Cup of Java

Wednesday, September 29, 2004
[ :: adgruntie :: Wake up! ]

+ Five clichés of woman (as portrayed by advertisers). Read this article. They bring up some excellent points about marketing to women.

But both Mr Mildenhall and Ms Bay believe that advertisers have failed to keep up with the rapid changes in female lifestyles during the past five years. Mr Mildenhall identifies five key changes in women's lifestyles that marketers should take into account. First, women are increasingly adopting male behaviour, for example in their approach to alcohol. Second, they are doing better than men in education, but not in the workplace - while they make up half of the workforce, there is still a massive pay imbalance. Third, while women are getting older, they are acting younger. For example, a 45-year-old might wear the same clothes as her teenage daughter - without looking ridiculous or in any way unusual. Fourth, women are having children much later and are less likely to stay at home with them. And finally, women are increasingly important when it comes to making purchasing decisions. But advertisers are still afraid to address them.

"Advertisers are lazy in their approach to consumers. They're stuck in a 1990s time warp where they think if they add a bit of emotion, they've done their job. Consumers have changed rapidly over the last five years," said Ms Bay.

+ Product Placement Prickley Predicament- an article from a consumer on product placement. Let's just say they're not thrilled with the idea. And I understand why. It goes back to the idea of "slipping in the shill" as mentioned in my last post. Here's an excerpt:

Let us now skewer a new advertising industry technique for so thoroughly concealing itself as to trick us into believing some ads don't exist. The trickery I'm referring to is called "product placement."

The average American consumer is pounded daily by ads in newspapers, on television, on radio, at bus stops and train stations, via roadside billboards, in Internet pop-ups and recorded telemarketing spiels. Ads, ads -- they're everywhere. But a much more venal form of capitalism's unwanted stepchild (the relentless pitch) has grown in use and efficacy to the point where advertising as we know it is falling from favor.

Tuesday, September 28, 2004
[ :: adgrunite :: Lubars and AdClub NYC ]

+ The New York Metro interviews David Lubars, the new CD at BBDO.

Lubars sometimes refers to the audience as “victims” of advertising. If the problem with advertising, the old advertising, the advertising that played to a captive audience, is that it shills, that it sells too hard, in David Lubars’s world the way to get past consumer indifference is to stop selling. It is not to make advertising but to make entertainment that happens to sell stuff. “The audience is very sophisticated,” he says. “They like marketing, and they’re willing to play the game. But they’re willing to play the game right. ‘Truth. Don’t bullshit me.’ ”

Lubars brings up some good points. And elsewhere in the article so does Alex Bogusky.

Says Alex Bogusky, CPB’s creative director: “I don’t mind looking like we’re selling something. I just want to make sure everyone’s in on the joke. Everyone is having fun with it. The consumer is there, and they know we’re trying to sell a Mini. Why else would we be there, y’know? And we know that they know.”

It's not about tricking consumers into watching your ad. It's not about slipping in the shill as Lubars puts it. It's about finding a way to connect to them, through entertainment of some kind, which also demonstrates the way in which the product or service benefits them- whether it be "makes life easier" or "you'll enjoy it". There's something about the lack of honest factor in a lot of advertisements that just ring false. McDonalds really cares about the quality of food you ingest? Since when? Since they started getting sued. Sometimes it seems that marketers, clients and other ad folk forget to remember that what their are creating won't be interesting to anyone but themselves, and/or that they are creating for people who don't really care all that much about their product.

There's also the philosophy that we have to constantly tell people "why" we're advertising something. If you're doing an advert, most likely you have something to say. If you don't you shouldn't be running an ad. It's one of the things that drives me bonkers in advertising. When you're not talking about something interesting, then people won't care, and that is just wasting money. So why bother? Even branding advertisements have something to say. And I think that's one of the points a lot of advertisers miss. Consumers know that if they are viewing, reading or listening to an advert, you are trying to sell them something or at least tell them something. You wouldn't spend the time and money to put an advert in a newspaper for no reason. Or on TV or anywhere else. So, there's no need to bash consumers over the head with the "Hey you, we're telling you something."(hat tip Dab.)

+ NYC AdClub launches a new campaign. (hat tip Dab.)

Sunday, September 26, 2004
[ :: adgruntie :: Bits and bobs ]

+ Diluting our brand?Interesting bit on using nationalism in your branding.

