We just finished reading Powerlines: Words That Sell Brands, Grip Fans, and Sometimes Change History, by CMO Steve Cone of Epsilon. (The one with the specs and the grimace.) It's a survey of propaganda that probably helped color the landscape of your life. The last chapter has tips on creating a powerline -- not a guaranteed formula, but still good stuff to keep in mind.
People exposed to an ad will probably pass judgment on it based on the visual and the most visible print. (Typically that's the tagline.) Ad-heads spend plenty of time on pictures, but few consider what impact a resonant string of words can deliver.
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In case you haven't seen it (though it's a year old so maybe you have), here's the "banned" Wendy's Spicy Chicken Sandwich commercial it's creator claims he created but was not approved by the client. He says Wendy's has nothing to do with it but we're sure they're quietly smiling over the video's growing popularity.
Oops. What did you say about Bear Stearns, Jim Cramer? An ad in today's Wall Street Journal for Fox Business network is poking fun (more like slamming) CNBC's Jim Cramer for vehemently telling people not to take their money out of Bear Stearns just days before it tanked.
Fox. Ever the opportunistic marketer.
Now you might think this up-skirt soap dispenser promoting some candid camera-style show on FX is kind of witty but, dude, do you really want to be sticking your hand up there after thousands of guys have done so before you? We didn't think so. Kind of like how you wouldn't get with the high school slut either. Oh wait, of course you would because she'd be the one that would actually put out for you. Eesh. There's a Hoff version too. Image courtesy of Adland.
In light of the public misery (and promotional creativity) that buying an expensive hooker can wreak, the PR team of 02138 magazine (a pub for "Harvard influentials") have seen fit to tell us that Monsieur and Madame Spitzer scored the cover for the "Power Couples" issue.
They were chosen for their "influential careers and continued commitment to maintaining a strong and lasting relationship" -- their words, not ours. (Can we get a quote on that from Hillary?) We're sure the choice has nothing to do with all the traffic they'll score from bored gossip-mongers that frequent sordid sites like ours.
Read the article -- and see more sappy grayscale images -- at the 02138 website.
Silda's hawt. (We hope we look like that, pre-op, after 40.) Why the compulsion to pay for the Grail, Eliot?
The World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) is sharing tips and tools for minimizing your negative impact on the environment. See them at Reduce.WWF.be. (Helps if you're Belgian.)
To add cautionary appeal to the deal, WWF is promoting the site with guerrilla appearances of its fishman. Think of him as the mutant status quo for a less hospitable toxic Earth. The effort was put together by Germaine of Antwerp.
What's with non-profits and fishpeople? Why don't we ever get threatened with the conception of mutant minotaurs or X-Men? Is it not possible that our toxic future may yield supercharged heroes and creatures of fairy-tale lore in addition to radioactive six-eyed frogs and deranged (but unfairly oppressed) gill-faced rednecks?
