While we had a tough time getting past the first page of this site on which the very beautiful Susan Jones stares out at us, we finally made it to a story written by Robert Cherry in which he lists and comments on the top ten advertising-related movies. On the list, of course, is, perhaps, the truest movie of them all: Dudley Moore's Crazy People. Also on the list are Lost in America, What Women Want, How to get Ahead in Advertising and several we've never heard of before. So head over to Netflix and give yourself something to do over the holidays.
Alphamonkey, editor of Transbuddha, has some strong words for marketers who think they need to throw a veil over their lame "check out this cool site" emails that flood the email boxes of those of us on the editorial side of things. We couldn't agree more. Alphmonkey writes, in part, "Don't treat site editors and bloggers like they're dumb, and we won't immediately consign your e-mails to our ever increasingly vigilant spam filters. If you (and your client) think your site is mierda caliente, then have enough faith in it to provide us the details we want. Who built the site? Who is running the campaign? What other campaigns go with it? That information won't tank a campaign, I promise." Marketers, please heed that advice. Work with us. Don't treat us like idiots.
OK. We'll say this one more time. Are all you marketers listening? Good. There's a big difference between a teaser campaign and one that maliciously hides it's purpose for long periods of time. And, on top of that, denies its true mission when it's found out. What the hell are we talking about? Take, for example, the teaser billboard. It's usually some irreverent play on words and witty imagery that's then reveled to be part of a larger campaign a couple weeks later. Now take fake blogs. You've heard of them. Edelman knows all about them. They are the things marketers seem to think are the holy grail of this new social media thing. Let's get down with our customers. Let's "join the conversation." Trouble is, a fake blog - one that pretends (badly) to be all hip hop on our ass - is like an idiot that shows up at a black tie event wearing American Eagle cargo shorts and a t-shirt. The natural reaction to that is, "Who the fuck is that idiot?"
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Considering this Julie Roehm/Walmart saga is getting 9/11-style coverage we're not going to dive much into it at this very moment but you have to admit all this lychee martini-parsing, who-slept-with-who, who-paid-for-dinner crap brings back vivid memories of slut rumours and peer ostracization on the quad. AdScam rants beautifully on the latest goings-on in the made-for-TV drama. - Contributed by Angela Natividad
- Kid runs away from home, forgets passport, TV show promoted.
- Alex Bogusky gets his elf on over at Office Max.
- If you're going to spoof a Mac/PC ad for your holiday card, the least you could do what make it good. TM Advertising didn't.
- Joe Jaffe examines the long, slow death of the portal.
You know what this whole Wal-Roehm scandal is all about? Nothing. She just got caught. Hundreds of agency and client-side executives do exactly what she allegedly did and no one ever hears about it. We're not saying that makes it right. We're just saying.
But let's examine further. She's accused of having dinner with agency execs. What marketing director hasn't done that? She's accused of taking rides in ad execs fancy cars. Who wouldn't want to do that it offered? She accused of indicating to an agency exec said agency had the upper hand. Who hasn't been optimistic when discussing business with a potential partner? She's accused of accepting gifts from ad agencies courting the Wal-Mart account. Oh please. What agency on this earth doesn't do that when trying to win an account and what marketing director doesn't slide them into their briefcase before anyone notices?
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Is your head about to explode with the proliferation of stupid metric buzzwords like "engagement?" Ours certainly is after hearing Scripps Network is tossing yet another into the pot: receptivity, and finding, of course, two of their networks, DIY and HGTV rank tops on the list. Gee, let's just invent yet another metric so that our media property can come out on top. How about "blatant use of cuss words and pics of hot chics?" Adrants, number one. How about "wise-ass commentary you don't necessarily need to get through your day?" Adrants, number one. How about "most typos to piss off readers resulting in the highest level of 'engagement' as indicated by the number of bitchy complaint emails?" Adrants, number one.
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Mediabistro has a three part series on how copywriters can build a great portfolio. Apart from witticisms like this in part III, "The sad truth is that having a great book means that sooner or later you will need to collaborate with another human being. This will probably involve talking, possibly being in the same room together, often listening to ideas and disturbing personal issues not entirely your own and maybe even liking some of them," we had a hard time getting past part II which had that strangely sexy photo of Jennifer Solow in her "Famous Author" tank top, bikini bottoms and leather jacket. Yes, yes, we know. We are easily distracted but at least we took the time to find this advice for you. Read it here, here and here.
- Tonight from 6P - 9P at Flute in New York City, interactive advertising publication adotas will host its monthly media mixer where you can hobnob with others like yourselves.
- The next Future Marketing Summit will be held March 5, 2007 at the ADC Gallery in New York. Founded by Strawberry Frog, the summit will focus on integration and how it relates to the design, entertainment, technology and delivery aspects of marketing.
- The Silly Girl takes a look at the recent PS3 and Wii launches, provides and analysis and tells us why Wii came out on top.
It took us a while to wade through the blather-filled press release from Scratch Marketing that led with the headline, "Word of Mom," and went on to talk about how Cuisinart and Urban Moms had teamed to "build a relationship with mothers by offering unique, relevant and personal opportunities for moms across Canada to interact with the Cuisinart brand" before we realized it was all about the launch of another brand-sponsored blog. OK, we're jaded but why does the meat of the matter always have to be so slathered with marketing babble rather than a few clearly descriptive sentences the average human being can understand?
How about this: "Canadian mom site Urbanmoms launched Kitchen Party, a blog sponsored by Cuisinart that will offer recipes moms can make using their food processors. Along with a downloadable recipe book filled with recipes for newborns, the blog wil also give moms what they really need after a long day with their screaming babies: blender drinks." Much simpler, right?
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