Anyone who thinks the wording of the erroneously sent Carat documents about impending layoffs was, in any way, different from other agencies' documents on the same topic is an idiot. It's always about saving face. It's always about making the agency look good in front of the client. It's all about positioning to protect the business. There isn't an agency out there that hasn't though or written the same thing Carat did in those documents.
But here's the thing. The words in any agencies' documents are almost always set aside when two human beings - the one doing the firing an the firee - sit down face to face in the same room to address the dirty reality of layoffs. They are inevitable and there is nothing anyone can do about it.
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Here's an intriguing bit of information provided to us by Adrants reader Don Russell. Russell notes the use of Amazon's paperless Kindle in a Verizon FiOS commercial which humorously compares a Verizon repairman's installations with a cable guys cancellations. They're all the same, of course.
That's not the intriguing part though. It's the Kindle, which is powered by Sprint's EVDO network that raises the eyebrow. It's not often you see a competitor's product displayed so prominently in an ad. Of course, as self-professed geek Russell notes, it does take a geek to notice these things and most other people - including the props people on the set - simply don't. Still.
In yet another "homage" if you will, a brand has "borrowed" the imagery of an artist for commercial gain. In this case, it's 1800 Tequila giving nod to the work of artist Charles Burns. Eric Reynolds has the image here. Once he saw the ad, he contacted Burns who said the ad was a complete surprise to him though, perhaps in a nod to his own work, he added "makes me wanna drink some tequila."
If you're going to have your work "stolen" the least it should do is work in the form for which it's been "stolen" for. According the artist, himself, the work seems to have accomplished that task. Burns' work can be seen here.
UPDATE: Dead As We Know It, creator of the work, defends:
Actually this campaign was created by my agency, Dead As We Know It, using many pieces of art from artists around the world. This was just one of a large number. If you go to www.1800tequila.com you can see all of them. Eventually there will be 1800 pieces. Jorge Alderete, of Mexico City, has a great portfolio encompassing a wide range of work, possibly influenced by Charles Burns as well as all the cartoon and graphic work that Charles Burns was influenced by. By no means did we originally try to get Charles Burns or someone to cop his style. We saw a cool CD cover that Jorge did and acquired another piece in the series. Check him out, http://www.pocko.com/pockopeople/artist/jorge-alderete/
Seems to be a month of people accusing people of thievery, really sad statement on the state of things. And, just as my agency wasn't ripped-off by Amalgamated for the Virtual Drinking Buddy, we did not rip-off Mr. Burns or one ad in this extensive campaign. So, let's shut-up and get back to the noble profession that we are known for.
I love this commercial. It's for the Mini Clubman. The spot opens on a Tim Burton-esque funeral at which several flies (played by humans) offer up their last word for their fallen friend who met an untimely but sensational (even legendary!) death. Yes, their friend, a hero, died a death bigger than life. How did he die? It would be too much of a spoiler to tell you here. Just watch.
Oh, and why do I love it? because I am a sick, twisted, adolescent-minded person who is easily amused.
TubeMogul recently announced the launch of a new "dating site" for content producers and potential advertisers. It's called TubeMogul Marketplace and from its start, I see its value both as a marketer and as an avid content consumer.
With an incredible amount of content on the Web, digital marketers tasked with identifying potential partnership opportunities can be quickly overwhelmed. TubeMogul's own video distribution service allows anyone with a video file and several online video accounts to plaster the Web with his/her content. The de facto decision often comes down to selecting between a few producers who are so well known that they naturally surface as contenders.
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In this week's Times Magazine, Clive Thompson (or @pomeranian99 on Twitter) described in his "I'm So Totally, Digitally Close to You" article how "incessant online contact" encouraged by tools like Facebook's Newsfeed and microblogging platforms like Twitter, has created "ambient awareness." Whether we tweet in 140 or less, post on each other's wall or upload photos, videos or Utterz, we're creating and curating a public record of who we are, what we like, dislike, what sparks our interests and what we care about.
This article left my head buzzing with the implications of this new "ambient awareness" and in particular, what it means for brands.
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American Express has this program called Members Project, which funds worthy ventures with $2.5 million. (Members vote to decide who gets the money.) Read all about it.
To promote the program, AmEx used footage from previous ads to produce a montage of famous cardholders like John Cleese, Martin Scorsese, Robert DeNiro, Ellen Degeneres and Jim Henson.
Their achievements are presented as the fruit of childlike desires. Scorsese's "project," for example, was to "tell unforgettable stories"; Degeneres wanted to "encourage people to dance to their own tune." The premise is, these people changed the world with their passion. Got a dream? Maybe you can change it too.
