I totally get Nokia's "Morph" video

"The surface form is context dependent." These are among the nuggets of nano-wisdom in Nokia's "Morph" video, which has been up for about three weeks now and garnered more than a million YouTube views. You have to see it to get what's going on ... think of it as demo-ing, via animation, an iPhone on stretchable, collapsible, wearable, solar-powered steroids. Huh? OK, before you go watch it—if you haven't already—I'll leave you with this other bit of nano-wisdom: "Nanotechnology allows control of physical properties of nanostructures and devices with single molecule precision." Well, duh.

Correction shows Gotlieb isn't testing limits that much

There's always a bit of "There but for the grace of God go I," in seeing another reporter's story generate an excruciatingly long list of corrections. When you're a reporter, any of your bad days at the office can become very public. Still, one can only wonder how BusinessWeek's March 3 story on GroupM's Irwin Gotlieb, "An Ad Man Tests the Limits" could result in a correction approaching 150 words and highlighting four factual errors, some of which were central to the story's premise, that Gotlieb is pursuing some new revenue streams that might be seen as controversial. As one example, the original story claimed that Gotlieb predicted GroupM might not even represent advertisers within five to seven years. Not true, says the correction. Someone slipped me a copy of the correction from the print edition, and I'm running it in its entirety here. In his column today, fellow Mediapost columnist Jack Feuer described it as the Iliad of corrections. Well, at least BW did spell Gotlieb with only one 't'.

Everything you wanted to know about U.S. advertising

I've let 48 hours go by without fulfilling my self-promotional duty to link to a long piece on the entire U.S. advertising industry which I wrote for the Project for Excellence in Journalism's annual State of the News Media report which came out on Monday. The entire report covers a lot of ground, as does my story--which covers everything from spot TV to newspapers to measurement to what the upfront is--so maybe it will educate a few people outside the ad industry along the way. This is the first time that the PEJ, which is part of the Pew Research Center in Washington, has covered advertising as part of the report. Hope I did well by 'em.

Comcast wallet catches a thief

Of course, Bob Garfield is going to hate this commercial because it's from Comcast, but it's another bit o' funny in the "your wallet will thank you" series promoting the Comcast Triple Play. OK, I have one technical complaint that Garfield and I would probably agree on: the interplay between the wallet and the thief happens so fast it's hard to tell the wallet is beating him up. What about a little slo' mo'? Assume this is from Goodby. Via Funnyplace.org.

Dupre in spitzing distance of vodka contract

OK, so Kristen-Alexandra-Ashley-Dupre and so on might get an endorsement deal from Georgi Vodka that would put her derriere on loads of city busses. Kind of surprised Svedka didn't get to her first. Its current campaign is about putting a fembot in the White House. Classy.

Let's start a new award show ... the Brainys!

OK, so now the Clios are going to have that firm that monitors people's brainwaves while watching Super Bowl ads do the same thing at the Clios. The plan is to take the finalists' ads and let people at the show have electrodes attached to their heads while they watch them. "Brain activity will be measured and recorded in millisecond increments to determine which ads elicit the strongest response," the email accompanying the release says. Since judges are always whining about how hard it is to judge, let's just eliminate them altogether and let the brainwaves do the awarding.

Borg and McEnroe? I don't think so.

Someone sent me a link to this bizarr-o campaign for Marc Jacobs something or other coming this summer. It's supposed to portray Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe, but to my mind doesn't succeed. It's not just that, other than the trademark 'dos, they don't look at all like the people they are supposed to be portraying. They also don't seem anywhere near as attractive as the tennis players themselves were. "McEnroe" looks kinda short. Any idea why the Borg character is wearing that dress? And who is Mr. Teller?

Microsoft trading in silly Irish stereotypes

As if St. Patrick's Day isn't tacky enough, Microsoft had to do this incredibly cheesy ad featuring a leprechaun as computer virus. Before he turned this appealing green color , he was red. Saw it in both the print and online versions of The New York Post.

Sunsilk ad starring Madonna ... why? why?

Above is the new Sunsilk commercial featuring a track from Madonna's forthcoming album, and a lot of Madonna too. Still can't figure out why she thinks that promoting this particular brand is a good idea. I've got no problem with her, of all people, doing endorsement deals, but Sunsilk shampoo? Sheesh. Given the new album great timing on the rumors of marital strife though.

