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

May 10, 2011

And I thought the ketchup packets at Chick-fil-a were cool.

Cool idea by DPZ Propaganda in Sao Paulo. Here's the Heinz Dip & Squeeze. Via Ads of The World.

Posted by Tug McTighe on May 10, 2011 at 10:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Advertising , Brave New Marketing , Marketing Trends

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

January 14, 2011

Thinking about some freelance? Read this first.

Especially if you are have/are about to agree to do some wedding invitations for a "friend."

 
Thanks to Lizzie for the heads up on this.
 

Posted by Tug McTighe on January 14, 2011 at 10:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Brave New Marketing

November 16, 2010

Days of Our Lives and Product Placement – I peed in my pants a little.

Jesus. This has taken product placement to an all-new low. Or is it a high? The soaps need money, they got screen time, they got dialogue -- that means cheeseball commercials right there inside the cheeseball storyline.  

Check it out.

Posted by Tug McTighe on November 16, 2010 at 08:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Branding , Brave New Marketing

October 11, 2010

You know you've made it when your campaign goes Muppet.

Posted by John on October 11, 2010 at 12:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Advertising , Branding , Brave New Marketing , News of the Ad World , Pop Culture , Television , The Creative Life

August 04, 2010

TheFunTheory.com Blows My Mind

I may be late to this party but I don't care: This shit is amazing. The thesis as put forth by thefuntheory.com:

This site is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better. Be it for yourself, for the environment, or for something entirely different, the only thing that matters is that it’s change for the better.

As proven by the piano/stairs video, they got it totally right. Add the fact that they also have a contest to crowdsource more ideas that prove their thesis,  with videos and voting and such and the whole thing goes from great to simply brilliant. Seriously.

The biggest thing for me though, is who is sponsoring the whole thing. Right, it's VW. They are paying somebody to manage the site, to do the original stunts and to maintain the whole thing. Yet aside from the front page of the site, I don't see a VW logo anywhere. Or a picture of a car. Or a link to our newest TV campaign. Or even a list of correctly-spelled dealer names. Sure you've got a © Volkswagen at the bottom, but of course you're gonna get that.

My questions: 
1. How do we get our clients to sponsor this kind of "initiative"? There's clearly a shocking amount of earned media here, but, as you guys know, that's really difficult to pin an ROI onto.

2. Are some clients just too unsophisticated or simply unwilling to greenlight a project like this? And if so, is there any way to get them to change their thinking?

3. What can you do that takes a non-advertising idea and turns it into way to get your clients earned media and, dare I say, viral attention?

In all, I think this is about the most awesome thing I've seen in awhile. What do you guys think?

Posted by Tug McTighe on August 04, 2010 at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Advertising , Brave New Marketing , Consumer Content , Current Affairs , Entertainment , Marketing Trends

July 22, 2010

15 minutes of fame just became a single frame.

Really cool way to use social media. I took my shot. Will you take yours?

Posted by Tug McTighe on July 22, 2010 at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Brave New Marketing

January 29, 2010

Do we really need the office?

It seems to be an often-asked question in the minds of agency people everywhere, and the answer seems to be that "there are just some things that have to be done face to face." One of those "some things" that comes up a lot in discussions I have about this very topic is brainstorming.

Sure, we could just call in or get on iChat, but it wouldn't be the same. There's just something about the creative momentum that forms when a few talented people get together in a physical room that can't be translated into 1s and 0s.

Shit. Maybe not. This bunch of obviously talented created people fired up their webcams, grabbed their instruments and made something that sings. No pun intended. 

Now, before you say anything, yes -- I know that making music isn't exactly the same as making advertising. But I would argue that much of the process is the same. Mountains of details have to be worked out. Tone and voice and everybody's roles have to be discussed. And most importantly, ideas have flow freely amongst colleagues in order to transform an idea into a Big Idea. 

These guys obviously did all that (quite well) without ever, at any time, being in the same room. Hell, most of them weren't even in the same COUNTRY. So why do we have to be? Why do we have to do in cubes what we could be doing from home or Rome or...wherever? 

It's a question that I, for one, am going to keep asking. I hope somebody can give me an answer that makes sense one of these days. If you think you have one, feel free to share it in the comments.

Posted by Nick Kinney on January 29, 2010 at 11:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Brave New Marketing , The Creative Life , Web/Tech

January 13, 2010

W+K (whoops D6) makes a happiness machine to shame creatives everywhere.

Shaming creatives with the thought, "Why didn't I think of this?" the Magnificent Bastards strike again. Great, great, great. Makes me happy just looking at it. Thanks to Dabitch for the find.

UPDATE: AAK! We are informed the Magnificent Bastards were NOT the ones responsible for said same. We are happy to correct the record. This beauty was thunked up by Definition 6 in Hotlanta. Great stuff, D6. 

Posted by John on January 13, 2010 at 09:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Advertising , Branding , Brave New Marketing , Food and Drink , Games , News of the Ad World , Pop Culture