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

Monday, July 30, 2007
[ Spider Pig! ]

+ This has been stuck in my head since Saturday.
The Homer Version:

The Choir Version:

Labels: fun, life, watch

Tuesday, July 24, 2007
[ Goodbye Birdman :( ]

+One of my favorite AdultSwim shows has come to an end. See the last episode of Harvey Birdman Attorney at Law. Daaaaady!

Labels: fun, life, watch

[ Things I'm reading today ]

+ Levi Strauss & Co. is taking Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. to court over the back pocket stitching that Levis says has been legally protected since 1873 and is the oldest known apparel trademark in the country.

Online population to reach 1.5 billion in 2011.

Mad Men inks deal with Cross pens and Jack Daniels.

Bear Grylls' show "Man vs Wild" (and Born Survivor: Bear Grylls in the UK) is not all what they show.

Discovery Channel is re-evaluating one of its most popular series, "Man vs. Wild," after allegations surfaced that its survival-expert host was bunking in motels when he was supposed to be braving the great outdoors.

The network issued a statement Monday in response to an investigation launched by British television network Channel 4, which carries the program under the title "Born Survivor: Bear Grylls." Channel 4 confirmed that host Bear Grylls had partaken of indoor accommodations on at least two occasions when his series had depicted him spending the night in the wild.

"Discovery Communications has learned that isolated elements of the 'Man vs. Wild' show in some episodes were not natural to the environment, and that for health and safety concerns the crew and host received some survival assistance while in the field," the network said in a statement.

Want to buy Facebook? It will only cost you $10 billion.

Disney launches cologne targeted at boys ages 4-11 in Latin communities. The first lines to launch will be Pirates of the Caribbean and Buzz Lightyear-branded fragrances. Weird.

Labels: ad news, adgruntie, branding

Wednesday, July 18, 2007
[ Teens don't use email anymore ]

+ Kids say email is a thing of the past.

"I only use e-mail for my business and to get sponsors," Martina Butler, the host of the teen podcast Emo Girl Talk, said during a panel discussion here at the Mashup 2007 conference, which is focused on the technology generation. With friends, Bulter said she only sends notes via a social network.

"Sometimes I say I e-mailed you, but I mean I Myspace'd or Facebook'ed you," she said.

To be sure, much has been written about the demise of e-mail, given the annoyance of spam and the rise of tools like instant messaging, voice over IP and text messaging. But e-mail has hung on to its utility in office environments and at home, even if it's given up some ground to new challengers. It may be that social networks are the most potent new rival to e-mail, one of the Internet's oldest forms of communication. With tens of millions of members on their respective networks, MySpace and Facebook can wield great influence over a generation living online, either through the cell phone or the Internet.
"I don't know any teen who doesn't have a phone with them all the time."
--Catherine Cook, president,
MyYearbook.com

And if you're among those who believe teens are the future, then e-mail could be knocked down a rung. For example, Craig Sherman, CEO of Gaia Online, a virtual world for teens and college kids, describes the age group as "the first and early adopters of new trends. Things they are doing are what everyone will be doing in five years."

Labels: adgruntie, email, work

[ Electrolux banner ad ]

+ Iron Aid banner ad for Electrolux. Very nice.

Labels: adgruntie, online advertising, web

[ Stengel's mantra: Get to know your customers ]

+ Jim Stengel, marketing chief for Procter & Gamble Co., wants to get to know you better.

At an advertising trade conference this year, Stengel called for a "mind-set shift that will make us relevant to today's consumers; a mind-set shift from 'telling and selling' to building relationships."

Stengel has focused on increased consumer research, including "immersion" in which marketers spend hours at a time visiting, shopping, and talking with people for the Cincinnati-based consumer products company that spends nearly $7 billion a year on global advertising.

"We need to think beyond consuming ... and to really directly understand the role and the meaning the brand has in their lives," Stengel told The Associated Press in an interview. "If you're always asking that question, 'How can I be more relevant, how can I have a deeper meaning, how can I build this relationship between brand and consumer to a higher level' your marketing gets better, you innovate.

"With the amount of information we have at our fingertips today, it makes it even more important to stay in touch, to get out there and talk to real people about real issues," Stengel said.

[snip]

"Marketers are rightfully very interested in engaging consumers and creating a dialogue," said Edward Landry, a vice president at the management consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, which helped produce a book released this month on leading marketing executives, such as Stengel.

"In a lot of these practices, P&G seems to be a little ahead of the curve," Landry said.

