Designer Ze Frank provides frustrated designers with a collection of substitute emoticons to use in response to emails from clueless account managers who think they know what they are talking about in terms of creative. If you've been berated one time too many by creative wannabes for work you think is great, check out Ze's instructional video on how to incorporate his emoticon "Punctuation Substitutions" into your next response to that puff bag loser.
If this takes off (or if it already has and we're the clueless loser), agency emails are destined to become a lot more interesting.
Highlighting 100 important moments of the web, Yahoo, today, is celebrating its tenth anniversary with a Netrospective.
The site includes a review of interesting events occurring along the ten year lifespan of Yahoo.
From Mahir, the first, though odd, web celebrity to the birth of Netscape and Google to the dancing baby to the hey days of Napster, the Yahoo Netrospective is a fascinating trip down memory lane. Well done, Yahoo.
A bill before Connecticut lawmakers would require theaters to advertise two start times - one for the time the actual movie start and another for the time the ads and previews begin. State Rep. Andrew Fleischmann claims consumers are being manipulated and that his bill has received the most attention of any bill he's proposed.
We wonder what's worse though. Sitting through ads and previews or enduring the noise and confusion of movie goers entering the theater just as the actual movie begins to roll. Not an easy choice. The only real answer to this, and all other ad clutter issue is for the American Association for Advertising Agencies, the Association of National Advertisers and perhaps others to get together and draft industry guidelines which would limit advertising placement in all media relative to the content in which the advertising appears. Not likely to happen though.
In early February, it was announced Regal CineMedia Corporation , the media subsidiary of the Regal Entertainment Group and MasterCard would launch a co-branded card, Regal Entertainment Group Platinum MasterCard card, and pre-movie ad campaign. Launching this Friday, March 4, the campaign includes three cinema spots created by LA-based Johnson & Murphy.
The terms of the marketing agreement with MasterCard include a variety of on-screen and in-lobby promotional opportunities for Regal Entertainment Group's 560 theatres nationwide, reaching nearly 6,300 screens in 40 states.
Creatively, the three ads track the interaction between a guy doing movie character impersonations and a retail store check out girl who, first, wigs at the guy's propensity to take on Brando and the like, then warms to him and begins spouting characterizations of her own such as, "Dude, Where's My Card." Get it?
Writing on his weblog, ANA Marketing Musings, Association of National Advertisers CEO Bob Liodice says TV, as an advertising medium, is being killed.
While we all know, TV is in trouble, Bob points to four major contributors to its struggle: clutter, high cost, lack of measurement and poor creative. We tend to agree. Is Bob right? Is TV getting killed? Who/what is killing it?
Seth Stevenson, writing on Slate, analyzes why there's been so much discussion about a recent Overstock.com TV commercial featuring a woman talking about the "O." Seth clarifies, for us, it's not really about that O but about the O in Overstock. He then proceeds to list the reasons why some think this commercial is so engaging to the point of transfixtion. We don't see it but Seth says it's about the double entendre, the woman's accent (we don't hear one), the music, the white background and the "mesmerizing babe." Still, we don't see it. Do you? Read Seth's commentary here and watch the ad here.
Yesterday, it was the birth of a new religion for JWT, formerly known as J. Walter Thompson, America's largest ad agency. In a day long, worldwide celebration, J. Walter Thompson officially transformed itself into the hip, new JWT, an agency which will "stop interrupting what people are interested in and be what people are interested in," according to the agency's new Creative Partnership Contract which all 8,500 employees signed yesterday.
Placing time as the agencies key focus, JWT will treat time as the new currency and endeavor to respect people's growing lack of time to process advertising messages. As a symbolic nod to this new thinking, JWT is auctioning off the company's time for a charity on...where else...eBay. Rather than placing a gigantic tattoo on all 8,500 JWT employees, the agency will provide something more meaningful - free work. The winner of the bid will donate the time to a charity organization.
In a move which may have Thompson either rolling in his grave or gleefully celebrating the shedding of his tired, old nautical persona, the legendary Commodore portrayed in portraits displayed in JWT offices around the world into a young, vigorous figure ready to compete in today's environment.
Bob Jeffrey, Chief Executive Officer of JWT Worldwide, said the rationale for the reinvention of the agency is rooted in consumer behavior and demands. "We are now living in a world where the consumer is savvy, time-conscious, easily distracted and in control. Today's consumer is totally at odds with dumbed-down, formulaic, repetitive, voluminous messaging. Our greatest value to clients is our ability to recognize a changing world in which the customer is king, the currency is time and the rewards are measured in the length and strength of relationships. This understanding defines our role, purpose and belief."
It sounds great in theory. Without jaded, snarky commentary, here's hoping the effort becomes reality.
We're really not much of a gamer so we don't know whether to be excited or not about the life like visuals in the new Gran Turismo 4 game. Looks like a movie to our innocent eyes. We're sure gamers will have their comments. The new site which supports the launch of the game, designed by Zugara, features info on all the cars in the game (over 700+ actual models), track views, video and an interactive quiz to try that queries players ability to discern between on real-life photos versus in-game footage.
We sure wouldn't know the difference. Gamers?
As we snooped last week, Burger King is officially behind the PimpMyBurger promotion. Modeled after the MTV tuning show Pimp My Ride, Burger King Germany will launch Pimp My Burger, a show on which grilled meat, fresh salad and tomatoes will be discussed with the same enthusiasm tuners have for chrome rims, spoilers and paint. The show supports the launch of Burger King's Tender Crisp, a jacked up, supersized fried chicken sandwich. We're not sure for how long a "show" like this will keep interest but will give points for trying something a little different. The details will be released March 1 at PimpMyBurger.
Following concerns around Vioxx and Celebrex, happy go lucky drug commercials are likely to end.
According to a Kaiser Family Foundation study, just 18 percent of people believe the ads most of the time and an Ipsos-Insight study found 19 percent were prompted by an ad to call a doctor, down from 25 percent in 2002. The new direction drug ads take is unclear but some sense they will become more factual in terms of describing the disease and referring people to doctors as brands take the back seat.
Our sense is drug advertising is ridiculous in the first place. No one, other than a doctor, is in the position to make decisions on which drug is right for them. Promoting drugs to non-doctor consumers is pointless and just raises undue concern and questions. Other than aspirin and cold remedies, drug companies should limit their marketing to doctors - those able to make an informed decision of the appropriateness of the drug. The current explosion of drug ads is simply breeding a whole new generation of hypochondriacs.
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