Caffeinated posts from an ACD/Copywriter. 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.
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Friday, September 29, 2006
[ :: sidetracks :: Weird Al - Bob ]

+ All lines are palindromes. Sweet.


[ :: sidetracks :: White and Nerdy - Weird Al ]

+ Weird Al makes me happy. lol.


[ :: sidetracks :: Just weird. ]

+ Little John and Rosh Hashanah? Apparently someone thinks it's a good combination.

[ :: sidetracks :: Friday Joke Time ]

+ Nod to dabitch for passing this beaut along!

Ways To Tell A Man His Zipper Is Down:

1. "The cucumber has left the salad."
2. "Someone tore down the wall, and your Pink Floyd is hanging out."
3. "Your soldier ain't so unknown now."
4. "Quasimodo needs to go back in the tower and tend to his bells."
5. "Elvis Junior has LEFT the building!"
6. "Mini Me is making a break for the escape pod."
7. "You've got your fly set for Monica instead of Hillary."
8. "You've got a security breach at Los Pantaloons."
9. "I'm talking about Shaft, can you dig it?"
10. "Men are From Mars, Women can see Your Penis."

[ :: adgruntie :: How to market to Boomers without bombing ]

+ MediaPost reports on one of the topics at the Focalyst Executive Forum - Marketing to Boomers.

Far too many depictions of over-50 boomers in today's advertising and marketing campaigns are not only misguided, but actually offensive to their intended audience.

"Most of the boomers are over 50 now, and so far businesses haven't paid much attention to the over-50 crowd," said AARP Services' Dawn Sweeney. "Believe it or not, in over half of the Fortune 500 companies, targeting those over 50 doesn't even rank within the top 10 company priorities. And even when companies do target boomers, the marketing often misses the mark. Nearly one quarter of boomers say that they are insulted by advertising that's aimed at them. There's a gap between the huge market offered by older Americans and the sleepy ways that many businesses go after them."
[snip ]
The marketing appeals that work, Sheehy emphasized, "are not about age, but about our stage of life. And there are many different ways of inhabiting those stages. A first-time mother at age 49, which is not unheard of now, needs a stroller that's easier to fold up. The new student at age 49 needs comfortable school shoes."

Sheehy also emphasized that younger marketers, in particular, need to understand that boomers are mentally delaying classifying themselves as being "old" for as long as possible.

"I would encourage you to try, at least in your work life, to cross that line in your mind...to look at the lives that so many boomers are living, and see the excitement and how differently they're approaching [growing older]," she said, mentioning vibrant and sexy role models like Susan Sarandon. "Try to put your mind into that mindset, so that you'll be able to develop products and services and marketing messages that will connect with them and make you more profitable."

[ :: COJ :: Adding link to my shared rss google reader ]

+ Google updated its Reader today. I wasn't pleased. It looks like there are still some kinks to work out, and it's going to take some time to get used to the new format. But such is the way of advancement. ;)

Anyhoo...to the right you'll see that I've added a "what i'm (rss) reading now" which links to my google rss reader page, so if you want to spy on what i'm marking as interesting, you can. Sadly I didn't realize that the page would update the shared items in the order that I marked them, instead of by the date they were published. So, there are some old things above new things as I went through some older stuff in my feeder.

I've contemplated adding something to the site as well which shows the most recent starred or shared items as well, but just need to figure out where to stick that...and there really hasn't been time recently.
Thursday, September 28, 2006
[ :: sidetrack :: Dialogue Public Art Project ]

+ Dialogue Project has an installation that will be touring cities around the US.

The inspirational public art project Dialogue is now appearing in popular public locations throughout the United States in 2006 and 2007. Dialogue is EvolveArts' newest public art installation consisting of nine, 7 X 8 foot free-standing screens covered with thousands of inspiring, insightful quotations from people throughout history.

Nice.

[ :: adgruntie :: Time Will Fly for Emirates Airlines ]

+ Check out this nice banner ad for Emirates Airlines over at Bannerblog. Nice demo in the banner space. Then check out the microsite TimeWillFly. Clean and nice use of technology while communicating their point. Creative by LMFM in the UK.