While many marketers talk about consumer relationships and the need to be "consumer-centric," P&G's leadership - which makes "the Consumer is Boss" its mantra - clearly has it as top priority in research, training and measuring results, Landry said.

"There is a world of difference between knowing and doing," Landry said. "The company does what it talks."

Labels: ad news, adbiz, adgruntie, wisdom

Tuesday, July 17, 2007
[ Dunkin' spots with a sense of humor? ]

+ Can't be sure until I see them but they sound like they could be promising. Directed by actor Zach Braff, the spots feature supermodel Naomi Campbell making fun of her bad behavior escapades and Kiss guitarist Ace Frehley to promote Dunkin' Donuts Iced Tea and Iced Latte summer beverages. Ad agency for the campaign, and agency of record for Dunkin' is Hill Holliday.

UPDATE: See the spots below:

Naomi Campbell spot:


Ace Frehley spot:

Labels: ad news, adgruntie, campaign, coffee

[ More Homer Goodness Promotions ]

+ Another promotional stunt has surfaced promoting The Simpsons movie in England. A 180ft image of Homer Simpson waving a doughnut aloft has appeared adjacent to the ancient Cerne Abbas giant, the 17th Century chalk fertility symbol in Dorset. Go to the link to see the image. Here's an amusing response.

Labels: adgruntie, branding, controversy

[ BK the next brand to hook up with The Simpsons ]


+ Burger King gets in on the Simpsons Movie madness and today launches SimpsonizeMe.com where you can take a picture of yourself and turn it into a Simpsonized version - apparently. I've tried a couple pictures so far with no luck - could be they are having issues with the widget. From the press release:

Now, anyone can get a yellow makeover. After uploading a photo and going yellow, website guests can personalize their look even more by choosing from hundreds of hairstyles, body types, outfits and accessories - from Marge's wacky blue hair and Homer's five o'clock shadow to Lisa's pearl necklace. When finished, visitors can create screensavers and wallpaper designs with their new look or email it to a friend. Simpsonizeme.com also features THE SIMPSONS MOVIE trailers, a BURGER KING(R) restaurant locator, ads and an online store where visitors can apply their Simpsonized photos to t-shirts, mugs, hats, aprons and photo sculptures.

Burger King Corp. will also sponsor a traveling Simpsonizer throughout July and August, giving consumers a chance to step inside a photo booth and instantly become Simpsonized. Participants will have the option to immediately print their transformed photo, send it as an e-card or send it to a mobile phone.
[snip]
In honor of Homer Simpson's notorious appetite for meat and more meat, BURGER KING(R) restaurants will offer the Ultimate DOUBLE WHOPPER(R) sandwich beginning July 27 at a suggested price of $3.59. The sandwich features two quarter-pound flame-broiled burgers topped with four pieces of melted American cheese, eight slices of crispy bacon, ripe tomatoes, crisp lettuce, ketchup, crunchy pickles, onions, mayo and sauce on a toasted sesame seed bun.

Labels: ad news, adgruntie, branding, campaign, creative, online advertising

Monday, July 16, 2007
[ Ad news and stuff I looked at today ]

+ Every day I plan on making a more extensive post of some sort, I never do. So here's what I was looking at today in between meetings and work stuff.

gency profits overtake traditional for first time.

Plaid starts their Brand Tour around the USA today.

Networks leave condom ad approval to local stations.

Comcast, the cable provider for both Pittsburgh and Seattle, would not allow Trojan to purchase local ads for Adult Swim, the nighttime programming on the Cartoon Network, in either market, deeming it inappropriate for children who might stay tuned at night. Adult Swim did accept national advertising, however, so the ads will appear in those same slots in Seattle and Pittsburgh.

Although Comcast did agree to sell spots to Trojan in both cities for other cable networks, including MTV and Comedy Central, Mr. Daniels said the company might abandon Pittsburgh as a test market because of the rebuffs.

Still, the best publicity for Trojan may be what it is getting free. The ad’s rejection by CBS and Fox was discussed on many blogs, with the Huffington Post, for example, chiding the networks in four posts. The commercial has been viewed nearly 100,000 times on YouTube, while trojanevolve.com has drawn more than 400,000 unique visitors since June 18.

On “The O’Reilly Factor” on Fox, Bill O’Reilly argued the ad was inappropriate to show on television — after he broadcast the ad nearly in its entirety. Stephen Colbert also did a segment about the campaign on “The Colbert Report” on Comedy Central.

