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?
Adrants reader Mike sent us this manifesto on why sex and advertising are two pools that just shouldn't mix. Apparently sex in advertising is an assault on religious freedom, a form of lying and prostitution, and a contributing reason why consumers are covetous. The central authority is the Bible, from which twelve reasons are outlined on why it's totally illogical and immoral to attach a luscious naked body or lascivious thought to ... well, burritos, for example.
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CMM News points to a Sydney Morning Herald article which calls to our attention the odd proliferation of videos on YouTube that show women smoking. Now that wouldn't be so weird except for the fact that in many of the videos, that's all they're doing: glamming on the cam while puffing away seductively. Sydney University School of Public Health Professor Simon Chapman viewed many of the 27,000 smoking-related videos on YouTube and while he acknowledges the videos could simply be an innocent social phenomenon, Chapman also wonders whether it's a clandestine effort by tobacco companies to promote smoking's cool quotient.
While tobacco advertising in America has been severely limited, it's been completely outlawed in Australia since 1992. Whether or not any tobacco company is behind this is likely to remain a mystery. A Philip Morris rep neither confirmed or denied involvement in with the video and said the company adheres to local laws and Internet advertising to minors should be banned. YouTube declined to comment for the story. While we find it hard to believe tobacco companies have any involvement in this and there's plenty of not-so-glamorous smoking videos to back up that belief, stranger things have certainly happened regarding this industry's marketing efforts.
Make the Logo Bigger sent us a promo video for the Burger King Xbox games we wrote about back in early October and even though we've hated that creepy King and bad product placements in video games, we're warming to the idea of video games that don't try to hide that fact they're all about advertising - as long as they're good. Besides, the creepy King seems to be much better suited to an appearance in a video game than in a video with Brooke Burke. There's a review of the game here.
Since Adidas' August 2005 purchase of North America company Reebok, the latter brand's sales have nosedived 14%. So now Adidas says, all right, we made a mistake.
Reebok did have something promising going with the urban-inspired RBK Classics, but they beat that horse dead when they expanded beyond classic reds, blacks and whites into wack-ass colours, driving the stake in deeper with lack of marketing reinforcement or star power.
Little has changed since our grade school days. Kids wearing Reeboks on the playground still get the shit beat out of them. They're on a par with those sneaks from Payless that light up when you stomp around. But it's not like they're totally irredeemable. The company's still profitable, and at least it's not Fila. - Contributed by Angela Natividad
Perhaps everyone has seen this already but in yet another confirmation the new idea bucket is empty, Scamp unearths this ten year old clip from Dave Letterman which shows colored balls being unleashed down a steep hill. Oh, and there's watermelons too. As Scamp correctly points out, using a previous idea is not necessarily stealing. After all, all sorts of things have been "re-gifted" and passed off as new. It doesn't make the creation bad or the creators stealers. If each successive reincarnation serves its own purpose then it's more a good thing than bad. And the 'Balls' ad was a very good thing. Creativity comes, in part, through inspiration. Inspiration comes from the appreciation of something that profoundly influences. Influential work comes from...well, you get the point. It's a cycle. Hopefully as the cycle continues, value and relevance are a part of the deal.
Yesterday's Advertising Industry Diversity Job Fair and Leadership Conference held at NYU's Kimmel Center had 300 conference attendees and 500 job fair attendees. In on of the panel discussions Deutsch Art Director Carlos Fernandez put things in perspective when he informed the audience advertising ranks 356 on a list of 357 or so industries ranked by diversity and comically wondered if industry number 357 involved wearing sheets. Although he didn't quite mean it literally, Draft/FCB EVP Director of Integrated Marketing Larry Evans spoke about the industry's chemistry and how those considering joining the industry must learn the ropes or risk having "the white cells spit you out."
 The conference opened up a much needed dialog on diversity in advertising, a touchy subject no mater how you slice it or camouflage it. There were many fascinatingly eager students in attendance and several experienced industry insiders willing to answer attendees questions and offer advice on how to crack the ad industry. It was encouraging to see the throngs of students who took the rare opportunity to speak face to face with successful advertising people who very willingly answered the endless list of questions asked. Business cards were handed to students. Interviews were set up and, hopefully, jobs will ensue.
We were pleased to be part of this event and to enable the conversation. We hope to host more conferences on the topic in the future as well as, perhaps, in different cities across the country.
Combining the notion imitation is the sincerest form of flattery with the acknowledgment there are no new ideas left in advertising, this Hasbro commercial for Tooth Tunes, a tooth brush that plays music closely mirrors the famed Apple 1984 commercial. In the spot, legions of kids brush their teeth in that proverbial socialist society kind of way until some dude...in a track suit no less...stands up, tooth brush held high in the air (remind you of anything?) and says, "Enough!" The droll, colorless room then explodes into a world of color as Kiss sings "I Wanna Rock and Roll Night and Party Every Day" in the background.
Created by Cincinatti's WonderGroup and produced by Lightborne, the spot actually works. It's framed in a very memorable cultural moment. It conveys the boredom of everyday tooth brushing. And then it's hammer toss pounds the message home: brushing yout teeth can be fun. And there's even a product demo squeezed in too. We like it.
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