[ :: adgruntie :: Scary banner ad ]

+ I don't know how long this will be up for but while checking my email, I was served up this ad for some beauty cream. Upside is that, it did indeed catch my attention. A face falling off a picture of someone, even if caught out of the corner of you eye will do that. But it's way overboard on over promising the results you'll get from using the product. It's also a bit creepy. Wonder if it's their Halloween creative. ;)

[ :: adgruntie :: Ad news around town ]

+ The Boston Ad Club held the Hatch Awards last week and the winners are listed on their site. What I find sad about it is that they don't say what or who the campaign was for. Big minus points there Ad Club. Best of Show went to:

Arnold, Alan Pafenbach, Colin Jeffery, Luke Perkins, Anja Duering, Brandon Sides, Arnie Presiado, Julian Newman, Phillip Squier, Dave Weist, Chris Car, Pete Shamon, Mark Billows

For what?? That kind of silliness drives me batty.

One other thing to note is that this might just be the last year Arnold gives the other agencies a whipping, as this was the last Hatch show that they were able to enter VW work (now at CP+B) which typically dominated the awards. Even more dull to watch was the exact same ad in different sizes winning in different categories. I mean, yay to those who won, but from a entertainment/watching it standpoint, it would make me wish I was still holding my martini and munching on carrot sticks.

Good news locally for agencies:
Hill Holliday wins AOL creative account.
Arnold Worldwide wins $150 million Progressive account.

[ :: adgruntie :: Give in to your award sweet tooth ]

+ NY Festival winners for 2006 are up.

The Loerie Award winners for 2006 are up.

APA 50 for 2006 are up at adland...if you're a super adgrunt you can view practically all of them. Better than waiting for the APA to get their act together...most likely their list will be up sometime in November or December on BeamTV.

And there's more down-under ad award goodness here from the Advertising Federation of Australia.

[ :: copy :: More common errors solved ]

+ The mystery of Farther vs. Further, or That vs. Which and more solved. Other handy info on the site as well plus some message boards for asking questions, etc.

[ :: adgruntie :: Online advertising needs creativity and relevancy ]

+ A nice post on the role of creativity and relevancy for online advertising at Sparking Curious Mind.
Tuesday, September 26, 2006
[ :: sidetracks :: How fast can you type? ]

+ Give it a try here. (via alex)

[ :: adgruntie :: Gift ideas and fun stuff ]

+ So here are some fun things I found at this site called WishingFish.com:

Abusive Stamps: I Haven't Got Time to Read This CRAP, This is F**KING URGENT,and Complete and Utter BULLS**T

Corporate Flashcards - Described as "Corporate Flashcards will get you "multisyllabizing" like a "results-driven" tycoon in mere days! Study alone or with a "team player", then embrace your "golden handcuffs" as you "blamestorm" your way "up the ladder"! Packed with all the emptiest jargon...

Found this little shop via humptydumpty

Also worth checking out is KnockKnock. Some fun things there for the corporate (or not so corporate) lifestyle.

[ :: adgruntie :: Cardiologist opposes Garfield as sleep spokesman ]


+ Garfield good spokesanimal for sleep? Maybe. But some think he doesn't make a good role model.

Cardiologist Mark D. Fox writes: "Garfield is a poster child for cardiovascular risk. Although I have no knowledge of his family history, he is clearly obese and sedentary. I shudder to think what his blood pressure and lipid profile are, given the quality and quantity of the diet he consumes. Similarly, if he is not yet frankly diabetic, Garfield is certainly at risk of developing type 2 diabetes mellitus and may already exhibit impaired glucose tolerance."

Continues Fox, "I have long suspected that Garfield suffers from clinical depression. In addition to his hypersomnolence and insatiable appetite, Garfield intermittently exhibits anhedonia (an inability to feel pleasure), apathy and mood swings."

Um...alrighty!

[ :: adgruntie :: 4A's send in PR guns to battle image problem ]

+ The advertising industry has an image problem. No shit!

The American Association of Advertising Agencies has tapped GolinHarris, a global firm that represents corporate heavyweights such as McDonald's and SC Johnson, to stave off "negative headlines" and burnish the industry's reputation with reporters and other influencers.

