As a former employee of Leo Burnett, I find this incredibly funny:
Leo Burnett Employees Still Trying To Figure Out How To Pronounce �Publicis.�
CHICAGO� Reeling from their recent purchase by French conglomerate Publicis, employees at Chicago-based Leo Burnett are struggling to learn the correct pronunciation of their new owner. Said sr. account director Scott Meldhenson. �For the love of Christ, why couldn�t we have just sold out to Omnicom or Interpublic or some other faceless holding company with a name you can say without sounding like a snail-eating twit. Instead, I�m getting corrected by everyone from the receptionist to the caterer every time I try to say 'Pub-LY-sis.' Or is it 'Pub-lee-SEE.' Whatever. Let�s just choose a pronunciation and go with it.� Added copywriter Matt Adelson, �So long as my raise goes through and they don�t mess with my 401k, I'll call them whatever they damn well please. Fucking Frenchies.�
Hilarious.
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In a recent article in BrandWeek, Bruce Tait wrote: "In order to develop a truly differenciating brand positioning, you need to be original. To come up with an original brand positioning idea, you need to apply creativity. That's why we argue that creativity in brand strategy is the lifeblood of branding."
His point is that we have become so wrapped up in research that we can't even come up with an original idea. Everything is about the research. The research guides everthing. Sure, there is a need for research but it should not highjack the creative process. Usually the best ideas that become strong brands come from the genisis of a brilliant creative idea, not years and years of research.
So I say, do your research then let creativity happen. Don't squash ideas with, " Oh but the research says...". Fuck that. Take a risk. Use your common sense. Have an original idea.
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So it's been a little while since my site has returned to working order and I'm hoping my motivation to contribute to the site is back as well I'm not sure yet.
I thought I'd talk about packaging for a minute. Does it ever piss you off that when you buy, say, Dayquil and you try to actually get the pills out if the rock hard plastic vault they are packaged in? God forbid if someone had arthritis. And...what a waste of materials when all the pills could all be dropped into a bottle with far less packaging. Remember how CD's where originally packaged? Those big double sized cardboard/plastic things so big that you could actually fit ten cds into it if you want. Thankfully, that has changed. Why can't other packaging monstrosities? Oh yea...uh...advertising! How could I be so dumb.
But do we really need packaging that is actually bigger then the product itself?
And why are those plastic/cardboard packages so friggin hard to open? You'd think the manufacturer would actually want you to use their product rather then have it stuck in a packaging vault.
Oh well, I suppose the plastic/cardboard packaging lobbyists are too powerful to control.
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Why is it that in every sex scene in an American movie, you have foreplay, and then they cut to the proverbial morning after cigarette. Are we so ashamed of sexuality that we can't represent it in movies?
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This wonderfuful site: adrants has suffered greatly over the past week. Archives lost. Content lost. My own motivation to actually contribute to this site is diminished. My ISP's server is having a case of the jitters. Very difficult to actually concentrate on content while all this is going on.
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Maybe I'm way behind the times but I just saw the movie Groove again and realized that one of the DJs in the movie is John Digweed. Now I suppose you have to be into the dance, trance, acid, rave, whatever thing to actually like this guy. But I've always liked dance music and actually DJ'd for a while in the days of break dancing and Cool and the Gang. Obviously, things have changed:-) He's worth checking out.
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It would be nice if adrants actually worked so that there would be some content here.
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And titles don't even show up???
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Again, Blogger fucks up. Sorry if you came here to see anything but the infinite wisdom of Blogger servers saw fit to delete all my shit. Check back later when they get their shit together.
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