September 25, 2007

Dear Apple Media Planners...

Dear Apple Media Planners:

I am clearly in your target audience for the new iPod Nano. I love Apple products. I own two iPods. I'll pop for an iPhone eventually. I work exclusively on Macs. I am a brand zealot. And, demographically I must still fit because, despite the fact I really haven't watched that much TV as of late, I have been exposed to the new Nano TV commercial 98,412 times. And this is the problem. I quite enjoyed the spot the first 78,767 times. But, as of today, I think if I have to listen to that snippet of the hip, mellow vibe that is 1,2,3,4 by Feist again I will throw a brick through my new Vizio. Jesus, peeps. Is it too much to ask that you actually look at your plan and think, "Hmmm, this is a really big buy, lets make sure to let the creatives know that we should make at least a couple of spots." I believe the weight you've put behind this single execution is, in a word, inhumane. The spot has gone from ingratiating to grating and it's all your fault. All I'm asking for is a little bit of variety. A couple of executions. Maybe even three. Really. Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

JJ

Posted by John on September 25, 2007 at 08:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (14) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Branding , Current Affairs , Entertainment , Music , Opinion , Planning , Pop Culture

June 12, 2007

Will the Research Prove Relevance?

RelevanceIn the industry, we talk a lot about reach vs. relevancy and how the average consumer is bombarded with too many ads in a given day. That's why we're seeing a LOT more ads tailored to specific audiences within niche mediums – hit them where it's relevant.

 On my usual walking route to work, I pass by an ad that I've always wanted to talk about. Today, I finally took my camera phone out of my pocket and snapped a photo of the ad.

It's an awareness ad for Bipolar Disease. On a pay phone.

A Bipolar Disease awareness ad. On a pay phone.

I, personally, haven't done enough any research to know if the Bipolar audience are regular users of pay phones, but I'm guessing that they're not. I'm also going to guess that the Bipolar audience doesn't hang out much at Town Topic on Baltimore Ave in Kansas City. Again, I could be wrong. I'll need an Account Planner to do some analysis and get back to me. Anyone want to volunteer?

My thought, if one REALLY wanted the ad to be relevant, would be to have Boost Mobile on the side of the pay phone. But what pay phone company is going to allow that?

Posted by SethyG on June 12, 2007 at 09:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: Advertising , Opinion , Planning

October 03, 2006

AC #46 Now Available.

Sportscentres

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.

Benches

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

September 27, 2006

Russell Davies in the house.

Russell Davies is making his way to Kansas City and we plan to meet up with him for brews of both cold and hot kinds. Hey, you gotta love a guy with a title like Darth Strategist. In the middle of the brew-sharing, we'll record American Copywriter #46. You all have been most patient with our schedule, but hopefully, #46 will be will worth the wait. I am certain one of the topics we'll explore is the relationship between planner and creative. However, if you have other questions/topics you'd like me to try and fit into the session, leave them here.

Posted by John on September 27, 2006 at 08:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack (0)
Categories: AC News , Planning , Podcasting , The Creative Life

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