Baxters’s marketing intelligence actually goes along with this. It found that the value of Scottish imagery depended on how closely linked to Scotland the product was – this is why it retained the tartan on its most Scottish soups. “When we did our research, we found that for products like whisky and salmon, which are very much associated with Scotland, there was still a motivation. But for us it was a supporting factor rather than a driving factor,” says the company’s spokeswoman.

It might be splitting hairs to say that shortbread is more intrinsically Scottish than soup, but this currently seems to be where the line is being drawn. Tartan is fine as long as it still rings tills.

Denis Taylor, a director at Scottish Development International, which exists to encourage inward investment and Scottish exports, believes the traditional imagery still has an important role to play today. “It’s very dangerous for us to say that the traditional values are not valid. I think you need to say they are valid in the right market, and we have got to promote them more aggressively than we have done in the past.

“It’s not one thing or the other. We have got to be proud of the traditional stuff and use it effectively, but at the same time, we have got to recognise where our audience is looking for more contemporary images of Scotland,” he says.

Malcolm Roughhead of VisitScotland reaches much the same conclusion. Although he believes that using traditional imagery directly does not work as well as it did 20 years ago, he says that on a more subliminal level, it is still very important. “That’s why we would never throw the baby out with the bath water,” he says. “Because it is our differentiating factor against the other 185 competitors.”

So while Scotland and traditional imagery don’t appeal as widely as they once did, they are still powerful marketing symbols with the right products targeting the right demographics. Bright young marketing sparks who think there is no substance left in Scotland should note that its demise has been greatly exaggerated.

+ Overusing Fresh.

+ What is hip?"For better and worse, hip represents a dream of America. At its best, it imagines the racial fluidity of pop culture as the real America, the one we are yearning to become. As William Burroughs said, revolution in America begins in books and music, then waits for political operatives to 'implement change after the fact.'"

Saturday, September 25, 2004
[ :: adgruntie :: Survivor (the band) vs. Survivor (the show) ]

+ Band loses Survivor trademark fight. Heck, I had no idea this was going on.

Frank M. Sullivan III, singer/songwriter with the band, claimed the series' use of the name hurt the band because it would take away from the millions of dollars in records and merchandise he sells each year. He also claimed the show benefits from the millions of dollars he said he spent on advertising.

Judges said they didn't see evidence of those claims.

The three-judge panel said the TV series has its own unique logo with the words "Outwit, Outplay and Outlast," which always surrounds the word "Survivor." They also said they think the average consumer knows the difference between the group and the TV show and wouldn't confuse the merchandise.

Gee, I dunno. Perhaps their sales might be hurt because they only had a handful of hits and that was a long time ago.

Thursday, September 23, 2004
[ :: adgruntie :: Ads on blogs ]

+ Well, what do ya know? While searching through the ad news over at google, I came across this press release for Adland - The Land of Advertising is Full of Surprises. Nice little bit here

Perhaps in its most surprising twist yet, AdLand is one of the few websites of its size and scope that isn't supported by paid online advertisements. "No banner ads, no pop-up ads, no Flash-based web-o-matic-mercials, no paid-for-pseudo-stories or anything else our online marketing cousins can come up with," says Wäppling. "There's millions of other sites out there with that stuff, and we don't play that way."

"We're a pay-for-play site," continues Wäppling. "It's a different route, but if a member donates some of their pocket change to the site, they should not have to see banners or fill in long-winded forms about their income and sexual preferences. Now that many sites have paid links, even in their editorial content, AdLand is doing the opposite. There has never been any paid ad-space on the site and our vision is that there never will be. It's a little ironic considering the site's topic..."

"Ironic is an understatement...well, actually, it's an adjective. It's perplexing to some, but we want to keep things as pure, unadulterated and real as we can," says Claymore. "AdLand is a resource. A virtual salon of advertising opinion and commentary. A modern online museum of the best and worst of the advertising world. Of course, all that noble stuff doesn't stop us from being unabashed smart-arses whenever we find the opportunity."

With all the sites out there about advertising, it's really great to have one where you don't have to look at the horrible banner ads and what not. Truth be told, I'm so used to blocking them out, that I don't really notice them anymore.

And especially if you're going to put advertising on a site about advertising, it better be darn good creative that inspires and is attention catching. Otherwise, why bother?