It's unclear exactly what tactics will be employed, but executives familiar with the situation said part of the outreach could target reporters who don't cover the ad business on a regular basis with the hope of scoring positive stories in mainstream business magazines and in the consumer press.

"Our industry has had a reputation problem the past few years, though that's been turning a bit with the excitement around new media," said Julie Thompson, co-chair of 4A's PR committee and communications chief at Leo Burnett. "I was surprised and pleased that an industry association many would call old school would take this step. It's a refusal to keep taking lumps."

The program, one executive said, is a reaction to "negative headlines about the business." And, to be sure, the industry has picked up its share in recent years as consumer behavior and technological change call into question the relevance of ad agencies, especially the largest ones, and their best-known commodity, the 30-second TV spot. More recently, the agency world is getting bad press for its lack of success hiring minority staff.

That and the fact that people in advertising are ranked just about as high as used car salesmen in every report on trustworthy or valued jobs that comes out. Then again, even within the industry we don't think of our own teammates as valued or trustworthy either (just think of all the Creative vs. AE type stereotypes). Funny that the ad industry wants to solve this problem with a PR stunt instead of an ad campaign...what's that mean? ;)

[ :: adgruntie :: Got brittle bones? Got Milk's latest. ]


+ New campaign for Got Milk - Brittlelactica. Of course there's also a myspace page for the cow of Da iry.

[ :: adgruntie :: Why tout lame features? ]


+ I hate to gross out any of my male readers with this but it's seriously been bothering me since I first heard commercials for this. Tampax Pearl is touting that it's got a no slip grip. Ok, well this is a problem I've never encountered before. Is it that much of an issue that it is listed as a new feature? Or did someone at P&G who has probably never even used a tampon before just decide that it would be good to add? I suppose the one thing is that the majority of tampon advertising is targeted more at young girls who have probably never used a tampon before, rather than older women who are accustomed to the product. It still seems to me to be an odd "feature".

Then again, I can't hear the name of this product without thinking that somewhere someone still can't believe they got this name through the approval pipeline.
Monday, September 25, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Ways to get rid of employees ]

+ 50 ways a manager can get employees to quit. (via kottle.org)

[ :: adgruntie :: AdCouncil Wants Americans to Give ]

+ The Ad Council has launched a new campaign "Generous Nation," and is "designed to inspire and motivate Americans to get involved in helping those in need". The campaign includes the endline, "Don't Almost Give. Give," and is being unveiled this morning at a briefing at the Museum of TV & Radio. See the ads here.

[ :: adgruntie :: Ad agencies to lease ideas? ]

+ A proposal for a new way to run advertising agencies was introduced by Russell Howcroft, chairman of the Advertising Federation of Australia, and incoming CEO of George Patterson Y&R Melbourne. He said the threat that new media developments posed to the advertising industry meant advertising agencies needed to adopt new financial models or face the risk of seeing revenue decline.

Speaking at the Caxton Newspaper Advertising conference in Queenstown, New Zealand, Mr Howcroft said ad agencies needed to take ownership of the ideas they created for clients and lease them back.

[ :: adgruntie :: VW's new Safe Happens spots ]

+ Over at adage, Garfield critiques the latest crash spot from CP+B for VW. I have to say those ads are hard to watch. And for some reason I cannot explain, harder to watch than the first round of spots. Part of that I think has to do with the crazy media buy. For the first time in a while I was able to veg on the couch during the weekend watching TV. In the period of 3-4 hours I had to have seen both new spots at least 20 times. Or at least it felt like that many.

Perhaps there's something to be said for a lower frequency buy for spots like this. Just like any violence or "shocking" sort of thing, the more you see it, the more desensitized you get to it. Which then you have to wonder, will these ads lose their impact (no pun intended, seriously!) of shock value if they are constantly seen?

Or if you're like me you just change the channel when you see the first couple seconds of the spot, to avoid seeing the crash part.
Friday, September 22, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Old Lysol ad ]

+ Advertising in the good old fashioned days. Yipes.
Thursday, September 21, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Feel The Beef for McDonalds ]

+ McDonald's is trying to send a new message to its Chinese consumers: it's all about the beef.

