Say what you will about Bob Garfield, but his column does get the attention of the ad industry. And this week's column, An Open Letter to John Wren, will certainly get attention, as he addresses the CEO of Omnicom about some not-so-subtle gay bashing in this Snickers spot done by AMV BBDO in London. The entire letter is worth reading, but here is the last part, which gets at the ultimate point: Since you are the …
Walkin’ The Line
There are a lot of interesting points (and comment counterpoints) in this post at The Daily (Ad) Biz, talking about "below-the-line" agencies attempting to cross over. Here's a snippet: It seems that every company with a Photoshop license seems to think that they are an ad agency…like this partner agency that I am working with. They are a below-the-line/brochure shop and every time they present new creative, they …
More Obamarketing
I've written before about Barack Obama's sophisticated marketing machine. Today's Salon reveals even more: Now Obama's campaign is aiming to be ahead of even the GOP's standard in applying sophisticated data mining techniques across the board, supported by all the traditional canvassing, door-knocking and other work it's been doing. The campaign is collecting some of the most helpful data on its own. For example, …
Suzuki Has A New Ad Agency!
I hope this means they're getting rid of their tagline with the exclamation point! Here's the story from Ad Age! American Suzuki Corp. has handed its $100 million-plus auto account to independent Siltanen & Partners Advertising, Marina del Rey, Calif., just three months after bringing on the shop to handle two projects. Congrats, Siltanen! But in all semi-seriousness, I hope they don't dig up Baby Bob again! …
To Regulate Or Not To Regulate Online Advertising
How did we end up in a world where private companies want more regulation and the government wants less? If I understand this New York Times article correctly, that's what's happening: The Senate Commerce Committee began Wednesday to look at how online companies collect and use data about Internet users for advertising, and was told by several big Internet companies that it needs to pass a new law to enforce privacy …
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Question Of The Day: Is It Just Me…
or do most of the viral/microsite/buzzworthy things get most of their traction because of ad industry publications and blogs? I'm wondering because of the Converse discussion, and it occurred to me that I'd never hear about 95% of the viral stuff unless I read it on a blog or in Adweek or something. Seems that intra-industry PR fuels the perception that this stuff is successful. Are all these viral things just a big …
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McCain Feels The Love
One of the things we rarely see in consumer advertising is a back-and-forth message sparring between 2 brands. That's why the political season is so fascinating to me. And while I'm not a McCain supporter, this is a pretty sharply written spot: UPDATE: Well, maybe the McCain team isn't deserving of all the credit. The line "don't hope for a better life, vote for one" is a direct lift from a Saatchi & Saatchi ad in …
Can A Netflix-Style Service Save Magazines?
I gotta admit, I love me some magazines. Lots of 'em. And I really dig this idea: Magazine buying may get an Internet-era makeover in September when Time Inc. launches Maghound, a service that promises to blend the convenience of subscriptions with the flexibility of newsstand sales. Customers will pay a monthly fee for home delivery of the publications they want. But unlike with subscriptions, which typically run …
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