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

Friday, June 25, 2004
[ Cannes, Women, & The Future ]

+ USA Today reports Global ads aim for one brand, image. The article touches on the concept that thinking globally and acting locally has become a trend for global advertisers. The article lists some examples of the worldwide advertisers and their methods for universal brand thinking:

Citibank. The U.S. financial services brand runs credit card, retail banking and consumer loan businesses worldwide. No matter the locale, "The business is the business, and we want to make sure we're not schizophrenic," says Anne MacDonald, head of global marketing. "We want our brand values consistent around the world." Citibank does so by using one model to develop credit cards, signs and even office interiors.

McDonald's. The fast-food giant last year created its first global ad campaign after finding young adults worldwide were rejecting McDonald's for the same reason — the brand was not contemporary to them — and decided to address the issue with one answer. "Strategically we said, 'Why would we do it 10 different ways? Let's do it in one voice,' " says Larry Light, global chief marketing officer at McDonald's. That voice now sings, "I'm lovin' it." Supporting the global theme are 25 new ads.

Pepsi. The youthful brand is recognized for its ad humor in the USA and has applied that to ads globally — with local cultural twists. An ad in India, for instance, tells of a boy who, when he drinks a Pepsi, can train elephants to do tricks. His career is shattered, however, when another boy pops open a Pepsi during a performance, and the elephants follow him."How consumers experience the personality of the brand should be tempered by the culture," says Dave Burwick, chief marketing officer, North America.

Procter & Gamble. In its drive to be a "high-performance marketing organization," P&G has pushed for broadcast TV and more focus on media that can be better tailored for local needs around the world, says Jim Stengel, global marketing officer. It is perfecting the concept of global brands with regional flair, he says. It sells about 50 of its brands in North and Latin America, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Stengel says P&G is "reinventing our approach to marketing." It is making media choices based on when and where it can best reach its customers, then creating ads to suit that media.

Reebok. The sports apparel and footwear brand has built a new global marketing campaign around the Olympics that includes print ads of such athletes as basketball player Yao Ming in ancient Greek garb and poses. Reebok also is creating sculptures of the athletes modeled on poses from the famous Parthenon Frieze. "We try very hard to make a program like this very relevant to cultures around the world," says Denise Kaigler, vice president, global communications.

Hewlett-Packard. Whether in England, Russia, Australia or the USA, H-P's message is that its technology helps businesses handle change. The ads are in a variety of media, but particularly outdoor. A recent poster outside London's National Gallery promoted H-P technology to restore just the right shade of yellow to a Van Gogh painting. Another ad will go up next week in Moscow's Red Square. Choosing such landmark locations "allows us to become part of the city," says Gary Elliott, vice president, brand marketing.

UPS. The overnight carrier uses just three ads that run in 20 countries for its global message that its service builds businesses. UPS does so because it has found "that the similarities among decision makers in our category, whether in China, India or Mexico, their needs, wants and fears are amazingly consistent," says Larry Bloomenkranz, vice president, global advertising and brand management. It varies the faces in the ads — one might have an Asian cast, another white — "so people can recognize themselves in the advertising," Bloomenkranz says.

All in all, it does seem to be effective. And a rather logical way to go (logic in advertising? Never!). Pushing one brand message throughout the world does reinforce a single image in the minds of consumers, no matter what language they speak or what cultural differences they have between them. Advertisers need to be wary though of just doing one big concept and translating the copy for different countries. In some cases it will work, in most it won't - especially in countries with vastly different cultures. Concepts and ideas that consumers "get" in Europe may not play well in Asia or Africa. Then again, there are universal concepts that as human beings we all "get". And maybe then that's the path that we are heading down for big international players.

+ Cannes reflects women's journey in marketing. "But female ad executives still earn 10% to 25% less than male counterparts, according to separate studies by Advertising Age and Working Mother magazines. Advertising's prestigious One Club in New York, which honors creativity in art direction and copy writing, has inducted no women into its Hall of Fame since its founding in 1984. When it comes to handing out the biggest awards in the business, women are trying to join the club there, too. Despite the goal of 30% female juries at Cannes this year, only 30 of 127 judges, or 24%, are women. There have been just two female jury presidents in the festival's 51-year history, in 1986 and 2001." That's just sad.

