The original writer of AgencySpy, SuperSpy, has launched Fifth Column, which aims to improve the advertising business by soliciting comments for improvement which will then be sent to the agencies they apply to and, ultimately published for public consumption.
On Advertising Fifth column, formerly anonymous blogger SuperSpy now refers to herself as Sabrina Duncan which, if you do a Google search doesn't help much since all you get are endless listing of Kate Jackson's Charlie's Angel character, Sabrina Duncan.
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Oh look! We do love our own kind! Those four starving Creative Circus students who won Cannes Future Lions but couldn't afford to go to Cannes and held a bake sale to raise money succeeded and, yes, will now go to Cannes to collect their awards thanks to some kind sponsors. Or maybe they're going only because some quick thinkers saw an opportunity for publicity. [Ed. Oh, why do you always have to such a dick about these kind of altruistic things?]
Thanks to Leo Burnett who picked up their air fares and 22 Squared, AKQA, Jannie Gerds, Grigsby Consulting LLC, Dave Holloway, Jeb Quaid and The Creative Circus which covered the rest of the travel costs, the four will now bask in the glory of Southern France sun, fun and, likely, the requisite debauchery that goes with Cannes.
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Those videos with cell phones popping corn have been floating around since May 28 and have garnered much discussion surrounding their validity. While cell phones can fry your head and reportedly cause cancer, they don't pop corn. They can, however, take on a starring role in a series of videos for Bluetooth headset maker Cardo Systems.
On the YouTube page where Cardo posted its reveal, the marketer writes, "More than 4 million people have watched our little videos since May 28, 2008. We are very happy to have made this contribution to an important international public debate."
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MySpace is redesigning its site, partly to make it more ad-friendly.
It also plans to improve nav, music and internal search, MySpaceTV (expect better embed/sharing options) and profile editing (kinda nifty).
Phase I of the redesign goes live June 18th. One advertiser bought all MySpace's ad real estate for that day. No word on who it is, but expect a major brand or an overhyped movie. (Film promotions for The Incredible Hulk are currently wreaking havoc on the homepage.)
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When Ben Relles created Barely Political and hired Amber Lee Ettinger to play the role of Obama Girl, it was little more than a fun little one-off that no one thought would rise to the level of popularity it did. Month after month, Obama Girl videos appeared and month after month, Obama, himself, kept winning primaries moving closer and closer to a potential seat in the White House as out next President.
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Today is Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference. If you don't own a Mac (I don't), don't own an iPhone (I don't) and don't live in San Francisco (I don't), clearly you are a loser of gargantuan proportions (I must be).
Is it a good thing or a bad thing when a brand has so much influence that it makes a person feel unworthy (I do) if they aren't a "club member?"
I've owned a Mac in its previous heydays (No, this is not the first time Apple has been insanely cool), but there was always one annoying thing that prevented me from coming back: some stupid employer edict, a must-have piece of software that wouldn't work on a Mac, an idiotic networking issue, the prevalence of cheap (though decidedly uncool) PCs, or the fact Club Mac simply didn't have the same sway Apple stores now do.
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Ever notice how women, when in conflict with another, or with a man for that matter, discuss the issue at great length until every last feeling is expressed? Ever notice how men, when in conflict with another (but not a woman), just punch each other, offer up a fist bump or brush it off with a "no worries, dude?" Though some might debate the point, that's not sexist. It's just a natural difference in the way men and women deal with confrontation and disagreement.
So perhaps an ad from 100 percent women-owned Buffalo law firm Schroder, Joseph Associates, LLC with the headline, "Ever Argue With A Woman," is compelling since arguing legal issues requires ad nauseum debate to the point of excruciating insanity. In the courtroom, that's a good thing. Not so much when you're at home and just want to sit down with a beer and watch the game.
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"Sorrel Ahlfeld's 2 Sense Productions, in association with Anonymous Content's Integrated Division, collaborates with Getty Images to create fresh, new innovative content for stock video and print purposes. The integrated short film, Bubbles, is an admiring, humorous, mesmerizing look at a city, at friendship and the technology that connects us all. 'The collaboration with Getty Images enabled us to develop a creative, interesting idea that evolved organically,' said Executive Producer of Anonymous Content's Integrated Division, Danielle Peretz."
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Honoring the demands of faint-of-heart schoolteachers, Starbucks draped hair over the nipples of its original mermaid logo, which currently appears on coffee cups to promote the new Pike Place Roast.
Advertising Age has Before and After images of the redesign. It also said one of Starbucks' current PR problems is the "widespread misperception" that the logo swap is permanent.
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On the way out from her AgencySpy gig, SuperSpy minces no words lashing out at guys and sexism in the workplace reversing things a bit so men can endure the rampant objectivity apparently experienced by women in the ad business. For some, her point of view may be seen as harshly bitter but I'd say it's not very far off base in some instances.
She writes, "I'm going to find the first junior employee that I can and comment on how nice his jeans fit or better yet, tell him my own sexual fantasies and see if he bites. Yes, he probably will, but the power I exert in doing it, in making him feel uncomfortable for a brief moment, small, at jeopardy for his job (that brief sweet vengeful second), will be some sort of justice for all the ad guys who have come onto me and the chicks I know or don't even know in the work environment."
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