That is part of the whole ads on blogs which is possibly going to be its downfall eventually. There's one thing to be said for an ad or two, which are relevant to the content of the site. It's another thing to bash viewers with pop-up ads upon entering or leaving your site, smush the content into a space so small because you're busy selling the "white space" to advertisers, and worst of all, putting ads into editoral content.

Personally, as I see smaller sites head down the path of more ads on their sites, it makes me wonder if all they are in this for is the money to be made. Which is, quite frankly, a turn off. Blogs are the pages of opinions, news, and general commentary. But the way that ads are overtaking some blogs keeps me from going there anymore.

Sure, I do understand the whole reasoning for needing advertising. If your site is growing then you need to pay the bills some how. Thing is, covering your site with ads has to be carefully balanced. If this blog was ever to have paid ads on it, they'd live below the fold and out of the way of the people who come to visit. Blatent and obnoxious advertising does nothing but annoy. And, that's one of the things that puts Adland heads above the rest. You pay hardly anything, and you get access, sans ads to all the ads, news, and everything else. And even those who don't pay get the benefit of being able to read stories, join in the forums, and pop by without pop-ups, pop-unders, or terrible banner ads.

[ :: adgruntie :: Ad news for your noodle ]

+ BBCnews.com is "attempting to build on its online popularity in the US with a targeted campaign in the run up to the presidential elections." Cyberjournalist states: "The BBC is using live news feeds from bbcnews.com in some of its creative executions, including an interactive overlay featuring a map of the world which allows the viewer to select BBC news headlines by region from within the advertising itself." Now that is powerful and intreguing online creative.

+ Audi is promoting the new A3 Sportback model with a viral internet and direct mail campaign created by 20:20 London, backed by above-the-line advertising by BBH. This is Audi's first foray into using "viral" advertising to promote a car. "The viral portrays the viewer as the perfect match for Audi. With an eerie tone, the film looks at elements of the Audi A3, including giving an X-ray view and using the advertising slogan "Vorsprung durch technik". It then switches to giving an inside view of a driver, and spookily includes the name of the recipient at the end. In another twist, a direct-mail pack is sent to recipients, arriving two days after the viral." View the viral at audi-a3-sportback.com.

+ From Adland : Advertising Good, Ad Week Bad. Yipes. I can't believe they're in the black $300,000! Crazy.

[ :: quarks and quazars :: Beyond the sky ]

+ Comet Machholz, discovered by Donald Machholz this August, is "predicted to come closest to Earth on the night of Jan. 5-6, 2005, when it will be just 32 million miles (51 million kilometers) away. On the evening of Jan. 7, it will conveniently pass just a couple of degrees to the west of the famous Pleiades star cluster." Very cool. Must be neat to have a astronomical item named after you. Since the discovery is so new, there is uncertainty as to the magnitute of the comet and if it will be able to be viewed sans telescope, although they sound hopeful.

+ Body clocks 'hinder' space travel- "Researchers think the human body clock could hinder space exploration.
A team at the Imperial College London headed by Russell Foster is looking at how astronauts would cope away from Earth. Foster said: "circadian rhythm is crucial. It stops everything happening at once and co-ordinates the right things to happen at the right time"."

+ Frozen sugar at centre of Milky Way. Sounds like an ad for sweets, but this breakthrough discovery could be huge.

Astronomers have found a cloud of frozen sugar near the centre of our galaxy, the Milky Way, it was revealed yesterday.

The discovery heightens the possibility of early building blocks of life originating in interstellar space.

Molecules of a simple sugar, glycolaldehyde, were detected in a cloud of gas and dust called Sagittarius B2 about 26,000 light years away.

Observations indicated large quantities of the sugar frozen to a temperature only a few degrees above absolute zero, the point at which all molecular movement stops.

Glycolaldehyde consists of two carbon atoms, two oxygen atoms and four hydrogen atoms.

This type of molecule is known as a two-carbon sugar. Significantly, it can react with a three-carbon sugar to produce the five-carbon sugar ribose - the molecule which forms the backbone of DNA.

The discovery adds to the growing evidence that the foundations of life can be traced to chemical reactions within interstellar clouds.

[ :: sidetracks :: Entertain your brain ]

+ From the NYTimes - With a nod to vinyl, CDs take over the turntable. Very cool. If only I knew how to scratch :)

+ Agenda Inc reports that Louis Vuitton has created massive reproductions of their trademark suitcases- complete with all the detailing- as their temporary exterior for their new Paris store. Very cool indeed.