+ The future of advertising-the harder sell. "The advertising industry is passing through one of the most disorienting periods in its history. This is due to a combination of long-term changes, such as the growing diversity of media, and the arrival of new technologies, notably the internet. Consumers have become better informed than ever before, with the result that some of the traditional methods of advertising and marketing simply no longer work." Which is not true. Let's stop thinking this way. It's not that traditional methods don't work, but rather that they need to be looked at in a new way-figuring out how they meld with the newer methods. "As Rupert Howell, chairman of the London arm of McCann Erickson, insists, “the underlying principles haven't changed.” He points out, TV never killed radio, which in turn never killed newspapers. They did pose huge creative challenges, but that's OK, he maintains: “The advertising industry is relentlessly inventive; that's what we do.”" With each new media there's always the fear that the old media will vanish into thin air, never to be used again. And that's just a ridiculous way to think. We build onto the old with the new to create an even better integrated marketing plan. Or at least that's the idea. Creating concepts that spread into the various media start with the birth of a big idea so fantastic that it easily can be morphed into a radio spot, tv spot, internet ad/webpage, print, and any other media format you can think of. Which in a way is interesting as over the last few years more and more agencies have popped up to do more specific work. Internet only, broadcast only, DM only agencies then must work together with the traditional agencies to keep a true concept throughout all the work that is created. And the more chefs in the kitchen, the harder that is to do. So if this idea does catch on, I wonder if we will see a return to the integrated agencies- who can do it all. True, a lot of agencies have bought up the smaller specific-focused shops. But I wonder if we will see more of that as there is a return to a better ad climate. Hopefully it will mean a bigger need for creative generalists who know how to work and think in all media, rather than having specialists doing just one part of a larger campaign.
Monday, June 21, 2004
[ Roars from Cannes ]

+ Yesterday was the first day of the Cannes Lions Festival. Here's a couple articles to whet your appetite:
In Cannes, creativity above all.
Business not as usual.
There's more at the official Cannes site. Shortlist and winners will be posted as the week goes on at the site.

[ Resources and news ]

+ Convert your colours from Pantone to RGB to Hex HTML. Very cool. Might take a bit to load- but worth it. (via Dab.)

+ Logo Lounge- another source for logo resources. (via Tracy)

+ Troegs beer is having a competition to see what images you can create with their bottle caps. (found via Print Critic.)

+ Long, lavish event ads target jaded, resistant consumers. Adland's own Åsk Wappling was interviewed and is quoted in the article. Nice!

+ Queen of Carbs drops suit against Bud. What a surprise! ;)
Thursday, June 17, 2004
[ Fly by posting ]

+ Interesting ads for Stella and spec ads from thespecspot.com over at Adland.

+ The Motion Picture Association of America, which represents the major U.S. movie studios, said it has begun placing new ads in newspapers and magazines, and it plans to ramp up efforts to educate parents and kids in schools about copyright piracy.

+ Stan Richards of the Richards Group says "Stay independent". "I can't give an example where the work got better when an agency was sold," said Richards on Tuesday at the American Advertising Federation's conference in Dallas. "If we're going to be true to our mission of continuing to do better work, then selling an agency wouldn't be a step in that direction."
I've always wondered (well not always, but in recent years at least) how becoming part of a holding company effects ad agencies. During recent years many agencies have been bought out by the handful of large holding groups, and during those years it seems that fewer of the agencies have been putting out work as great as it was when they were independent.
Thursday, June 10, 2004
[ Hot Humid and Hairy ]

+ NYTimes looks at how Tagament takes an edgier approach to marketing heartburn treatments to a younger audience, with a campaign for Tagamet HB 200. The campaign demonstrates a desire by the OTC companies to balance addressing serious medical conditions with persuit of a desired lifestyle. "In this case, the lifestyle is youthful hedonism. The Tagamet campaign suggests shifting the focus of heartburn medications from treating unintentional excess - for years, Alka-Seltzer thrived with the slogan "I can't believe I ate the whole thing" - to providing a prophylactic for customers whose excess is very intentional indeed. Since last week, bar patrons in the Buckhead area of Atlanta have found such encouragement on coasters and pint glasses. Staring out seductively from these items are women wearing little black dresses or tight-fitting shirts. "Did you bring protection?" or "Don't forget your protection,'' the copy reads. Pictured nearby is a mound of buffalo wings, or a pizza with plenty of toppings."

