Packaged goods advertising needs a kick in the pants. No one's going to argue otherwise. However, I'm not sure what Unilever and WPP's Mindshare Entertainment have wrought with this painfully derivative spot for Dove? According to Ad Age, this Mad Men mirror for Dove is just the beginning. Unilever is planning to work six of its iconic brands--Dove, Breyers, Hellman's, Klondike, Suave and Vaseline--into this newly …
Three Time Zones Away, Fiercely Competitive Nevertheless
Pac-10's commissioner, Larry Scott, is out to re-vamp and re-brand the conference and put it on every sports fans' radar. To forge a new and unique identity for the conference, Pac-10 approached Portland Oregon's Mutt Industries - among other firms. Mutt designed the logo to capture the powerful landscapes that set the West Coast apart and to represent the strength of the league. …
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Ford, WPP Have Good News For The Motor City
The consolidation of Ford's advertising -- above and below the line -- at Team Detroit appears to be working well. From the Detroit Free Press: Team Detroit, the Dearborn-based collective of five WPP-owned agencies with Ford as the major client, has recently added more than 300 jobs while other local ad shops have closed or been badly wounded by the loss of automotive accounts including Chrysler, General Motors and …
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VCs and Technologists Dream Of A Better Day, Meanwhile Banner Ads Still Bite
Whoa is the lowly banner ad that no one wants to see or click on. But let's not get all weepy just yet. According to Brian Morrissey of Adweek, help is on the way. ...tens of millions of dollars in venture capital is flowing into ad technology. Investors are betting that a market the Interactive Advertising Bureau pegged at $8 billion in 2009 can quickly grow five times or more with the help of better machinery. "If …
Marketing Lessons From The Grateful Dead: Goin’ Down The Road, Building A Brand
I don't know if Howard Gossage ever met the members of the Grateful Dead before he passed away, but 45 years later, it's quite easy to see some commonalities between the ad man and the band who both inhabited San Francisco in the late 60's. For starters, both engaged with their respective audiences and embraced an experimental spirit to their work. I wonder if Gossage, had he lived longer, might have built a more …
Ground Beef, Ground Again
According to Fast Company, McDonald's launch of "real fruit" smoothies (they're actually made from purees) rightfully rattled, Jamba Juice. The San Francisco-based company responded with a new product of its own called the Cheeseburger Chill, described in a press release as "beefy, smothered in cheese, loaded with your favorite condiments and blended to creamy perfection." There's even a commercial to whet our …
Jimmy John’s Takes Sub Dump On Dude’s Lawn, Shares It For Everyone To See
It seems to me that Jimmy John's--more so than other sub chains--has their Social Media Marketing game face on. The brand is on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook and they have a frequently updated blog called FreakFast, where they're busy directly engaging with fans via "Picture of the Day" uploads and other means. Clearly, Social Media Marketing is easier to do when a company is already promotional and experiential by …
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Dickies Versus Levi’s (Goodby Versus Wieden): Who Needs 501s When You Can Wear 874s?
Dickies is working with Goodby, Silverstein & Partners to highlight the brand's spirit and flagship product, the Original 874 Work Pant. The goal of the campaign is to solidify the 874 as a universal icon for the Dickies brand and convey the brand's relevance to a larger audience. "We challenged Goodby, Silverstein & Partners to create a unique campaign that acknowledges the ethos of our brand and honors the …
