Imagine an "agency as family" meeting at your shop. Now imagine it taking place at the dinner table with your family. It might go something like this as envisioned by Please Feed the Animals' Erik Proulx:
"I've called this Proulx family meeting with some unfortunate news. As you know, we've just lost our main source of revenue - my job - so we had to make some tough decisions. Ben, as the eldest child you can stay but with 33% fewer meals. Clara, I'm sorry to say, your position as a child in this household has been deemed redundant. Since you were the last in, we thought it fair that Ben keep his position as Proulx spawn. However, because you have been here for 3 years, you qualify for a severance package, which includes placement assistance into a foster family. Feel free to use me as a reference. Really, I mean that. And thank you for all your cuteness and unconditional love. Best of luck."
Ah, the brutality of working in the ad industry.
So Advertising Age is all over agencies today for their use (or lack thereof) of Twitter. A destined to be classic quote from a Euro RSCG spokesperson reads, "We're developing our Twitter strategy and in the meantime want to hold onto the name. It's a Catch-22: You don't want your Twitter handle stolen, but you also don't want to start using it before you're really ready."
On the one hand, all well and good. No one wants to make a fool of themselves. On the other hand, this is not rocket science. Certainly it's easier for a random individual to join Twitter and use it any way they see fit. That, however, is not entirely the case for a brand, an agency or an agency representing a brand.
While the wonderful world of social media is, as everyone insists, supposed to be one gigantic, happy conversation, brands, because they are more than one person, need an agreed upon approach to using the medium. But that doesn't mean they have to over engineer it or have every last detail of that "strategy" in place before they dip their toe.
Why? Because you can't develop a "strategy" unless you know the medium and you can't know the medium unless you use it. Yes, it is a bit of a Catch-22 but the Catch-22, itself, is a Catch-22.
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Honest.This is just your average, run-of-the-mill potato chip commercial. You know. The one where a guy puts on a strange head contraption and begins to fantasize about women unclasping their bra, jumping up and down on a bed, dancing in a thong, playing with stuffed animals, sticking her tongue out at you and...getting an x-ray while wearing lingerie.
Yea, that kind of commercial. Nothing special here. Move right along people.
Not even close to needing a boob job herself, as clearly indicated in this video, FiestaMovement YouTube babe Jill Hanner is pimping the Plastic Surgery channel and her new gig as their new celebrity news babe.
Hooking up with a YouTube "celebrity" isn't really a new thing. This one just seems, well, appropriate in a twisted, opposites attract sort of way.
There was once a day - or at least it feels like there was - when music had deep meaning. It was very personal and, depending upon the artist or the song, could immediately transform your emotional state, cause you to ponder your worth in the world or simply celebrate the beauty of life and the moments you cherish with the one you love.
There once was a day artists - musical or otherwise - wouldn't dream of allowing their work to be used in any form of commerce other than that of selling their own work. But over the past ten years or so, music and all things pop culture seem to have become one with commerce. Almost by definition, performers (not necessarily musicians in every case) like Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Beyonce, M83, Dr. Dre, Kid Rock, Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop, Christina Aguilera, 50 Cent, Kylie Minogue, Madonna and, yes, the Beatles must have an element of commerce in their portfolio.
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OK so somebody did the synchronized thing with computer monitors. Who would have thought anyone would have done the same with the lowly printer. Well, Matt Robinson and Tom Wigglesworth did and they won a D&AD Student Award for it.
We're thinking without the musical background added, the sound of all those printers making all those weird noises they always do when printing would be deafening.
We like the work. It's worth a look.
The only thing that's a bit unclear? The work is actually for HP Workstations and not the printers.
So Bavaria is a beer. They have a racing team. They have the Zo factor. And they have hot women in tight blue jumpsuits who prance around a website and in YouTube videos.
As always, somehow this sells beer.
Step aside wise-crackin' eTrade babies. There's a new posse in town and they don't live their life behind a keyboard. Nope. They drink Evian and they rock out some serious rollerblade-style breakdancing.
This BETC Euro RSCG-created commercial is most certainly Super Bowl quality. It's got all the right ingredients. Babies, retro music and physical stunts. Not to mention a message that makes sense.
While it's formulaic (babies getting digitally manipulated), it's a musing. And it's fun. And, besides, it's way better than the original dancing baby.
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Remember that contest we held last week? Of course you don't so we'll tell you about it again. Those who correctly guessed the color of the bikini the girl sleeping on the couch at Cannes had on (green), would be entered into a drawing to win a copy of Killed Ideas, a blurb-produced book highlighting fifty ideas that were never produced.
Now that you're all up to speed, we're pleased to announce Ryan Kiernan, a brand communications intern at 1-800 Flowers won the drawing. We;ll be sending him a copy of Killed Ideas soon
Oh we really, really like this. Absolut has launched Drinkspiration, an iPhone app which makes drink suggestions based on mood, location, time of day, weather, liquor type (yes, they don't just limit it to vodka), drink color, shape of glass, type of venue and a whole lot more. You'll never order the same boring drink again.
Every drink the app suggests comes with a recipe so if you want something a bit too exotic for your neighborhood bartender, you can tell her how to make it.
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