As it shifts from a chicken-heavy menu and tries to emphasize its upscale "Western image" and the appeal of beef -- which is considered a luxury -- McDonald's is promoting beef burgers such as the recently introduced Quarter Pounder on TV commercials and print advertising using an obvious sexual theme that plays on Chinese views that beef is manly, boosts energy, and increases sex appeal. McDonald's is in the middle of an expansion as it eyes an additional 230 restaurant openings by 2008 for a total of about 1,000 locations. Also, it recently signed a deal with the nation's largest gasoline retailer to open stores at existing and future gas stations. Although McDonald's still wants to incorporate local tastes in its menu, it also wants to diverge from rival Yum! Brands' KFC, which has twice as many restaurants but caters more to local tastes. McDonald's chief marketing and corporate-affairs officer in China comments, "People want McDonald's to be a Western brand. When people come to us, they want an alternative to what they can get everywhere else."

See the ad (windows media) here.
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Adult Swim bumper from Monday ]

+Adult Swim's Bump Making Computrons - beautiful!


[ :: adgruntie :: Nike Spot Spoofs World Cup HeadButt ]

+ A new Nike spot is spoofing the famous headbutting incident during the World Cup between Italy's Marco Materazzi and France's Zinedine Zidane. The endline for the spot reads:"Every athlete has their secret weapon". It was filmed last month close to Nike's Italian HQ in Bologna and is for a new training vest Materazzi wears in the spot.

At the article is a link to a .wmv version of the spot...but my guess is that if it's not already on youtube or similar site, it will be shortly.

UPDATE- Found the ad on youtube:



[ :: sidetracks :: Avast Matey! ]

+ Talk Like A Pirate Day is here. From their site...

Top Ten Pickup lines for use on International Talk Like a Pirate Day

10. Avast, me proud beauty! Wanna know why my Roger is so Jolly?

9. Have ya ever met a man with a real yardarm?

8. Come on up and see me urchins.

7. Yes, that is a hornpipe in my pocket and I am happy to see you.

6. I'd love to drop anchor in your lagoon.

5. Pardon me, but would ya mind if fired me cannon through your porthole?

4. How'd you like to scrape the barnacles off of me rudder?

3. Ya know, darlin’, I’m 97 percent chum free.

2. Well blow me down?

And the number one pickup line for use on International Talk Like a Pirate Day is...

1. Prepare to be boarded.

[ :: adgruntie :: Viral because I say so ]

+ Adweek's adland cartoon hits the nail on the head.
Friday, September 15, 2006
[ :: sidetracks :: A site to check out ]

+ American Science & Surplus - just wow. Loads and loads of things from marker sets to dental tools. I could spend days check out what they've got...good prices too!

[ :: adgruntie :: This that...inbox/rss reader clean up ]

+ NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day Archive...loads and loads of cool shots.

Reflections are the new drop shadows.

Knit a Princess Leia hat.

National Parks Service has illustrator and photoshop symbols and map patterns to download free. Sweet.

Shakespeare Searched. Ah yes.

Next time you send a letter, seriously...send a letter. Nice nice.

Bullshit generator.

[ :: adgruntie :: Axe+Clio Mega Panda Fun ]



+ Click here to see what I came up with. I just wish you could turn off the music or mute it or something.

[ :: adgruntie :: Shatner in local ad for law firm ]

+ Back in February I posted on a commercial for a local law firm starring William Shatner. Today I came across the spots on youtube. Check them out.

Shatner 1:


Shatner 2:


Shatner 3:


[ :: adgruntie :: Enter the Copywriter ]

+ Enter the Copywriter - An internal spoof contest that makes fun of agency life inside McCann Erickson Advertising. Fabulous!