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Dual body wash and moisturizer isn't really a new idea. (Companies like Dove beat that horse dead years ago.) Bringing bang to an old combo, Wieden + Kennedy enlist a centaur for Old Spice Double Impact. He's half man ... and half provider.
More importantly, he's actually got YouTube users talking about Old Spice. Will they buy the stuff? Hard to say. But hey, if a centaur doesn't turn this trick, Doogie Howser, M.D. definitely will.
Think only experienced TV spokespeople wield influence? Yeah, Geico agrees. So to supplement the tale of an apparently ordinary customer, it ensured success with an old-school icon: Mrs. Butterworth. (You know, the maternal maple syrup bottle.)
I love how she tosses in that random "hot pancakes" reference. Good stuff by The Martin Agency.
Commercials for IBM's "Go Green" campaign are all over my daytime TV. In the ones I've seen, corporate suits debate the merits of implementing energy-efficient policies. Once they opt to "go green" (usually for financial reasons), a cartoon forest -- complete with cheerful chirping wildlife and a high-pitched chorus -- blossoms around them. The message is that companies going green, whatever the reason, can change the environment for the better.
Style-wise, the effort mirrors a current Truth campaign where reality is also shattered by musical kitsch and doe-eyed cartoons. (Both are liable to make jaded cubicle cogs long for a vatful of hot smoking Dip.)
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- Amalgamated clears air over "Virtual Drinking Buddy" rip. In addition to starting a dialogue with Robbie Wenger, Amalgamated founder Charles Rosen told Adrants, "in no way are we above stealing ideas around here - but it wasn't the case this time. we really didn't know about robbie's virtual drinking buddy until he emailed us about it after our mike's spot ran." That's serious grace under pressure, and we were completely charmed.
- Smart way to promote sober driving.
- Tribal DDB scores Wrigley account, must now work out how to adhere gum to 'net users. Shouldn't be too hard. Just chew a little and avoid this kinda crap.
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Who doesn't like a bit of Friday fun? Not that this necessarily counts as fun as opposed to the late night direct response television idiocy it is but, here, we are presented with Tiddy Bear. Yes, Tiddy Bear. It's exactly what it sounds like; a bear to place on your tits. Why? So that the seat belt in your car doesn't give you that annoying separation so often experienced when the shoulder strap creates a canyon between the left and right breast.
One wonders if there's a corresponding Dicky Bear for the guys to help keep their packages from sliding out the bottom of their shorts while enjoying the Tiddy Bear-wearing woman sitting next to them in the car.
In an internal letter obtained by TechCrunch, SVP Bill Veghte tries to explain WTF Microsoft was getting at with its Seinfeld campaign, which kicked off with this really weird ad.
Excerpt from Veghte's letter:
Today, we are kicking off a highly visible advertising campaign. The first phase of this campaign is designed to engage consumers and spark a new conversation about Windows - a conversation that will evolve as the campaign progresses, but will always be marked by humor and humanity. The first in this series [...] aims to re-ignite consumer excitement about the broader value of Windows.
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"Best of Skype Laughter Chain" is FOUR AND A HALF MINUTES of footage of other people laughing. After awhile you'll be like, "That is one seriously ugly noise."
The video is part of a broader effort where people upload videos of themselves laughing. Sorta like that Gmail thing from last year. The idea is that Skype provides the ultimate setting for mirth and hilarity with its video chat feature. That's cool, and I'm a Skype fan and all, but this "take a giggle, pass it on!" gimmick is lame. It's like a whole campaign composed of inside jokes you weren't let in on.
This is HSBC's "Lumberjack" by JWT/London/NYC and production company Gorgeous. At first watch it's like Swiss Family Robinson meets Lord of the Flies, except everybody's grown up and cops ruin all the fun.
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In the first ad released by Crispin Porter+Bogusky for Microsoft, Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld meet serendipitously at Shoe Circus, a Payless ShoeSource-type store. Seinfeld helps him pick out shoes. Made of pleather. Significant glances are exchanged, immigrants gawk, and churros are shared.
Thus ingratiated with one of the world's richest (and thriftiest?) men, Seinfeld poses the question we'd all ask, given the chance (and a serious case of munchies): "Are they ever gonna come up with something that'll make our computers moist and chewy like cake so we can eat 'em while we're working?"
Gates gives Seinfeld a subtle but sassy little ass-shake to denote "yes."
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To promote the Sunday premier of HBO's Entourage, a series that enlivens the imaginations of freeloaders everywhere, Creature pimped out public transport.
