Steve Rubel says what some have been saying for awhile now--there's a growing need for storytellers. He actually says, "digital storytellers," but I don't see the need to make that distinction. The story will be told digitally. We know that. Harvard Business Review last month noted that most executives cannot articulate the objective, scope, and advantage of their business in a simple statement. "If they can’t, …
Agency Heads Learn To Shape Shift
Eric Karjaluoto of Ideas on Ideas interviewed Kevin "Lovemarks" Roberts, a.k.a. Saatchi Kevin, Worldwide CEO of Saatchi. I like his answer to the following question, even though I don't believe Roberts is a soothsayer. Eric: With the rapid changes occurring in today’s media space, do you believe there will be room for traditional agencies in ten years time? Kevin: No. “Traditional” anything will be under threat. …
Wonderful Discomfort
Creativity recently hosted a roundtable with a bunch of creative luminaries from the ad biz. Jan Jacobs, co-founder, Johannes Leonardo, had this to say: Leo and I started the company because we feel it's the most exciting time in advertising. The doyennes of advertising, the Bernbachs, the Cronins, were valued for bringing true business value to their clients. I think through the years, testing methodologies, …
A Clown Suit Is Still A Suit
Would you trust this "joker" with your brand? According to Creativity, many big time brands do just that. By the way, Andrew Bancroft, a copywriter at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, is a former member of of the San Francisco-based sketch comedy group, Killing My Lobster. …
No, It’s Not An Ad For Phone Sex
Undercurrent is a social interactive think tank. They help brands and agencies understand and engage with a new generation of consumers that were born digital. It's also where Julia Roy works. Did I mention it's where Julia Roy works? Steve Hall did. …
Emerging from the Maze
“My words are my pearls!” -Steffan Postaer It's refreshing to see a well known Executive Creative Director speak freely about the creative process and how fraught with humanity it is. Coming up in the creative ranks at Leo Burnett my partner(s) and I had to compete with any number of teams looking for the same outcome: the agency’s recommendation. And then it was the client’s turn to debate and decide. This process …
Want To Remake Marketing? Watch The River Flow.
Adrian Ho of Zeus Jones is a planner, a.k.a. one who thinks deep thoughts, and increasingly shares them via the interwebs. As postmodernism tore apart the traditional hierarchies and relationships I had been brought up with, I felt a strong need to create new ones. To tie things back together into a new story, to help make sense of the world again. I think this sense of feeling adrift was quite widespread. One of the …
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Rare Coinage
Can you get rich working in advertising? The answer is yes, if you start a company and someday sell it for millions. Of course, there is another answer—ascend to the top of a big time holding company and make millions each and every year. According to Media Daily News, Michael J. Roth, Interpublic's chairman of the board and CEO, received $1.1 million in base salary for 2007, only about a 3% raise from 2006. The …
Where The Money Is
Digital advertising veterans P.J. Pereira and Andrew O'Dell caused a stir in the industry earlier this year when they left their senior posts at AKQA. Wednesday, they announced plans to launch a new full-service agency, Pereira & O'Dell. The two say their new San Francisco-based agency will offer clients both digital and traditional services, but won't sell them what they don't need, implying that both traditional …
Ad Guy Gets Into Editorial Business
John Rash, Campbell-Mithun's senior vice president and director of media negotiations, will be taking on a new role starting next week. He will be joining the Minneapolis Star-Tribune's editorial board. According to nonprofit journalism enterprise, MinnPost, Rash teaches classes at University of Minnesota, has a radio show on WCCO-AM and writes for Ad Age and the Star-Tribune. MinnPost's David Brauer questions the …
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