February 19th, 2010
This is why I heart advertising.
Rest assured, your local deli isn’t adding peyote to their everything bagel, it’s just a cat food commercial.
Between the dancing turkeys and the magic-mirror-technicolor-portal, it’s a bumpy ride with your logic hat on, but toss that off, kill the lights and you’ll be jamin’ in a salmon boat too.
Cannes may not come calling, but it’s the cheapest, faster, perhaps most fun high you’ll enjoy at work.
Thanks Friskies.
February 12th, 2010
I didn’t even want to watch it. But I have to write something for this blog no one looks at, in the hopes of getting noticed by certain algorithms tracking frequency… Oh the futility. On that note, I decided to throw in the towel and watch a documentary about advertising folk who’ve been laid off. The catch is, they’re now doing things they love. Kind of a kick in the nuts for someone trying to get into the biz, but I’ve got uppers and a blog to write.
Turns out, it was uplifting. Plus some good advice. “It’s better to be doing something interesting than looking for a job.” Umm yeah. Only MTV Teen Cribs is more depressing than having all the places you wanna work not want you. So new plan: I’ll find my own clients. When wallets are tight companies need to attract consumers in easy, cheap ways – skills I’m familiar with. I never thought they’d help professionally, but it’s a whole new world. A wondrous place, for you and me.
February 2nd, 2010
It was made a hundred digital years ago, or 6, but it’s still ridiculous. It reps everything great about football… inappropriate tackling, trash talking, over-aggressive, super-sized athletes frothing to hit. Maybe it’s the hype, inflated budgets or increased gas prices (always a good scapegoat), but most spots burn under Superbowl heat.
This Reebok bit’s a great reminder that although most ads and teams disappoint, others freak us out – permanently tagging our “wicked rad” cortex. Or until we swap our brains for processors 2 years down the road.
January 25th, 2010
How to tell a tale? Ask a master. Amy Tan spins stories with an unsubtle dazzle of magic. Yet hers aren’t overwhelmed by make believe because the characters are conniving, terrified and tender. In short, savagely human. Even those you have nothing in common with become like sisters, through their transparent truth and beauty. Like the barely teenage girl living with her young husband’s family, who work her like an indentured servant and berate her for not producing a son. That her husband won’t touch her is also her fault. A situation as alien to most modern women in this country, as being able to try on something quickly in H&M. (Seriously, are they paying people to loiter in there?)
Back to the point (thanks ADD meds!), there’s a richness to Amy Tan’s stories that lead one, and apparently, TED to ask… how the hell do you do it? As with all rambling writers she tries to answer this impossible question in the last 5 minutes of her speech. The gist of which is that she puts herself in the story to encourage an authenticity of character and intention. As the story richens, a distinction between author and story allows the two to separate. Is she an egomaniac? Maybe. But her explanation makes more sense. She has to become the story to understand how things happen. And only by understanding how things happen, can she make things happen. It sounds so easy. I think I’ll put this theory to test in my next radio spot for cat litter.
October 26th, 2009
Since video games exist mostly in cave-like environments it’s tough to enjoy them in the light of day. Which offers no help to gamers looking score some street cred. In Grand Theft Auto (AKA, GTA), it’s you versus the Russian mob. (A daunting task even for those with unlimited Red Bull.) Surely, players deserve better rewards than never needing to buy sun screen and taking feisty 8-year olds down a peg.
Enter Enders. The glossy graphics on these powerful kicks portray the beat on the video street. And since gamers like to work for their perks, these shoes are only available to power players. Meaning your boss in GTA has to give them to you. Then, via a microsite and a code the first 200 gifted gamers can end up in Enders.
Secret, exclusive, targeted… yes. Guaranteed to induce chatter and intrigue about the brand… indeed. In these fast, distracting times a great way for brands to be more creative is to create.
October 6th, 2009
So this year, The One Show Student contest was focused on Long’s horseradish. Our task: instigate an obsession with horseradish that would trigger an onslaught of online ordering. Basically, mission impossible.