Ogilvy creatives get 'New York' mag Spitzer gig

Since it has voluminous coverage of the Eliot Spitzer sex scandal, this week's New York magazine is a must-read. One of the things that makes its Spitzer package distinctive—in addition to some excellent insight, even with the quick turnaround—are ten of what the magazine calls "visual interpretations" of what went down last week, three of which were provided by creatives from Ogilvy & Mather. So without further ado, the first one is from the team of Tom Godici and Greg Ketchum and the last two are from Andy Gray. You can see the entire photo gallery here.

And the score is: Adweek, 19 Nielsen mentions; Ad Age, 16

Ever since the job description for the Adweek editor's post started circulating last week, a tempest has been brewing over whether the ties between the Adweek magazines and their corporate overlords at Nielsen are growing. This because the job posting touts that the magazine is carrying exclusive Nielsen data. And while the debate started fairly reasonabily, it's gotten increasingly silly in the blogosphere. (Yes, for those of you who don't know, I used to work at Adweek.)The magazine group, which includes Mediaweek and Brandweek, hasn't shied away from critical coverage of the conversion to C3, the new ratings currency that was adopted for upfront negotiations last year. You can browse the database and find stories critical of Nielsen's C3 ratings currency, carrying headlines such as "Buyers Debate C3 Ratings" and "Buyers Remorse: Want Make Goods, Not Scatter." The debate reached its silliest in a post at psfk.com, which trumpets "AdWeek Mentions Parent Company Services Up To 3 or 4 Times A Day”—and then shows a search of the Adweek database which divulges recent Nielsen mentions. I’ve countered with the visual above—which is a screen grab of competitor Ad Age’s recent mentions of Nielsen. Going back a week, I discovered that while Adweek mentioned Nielsen 19 times, Ad Age mentions the company 16 times, and if anyone writes in to say that proves that Adweek is biased toward Nielsen than they … well let’s not go there. With that close a margin, it probably wouldn't take very long to find a week in which Ad Age mentioned Nielsen more than Adweek. Any situation such as the ownership of the Adweek books by Nielsen warrants keeping an eye out for a loss of editorial autonomy, but so far, we’re not there. There’s a reason Nielsen gets mentioned a lot by Adweek and Ad Age, and that’s because it’s Nielsen. Nielsen has a lot of data. Advertising trade magazines print a lot of data. Period.

Adverganza's Monday morning picks, 03.17.08

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

From Advertising Age:

—The digital special issue (although these days isn't every issue about digital?).
—Rethinking whether Web advertising should even exist. Not to rain on your St. Patrick's Day parade or anything.
—What Google's stock drop means in the larger world, if anything.
—General Motors will spend half its budget in digital within three years.
—Could it be that the four major ad holding companies are ahead when it comes to digital spending? Strange, but true.
—Unilever tops the Digital A-List. Here are others on the A-List.
—Can someone define AOL for us please?

From Adweek:

—What happens when consumers continue the campaign long after the marketer might have planned on abandoning it.
—Pepsi will launch its own series this summer.
—Cutwater brings someone from elsewhere in Omnicom to replace Brad Harrington.
—Mucinex moves to MPG. Unfortunately, since it's a media shift Mr. Mucus will probably live on.
—The effect online communities are having on what you see on TV.
—Alex Bogusky tells us what knocked him on his ass.
—Carnival Cruise Lines is drinking the Kool-Aid on integration.
—Goodby does an online campaign that features a fake band called White Gold.

From Brandweek:

—An interview with Sea''s CMO Richard Gerstein.
—Method, Seventh Generation products full of carcinogens?

From Mediapost:

—Shamrocks, chocolate easter bunnies ... what's a purveyor of schlocky, holiday-related merchandise to do?
—Madonna still associating with horrible Sunsilk advertising. Is it too late to take back her Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame induction?
—Debbie Richman moves from OMD to head ad sales at Lifetime.

From The New York Times:

—The "Sex and the City" promotional juggernaut begins, and the movie isn't due out for another 10 weeks.
—Is Starbucks' musical taste too mainstream?
—VoteForTheWorst.com gets mainstream advertisers like Friskies.
—Consumer Reports makes its opinions clear, via advertising.

Lots of interesting stuff in The Wall Street Journal, but none of it has to do with marketing or advertising, if you know what I mean.