+ BoingBoing has a post about the "Gravity" lamp by Front. It reclines and "goes to sleep" when leave its presence. When you return, it "awakens, stands up, and turns on". Interactive furnishings? Neat-o. It does look rather sad when it's off. Makes me think of a wilted plant or something.

+ BBC Radio 4 is airing a new Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy radio show. You can listen to it on the web. A repeat of the first episode airs tonight at 11pm, England time. Sweet! Douglas Adams is even one of the voices. (hat tip to Dab.)

Tuesday, September 21, 2004
[ :: adgruntie :: Drugs, Volvos, and Animals ]

+ Pfizer takes steps to eliminate spammy reputation.

Tired of seeing Viagra ads in your e-mail in-box? Think how Pfizer feels.The maker of Viagra has been deluged with complaints about spam that it has not sent - so much so that last month it embarked on an advertising campaign to inform consumers that it is not the source of all those "make her want you more then ever" e-mail messages.
"I unfortunately get a lot of Viagra spam myself," said Tim Pigot, who leads the men's sexual health division for Pfizer. "Hopefully this will help."
The campaign, which will also focus on the dangers of ordering drugs from unlicensed online pharmacies, features banner advertisements and text messages on search engines like Google and Ask Jeeves, among others, explaining to consumers that Viagra does not send spam. E-mail ads will not be part of the campaign.

Seems like a smart move.

+ Bethany Hamilton, the 14-year-old surfing champion who had her arm bitten off by a shark, is featured in Volvo's latest TV and online branding campaign, developed by Fuel Europe.

"Life on board", which is launched this week, features sports personalities who have overcome great sporting injuries, including Hamilton, who has returned to surfing following her horrific injury. TV ads directed by documentary maker Lance Bangs shows a clip of Hamilton in a Volvo XC 70 talking to US jockey Greta Kuntzweiler, who has suffered great injury. The ads drive people to the full internet documentary on the Volvo site. Tim Ellis, global advertising director at Volvo, said: "The starting point of this campaign was the starting point of Volvo: 'Cars are driven by people.' In exploring this concept, the more we spoke to people about real life inside their cars, the more we understood just how powerful, important and intimate that experience can be."

For more go to the Volvo site.

+ Thai campaign targets animal lovers. See the link for images of the ads.

WildAid, a US conservation group has launched an advertising campaign to persuade Thais to report traders in protected wildlife.
In a series of television commercials, famous models, actors and other celebrities warn of the dangers facing Thailand's endangered animals and fish.
One commercial features a police hotline for viewers, encouraging them to report anyone selling animals or by-products such as ivory or tiger skins.
"When the buying stops, the killing can too," the advertisement says.
The campaign, organised by the group WildAid, also includes posters of orang-utans in suitcases, with airline baggage tags, to draw attention to cross-border smuggling.

Pretty powerful images.

[ :: adgruntie :: Boags update ]

+ Ok, so yesterday I posted a link to an article about some groups in Australia who got their knickers in a bunch over some visuals by Helmut Newton in the latest ads for Boags beer. Well, apparently, the image wasn't intended to be part of the ad campaign. "But the image, entitled "Man's Arm", was never intended for use in the brewer's latest public advertising campaign for its premium beer, he said. Mr. Adams said the album was produced to pay tribute to photographer Helmut Newton, who had provided photographs for the brewer's advertising campaigns since 1994." Mr. Newton died in a car accident in January 2004.
Also, if you want to see said image, head over here. Definitely classic Newton. For the older ads in the series, go to the Boags site.

[ :: adgruntie :: Bud vs Miller- yes, again ]

+ Miller Lite's gains provoke Anheuser-Busch. "Anheuser-Busch recently announced plans to do extensive consumer sampling of Bud Light and Budweiser, its two largest brands. That sampling campaign, targeting millions of consumers, will be coupled with new ads that tout the freshness of Bud Light and Budweiser.
Brewing industry observers say Miller is forcing Anheuser-Busch to market its products on Miller's terms, with a greater focus on taste. That's a switch from the traditional method of selling beer based on its image, with ads that rely more on humor than on pitching the brew's qualities." Tom Bick, Miller Lite brand manager, "said Anheuser-Busch's consumer sampling effort might backfire if consumers focus on the taste differences between Miller Lite and Bud Light - and continue to choose Miller Lite. "We have better beers," Bick said. "Possibly, they're just going to sample 3 million people for us.""
Geez. It just keeps going. The gauntlets are being thrown down yet again.

