January 03, 2008

Irene Done speaks for the nation.

When the lady is right, the lady is right. God bless Irene for speaking the truth.

Posted by John on January 03, 2008 at 10:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Advertising , Marketing to Men , News of the Ad World , Pop Culture , Sports , Weblogs

October 16, 2007

Steve Hall is a sell out.

Sorta.

Splendid news for our friend Steve Hall and Adrants. Watershed Publishing LLC, which owns online titles such as MarketingVOX, MediaBuyerPlanner and MarketingCharts, is buying a minority interest in Adrants for some cold, hard cash and future commissions.

It's pretty cool that an ex ad guy can turn a blog into an industry force and a legitimate money-making enterprise. Adrants has inspired a lot of bloggers. The coverage is entertaining, but, in my opinion, fair. Something to be celebrated in the blogosphere. This is well-deserved success.

We are officially requesting a ride on the yacht, Steve.

Posted by John on October 16, 2007 at 04:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Current Affairs , Weblogs

May 24, 2007

Dead rocker spec work + Web = fired?

The Daily Swarm is reporting that Doc Martens has fired the London arm of Saatchi & Saatchi for unleashing a rejected campaign on the Web earlier this month. The posters have generated a fair amount of controversy.

TDS has also published a response from Saatchi:

“We believe the ads are edgy but not offensive.  There has
been blog commentary both for and against the ads, but it is our belief that
they are respectful of both the musicians and the Dr. Martens brand.
We regret that the controversy has led Dr. Martens to terminate the
contract with Saatchi & Saatchi.  We are investigating the circumstances and
considering the ongoing employment of the individual who was in breach of
instructions not to distribute the ads further than the original approved
placement in Fact Magazine in the UK..."

There's more than a little "he said, she said" going on. Doc Martens says they did not approve the campaign. Saatchi says the campaign was approved to run in one specific place, but that it was not to be distributed further (which doesn't make a lot of sense). Courtney says she never approved the use of Kurt's image. Whatever the absolute truth of the situation, one thing is irrefutable:

Spec work in the age of instant, global communications can be career-limiting.

Hat tip to: Ben Thoma

UPDATE: More here.

Posted by John on May 24, 2007 at 02:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Advertising , Brands , Current Affairs , Entertainment , News of the Ad World , Pop Culture , The Creative Life , Web/Tech , Weblogs

November 14, 2006

I must have missed this latest Googlegrabbing™.

Sometime between November 9th and today, Google became the "owner" of a virtual buttload of personal blogs when they (apparently) acquired Blogger. I missed it until today when I was asked to use my Google account to sign in. (See the handy illustration I've provided.)

I'm still not sure what I think but it certainly is interesting. What do you guys think?

NOTE: I've trademarked yet another term for AC. "googlegrabbing™" shall heretofore be utilized when one big interactive media company (i.e. Google) "grabs" another successful, yet smaller one.

"Did you see that Microsoft googlegrabbed Buttbrain Software Co?"

Posted by Tug McTighe on November 14, 2006 at 11:43 AM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Weblogs

August 24, 2006

Be a part of the show.

Over in the right hand sidebar is a little Java app that theoretically allows you, dear participant, to leave us an audio comment. Try it out. Let us know if you have any functionality issues. Your comments may be published here on the site. They may be incorporated into the podcast. Or we might just listen and laugh. In any case, enjoy. We're looking forward to hearing from you.

Thanks to the guys over at For Immediate Release for the tip.

Update: I should note that we consider this experimental. If it doesn't seem to work well, or is too time-consuming to manage on our end, we'll explore other options for you to participate further with the podcast.

Posted by John on August 24, 2006 at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: AC News , Podcasting , Web/Tech , Weblogs

January 20, 2006

Battle of the Ad Blogs

Snubbed!  Blasphemy!  Crass!  And just down-right lame!!!  How does a golden-gem of an advertising blog such as this one get left off of the "Battle of the Ad Blogs?"  ;)

I'm not sure, I couldn't find a place to submit our site for a nomination, but that's okay.  From the looks of it, there are quite a few ad-related blogs out there. You'd really have to be a humongous ad-blog reader to know even half of the blogs that are listed - yes, there are that many.

I think this is a pretty cool idea and it shows that we in the industry all have opinions and aren't too afraid to share them with the rest of the world.  Maybe we'll get added to next year's competition... but if not, you'll still know where to find us.  Good luck to all of the nominees!

