June 1, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

In today's installment of "Consumed," New York Times Magazine writer Rob Walker shines a light on FIJI Water's attempt to paint itself green. It's not an easy task for a company that ships a heavy product in plastic containers many thousands of miles to market.

“Any time you see negative stories in the press, you have to figure out how to respond,” says Rob Six, FIJI Water’s vice president for corporate communications.

One response is to launch a site called FIJI Green, complete with a blog where fundamental tenets of ecological thinking are challenged head on.

We here at FIJI Water hear a lot of complaints about “food miles,” ours in particular. The concept is that the longer your food travels, the worse it is for the environment.

We think this is a load of hooey…and so do scientists who have studied lifecycle carbon footprints. The key word here is lifecycle - how a product is developed or packaged, what the transport mode is, and other factors can have a far greater impact for better or worse than the mere distance traveled.

People commenting on this post take FIJI Water to task. Luizhou says, "Fiji Water’s attempts to project a green image is nothing short of hilarious." But it looks like FIJI Water is getting the last laugh. Their sales volume was up 30 percent in 2007, and the company says the brand is experiencing double-digit growth this year.

June 2, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Ian Schafer, CEO of Deep Focus points out that Avenue A has no business claiming legal rights to the term "social influence marketing."

Brian Morrissey of Adweek, in response to this says, "i must TM 'digitalia' before someone else gets to it."

June 2, 2008 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 1 Comments

I don't remember if I ever bought anything at a Sharper Image, but I won't have much time left to do it. 'Cause they're going out of business:

Store closing sales have just begun at all 86 Sharper Image® stores as part of a major transformation of the Sharper Image brand. Over $50 million of inventory is being sold.

Discounts of 20% to 40% are now being offered on all merchandise in all stores. Consumers will be able to take advantage of deep discounts and important savings on electronics and toys as well as products for the home, personal care, the office and travel.

Will you miss Sharper Image? Will anyone? Are there retail brands that are gone now that you miss?

June 2, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

According to The New York Times, Discovery will introduce Planet Green on Wednesday, a new cable brand promoted as the first 24-hour channel dedicated to eco-friendly living.

“This is an eco-tainment channel,” said Eileen O’Neill, the general manager of Planet Green. “It’s a lifestyle and entertainment channel that’s designed to activate people in the green space.”

It is also intended to engage advertisers, many of whom have green-themed marketing messages to share with viewers.

But some of Planet Green’s advertisers could raise eyebrows. For instance, General Motors, maker of the Hummer, is the “exclusive automobile sponsor” of the channel.

Gawker, for one, isn't overly excited by the prospect.

The standard assumption is that his network signals a further mainstreaming of environmentalism, and therefore will somehow be good for the environment. This assumption is incorrect. Rather, it signals that environmentalism—a brand of activism that actually means something—has been transformed into "green," a vague lifestyle term that means nothing.

I too share some of Gawker's doubts. At the same time, eco-consciousness needs to become mainstream if there's any hope of making progress on the myriad issues facing humankind. If a cable channel can assist in this effort, I'm for it.

June 2, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Ian Schafer has figured out a way to monetize his Twitter feed.

He's conducting an eBay auction, where the winning bidder will be allowed to co-opt the background on his Twitter page and turn it into ad space.

This one-month sponsorship includes replacing of the existing background image with the image(s) of your choice, as well as replacement of my handsome photo with another image of your choice (ie. brand logo).

I average about 8-10 outbound ‘tweets’ a day, and your brand would be represented in each.

The current bid is $405.

The amount paid by the winning bidder will go as a donation to The David Wright Foundation.

June 2, 2008 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 0 Comments

This seems like forever ago...

From the AP: Rock pioneer Bo Diddley dies at age 79.

June 2, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Boulder's tda advertising & design is helping 1% For the Planet get the word out.

Members of 1% For the Planet donate 1% of their sales to a network of 1500-plus environmental groups worldwide.

It may be an oversite, but I don't see tda in the list of members. BTW, I just sent an email to the group to inquire if AdPulp might become a media partner, which means we'd run their ads and offer discounted rates to their members.

June 3, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 6 Comments

Fusebox, a brand communications studio in Lincoln, NE doesn't believe in entering its best work in award shows. And believe me, they'd win awards if they did enter.

Learn more about Fusebox principal, Tim Siedell, at Bad Banana Blog or via his Twitter feed.

June 3, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Ad Age released its list of 2008 Women to Watch in advertising, marketing and media.

Two of the women I took note of are Karen Kaplan and Pam Hamlin, president of Hill Holiday and Arnold, respectively.

Kaplan's rise is particularly noteworthy.

In an industry where shop hopping is the norm, Karen Kaplan has ascended from receptionist to agency president in the past 26 years all under the same roof. To boot, she lives in the same ZIP code where she grew up, in North Boston, with her husband of 25 years, a son and a daughter.

She joined Hill Holliday in 1982 with a B.A. in French literature from the University of Massachusetts. "The year that I spent on the reception desk proved to be very useful, because it was the perfect place to study people and figure out what I wanted to do next," she says.

"She truly did it the old-fashioned way: She earned it," says Jack Connors, chairman emeritus of Hill Holliday and Ms. Kaplan's former boss.

June 3, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

FedEx Corp. plans to stop using the Kinko's name on its copy and office service stores.

The company said it will change the name of its FedEx Kinko's stores to FedEx Office over the next several years.

"The FedEx Office name better describes the wide range of services available at its retail centers and takes full advantage of the FedEx brand long recognized for excellent customer service, quality and reliability," says spokesman Jess Bunn.

[via Associated Press]

June 3, 2008 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 3 Comments

I just came across Creative Director George Tannenbaum's blog Ad Aged and there are some interesting thoughts there. Like this, The Advertiser's Bill of Rights. Of course, it's not exactly written from an advertiser's point of view, or let's just say a client would never write it like this:

1. You have the right to be spared the expense and time in having us attend endless meetings with people who can only say no. You have the right to have us present only to top decision-makers and take direction, in person, only from them.

2. You have the right to hear the word "no." No is harder to say than yes and more important. It is not necessarily what you want to hear. But it's often what you need to hear. In other words, and perhaps more precisely, we will be unfailingly, unflinchingly honest with you.

3. You have the right to disavow anything cheap. Cheap brands do cheap work. You are not a cheap brand, we will spare you from the temptation of cheap by simply refusing to comply.

There's more. It's worth a read.

June 3, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

I'm on a mission to stop environmental groups that I support from sending me direct mail. To that end, I've emailed both NRDC and Greenpeace about it. Thus far, neither group has responded. The sad thing is I won't give them any more money, until this is worked out.

June 4, 2008 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 3 Comments

My first reaction to this story is that if anything could kill off interactive marketing, it'd be this:

Some customers of Time Warner Cable in Beaumont, Texas, may soon end up paying more for their Internet access than other customers.

In a test of metered Internet access that's set to begin Thursday, subscribers who go over their limit for uploading and downloading material will be charged $1 per gigabyte, according to an Associated Press story, citing a Time Warner Cable executive.

The trial run for the metered Web use was expected. The company had said in January that it would test the new pricing model in Beaumont as a way to limit the use of peer-to-peer applications on its network. Cable companies and P2P services have long clashed over bandwidth demands, especially for the transfer of large video files.

The tiered pricing will work this way, for the Internet portion of subscription packages that also include phone or video use: At the low end, users will pay $29.95 per month for service at a speed of 768 kilobits per second, with a 5GB monthly cap. At the high end, users will pay $54.90 per month for service at 15 megabits per second, with a 40GB cap.

Web 2.0 applications and rich media websites are big suckers of space, speed, and downloading time. I get frustrated with any slow-loading site, and if it takes too long or needs to refresh, I'm outta there.

If the big ISPs go to metered or tiered pricing, the ad industry will need to react fast. Who would want to download extraneous marketing stuff if the meter's running? Is this as big as a potential trouble spot as I think it might be?

June 4, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

I recall a number of years ago a prospective student crawled into a wooden crate and had himself delivered to Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. Art Center didn't appreciate the stunt, but another, less prestigious art school did. They offered the guy admission.

Now, Adfreak points us to Mike Cessario, an Art Center student with an out of the box idea. He's selling ad space in his portfolio.

He's pitching photographers primarily.

June 4, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 3 Comments

Brad Kay and Adweek's Brian Morrissey have been IMing.

Turns out Morrissey isn't wild about PR practitioners.

I’m a reporter. If I had my druthers, I’d never deal with PR people. Nothing against them. I’m sure the vast majority are great people. PR, like the ad world, is still all about ‘impressions.’ That leads to spray and pray. The other half of PR is controlling access. Both parts of it inevitably rub me the wrong way. The best PR is the PR I don’t notice – the ones who make a connection and then stop trying to act like a middleman to “add value.” PR people don’t like to hear this, I know. Not all of them are like this, but trust me so many are. I’m amazed how many PR people there are. There must be hundreds of different ones that contact me. It seems like as media shrinks PR grows.

Thankfully, he does appreciate bloggers.

John Battelle, David Armano, Noah Brier, Umair Haque, Fred Wilson, John Furrier, Techcrunch. Among just ad blogs, agency spy was awesome until SuperSpy left. I enjoy AdPulp too.

Thanks for the vote of confidence (that sounds like an afterthought), Brian.

As for the PR peeps, I'd like to relay one of my own pet peeves. I regularly receive pitches addressed to Matt and Danny. But I'm not Matt, nor Danny. I'm David. Just to be clear, I receive the exact same email three times over, all three of which I immediately mark as spam.

[via Tangerine Toad's tweet]

June 4, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

[courtesy of Tom Fishburne]

June 4, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

How cathy catchy is this song?

June 4, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

I thought you had to be a septuagenarian to enter anyone's Hall of Fame. Guess not.

June 4, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 9 Comments

There's evil in our midst. An evil I, and most of my peers in this business, know all too well.

Compromise is the way of the world, and totally unavoidable in many circumstances. Begrudingly, I’ve learned to accept this fact of life. But I also know what a destructive force it can become. If you let it, compromise will eat you alive, cell-by-cell until there’s no you left, just a vacant shell that looks like you.