Monday, September 20, 2004
[ :: adgruntie :: Beer ads and Leo Burnett exhibit ]

+ Sexy Boag beer ads are brewing up a storm in Australia."A suggestive advertising campaign by Tasmanian brewer James Boag has alcohol and sexual assault groups hopping mad. The new ads feature scantily clad women in seductive poses with the necks of Boag's beer bottles grasped provocatively in their hands. One picture to be used in the campaign even shows a man trying to expose a woman's breast. Alcohol and sexual assault groups yesterday labelled the ads outrageous and inappropriate."

+ The Museum of Television & Radio will be showcasing the work of ad agency Leo Burnett, in the exhibit "Legendary Agency, Legendary Brands". The exhibit opens today in conjunction with Advertising Week in New York City. The "Legendary Agency, Legendary Brands" exhibit runs at the Museum through October 31, 2004. The Museum is located at 25 West 52nd Street.For more information about this exhibit, go here.

[ :: adgruntie :: Visual Diversion and Grey sale ]

+ The original billboards. Frank Jump has a nice collection of fading ads on buildings. (found at hanasiana.com)

+ Grey sale marks the end of an era. This article takes a look at how going pulic and having to deal with shareholder's demands of high profit margins are effecting advertising. They point out that "ad agencies are behaving like big publicly traded companies in other lines of business - companies that constantly need to push their profit margins to keep the stock market happy. In fact, one reason for the focus on costs, advertising executives say, is that their clients are also trying to squeeze them ever harder." And the recent years have shown clients that there are ways to do advertising on string budgets. But then are they happy with the results?

As for advertisers, they often seem dissatisfied with their agencies' work regardless of how efficiently the bottom line is being monitored. Jim Stengel, the chief marketing officer at Procter Gamble, the world's biggest ad spender, gave the industry a grade of C-minus during a speech earlier this year. P&G's main ad agencies are Grey, with its skimpy profit margin, and Saatchi Saatchi, part of Publicis Group, a company known for its fatter margins; in the first-half of 2004, its profit margin was 14.4 percent.

What advertisers say they want are refreshing, creative ideas and innovative ways to reach elusive consumers in a fragmenting media market.

For that kind of inspiration, however, they increasingly turn to outsiders: small creative "hot shops" run by gel-coifed hipsters, whose ideas are then implemented globally by the big agency networks. Meanwhile, outside communications consultants are being used to provide an overview of media strategy.

Which all seems rather inane to me. If you prefer the work coming out of smaller and more creative agencies maybe there's something to be said about the focus being on the work and not on profit margins.
There's a big disconnect somewhere in here. Clients are paying money for big conglomerates to do advertising for them. But they are dissatisfied with the work. So they turn to small shops who aren't as restricted in their creativity because of budget or other financial or whatever restraints, where they pay more money. It doesn't seem to be a very cost effective business pattern. But what do I know, I'm just a copywriter. ;)

[ :: adgruntie :: Monday Minute ]

+ Coming Adtractions : a tasty competition over at Adland for a 20 pack Jewelboxing set. Sweet.

+ Advertising Week begins today with a parade starting at Times Square and ending at 50th and Madison where the results of favorite icon, slogan and celebrity endorser will be announced.

The NYTimes reports "the characters are: the M&M's talking candies, which received 22 percent of the vote; the Aflac duck, 14 percent; Mr. Peanut, for Planters, 10 percent; the Pillsbury Doughboy, 9 percent; and Tony the Tiger, for Kellogg's Frosted Flakes, 6 percent. The slogans are: "Melts in your mouth, not in your hands," for M&M's, with 17 percent of the vote; "Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don't," for Almond Joy and Mounds candy bars, 9 percent; "Where's the beef?" for Wendy's, 9 percent; "A mind is a terrible thing to waste," for the United Negro College Fund, 8 percent; and "Can you hear me now?" for Verizon Wireless, 8 percent. The celebrity endorsers, who are to receive the first "Stars of Madison Avenue" awards at a luncheon sponsored by the Advertising Club of New York, are Derek Jeter, James Earl Jones, Brooke Shields and the team of Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara.