No Michael Gates Gill found at Starbucks

As luck would have it, I had a cup of coffee this morning with a friend at what is probably the advertising industry's most famous Starbucks—the one where ex-JWT executive Michael Gates Gill found employment, and a book and movie deals for writing How Starbucks Saved My Life: A Son of Privilege Learns to Live Like Everyone Else. Sadly, there was scant evidence of Mr. Gill amid the tall lattes, save for a poster on the wall about how Starbucks is hiring that contained a picture of him. I realize now I should have endeavored to find out if he still pours the occasional cappuccino there. Also of note, is that while Starbucks did have at least one book for sale, there was no evidence that his tome is currently on the Starbucks' bestseller list. Not a copy to be found.

Inside look at OMD case studies

For some reason utalkmarketing.com spent part of yesterday posting case studies from OMD. I think there all from the UK, but hey, if you want insight into how one of your media agency competitors markets itself, here's your chance. The one above is for Habitat. There are also ones posted for the Sony Playstation Singstar and Brylcreem.

Assignment: read Dave Morgan's column on Curt Viebranz

In case you hadn't noticed, one of the big stories this week was the firing of Curt Viebranz, head of AOL's Platform A advertising unit. One reason it made headlines was that his dismissal eschewed the usual niceties used to describe higher-ups who have been told to move on. More than one headline I read used the word "sacked." There was nothing said about "leaving to pursue other opportunities." Several posts have asserted that Viebranz got fired after refusing to meet very aggressive revenue targets. Dave Morgan's Mediapost column about Viebranz yesterday doesn't address that issue directly, but it paints a picture of a man who is not only competent, but is very clear-eyed about the interactive market, its highs and its lows. A must read.

This spot is for Scion. Try to remember that.

Saw this Scion spot on The Daily Show or something the other night. Funny concept, though I'm not sure that I'd walk away from it remembering the brand. God, I'm old school.

New Misko Iho-directed Coke commercial

Misko Iho, or people associated with the Finnish director, just posted this spot. What's the language? Well, it kinda makes sense in any language.

Last comment on Ogilvy's Verge

Last note on Ogilvy's Verge digital summit. I'll start with saying that I've had a warm spot in my heart for the agency ever since working there as my first job out of college. That was a loooonnnnng time ago, and it was quite a time. The shop was really running on all pistons at that point—American Express' "Don't Leave Home Without It" and the Smith Barney campaign, "We make money the old-fashioned way. We earn it" were the shop's signature campaigns. Shelly Lazarus was a management supervisor on the Amex business, Hal Riney was in charge of the San Francisco office and occasionally, I'd pick up my boss' phone, and D.O. would be on the other end. The place was just humming with smart people, and even though I went on to work at other agencies (Dancer Fitzgerald Sample into Saatchi, Grey and JWT), none of those agencies came anywhere close to being as good as Ogilvy. I guess giving you this background is a long way of saying that you should take what follows with a grain of salt, but Verge was really good. First, they got some big names: NBC's Ben Silverman,Warner Music's Kevin Liles, ESPN's George Bodenheimer, Federated Media's John Battelle, former Facebook exec Owen Van Natta, Gawker's Nick Denton, The New York Times' Martin Nisenholtz, Sequioa Capital's Mark Kvamme ... you could do worse. Of course, Ogilvy people were sprinkled throughout the program, but with a few minor exceptions, it wasn't all about Ogilvy. It was about innovation, digital media, and how and if storytelling and data-driven media can co-exist. The agency could charge for conferences like this (and I take it it does when certain clients have asked for their own, proprietary, in-house Verge). It's hard to picture most of the big global agencies (or BDAs as George Parker calls them) being able to pull this kind of meeting off with the same degree of digital savvy. Of course, what's curious is that the shop hasn't been translating its digital chops into a huge new business streak. Don't have the answer to that one.

Cadbury Flake's Joss Stone commercial

It seemed like it was big news in the U.K. a week or so ago when Joss Stone was named a new spokes-eater for Cadbury's Flake. Here is the result. Think it tries a little too hard not to be a commercial, if that makes any sense, because, hey, it's a commercial.

