Sorta kinda Michael Phelps ad for AT&T

OK, here's a new evil twin commercial for AT&T with an Olympics theme. It doesn't exactly star Michael Phelps, but wish it did. Better to have two Michael Phelps' in a commercial than two Michael Phelps fans, I always say.

Agency Spy lives to blog again

God damn if I wasn't right. As my drinking buddy George Parker mentions over at Adscam, the original AgencySpy has a new blog called gimmethebrief.com. As I've said a zillion times, blogging is, unfortunately, like crack; very hard to give up. I predicted correctly back when she retired in May, " Trust me ... she won't be able to entirely stay away."

The latest McCain ad knock on Obama

You dont' have to know much Spanish to get the point of this new John McCain ad, which the campaign just uploaded to YouTube. Targeted to the Hispanic market, it basically says that in his speech in Berlin, Barack Obama, didn't mention any countries in Latin America. McCain appears briefly at the end to say he approved the message.

Presenting the silence of the CPMs

Why does this offer not seem so appealing?

That Hilton-Spears-Obama ad

In case you haven't seen it, thought I'd post the new John McCain commercial that manages to link Paris Hilton and Britney Spears with Barack Obama, even though, to my knowledge, Obama has never been seen exiting a limo without his panties. The strategy is interesting, to say the least, and an effective tool to target voters who question Obama's leadership abilities. But to many people, this commercial is bound to come off as so much sour grapes since it's doubtful McCain could ever draw a crowd of 200,000 people in Berlin. The problem with knocking Obama for being a celebrity is that Americans love celebrities, and, on a more serious note, many of us would like us to get our international credibility—and swagger—back. In that area, Obama looks like the guy.

Comcast may just get to live

Been wondering when Bob Garfield was going to write something about Comcast's efforts to rectify its lousy customer service image, especially since my man, Frank Eliason, now has the distinction of being pictured on the front page of The New York Times. (Below the fold as I recall, but still ... ) Why Garfield? Because when he's not tearing apart ad campaigns, he runs comcastmustdie.com. So, finally noticed this column declaring "Victory!" this morning, in which Garfield says, "Comcast has institutionalized the practice of listening, in live forums around the country but especially on the internet, to resolve individual problems and learn about the (many, gaping) holes in its customer-service operations." Yeah, I lifted the picture from the Ad Age site. It's funny.

Bronze medals make good coasters

OK, as a former competitive swimmer in a galaxy now far, far away, I'm a sucker for Michael Phelps (and, of course, Dara Torres!). That said, still think this spot for SportsCenter featuring Phelps is worthy, within the great pantheon of SportCenter spots.

Eating up this Shark Week promo

Discovery Channel always does an awesome job of promoting Shark Week, usually in some entirely bizarr-o fashion, such as one element of this year's version--shark-mouthed pedi-cabs in New York. They look best when a few of them are lined up together. I saw this one outside of Bryant Park on Monday, and a whole bunch of others in a row just outside Grand Central. Unfortunately, my picture is too lousy for you guys to see that the pedi-cab drivers are dressed up as lifeguards. Doubt that taking one of these costs anything--except for an arm, and a leg. Ha! Sometimes I just crack myself up.

Aliens heart New Mexico

Sorry not to be blogging much this week. It's been three days since I returned from vacation, and I still haven't finished the laundry! Speaking of vacation, looks like these New Mexico tourism spots are back in rotation. Pretty funny take on the state's quirky rep as being alien-friendly. Also dig the "I (heart) NM" t-shirts that the protagonists from the commercial are wearing in a pic on the Web site.

Adverganza's Monday morning picks, 07.28.08

Wherein I scan the Monday morning headlines so you don't have to.

From Advertising Age:

—CMOs don't keep their jobs long, but while they have them, they make $1.5 million/year.
—Cry a tear for Noxzema.
—Everything you need to know about the Hispanic market.
—GM spends 25 percent of its marketing dollars on digital.
—Verizon, Mars get themselves in hot water.
—This guy wishes Apple would pick a successor.
—Pricewaterhouse Coopers' 2008 global media forecast.
—Miles Young and post-Shelly Lazarus Ogilvy.
—Amit Kapur explains MySpace's music strategy.
—Amazingly, there's hype in the online ad market.
—Unilever dumps those detergent brands.
—Bob Garfield feels that thrill running up his leg about this McCain video.

From Adweek:

—"Strong", "aggressive" Miles Young.
—Spike TV actually gets non-beer advertisers.
—Obama makes an Olympics buy.
—Pete Blackshaw talks up word-of-mouth marketing.
—What's all this about clients taking jobs at agencies?
—When will a sinking campaign suck the wind out of marketing budgets?
—The story behind "Black Boy Wanting Water."
—All about the Jay Chiat Planning Awards.
—Avi Dan asks: "What happened to the madness?"
—Social Media 101.
—Barbara Lippert is right. This Reebok spot from mcgarrybowen rocks. Too bad all it advertises is this lousy t-shirt.

From The New York Post:

—Interview with, among others, Ogilvy's chief diversity officer, talking about fondue. Ha. No, they're talking about diversity dummy!

From The New York Times:

—Stuff most of you don't know about ad exchanges.
—Kewl. Former Google execs launch their own search engine, called Cuil.


Much more to come, when I get a chance later. Friends in town unexpectedly. Must go do lunch.

OK, now it's later, and I never did finish this. Sorry. Post-vzcation re-entry proving arduous.

Things I learned while on vacation

Hi all. For better or worse, I'm back from a 2000-mile road trip that took the family from Ithaca to Niagara Falls to Toronto to Glens Falls to the Berkshires to the South shore of Boston to Cape Cod and back home. A few bits of intel I picked up:

—The "Life Is Good" brand is huge in Massachusetts.
—Ithaca has a better children's museum than Boston.
—Most of the Canadians accept American cash!
—Tim Horton's = Dunkin' Donuts.
—Gas prices are cheapest in New Bedford: $3.89/gallon!