Esquire logo thrown into the Los Angeles River and makes news in the New York Times. Not really sure why.

What's plaguing viral marketing?

Australian-born sociology professor at Columbia University named Duncan Watts argument is that even if influentials are several times as influential as a normal person, they have little impact beyond their own immediate neighborhood -- not good when you're trying to create a cascade through a large network of people, as most big brands do. In those cases, he argues, it's best to skip the idea of targeting that treasured select group of plugged-in folks and instead think about that group's polar opposite: a large number of easily influenced people. He calls this big-seed marketing.

An irony of our age is that, though everyone acknowledges consumers are in control, marketers still believe they're running the show, right down to trying to plan for virality as any creative told to "just go make a viral video" will lament. Virality is an outcome, not a channel to be planned. In Mr. Watts' chaotic conception of the world, you might as well try to plan for a terrorist attack or some other random event.

"We cannot predict what is going to happen," he said. "Things happen randomly. You want strategies that don't depend on being right, but do depend on being able to measure things very well. You throw things out there, with as low cost as you can manage and with as great a diversity as you can stand and then you see what gets taken up."

This thinking, if you buy it, has dramatic implications for a marketing business most believe is entering a post-mass world. Media is fragmenting and consumers are more skeptical and harder to reach, leaving viral and word-of-mouth as the most attractive cost-efficient alternative to paid advertising. A way to slip into culture without paying millions for media, it transfers the work of distribution to consumers themselves, which is not only efficient in terms of cost but it also grants viral content or ideas more credibility since it came from a friend. In short, advertising is expensive and hard-to-believe; viral is cheap and credible. It is the un-mass.
[snip]
And in April, a trio of researchers published some findings on an online retailer's recommendation network in paper in the journal "Transactions on the Web." They found that there are limits to how long recommendation chains last and just how influential those most influential nodes are -- "over a few of their friends and not everyone they know" -- and concluded that "viral marketing was found to be in general not as epidemic as one might have hoped."

Oxynation is a microsite for Oxy targeting teens. I'm not so thrilled about the tagline, "Way Better". Yes it's in teen-speak, but tagline 101 would tell you that if you can say it about any product, it ain't so peachy.

Peter Druckerism: "The customer never buys what you think you sell. And you don't know it. That's why it's so difficult to differentiate yourself." (via the hidden persuader)

Labels: adgruntie, branding, campaign, consumer-generated, controversy, web, work

[ Brand Hook-Ups ]


+ Tom Fishburne does it again with this Brand Hook-Ups cartoon. The last one nearly caused a coffee/keyboard related accident!

Labels: adgruntie, branding, fun, wisdom, work

Thursday, July 12, 2007
[ Where's your agency/client relationship? ]

+ A look at when to fire your agency.

I believe there is one overriding question you can ask yourself that will provide great insight into what you should do: Has my agency stopped challenging me?
Getting Paid to Think

You'll note that I said "stopped" challenging, not "started." I'm not suggesting that an agency should challenge your authority. It's your money and your brand, and no matter how strongly it feels about its own opinion it should never forget that. But the fact that you've got precious resources on the line is precisely why an agency should consider challenging your thinking part of its job description. After all, creativity requires thinking differently. Thinking differently requires risk-taking. And risk-taking is challenging.

If your ad agency isn't regularly making you feel uncomfortable, it's not doing its job. It may come to you with smart creative executions that nevertheless make you nervous because "I've never seen it done it this way before." They may push you to experiment with unproven tactics so that you don't get left behind in the frenetic world of new media. They may challenge you to reexamine your strategic approach altogether. Whatever the nature of the challenge, an agency that makes you think is taking the initiative to think on its own. And that's what you're paying it to do.

Read the whole thing for more.

It is an interesting way to think about the client/agency relationship. I do think that there are many clients who don't want to be "challenged". But that's another story. ;)

Labels: adbiz, adgruntie, agency

[ Random ad news and links ]

+ Could be splitsville for TBWA/Chiat/Day and PlayStation.

Printable cold sores to put on outdoor advertising. Yuck. Via BrandFlakesForBreakfast.

Aleve launched a new "viral" campaign today at Aleviator.com which is intended to get people in the 25-to-49 age group to notice Aleve.

The premise of the game is that two characters named Al and Eve (he’s a scientist, she’s an investigative reporter) have identified an online conspiracy by an organization known as P.A.I.N. (People Against Internet Networking). Game players must view video clues and visit Web sites that are supposedly under attack by this organization, thus restoring the flow of information online.

