by mark January 16th, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
I knew it would show up eventually in something I wrote, so I’d better explain how I came to use “cute”. I know it caused various creative teams I supervised no end of confusion when I first moved to Chicago. But it actually has a fairly respectable provenance.
When I was at Ammirati & Puris, I was partnered up with a terrific art director, Mark Moffett, who was was quite senior to me (not to mention, better) and thus already in a position to oversee the work of other teams before it went up to Marty and Ralph. And what I noticed was that while he had a whole host of pejorative epithets to hurl at work he didn’t think met the standard, his only sign of approval was to deem an idea “cute”. I found this initially puzzling.
Continue reading ‘About That Word “Cute”’
by mark January 15th, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
Knowing that a full-page, 4-color ad in GQ probably runs at least $50,000 a pop, I was sure that I’d find at least one extraordinary ad in the issue I was recently thumbing through. But no such luck. Just a host of ordinary ads including several for various brands of wristwatches that made me wonder: Has the entire watch industry signed some sort of advertising disarmament act whereby all watch brand have agreed if none of them does extraordinary advertising, no one will get hurt? You hardly ever see a good watch ad.
However, I did spot one noble attempt and a great example of what an old boss of mine, Wes Perrin, used to call “coming downstairs with a fish in your mouth” advertising.
Continue reading ‘G(ood) Q(uestion)’
by mark January 14th, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
They almost had me thinking this was going to be some extraordinary advertising. Big splash in The Wall Street Journal. Three consecutive full page ads–no small expenditure here. Each ad featured and extreme close-up of a man’s face. Nicely done. Each had a one word headline: “Phooey”, “Hogwash” and “Bunk”. Alright, now I’m intrigued.
Then I read the body copy. One example should be enough: “Some people think building wealth is easy. Hardly the case…” And my heart sank.
Continue reading ‘The Lost Art Of Body Copy’
by mark January 11th, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
I don’t mean to make light of the Jewish ritual of mourning at all because what has become of the advertising for Chivas is truly tragic.
Anyone who’s been in the business for a while (or studied its history at all) will be aware of the extraordinary advertising that built this brand of scotch from virtually nothing to what was for most people for quite a long time THE premium scotch. Starting with an ad that carried the headline “What idiot changed the Chivas bottle?” or something like that, the people at Doyle, Dane, Bernbach churned out hundereds of brilliant, charming, engaging, extraordinary ads for this brand over the course of several decades. Then something happened.
Continue reading ‘Sitting Chivas’
by mark January 11th, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
One of the things I’ve often wondered is if the quality of a company’s advertising could serve as a leading indicator of that company’s future stock price. Obviously if it did, this would not only markedly strengthen my argument for extraordinary advertising, but it would also serve as a dandy investment screen. So get a load of this.
In the book I took quite a swipe at a certain financial services firm for some of the advertising it did to herald its arrival in the Chicago area. But I chose not to name it at the time. Maybe I was feeling kind-hearted, or perhaps I just thought I’d made enough enemies for one day.
Continue reading ‘Coincidence or Correlation?’
by mark January 11th, 2005
in Rumors.
When I hear a good one, Ill pass it along. Or I may just start a few to see what happens.
