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

Tuesday, January 29, 2008
[ Hey Whipple, Squeeze This! ]


+ Imagine my surprise when I got an email from Luke Sullivan - writer of my all-time favorite advertising book, Hey Whipple Squeeze This! Sadly, I've been bombarded by work and haven't had time to post this - but let's rectify that immediately, while I sit in a status meeting (and listen in on some irrelevant-to-me discussions).

Luke Sullivan is a CD/the group creative head at GSDM in Austin, Texas. Previously, he spent ten years at Minneapolis agency Fallon, five at The Martin Agency, and four as Chief Creative Officer of an agency in Atlanta. He began his career as an understudy of industry icon Tom McElligott and has over 20 medals to his credit in the One Show. His clients have included United Airlines, AT&T, Miller Lite, American Legacy Foundation, and Norwegian Cruise Lines.

His third edition of Hey Whipple, Squeeze This will be in stores the first week of February or so. I suppose this means it's time to leave my first edition, dogeared copy to get dusty on the shelf. ;-)

So, what can you expect in this new edition?
- New case studies and creative work
- A new chapter on thinking big across all media (can't wait to read this!)
- A new chapter on direct-response television. Mr. Sullivan says, "I hope that particular chapter stirs up a lot of whining in that industry because it so sorely needs to be hosed off and de-loused."
- A new forward by Alex Bogusky
- A new cover designed Craig Denham of GSD&M

Get this book at Amazon.com. :)

Labels: adbiz, adbook, adgruntie, agency, buy it, creative, wisdom

Monday, January 28, 2008
[ Super Bowl stuff ]

+ Oh have I been a bad blogger. Seems like many of my posts of late start off this way. Things have become super hectic with work, as I'm basically doing the work of two - or enough work for two.

Over the weekend I finally got some time to throw together Adland's Super Bowl XLII Commercial Spoiler with all the scoop in one place about what you'll see Sunday night.

It's funny, the more I do these spoilers and help get Adland prepped for the big game, the less I find the ads to be as good as I used to. I'm not sure if that comes from seeing the spots or knowledge of them that removes the bit that makes it surprising and have more impact on the day...or if the ads just really aren't as great as they used to be...or what we expect them to be.

Labels: ad news, adgruntie, commercial, Super Bowl 08

Wednesday, January 09, 2008
[ Cute Bears and TP ]

+ Charmin takes their marketing to new levels. I'm still not sure why there is the need for "ultra strong" toilet paper, but I have a feeling I really don't want to know.

Labels: ad news, adbiz, adgruntie

[ Best Episode Ever...or at least one of the top 10 ]

+ On Sunday, The Simpsons took on the 2007 primary as their topic of choice. They handled it excellently - brilliant writing and a solid idea helped them to nail the show.

Labels: fun, life, watch

Tuesday, January 08, 2008
[ Touch your widget ]

+ What's your Widget Worth?

Market researcher comScore (SCOR) wants to end the mystery. Considered by many to be the industry standard for audience tracking on the Web, comScore will use a revamped yardstick that could give advertisers, software makers, and investors a better handle on just how many people are using the programs. Under the new method of calculating, almost 586 million individual Internet users viewed a piece of widget software in November, 2007, according to an exclusive look at the data comScore provided to BusinessWeek.com. That's nearly double comScore's estimate in July, the last month it measured using an old system. ComScore plans to release the new widget usage data in mid-January.

What's different? For starters, comScore will now include activity on Facebook, one of the fastest growing social networks. The new method can do that because it records how many Web users click on a given widget. ComScore's previous method only tracked the presence of Adobe Systems' (ADBE) Flash software. That's useful since Flash is used to create many of the widgets used today. But the method didn't work for Facebook, which bars the automatic loading of Flash animations.

The new version of comScore's tool will also account for widgets built with JavaScript, a Web programming language, in addition to those based on Flash. ComScore also plans to measure usage of Google's Gadgets software in future surveys. Linda Abraham, an executive vice-president at comScore, says the new data could give software developers, and companies that want to advertise through their applications, a truer picture of who's using what widgets, and how often. "Widgets are looked on as not yet proven," she says. "We talk to widget companies all the time, and it comes up in every conversation."

Labels: adbiz, adgruntie, interactive, online advertising, web

[ Client Discontent Up 20% in 2007 ]

+ A record $27.5 billion in business went into play in 2007. This blows away the previous record of $22 billion set in 2005. Two quotes from the article:

"Clients continue to look for fresh ideas and remain less than satisfied with the strategic partnerships and thinking that they are getting out of their agencies," said Mark Sneider, U.S. managing director at brand consultancy Reardon Smith Whittaker, Cincinnati.

Robert Passikoff, president of Brand Keys, New York, said the issue is "no [agency] really does it any better than the others, but they all claim to have their secret sauce."

Labels: adbiz, adgruntie, agency

Monday, January 07, 2008
[ Links to Sip: 01.07.08 ]

+ Yeah, so I'm behind again. I don't know how many tabs I have open in firefox, but, let's just say it's more than I have time to read. So yes, yet again, here is another link list (honestly, not out of laziness, but out of lack of time.)