More info about Advertising Week can be found at their website.

+ The 56th Emmy Awards were last night. The Creative Arts Emmy for Outstanding Commerical went to "Outfit" for Citibank Identity Theft Card Protection by Fallon and Thomas Thomas Films. The other nominees were "Born A Donkey" for Budweiser by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners and Biscuit Filmworks, "Dominoes" for Miller by Young & Rubicam, Chicago and MJZ, "Door Music" for Saturn by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners and Anonymous Content, "Interview" for United Airlines by Fallon and ACME Filmworks, and "Rubberband Man" for Office Max by DDB Chicago and Anonymous Content.

+ WordIt over at Speak Up is pretty cool.

+ Will you be in NYC between September 10th and October 22nd? If so, head over to the ADC Gallery at 106 W. 29th Street, Manhattan (Trains 1/9 or N/R to 28 street.) and check out the biennial exhibition ADC Young Guns 4. For more info check out adcglobal.org. Oh yeah, and it's free too! (found via SpeakUp.)

+ Power of brands doesn't always matter when launching brand extensions, according to new research.

Helen Wing, director of marketing science at Research International said: "This decade has been about seeing just how far brands can reach. The result is a riot of new products but very few fresh brands. Only 2% of marketing directors think that new brands will be their main launch method in the next few years." She said companies were so keen on brand extensions that they would ignore research results.

"This recklessness reflects an increased confidence in the power of parent brands to influence consumers. But it also reflects financial reality," she said.

"Conventional wisdom has it that extension launches are cheaper and less risky than bringing a whole new brand to market. The bad news from our product and concept test databases is that extensions are actually more likely to fail than new products.

"Companies seem to launch extensions because they think the parent’s strength can overcome any weakness in the product. Extensions are born with silver spoons in their mouths, but the market is hard to fool."

Definitely makes sense to me. There are a number of brand extensions which have made no sense and really would have benefitted from being their own individual brand. (found via Agenda Inc.)

Wednesday, September 15, 2004
[ :: adgruntie :: Novel ideas ]

+ " A novel advertising campaign with a very serious message kicked off on Wednesday and will soon be seen in pub toilets around New Zealand. The Land Transport Safety Authority wants to stop men drinking and driving so it has aimed its message where they can't help but notice it - in pub urinals. The message takes the form of logos fixed to the metal panel of urinals. The logos are invisible and become visible when urine comes in contact with them. They disappear again when cold water flushes over them." See article for image(yah, there's an image) and a short vid.

+ Another article on product placement- this one from CNN.

Sunday, September 12, 2004
[ :: news :: ]

Hiya.

If you tried accessing this the last few days it was a bit of a mess due to hosting issues- not blogger but my hosting co. Anyways, all should be a-ok for now. :D

Wednesday, September 08, 2004
[ :: adgruntie :: Stuff to sip on ]

+ Burger King and AOL Music go after young adults. "The burger business has turned digital, with Burger King and AOL Music becoming the latest big brand partners to serve up free music downloads with beef patties to appeal to young adults.
The deal between AOL Music group, owned by Time Warner Inc.'s America Online, and privately held Miami-based Burger King, the second largest restaurant chain, comes on the heels of a similar deal announced in June between market leader McDonald's Corp. and Sony Corp.'s Sony Connect music service. From now through Oct. 3, Burger King restaurants across the country will give away one free music download with every purchase of an Original Whopper sandwich. Customers can enter a unique download code found on their Whopper wrappers at the www.haveityourway.com Web site to get free music downloads from AOL Music, which offers 700,000 songs through a deal with online music provider MusicNet."

+ Scott Donaton wraps up the events of the summer. (reg req)

+ The Commercial Inside The Commerical from CA.

Great advertising finds a way to do it all. Eighty percent of great advertising does not. Ninety percent of great advertising does not. What does it say about an idea if it’s so detached from what you’re selling that you need two commercials? The good creative commercial. And the uncreative-but-hey-so-what-at-least-the-client’s-happy commercial. I really hate that.

So here are the rules from now on:
1. Knock it off with the doughnuts. No more doughnuts, got it? Not in TV. Not in radio. You want doughnuts, think Krispy Kreme. Not commercials. No exceptions. Either find a way to do a really great spot that everyone is loving, or move on.