In the political arena, Bill Clinton gave compromise a decent name. He had to get things done, one way or another. So he moved his party to a centrist position in an already stifling corporate atmosphere. The nation may, or may not, recover from his practical approach.

On the environmental front, compromise leads to all sorts of compound problems. For instance, otherwise sane people are currently arguing for more nuclear power and the use of clean coal (an oxymoron, if there ever was one). I don’t believe we can stand much more compromise when it comes to the health of our planet.

In the ad industry, where client-service--not content, nor concept--is king, we eat compromise for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And snack on it too. We are so full of compromise that it’s no longer separate from us, it is us.

So what’s the solution? The best answer is don't do it. Don't compromise. Stick to your guns at all costs, even if it means pissing people off and being labeled "hard to work with." I've been stuck with that label from the beginning of my ad career and I don't imagine it's going to vanish anytime soon. Not because I like the label. I don't. But I live with it because it's better than the self-inflicted punishment that comes with compromise.

Fact is, I need to take my own advice, for I compromise way more often than I'm comfortable with. Which is what leads me to air this out in a post. I don't want to lose my creative soul to this business. I don't want to diminish my vision or sacrifice the work, just because that's the path of least resistance. I feel weak when that happens. And I don't want to feel that way.

I’d love to hear from you on this. What have you compromised in order to make a paycheck? And what do you do to rid the toxic residue from your psyche?

June 5, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

According to The Wall Street Journal, Washington Post's hyperlocal play, Loudoun Extra, has failed to attract its desired audience.

One reason: the team of outsiders didn't do enough to familiarize itself with Loudoun County or engage its 270,000 residents.

This marks the first stain on Rob Curley's resume. Curley is the newspaper industry's nerd wonder. We took note of his progressive doings a year ago, after Fast Company profiled him.

He now decamps with five colleagues to take on an Internet venture for the Las Vegas Sun. "I was the one who was supposed to know we should be talking to Rotary Club meetings every day," Mr. Curley said. "I dropped the ball. I won't drop it in Vegas, dude."

I'm interested in this story because "hyperlocal" is important to the future of marketing and media. As mass marketing fractures into a million pieces, hyperlocal marketing, enabled by the internet, is here to replace it.

June 5, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

I'm pleased to announce that our friends at Greenville identity shop, Brains On Fire, won a Golf Effie last night for their state of South Carolina anti-tobacco efforts.

Here's a wallpaper from the RAGE AGAINST THE HAZE site:

[via Spike's tweet]

June 5, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

Adweek has been offering a lot of guest columns of late. They're featuring one from freelance copywriter and creative director, Jim Morris, at the moment. He argues that it's tough being a CD today. His main point is CDs are doing their work and the work of hapless account directors.

As I see my creative director clients at agency after agency being stretched and twisted into unnatural positions, it makes me want to slap the fat cats at the top.

For Chrissakes, bigwigs, let 'em create, let 'em lead, let 'em teach and nurture -- but please stop forcing creative directors into suits and making them book their own flights.

In related news, Zeus Jones, refuses to employ account people. Rob White told the daily (ad) biz why.

The job of account people is primarily to manage relationships. We have set up our business to solve business problems on a project by project basis. If we’re successful that will build healthy relationships as a by-product. What this means is that the people responsible for the strategies and ideas have a direct, unimpeded relationship with the clients. Our clients like that. It may not always be the most efficient way to run the business but we like it.

June 5, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

In an animated discussion with Washington Post editors and reporters yesterday, Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer offered his far-ranging views of upcoming changes in technology and the media. Here's a slice:

Q. What is your outlook for the future of media?

A. In the next 10 years, the whole world of media, communications and advertising are going to be turned upside down -- my opinion.

Here are the premises I have. Number one, there will be no media consumption left in 10 years that is not delivered over an IP network. There will be no newspapers, no magazines that are delivered in paper form. Everything gets delivered in an electronic form.

June 5, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

For more, see BraveNation.com.

June 5, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

For more from Planet Green, visit their YouTube page.

June 6, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Michael Eisner, the former Disney chief and current head of Vuguru, speaking in New York yesterday, showed little interest in bringing brands into the development process of his firm's short-form online programming.

"I have never produced anything in my career with an audience in mind," he said.

[People] are saying the internet is made up of 13-year-olds, so gear toward them. But I just don't think you should. I like to make it, then figure out who to reach."

He also had a few choice words for the excessive use of pre-roll and mid-roll ads for short-form content. "You can't put a 30-second spot in front of a 45-second ESPN clip. We like to put our shows together in five- to seven-minute pieces. Pop-ups, overlays, some of that new stuff is interesting, but some of it is offensive."

[via Ad Age]

June 6, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

With gas prices headed north on a daily basis, people are rethinking their summer vacation plans, a fact which makes travel and tourism tough categories to promote right now. According to USA Today, many cities and states are responding with vacation ideas close to one's home.

June 6, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

See more videos at TakeMeFishing.org, a microsite from Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. RBFF's mission is to increase participation in recreational angling and boating and thereby increase public awareness for protecting, conserving and restoring our nation's aquatic resources.

June 6, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Chad Rea is a man of multiple interests and talents. We recently reported on his 86ing 86theonions, in favor of ecopop. He also does public speaking, career coaching, voiceover work, philanthropy work and he directs music videos.

His career coaching business is called Create Your Happy. Rea explains the need for career coaching.

You might be surprised to learn that after working for some of the top creative companies in the world, and starting successful companies of my own, including unconventional brand communications agency 86theonions, that I would be left unfulfilled and feeling like I had becomes someone else.

I don't know Rea, but I'm not surprised. Advertising isn't the most fulfilling of careers, unless one's focus is on doing good things for great companies.

Rea mentions that Debbie Robins, Patricia McDade, Susan James and Tom Knowles, founder of Vedic Meditation Center, have been mentors to him and instrumental in helping him "create his happy."

Rea provides coaching by phone, for those not in the Los Angeles vicinity. You can reach him at thechad at chadrea dot com.

June 6, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 5 Comments

Here's an argument for being a lightweight.

Philadelphia's Derrie-Air is charging customers based on a sliding scale. The more you weigh, the more you pay.

After all, it takes more fuel—more energy—to get more weight from point A to point B. So we will charge passengers based on how much mass they add to the plane. The heavier you and your luggage are, the more trees we'll plant to make up for the trouble of flying you from place to place.

By the way, the Derrie-Air campaign is a fictitious advertising campaign created by Philadelphia Media Holdings to test the results of advertising in our print and online products and to stimulate discussion on a timely environmental topic of interest to all citizens.

Philadelphia Media Holdings--the parent company for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News and Philly.com--is run by former ad man, Brian Tierney.

June 6, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Visit Marketplace for the text version of this audio piece.

June 7, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

In 1894, an industrious Coca-Cola syrup salesmen named James Couden put down his order pad and picked up a paintbrush to create the first-of-its-kind sign.

Today, you can see this this "Main Street, USA" attraction at Young Brothers Pharmacy in the north Georgia town of Cartersville.

According to Not Atlanta, 25 layers of paint were removed during the 1989 restoration to reveal the original design.

June 8, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

We all know how important it is to have an ironic t-shirt or two.

According to The New York Times, even CNN has this trend figured out.

T-shirts as a buzz marketing tool for CNN.com video were the idea of the Barbarian Group, an interactive advertising shop.

June 9, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

According to Ad Age, content producers and the world's most popular video site are working together to become more successful.

Professional content producers -- those who come equipped with their own ad-sales teams -- are now able to sell advertising on their YouTube channels. That includes the click-to-expand overlays that run across the bottoms of YouTube videos and display units on the page that hosts the video player. The revenue is split between the content creator and YouTube, just as it would be if YouTube sold the ads.

YouTube is by far the largest video site, with more than 4 billion videos viewed in March, according to ComScore, but it has not been able to translate that audience into significant dollars. Google CEO Eric Schmidt has said better monetizing of YouTube is priority No. 1 in 2008.

Revision3, the online-video-production company behind shows such as "Diggnation" and "Techzilla," is selling advertising on YouTube, starting with GoDaddy, a sponsor that's regularly integrated into the content of its shows. Many Revision3 shows have integrated sponsors, and the company's CEO, Jim Louderback, said the ability to pair companion YouTube advertising in and around the videos is appealing.

June 9, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Looking for a chateau
Twenty one rooms but one will do
I don't want to buy it
I just want to rent it for an hour or two - Hunter/Garcia

Omnicom will pull creative out of the L.A. branch of BBDO West.

"It's not difficult to have a large office in L.A.," said Andrew Robertson, president and CEO of BBDO Worldwide, New York. "All you have to have is a car account or Apple. However, if you don't have one of those, then you need to decide where to have your West Coast talent center of gravity, in L.A. or San Francisco. We've chosen to concentrate our talent in San Francisco."

BBDO's move is only the latest example of a business trend that is nearly as perplexing and frustrating to locals as why the nation's second-largest city can't field a pro football team. In just two decades, agencies that once dominated L.A.'s advertising landscape have disappeared or diminished significantly. In the last five years, many once-giant network offices along the Wilshire corridor -- JWT, FCB, Grey -- have pulled out entirely or been reduced to shells of their former selves.

[via Adweek]

June 9, 2008 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 0 Comments

Hillary Clinton is known to knock back a cocktail or two. Now with her campaign debts to pay off, Svedka vodka is helping out:

Now that she's officially dropped out of the race, Svedka Vodka today will run a full-page ad in The New York Times offering a coupon that Clinton can redeem for a personal supply of the brand's vodka for the remainder of the election season. In memo form, the ad will thank Clinton for making the primary season so exciting, said a Svedka spokeswoman. It's part of Svedka's "Join the Party," marketing campaign, which parodies the traditional election by trying to elect a fembot named "Svedka_Grl" to the White House.

No word on whether Bill Clinton has hit on Svedka_Grl yet.