Stream of consciousness post on perpetual beta panel

I'm having a flashback because Mark Kvamme is on stage previewing something called SearchMe. Remember Kvamme? CKS? He's been at Sequioa Capital, VCing for awhile. And now he's talking about his son's project, FunnyOrDie. He looks too young to have a son that age. Also on the panel: Scott Kurnit, who founded About.com. Moderator: The New York Times' Martin Nisenholtz, who started the Ogilvy interactive practice in 1983 doing teletext, I think. The topic: perpetual beta, although Nisenholtz maintains that interactive TV has been in perpetual alpha. True. Now Nisenholtz is getting ribbed for traffic clogs on nytimes.com because of the Spitzer scandal. He just said something along the lines of: "We can't engineer for the governor getting caught in a prostitution scandal." Also true. Kurnit just mentioned Prodigy. Remember Prodigy? He used to be in charge of it. Martin's now asking what people should focus on in the next few years, but my flashbsck state is only intensifying. Next thing I know, someone will mention Netscape.

Who's right ... John Battelle or Nick Denton?

Maybe because I'm Mediapost's Social Media Insider (plug), I thought the social media panel was the most interesting so far. John Battelle, the ubiquitous head of Federated Media, and Nick Denton, founder of Gawker Media, best illustrated why, because they represented polar opposite views of whether social media's engagement power will make it online marketing's killer app. Said Battelle: "I think social media is the place that is going to happen. I really believe that." Denton said that a social media properties 'ability to engage consumers is correlated with "their failure as an advertising medium." So, which one is right?:

Looking inside Ogilvy Digital Labs

Afternoon here at the Ogilvy Verge conference and we're hearing bout new technologies. Apparently, the agency is working with a company which can let consumers put themselves into commercial content. Beyond the fun factor, the agency thinks such personalized/customized media will build awareness and maybe increase sales for brands that let you incorporate you, the individual. Big thought. Hmmm.
Now they're showing something called the WiiFit which is the Wii as an exercise device. The reason it's been delayed for U.S. release is because we're fat. The WiiFit platform, which you stand on as you exercise, has to be adapted to people who weigh as much as 300 pounds for the U.S. market. Pass the Doritos.

Things you didn't know about Dove "Evolution"

Even though her presentation was pretty much only about 0ogilvy clients, Shelly Lazarus didn't sound too sales-y. Her attitude was more one of amazement at what is possible in advertising today. With that, here are the latest stats she presented about "Evolution": 500 million views, $150 million in media value and $100 million in incremental sales. All for $50,000 in production costs.

Best Eliot Spitzer quip at Verge

There have been a number of Eliot Spitzer, um, insights here at Verge. Best one so far from Ogilvy's Rory Sutherland (may have spelled the last name wrong) is this: "How can he possibly pay for sex from a Web site that spells emperors without an apostrophe?" You won't hear that insight on CNN.

Things you didn't know about ESPN

You can always get a crowd engaged by showing Wieden & Kennedy's SportsCenter spots, even in a crowd full of people from Ogilvy. George Bodenheimer from ESPN, who is speaking now, is no dummy. I've never seen him present before, but what comes across is how pragmatism and innovation aren't mutually exclusive. Here are some things you probably didn't know about ESPN: the company has a ScoreCenter in beta aiming to publish every sports score in the world in real-time, the ESPN Widget Center has 1000 widgets and ESPN: The Magazine is celebrating its 10th anniversary with 10 different covers. On a frightening note, 28 families over the years have informed ESPN that they've named a child after the network. There's brand loyalty, and then there's stuff like this.

Here comes Bill Gray

So Ogilvy major executive Bill Gray is introducing ESPN's George Bodenheimer. Here's my first recollection of Bill Gray: it's about 1983. I'm a PR assistant (OK, glorified secretary) at Ogilvy & Mather back at 2 E. 48th Street waiting for the elevator next to Bill Gray, who is about 15 levels above me in the agency heirarchy. Gray is pacing, pacing, pacing in front of the elevator with an intensity I've never seen before or since. Obviously, it got him somewhere. Have wondered, more than once, if he still paces like that.

Blogging from Ogilvy's Verge digital summit today

So I'm here at Ogilvy's Verge digital summit today at The New York Times building. I'm a little bit disappointed at the size of the crowd here. A few too many people here to have a chance to out Agency Spy, who allegedly is here today. Gotta run. Carla Hendra is talking.