The plotline is meant as “an extended metaphor” for the pain medicine, said Fabio Gratton, co-founder of Ignite Health, a marketing company that specializes in health topics and that created the game for Bayer.

Labels: ad news, adgruntie, agency, creative, online advertising

Wednesday, July 11, 2007
[ Slurp up some free Slurpees ]

+ You may not get to see a Kwik-e-Mart style 7-Eleven but, you could get a free Slurpee! 7-Eleven celebrates its 80th birthday today – July 11, 7/11/07, also known as 7-Eleven® Day. As has been the tradition for many years, the company will celebrate July 11 with free 7.11-ounce Slurpee® drinks for customers visiting its U.S. stores. Special birthday cups will be available while supplies last.

Labels: adgruntie, life, promotion

Monday, July 09, 2007
[ Things open in my web browser ]

+ Things I'm wishing I had time to take a look at that sound neat.

On Staying Creative:

As a creative person matures and gains experience it’s often the case that they move into roles that are less and less creative at their core. Though it’s a natural progression, making the transition from doing creative work on a day-to-day basis to running a department or business can be hard. How do you stay responsible to your team, your business and your new less-creative responsibilities while at the same time keep a fresh creative mind? This is something I’ve put quite a bit of thought into, and while I don’t have all the answers I do have some tips and tricks to keep you in the habit of being creative, even when your job gets in your way.

Do you make these mistakes when writing?:

It’s time once again to review those nasty errors that damage our credibility when we write. Not normally a fun task, but absolutely necessary. I promise to keep you amused to diminish the pain (or at least I’ll give it a shot).

As with the last time we explored grammatical errors, I feel compelled to mention that copywriting and blogging should be conversational and engaging, and breaking formal grammatical and spelling conventions can often be a good thing. Every time I see a comment complaining about something like, oh, I don’t know… the improper use of an ellipsis or one-sentence paragraphs, I shake my head with sadness.

Make your site more mobile friendly:

he number of mobile devices loose in the world greatly exceeds the number of desktop (or laptop) computers filling up desk and table space in offices and homes. The number of people who might view your site while clutching a screen measuring anywhere from 100 pixels to 640 pixels in width increases daily. Creating mobile-friendly content is quickly becoming less of an occasional add-on and more of a standard practice.

This article will take a look at how you can create mobile-friendly content, how you can test your work, and offer a few tips for writing CSS for the media type handheld. If you are a Dreamweaver or Flash user, we’ll also take a look at something new from Adobe that will help you test your pages for handheld devices.

Unfolding the Fold looks at scrolling pages.

Web designers and usability professionals have debated the topic of web page scrolling since 1994. At the early days of the web, most users were unfamiliar with the concept of scrolling and it was not a natural thing for them to do. As a result, web designers would design web pages so that all the important content would be “Above the fold” or even worse, squeeze the entire page into the initial screen area. This practice of “squeezing” continues even today.

Nowadays, scrolling has become a natural practice in surfing the web. Scrolling is also associated with web 2.0 design because big, clear text and “spacious”, “clean” content implies longer web pages.

In this post, we will demonstrate with charts and real data several behavioral patterns related to scrolling.

When the Designer/Client Relationship Should Begin.

How to Think Like a Client:

Clients are evil… at least it can feel that way sometimes. They seem to hinder more than help and so often they “just don’t get it”. We can talk enthusiastically about accessibility, standards and best practice but so often we are met with the blank stare of indifference from clients. They interfere in our designs and won’t pay for proper testing. Next to Internet Explorer they are probably the biggest frustration we face!

25 Ways to Improve Your Site Today:

Yes, the title may look like this post should be on an amateur blog and that it will be full of references to clip art and animated gifs, but this is serious. I’ve compiled a list of what I think are 25 ways to improve your website in as little time as possible. All can be done in a matter of minutes. Now, a website is hard work and usually there are no quick fixes but this list should provide you with a few pointers to make some updates today. If you like, it can also be used as a basis for a quality check document.

What's the Value of an Engaged Viewer?

One engaged viewer is worth eight regular viewers, according to a new study.

New research from Omnicom Group's OMD may move the seemingly fuzzy concept of engagement beyond the realm of academic debate by proving it really does move sales. The study could bolster advertising by better reflecting its contributions to sales growth, and the fledgling science of engagement measurement, which now has some tangible evidence of its worth.