June 9, 2008 by Tom Asacker | Permalink | 1 Comments

“Perfection of means and confusion of ends seem to characterize our age.”
- Albert Einstein

We are presently witnessing an unprecedented drive for perfection in the field of marketing. Each and every day a plethora of new emails, articles, case studies and blogs promise to help us optimize everything from search engine rankings and viral video awareness to ad campaign engagement and direct mail response rates. Business books are popping up like weeds in a field (more than twenty new titles each day) expounding on how to be authentic, influence through social networks, create compelling blogs, spread sticky messages, and tell persuasive stories. There’s only one problem: Trying to perfect this growing assortment of marketing means is causing brand confusion, and thus a negative effect on the enterprise ends.

The end, the goal, of any organization, of any brand, is to create customers (or clients, users, members, donors, fans, etc.), and you accomplish that goal by continually innovating to add value to their lives. Everything the organization invests in, and works on, should be laser focused to that end. That may sound ridiculously evident, but I can assure you that it’s not. For example, ZenithOptimedia predicts that worldwide advertising expenditures will grow by a little over 6% this year to a whopping $473 billion! That’s not to say that all advertising is valueless in the eyes of customers. But I can assure you that most of that $473 billion is worse than valueless; it’s a drain on people’s time, attention, and sensibilities.

The Invisible Cognitive Force

So why do they persist? Why do marketers continue to fritter away their organizations’ valuable time, attention and money trying to keep up with, and optimize, activities that most customers find little, if any, value in? And I’m not referring simply to advertising: I’d toss most direct mail, sales calls, brochures, “branding” projects, and pr in the heap as well. What keeps people grounded to their outdated mode of thinking about marketing and branding; thinking that creates nothing but inertia, waste and confusion? I believe that I may have finally figured it out, and it’s so simple that it makes me wonder why I didn’t pick it up sooner.

It became apparent to me during a recent conversation with a passionate, yet utterly confused, executive about what marketing “means” to employ to achieve her particular business “ends.” See if you can pick it up: “So, here’s my most confounding question,” she began. “What message should we create to influence potential customers, and what are the best vehicles to use to deliver that message? What works today?” There it is! Do you see it? It’s staring you right in the face! But, much like fish are unaware of the water in which they live, you’re probably completely unaware of it. It’s as omnipresent and invisible as gravity, and just as powerful in keeping organizations bound to their great big balls of brand confusion.

Last week, AdAge revealed the invisible force in a 1,352-word marketing exhortation by the venerable marketing pundit Al Ries; an article that is all about the strategic imperative of slogans. Here are a few pieces of wisdom from the article: “If you want an effective, long-term rallying cry for your brand, you need a slogan that sticks in the mind. A sticky slogan can live forever.” And, “A sticky slogan is only half the battle. If you want your marketing program to be exceptionally effective, your slogan should contain words consumers can use to pass along your brand's message.” There it is again. Do you see it now?

June 10, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

According to Ad Age, Converse commissioned reclusive Strokes' frontman, Julian Casablancas, to help celebrate the brand's 100th birthday.

The home of Chuck Taylor is hoping a new song, "My Drive Thru," featuring Mr. Casablancas, Pharrell Williams and white-hot indie songstress Santogold, can renew the century-old shoe brand's status as the indie music scene's footwear of choice.

Geoff Cottrill, chief marketing officer for Converse, said "My Drive Thru" ties in comfortably with Converse's heritage of aligning with the independent minded. "We call them optimistic rebels," he said. "They're the core of what our brand stands for -- being an advocate and catalyst for creativity. ... We wanted these guys to come together, create a piece of music and share it with anyone who wanted it."

Added Mike Byrne, executive creative director for Anomaly, Converse's creative agency of record, "I think by having Pharrell produce the track, we knew we would get something that wasn't hip-hop or pop or rock. This year is the Converse century, and we're definitely celebrating our heritage of challenging the status quo in art, sports and fashion. It was a nice ode to all the people who helped build this brand."

Unfortunately, I can't locate the song on the Converse site. However, Stereogum is taking care of business.

June 10, 2008 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 5 Comments

WPP has yet another new name for its new agency created to handle Dell.

Here's the official press release.

WPP, one of the world's leading communications services groups, today announced that Project Da Vinci, the global marketing services firm being built with Dell Inc. as its first client, has a new permanent name and identity: Enfatico. In musical notation, Enfatico (pronounced en-FAH-ti-co) means play each note “with emphasis” or “emphatically.”

“As a next generation agency with a diverse mix of marketing services and talent – all uniquely orchestrated to drive value for Dell and future clients – we believe Enfatico effectively captures what makes us distinct,” commented agency CEO Torrence Boone.

Ken Segall, Enfatico's global chief creative officer, drove the naming process from within the agency. "We were excited to take on the important challenge of selecting a new name and graphic identity for Project Da Vinci," said Segall. “We believe Enfatico will become synonymous with a new standard for integrated marketing, insightful creativity, and collaboration in the client-agency relationship."

June 10, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 6 Comments

This script would not have been written, nor sold to a client, two years ago.

June 10, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Hugh MacLeod can be counted on to deliver humorous material. He tends to drop it in a cartoon, but today we look at his latest list—"10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT WEB 2.0."

I'll cherry pick a few for our purposes here:

1. Reconciling the huge gap between how interesting and important you tell your clients it all is, versus how interesting and important you actually find it all yourself.

5. The well-intentioned but misguided belief that anonymous loser douchebags are actually entitled to an opinion.

10. The sophomoric conceit that "The Conversation" is two-way. To quote Fran Leibowitz, "The opposite of Talking is not Listening. The opposite of Talking is Waiting".

June 10, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

| View | Upload your own

[via Neil Perkin]

June 11, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

According to The Wall Street Journal, square pegs don't fit into round holes.

Walt Disney Co.'s ABC News is close to scrapping the current format of its daily "World News" Webcast, an online version of the evening news anchored by Charles Gibson, which the network trumpeted as a major step into its digital future when it launched two years ago.

Network executives and media buyers say that broadcast news suffers online when it is based on the old news model of a strong and authoritative anchor, like Mr. Gibson, escorting viewers through the day's news. Online news consumers want to click around, reading and watching only the stories that interest them.

June 11, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

Peter Seligmann, CEO-chairman of Conservation International, delivered a keynote address at Advertising Age's Green Conference in New York yesterday, telling brand managers it's okay to be not perfect.

In the current environment, accusations of "greenwashing" have become the norm, but that's no excuse to sit on the sidelines.

None of us are pure. None of your brands are pure," he said. "We need an aspiration to be pure. We're not going to achieve that if we wait until we're pure to say something. We're going to be silent. And we can't afford to be silent."

I agree that we all need to move in a better direction, but I also believe striving is not enough. We actually need to reach our environmental goals.

Later in the piece, there's a mention of a program at Fairmont Hotels where guests go shopping for organic produce with chefs from the hotel restaurants. I like that.

June 11, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

MySpace is collaborating with best-selling Brazilian author Paulo Coelho to make a user-generated movie of his book The Witch of Portobello.

Users can submit videos focusing on one of the book's characters to MySpaceTV or Coelho's MySpace page, and up to 15 winning submissions will be molded into a video "mash-up" called "The Experimental Witch." Users can also submit songs for a soundtrack to the film, with up to 16 selected for the project.

Submissions for the project, which will be promoted in 20 countries, will begin on June 16 and close on July 25, with winners to be announced on August 24. Coelho said that winning filmmakers would receive a reward of 3,000 euros ($4,638).

Coelho communicates with his readers via his MySpace page and he said he finds the service "addicting."

HP is also a sponsor.

[via Adweek]

June 11, 2008 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 0 Comments

A few weeks ago, I wrote on Talent Zoo that despite the hype, there are still people who don't use the Net or care about new media. And for many, it's a choice, not a factor of age, class, or income.

Apparently, this digital divide includes the man who wants to be the leader of the free world, John McCain.

I think in 2008, our President doesn't need to be on Facebook all day, but he ought to know how to use a computer. What do you think?

June 11, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Susan Bratton is CEO and co-founder of Personal Life Media.

June 11, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

According to Ad Age, an aptly named but relatively unknown Los Angeles agency just landed an important car account.

Mitsubishi Motors America handed its $155 million U.S. creative account to a relative newcomer, Hollywood-based independent agency Traffic.

Less than a year old and largely unknown, Traffic is part-owned by The Cimarron Group, but still has car credentials: The shop is led by co-chairmen Robert Farina and Tom Cordner. The latter is a longtime auto advertising executive, serving on both the Lexus account at Team One, El Segundo, Calif., and the Ford account at JWT Detroit, where he was co-president of the agency.

In the first five months of 2008, Mitsubishi Motors America's U.S. new-vehicle sales are off by 19% to 46,389 units.

Jeep moved its creative account to upstart Cutwater in San Francisco last year. So it's not an unprecedented move.

June 12, 2008 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 2 Comments

How important is knowing the history of advertising, or business in general? We're so focused on the here and now, many people simply don't care.

The history of advertising, pop culture, and business in general is quite vast. I’ve always believed more knowledge is always better, no matter what the subject. And it’s amazing how a few years of experience in advertising, coupled with a good memory, can hone your inner BS detector.

Some people just entering the business world and the ad industry may not have a full recollection of the 1999-2000 dot-com buildup and meltdown. You can see it with new technology being hyped. When Facebook announced last year it was accepting advertising, its CEO heralded it as a revolution stating, “once every hundred years, media changes.” I wasn’t around in 1907, but I’m old enough to realize he was full of shit.

Perhaps that’s why so few marketing concepts captivate me. I’ve seen them before, albeit probably in a more primitive iteration. And if you’re a student of history, as I sometimes am, I’ve begun to realize that even the most unique ideas today’s agencies produce are built on foundations erected by previous ad people.

It's the focus of my new column on Talent Zoo.

June 12, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

According to Stuart Elliott of The New York Times, Dos Equis beer will present a reality series on the Mojo HD cable network that will chronicle the search for an assistant to a character who is featured in the brand’s advertising campaign, a person of wealth and taste known as the Most Interesting Man in the World.

The Dos Equis series, called “MIA: Most Interesting Assistant,” is to run for five consecutive weeks on Mojo HD, starting in late August or early September. Those interested in being considered for the real job of being the assistant to an imaginary character can fill out an application at “Stay thirsty, my friends.”

A decision was made to orient the series so that “we’re using the Most Interesting Man in the World to reach our consumer,” Kheri Holland Tillman, vice president for marketing for the Dos Equis said, “as opposed to the brand itself.”

