May 29, 2008

MySpace. The next "Fucking Merlot."

It's sad when the shunning starts. Funny interpretation of Internet brands as your friends and neighbors.

Spotted at the one and only Dear Jane Sample.

Posted by John on May 29, 2008 at 05:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Brands , Current Affairs , Entertainment , Marketing Trends , Pop Culture , Web/Tech

April 11, 2008

I need a car that slides well, any ideas?

What's up with the latest trend in car spots that shows the car in a massive power slide? It's weird, if you ask me.

Posted by SethyG on April 11, 2008 at 04:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Marketing Trends

October 01, 2007

Product placement 25 years later.

Last week, Netflix delivered E.T. to our door. The kids had never seen it, and it'd been years since I sat down to watch. I'd even forgotten it was in our queue. When Elliott starts dropping the Reese's Pieces, my oldest asked for some clarification. "Well, he's using the Reese's Pieces to show E.T. how to get to his house," I answered. Nothing much more was said at the time. The next day, however, my wife came home with a big box of the peanut butter treats. Seems the boys simply had to try some. Half an hour later, the colorful shells were being used to lead me all over the house to discover various caches of toys. Subsequently, the candy was officially declared as "our favorite."

25 years later and the M&M's brand is still paying for not listening to Steven Spielberg.

Posted by John on October 01, 2007 at 04:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Brands , Entertainment , Film , Food and Drink , Marketing Trends , Movies , Pop Culture , Product placement

August 15, 2007

Cuddle a cloud.

Adopt some sky.

Your personalized air molecule (and message) joins others in your own patch of sky.

Look, I know we're seeing a lot of these collaborative user-generated projects. But I'm currently still a sucker for them. From Human Ideas and Space 150 in the Minnie.

Posted by John on August 15, 2007 at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Brave New Marketing , Current Affairs , Design , Marketing Trends , Web/Tech

April 30, 2007

Cheating at SEO sends you to Google Hell.

What are all those weird drone link farms? They're a tactic designed to push certain Web sites up Google's list. Participating in that practice and other questionable forms of seo can send you to a pit of doom from which you may never return. Walk the straight and narrow, children. Who knows how forgiving the Google gods really are?

Posted by John on April 30, 2007 at 07:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Current Affairs , Marketing Trends , Web/Tech

April 06, 2007

Mom Your Ride.

I think it's interesting to see a viral aimed at someone other than young males. I also like that this isn't a warmed over commercial. Clearly created just for YouTube. Unfortunately, this hits way too close to home for some of us. Best line? "Don't even think about it, I got kids."

Posted by John on April 06, 2007 at 09:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Advertising , Branding , Brave New Marketing , Marketing Trends

March 13, 2007

Oh, you mean you were serious about that copyright thing?

But we thought the law was just so analog.

Posted by John on March 13, 2007 at 03:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Brave New Marketing , Current Affairs , Entertainment , Film , Marketing Trends , Movies , Music , News of the Ad World , Pop Culture , Web/Tech

February 27, 2007

Can MySpace Marketing Jump the Shark?

This afternoon I logged into MySpace to find out that I had a Friend Request from this guy thing. I think we jumped the shark somewhere in there.

Posted by SethyG on February 27, 2007 at 04:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Advertising , Marketing Trends , Web/Tech

February 01, 2007

When it all blows up in your face.

I am of two minds this morning on the whole Boston/Cartoon Network fiasco which you've already read about here, here and here or maybe you saw it as the lead story on the Today Show and nearly every other major news outlet this morning.

My first mind says that this tactic should never have seen the light of day. Part of our job is to be culturally aware. We're the ones who are supposed to know what everyday people are thinking and feeling. The country, as a whole, is jumpy as hell about terrorism. 24 has built its new season around nukes going off in L.A. Entertainment reflects culture. The country is living with some fear. Read any consumer study and it'll confirm it. So, right now, placing plastic stuff with batteries and wires under bridges and in public places is just a dumb thing to do. Even if it just looks like a big Lite Brite. Every political leader, every canned airport voice and even other ad campaigns tell us to be aware and report anything suspicious. And the cops have no choice but to respond to a possible bomb on a major commuter route. Responsible people within the approval chain should have had some light bulbs go off in their heads.  Packages of any sort left under bridges, on Subways or buses, are just begging to misinterpreted no matter how well art directed they are.

That said, my second mind feels awful for all the creative people involved. Dumb idea or not, I know all they wanted to do was provide a little theatre for bored rat-racers. And, as many commenter's on other blogs have noted, the target audience sure didn't run screaming from it. In fact, the target seems to be rallying for the advertiser. Some say there's no such thing as bad press. I don't believe that. One guy is in jail. The agency yanked its Web site down. No one is sitting around with big smiles are their faces. Least of all Ted Turner. We've all had lapses in judgment. Most times though, those don't end up the talk of the country. It has got to be a real nightmare for those involved.

Still, there are consequences to our actions, and the consequences here have a ripple effect on you and me.  Everyone in the industry get whacked with the same bat when something like this goes down. "Look at them! How far will they go to push their brain-washing techniques on us!" If governors or mayors are talking about a campaign that doesn't have something to do with tourism you know someone has really stepped in it. That's where we stand today.