2. Same goes for coupons. Coupons are fine. They are not fine when they become more than coupons. When you use them as a crutch, a dumping hole for every last crumb of stuff the client wants in the ad, then they are not fine.

3. Stop telling yourself people will only really see the good part of the spot. That they will understand why you felt the need to create this little oasis of informational ugliness within what might have been a very memorable concept. They won’t.

4. Despite what you might think, you are not the first to consider whether or not to sell yourself to the devil. You really are not. I guarantee you, somewhere in one of those agencies you really respect and admire, there’s a creative team grappling with the eternal question: Is it time to make great advertising, or is it time to make the doughnuts?

Great points. A lot of the time this is the easy way out. Being able to integrate the information into the ad itself, properly, is one of the things that make a great commerical so great.

+ And here's some cool stuff fromAdland:
~ ABC brings us the typofile animations of John Lycette, Not my Type IV tells the story of an over-gadgeted office worker and his dysfunctional relationship to machines. (article on Adland here.)
~ The Angus Intervention website. The next phase in the Angus campaign crated By CP+B "parody the self-help movement's affirmations approach by providing users with a list of humorous alternatives to tailor - including 'Stop Wearing Underwear All The Time', 'Stop Chasing Awards' and the ever popular 'Stop Spreading Companywide Emails'." (article on Adland here.)

[ :: yummies :: Alton Brown strikes again ]

+ Yippie! Alton Brown has a new book coming out in October, I'm Just Here For More Food. It's all about baking this time. Sweet! I wonder if he'll be doing another book tour, like he did last time. He's very funny in person.

Tuesday, September 07, 2004
[ :: adgruntie :: Rallying the troops ]

+ Blogfonk interviews my pal and creator of Adland.

+ Nirvana for couch potatoes

Netflix and Tivo ushered in an age of couch-potato bliss. Netflix lets its customers browse through its huge movie catalog on the Web and rent DVDs through the mail without having to worry about late fees. TiVo lets people digitally record their favorite shows and zoom through the ads. But now couch potatoes are perched on the cusp of true paradise. Soon they won't even have to stand up to trudge to the mailbox; fat broadband pipes will let them directly download movies over the Net to their television.

(found via Agenda Inc..)

+ "More than just a pretty face" from the MediaGuardian delves more into pink marketing and how it needs to be re-evaluated.

Advertising, meanwhile, is in danger of looking like a cross between Pollyanna and PC Plod: fuddy-duddy, out of touch and reliant on gender stereotypes. "It is time to catch up," says Jonathan Mildenhall, managing director of TBWA in London, whose campaigns include French Connection, Wonderbra, the Labour party and Whiskas.

"Otherwise advertising will get left behind. Broadcasters and media owners are giving a much more accurate reflection of the multifaceted lives of women today. Look at Channel 4 programming or the content of Heat, of Glamour and Cosmopolitan versus ads on TV or in the press. The editorial and broadcast content is much more real. Ads always fall back to comfortable stereotypes. But today's women can't be pigeonholed.

"A 35- or 45-year-old woman today is buying the same clothes as her daughters. She's buying a cookbook for her own diet, not her husband's dinner. She is reading magazines that have intimate, explicit content. She is watching shows like Sex and the City.

"But the advertising that sandwiches all of this is really bland. It tries to package her up as a housewife. The idea of marketing to women as a single homogenous group is as archaic as marketing to white men.

"We need to be much more sensitive to our attitudinal marketing, to be cleverer and braver in what we portray in advertising so it doesn't continue to play a passive role in between the editorial or TV content in between. We need to be braver."

That bravery can misfire. Pampers has just launched its first ad featuring a man in sole charge of a baby. Very touching. But note that the dad does not actually change a nappy. He's just in the same room as the baby. The very fact that this ad is seen by Procter & Gamble as a radical departure surely shows how advertising is one step behind reality.

Also, in October, Rethink Pink will be held, the first annual conference in London about changing attitudes and marketing strategies to better engage the female consumer.

+ "Truth and fiction of a first-class lifestyle" from the Telegraph which discusses the results of a "new survey puts the lie to the notion that advertising is a ticket to a first-class lifestyle. It claims that junior and mid-level advertising and media executives earn considerably less than their peers in accountancy, law, banking, marketing or consultancy, activities advertising competes with to recruit the best talent. In some cases the discrepancies can be high. Starting salaries at agencies are around the £16,000-£18,000 mark, about 20pc less than in accountancy and about half those in investment banking. At middle levels the disparity can be 25pc, and in the worst case more than 50pc." Geez. Now that's depressing.