“If there’s a Dos Equis in every shot, no one will be happy,” Emilio Nunez, vice president for programming at Mojo HD, said.

June 12, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

We often talk about placing the customer, not the brand, in the center of the action online.

According to Technology Review, the brainiacs at MIT are well beyond just talking about it. They're doing it.

The researchers built a prototype website for British Telecom, set up to sell broadband plans. The website is designed so that the first few clicks that visitors make are likely to reveal aspects of cognitive style. For example, the initial page that a user sees lets her choose, among other things, to compare plans using a chart or to interact with a broadband advisor. "You can see that someone who's very analytic is probably more likely to go to 'compare plans' than to the direct advisor," says John Hauser, a professor of marketing at the Sloan School. Within about 10 clicks, the system makes a guess at the user's cognitive style and morphs to fit. "If we determine that you like lots of graphs, you're going to start seeing lots of graphs," he says. "If we determine that you like to get advice from peers, you're going to see lots of advice from peers."

June 12, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Shot in Cape Town, South Africa - the commercial was made by Gordon Ray and Jamie Mietz of Ogilvy and shot by Greg Grey of Velocity Africa.

[via Cherryflava]

June 12, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

Steve Rubel of Micropersuasion has been hyping Friend Feed on his Twitter feed religiously. Now the two most recent posts to his blog are about how wonderful the service is.

Hi. My name is Steve and I suffer from Shiny Object Syndrome (SOS for short).

SOS describes the digerati's never-ending obsession with emerging social sites. First came blogs. Then there was podcasting, YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, Second Life and finally Twitter. Some stick. Others don't. The key is to addressing SOS is to take a step back and look at the the consumer trends and potential business models.

My latest fascination is Friendfeed - a site that in one place aggregates your friends streams from across different social sites. Right now Friendfeed's audience is paltry. According to Compete.com, it has 300,000 active users. Still, I believe that Friendfeed has the potential to become as big as Google.

I had to stop there. "As big as Google" is crazy talk. Sorry Steve.

I won't even take the time to check the new shiny object out, so it's hard to see how it might become indispensable to me.

For me, right now, it's about determining which toys, or shiny objects, I can shed (Facebook), not about which new ones I can acquire.

June 12, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

I'd never heard about Wenda Harris Millard before. My bad.

Thanks to Brian Morrissey at Adweek (and Catharine P. Taylor's pointer) I now know better.

In a talk with Federated Media Publishing founder John Battelle at the Conversational Marketing Conference in New York yesterday, she said, "emotional creativity that has been key to building brands" is being overshadowed by "the cool efficiency of technology."

"Technology is very important, but where many companies go wrong is when they think technology is the answer or primary solution to proving a business solution to a marketing problem," Millard said. "The business of advertising is still a business of persuasion. Machines can't make art."

"I'm extremely disturbed at the commoditization of Internet advertising before we've had an opportunity to establish its value proposition."

Millard is the newly named president of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.

June 12, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

The video above shows five different driving instructors going ballistic on a kid who won't stop talking on his cell phone. But what's simply funny to some is actually part of a new interactive marketing strategy from Parrot, a European-based bluetooth technology company.

According to Feed Company, the video was designed by Parrot's agency GroundZero to raise awareness of a new law in California and Washington that bans the use of hand-held mobile devices while driving your car. Parrot, of course, markets hands-free car kits.

June 12, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Jeffrey Zeldman is the founder and executive creative director of Happy Cog, a web design agency with offices in New York City and Philadelphia. Clients include Advertising Age, AIGA, and Amnesty International USA.

June 13, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Ad Age, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and just about everyone else is writing about the Yahoo/Google get together (and what a poke in the eye it is for Microsoft).

From The Times:

Google and Yahoo said Thursday that they had reached an agreement under which Google would deliver ads next to some of Yahoo’s search results and on some of its Web sites in the United States and Canada.

The nonexclusive deal is aimed at giving a lift to Yahoo’s finances, and the company said it would generate an additional $250 million to $450 million in operating cash flow in the first year.

The agreement will also strengthen Google’s dominance over the lucrative search advertising market. It was signed after Yahoo rejected a proposal by Microsoft to acquire both Yahoo’s search business and a minority stake in the company. The rejection appears to end months of on-again, off-again negotiations between the two companies.

Yahoogle!

June 13, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

Denver invented a better ad club and a better local awards show, according to Matt Ingwalson, a senior copywriter at Karsh/Hagan in Denver.

I'm sure they are better, but I'm not all that interested.

Ingwalson did pique my curiosity with this line, though:

Ad agencies are launching social networks, incubating new technologies, and inventing fresh, relevant ways to connect brands and consumers.

What soc nets are agencies launching?

Please tell me it's not some b.s. on Ning.

June 13, 2008 by Matt Bergantino | Permalink | 1 Comments

Once again, marketers have taken the lead in the quest to discover extra-terrestrial life. As NASA’s Phoenix Lander pitifully fumbles and pants, trying to scoop dirt into an oven on Mars, Doritos broadcasts a 30-second spot into space.

A few months back, the brand challenged the British public to create a spot that summed up life on earth. The winning entry, as judged by popular vote, is called Tribe and was directed by 25-year-old Matt Bowron of the UK. According to Science Daily, “the message is being pulsed out over a six-hour period from high-powered radars at the EISCAT European space station in the Arctic Circle.” The message is aimed at a solar system in the Ursa Major Constellation, one that the EISCAT Director believes could, in fact, “harbor small life-supporting planets similar to ours.”

Tribe will air June 15th on ITV in Europe. But who cares? The real question is: do aliens TiVo?

Your move, Pringles.

June 13, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

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In the slideshow above, Uwe Gutschow and Don Longfellow from Saatchi & Saatchi LA, have expanded upon Paul Isakson's earlier work. Neil Perkin also developed a derivative work from Isakson's original.

The Saatchi piece above neatly describes my own thoughts about content's role in advertising. From two of their slides: We stop pitching people with messages. We start providing useful content. I'm sure many of us have these thoughts in our decks. Thankfully, there seems to be a market for them.

June 13, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

David Griner, writing on Adfreak (despite the fact that he now works for an agency in Alabama), points to some nice work from Mercedes' agency Abbott Mead Vickers in London. Josh Brolin stars in the spot above.

There's something very Cadillac--and theatrical--about this new campaign.

June 13, 2008 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 1 Comments

photo by Josh Hallett

I wish there was someone in advertising, or business in general, who would interview executives and management buffoons with the same relentlessness that Tim Russert interviewed politicians. I can't even count how many industry conferences and events I've been to where the questions asked of speakers or panelists were stupid and uninformed.

NBC's Tim Russert dies at 58 of heart attack.

June 14, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

TBS isn't afraid to interrupt your flow. Not at all.

According to Ad Age, TBS is using an "overlay" during episodes of "Family Guy" meant to promote "The Bill Engvall Show."

Ad Age blames internet advertising for this development.

TBS's chatty come-on offers yet another illustration of how consumers' growing comfort with the way content is designed and displayed in digital venues is starting to affect the flow of advertising in more-traditional areas, particularly TV.

"I almost wonder if the ad overlays, which are becoming more and more ubiquitous on the digital video screen, are almost laying the groundwork for TV," said John Moore, senior VP-director of ideas and innovation at Interpublic Group of Cos.' Mullen.

June 14, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 46 Comments

Threadless is on the cover of Inc.

Jake Nickell and Jeffrey Kalmikoff, two north side of Chicago graphic designers figured out how to create community and a thriving business in the same move. Academics, venture capitalists and the entrepreneurs who read Inc. are paying attention.

Threadless is at the vanguard of a new innovation model that is quietly reshaping a host of industries. Whether it's called user innovation, crowdsourcing, or open source, it means drastically rethinking your relationship with your customers. "Threadless completely blurs that line of who is a producer and who is a consumer," says Karim Lakhani, a professor at the Harvard Business School. "The customers end up playing a critical role across all its operations: idea generation, marketing, sales forecasting. All that has been distributed."

Threadless runs design competitions on their site where members submit their ideas for T-shirts -- hundreds each week -- and then vote on which ones they like best. Threadless produces the most popular designs and sells them via their online store and at their new retail location in Lakeside.

Revenue is growing 500 percent a year, despite the fact that the company has never advertised, employed no professional designers, used no modeling agency or fashion photographers, has no sales force, and enjoys no retail distribution, except to their own store. Margins run above 30 percent, because community members tell them precisely which shirts to make – and every product eventually sells out. Threadless has never produced a flop.

June 14, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

Shawn gave me a bottle of Templeton Rye, a.k.a. "The Good Stuff" last winter. We opened it tonight.

It always fun when a microbrand has a special story to tell. Templeton Rye has lots of stories to tell--one story being that it was Al Capone's favorite--and the producers and old-timers around Templeton, Iowa are busy telling them on the brand's blog, on Twitter and on YouTube. Which makes sense, since this is the kind of product which benefits greatly from word of mouth.

As a bourbon drinker, I needn't venture far to enter rye whiskey land. Rye is a bit spicier and it doesn't have the caramel notes found in the Kentucky variety. It also benefits from an exceptionally clean finish.

June 15, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

Michael Arrington of TechCrunch grills Chris Alden, CEO of blogging service SixApart, at Apple's iPhone 2.0 coming out party last week.

It's good to see some tough questions from a blogger. And it's funny to see the culture of transparency (as represented by Arrington) bump up against Apple's closed-source reality.

June 16, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

According to Brian Stelter of The New York Times, "the bloom has come off social networking’s rose."

With a new design to debut this week, News Corp.-owned MySpace intends to do something about it.

With an eye toward monetization, MySpace is being redesigned beginning Wednesday with a new home page, which will be less cluttered and more hospitable to advertising. The redesign, to be done by early fall, will include a new navigation bar, search tool and video player.

On a conference call last month, Peter Chernin, president and chief operating officer for the News Corporation, toned down the grandiose expectations for social networking advertising and acknowledged that selling spots on personal profile and group pages is not easy.

Social networking represents an “entirely new form of Internet activity,” Mr. Chernin said.

eMarketer estimates that MySpace will post $755 million in revenue in the fiscal year ending June 30. MySpace would not comment on the estimate--short of expectations, but still a lot of money.