Oh and I finally got all the Adland Roundup posted. Check it out:
2007 Adland Roundup: A look back ad the year in advertising
2007 Adland Roundup - The Ads - Part 1
2007 Adland Roundup - The Ads - Part 2
2007 Adland Roundup - The Ads - Part 3
2007 Adland Roundup - The Ads - Part 4

Xerox Hopes Its New Logo Doesn’t Say ‘Copier’

This morning, Xerox unveiled what it says is the most sweeping transformation of its corporate identity since it dropped “Haloid” from the Haloid Xerox name in 1961. In a broadcast to employees, it announced that it would retire the staid red capital X that has dominated its logo for 40 years in favor of what Richard Wergan, vice president of advertising, calls “a brand identity that reflects the Xerox of today.”

The new logo consists of a bright red lowercase “xerox” that sits alongside a red sphere sketched with lines that link to form a stylized X. According to Anne M. Mulcahy, Xerox’s chief, that little piece of art represents the connection to customers, partners, industry and innovation.

Ms. Mulcahy insists that the Xerox brand already stands for all those things already, of course. But clearly she is banking that the new look will, perhaps subliminally, drive home the point that Xerox is, as she put it, “engaging and approachable” as well as “technologically savvy and eager to lead in the 21st century.” That’s a pretty tall task for a ball-and-X to accomplish. But Xerox points to a lot of research that says it is up to it.

Xerox and Interbrand, a brand consultancy that is a unit of Omnicom Group, spent more than 18 months interviewing some 5,000 people across the globe about their associations with the Xerox name. Then they set about figuring how they could best retain the nice things it stands for (dependability and stability), jettison the not-so-nice (formal, somewhat stodgy) — and, most importantly, add in such attributes as modern, innovative and flexible.

They wanted a logo that would work as well on the Internet and on a fast-moving bike as it does in print or on television. (Xerox is a sponsor of the Ducati Xerox World Superbike Team.)

“The Internet, sponsorships, all kinds of 3D icons — none of that existed when Xerox adopted its old logo,” said Maryann J. Stump, senior director of brand strategy for Interbrand. “And you can do animation with a symbol that you just can’t do with a wordmark.”

The Xerox/Interbrand team settled on lowercase letters because they seemed friendlier, and on a deeper red and a thicker font, to stand out better on the Web and on high-definition television. They chose a ball to suggest forward movement and “a holistic company,” Ms. Stump said. They also devised a series of variously-colored “connectors” — swirled lines, reminiscent of the ribbons used to connote support for AIDS and breast cancer research — that Xerox will etch on conference rooms at its new headquarters in Norwalk, Conn., and that it will use to connect images and text in commercials and advertisements.

McDonald's Takes On Starbucks - They better make those espresso machines idiot proof.

A-B Primes Marketing Pump and Eyes Miller-Coors Merger as Opportunity to Grow Its Core Brands

Clorox hopes their purchase of Burt's Bees will help with their green image.

The record industry might change its tune on music downloads. About bloody time.

More bad news for Arnold as Timberland parts.

Sears Exposes Consumer Data, Faces $5M Lawsuit

Labels: ad news, adgruntie, links, work

Thursday, January 03, 2008
[ Links To Sip 01.03.08 ]

+ Yeah, so while I was hoping to post something a bit more meaty today, too much has gotten in the way. The evil evil evil project server issues that are insane and making me loathe Microsoft even more, working to get the Adland Roundup for 2007 up (it's nearly finished) and actually getting work done for clients.

Check out the Adland Roundup for 2007 (or what is done so far):
2007 Adland Roundup - A look back at the year in advertising
Adland Roundup - The Ads - Part 1
Adland Roundup - The Ads - Part 2

Hoping to get the last two parts up tomorrow.

Now for some links:
Hammer is to be the spokesperson for a dance social network where you can upload your dance videos and win stuff.

Fidelity is shifting some print work in-house, which isn't great for Arnold.

Wired looks at how Facebook's "Social Ads" might make you an unwitting star in those businesses' next Facebook ad campaigns.

Almost overlooked in the Beacon hubbub were the new display advertisements dubbed "Social Ads." These ads, bought by participating businesses, insert your name and profile picture directly into their pitches. Based on anecdotal evidence, the ads started to roll out right before the holidays.

According to Facebook, a user has to take a "social action" in order to trigger the appearance of their name and picture in an advertisement. According to Facebook spokesperson Brandee Barker, that could be almost any activity that the user does on Facebook, "such as the download of an application and the acceptance of a friend request." It could also include becoming a "fan" of a business by clicking a link on that company's Facebook page.

But are Facebook users aware of the results of their so-called social actions? "When you become a fan of Blockbuster, nothing tells the [Facebook member] what that means," says Jeremiah Owyang, senior analyst at Forrester Research. Indeed, when you add Blockbuster's Movie Clique application, there is no notification that you are allowing Blockbuster to use your name and profile picture in a display ad. Owyang suggests that Facebook ought to inform users up front and make it very clear what "becoming a fan" entails, or change the system to an opt-in model. Currently, there is not even any way to opt-out of participation in Social Ads, other than by avoiding associating yourself with any corporate brands on Facebook.

Labels: ad review, adgruntie, adland, links, social networking

Wednesday, January 02, 2008
[ welcome to 2008 ]

+ Happy New Year dear readers. :)

Labels: Cup of Java