The skinny on that Adweek editorial job

I was away skiing on Friday when some saw this intriguing headline on Gawker: "'Adweek' Seeks Slightly Less Loathed Editor." I'm here to tell ya it ain't quite what it seems. According to the job spec, "The ideal candidate will play an important role in working with the senior management team, including Alison Fahey, who has moved into a general management role." Sabrina Crow, senior vp at Nielsen Business Media, and Fahey's boss, confirmed to me that Fahey will continue to be involved with the new editor and that Cheyenne Group is handling the search.

Adverganza's Monday morning picks, 03.10.08

Wherein I scan the Monday morning headlines so you don't have to (sorry I'm behind today):

From Advertising Age:

—One big happy family: Pepsi, Starbucks, water, Matt Damon.
—Campbell's Soup with less sodium is hot!
—Companies that lend money are evil.
—At the 4As media conference: what's to be done about measurement?
—Finally, a story that explains why Britney made the cover of The Atlantic.
—Sheryl Sandberg on why she moved to Facebook.
—Bob Garfield's on Abercrombie and Fitch's new Australian-themed underwear brand. He cracks a "down under" joke.

From Adweek (would link to its 4As Media Conference coverage, except that clicking on the banner about it on the home page doesn't do squat. UPDATE: They've loaded some more videos from the Media Conference now, but don't click on the banner; click on the video links up above it):

—Ad agencies pushing the envelope on office design. Now if that can just filter down to more of the ads.
—Airborne has no reason to get all rattled about false ad claims.
—Domino's pizza builder as sign of a revolution.
—U.K.'s Steak comes stateside. Insert Mad Cow joke here.
—Barbara Lippert critiques Kobe Bryant's new Nike site.

From Brandweek:

—A fire sale at MySpace.
—All-natural Skyy Vodka. But is it better for your liver?
—Here's an idea: marketing Tecate to Mexican immigrants.
—Advertisers who are scared of online advertising.

From Mediapost:
—Buick signs up Tiger Woods to be your caddy. And I don't mean Caddy.
—Are search ads about to become more expensive?
—Some may not be able to curb their enthusiasm about a Seinfeld reality show.
—Advertising Research Foundation sees engagement as so 2007. Now it's all about brands, baby.

From The New York Times:
—It can't be good for the online industry that the Times put "To Aim Ads, Web Is Keeping Closer Eye on You," on its front page this morning.
—Oh, crap. This "Thriller" rebirth has gone beyond that stupid Naomi Campbell commercial.
—Welcome to the do-it-yourself commercial.

From The Wall Street Journal:
—Polo Ralph Lauren loses its fight to stop the United States Polo Association and Jordache from using a logo that looks like someone playing polo. Does it get sillier? (Story not free.)
—

If you Axe me, this spot is a little different

Feel free to call me a loony tune on this one, but I find this Axe spot for its new "Bullet" spray, which you can see here, to be a departure from the norm. (All things being relative, that is.) As you'll see, it involves a young guy mentally undressing women he sees walking down the street, in the grocery store, and so forth, but it lacks the in-your-face-ocity of earlier Axe ads like the whole "Boom Chicka Wah Wah" series. The guy doing the "undressing" appears embarrassed about where his mind is going, sheepish. The ad's punchline is also a departure from the testosterone-fueled norm of a typical Axe commercial. The resolution is for the guy to give himself a quick spray of Bullet, to finally get one of the women to do to him what he does to them—mentally undress him. But he looks kinda stupid in leopard briefs.

Wells is well and living in cyberspace

And here I thought Mary Wells (not the Motown singer but the advertising legend) was just hanging out in the south of France, reading a good book. Maybe she is, but she's also one of the founders of a site that's launching next week called Wowowow (a play on women on the Web), with a bunch of other high-powered females of a certain age, such as Lesley Stahl, Liz Smith and Joni Evans. A picture of the founders included in a lengthy story about the site in the Times makes it look as though having a certain tone of bleach-blonde was a prerequisite. Anyway, Wells is quoted as saying, when there was discussion of naming the site something with the word "broad" in it, "“I went through a period where I really thought ‘After all we have done in our lives and accomplished—to call ourselves broads?’”

This All-Bran ad is bugging me

Print ad from what appears to be a Middle Eastern country celebrating the, um, joys of All-Bran. But what's it supposed to mean, that you play Origami with the toilet paper while you're waiting to go? Via Funnyplace.org.

Is Drew Barrymore good for Mac?

