unit focused on making consumers' experiences with products a more primary part of the marketing mix.

The New York-based firm, called Collins, so far has five employees on board and is looking to have a full complement of 15-20 staffers by the end of the year, primarily from new-media and design backgrounds.

"Design always comes last. I want to flip that equation on its head and place design, and people's real experiences, at the start of everything," Mr. Collins said. "Having design thinking sit at the center of a company rather than traditional advertising really is a better model for the future."

Agreed.

In a Fast Company article from 2005, Bill Gray, president of Ogilvy & Mather New York, said, "Brian's group deconstructs the visual presence of the brand and re-creates it. More often, you don't know what will come out: street art, Web sites, a store, events."

Inverted agency pyramids. The fall of TV's from the kingpin position. A challenge to Madison Avenue smugness from all directions, including from within.

Good times.

A few days ago on this blog, Frank Lloyd Wright was honored for his high principles and artistic tenacity. For similiar reasons we honor the passing of Norman Mailer, the last Great American Writer, who died November 10 of kidney failure. From the New Yorker:

He was a slugger. He swung at everything, and when he missed he missed by a mile and sometimes ended up on his tush, but when he connected he usually knocked it out of the park.

Publicis Chairman and CEO Maurice Levy called Microsoft's $240 million dollar investment in Facebook "insane."

He also he termed the investment "unbalanced" relative to the potential advertising value of the social media marketplace.

He said the "bloom" was off the "Myspace rose," and that the exuberance driving investments in online social networks has yet to be proven by practical advertising models.

[via Media Daily News]

Dennis Ryerson of the Indy Star doesn't like to see newspaper copy used in political ads. He believes there's an implied endoresement there that doesn't exist, so it's misleading.

Newspapers such as The Star have worked hard to remain an independent voice, not tied to any special interest. It's hard to convince some people of that when our words are picked up and used in partisan campaigns.

It is an unsavory practice.

Adweek spoke with Richard Kirshenbaum, 46, about his agency and other pertinent matters.

On why he's Cheif Creative Officer and Co-Chair:

I developed something called the Baskin-Robbins approach to creative directing. Instead of one cd who is expected to oversee everything, I have a number of senior-level cd's who are different flavors. It's a much more entrepreneurial model. Someone working on a beauty business account is very different from someone working on the Mohegan Sun account or financial business like Edward Jones. We like to match up creative talent with personal interests and passions. Those things go into who is running a specific piece of business.

On dressing the part:

Invest in a really good pair of shoes and a good haircut. Some creative people play at being creative and look like they rolled out of bed. We're still in a client-service business. You have to put yourself together.

American Society of Magazine Editors selected the April 9th issue of The New Yorker as the Best News Cover of the Year.

It is a powerful image.

[via Bad Banana Blog]

Creating great marketing is a lot like theater and performing - it's all about small ensemble teams improvising around customer insight. -Jeff Flemings

Self-promo is tough to get right, as is its kissin' cousin, recruitment advertising. But the above effort works pretty well. Of course, I've always had a weak spot for band metaphors.

Well, David's been carrying the load the last few days...like he does pretty much all the time. I spent the weekend filming and editing a video for a local charity that resettles refugees who come to America without a penny. Which promptly made me glad to be born in this country and makes day-to-day advertising stuff look like pretty minor shit.

iMovie is pretty frickin' cool, I have to say.

I'll be posting more soon...

The Return of the Flying Pigs, "a story only the Philadelphia Inquirer could tell," is now showing in the City of Brotherly Love.

It's a tale of an ad man transformed into a newspaper man, and making a go of it against a strong tide pulling papers out to sea.

“The industry needs to proudly assert itself and talk about its strengths,” Brian P. Tierney,