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

Sunday, February 27, 2005
[ :: adgruntie :: Global branding and Why of the Buy ]

+ Biggest brands reintroducting themselves, being lead by McD's "I'm lovin' it" global campaign. Ugh.

Many experts say it's often the American lineage that provides the allure.

"They're exporting moments of happiness wrapped around the American dream," Tavassoli said of McDonald's. "That has global appeal, but it's because it's American."

American dream and McDonalds? Huh? Sorry, I'm not sure that I get the connection to that there, especially with the obesity issues in the US these days.

+ LATimes reports on "Searching for the Why of the Buy" (reg.req.). More attempts to scientifically figure out what makes us attracted to brands and all that.

Children are exposed to 40,000 commercials every year. By the age of 18 months, they can recognize logos. By 10, they have memorized 300 to 400 brands, according to Boston College sociologist Juliet B. Schor. The average adult can recognize thousands.

"We are embedded in an enormous sea of cultural messages, the neural influences of which we poorly understand," said neuroscientist Read Montague, director of the Human Neuroimaging Laboratory at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. "We don't understand the way in which messages can gain control over our behavior."

That is starting to change. By monitoring brain activity directly, researchers are discovering the unexpected ways in which the brain makes up its mind.

Many seemingly rational decisions are reflexive snap judgments, shaped by networks of neurons acting in concert. These orchestras of cells are surprisingly malleable, readily responding to the influence of experience.

Moreover, researchers suspect that the inescapable influence of marketing does more than change minds. It may alter the brain.

Just as practicing the piano or learning to read can physically alter areas of the cerebral cortex, the intense, repetitive stimulation of marketing might shape susceptible brain circuits involved in decision-making.

These inquiries into consumer behavior harness techniques pioneered for medical diagnosis: positron emission tomography, which measures the brain's chemical activity; magneto-encephalography, which measures the brain's magnetic fields; and functional magnetic resonance imaging, which measures blood flow around working neurons.

Thursday, February 24, 2005
[ :: adgruntie :: Thursday Ad Blips ]

+ Hanes rounds up new celebs. The press release states that Hanes has a new tagline, "Look Who We've Got Our Hanes On Now," and will start airing new tv spots on Monday, Feb 28th starring Damon Wayans, Marisa Tomei and Matthew Perry, along with longtime Hanes pitchman Michael Jordan. The ads were created by The Martin Agency.
I have to wonder why they picked these celebrities though. All three have been rather quiet of late. Maybe they took the gig because they needed some cash, since they haven't been in much of anything recently.

+ Viral marketing's worst nightmare- Hoaxes is an interesting bit from Dab over at AdLand. Definitely worth a read, especially if you're in the biz of creating viral advertising.
Monday, February 21, 2005
[ :: adgruntie :: Pointless Use of Celebrity ]

+ Independent reports on consumers' feelings towards celebrities trying to influence their buying. Apparently research is starting to show that the red-carpet walkers aren't making much of a dent in consumer consumption. British market research company, Mintel, did a survey and found three out of five adults are "bored with celebrities" and a further one in five is "celebrity resistant." It's rather amusing too if you think about the number of ads in the Super Bowl this year that banked on using celebrities in their spots. A majority of them could have saved a bunch of money and just hired any random actor to achieve the same effect.

But for some reason there is a feeling that using a big name will bring big sales. Maybe one upon a time it was, but it's just not true anymore. Along with that you now have celebs like Beckham and Michael Jordan who shill a increasingly long list of products and companies. Why should consumers bother thinking that Beckham really does use Gillette or any of the other products he sells when you see him in a plethora of ads for other things? It definitely doesn't help the brand to pick the same celebrities that are being used all over. How do you stand out if viewers can't tell if Jordan is selling batteries or hotdogs? They just remember seeing Jordan in the ad. It could have been for Hanes.

What makes the most sense is what makes sense to the concept and the brand, not just throwing in some celebrity for the sake of doing so. But it seems so many marketers/ad agencies/clients just want to work with which ever famous person they like and just build a campaign around that. And that seems like an awful waste of money.
Thursday, February 17, 2005
[ :: adgruntie :: Additional ]

+ Are customers really sheep? The myth of corporate image points out some interesting things like, big bugets do not automatically translate to big image or big sales. "Smart messages with powerful names will grow in time, and don't require permanent, expensive fireworks support to attract customers." Good stuff to ponder on.

