Ashley Simpson's Future Not Good According to Justin

Justin from That'sJustNotRight eloquently sums up the number two Simpson sister writing, "Ashlee Simpson. Big nose, big chin, can't sing, swears too much. But at least she's not as stupid as her sister."

I guess she won't be doing Pizza Hut commercials any time soon.

UPDATE: OK, so she is a little bit hot:

Agencies Need to Focus on the Idea

Oh, the idea. The idea. The idea. Are we sick of hearing about the idea? Yes, but according to Brighthouse CEO Joey Reiman, it's the only thing we have left to save the ad agency business. We've heard it before but Reiman, in a new book he's promoting of course, says agencies should stop giving ideas away and start holding out for the big money.

Reiman writes in Ad Age, "Advertising agencies have become an antiquated broker business, selling space to clients with creativity thrown in for free. The result is a marketing world that is ad rich and idea poor. Consumers don't want to be bombarded with ads -- they want to be inspired by ideas that will change their lives. Ads create transactions, ideas create transformations. Ads reflect our culture, ideas imagine our future."

All well and good but remember, this is the ad agency business, we don't like change. It's too much work.

Adrants Nooner: Mid-Day Quickies

Walking Tongues (covered here over a year ago, by the way) and crashing car parts on Ad Age's TV Spots Of the Week.

Chrysler (and others) won't pony up to NBC's $50 million asking price for The Apprentice sponsorship.

Republicans say ads for Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 amout to "electioneering" and violate campiagn finance laws.

(Yes, I stole this mini-summary idea from Gawker Media)

Life Caching An Important Trend For Marketers to Watch

Always ahead of the curve, TrendWatching has dubbed a new trend called Life Caching. Simply put, it's the collection of all things experiential (rather than material) enabled by the proliferation of digital products. From weblogs to Lifeblogs to digital cameras to everything-enabled cell phones, the recording and collection of experiences is fast becoming ubiquitous.

For marketers who provide an experience, figuring out to enable the consumer to make that experience last is the key to riding this trend. With consumer's entire body of experience cataloged, gaining permission from consumers to access this life-store will be the holy grail for marketers.

Maria Sharapova The Next Anna Kournikova

Anna Kournikova, the tennis player turned sex symbol, may soon have some competition in the cut-throat game of marketing endorsement. Rising tennis star Maria Sharapova, a beautiful 17 year old from Siberia, is ranked well above Kournikova in actual tennis wins but far below her in awareness factor. In fact, only 23 percent of sports fans know who she is.

While Sharapova is concentrating on winning tennis and laying low on the marketing front with small deals with Nike, Prince and NEC, marketers are mulling her potential as spokesmodel. Celebrity and athlete management company The Marketing Arm's Managing Director Jeff Crown said, "She has great marketing potential. She has the looks of Kournikova, but the game will keep her in the public eye." But Sharapova is opting to keep her eye on the ball playing tennis for the time being rather than baring her body for marketers. In a refreshing turn away from easy money, she has turned down several offers according to her business team even though interest has been high.

For additional analysis on upcoming female tennis players who are in line to steal the spotlight from Kournikova, see Apechild's article, "The New Babes of Tennis."