How come whenever I come across the topic of Drew Barrymore's relationship with Justin Long (aka Mac), I get just a little uneasy, like, suddenly, he's turning into some kind of dweeb. Maybe it's because he's been saying thinks like,"She smells good," to Oprah Winfrey, or, because when asked by a reporter from Vogue about what comes to mind when he thinks of her, he says, "Beauty and light, and she shines it on everybody who comes into contact with her." The couple also says they make each others' cheeks hurt. Wonder what PC thinks of all of this gush-ery. Long is pictured looking on adoringly during an Oprah show earlier this week.

Jane Fonda (kinda) shills for Cheetos

OK, so sticking Cheetos up someone's nose isn't exactly appetizing, but this Cheetos "Orange Underground" campaign has its charms. Of course, there's also an orangeunderground.com site in which people can post their random acts involving Cheetos online and a YouTube OrangeUnderground channel, which featured various videos, including this one featuring Jane Fonda and Meredith Vieira.

Mohegan Sun spot isn't totally funkadelic

Commercial for Mohegan Sun just posted by AgencySpy. It features a relatively bland version of "Superfreak" which is perfect for all the yuppies in the spot desperately trying to get their groove on. Via Kirshenbaum Bond + Partners.

Literally, God finally gives us a sign

I wonder if this is another execution in the long-running God billboard campaign, or just a takeoff on that campaign. Either way, pretty funny. Via Billboardom.

Turns out commercials aren't content, or good content anyway

Just saw at nytimes.com that Firebrand, the commercials-only Web site, will no longer be funded. The site, which was financed by NBC Universal and its Peacock Equity Fund, Microsoft and Ion Television. Musta been clear pretty quickly that this idea was a non-starter--particularly when there are lots of other sites doing similar things. UPDATE: Adweek is reporting that the fate will be ultimately decided at a board meeting this afternoon. ANOTHER UPDATE: It's a goner.

Kohl's spot hits the Target

A little surprising to hear that the singer/songwriter Ben Lee is the voice behind this Kohl's spot, if for no other reason than he's a staple on my favorite radio station WFUV, which is entirely non-commercial. The commercial is pretty charming, but, except for its conspicuous lack of the color red, couldn't it just as well be a Target commercial?

Checking in with fake Bob Garfield

I'll know I've made it when someone starts a fake blog pretending to be me. Like that's ever gonna happen. However, you may have noticed that Ad Age's Bob Garfield recently entered that realm at NewsGroper.com, where he started "posting" late last month. His "bio," which is sandwiched on the site next to other "bloggers" named Bob Dylan and Bono, explains, "He may never have worked in advertising, but he can fillet an ad faster than anyone on either side of the Mississippi while at the same time railing against Comcast." Of course, I argue that you don't have to work in advertising to be a critic (aren't we all ad critics?), but some of the bombast (Bob-bast?) is dead on. His first "post," about why you should read his blog, states the following: "I am extremely attentive to every strategic, creative and production detail and if you can’t understand why that is important then you are particularly obtuse." I actually like Bob, but c'mon, it's funny.

First Robert Jarvik, and now this

I'm just getting over the news that Robert Jarvik, is in fact, not a champion rower, when I saw this story in The New York Post late last night informing me that some of the kids featured in hospital beds in yet another of New York's hard-hitting anti-smoking ads might not have gotten their ailments from secondhand smoke. Says Jan Wicks, who is billed in the story as an "expert in advertising ethics," added, "I would have tried to find children who actually did have illnesses due to secondhand smoke." Ya think? BTW, love the subhead on the Pfizer release I linked to above saying the company had voluntarily pulled the Jarvik ads: "Company Commits to Ensuring Greater Clarity Regarding Spokespeople."

Broken links exactly as bad as kids with guns

No. I don't think this ad is as bad as this one, but don't you think it's a little over-the-top to compare broken links with a three-year-old packing a 9 millimeter? This postcard ad is for a product called LinkFixerPlus made by LinkTek, a Clearwater, Florida-based company which counts UBS, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman as its clients. (Maybe this is appealing to the military- contractor demographic.) Turn the postcard over, and there's an attempt to turn this stupid/offensive ad into a concept. It says: "You wouldn't let your kids play with guns. So don't pull the trigger on your data migration project without LinkFixerPlus!" Sheesh.

