by mark October 31st, 2007
in Daily Thoughts.
Despite my constant harping on the dearth of extraordinary advertising we’re treated to every day, I do occasionally run across some. And I’m always impressed when it falls into a category I’d describe as “hard”; hard as in gotten past clients to whom it’s not easy to sell anything good to–like financial people. Not to mention, hard as in done in an area in which it’s never easy to do anything interesting–like financial stuff.
And I’m especially impressed when the advertising is a campaign and not just a one-off, the former being a telltale sign of an idea that is genuinely sui generis, while the latter is often just a matter of blind pigs tripping over a truffle now and then. Continue reading ‘Hard Sell’
by mark October 26th, 2007
in Daily Thoughts.
After a spate of diatribes on Daimler’s recent work, wristwatch shenanigans and all else awry in this business, it’s refreshing to recall that just a week ago I was with some people who truly care about the quality of advertising. (And no, I was not on some psych ward somewhere.) I was in Portland, OR talking with the students of wk12 and happily, I came away with the distinct impression that at least in this case The Who had it right, not Offspring.
We talked about a bunch of stuff, starting with my quest to get clients to better appreciate and therefore, cultivate extraordinary advertising. Interestingly, the kids glommed onto this immediately. Probably because unlike a lot of the portfolio mills out there, the wk12 program has these guys working with live ammunition right from the get-go. Real advertising campaigns for real clients under the supervision of some really, really good people. So the kids in wk12 have already seen how quickly good ideas can exsanguinate in a conference room populated by well-meaning, but utterly unschooled (in the constructive appraisal of advertising, that is) clients. Continue reading ‘The Kids Are Alright’
by mark October 24th, 2007
in Daily Thoughts.
Where would we be without newspapers like The Wall Street Journal? (And please don’t tell me dragging [an appropriate word if ever there was one] our cursors from one corner of WSJ.com to the other because it’s just not the same.)
But be that is it may, this is not one of my quaint homilies in defense of paleomedia. It’s a reflection on something I stumbled across in The Journal a few weeks ago. To wit: It looks like many of the buyers of vintage watches at auction have been getting their proverbial clocks cleaned. Continue reading ‘“Much Stronger Than Advertising”’
by mark October 17th, 2007
in Daily Thoughts.
If there’s any merit to my theory that advertising is a good proxy for management acumen, this display of exceptional ordinariness would suggest we should all immediately take every cent we can lay claim to, margin it to the hilt and short the ever lovin’ you-know-what out of Daimler stock. (N.B. Any reader, including those associated with the SEC should know I am not a licensed financial counselor and this should only be construed as investment advice in the loosest sense of the term.)
That said, I am an official advertising commentator (isn’t everyone?) and this ad, which is part of a series of similarly misbegotten efforts, is truly horrendous. Starting with the double-vision visual–or is that a visual stutter?–and the spooky, shades of Leni Riefenstahl camera angle, it’s an amazing example of the entire process of connecting and communicating with another human being run amok. Continue reading ‘Ach Du Lieber’
by mark October 11th, 2007
in Daily Thoughts.
The main downside to being a “publisher” in this space is you don’t have a ton of fact-checkers to fall back on. What you do have, though, are readers who you can be sure will pounce on any inaccuracy (not to mention just about anything else you say).
At any rate, if my memory serves (and it’s admittedly not the newest database software), the mainstream business press has completely overlooked a key element in the recent management shakeup at Hershey’s. The way they’re portraying it, Hershey’s lackluster performance in recent years (flat sales, declining earnings, $1B in vaporized market value) is largely the fault of that mean old Hershey’s Trust which stonewalled management’s repeated efforts to merge or sell the company back to growth and prosperity. But that’s not how I remember it. Continue reading ‘Hershey’s Kiss Off’
by mark October 10th, 2007
in Daily Thoughts.
The philosophy of the NY Yankees in fiscal matters (pre-Steinbrenner) was once described as “they throw nickels around like they were manhole covers.” Frank Perdue’s approach to bestowing compliments was about the same. In fact, when he wasn’t lamenting the loss of Ed McCabe’s services, he seemed to spend most of his time drawing parallels between my copy and what comes out of the opposite end of a dog from where the food goes in.
Thus, my total astonishment when one day he announced, “Much as it pains me to admit it, Silveira, this is some pretty good writing.” A feeling I can certainly identify with when it comes to praising anything done by that behemoth Google. However, this latest idea of theirs clearly merits it. Continue reading ‘“Much As It Pains Me…”’
by mark October 4th, 2007
in Daily Thoughts.
Some of you may have noticed that the ads I call “ordinary” are hardly the dullest of what accosts us on a daily basis. Nor are the “extraordinary” ones surefire tickets to a seat next to David Abbott in advertising’s Valhalla. If I looked only for the former, it would be like shooting ducks in a bucket. And if I insisted on the latter, I could go months without posting anything (perish the thought).
Instead, I look for ads that appear to have had a modicum of good intentions that translated into something noteworthy or not worthy, as the case may be. And I especially keep an eye out for campaigns where one ad clearly made the grade and the other didn’t because that’s where the distinctions are most obvious. Which is what we have here today. Continue reading ‘Close, But No Cigar’
by mark October 2nd, 2007
in Daily Thoughts.
Everyone pretty much accepts the fact that “clients get the advertising they deserve”. However, no one seems nearly as clear on what it is about some clients that makes them so deserving of extraordinary advertising.
Sadly, what inspired this line of inquiry was the recent death of an extraordinary client of mine, Frank Scarlati, Jr., coupled with the sudden realization that everything about the way he approached advertising mirrored the way another Frank I had the pleasure to work with went about it–that being Frank Perdue.
So, in memory of both, I offer the following guidelines for those clients who have an interest in appraising, and possibly altering, their own approach. If any of it helps, you can chalk it up to the Franks. Continue reading ‘A Frank Appraisal’
Despite my constant harping on the dearth of extraordinary advertising we’re treated to every day, I do occasionally run across some. And I’m always impressed when it falls into a category I’d describe as “hard”; hard as in gotten past clients to whom it’s not easy to sell anything good to–like financial people. Not to mention, hard as in done in an area in which it’s never easy to do anything interesting–like financial stuff.