Completed by OMD and presented to an Advertising Research Federation forum late last month, the research indicates that not only does consumer engagement with media and advertising drive sales, but it also can drive sales more than media spending levels. That suggests even a relatively small media outlay could work wonders should the ads draw keen attention from consumers within media they also find engaging, said Mike Hess, director of global research and consumer insights for OMD.

Design It Yourself is a neat site with some information on designing things yourself. Will have to poke around more when I get some time (whenever that will be!)

Vecteezy is a site for sharing vectors - upload your own or download someone elses. Some nice designs.

Labels: ad news, adgruntie, branding, campaign, crafty, creative, design, media, reference

[ Email tidbits ]

+ WhiteNoiseInc is a blog by David Barker, vice president of e-mail solutions at Avenue A/Razorfish and writer for MediaPost's Email Insider. Has some good stuff about email. In Email Insider, he points to The Next 20 Years: Years: How Customer and Workforce Attitudes Will Evolve from Harvard Business Review.

Another interesting article from HBR is Six Rules for Effective Forecasting.

Labels: adgruntie, email, trends

[ Ad news on a Monday morn ]

+ Beckham and Gillette part ways. Aww.

Speculation had been rife since late last year that Beckham's existing three-year Gillette sponsorship deal, which expired at the end of last month, would not be extended.

The company has been trying to rejig Beckham's portfolio of deals to include profit-sharing or merchandising elements.

Existing deals with the likes of adidas, Coty and Motorola all go beyond Beckham appearing simply as a "face" in brand ads, unlike the relationship with Gillette.

It is also thought that by ending the deal Beckham is free to extend his relationship in the male grooming sector with Coty beyond fragrances.

RedBull attempts giant ad to be seen by people in airplanes landing at Heathrow Airport.

ed Bull is attempting to break the world record for the largest ad by creating a logo the size of 60 tennis courts in fields beneath the Heathrow airport flight path.

The advert, which will be around 125,000 sq feet, forms part of a wider campaign by the energy drinks maker to promote the Red Bull Air Race World Series, to be held in Britain for the first time.

A second giant outdoor ad, beneath the Gatwick flight path, will measure around 120,000 sq feet.

Each advert, set to be completed by Sunday, will take five workers working 16 hours per day two days to create.

Labels: ad news, adgruntie, branding, campaign

Friday, July 06, 2007
[ Luvs uses Beatles music to pimp diapers ]

+ Procter & Gamble wants Luvs to be all that parents need.

Its new "All You Need is Luvs" marketing campaign uses the classic Beatles song "All You Need is Love" to spread the word about Luvs’ Bear Hug Stretch diaper.

The tune will play an important role in this new effort. "The song helps us break through the diaper advertising clutter and simply communicate to moms that Luvs diapers are 'all you need' to keep your baby happy," Saatchi & Saatchi account manager Mark Rolland said in a statement.

In the first 30-second spot, "All You Need is Love" is played in a light rock style over a scene where a family is enjoying quality time together. The father playfully encourages his son as he plays and tumbles with his favorite teddy bear.

The direct mail, Net marketing and new packaging efforts feature the children of P&G employees. This is the first time P&G employees’ kids have been used in P&G Baby Care packaging imagery and marketing efforts. In all, seven different children are featured.

Labels: ad news, adgruntie, branding, campaign

Monday, July 02, 2007
[ The Simpsons get tie-ins ]


+ 7-11 as Kwik-E-Mart dammit. Wish there was one in this state. bah. More at 7-11 website.

JetBlue also has a Simpsons tie-in going on too. Love the "For those who no function snacks without" line. They also have a tie to the characters and destinations - for example, Mr. Smithers local of choice is ...surprise...San Francisco, which Mr. Burns likes D.C., and Clancy Wiggam likes Boston.

Labels: adgruntie, campaign, online advertising

[ I just shill it - I don't use it ]

+ You'd think if a brand hires a spokesperson to pimp their product, said spokesperson would be required to use the product or at least be in need of using said product. Not if you're Rachael Hunter, apparently. Or Slim Fast.

A Slim-Fast spokesman attempted to clarify, saying: "We do anticipate that Rachel will, when she needs to, use Slim-Fast." But he added: "She is not obliged to use Slim-Fast. ... It's less about the product and more about the campaign."

Isn't this like having a young guy with a full head of hair selling Rogaine to balding older guys? Perhaps this explains the hair-in-a-box marketing technique.

Labels: ad news, adgruntie, campaign