July 07, 2011

AC #69 Now Available.

The Thrity Rooms To Hide In Addition.

John and Tug talk with Master Jedi Luke Sullivan about his new book Thirty Rooms To Hide In, creativity and getting out of advertising. It's a great Sunday afternoon chat with almost no cursing and only minorly bothersome mouth sounds.

Give it a listen won't you?

And stay tuned. 'Coming in August 2011: The American Copywriter Reboot.

Posted by John on July 07, 2011 at 09:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: AC News , Advertising , Books , Brave New Marketing , Copywriting , Entertainment , News of the Ad World , Opinion , Podcasting , Pop Culture , The Creative Life , Web/Tech

April 15, 2011

Concerning Hobbits (And social media and marketing.)

Years away from the premiere, Peter Jackson already has me FIRED UP. Here there be dragons.

Posted by Tug McTighe on April 15, 2011 at 07:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Advertising , Books , Branding , Brave New Marketing

March 16, 2010

Buy this book -- right now.

Posted by Tug McTighe on March 16, 2010 at 01:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Books

November 30, 2009

Master Jedi Copywriter Luke Sullivan Speaks.

Luke Sullivan from Mediastash.tv on Vimeo. Via adland.

Posted by John on November 30, 2009 at 09:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Advertising , Books , Branding , Opinion , The Creative Life , The real world

August 04, 2008

God. And her agency.

Shoots take you outside from time to time. As golden hour approaches someone will inevitably say, "God is now our gaffer." In other instances, usually upon sight of any given natural wonder, you might hear, "God is one helluva creative director." But in Steffan Postaer's new book, "The Happy Soul Industry" God is a client. A client who needs a wayward ad man to fix her brand. God's brief? "Promote goodness in all its forms." The creative team at fictional Chloe, Night & Wiener pitch the idea of bringing people back to goodness through a campaign that asks one simple question: How Are You?

From the book :

Indeed, it was perhaps the most common question in the world, so mundane it had essentially lost all meaning. Yet, presented in the context of a bus stop ad, something marvelous and unexpected happened: The once rhetorical question became an emotional clarion.

Barry rubbed his whiskers, brightened.  “Everyone says ‘How are you?’ but what if we really meant it?”

Playing on this campaign idea, Postaer has also launched the "How Are You?" blog. A real online confessional for the advertising soul. Postaer is also promoting the book in Chicago and Los Angeles with a little help from the OAAA (who clearly still have some real love this little campaign).

Hmmm. Promoting a book in L.A., eh? Well, there are worse things than selling your soul to Hollywood.

Posted by John on August 04, 2008 at 04:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Advertising , Books , Brands , Copywriting , Entertainment , Pop Culture , The Creative Life

July 23, 2007

Hide your Harry Potter Shame.

For those of you who just can't admit in public that you're devouring the new Harry Potter book, there's this nifty user-generated solution. Handier than a Weasley product.

Posted by John on July 23, 2007 at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Books , Consumer Content , Pop Culture

September 12, 2006

AC #45 now available.

The Football & Philosphy Edition:

John and Tug meet on a Saturday afternoon in a noisy joint to watch football and talk ads. A new spot for DirecTV sparks a discussion regarding the relationship between Tolkien and Lewis (2:36) and, inevitably, Joseph Campbell and the Cosmogonic Cycle (9:13). After the break, the guys jump into a discussion of the NFL as a mega super brand (11:02). John finishes up the podcast at home by directing listeners to this intriguing post by Ernie Schenck, and encouraging listeners to send in audio comments about their own experiences (16:49). Not link-loved out, JJ rounds out the show by passing on this great bit of advice from Mack Simpson (20:30).

Sound mildly interesting? Listen to it now and find out.

Posted by John on September 12, 2006 at 09:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: AC News , Books , Entertainment , Food and Drink , Podcasting , Sports

August 08, 2006

Half of your advertising isn't wasted after all.

We've not read it yet, however, this new book looks interesting.   Entitled "What Sticks," the book is the result of five years of research into one billion's worth of campaigns from big, national marketers.

The book concludes that only 37% of advertising is wasted. Not, as John Wannamaker's famous quote suggests, 50%.

Anyone feel better? No?

It's reported that the book cites fear of failure on the part of marketers as the biggest obstacle to real change. If marketers can't allow, admit and analyze failure, there is little chance to learn what new avenues could be successful. Yep. No one ever got fired for putting TV on the plan.

It's time for CEOs and stockholders to give CMOs some room to maneuver and some permission to fail. We didn't get to the moon without some rockets blowing up. More ideas faster is how you stop making incremental changes and start making dramatic leaps. 37% lost in full experimentation is money spent infinitely better than 37% pissed away on old solutions which are losing potency.

Thanks to Ad Age.

Posted by John on August 08, 2006 at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Advertising , Books , Brave New Marketing , Current Affairs

February 20, 2006

Bein' Green

Here are some excerpts from "It's Not Easy Being Green and Other Things To Consider." Some are from Jim, some are from his friends and some are from the Muppets. I think this is just as he would have liked it.

We are primarily a company of creative people, whose art we are helping to bring to the world. At the same time, we recognize that business enables art "to happen," and that business plays an essential role in communicating art to a broad audience. As both artists and businesspersons, we understand the value of both worlds, and so we bring them together in a way that facilitates the realization of our artistic vision.

Jim Henson

In a company, the mannerisms and standards of the boss trickle down. Jim always let us shine. He never demanded – he knew we wanted to give 110%. He was the example and we wanted to go be as creative and hardworking as he was. He always used praise. He never had to tell us when it wasn't going well. We knew it and we'd work hard at turning it around. He was our inspiration. Still is.

Kevin Clash (Elmo)

Here's some simple advice: Always be yourself. Never take yourself too seriously. And beware of advice from experts, pigs and members of Parliament.

Kermit the Frog

Wake up in the morning
get yourself to work
Fraggles never fool around
Fraggles never shirk.
Your duty's always waiting
and duty must be done.
There's Ping-Pong games that must be played
and songs that must be sung.

Gobo and the Fraggles

Posted by Tug McTighe on February 20, 2006 at 10:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Books

February 01, 2006

This just in: the Bait and Switch is bad.

More repercussions for the author who wrote a highly fictionalized, non-fiction book. See, people don't like it when they buy one thing but get actually get another. A cautionary tale to sear into your brain as you write your copy this week:  CNN.com - Agent drops 'Pieces' author - Feb 1, 2006.

Posted by John on February 01, 2006 at 07:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Books