+ Coke ad, "Buddies" gets pulled off air. "The advert features two friends taking a break from a basketball game. One of the friends takes two cans of Coke out of a fridge, drinks one of them and uses the other to cool down by applying it to his forehead, neck, stomach and then armpit. He then hands the can to his friend, who is unaware of where the can has been. The advert was intended to run during the National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball tournament, but was aired during a golf tournament, whose TV audience included Donald Keough, a director and former president at the company. According to The Wall Street Journal Europe, Keogh complained about the ad to current president Steven Heyer. Other Coca-Cola executives and at least a few consumers also complained, according to the company." You can view the ad at Coke's site - click on the ad titled "Buddies". I don't see what the hoopla is all about. It's not like the guy spits on the can, puts feces on it or something else totally disgusting. People need to calm down and chill out.
Monday, June 07, 2004
[ Monday blahs ]

+ Nike taps Gawker Media for blog effort-"Called Art of Speed, the blog will spend about a month showcasing a series of 15 short films on the theme of speed, all commissioned by Nike. Gawker Media Contract Productions, a new division of Gawker Media, will supply layout, commentary, links and other features." Also from the article: "I'm skeptical that a lot of online readers would be interested in reading an advertorial blog," Patrick Phillips, the publisher of a blog called I Want Media, said. "If you got to a site, and you know you're being sold something, I don't know that there's going to be a lot of interest." Phillips brings up a very valid point. There's a big question as to how the weblog community would receive something like this. If it's related information and links to sports type stuff, it might be ok. But if they start trying to hawk their wares too hard, it will be a turn off. I don't think overall weblogs are a bad idea for companies or as an advertising message, but it needs to add value to the overall, well, value of the brand- be it emotional connection for the consumer or as a way to provide further information. And I'm not so sure that 15 short films about speed will do that.

+ Direct Mail is the UK's most hated industry according to a vote from BBC One's 'Brassed Off Britain' series. "Direct mail beat estate agents, mobile phone companies, call centres, dodgy builders and banks, pulling in 24% of the public's vote. However, second-placed banks were only just behind with 23% of the vote and third-placed call centres had 22%."

+ Death of the great advertising idea is a decent article that brings up some very interesting points. "The Idea was the central innovation of advertising's Creative Revolution. All other major elements -- the copywriter-art director creative team, the use of contemporary cultural references, the understanding that, as David Ogilvy put it, "the consumer is not an idiot, she is your wife" -- flowed from it. The Idea sought to connect a marketer's product to the consumer's interests, using as a bridge a clever, emotionally rich, culturally relevant story, told with fully integrated words and pictures." Rothenberg goes on to discuss that product placement, celebrity endorsements, sponsorships, and event marketing have sullied the "idea". There's a lot there that I agree with. Although I don't know that the "ideas" have totally died out in the ad industry. There are still some fabulous ads out there...just not a lot of them. Whether that responsibility stems from the agencies, clients or a little bit of both is hard to say. My guess is that it is a little bit of both. In recent years, a lot of creative has been not so great. Few great ideas were making their way out into the public eye. And of course, some of that had to do with budget cutbacks, layoffs, and other economy related things. As the economy goes south, clients rein in their ad budgets and tend to go the more conservative route- or look for cheaper ways to get their messages out there. But then too, agencies have a tendency to kowtow to the clients, giving them what they want, in an effort not to lose the account. Doing that results in bad work too. Like the article points out (and I think I might have before), you cannot have one celebrity taking on the spokesperson job for 6 different brands. It doesn't help the brand to be associated with someone who's already hawking a multitude of products- even if they are in different categories. Sometimes I wonder if that is a result of the client saying "Yeah, let's get X" and the agency just nodding in agreement to make the client happy. Throughout these last couple years it has been difficult for me to see some of the crap that gets through the agencies and out into the airwaves, into the magazines, etc. When I get complaints from people about the crappy advertising out there (for some reason because I work in the industry, they feel it's their responsibility to inform me about it), I tell them "well, it's not my fault." Sometimes that makes me feel a little better about not having a fulltime job, or working on high-profile accounts. But at the same time, it also fuels my desire to work to make a change in the crap that is out there. The inane concepts, stupid copy, and overall lame attempts to "cut through the clutter". There's something that should be done about it. And in some way agencies like CP+B are working towards that end. I just hope that eventually I get to be a part of this "idea revolution." And in time I'm sure I will...but the waiting is the hardest part. I could write more on this but for now I'll leave it at this. Maybe later I'll go off on another rant. ;)
Saturday, June 05, 2004
[ Stuff to see ]

+ Portrait Illustration Maker. Kinda neat. Just choose the individual parts and it creates an icon you can use of yourself. (via blogdex.net)

+ Estimating the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow- for you Python fans out there. :D (via blogdex.net)

+ Cool vintage print ads from back in the day when illustration was king. (via tracy)

+ TypePhases- some cool stuff here. (via Tracy, via HOW)

+ The Nielsen TV Research Activity Book- scanned in by Jim Hannas (found via BoingBoing.net)

+ Photography of Symon Chow and Mocean Worker (found via EGullet's Q&A with Alton Brown)

+ Brian Transeau- more great music. And more info on the music can also be found at btmusic.com. I've got two of his albums so far, and I'm ready for more.