Posted by SethyG on January 20, 2006 at 02:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (1)
Categories: Advertising , Web/Tech , Weblogs

January 18, 2006

AT&T Delivers What?

On my recent return home from the mountains, my friend and I kept coming across billboards for the new AT&T and services they offer.  One in particular made us both scratch our heads in astonishment.  The billboard in question said, "blogging delivered," which is a part of AT&T's new "Your World, Delivered" campaign.  Wow, that's pretty cool, AT&T is now offering blogging, or blogging software, to their clients.  Good idea seeing that blogging, and podcasting, is the hot topic these days.

I had forgotten about the billboard once I had gotten home, but re-remembered it a few days later when I saw another one here in Kansas City.  Curious about the details, I hopped online to see what I could find on AT&T.com.  I did a simple search for "blogging" and here were my results.  Odd.  So I tried "blogging delivered," again, nothing.

This doesn't mean much, though, as a lot of web site's search engines aren't the best at indexing their own content.  But I combed that site over and never found one mention of blogging on there.  I did searches on Google to see if I could find any news about AT&T buying some smaller blogging company, nothing.  So what gives?

My guess is that AT&T is piggybacking on the whole blog phenomenon and have nothing to show for it.  If they sound smart in their ads, then will the average consumer know what they're talking about?  I wasn't fooled, for too long (that is), but that doesn't mean other unknowing customers won't be sold hook, line and sinker.  If it's about getting someones foot in the door, then I suppose they've done the job.  But if it's about really giving the customer a service, then I think they've missed the boat on this one.

For more commentary on this, see AdPulp and AdRants.

Posted by SethyG on January 18, 2006 at 11:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Advertising , Web/Tech , Weblogs

November 29, 2005

Scott Adams: Cartoonist. Blogger. Creative.

As a blogger, every once in a while you want to recommend that people read other blogs. I've always been concerned about it, because aren't you really telling people to stop reading your blog and go read someone else's? What if they like the other blog so much they never check yours again? Really, isn't it kind of like introducing the girl you're dating to your buddies?

But I digress. What I really mean to do is recommend the Dilbert Blog. By now you all know Dilbert, the comic strip, and have probably become fans. What you may not know is that Scott Adams, the creator of the strip, has been blogging for about a month now. And it's been really fun to read it, for a number of reasons.

First, it's great to be able to get insight into the mind of a terribly smart creative person. As far as creative people go, I've always placed good cartoonists near the top of the creative ladder; they have to produce -- not just come up with, but execute -- at least 365 funny (or at least smart) ideas a year. Plus, drawing a three-panel strip is a lot more work than one would imagine, and I can bet that most of that work is time spent observing people, reading news, watching TV, and staring at the ceiling with your feet on the table while twisting a sentence around your brain. Sound familiar, creatives?

And like creatives, cartoonists also go throught the same thing that us ad creatives go through. And those have been some of the best posts to read -- posts about getting a strip rejected by an editor because of an unexpected interpretation (how client-like!) or the ones (you'll have to go to last month's archives) about readers who were offended by a dolphin-looking porpoise, or about not being able to draw a gun being fired, and ending up with a... well, you'll have to read it.

Ok, fine, I'll just let you go and check out the blog for yourself. But come back to this one when you're done, ok?

UPDATE: I just found out the Dilbert blog is one of the featured blogs on Typepad this week. Rock on.

Posted by Brazilian Art Director on November 29, 2005 at 12:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Entertainment , The Creative Life , Weblogs

November 01, 2005

Because the world needs another analogy.

I noticed last night that the blog hadn't been updated in several days. For our blog, anyway, that will always be a clear sign that we're absolutely underwater with work.

My wife came up with an analogy that I always kind of liked. She says adveritisng is a like like diving for pearls.

You dive in head first. You swim dangerously deep, thrilled by the hunt. Then you have to work in the muck. The pressure is intense. The outcome uncertain. Sometimes you feel like you're going to drown. And, finally, when you think you have something you struggle upwards to bring it into the light. When you break the surface you are exhausted. And you may or may not have something worth keeping.

Sorry, we've been underwater latety. But we're back here on the surface. Catching our breath. And waving to you.

Posted by John on November 01, 2005 at 01:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Advertising , Weblogs

September 07, 2005

Bad Ol' Leroy Jenkins

I recently rediscovered an online gaming viral from my friend Stuart's web site and it's quickly spread around our office like wildfire. A little set up before you watch...