Marshsall Kirkpatrick of Read Write Web says MySpace is "one of the meatiest examples there is of the read/write web. It doesn't get as much respect as Facebook does in part because the user demographics skew towards working class and poor people."

Kirkpatrick continues, "While you're trying to get your parents, your boss or your friends to read RSS feeds, appreciate Twitter or post photos to Flickr - millions upon millions of people are publishing to the web, finding value in syndicated content, reading blogs and leaving comments all thanks to MySpace. If you have a deep dislike of MySpace, you should really consider getting over it. MySpace is a good and important website."

June 16, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 4 Comments

This year, total entries at this Cannes International Advertising Festival grew 10.2% to more than 28,000. Every category is up, and the new design Lions attracted about twice as many entries as expected -- 1,126 -- so the festival had to scramble to add more judges to the jury.

Americans aren't deterred by the weak dollar that has pushed delegate fees above $3,000 and room rates at the beachfront hotels such as the Majestic and Carlton to close to $500 a night. It's estimated up to 800 of this year's 9,000 or so attendees will be from the U.S., up from almost 700 last year.

Apart from the beach, the ads and the parties, Cannes has evolved into a major business opportunity. That's why the company that sends the most people to Cannes isn't an agency like TBWA (175 festival goers) but Microsoft (which won't give a number but is believed to be sending at least 300).

[via Ad Age]

June 16, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

June 16, 2008 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 2 Comments

I'm not an NBA fan, but this Ad Age story is wild:

According to a new survey of 907 people released exclusively to Ad Age today, more than one-third (37%) of respondents believe that the National Basketball Association somewhat or very likely alters the outcomes of its games.

The YouGovPolimetrix Omnibus Poll found that among "casual" or "avid" fans, an even higher number, 41%, think it's either very likely or somewhat likely that the NBA alters the outcome of games. Couple that with the fact that only 46% of the poll was aware that an NBA referee was recently investigated by the FBI for receiving cash payments in return for passing inside information along to friends and gamblers, and it's clear the NBA has a lot of cynicism to overcome.

Is there any legitimacy to this poll? Do we, as a society, trust anything anymore?

June 16, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Wrath of Cannes is the right kind of award show. That is, one that doesn't take itself too seriously.

Hosted by Woods Witt Dealy, the announcement is plenty cheeky.

This week, what will you be doing while Madison Avenue’s crème de la crème are soaking up sun and sipping rosé on the Riviera during the Cannes International Advertising Festival?

Why not join the rest of us outcasts, exiles and undesirables at Cha-Cha’s Club Atlantis on Coney Island’s boardwalk this Thursday, 6/19 for the 2nd annual Wrath of Cannes Awards Show! Because, really, Cha-Cha’s is the new Gutter Bar.

It's a juniors-only show, where participants are encouraged to bring one great idea on a thumb drive. The judges will select the winner in real time. The lucky winner will receive a brand new bike from IRO Cycle, along with the one and only Grand Coney, a trophy of a man with his head up his ass.

The Tarantinos will perform and there's open bar from 6:00 to 8:00 pm.

June 16, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Adweek is profiling Colleen DeCourcy, chief digital officer of TBWA Worldwide and Cyber jury president at Cannes.

DeCourcy, 43, has been at the forefront of digital marketing since the first tech boom in the '90s, when it mostly meant building Web sites.

Speaking about her new role at TBWA, DeCourcy says, "It's been a leap of faith for someone like myself to spend a year not being deeply associated with any work while I do a very corporate exercise on strategy and planning. At times it's been very difficult, but as I start to see the [results] -- people who now know each other and are talking -- it feels as gratifying as a great piece of work."

"If it doesn't yield results," she adds with a hearty laugh, "I'll start to worry."

DeCourcy is also blogging on Adweek's Le Freaque site while in Cannes. One topic she's addressing as Cyber jury president:

What constitutes creativity in online? It’s such a blend of smart media, direct, film, design and promotional stunt that we’ve spent a considerable amount of time talking about the ubiquity of technology and the possible demise of the category as it touches all our disciplines.

June 17, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

According to The New York Times, Unilever, which makes the margarine spread I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, has been running Spraychel Webisodes since 2005. Unilever’s digital media agency, Story Worldwide, created the Spraychel campaign.

June 17, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 7 Comments

According to Boulder's Daily Camera, Crispin is scaring the tofu-eating residents of Boulderado.

The "Disruptive Thinker Transport," a 25-passenger bus draped in drab gray and black lines, fake bullet holes, a nondescript company logo and a certain dark sense of humor, is raising eyebrows across the city.

The 1999 Bluebird biodiesel-converted vehicle, which last month began making rounds to employee pickup and drop-off locations throughout the city, has led curious passers-by to call Boulder police asking what the bus is all about.

One Camera reader commented in an e-mail that the bus is "vaguely militaristic" in its appearance and a little disconcerting.

Alex Bogusky, co-chairman of the Miami-based company, said that's exactly what he was going for.

"It's designed to look like a prison bus," Bogusky said. "I didn't want it to look like regular public transportation ...

Driver Beth Tait -- who adds to the illusion by wearing a uniform fit for a warden, complete with badge-like shoulder patches containing the company logo -- said she gladly plays the part.

The thing that intrigues me is the word "Disruptive." It's so close to word "Interruption." Is Crispin still stuck on the disruptive marketing model?

[via The Denver Egotist and Adfreak]

June 17, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

Click the "News" button on the widget above.

Looks like our work here is being used to promote a series of conferences on Social Advertising.

Am I psyched? I want to be.

Maybe if we got something for it, other than exposure, I would be.

June 17, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Writer and scholar, Nicholas Carr, is having trouble concentrating.

So am I. Perhaps you are too.

As the media theorist Marshall McLuhan pointed out in the 1960s, media are not just passive channels of information. They supply the stuff of thought, but they also shape the process of thought. And what the Net seems to be doing is chipping away my capacity for concentration and contemplation. My mind now expects to take in information the way the Net distributes it: in a swiftly moving stream of particles. Once I was a scuba diver in the sea of words. Now I zip along the surface like a guy on a Jet Ski.

I made myself read every word of Carr's piece in The Atlantic. It wasn't too difficult. However, knowing what to do with his argument is.

There are times when I want to close this machine and walk away. But that seems extreme. Even if I were to curtail all content production, would I not want to read several newspapers and magazine and maybe a few blogs online?

One obvious answer is to turn all disruptive applications off while reading. Although that's far from perfect, given the cluttered, blinking, overly commercial nature of the sites I visit.

June 17, 2008 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 0 Comments

This, for a Dallas Kia dealer:

UPDATE: I guess they do a lot of impersonations:

June 18, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 3 Comments

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Except for flour.

According to The New York Times, The J. M. Smucker Company, bought the White Lily brand a year ago, and is now producing White Lily at two plants in the Midwest, instead of in downtown Knoxville, where it has been milled since 1883.

Maribeth Badertscher, a spokeswoman for the company, said the new White Lily was the result of thorough product testing and promised that customers “won’t know the difference.” But in a blind test for The New York Times, two bakers could immediately tell the old from the new.

Fred W. Sauceman, author of a series of books called The Place Setting: Timeless Tastes of the Mountain South, From Bright Hope to Frog Level, said, “It means something to have been made in the exact same spot for 125 years, and it’s unconscionable not to respect that.”

June 18, 2008 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 0 Comments

Here's one print ad in a campaign for Energizer, courtesy of DDB South Africa.

See the rest here.

June 19, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Draft FCB is making strange videos for Claussen's Pickles. Because, "limp pickles can kill a cookout. OK, well, maybe that's extreme, but fresh pickles do matter."

June 19, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

Can you name all eight players in this ad, starting from the left? Inquiring minds want to know...

According to The New York Times, the ad is part of a $15 million dollar TV, print and digital effort from Grey Atlanta on behalf of Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.

June 19, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Coca-Cola and its design firm Turner Duckworth made their mark on Cannes yesterday, capturing the Grand Prix in the ad festival's inaugural design Lions.

The majority -- about three quarters -- of the design Lions winners were from what one would consider ad agencies, rather than from design shops.

Rodney Fitch, head of the design jury and chairman-CEO of Fitch, said "Design companies have never heard of Cannes." He added: "That will change. The design industry will be rushing to submit work."

"We live in a in a complicated, integrated world. Design is a thread that runs though everything we do."

[via Ad Age]

June 19, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

Adweek is reporting that the Amsterdam office of StrawberryFrog has "severed ties to he agency's operations in New York and elsewhere."

The 40-person group in Holland, led by Brian Elliott, who co-founded StrawberryFrog with Scott Goodson in 1999, has rebranded as Amsterdam Worldwide.

Goodson remains CEO of offices in New York, Sao Paolo, Tokyo and Mumbai. Those operations will keep the StrawberryFrog name.

Goodson, an active blogger, has yet to weigh in on the news.

June 19, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

Susan Blackmore says, a meme is not an idea, rather it's "that which is imitated." In other marketing 2.0 words, a meme is viral. Since, most of us in advertising today are trying to create viral videos, it might be worth taking 21 minutes to absorb this TED lecture.

June 20, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

According to The Wall Street Journal, as Russia and China grow their middle classes, American whiskey makers are making gains in those nations via a mix of street teams and advertising.

Still, American whiskey makers face a challenge in making their products known to consumers in emerging markets. In Russia, Beam Global hires natives to be part of the Jim Beam Party Crew. They receive training on bourbon and cocktails from local bartenders, and learn to emphasize, for instance, that bourbon tastes sweeter than Scotch. When they arrive at bars on weekend outings, they often open conversations by asking patrons: "Do you know what bourbon is?"

The answer is often no. Russians tend to be more familiar with Scotch whisky and Irish whiskey, says Vladimir Pankov, an engineer in Moscow. "You can buy Johnnie Walker in virtually any store or bar in Russia, whereas you cannot say the same thing about American brands," says Mr. Pankov, who prefers the Scotch or Irish variety but sometimes orders Jack Daniel's with Coca-Cola on ice.

Personally, I'm partial to bourbon or American Rye.