(hat tip to Russell Davies)

[ :: adgruntie :: Mr. CityMen ]

+ Motionographer points to some films by Eric Lerner titled Mr.CityMen which play off the Little Miss and Mr. Men books of Roger Hargreave. V. nice!
Thursday, September 14, 2006
[ :: designy :: Presidential Doodles ]

+ What do Presidents doodle while they're on calls with international leaders? You can find out. I stumbled across an ad for some new book called Presidential Doodles...and no, not that kind of doodle. There's a mini gallery of doodles and a quiz that gives a sense of what's in the book. They also give some explanation to the reason they put the book together. Interesting stuff.

[ :: adgruntie :: What a feeling from Carlton Draught ]

+ I'm somewhat surprised to see Carlton Draught's new ad is a take on the last scene from Flashdance. Isn't their target males? Does Flashdance resonate with males as it does with gals? I know that when I was a kid I was totally into dance movies. My Flashdance tape had (actually has because I still have it) a skip on it from my playing it over and over again and always jumping off the recliner at a particular point in "What a Feeling". I highly doubt most males have that kind of memory with the film, then again it's also highly likely other girls don't either. But the point being, "Big Ad" was a bit more non-gender specific. This one, I'm not sure. I do find it amusing that the spot was filmed in Manly, Australia.

[ :: adgruntie :: New Energizer Tag? ]

+ When did Energizer change it's tagline to "Keep Going"? Weird. Something about it is weird or awkward. Perhaps it's because I'm used to the "It keeps going" which is much more active than "Keep Going" which is a command.

[ :: adgruntie :: Leave advertising, become a taxidermist ]


+ Thinking of quitting your day job but unsure of which path to take?
How about finding inspiration in this ad from Modern Mechanics Sept, 1933 which shows you how to make a lamp from a real squirrel and claims It’s FUN! BIG profits in spare time! And it's not just squirrels...frogs, birds and the highly priced etc. Ooh yes, taxidermy.

[ :: adgruntie :: ANA Forum discusses compensation ]

+ Adweek reports on compensation talks at the ANA Forum.

Draft FCB CEO Howard Draft, for example, advocated an "open book" approach in such negotiations, with agencies providing salary, overhead and rent costs, if asked, in order to arrive at a fair compensation formula.
[...snip...]
Anomaly co-founder Carl Johnson suggested that clients be less concerned about how much time agencies spends on their business and focus instead on ways to reward the quality of ideas. In fact, one of the shop's basic principals is that it does not track its hours.

"How can I make money using timesheets? By having more people take longer" to solve a client problem, Johnson said. Instead, clients should encourage agencies to work faster and embrace the concept of value-based compensation, providing bonuses for agencies whose ideas over-perform, said Johnson.
[...snip...]
WellPoint vice president of advertising Michael Howe stressed that when an agency exceeds expectations, client bonuses should be paid to staffers directly responsible for the business. However, he cautioned that it's not always clear exactly who deserves credit for the concepts an agency develops, particularly when staffers work in groups. Besides, he added, "[That's] beginning to dabble in the agency business, which is what you shouldn't do."

On the broad topic of integrated marketing communications, Draft, Kraft Foods' Jane Hilk and Goldman Sachs' David May agreed that clients must take a strong hand in managing the campaign development process, particularly when multiple agencies are involved.

"You've got to have a client-led model," said Draft. "You can't assume agencies are going to work together. They're not."

So how do you get them to collaborate?

"You expect it. And you articulate it," said Hilk, vice president of integrated marketing and growth channels at Kraft, who demands credibility, chemistry and commitment from her shops. "You tell them that's what it means to be one of our partners."

Monday, September 11, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Fun design for award show call for entries ]

+ Take a peek at the Eagle Awards site. The theme is based on the premise of a disgruntled designer/AD having to take the time to create an award site. And they don't mind showing some code. ;) Saucy!
Friday, September 08, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: New Mazda Viral ]

+ Mazda's new viral short Wild Child goes back to the use of toys and action figures, somewhat like the ad from Nissan back in 1999 featuring GI Joe and Barbie look-a-likes.

[ :: adgruntie :: I want the ad buy to stop! ]

+

Getting too much air play...which means the danger is the tune getting stuck in my head...which I guess is the point. ;)

Do have to wonder if there's a bit of a homage to I want my MTV. The first time I saw it I thougth it was for the tv channel WB, but then realized, they don't exist anymore. heh.