In the realm of Massive(ly) Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs), there is a lot of time and strategy spent in building your characters up from nothing.  It's such a time-consuming adventure (read: investment) that Wired Magazine reported last year that the world of Everquest was the 79th richest nation on Earth. Say what?

Well that doesn't mean that the world of MMORPGs is just full of serious gamers... enter Leroy Jenkins. I don't know if I should talk much more about this, but you should definitely watch the clip.  It's hilarious, and you'll soon figure out which one Leroy is.  Enjoy.

Leeeeeeeroooooy Jeeeeeenkins!!! (Requires Windows Media Player)

Posted by SethyG on September 07, 2005 at 04:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Games , Pop Culture , Web/Tech , Weblogs

July 14, 2005

Blogging your way to be a better reputation?

That's what the city of Milwaukee is trying to do at its Play in the City blog.  The blog is actually written by 23 year-old Erin Leffelman, who recently earned her Journalism degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.  The tourism office for the city, Visit Milwaukee, is using this blog to help change its image locally and nationally.  They asked Leffelman to write the blog for free.  They simply gave her a laptop, a high-speed Internet connection and free admission to all of the outdoor activities she can handle this summer in Milwaukee.  To help maintain credibility, she's allowed to write whatever she wants about the places and events that she visits.  According to this article from the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel (you need to register to read it, sorry), she actually took some shots at the city's fireworks display for congested traffic and a lack of toilets.  Personally, I think this is a heck of an idea, despite the fact the blog reads like a summer vacation diary.  I guess that's the whole point though, make it sound real and not like a press release.  The city gets to look hip and cool for being the first to do something like this with blogs and Leffelman gets a free resume enhancer.  A win-win in my book.

Posted by Neil G on July 14, 2005 at 11:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Advertising , Web/Tech , Weblogs

July 08, 2005

Bombs and Blogs

Every morning when I wake up, the first thing I do is turn on the TV to make sure nothing blew up overnight.  That's what I did on Thursday morning, and much to my dismay, something did blow up, the London transit system.  All day yesterday, I sifted through mainstream news Web sites for the latest eyewitness accounts to the tragedy.  For some reason it just never hit me that perhaps survivors were blogging about their own experiences.  Sure enough, Technorati has a page dedicated to postings about yesterday's events.  This guy gave a pretty damn good account of his ordeal on the "tubes."  In fact, his reporting may be better then anything you can find on MSNBC or CNN.  Based on his posting today, it seems that he is getting quite a bit of attention from the press.

Who needs to watch 24 hours of Katie Couric talking on and on about absolutely nothing when you have instant access to an unedited eyewitness account of the tragedy on your computer?  Can you imagine if blogs had been this popular and prevalent on 9/11?  Let's just hope we don't have to find out what it would have been like.

Posted by Neil G on July 08, 2005 at 02:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Current Affairs , Web/Tech , Weblogs

April 25, 2005

Welcome to the (Off-Air) Show

Hello there American Copywriter fans, and welcome to the blogified version of, well, American Copywriter.  My goal here is to say American Copywriter as many times as I can.  So far, I'm at three... not too shabby.

Like Tug and John mentioned on show 9A, we've finally decided to create an accompaning blog to go along with the show.  One could almost say that this site is a written-commentary for the podcast.  Want to view a link that John and Tug talked about on American Copywriter (4), you'll find it here.  But, but, but wait, it gets worse!

All of us in the American Copywriter family are now able to voice our own opinion.*  As you can see, Tug and John (NOTE: I decided to switch up the order here, but John and Tug sounds better) have already posted.  If you're really interested, Neil has posted, too.  But, if you're like us, you'll just ignore whatever Neil says.

As of right now, the American Copywriter blog isn't pinging to the masses** (which means it shouldn't show up in searches performed on Google, MSN or Yahoo - if you even use those other two anymore).  But soon, after we decide just "how" and "what" we want to do with the site, we're gonna make it public and rock tha bootys.***

Anyway, we hope you enjoy the site.  We also hope that each one of you contributes to make American Copywriter something more awesomer than it already is.  Catch you on the flip side, flippers.

* John and Tug are microphone hogs... you should see just how damn close they sit to each other.  Like they're family. Why, before I even talked on air, they asked me to take my shirt off.  Creeeeeepy. What's even creepier, I did it.  I = weird.

** I lied, five minutes after I wrote this, we decided to make this site available to the public.

*** No, I couldn't think of anything extremely funny to say there. Deal with it.

Posted by SethyG on April 25, 2005 at 04:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Weblogs