June 20, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 13 Comments

The ad above--Obama's first of the general election--starts to air today in 18 states, including usual battlegrounds such as Florida, Michigan, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, and some traditionally Republican states where Obama hopes to make inroads, including Georgia, Montana, North Carolina, and Virginia.

"America is a country of strong families and strong values. My life's been blessed by both," he says in the ad. "I was raised by a single mom and my grandparents. We didn't have much money, but they taught me values straight from the Kansas heartland where they grew up. Accountability and self-reliance. Love of country. Working hard without making excuses. Treating your neighbor as you'd like to be treated."

June 20, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

According to BusinessWeek, the type of purchases one makes with a credit card can determine one's credit score.

The FTC suit against Atlanta-based CompuCredit for allegedly "deceptive" marketing practices offers a rare look inside the opaque business of credit scoring. It reveals a mechanism that consumer advocates and politicians have long suspected exists—one in which purchasing behavior, not just payment history, matters.

The allegations, in part, focus on CompuCredit's Aspire Visa, a subprime credit card for risky borrowers. The FTC claims that CompuCredit didn't properly disclose that it monitored spending and cut credit lines if consumers used their cards at certain places. Among them: tire and retreading shops, massage parlors, bars, billiard halls, and marriage counseling offices. "The company touted that cardholders could use their credit cards anywhere," says J. Reilly Dolan, assistant director for financial practices at the FTC. "What they didn't say was that you could be punished for specific kinds of purchases."

June 20, 2008 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 2 Comments

So this graphic landed in my e-mail box today from Canon:

Now, will there be an increase in shipping costs that negate the gas savings you'd have from not driving to Best Buy?

I also saw some BMW commercials last night touting their energy efficiency. Something about the entire line of cars averaging 28 mpg. Yes, BMW. Boy, the times are changin'.

June 20, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

When your brand is number one, never acknowledge the runners up. This is a long-standing rule of marketing. But one that Rupe willfully broke at Cannes.

According to Brian Morrissey of Adweek, Rupe dismissed the online service as little more than "a directory." He said the attention lavished on Facebook is not in line with the challenges it has faced in building its audience into a sustainable business.

"They've not monetized as well as us," he said. "They've done a great job of being the flavor of the month the last six months of last year."

June 20, 2008 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 2 Comments

According to The Financial Times, a Y&R subsidiary in Zimbabwe has been assisting the re-election campaign of Robert Mugabe.

Below, an example ad courtesy of British political commentator Iain Dale.

Now that the light has been shined on this batch of cockroaches, WPP is divesting itself of the Y&R subsidiary.

I really like the "100%" callout at the top. What's next? "Now--with extra thuggery!"

June 21, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

It's kind of sad to see Associated Press limping weakly through its struggle to determine what "fair use" means to them.

Or is it? Perhaps, it's equally entertaining in a physical comedy sort of way. I suppose it depends on where you stand. Whether you belong to the old guard or new media?

Saul Hansell of The New York Times frames the story:

A.P. — a not for profit group of 1,500 newspapers, including The New York Times — demanded that the Drudge Retort remove 10 posts that quoted between 40 and 80 words of its articles. After a storm of protest, The A.P. backed down and said it had been too heavy-handed in its initial complaint. It added that it hoped to publish guidance for bloggers suggesting how they can use A.P. content.

According the report, A.P. isn't sure it wants to back down now. Rather they'd like to enforce their will by battling indie bloggers with expensive lawyers.

Rogers Cadenhead, the owner of the Drudge Retort, spent two hours on the phone Thursday night with A.P.'s lawyers. He said A.P. wants to protect the headline and first paragraph of its articles. “If AP’s guidelines end up like the ones they shared with me, we’re headed for a Napster-style battle on the issue of fair use."

As I consider this, I have to ask is A.P. necessary to me as a blogger. The answer is no. I can quote another source. Every time. Later A.P.

June 21, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

You can rate the ad above, and others like it at EnviroMedia's Greenwashing Index.

June 22, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 3 Comments

Alex Witchel, a staff writer for the New York Times Magazine spent some quality time with Matthew Weiner (pronounced WHY-ner). Weiner is creator, producer and head writer of "Mad Men," the original series on AMC. The show begins its second season on July 27th.

It's a long article with lots of interesting detail, like the fact that Weiner is a meticulous control freak from an over-achieving family and somewhat insecure for a man with industry cred spilling out of his golden pockets. But what interests me most is Witchel's conversations with George Lois and Jerry Della Femina, two ad guys from the "Mad Men" era.

Weiner chose advertising as a subject, he said, because “it’s a great way to talk about the image we have of ourselves, versus who we really are. And admen were the rock stars of that era, creative, cocky, anti-authority. They made a lot of money, and they lived hard.”

Some of those rock stars are less than enthralled by Weiner’s interpretation of their careers. George Lois, the legendary art director who co-founded Papert Koenig Lois in 1960 and recently had an exhibition of the iconic covers he designed for Esquire magazine at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, says: “When I hear ‘Mad Men,’ it’s the most irritating thing in the world to me. When you think of the ’60s, you think about people like me who changed the advertising and design worlds. The creative revolution was the name of the game. This show gives you the impression it was all three-martini lunches.”

People like me who changed the advertising and design worlds? That's bold, even if it's true.

June 23, 2008 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 2 Comments

That's all I have to say. George Carlin was the best. Nobody had a better understanding of the nuances of language.

I can't say I'm totally shocked--his last couple of specials on HBO showed him to be a little slower than usual. But I have at least 10 of his comedy albums and they're wall-to-wall hilarious.

US comic George Carlin dies at 71.

June 23, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

According to The Wall Street Journal, the Corn Refiners Association, an industry group led by ADM and Cargill, is launching a big ad and public-relations campaign today.

Their goal? Convince Americans that high-fructose corn-syrup isn't the evil it has been made out to be.

The group is running full-page ads in more than a dozen major newspapers around the country saying its product is no worse for you than sugar. And what an argument that is. I'm sure they'll go far with that pearl.

June 23, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Gavin Heaton, has metered out the components of digital storytelling the way a conscientious chef would when writing a cook book.

Like anything, you need to start with an idea. This is the 1%. A good idea will get you started but an idea on its own is dormant. There is another 9% that is planning. You need to think through the what, why and how of your story. You need to consider the methods you will take to bring your idea to life.

The next 40% you need to focus on execution. This is the actual doing of the work. This brings together the idea and the strategy and makes it available to the world. The remaining 50% is participation ...

It is this final 50% that is the MOST important element. Without the participation of an audience your project is a failure. In the digital story, all MEANING is co-created. That means that, after launch, your digital story continues. It needs feeding. You need to respond to the nuances of its reading. You need to ENGAGE.

I like what Heaton is saying here, even while recognizing that my own digital stories fall well short of the kind of deep and lasting engagement he's calling for. I also question whether this POV isn't a bit dogmatic. And what is this "digital storytelling," he speaks of? I'm pretty sure it's not a story published online. Not in any traditional sense.

June 23, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

Adweek's Brian Morrissey and Eleftheria Parpis note the difficulty ad pros in Cannes had distinguishing between "the idea" and the myriad executions for a given idea.

The awards are not keeping pace with the infinite ways in which brands reach customers in today's fractured media landscape. Rather than honor holistic systems built for brands to reach consumers in many places, Lions are given to objects created within those systems. This is a situation that many complain is untenable.

On another front, "scam ads or “ghosts” are more plentiful than exposed breasts on the French Coast," says Steffan Postaer, President and Chief Creative Officer of Euro RSCG/Chicago.

June 23, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Rob Walker has been out touring the nation to promote his new book, Buying In: The Secret Dialogue between What We Buy and Who We Are. Portland bookstore, Powell's, asked Walker to write an essay that would help sell the book (because they're Powell's).

In the essay for Powell's, Walker says no one wants to see themselves as a consumer. It's too trivial a description for a complex organism. Yet he argues that consumer culture is an important, often misunderstood, topic.

The symbols of the marketplace — brands and logos and all their related signifiers — communicate ideas that we understand without even thinking about them. You already know, or have your own view about, what Nike or Apple "mean," and I'm guessing that's not the result of ever having spent any time sitting around dwelling on the matter. You just know. To a significant extent, the phrase "consumer culture" isn't even necessary: American culture is consumer culture.

According to Walker's essay, he too thought he was above being labeled a consumer, until big, bad, multinational Nike forced him to see himself.

The moment when I had to reconsider my relationship to branded culture came when Converse, the sneaker company, was purchased by Nike. At the time I'd been wearing Converse shoes for well over 15 years, yet something about the company losing its independence bothered me, and I wasn't sure I wanted to wear my battered Chuck Taylors anymore. I had to ask myself why. If I'm so indifferent and immune to branding, then how can it be that I'm caught up in the "meaning" of... a brand?

June 23, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Daniel Turman of Organic has an interesting side project going. It's called Fear the Beard.

The blog quickly took on a life of its own. While it often functions as the "junk drawer" of my (and our) collective consciousness (thanks Misha), it has also developed a surprisingly ardent following and opened some interesting doors. I was interviewed for a French basketball magazine, Reverse. I was invited to play in a blogger all-star game at the Oracle Arena. And, at our urging people grew beards for the playoff push and sent in pictures from around the country. Finally, our DIY PaperBeard™ (for the less hirsute) was featured on Yahoo Sports and even more improbably in the pages of Fortune.

But all of that pales in comparison to the events of some two weeks ago. After a few phone calls, we managed to secure an interview with the man some call Boom Dizzle. The rub? We only had one-day's notice. To shoot. Video. Oh, and it turned out he was "open" to hearing ideas for doing something on the street. Out with the people. All viral like. Tomorrow.

In other words, Baron Davis is down. He's negotiating a $17 mil contract, but really, it's the little things that matter.

June 24, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

The Wall Street Journal spoke to some spooked ad execs about Google's new metrics offering.

"For an advertiser, the last thing you want to do is to have your adviser be the same person you are spending your money with," says Sarah Fay, chief executive of Aegis North America, the media-buying giant owned by Aegis Group of the U.K.

Billions of marketing dollars a year trade hands based at least in part on Web-audience figures. Google's new tool could bring more efficiency to the process of buying online ads. And their service--unlike comScore's and Nielsen's--is free.