[ :: adgruntie :: What's a punchline? ]

+ I'm going to be lazy. I just wrote something up for Adland on this. All i will add here is that apparently by KFC standards, it's a line that makes you want to punch someone for telling it. Read the rest here.
Thursday, September 07, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Do you trust ads? ]

+ A recent survey says Chinese don't trust advertisements.

The survey, sponsored by the China Consumers' Association, conducted the investigation among 12,927 netizens and found that two-thirds of them, or 67.8 percent, said they had been victimized by fake and illegal advertisements.

In the first half of this year, the association received 5,483 complaints about false advertising, which prompted the association to carry out the on-line survey, which ran from June 23 to Aug. 18 this year.

Small advertisements, which are posted outside on trees, walls or bus stops, were considered the least trustworthy. TV advertising ranked second most untrustworthy, and on-line advertising came third.

The respondents said medical products, health food and medicine were the most untrustworthy ads followed by beauty services and cosmetic products.

Meanwhile, 41.3 percent of the surveyed said the media that publishes advertisements should be held responsible for the consequences resulting from fake and illegal advertising. More than 32.6 fake advertisers should be banned from advertising.

Nearly 80 percent of the respondents believed that celebrities should also be held responsible for fake ads.

[ :: adgruntie :: One man fight ]

+ Cake creates new Amnesty International ad titled "One man fight", to raise awareness of domestic violence against women. It will be released as a viral next week. (Reg req - has the spot to view).

UPDATE [09/11/06]: You can now view the spot on the microsite for the spot at onemanfight.com.
Wednesday, September 06, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Shelve sex, go wholesome ]

+University of Florida study of more than 100 college-aged women claims wholesome, not sex, sells.

The survey, conducted by UF's Robyn Goodman, Jon Morris and John Sutherland, gauged female readers' responses to ads featuring beautiful women in women's magazines such as Allure, Vogue and Cosmopolitan. It revealed that the more lustful ads lead to boredom and disinterest whereas ads that displayed more clothed, girl-next-door models gained positive reactions.

"What we found is the way that the industry and the way that consumers are looking at beauty are totally different," Goodman said.

The reason, she suggests, is a disconnect between the generally male executives of the companies trying to market their products and the female consumers they're trying to reach.

The researchers said the results may indicate that sex has become commonplace in advertising and that female consumers are just no longer interested.

"I think advertisers would say if you show a woman a sexy picture, many of them will want to emulate it, but I think this research shows that's not true," Morris said.

Not that this is groundbreaking research as an earlier study from the UK had showed this as well. Still, more proof I guess that there is truth in this.

[ :: adgruntie :: Pepsi ads from China and India ]

+Pepsi ad from India? (not certain about this, could be wrong)

Nice Boy - video powered by Metacafe

Pepsi ad from China:

Pepsi In China - video powered by Metacafe
Monday, September 04, 2006
[ :: adgruntie :: Stuff from my feed reader ]

+ PixelGroovy - digg for designers (via swissmiss)

Vintage Braniff ads (via Design Observer)

[ :: adgruntie :: Anti-drug ad campaign a waste? ]

+ USA Today reports that the GAO report shows that the US government's anti-drug campaign isn't working.

The report by the GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, confirmed the results of a $43 million, government-funded study that found the campaign did not work. That evaluation, by Westat Inc. and the University of Pennsylvania, said parents and youths remembered the ads and their messages. But the study said exposure to the ads did not change kids' attitudes about drugs and that the reduction in drug use in recent years could be attributed more directly to a range of other factors, such as a decline in high school dropouts.

The Westat study also said youths could interpret the ads to suggest that marijuana use is more common than it actually is.

The anti-drug campaign had been criticized before. In 2003, the White House Office of Management and Budget called the campaign "non-performing" and said it had not demonstrated results.

Walters criticized the methodology cited in the GAO report. He said Westat wanted proof of a direct link between the ads and decreases in drug use among teens, which is difficult to show.

The drug czar's office "is being held to a standard that no other ... advertiser can be held to," says Steve Pasierb of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, which helps coordinate the ad campaign.

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