+ Apparently, Baby Bob from those Quiznos spots is really a baby girl. That makes the ads even more creepy.

[ :: adgruntie :: Some Things of Interest ]

+ PlanetOut Inc. names gay media advertising award winners. PlanetOut Inc. is a global online media company serving the gay and lesbian market. Their awards, in conjunction with Gay.com, go to companies showing innovation and excellence in advertising within the gay and lesbian community. And the winners are:
* Best Gay and Lesbian Interactive Campaign: General Motors, Saturn by GM Planworks
* Best Branding Campaign: NIVEA FOR MEN by RDA International
* Best Rich Media Campaign: Wrigley, Eclipse by OMD Chicago and San Francisco-based EVB
* Automotive Industry Category Leadership Award: Scion by ATTIK San Francisco
* Best DTC Creative Execution: Glaxo Smith Kline, Paxil by Beyond Interactive
* Best Overall DTC Campaign: Bristol-Myers Squibb, Sustiva and Reyataz by mOne Worldwide
* Best Direct Response Campaign: AOL by Digitas

+ The busniess of creativity discusses a bunch of things but focuses on scam ads in award shows.

Corporate change made it such that creativity is being demanded in every facet of life, whether it be designing a logo or changing a toilet roll.

Clients have long wielded the big stick of authority and "interfered" in creative pursuits. A mature client who realises that consumer insights are important could actually add value to the creative development of an idea. This could best be served at the stage of the brief.

The not-so mature clients give incomplete briefs and wait to see some creative output, using that as a springboard to get the sagging right side of their brain to feebly start dissecting that idea.
[...snip...]
The advertising industry moans about not being taken seriously. Various management consultants have stepped into what could easily have been the domain of the advertising agency.

It is important that the industry rises above personal glory and thinks about common good. At the end of the day, I believe that even creativity has to bow before integrity. And then, just as you cannot be "slightly" pregnant, you cannot be "slightly" honest.

All of this is true, no matter where you are. I agree with the points made about integrity, heck I've been going on about it for ages here. Integrity in how you work, in the ideas you create, in how you communicate, and how we treat each other and clients are all very important and it's a shame that it is rare to find that anymore.

+ Ihaveanidea.org interviews Paul Lavoie of Taxi Advertising & Design. Here are some great snippets:

One of the ways to do great consistent work is to not have a company that is layered. In too many layers you can hide. Mediocre people hide in agencies. Mediocrity hides in these layers. We cut these layers at Taxi and because of that, people are accountable. On the good side, they are empowered.
[...snip...]
Never, ever assume, the only thing you should do is question everything.
[...snip...]
...I think it is really important for creatives to learn to sell creativity. Clients don’t want to know about kerning, they want to know how we can impact their business. And I believe creativity is a business builder. It’s a powerful tool to build business. It’s very important to be able to understand what your audience really desires.
[...snip...]
If you live for awards you don’t get any. This whole award show business can sometimes compromise great creativity. I wrote a little sticker that we put in books that says “This is an annual, not a manual. Look to life for inspiration”.
Award shows can actually reduce creativity. It’s the reference points of what has been done. Many times brilliant work is awarded, but at the end of the day, if you are a true creative you would be concerned about solving a business problem and innovating along the way.

Follow the link for more and also to check out Taxi's reel and portfolio.

[ :: adgruntie :: From the Links ]

+ John Kuraoka points out this interesting article about advertising and multi-racial portrayals of family and friends in ads. According to the article, advertising shows more diversity compared to reality.

"Often, advertising doesn't reflect reality-- everyone is beautiful and pretty and thin, so a lot of advertising is very unrealistic," said Sonya A. Grier, a marketing professor at Stanford University. "It's always been something that reflects our aspirations, what we can be."

I can't say that's a bad thing to have aspirations of.

+Sharp Creative rants about assrants backpeddling on one of his posts about A&F and the spoof ads that some people are talking about. Pretty funny stuff. See, when you make a mistake it's always best to admit it (like Ernie did here in regards to the MAAD spoof website, as previously mentioned here, which I give him props for doing), rather than pretending it didn't happen. Especially when there's evidence to go around, like cache files and screendumps. ;) What's even funnier is that assrants didn't feel like it was necessary to backtrack on the post about MAAD, even though as we mentioned before, there is a spoiler on the webpage he links to. My guess - you can't get sued by a spoof site. Although it does make me wonder how he gets called "one of the web's most influential bloggers". heh. Always good for a laugh I guess.

