by mark October 27th, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
Like many people, I first became aware of the whole Neil French imbroglio via a site I frequently visit. And I was following it with a certain amount of detached amusement when all hell broke loose. Due to the indiscriminate promulgation of Mr. French’s admittedly intemperate remarks and the predictable reactions of several audience members, the situation became so awkward that he felt compelled to resign from WPP. And there’s something about this that really bugs me.
Anyone who knows anything about Neil French should be well aware of his throwback, dare I say, Neanderthal position on certain subjects. And his penchant for making outrageous, provocative remarks is the stuff of legend. He was addressing a discrete (but obviously not very discreet) audience. And given that he was sharing the dais with Marke Fenske and Rick Boyko, he was clearly there as a representative of the world’s best creative people, not the world’s best creative directors.
Continue reading ‘French Leave’
by mark October 25th, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
Specifically, “close only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.” This ad started out so promisingly. The clever description of the state of many peoples’ portfolios is very engaging. Then it all fell apart with the “three words” reference. Why? Because the three words it directs you to are too blunt and too soon.
If you buy my premise that extraordinary advertising is the result of adept seduction, then this is the advertising equivalent to thirty seconds of foreplay followed immediately by the old “in & out” as those charming characters in “A Clockwork Orange” put it.
Continue reading ‘Try Eight Words’
by mark October 20th, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
This is a little out of my area–although a healthy economy and relative stability are kind of prerequisites to the pursuit of extraordinary advertising–but it seemed too important to overlook. On page 17 of the October 16th issue of The New York Times, there was a chart showing the relative job satisfaction within various departments of the Federal government.
Topping the list was NASA, followed by the National Science Foundation and then the General Services Administration. That last one made me happy because these are the people responsible for telling us the truth about what all the people we send to DC do with all the money we ship down there with them. So if there’s one department I want to hear enjoys its work, it’s the GSA.
Continue reading ‘Consumer Confidence?’
by mark October 19th, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
Regular readers will be familiar with my never-ending quest for extraordinary (or even just slightly better than ordinary) transit advertising as I walk the train platform twice a day. A few days ago, my eyes landed on this one: A simple poster from Noodles & Company, which I assume is some purveyor of food around here. The visual was a loosely rendered bowl of pasta. But it was the headline that got my attention. It read: “Gneed A Little Gnocchi?”
Big deal, say you? Maybe not. But the brand needs to make people aware of what it has to offer, and in so doing, I thought it did a commendable job of a) letting me know they offer gnocchi, and b) offering some guidance as to how to pronounce the work “gnocchi”, which beats about 99.99% of the transit ads I see every day. Most of which gives me no new information whatsoever and passes in one eye and out the other. So gkudos for Gknoodles & Gcompany.
by mark October 14th, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
Advertisers sure are a curious lot. A couple of weeks ago, there was a big article in The New York Times Sunday Business section about the dramatic growth of product placement in TV shows as an alternative to traditional television advertising. Reason being, as the article put it: “As technology and clutter blunt the effectiveness and reach of the commercial spots that have underpinned the television business for nearly 50 years, the various players are scrambling to adapt.”
“Scrambling” is the word all right, but I have my doubts about this souffle ever rising. Just parsing the sentence quoted above should send any intelligent advertising person straight to the nearest bar (which obviously will not have to be a very large establishment).
Continue reading ‘Brand Disintegration’
by mark October 13th, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
Here’s a headline that stopped me dead in my tracks the other day: “BMW Abandons Madison & Vine”. I can’t remember if it was AdAge or Adweek, but the gist of the article it led into was that despite the purported success of its Internet short film series, “The Hire”, BMW was giving up on this approach because “branded entertainment is just getting too expensive.”
Too expensive? Or was it just a mediocre idea from the get-go? I know it garnered tanker trucks worth of ink for the agency behind it. But did it ever do diddly for BMW’s image or sales?
Continue reading ‘Madison & Whine’
by mark October 11th, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
Just over a fortnight ago I suggested that the CMO title is actually a misnomer. That many of the people in this position would be more appropriately titled Chief Blame Officers because their primary purpose is to act as the fall guy (or gal) for CEOs in trouble. So what do I stumble across in The New York Times recently?
An article none-too-subtly titled: “Marketing Heads Exalted, At Least Until They Roll”. And oh, the insights it provided. For example, Rob O’Regan, the editor of the 25,000 circulation C.M.O. magazine (which must draw a lot of readership from the executive recruitment and funeral industry since there can’t be that many CMOs out there) is quoted as saying: “It’s hard to measure some of the effectiveness of what marketing does, especially when it deals with customer loyalty and brand building. It makes it hard to justify all the budgets that you’re getting.”
Continue reading ‘Chief Blame Officer-Part II’
by mark October 5th, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
One part of the book that always inspires a lot of dialogue is the chapter entitled “When Bad Advertising Is Good And Good Advertising Is Bad. This is where I get into some of the categories that seem to be positively immune to, or at best, highly allergic to anything remotely resembling extraordinary advertising. Car dealership advertising, for example. Jewelry and wristwatch advertising. And a whole lot of retail advertising, period.
Continue reading ‘Rosser Reeves Redux?’
by mark October 3rd, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
Despite the enormous amount of media attention it gets, not to mention advertising dollars, (something like $9.6B last year, an increase of 33%), Internet advertising continues to strike me as long on the Internet and short on the advertising.
Sponsored links and keywords are all fine and dandy if you’re already interested in the subject. But that’s only “advertising” in the way the Yellow Pages is considered “advertising.” It’s not brand building, and I very much doubt any of the major brands built through traditional advertising could have ever got there using these tools alone.
Likewise, most of the postage-stampy things–with or without motion–I see scattered around high traffic sites may be okay for established brands. But I can’t imagine launching BMW, FedEx or Perdue chicken with them.
Continue reading ‘Hope Springs Eternal’
by mark October 2nd, 2005
in Daily Thoughts.
In the pursuit of extraordinary advertising, one of the old rules of thumb has always been: If the visual is straight (as in interesting, not heterosexual), the headline should be clever. And when the visual is clever, the headline should prefer members of the opposite sex.
This, however, is a classic example of taking a rule of thumb and sucking on it, or getting stuck in a plea bargain with the client where he or she gets the ham-fisted headline desired, but at least the ad has an eye-catching visual.
Continue reading ‘A Little Tapped Out’