After determining that people eat it, and even like it, we cautiously proceeded to try it on toast and immediately regretted it. However, after interviewing several foodie friends we found that those who use their kitchens appreciate horseradish. So we took aim at this ramen-averse crew. After a particularly long staring contest between my team and some wooden beams, a fresh idea came. Since Long’s is bottled and on the shelf in hours, it seemed brand-appropriate for it to provide intel about what’s fresh and seasonal in grocery stores. Interesting, said our teacher, but being the idea killer that he was, he suggested we make it easy and useful.
Enter the Shotcode. (more…)
September 15th, 2009
Some beats get by all our barriers. At Outside Lands, TV On the Radio snuck by mine. Based on their facial ticks and sweat stains they were playing everything but safe. Watching Tunde Adebimpe (the lead singer) gyrate and jump around helped switch the focus from “does this look stupid?” to “who cares, let’s dance!” As hot and heavy intensity rippled out from stage, echoing through the crowd, we felt looser, lighter, more aware.
It was like getting a huge crush on your date. Intimidating at first, but tuning into the good vibes drags you in. Suddenly life is so fulfilling, you’re distracted from your ADD. That night as TV played, love, like a few other substances, was in the air. You just had to believe it to see it.
September 1st, 2009
But you’re probably already buds. That’s the beauty of online advertising, it doesn’t usually look and feel like a typical ad, as the goal is to give people an interesting way to interact with the brand. Is that sneaky or smart? And won’t we know an ad when we see one? Depends if the ad is providing something useful. “While traditional shops might thrive in creating the hot viral video of the day, they will fall short when it comes to building sustainable brand platforms and useful applications that blur product and marketing.” (“R/GA: Digital AOY 2008,” Brian Morrissey, Adweek, 2/16/09).
Typical advertising tells a story, but digital can offer a better way to eat, run, dress and drive. It doesn’t ask us to pay attention, it adapts to us. But their friendship/utility doesn’t come for free. The cool factor from the clients-side regarding digital is the direct sell part. “The key to these platforms is that they sell products directly, rather than tell stories about them. In the case of Nike+, the proof is in the numbers. The company’s global running-shoe sales are up from $8 billion for the fiscal year ending May 2006, a 21 percent increase.” (ibid). The old if you build it quote seems relevant here.
Ideally digital doesn’t just want to showcase products and services, it wants to inspire users, as it works in the selling part both more directly and seamlessly. Advertising this way has the potential to benefit consumers, brands and agencies, but with the dawn of addressable advertising (targeting commercials to various sects of society) we’ll see how intrusive all this becomes.
As long as digital remains innovative, making holes instead of selling bits (heck we’ll customize shoes at a bus shelter) we’ll get along. But there’s a fine line between anticipating what people want and crossing privacy boundaries. But if Nike+, NikeiD and Nokia viNe are examples of digital advertising as utility, ads might just come in handy.
August 20th, 2009
Will the twosome become a threesome?
There’s a strong argument that creative teams should add an interaction designer to the copywriter/art director mix. In an attempt to make sense of online advertising as it becomes increasingly complex. But are they all strategizing digitally, trying to cultivate brand platforms instead of telling a story? It’s clear digital deserves to be counted, but it doesn’t seem like the answer.
Technology has spawned new methods of advertising. Now consumers enjoy a more influential, intimate connection with ads by using tools provided by brands, like RSS feeds and avatars, to create collaborative content. Blogs, consumer reviews and podcasts give consumers a soapbox to converse with and about brands. By inviting people to develop their own perspective on a brand their relationship to it becomes more organic, fostering greater interest. Exactly where traditional media falls short. It doesn’t have the interactive quality digital possesses. Digital affords brands the opportunity to participate in people’s daily lives. Also, it cultivates long-term relationships with consumers, is financially savvy and provides a reason to engage.
However, digital can be distracting. Since you can do almost anything in a banner, or make up your own way to best showcase products, the medium could swallow the message. And although cutting edge technology sounds cool, the experience is underwhelming when used inappropriately. But if this threesome concentrates on content that’s fun and interesting, they’ll be the team to beat.
