Caffeinated posts from a copywriter/adgrunt. I write about advertising, design, astronomy, cooking, and pretty much anything else that strikes my fancy, including random bits of reference info for work purposes. You may also know me as 'that other gal' who helps run Adland. | make contact | RSS Feed | ATOM

Tuesday, June 30, 2009
[ Hello again ]

+ Poor neglected blog. I wonder if you get any visitors anymore. Things have been too busy with work and life to maintain you of late. I have often thought about posting, but the next project comes through like a freight train. Then there's Twitter and Facebook, both demanding my attention away from you. Easier and faster to update a status, post a link or push out a tweet than to compose my thoughts in a coherent way that might make sense or be of interest. But I won't leave you little Cup of Java.

You serve a purpose and there needs to be a way I can fit you into my chaotic world.

Labels: Cup of Java

Tuesday, April 07, 2009
[ Sir Mix-A-Lot does BK ]

+ Following in the footsteps of Hootie, Sir Mix-A-Lot helps BK shill some kid's meals featuring Sponge Bob. Below is the 2 minute - but the :30 is airing on TV. (hat tip @kburk)

Labels: adgruntie, campaign, commercial, creative, work

Tuesday, March 17, 2009
[ Who ever said the jingle was dead? ]

+ Local advertisers haven't stopped the use of jingles, although in the past 10 years or so, many traditional advertisers have removed the jingle from their arsenal. But now and again we see a jingle pop up, like the FreeCreditReport.com spots by the Martin Agency, and the now popular singing fish for McDonald's Fillet-o-Fish done by folks at Arnold in Boston.

I've heard many say the Fillet-o-Fish spot is hilarious. I really don't see what's so funny about the ad. It's really the jingle they are finding catchy. There isn't much to the spot visually - a man sitting on a couch in a garage eating a sandwich, a singing fish on a wall and the arrival of his friend. My honest opinion is that it's the jingle that's capturing & captivating folks.



I will say that the ad and jingle drives me nuts. Although I do give props for its success, I do wish that the media buyers went with reach, not frequency when doing their planning. When the campaign broke, I think there was one night where I saw the ad 6-8 times in an hour and a half. Seriously.

Labels: ad review, adgruntie, commercial, copy, watch

Monday, March 09, 2009
[ What's it take to be a good Creative Director? ]

+ A worthy read, whether you are the CD or you want to see how yours stacks up. Rant: What Makes a Good Creative Director - Part 1.
Themes from Part 1 include:

The creative director is the last line of defense.
The creative director doesn’t play politics with creatives.
The creative director gives specific feedback.
The creative director is well-versed in all crafts.
The creative director is a selfless creative.
The creative director is not your best buddy.
The creative director knows the latest trends.
The creative director will hire great creatives.
The creative director is well-read.

Looking forward to reading part 2.

Labels: adgruntie, agency, work

Thursday, February 19, 2009
[ Twitter Conversation: #Upswing ]

+ Sally Hogshead (@sallyhogshead) is doing an experiment on Twitter today:

An experiment: What POSITIVE effects of this recession are you seeing, experiencing, hearing about? Post to hashgroup: #upswing

We already know the BAD things about a recession Let’s stop, just for a moment, and consider what GOOD might come. #upswing

Join us in the conversation and share your thoughts on the positives of this crappy economy. Just add #upswing to your tweet. :)

Labels: adgruntie, trends, twitter, wisdom

Sunday, January 18, 2009
[ 5 Reasons Your Creative Might Not Be Innovative ]

+ Innovative advertising takes much more than just a spectacular creative idea. The philosophy of creating communications that wow has to be a group decision, whether that decision is a conscious one as an extension of the brand itself, or something that takes much debate to make a reality.

