Ad Age is running an article on the former chief operating officer at WPP's Alliance, David Caruso. Caruso has started a new agency, Acme Content Co., dedicated to branded entertainment. "I felt in a big agency [branded content] still wasn't being treated with the respect and thought leadership that the other disciplines were," he said. "It was still sort of a black sheep." Part of the value of having an independent …
Acme
Absolut Redraws The Map
Here's an Absolut ad running in Mexico: The LA Times reports: The billboard and press campaign, created by advertising agency Teran\TBWA and now running in Mexico, is a colorful map depicting what the Americas might look like in an "Absolut" -- i.e., perfect -- world. The U.S.-Mexico border lies where it was before the Mexican-American war of 1848 when California, as we now know it, was Mexican territory and known …
The Mormons Tell Their Stories
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has always done a lot of traditional advertising. I remember seeing their commercials on TV when I was growing up. With renewed focus on the LDS church due in part to Mitt Romney's Presidential bid, the church is aiming to clear up misconceptions. From Deseret Morning News: The new print ad campaign features people who identify themselves and their quest to find God, …
One More Candle To Burn
Wherever you are in Ad Land, have a drink for our fearless leader, David Burn. It's his birthday today. David runs multiple blogs, a twitter feed, works at a cool ad agency, and goes to tons of live shows to keep up on the latest bands. He's either got more energy than anyone I know, or he lives 30-hour days. Happy Birthday big man! …
Another Sad Piece of News
From Creativity: Paul Arden, an eccentric, revered creative responsible for some of the U.K.'s most popular advertising during his 14 years as Saatchi & Saatchi's executive creative director, died Tuesday of a heart attack. Mr. Arden, 67, left Saatchi in 1993 to start a film production company, Arden Sutherland Dodd, but continued to influence younger creatives with his first book, "It's Not How Good You Are, It's …
Invite Yourself To The Client’s Private Party
Adrian Ho at Zeus Jones is reflecting on leading firms like Google that "don't really use advertising agencies and instead rely upon innovative business ideas to communicate their benefits and values to their customers." Ho also mentions Alex Bogusky's 2004 claim that "everything is an ad" and wonders how ad people are coping with that news. Rather than creating "communications objects" that help to grow a client's …
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Zune Equals Art, Music and Discovery
According to Ad Age, Zune Arts was born more than two years ago as part of an alternative marketing effort by Microsoft that invited emerging artists to create online art around social themes to help launch the Zune digital music player. But since then the website has morphed into an online haven for emerging artists and musicians. While still part of the Zune family of marketing initiatives and still touting the …
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CUL8r English Language
Brace yourself, big marketers are getting hip to text-message lingo. In ads that begin in two weeks for a new line of Degree deodorant for teen girls, Unilever is highlighting "OMG! Moments." Print ads running in magazines such as Seventeen and CosmoGIRL show "High School Musical" star Ashley Tisdale at a glitzy affair discovering that she has toilet paper stuck to one of her shoes. "We wanted to show the teens that …
From Fake Award-Winning Ads To Fake Award-Winning People
This is nuts. From Brand Republic: Roger Makak (pictured), the creative ranked number one in Campaign Brief Asia’s recently released rankings, has been exposed as a work of fiction created by Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore. Speaking to Media, Campaign Brief Asia publisher Kim Shaw said: "From our point of view we’re disappointed that this agency chose to use a false name for work done by someone else.” According to …
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Music To Clorox Customers’ Ears
Entering the music business for the first time, The Clorox Company and its marketing communications partner, DDB Worldwide in San Francisco, recently released to the public "The Blue Sky Project: A Clorox Charity Collection." "The Blue Sky Project," is now available for purchase on iTunes and 50+ other online retailers for $6.93. Music from the CD includes original compositions from independent artists Iron & Wine, …