Continuing what we started in New York on Nov 8, yesterday Adrants and BDI held the second Ad Industry Diversity Job Fair and Leadership Conference in San Francisco, hosted by the Academy of Art in conjunction with BIG. Local and nationwide entities including Google, Modem Media, Draft FCB, Dieste and T3 (The Think Tank), showed up to trade paper with giddy be-suited candidates.
The set of pews and the wide church like set-up served as a good backdrop for what could be both parts keynote and sermon.
Larry Harris, EVP and Director of Integrated Marketing at DraftFCB, made a straightforward delivery on topics we expected to rise to the surface: the disparity of diversity in our industry, the changing face of marketing in the face of new media (iPods, internet, mobile phones, chip-reading billboards) and the importance of knowing what you want before leaping into the wild blue yonder. He also told an awesome story about how he infiltrated agency execs by pretending to be a message boy. "They let you right in!" he exclaimed.
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Rather than trying to get people to remember a company's URL which isn't always the easiest thing to remember, several companies in Japan have started using what have been referred to as "search me" ads. The ads offer the visual of a search bar with a search term already filled in. People are urged to perform the search, either immediately on their phone or later on their computer.
If the terms are chosen properly and th proper search engine marketing accompany the effort, the approach just may work. There's only so much a single ad can convey but an ad they points people to a place where endless information can be conveyed would appear to be an effective approach.
Deep Focus gets behind the last hurrah for Ze Frank's The Show, which, after exactly a year in the running, airs its last episode on March 17 via Blip.tv, a video-sharing site. Dewar's is sponsoring their last week and the first two months of their archives.
The Show is an eclectic little vlog in which host Ze Frank talks politics and technology, and occasionally orhestrates projects, with his audience of "sports racers." We weren't big watchers but we enjoyed the humour and will be bummed to see it exit stage left.
For those who missed the bus, the show will be syndicated on iTunes.
A good illustration clarifies language or, properly rendered, can even replace words altogether. There's so much to be learned from a picture.
That's why we're so confused by this banner ad for AOL's PC protection solution.
So we've got three interconnected beads sliding out of this deeply concentric woman's head: a sludge splatter, Nancy Drew (or is it Carmen Sandiego? The plot thickens) and a signal tower. We're thinking radiation. We're thinking conspiracy. We're thinking female Dick Tracey chases down menacing toxic blob whose sending ear-splitting signals are reverberating across the sleepy town of Conglomoville.
We're thinking AOL should really have run this by a couple more people without the text.
In an effort to define its Hooters Casino Hotel as a destination for women and not just cleavage-ogling men, the Vegas casino has launched a new Advanced Results Marketing-created television campaign to convince women Hooters is female-friendly. Something's just not right about this. A couple on vacation in a hotel that is served by big breasted women in tight clothing is just a recipe for disaster. The guy half of the couple will suffer the wrath of his other half for his uncontrollable glimpses of the bouncing flesh passing by. The female half of the couple will suffer all manner of emotional inadequacy comparing herself to the unattainable perfectness of Hooters waitresses. The couple will leave after a big argument and never come back.
It might be wiser to just leave well enough alone. We can't imagine there being anything more annoying for a woman than to endure a couple days watching her man's tongue fall out of his mouth over and over again when his full attention should be on her. Oh, we over analyze. We're sure it'll be fun for all. But, ladies, youo might want to keep your man on a short leash.
More often than not the big media cat-chase for the elusive hot viral comes up short. This could be for a ton of reasons - the ideas are too contrived or simply out of touch with the demo.
LA-based Feed Company put together Social Video 101: a Primer, an example-ridden tutorial on why some Youtube "virals" work and others don't. Will your video start a conversation? Is it funny? Is it sexy? Is it something you'd share with your friends?
"Viral is video that you're prepared to share with your friends," says CEO Josh Felser of Grouper. "If you're not prepared to share it with your friends, it's not viral video."
We'd like to say this sounds like mostly common sense. The unfortunate truth is if it were, major media entities would be more successful than they have been, and to be fair they're getting better.
That's not to say we don't still have a lot to learn from the unlikely geniuses of Smosh, whose Pokemon theme song generated a bewildering wildfire fanbase. And when you've figured out why, you'll probably be holding the key to the secret of life.
According to Molson Breweries, 36 percent of Candian hockey fans think players should be allowed to have more liberal curves on their stick. Maybe not for actually playing hockey but definitely for lazily reaching for a beer. Zig created. Untitled Produced.
"Looks like we've both got a whole that could use some filling." Couple that statement with imagery of a lecherous donut and busty jogger drinking from a fountain and you've got yourself copy which passes as acceptable these days. While there's nothing wrong with wanting to fill holes whenever one has the chance, imagery like this in a donut ad is just plain creepy. Especially if you're watching the ad while sitting next to anyone other than your very, very significant other. Well, we guess Krispy Kreme is doing all they can to keep it up. Their business, that is.
- MTV has added a user-generated category to its Movie Awards.
-Nike is opening an agency review with its U.S. business, currently handled by Wieden + Kennedy, getting first look.
- After many years with JWT, Kraft's Miracle Whip is heading over to DDB.
Mark Cuban must be laughing his ass off now as Viacom, following unproductive settlement talks, sues Google and YouTube for $1 billion in damages.
- If your into the whole March Madness thing, Coke has a nice Brack-O-Matic site that makes picking teams easy.
- Nickelodeon UK has launched Musical March, a site where kids can create their own musical videos and upload them to the site. The best videos will air on Nick JR Video.
While we're quite sure this is tongue in cheek and an homage advertising pre-feminist glory days, we're still not quite sure what flooring materials have to do with an attractive woman. Created by Shine Advertising, the campaign supposedly "hinges on day-in-the-life moments, in which the oft-ignored flooring actually becomes the focal point of an event." It's all designed to appeal to the Mcmansion crowd who want to feel as if they're a part of an economic class of which they will never be a part. Oh yea, that's aspirational advertising. Basically the point of every ad campaign created. But what's up with the fawning females and that ridiculous copy?
Having disingenuously defecated on the campaign, this might work better as a trade campaign. After perusing through Floor Covering Installer Magazine with its ceaseless parade of dull product shot advertising, this campaign would certainly catch a glimpse from the almost entirely male demo that makes up that industry. See two other versions of the ad here and here.
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