1) From the start, the strategy has to support a creative and innovative approach or idea. This helps insure that the client is open to the way of thinking and that come time to present the ideas - they are not completely shocked with anger or disappointed. (NOTE: Making the client uncomfortable is not a bad thing, my point is that it's not good to go in with something so unexpected that they get pissy).
2) The creative team has to look at unusual and unorthodox ideas that reach the target in an authentic and unique way. It's helpful to have the creative team work with media at this point as well to discuss the media vehicles to best distribute the messaging/creative.
3) The account team has to back the idea and see the value in it. The creative team needs the support of the account team, especially if the client is not on-board from the start. Starting with a strategy that supports this way of thinking from the beginning is a sign that this way of thinking is understood throughout the members of the team across disciplines.
4) The client needs to understand the value of doing something ground-breaking, innovative, etc. This is another reason why starting with the strategy is so important. As the brief for the project should reflect this thinking, and the client must sign off on it prior to starting the project, it means they know what they are getting into and their expectations are set for something incredible and non-vanilla.
5) The media team has to have a solid understanding of how to best execute this thinking and extend the innovation, as necessary, to the type of media buy. Again, this is why having the media team and the creative teams meet up during the brainstorming or at some point while coming up with ideas is key.

If there's one thing to take away from this, it's to make sure everyone is looking to do great work. It only takes one piece of the entire puzzle to be missing and you end up with the mediocre work that is 99% of what we see in advertising, be it traditional, digital, etc.

Labels: adgruntie, agency, creative, inspiration, wisdom, work

Saturday, January 17, 2009
[ Watch Super Bowl Ads All Weekend ]

+ Want to get prepped for the upcoming Super Bowl ad fest? Well then, stop reading this drivel and get yourself to Adland!

We're talking 36 YEARS folks. I this FedEx spot, ""We Apologize" aired 1998 and is probably one of my all-time favorites.

Go on, whet your appetite for advertising.

Labels: adgruntie, adland, commercial, fun, Super Bowl, watch

Tuesday, January 13, 2009
[ Crazy "girlie" ad ]

+ So what do you think of GlaxoSmithKline’s Lactacyd vaginal cream ad created by Grey Amsterdam?

It's different, I'll give it that. But do I really need to see the "kitty" POV? I would say that I'm somewhat surprised that the ad was created by a female creative team. Seems something more that the guys would come up with...at least on first pass. And as someone pointed out, it's not really clear what the benefit of the product is or why you should use it.

Labels: ad review, adgruntie, commercial, creative

Friday, January 02, 2009
[ This and That: 01.02.09 ]

+ Five Second Test - The five second test is a simple usability test that helps you measure the effectiveness of your user interfaces. So help out a designer and give some good karma :)

Who's Talkin' is a neat metasearch engine that aggregates results from blogs and blog comments, news sites, social networks, video hubs, images, forums, tag sites from over 60 sites such as Technorati, IceRocket, Google Blog Search, Friendfeed, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. Site is currently in beta, but pretty cool and a nice tool to use to keep track of your brands. (hat tip: micropersuasion)

Round up of 2008 ad campaigns from USA Today and the NYTimes

Labels: ad news, ad review, adgruntie, branding, interactive, online advertising, social networking, twitter, web

[ 7 Things ]

+ Yes, my first post of 2009 (and first post in a while) is a meme. Been tagged by the loverly the girl riot(TM). So, I guess I should list off the 7 things about me then I get to tag 7 others. Woot. Funnily enough, I just did a 16 things about me (must be a popular time of the year for these lists). Better narrow it down to the most interesting or whatever.

#1) When I started college, I was a Marine Biology major. That lasted one semester. There were way to many crazy premed kids in my classes. I realized that I'd spend about 3 1/2 years in the same classes and after seeing fellow students have break downs in their *first semester*, I thought it was a good idea to explore other career paths. I took a variety of classes my second semester and really fell in love with advertising. It just seemed right. Take that however you will. ;)

#2) The list of places I'd like to visit before I die is massive. MASSIVE. Seriously. The world is such an awesome and interesting place, and I want to experience all of it. It sometimes makes me think I'd be better off as an flight attendant, but then I think again, and realize that if I had to spend all that time on an airplane, I'd go crazy (ok, crazier).