Buses in NYC were wrapped with Entourage creative and outfitted with ostentatious chrome rims featuring the series logo. Way to bring LA to Manhattan!
Attesting to the show's success at engaging its demographic, one of the rims has already been stolen. The others will be auctioned off after the promotion.
"What does it mean to be interesting? That's an interesting question." It's also one of the better lines from "Behind Interesting," a six-part web series by Dos Equis and Break, which is letting Dos Equis ride its leaderboards like a carnival pony.
"Behind Interesting" expands on Dos Equis' Most Interesting Man in the World campaign. Problem is, all that over-practiced pompousness is just too earnest to be ironic.
Aptly called "Melony B." Watch 'til the end -- there's a candy surprise.
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Sort of like a politician making rosy promises but forgetting to spell out the details, this new Martin Agency-created commercial for Discover Card which acknowledges the fact we get carried away with all the cool stuff in this world and how that can stress us out because of the resulting debt, promises to help people "spend smarter" versus spend more.
It's all very feel good with images of people having a great time with their families and friends but, like many political speeches, one is left with a feeling of emptiness and curiosity after the high has subsided. OK, Discover, just how exactly does a company that exists solely because people spend money avoid being accused of smoke and mirrors-fueled shenanigans by telling people to spend less? Huh? Huh? Do tell.
For those of us who live our lives online with a collection of Twitter, Facebook, Pownce, Flickr, Second Life and Linked In accounts, this new Unplug Your Friends effort from Meetup says we need to overcome out addition to the screen and rejoin the real world. A commercial in which a closeted geek discovers there's a world beyond his collection of screens and online friends supports the effort.
It's trippy and surreal but it makes a powerful point. There's a world out there that isn't digital and it can be a very friendly place. The creative comes from freelance CD team of Julie Lamb and Phil Gable. Curious Pictures in New York produced the work which was directed by former agency creative-turned animation director Rohitash Rao.
- Want to amuse yourself for a few minutes with a stupid wrestling game? Head over to Anger Angle and beat the crap out of TNA wrestler Kurt Angle.
- Platform-A just launched an ad optimization system for the iPhone which "detects and delivers optimized ads on iPhones browsing the Web."
- George Parker lambastes the "first" Dell ad from Enfatico, writing, "A standard boiler-plate shot of a hard nosed bitch standing in cubicle hell with her Dell laptop clasped to her ample breast demanding protection for her 'data!'"
- Hints of blowjobs don't go over well with the MPAA which didn't take kindly to the poster for the Kevin Smith film Zack and Miri Make A Porno.
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What's an Olympics win without a few marketing deals following the win? Olympic gymnastics gold medalist Nastia Liukin won't know because she's already gearing up for a laundry list of spokesperson gigs. She'll front Cover Girl ads, launch a line of jeans with Vanilla Star, appear on the Wheaties box and appear on Gossip Girl. Oh and she already has a deal with tween website Beaconstreetgorls.com.
Liukin has a positive outlook, saying, "Winning the Olympics can change your life, and nothing can prepare you for that. You can go with the flow and enjoy the ride." A native of Plano Texas, Liukin was born in Moscow and moved to America with her parents, who competed in the Olympics for the former Soviet Union, when she was two and a half.
More marketing deals are likely to follow and she'll be hanging with Maria Sharapova during fashion week in New York at Peter Som's show.
Writing on AdPulp and in his TalentZoo column, Dan Goldeier makes, correctly, the argument most campaigns are no longer given the time they need to build momentum and to enter the psyche of the consumer long enough to mean anything. He asks the question, "are ad campaigns given enough time to work these days?"
The answer is a resounding no and that, shortsightedly, been the case for a very long time. No one wants to, or is afraid to, invest the long periods of time it takes for a campaign to truly build. Everyone in marketing is too fickle and they are more concerned with advancing their own careers than advancing the success of the brands on which they work.
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Inspired by all the election-time media-whoring, Make the Logo Bigger designed buttons that depict what voters McCain and Obama are going after.
Variants include Carnies for McCain, Luthiers for Obama; Fluffers for McCain, Cobblers for Obama; Women for McCain, Women for Obama. (Sure, Obama scored with women when Hillary endorsed him, but the GOP pulled out the big guns when top Republican women rallied in defense of Sarah Palin earlier today.)
For those of you that watched Sarah Palin's acceptance speech at the RNC tonight, the button at left is a tribute to one of the many soundbite-worthy statements she made: "Do you know what they say the difference is between a hockey mom and a pitbull? Lipstick."
...Yeah. I'm holding out for a "Drill baby drill!" pin though, because you know that shit was bananas.
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