Update: Looks like I'm wrong about the nightmare part for those involved. These guys don't seem to be concerned at all.

Posted by John on February 01, 2007 at 09:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Brave New Marketing , Current Affairs , Entertainment , Marketing Trends , News of the Ad World , Opinion , Pop Culture , Television

December 12, 2006

Forrester says iTunes sales suck.

iPods are selling like water. iTunes library gets bigger and better each day. But this report from The Register says iTunes sales are "collapsing."  Interesting reading to say the least.

Posted by John on December 12, 2006 at 05:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Brave New Marketing , Current Affairs , Entertainment , Marketing Trends , Movies , Music , Pop Culture , Sports , Television , Web/Tech

November 27, 2006

It's direct response. It's viral. It's the Viral Learning Center.

Just brilliant. It manages to lampoon both direct response and viral at the same time. I hope this eases you back into Adworld after a nice, long weekend. Props to Jeff for turning us on to this.

Posted by John on November 27, 2006 at 05:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Advertising , Brave New Marketing , Marketing Trends

November 14, 2006

Something smells.

Literally. Well, I'd sure rather get a nice whiff of strawberry cheesecake than be overpowered by the stench of Manchild 2 or whatever the newest stink water is out there. Engaging an extra sense is a very good idea, particularly in Kraft's case. Now, Kraft, turn the creatives loose on the rest of the ad, too, would ya'?

Thanks to the Wall Street Journal.

Posted by John on November 14, 2006 at 08:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Advertising , Brave New Marketing , Food and Drink , Marketing Trends

October 17, 2006

Speaking of the '80's...

Times change. Design tastes change. The belief that grinning Stepford families really sell, however, doesn't seem like it'll ever go outta style.

Props to podcaster/blogger and friend of AC, Prescott Perez-Fox for the great find.

Posted by John on October 17, 2006 at 06:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Design , Marketing Trends , Pop Culture

October 13, 2006

Knowledge gap?

I think the cause marketing behind GAP RED is just great. And I happen to look good in red (I'm a winter) so I'll probably support this cause, too. But, come on, do we really need the big arrow with the words "Roll Over" on the banner ad? Man, my ribs are sore from that elbow.

Posted by John on October 13, 2006 at 09:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Copywriting , Marketing Trends , Web/Tech

October 03, 2006

AC #46 Now Available.

The Russell Davies and David Nottoli Edition.

With Tug on vacation, John sits down with a couple of rather successful planners by the names of Russell Davies and David Nottoli. Two of the four people who make up the Open Intelligence Agency.

From the outset, the conversation leans heavily into the relationship between creatives and planners (2:32). This leads to discussions of boring creative directors (2:56), the blurry future of planners' and creatives' intertwined fates (5:38), and the vs. syndrome (8:11). Taking advantage of this whole social media thing, Russell and David address an audio comment from Make the Logo Bigger's Bill G (9:48). The answers lead to more interesting stuff such as how the planner/creative relationship works at W+K London, why planners should be a fan of creative (12:23), why other agency disciplines should keep in mind how hard creative rejection can be on the soul (13:20), and what one the founder's of the other agency with a sheep in the logo had to say about the role of planning (17:40). There's also discussion of creative credit as currency (18:50) and the importance of celebrating our successes (20:03). Finally, Russell and David break out their crystal balls to answer an AC reader's query about the future of the ultimate business (21:46). Interesting theories abound (23:42) and David testifies (25:12).

All that and an R2D2 ringtone. For free.

Give a listen won't you?

Then be part of the show. Send us your thoughts or, better yet, leave us an audio comment.

Posted by John on October 03, 2006 at 08:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (3)
Categories: AC News , Advertising , Marketing Trends , Planning , The Creative Life

August 30, 2006

Gwen Stefani, right after this message...

Watch an ad. Download a free tune. That's the Spiralfrog model. Different from Napster in the sense that there's no subscription and that you can actually download the song or video. Different from iTunes in that it's free and, at this time, isn't compatible with macs or ye olde ipods.

Universal has announced it will make its entire catalog available through the service.

According to the AP, Spiral Frog users will need to return to the site at least once a month to keep registration current.

Posted by John on August 30, 2006 at 11:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Brave New Marketing , Marketing Trends , Music , Web/Tech

August 30, 2006

The family truckster is back!

According to some experts, $3 a gallon has finally made fuel efficiency as important as reliability when considering a car purchase. However, it seems Americans really don't want to give up the storage space or seating (or power trip) offered by an SUV and switch to a less visible sedan.

'It's kind of difficult to get out of an SUV/crossover vehicle and go back to a sedan,' said Rebecca Lindland of a fancy sounding company called Global Insights. 'When push comes to shove, it's tough to give up an SUV, especially because there are crossovers now that do get better gas mileage.'

Lindland said she expects more and more consumers to opt for car-based crossovers. Hmmm. All the vehicles in that class have a vaguely familiar shape to me.

Posted by John on August 30, 2006 at 08:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Marketing Trends