+ Creative Generalist has a great post with an excerpt from a Fast Company transcript, Jonesing for Soda, with Jones Soda founder Peter van Stolk sharing a few useful branding insights. Peter sure does have some great ideas for how to brand and run a company.

+ Researcher points to an article about streaming media and what to consider when creating interactive ads.

When designing interactive ads, the question that should be at the top of the checklist is "How can this offer benefit the consumer?" While there are apparently many possible answers, they're limited to a surprisingly small handful of responses.

The article continues to go into detail on what those responses should/could be.
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
[ :: adgruntie :: Odds 'n Sods ]

+ Is your Mini Cooper counterfeit? The lastest from the folks at CP+B, counterfeitmini.org. Crazy beautiful.

+ Nipple billboards erected in unusual places, introducing the ballboard. Ouch.

+ Designerstoolbox.com has all the cheat sheats you need when you can't remember postcard sizes or simple coversion of fractions to decimals, and even generates Lorem Ipsum in a pinch. (hat tip to Tracy)
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
[ :: adgruntie :: AdChemistry, Coke & Live Ads ]

+Check out ihaveanidea.org for their recent AdChemistry at VCU. Quicktime films feature Dan Widen and David Kennedy (with a great film on Dan Widen done by David Kennedy), Jeff Goodby and Andy Berlin, Steve Hyden and Lee Clow (with a film on the making of Apple's 1984). Some very funny moments. Definitely worth viewing. (to get there head here, then click on the watch videos on the adchemistry banner near the top).

+ Bloomberg reports that Coke is failing to make sales with their new advertising campaign, "Make it Real". Is it any big surprise? They certainly turn me off with their lame Diet Coke "Tingle" ads. Coke's advertising for the last decade has been very bland especially when you compare it to what Pepsi, their main competitor, has been doing. The line "make it real" does have potential but their spots don't push the idea far enough for consumers to really make the connection. There's a definite sense of disjointment between that thought and how it's executed in the creative. Take the spot where a teenager can't decide if he should take the last Coke or give it to his dad, which he decides to do. Where does that fit into the "make it real" concept? Sure it's a nice sentiment and all and a 180 from the usual concepts of people fighting over a product, but I just don't see the connection. Hopefully their new creative will be better.

+ ThisisLondon reports that Leo Burnett, London is bringing live advertisements to the stage.

The cast of Saturday Night Fever will act out advertisements for products including McDonald's, Heinz and Kellogg's during breaks in the performance on 1 March at the Apollo in Victoria. The script of the musical and lyrics to some of the songs have even been changed to plug the brands.

Very strange. The aim is to sell tickets to raise £30,000 for Comic Relief.
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
[ :: adgruntie:: Super Bowl XXXIX ]

+ Typically I post my ad review of the Super Bowl here. But this year it's a bit more crazy than usual. So if you want to know what I thought about the rather sad show of advertising that is supposed to be the best of the best during the year, head over to AdLand's Super Bowl XXXIX Advertising Bonanza Review.

Enjoy.
Saturday, February 05, 2005
[ :: adgruntie :: Super Bowl Advertising, Banned Ad & Donny ]

+ Tomorrow is Super Bowl Sunday. And it will be advertising's big moment to shine. One reason for the lack of posts here is due to the fact that I've been working over at AdLand compiling probably one of the most comprehensive Super Bowl Ad spoilers on the net. If you want to know what to expect, check out Super Bowl XXXIX Advertising Bonanza.

As usual, AdLand will have all the ads posted and it will bring the Claymore Project to cover 32 years of Super Bowl advertising. Pretty impressive.

+ Milan bans da Vinci parody ad for French fashion house Marithé and François Gribaud.

The Istituto di Autodisciplina Pubblicitaria stated: "One of the women apostles is kissing the naked torso of a man, which just makes the imitation more offensive. As does the use of Christian symbols like the dove, the chalice and the position of the fingers of the female Christ."

If you head to the link, you can see the "offensive" ad. The thing is I don't see anyone kissing anyone in the ad. So I'm not sure what the heck they are on about. Also, I don't get the position of the fingers of the female Christ bit either. But, the fact that they state someone is kissing the man who is representing Judas, when they aren't, makes them look stupid. I'm not saying they can't object to the ad, but if you're going to do that, make your objections about things that are actually there. ;-)

+ Donny Brent- Brand New post about Donny Deutche & David Brent. Check this out!