Trader Joe's Examined, Lorem Ipsum Recruited, GoDaddy Gets Agency

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- Former ad exec Mark Gardiner, who had been in the business for 20 years, quit last year an took a $12/hour job at Trader Joe's to see how the brand became a success without an ad agency or PR firm. The result is a book, Build a Brand Like Trader Joe's.

- Here's a case study video on Jung von Matt's Lipsum.com campaign in which they buried a recruitment ad within Lorem ipsum text generated from the site.

- Here's how Fitzgerald + Co got that vintage 1972 MINI up to its 11th floor offices as part of their failed bid for the MINI business. Incumbent BSSP retained.

- GoDaddy, which for years has created its own advertising has, wait for it, hired an ad agency. Yes, a Deutsch New York campaign called Inside/Out will break this summer during the Summer Olympics on NBC.

- If you're into the NBA, you might like this. If you like basketball footage with block type messaging, you might like this. For all others, feel free to skip.

by Steve Hall    Jun-13-12    
Topic: Agencies, Brands, Publishing



Group Calls For Reverse of Abortion Coverage Ban on Raped Servicewomen

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Stand With Servicewomen, a coalition of retired military leaders and veterans, have launched a new ad campaign. The ads target a ban on servicewomen using their insurance to pay for abortion services if they become pregnant as the result of rape.

Today, the groups released a second ad, "Honor" featuring Lt. Gen. Robert Gard, a three-star general and 31-year Army veteran. In the 30-second spot, Lt. Gen Gard strongly advocates for lifting the ban on behalf of our nation's servicewomen saying, "Over 250,000 women have served our country with honor and courage in Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet, our servicewomen are denied coverage for abortion even if they're raped. We have an obligation to provide military women with the care their service to our country demands. Women in the military deserve better care. Period."

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by Steve Hall    Jun-13-12    
Topic: Cause



Your Adopted Pet Could be the Next Viral Video Sensation

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Oh now this is hilarious. Hilarious enough to garner almost half a million views in four days. It's a video from the ASPCA letting us know there are millions of viral videos...uh, animals...waiting to be adopted.

The video, created by Mekanism, features Nightline's Dan Harris and his amazing hovering cat. When Dan leaves for work, Hovercat starts the party which, apparently, doesn't end until Dan comes homes from work at the end of the day.

The cheeky play here, of course, is that pets aren't just pets any longer. They're viral videos waiting to happen. Whatever works. If it gets animals out of a shelter and into a home, we can't really complain.

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by Steve Hall    Jun-13-12    
Topic: Video, Viral



Why Ad Agency People Leave Their Jobs

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Good luck. No, really. Our best to you Michael Sheldon and Kim Getty from Deutsch LA. Honestly, we hope you can keep agency types from jumping ship every year. But if history is any guide...not gonna happen.

But hey, at least you get to do a panel on retaining talent during Cannes Lions. That can't be half bad, can it? And, shit, half the people in Cannes this year will have new jobs next year so you might as well propose this panel over and over again, year after year. Because, you know what? Nothing's going to change. Why? Because most agency management don't give a shit about their employees. All they care about is the bottom line.

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by Steve Hall    Jun-13-12    
Topic: Agencies, Industry Events



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Rats, Snakes 'Have Sex' With Young Girls

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A new United Way of Greater Milwaukee teen pregnancy prevention campaign from Serve Marketing recently launched which likens sexual predators to the rats and snakes they are. Print ads/posters feature teen girls, one with rats all over her, the other wrapped up in a snake.

The ads point to BabyCanWait, a site where families and young girls can learn more about positive, healthy relationships. Ad copy reads, "When an older man has sex with an underage girl, it's more than creepy. It's statutory rape. Learn how to encourage healthy relationships."

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by Steve Hall    Jun-13-12    
Topic: Cause



Apple Touts New MacBook Pro With Simplistic Ad

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Hmm. It would seem when a brand has a product as the seemingly amazing new MacBook Pro and a rabid brand following, there's isn't much that really needs to be uttered in an ad for said product.

In a TBWA\Media Arts Lab-created commercial for the new MacBook Pro with Retina DIsplay, Peter Coyote intones, "The radical new MacBook Pro with retina display. Innovation in every dimension."

And that's really all there is to say about that.

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by Steve Hall    Jun-13-12    
Topic: Brands



VW's Litte Darth Vadar, Max Page, Faces Open Heart Surgery Today

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Today, Max Page, the seven year old boy who play mini Darth Vadar in Volkswagen's The Force will undergo open heart surgery to correct a congenital heart defect. He will have his pulmonary valve replaced and a whole in his heart fixed.

Not to be deterred by his health issue, Max has become an ambassador for Children's Hospital in LA and, with help from Deutsch LA, has launched a donation site to raise money for kids with heart problems.

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by Steve Hall    Jun-13-12    
Topic: Agencies