#3) I likes to cook and bake for people. I'll take any excuse I can to do some cookery. I'm not amazing at it, but I'm trying. For 2009, I want to try making my own breads.

#4) I'm weird about music. Often I have no idea who sings what song, but I know if I like it. Depending on my mood, I tend to listen to different things, from Mozart to Red Hot Chili Peppers to The Beatles. It makes for very interesting listening when I put my ipod on shuffle. ;)

#5) Some days, I find the Internet overwhelms me and I just want to hide in a corner.

#6) I grew up on both the West and East coasts.

#7) I have not traveled the Southern states at all. Last year (2008) was the first time I went to Florida, and beyond that, I have not been further south than D.C. or New Mexico.


And now to tag some folks.

@adtothebone : AdToTheBone
@texturl : texturl.net
@KevinMGreen : Socially Adept
@purplesime : purplesimon
@griner : TheSocialPath
@deeped : DeepEdition
@dirkthecow : ThisIsHerd

THE RULES:
* Link to your original tagger(s) and list these rules in your post.
* Share seven facts about yourself in the post.
* Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
* Let them know they’ve been tagged

Labels: fun, social networking, trends

Monday, November 17, 2008
[ This and That: 11.17.08 ]

+ Lots of interesting reads this morning. Afraid my Firefox is going to have a fit if I try opening a new tab.

Times Square getting first green billboard - The billboard construction starts this month and will be for Ricoh. It will powered by 16 wind turbines and 64 solar panels. Interesting.

Are logos as powerful or effective as ads?

Epoch Films to launch new venture Dandelion which will be dedicated to programming and entertainment sponsored by brands.

IBM study shows some interesting stats, including: "respondents prefer ad-supported models for accessing digital content services at a rate of "three-to-one" vs. consumer-paid models, presenting a distinct opportunity for advertisers"; "More than three-quarters (76%) of consumers surveyed have already watched video on their PC, up 27% from last year, while 32% indicated they have viewed video on a portable device or mobile phone, up 45% from last year."

An interesting article on Why Yahoo Still Matters for You.

A nicely written piece on the paragraph in web typography and design. Sadly I think quite often typography is overlooked on the web. But if you're building experiences and sites to hold content, it is a necessary piece of the puzzle. Not just how the headline or copy in graphics will look, but also the way in which you style html text.

Adweek celebrates 30 - just don't tell them it's the new 20. ;) Lots of interesting articles and lists and such in honor of the event over there, including one on consumer's media use and behavior and how technology has changed the way agencies spin a brand's story.

Need to follow your client's brand online? Check out Addictomatic, looks like it could be a handy little tool for that.

Labels: ad news, adgruntie, links, reference, social media, this and that, trends, web, wisdom, work

[ Motrin causes web and self headache ]

+ A new campaign for Motrin that launched recently targets Moms, and attempts to be funny, but instead has angered quite a few.
This spot was on their website until it got pulled last night/today (no idea if it's intended to be web only):

Read more about it and the reactions at Mashable.com, marketingpilgrim.com, and of course, on Twitter.

I also came across this video of snippets of people's tweets from the weekend:


Motrin has already done the apology email. You can check it out here.The reactions range between thinking the apology is a good first step to those who feel they knew what they were doing and the email was just lip-service.

I can see how the video might offend. The VO's tone is somewhat irritating to me, like she's trying to be super smug or whatever. Plus the tone of some of the lines could have been shifted to be more tongue in cheek and probably get more across the initial concept that the CW & AD had in mind. I have to wonder how much the words got modified that might have effected the way it was interpreted by the target audience. Was there an earlier draft that wouldn't have caused such a hubbub? Possibly. Only the client and agency would know.

In the end, we'll have to see if this baby-carrying, motrin storm will quickly blow over, and what effect it will have on the brand ever trying to do some ads with attitude again. Hopefully they won't give up but be more mindful - which will most likely result in over-testing of creative and putting on the cautionary blinders.

Labels: ad news, adgruntie, campaign, controversy, social media, twitter, work