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By David Burn
By David Burn
I've always argued that the great majority of agency personnel who add value to America's biggest brands are grossly underpaid. The thought is that the copywriter, art director or account person who consistently delivers million dollar ideas to the brand(s) in their care, rarely sees that fact alter their own compensation in proportional ways. Of course, none of that applies to this bunch. They're getting paid. [via …
By David Burn
Brian Morrissey of Adweek is writing about Web 2.0 companies that are built on customer-centric models. He names Zappos, Etsy, Threadless, Craigslist and Yelp as leading examples and gives his piece depth by describing the lengths Zappos goes to engage with customers. But there's something else in the article that I'm attracted to. Google's home page may have nothing but a search box and links to Google's services -- …
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By David Burn
Sally Hogshead writing in Ad Age says "there's no such thing as the idea." If you can break out of the mind-set that you have to create that one almighty concept, you can stay more open to client feedback, integrate other media platforms and forage outside of your comfort zone for creative thinking. This is good advice. Too many times I've watched in horror while creative staff impaled themselves on a sword for …
By David Burn
David Armano, VP of Experience Design with Critical Mass, writing in Adweek says, "Many advertisers aren't focused on building the digital applications that people want to use; they're focused on somehow cramming marketing into them." Armano's way out of the forest: 1) Usefulness. 2) Utility. 3) Ubiquity. He calls them the "Three U's of Advertising in the Application Economy." …
Continue Reading about Armano To Marketers: Do Something Useful →
By David Burn
I've been looking at lifeiscarbon, from ad man Nicholas McLean, for a few weeks now. I wasn't entirely sure what was going on there, but this post helps spell it out. For less regular readers of lifeiscarbon® or those who may be new to the website, we thought it worth quickly restating what we do and why we do it. At it’s simplest, lifeiscarbon® is a way for us to raise awareness and interest in Scandinavian …
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By David Burn
The ever-generous Tom Asacker sent me a serious looking hard bound book, The Ad Men and Women: A Biographical Dictionary of Advertising, edited by Edd Applegate. I finally cracked the tome and read the chapter on Howard Luck Gossage, written by academic Kim B. Rotzoll. Here is a passage I particularly like (from page 160): They (advertising practitioners) regard the audience incorrectly—as individuals gathered by the …
Continue Reading about “The Conversation” Has Been Integral To Advertising For Decades →
By David Burn
Regarding Hugh MacLeod's latest doodle, Rob at Six Sentences only takes three words to say, "Delicious. Awful. Accurate." What say you? …
Continue Reading about Utterly Depressing Or A Necessary Reality Check? →
By David Burn
IHAVEANIDEA went all out to promote its Portfolio Night 6. They convinced DDB/Toronto to make this video, which required Bob Scarpelli to remain incredibly still throughout the production--a trying matter for any Worldwide Chief Creative Officer. …
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By David Burn
Stuart Elliott is in Dana Point for the 4As Conference. He heard some top people at TBWA distance themselves from all the wallowing about change. “Stop whining,” Lee Clow told the estimated 380 attendees. The new realities “shouldn’t be scary,” he said, because they offer “a huge opportunity for us” to become far more useful to marketer clients as they seek more effective ways to sell products. “If you want to …
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