PORTLAND--It's a drizzly Thursday afternoon, but inside Paddy's Bar on SW First and Yamhill things are amazingly clear. Dave Allen, a partner in Fight--the strategic marketing firm he launched last year with Justin Spohn and Rob Shields--is holding court. He asked me to join him in order to practice his agency's pitch. I said yes because I like Dave, he promised me beer(s) and I'm curious about Fight's …
Kids Need Mentors. Adults Need A Laugh.
You'd think advocacy work for an organization like Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Canada would pull at one's heart strings. But Sharpe Blackmore Euro RSCG went another way with their Early Bloomers campaign. …
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Palmetto Staters For Unfettered Capitalism
Unleashing Capitalism, a campaign from SC Policy Council and Atlanta's Huey + Partners, claims to be a prescription for economic prosperity in South Carolina--the state with the 4th highest unemployment rate and the 3rd highest student drop out rate in the nation. SC Policy Council is pushing an agenda of limited government, free enterprise and individual liberty. I've never heard of this group until now, so I'm not …
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Request For Fairness (RFF)
Agencies and clients are peas in a pod. Right? Uh, not always. Jennifer Modarelli, president of White Horse in Portland, writing on Ad Age says the request for proposal process is messed up. Even though RFPs precede an actual business relationship, they contain an implied transaction: We'll invest heavily in time, brainpower and, yes, emotion to demonstrate how we can move your business forward. Your end of the …
Matters of the Heart
Diet Coke is supporting The Heart Truth with two new 15-second spots that will air tonight on American Idol. Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland Director: Pistachios Production Company: Blacklist, New York Original Music: Charlie Campbell …
Super Bowl Sunday — The Perfect Occasion for An Abortion Debate
University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow will appear with his mom in a Super Bowl ad for Focus on the Family next month. According to Advocate.com and The Palm Beach Post, Tebow defended the 30-second ad in which he and his mother Pam are expected to discuss her decision not to have an abortion despite advice from doctors after she contracted amoebic dysentery in the Philippines during her pregnancy with Tim. "I …
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Campaigning for Historic Preservation
Austin ad agency, Door Number 3, is lending a helping hand to The Daughters of The Republic of Texas, the organization that maintains The Alamo in San Antonio. The campaign invites Alamo enthusiasts and the public at large to "Cross the line" and become part of timeless ideals: heroism, courage, loyalty and sacrifice in the universal pursuit of liberty. It's the first time during the Daughters' 105-year stewardship …
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Screens Down
Renny Gleeson is Wieden + Kennedy's global director of digital strategy. As such, he's jacked in to the machine big time. Yet, he remains just distant enough to see himself. There is something beautiful, terrifying and powerful about the rise of ambient intimacy, and our willing adoption of the latest and greatest tools to feed it. We feed it with our hearts and souls like a confessional booth after a Las Vegas …