+ BBC Magazine reviews the new Advert Channel, which started airing yesterday. You can find out more about it at their website, www.theadvertchannel.tv. It sounds like it could be a miss, which would be unfortunate.

Monday, September 06, 2004
[ :: adgruntie :: Place this ]

+ Product placement brought to you by the middleman. An interesting article from the NY Times on the growing business that is product placement.

The new emphasis on product placement in television has brought new players into the business - brand wranglers who work with programmers and advertisers. They are pushing the placement, which they like to call "brand integration," into new territory, sometimes acting as co-producers and even building new programming around the brands.

"There's been a gold rush that reminds me of the Internet 10 years ago," said Scott Donaton, editor of Advertising Age and the author of "Madison & Vine," a book about the convergence of the entertainment and advertising industries. "Many went to the advertisers and said, 'You can't handle Hollywood. Let me do it for you.' Then they went to the networks and promised to handle the advertisers."

Some of the new integrators are traditional product placement firms, while others are advertising agencies that have started entertainment divisions. New companies devoted to product integration have also popped up. All see the chance to profit from the growing closeness between programmers and advertisers, who have been forced to band together to counter falling ratings, a fragmented audience and new technology like digital video recorders that allow viewers to skip traditional commercials altogether.

Personally, I don't mind some product placement. Although there are some shows which don't beat around the bush when it comes to product placement. The product ends up in front of the camera so much, it's way too obvious. There are some where it's like they are hitting you over the head with product X. I think being in the business I sometimes notice the placements more than other people. Sometimes it reminds me of that scene from Wayne's World. And apparently, the music industry is getting in on the action too.

Thursday, September 02, 2004
[ :: adgruntie :: Monkeys don't buy ]

+ Back to the 80s with LA Gear. They say the 80s styles are back this Fall in fashion. And even LA Gear is getting back into action. These ads remind me of Apple ads. Must be the color thing. Created by the folks over at Centric.

+ Word Count shows us the most commonly and least commonly used words in the English language. Nice. (via Stacy)

+ Advertising Week in New York City has launched digital "trading cards", featuring the 52 finalists from the online vote for America's Favorite Ad Icons and Slogans. The free digital trading cards consist of 26 ad icons (ranging from the Trix Rabbit, Smokey Bear, Tony the Tiger, and Mr. Peanut to the Coppertone Girl) and 26 ad slogans, including "A mind is a terrible thing to waste," "It takes a lickin', but it keeps on tickin'," Reach out and touch someone," "Where's the beef?," and "Time to Make the Doughnuts." Found at mediapost.com.

+ Coloribus is another badland-like place. All images, no text. Ads are categorized by theme and it's a nice way to see how multiple concepts are used in more than one advert.

+ The future of advertising- yet again. This time from the Boston Globe. Nice quotes here. "The problem is that there are too many delivery devices for mediocre content. We don't need more places to put ads. People are tired of being interrupted and invaded," Marc Gallucci of Fort Franklin. And, "People are receptive to it as long as it's relevant. If it's not, they'll just walk by. Messages are brought to where people work, live, and play. But the future isn't advertising everywhere all the time. You can kill a consumer with commercial messages, "Steve Mooney, general manager of Jack Morton Worldwide.

+ A brilliant article on women and advertising. "Studies from around the globe suggest women are responsible for 85 per cent of all purchasing decisions – yet by Stevens's reckoning, 80 per cent of all ads either offend women, ignore them or hark back to stereotypes developed 50 years ago." Too many advertisiers and marketers (aka clients) don't get their own customers/consumers...especially women. Recently while watching TV something struck me as odd in a tampon commerical. The copy/AVO said something about it being comfortable...um, all tampons are supposed to be comfortable...you're not supposed to feel them. So the copy point there is a moot one to a woman. Which makes me think either it was penned by a man or the client deemed it a necessary thing to add (also then would probably be a man). Unless you're targeting newly menstrating females, there's no reason to say something like that. It's like saying "Sugar. It's sweet." There's loads of great points made in the article and if you're an adgrunt or client you should read it. It's for your own good. :D (hat tip to Clay).

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