Considering Google's technical acumen, if such an announcement comes on Tuesday, competitors could be in for an unpleasant time, says David A. Utter of WebProNews.

In other Google news, federal lawmakers are scrutinizing the new Yahoo-Google ad deal, spurred on by marketers upset at the lack of competition in the online advertising marketplace.

June 24, 2008 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 18 Comments

There's still a small part of me that sees the value in awards shows. But boy, it's getting really hard to defend this type of shit:

J.C. Penney Co. officials are upset about a racy, fake advertisement on YouTube in which the retailer appears to be endorsing teen sex, and they are blaming the company's ad agency, Saatchi & Saatchi.

The purported ad, which surfaced on the Internet after winning a prestigious international advertising award at Cannes this past weekend, shows two teenagers in their own bedrooms stripping down to their underwear and then timing themselves as they race to put on their clothes. All this is done in preparation for the boy and girl to hang out in her basement while her mother is upstairs.

The ad in question:

I'm sure there's a proper method to recognize advertising and marketing concepts that transcend the norm; I just don't know that awards shows are that method anymore.

June 24, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 3 Comments

According to San Francisco Chronicle, popular web video series like "Break a Leg," are not being shown the money.

Even with a YouTube partnership, contest winnings from Internet video clearinghouse Metacafe and other recognitions, "Break a Leg" has grossed about $2,500 for two years' work. This is a show with an average monthly viewership of 1.5 million people.

"Break a Leg" embodies the key contradictions of the brave new world of online video entertainment. It's easier and cheaper than ever for individuals to produce their own work and put it up for global audiences - on sites like YouTube, Revver, Veoh and My Damn Channel - but it's almost impossible to make a living outside of the established TV and film industry.

Regarding this story, Hugh MacLeod, says, "The business model is not a revenue model. The business model is a social model. Duh..." I have no idea what that means, but I thought I'd share it with you anyway.

June 24, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

As construction of the Advertising Icon Museum — part of Kansas City's $100 million West Edge development — moves ahead, the museum has hired Leslie Strube as its first development director.

The museum, originally slated to open in late 2007, is now expected to open in spring 2009.

The Advertising Icon Museum will showcase a huge collection of three-dimensional advertising icons owned by Bob Bernstein, founder and chairman of Bernstein-Rein.

Strube is quick to point out that advertising icons are not kitschy toys — they’re a living history of brands and pop culture.

[via Kansas City Star]

June 24, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

There's nothing new here, and no high bar to clear, but I like the Cubs and this is a well done ad (from Fallon).

June 25, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

The internet is a special medium for a number of reasons. For one, it devours content. It must be fed and fed and fed. Or it just peters out.

Here's a story about it:

The Walt Disney Company, concerned that its main Web site is not entertaining enough, is moving once again to overhaul Disney.com.

It will be the second recent makeover for the company’s marquee site, which is still the top Internet destination for children’s entertainment but faces increasing competition from players like Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and WebKinz.

“It’s a repositioning of our digital front door,” said Paul Yanover, executive vice president and managing director of Disney Online.

The effort, code-named “Project Playground,” is the second retrofitting of Disney.com in as many years, reflecting both the difficulty the media giant has encountered online and the whiplash-fast pace at which the medium is evolving.

June 25, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Alan Wolk wants to be an architect, not a builder. Me too.

Years ago, when I worked at the legendary Anderson & Lembke, Steve Trygg (who started the shop) was fond of saying that “an ad agency can be the contractor or it can be the architect. And you always want to be the architect.”

Wolk argues that typically ad men and women are not architects today.

We’ve turned ourselves into the contractors. The guys who make the ads. Who cares about the strategy, who cares about the actual product, if the ads are funny and clever and likely to win awards?

And clients get that. They get that in spades.

That’s why they turn to PR agencies like Edelman and strategy shops like Naked and even management consulting firms like Bain and McKinsey to do all the work their agencies should be doing. Because they know that too many agencies can’t even be bothered to use Google to see if the product actually lives up to the brief.

Harsh, but true. I'm so close to it, I sometimes forget just how clueless ad people can be. The fakery at Cannes was a good reminder. And there are many more reminders in our day-to-day existence in this business.

Perhaps, you'd care to share a "Yes, we're clueless" story with us.

June 25, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

[via Rantings of an Arab Chick]

June 25, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Fred Wilson wants to get serious and break out of the 2.0 box.

I am a bit jealous of friends who are working on finding and funding alternative energy or biomedical technologies that have the potential to address the serious problems facing the world. At times it seems that helping the web become more social, intelligent, mobile, and playful is not as impactful.

The work that we do at Union Square Ventures can’t just be about making money. At least that’s not enough for me. It has to be a force for positive social change. It needs to be about making the world a better place for our children and their children.

I feel the same way. In fact, I've always harbored the idea that someday the work I do in this business might be needed by companies or movements that truly are important. That all I'm doing now is preparation for that, as yet unspoken, need.

June 25, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

American Copywriter left a telling comment on Gods of Advertising.

Let's take a look:

There are light and dark sides to everything. It’s good celebrate exceptional creative. But there’s no perfect way to do it. And without results attached, well, it’s really about what’s wonderful in and of itself, yes? Are scams a sin? Without question. But unlike poaching no one dies. And, while it’s easy to shake your head about the whole thing (particularly from the seat of a mid-sized indie shop) we have to consider what motivates the creation (and sweaty anticipation) of this kind of work. I believe it has less to do with ego and more to do with money. Awards (and the bigger the better) equal better paychecks, more career options, more sex and, yes, more weeks in France with the agency credit card. Follow the money. Clients pay for award-winning agencies (even if they might complain later that it’s all the creatives really care about). Agency CEOs and ECDs pay for award-winning creatives (even though they might later grouse about attitude). The truth is no creative is born with a need for hunks of metal and lucite. Creatives indulge in producing this work because they get “paid” to do it. We may not like it but, as agency leaders and clients, we need to acknowledge our responsibility for it. If we start paying for some other measure of success and we’ll see a change.

Steffan Postaer, the site's host, agrees and says we ought to start calling awards, "rewards." I'm in. From now on, I'll rail against the inanity of Reward Shows.

June 25, 2008 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 2 Comments

To be perfectly honest, I don't know much about the HBO "Voyeur" thing that won a lot of Lions last week. Seems that it involved a lot of production in all kinds of media. But apparently, an agency that worked with BBDO to produce the idea thinks it deserves more credit. From Ad Age:

In an interview, Michael Lebowitz, co-founder and CEO of Big Spaceship, one of the shops instrumental in executing "Voyeur," criticized both BBDO and the awards system for not giving due credit to his firm for its role in a campaign that crossed from outdoor to digital to film. The campaign picked UP a number of awards at festivals this year, and in Cannes it earned two Grand Prix trophies in the outdoor and promotion categories, five Golds, a Silver and a Bronze in media, cyber, design promotion and film, with the bulk of the credit attributed to BBDO, New York.

In an e-mailed statement, [BBDO CCO David] Mr. Lubars said his agency, as "the source of the idea," deserves the credit it received.

"Ideas are timeless," the statement read. "Ideas are what inspire people. Ideas are the root of all execution. On 'Voyeur,' BBDO thought of the idea, shot the idea, then brought in Big Spaceship to do what they do. They did a great job (and we've made every effort to acknowledge them). What's the issue? Maybe Cannes should consider the idea of a Palme d'Or for digital production."

Many shops, particularly interactive ones, partner up with big agencies to execute ideas. So is there a proper way for everyone to get credit? Because it's all about recognition, it seems. And as new media ideas get more complicated, more agencies will touch them.

June 25, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

[via From the Bottom of Everything]

June 25, 2008 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 0 Comments

Come to think of it, I was much happier in 1981, when Ronald Reagan was President and the Atari 2600 VCS was all the rage.

Of course, I was 9.

Here's my Wednesday gift to you: Pork Invaders!

June 26, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Publicis on Wednesday unveiled a new digital-advertising system that links together technologies from Google Inc., AOL, Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc.

The system connects Publicis's media-buying agencies with the ad space sold by the Web giants, according to The Wall Street Journal.

"We are putting the four competitors around the same table," and "that will drive prices down so that we are using the money of our clients in the best possible way," says Publicis Chief Executive Maurice Levy.

"We are not doing the deals only to do a deal," Mr. Levy says. Digital revenue should represent more than 25% of the group's total revenue by 2010 compared with 18% in the first quarter of this year, he says.

Ad Age has a more detailed account.

June 26, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

The inside back cover of Spin Magazine's July issue profiles "Omaha—Rock City." It's clearly an editorial segment from Spin, but the line between lifestyle content of this sort and a paid advertisement is pretty thin. Whatever the intention, it's a Chamber of Commerce type listing for Omaha's music business.

The feature mentions artists Simon Joyner, Tilly and the Wall, The Show is the Rainbow, Outlaw Con Bandana, Sarah Benck and the Robbers, Ladyfinger (ne), plus the city's best venues, like Sokol, The Waiting Room, Slowdow, O'Leaver's Pub and Barley Street Tavern.

June 26, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

Jane Sample and Ad Broad consider morality in the context of an ad career.

Jane says:

I can see how some people think we are evil.

But we are not evil. The majority of the people who work in advertising are extremely intelligent and empathetic people who CARE about the world and the people in it, we just like advertising. I know many people who work in advertising and are extremely passionate about “giving back” or supporting a cause that will make the world a better place. They use the expertise they’ve acquired over the years to make a difference.

I never compromise my morality via my job. I treat everyone I work with respect and consideration, I am honest and I will stand up for my morals or in defence of others. I am not going to get ahead by compromising my morals, if that’s they only way I can get ahead then I’ll bloody quit.

I'm glad Jane sees it the way she does. I guess she's never met these characters in the workplace.

June 26, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

LOWE, Bangkok found a way to do something creative with Direct.

[via Ad Goodness]

June 26, 2008 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 0 Comments

Recently, I completed a series of videos to help a friend of mine promote his book. The videos have gotten him other publicity and also garnered an uptick in book sales.

Today's New York Times reports that doctors are also using YouTube--and giving discounts to patients for an endorsement:

Last year, Cynthia Goodstein was struggling to figure out how to pay for a face-lift. During a consultation with Dr. Payman Simoni, a Beverly Hills facial plastic surgeon, the doctor asked if she would be willing to be a before-and-after on a promotional video made for YouTube. “I probably said, ‘Do I get any discount?’ and he gave me a good deal,” Ms. Goodstein said, who paid just $3,800 instead of the $12,000 he usually charges.

Dr. Joseph T. Cruise, a plastic surgeon in Newport Beach, Calif., has posted 23 client videos on YouTube since 2005. While he said he did not have difficulty getting patients to talk in front of a camera (it is, after all, Southern California), the cash incentives of 10 percent or so didn’t hurt. (He stressed that all surgeries were already scheduled when he offered patients a publicity rebate.) “The money kind of gets them in the door,” he said, “but once they go through the process, they’re happy to talk.”

Doctors stress that their videos educate, not only promote, their trade. That distinction allows them to meet the bar of sites like YouTube, where the policy states that people can “upload health-related, educational, scientific and documentary footage — even when it involves graphic content.”

We all preach how valuable word-of-mouth is. When I had LASIK surgery, I got a doctor's recommendation from a friend. Would YouTube videos influence you to select a doctor for an elective procedure?

June 26, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

BusinessWeek canvassed a broad range of Internet luminaries to discover the design rules they live by.

1. Thou shalt not abuse Flash.

2. Thou shalt not hide content.

3. Thou shalt not clutter.

4. Thou shalt not overuse glassy reflections.

5. Thou shalt not name your Web 2.0 company with an unnecessary surplus or dearth of vowels.

6. Thou shalt worship at the altar of typography.

7. Thou shalt create immersive experiences.

8. Thou shalt be social.

9. Thou shalt embrace proven technologies.

10. Thou shalt make content king.

Contributors ranged from the guru of Web usability, Don Norman, to the design director of NYTimes.com, Khoi Vinh, and John Maeda, president-elect of the Rhode Island School of Design.

June 26, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 9 Comments

According to Shoot, Element 79 hired director Baker Smith of harvest in Santa Monica to make this "viral video" for Gatorade. The catch is amazing, but so is the fact that Gatorade just barely makes an appearance.

[via Shedwa]

June 27, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

You can't put a price on freedom, unless you're an independent agency working to free yourself from the clutches of a holding company.

According to Ad Age, McKinney, the Durham, N.C.-based agency, is set to become an independent again, following a deal struck by agency management to re-acquire 100% interest from Havas, its French parent.

"This has been a very long-term interest of mine and our team here," said Brad W. Brinegar, McKinney's chairman-CEO, who joined the company in 2002.

Havas bought McKinney & Silver in 2001 from web consultancy MarchFirst for an estimated $30 million to $35 million. MarchFirst went belly up after the dot com bust.

June 27, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

I was browsing through the TV spots archived on Adfreak's YouTube page this morning, when I came across this spot from Environmental Defense Fund.

See GetAmericaWorking for more.

June 27, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

Bloggers are not the only people pissed off at Associated Press these days.

According to The Wall Street Journal, a growing cadre of newspaper editors are upset with the 162-year-old newsgathering cooperative.

Some newspapers have attempted to reduce their reliance on the AP. This past spring, prompted by unhappiness with the AP's fees and reduced coverage of state and local news, the eight largest newspapers in Ohio created a cooperative called the Ohio News Organization, or OHNO, which allows its members to sidestep the AP by sharing stories. Five Montana newspapers owned by the newspaper concern Lee Enterprises Inc. have also begun sharing more content. And editors in Texas, Pennsylvania and Indiana have quietly inquired about how the Ohio cooperative works.

Ben Marrison, editor of the Columbus Dispatch, says a recent trial in Akron involving the theft of state money epitomizes members' frustrations. Before the trial Mr. Marrison placed a call to the AP Ohio bureau to find out if it would be sending a reporter.

When he was told the AP wouldn't have a reporter there, he sent one of his own to Akron. Shortly after the story was posted on the Dispatch's Web site, an AP staffer rewrote it for a broader audience and put the new version on the state wire. "So it was important enough for them to move, but not important enough for them to cover," Mr. Marrison said. "What has happened is we've become the wire service for the wire service."

June 27, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

'Cue Confessions is a new BBQ blog written by David Bailey and sponsored by Delta's "Sky Magazine."

[via Adages]

In related news, Danny G. has been busy shooting and editing footage of BBQ expert David Gelin visiting famous Georgia smokemarks.

June 28, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

Rick Myers points to an interesting piece about how we read online by Slate's Michael Agger.

Near the end of the piece, there's a link to "Hamlet's Blackberry: Why Paper Is Eternal" by William Powers.

Here's a clip from Powers' 74-page document:

Paper is the most successful communications innovation of the last 2000 years, the one that has lasted the longest and had the profoundest effect on civilization. One can easily make the case that without the technology that is paper, there would be no civilization. Yet most of the time, we don’t even think of paper as a technology. And so we don’t ask the questions we routinely ask about other technologies: How does it work? What are its strengths and weaknesses? Is it easy and enjoyable to use?

All of which leads me to ask, do you pause to consider the medium you're writing for? Do you write differently for paper? And who among us still puts pen to paper when forming ideas into coherent expressions?

June 29, 2008 by Dan Goldgeier | Permalink | 0 Comments

Looks like the government wants to get involved in TV's last best hope:

Possibly coming to televisions across the nation: stronger warnings that the Cokes, Oreos and Sidekicks flaunted by actors have bought their way onto your favorite show.

That's what the Federal Communications Commission signaled yesterday when it said it would review new rules on how television programmers let viewers know when those "props" are really paid pitches.

FCC Chairman Kevin J. Martin said product placements and integration into story lines have increased as television viewers increasingly use recording devices like TiVo and DVRs to fast forward through commercials. Currently, agency's rules require television programmers to disclose sponsors who have embedded products into shows. Those disclosures typically are done during the credits at the end of the show, which fly by viewers in small script.

June 29, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

According to The Wall Street Journal, Groove Armada signed a comprehensive one-year deal with spirit company Bacardi.

The two DJs will be the main act at Bacardi-sponsored concerts in six venues from Miami to Athens. Andy Cato and Tom Findlay also will produce records that Bacardi can use as background music for its global television-ad campaigns.

Euro RSCG KLP, who brokered the deal.

As well as making and performing music at Bacardi's "B-Live" concerts, Groove Armada will take part in a yearlong fly-on-the-wall television documentary and produce six radio shows -- all about the life and travels of Messrs. Cato and Findlay.

June 29, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

[via Denver Egotist]

June 29, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 1 Comments

Stephen Floyd practices an innocent form of culture jamming. Here's an example of his work in Fairplay, CO.

[via The Moment]

June 30, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 9 Comments

Five years ago interactive was still an exotic discipline. One that lacked respect from traditional creatives reared on print, radio and TV. Of course, that's changing and fast, for even the most entrenched people in advertising know how to follow the money.

Brian Morrissey of Adweek, reminds us that the transition is still underway, particularly when it comes to award show recognition.

The issue, long a point of contention among the digital shops that bring traditional agencies' concepts to life, blew into the open in Cannes when BBDO took top honors in several categories, including a gold Lion in Cyber, for HBO "Voyeur." The crux of the issue: The HBO "Voyeur" site was created by Big Spaceship, a small Brooklyn digital shop. The lack of credit given to Big Spaceship caused jury chair Colleen DeCourcy, chief digital officer at TBWA, to mention the forgotten partner when giving the award to BBDO. Still, the snub riled Big Spaceship CEO Michael Lebowitz, who served on the Cannes Cyber jury. He maintains that BBDO did not deserve all the credit for something it didn't create.

"The era of everything being based on the great idea is over," he says. "Other things have risen to a common level of importance." Without interactive experts to bring ideas to life, he adds, the big ideas are like "a fart in the wind."

June 30, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 0 Comments

According to Marketing Daily, French jeweler and watchmaker Cartier has chosen to kick off an online campaign for its latest collection, Love by Cartier, on MySpace.

"Blogs, group(s) or individual Web sites are no longer the signs of a new era, but are an established reality for a whole new generation," said director of international communications, Corinne Delattre. "As a large brand, we must be able to communicate to this new generation of adepts of the digital world."

According to a recent Forrester Research study, only a third of the world's premium brands sell their goods online. But that's a mistake, Forrester concluded, as about 80% of high-net-worth consumers--with annual gross income and assets of at least $500,000--use the Internet daily, and regularly buy products online.

In its first few days of existence, Cartier's MySpace campaign has attracted some 100,000 visits, and "friends" like Sting.

June 30, 2008 by Matt Bergantino | Permalink | 0 Comments

In the UK, France, and Germany, the Internet is significantly more influential than any other media, according to a study (PDF) by Fleishman-Hillard and Harris Interactive. In fact, online experiences, at least in these European countries, are nearly twice as influential as TV and eight times more influential than traditional print media. Matt Dickman, a VP at Fleishman-Hillard in Cleveland, gives a nice overview on his blog:

The study looks to really dig in to the role that the internet plays in the lives of consumers. It answers the following questions:

What is the influence of the internet compared to other media? What online behaviors are consumers adopting? What is the impact of the internet on specific consumer decisions? What are consumer attitudes towards the internet? What are the differences by country?

Most of us who work in the digital space already have answers handy for these foundational questions, but it never hurts to have charts and graphs from a reputable, third party source come client meeting time.

June 30, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 3 Comments

[via Brandopia]

June 30, 2008 by david burn | Permalink | 2 Comments

I left Denver in August 2003, and while I'm in touch with a few friends who work in the business there, I'm pretty much out of the loop. Which is one reason I enjoy reading The Denver Egotist.

Here's something The Egotist posted today that has me scratching my chin.

McClain Finlon had another round of layoffs, with pretty much everyone not connected to an existing account receiving paid severance. The head count is around 20.

I'm not sure what to make of this assertion. Just two weeks ago, Denver Business Journal, reported that the agency had 158 staffers.

What's not in question is the fact that McClain Finlon lost marquis account Qwest Communications to DraftFCB last winter.