Adverganza's Monday morning picks, 03.03.08

Wherein I scan the Monday morning headlines so you don't have to (sorry a little late this morning):

From Advertising Age:

—Starcom is Ad Age's media agency of the year.
—Who's the most ethical of them all: Unilever? Or Procter & Gamble?
—A feature that focuses more on Paul Tilley's life and death than ad blogs.
—Jonah Bloom on why last week's ugliness surrounding Paul Tilley's death is the industry at its lowest.
—So, last Thursday night was the "Media Battle of the Bands" to benefit CityMeals on Wheels. Yeah, it's really great people are going to get fed and all, but who won?
—Why the media agency business is where it's at.
—Vote for John McCain because his ad spending has the best ROI.
—Can Crispin make Microsoft hip?
—Bob Garfield on Hillary's alleged fear-mongering ad.

From Adweek (I'd put up the cover but can't find it online):

—Breaking with media agency of the year orthodoxy, Adweek picks Mediaedge:cia.
—Microsoft never would've hired a small shop like Crispin five years ago.
—Joseph Jaffe on why so many big campaigns, sizzle, then fizzle.
—Barbara Lippert on the product defects of Brand Hillary.
—Tap water rules.
—Data from Nielsen Monitor-Plus (go to the home page and scroll down).
—And you thought Doc Martens were the only shoe brand that trafficked in dead celebrities (from Friday).
—Bud.TV, still in purgatory (from Friday).

From Brandweek:

—Many, including the FTC, are part of a green backlash.
—Going beyond the last click.
—Presidential candidates love Dunkin' Donuts.
—The Premio Lo Nuestro Latin Music Awards are the Super Bowl of Hispanic TV.
—Dockers are no longer just for slightly paunchy guys.

From Mediapost:

—All-State campaign features Kasey Kahne.
—A men's fragrance from Coty and Playboy.
—Social network providers Mzinga and Prospero merge.
—Timex uses podcasts to launch its iPod-friendly Ironman iControl watch.
—WPP Group predicts a global slowdown in 2009.

From The New York Post:

—Shocker! Not. Martin Sorrell thinks Microsoft buying Yahoo is a good idea.

From The New York Times:

—The Times weighs in on 'Blogs of Death.'
—Sears and Hearst cozy up in a new campaign.
—Wal-Mart buyers blog about products they don't like. Here's the site.

From The Wall Street Journal:

—Ad buyers and network execs see a strong upfront (not because it's been such a blockbuster TV season). Free.
—Toshiba's chief on HD DVD RIP. Free.

A link to that Beckham/Sharpie commercial

OK, so I didn't find an embeddable copy so far of the David Beckham/Sharpie commercial, but at least I found a link to it. Hard to tell if they really are his hands. Via Boxspots.

DDB's online remembrance of Paul Tilley

One last note on Paul Tilley, and one that illustrates how the Web, like any other medium, can be used to good end, not just bad. If you haven't noticed already, DDB has a tribute to Tilley up on the home page of its site. If you click on the "Remembering our friend Paul Tilley" link, you'll find a post from chief creative officer Bob Scarpelli, and 37 comments thus far from people affected by his death a week ago. The people who contributed range from very close colleagues, to an actor who worked on several of his commercials, to those who didn't know him at all. It's worth a read, and some reflection. (The navigation is a little quirky. To see all the comments you have to hit your down arrow key. There's no nav-bar up/down thingie on the right.)

Saul Hansell's thoughts on Yahoo

Finally got a chance today to check out Saul Hansell's "Bits" blog over at Nytimes.com to see what he had to say about the IAB conference. Read this excellent post, "Wishing for the old yodel from Yahoo"—it's a good summation of why Yahoo finds itself where it is today, and includes a nice tip of the hat to Wenda Harris Millard, who, Hansell notes "was unceremoniously pushed aside in a power struggle with Yahoo’s search advertising department." I've long believed that Yahoo didn't know what it had in her—an executive who could truly bridge both sides of the traditional/non-traditional divide—and I think Hansell agrees.

MasterCard's "Priceless" campaign works in any language

Utalkmarketing just posted this overseas commercial from the MasterCard "Priceless" campaign. Even though the denominations aren't in dollars, I think this commercial could just as well run stateside.

Bottles of Coke, not that exciting

I gather this commercial aired on "American Idol" the other night. I'll just take the whole thing literally—screw the voiceover—and say I hope I never get this excited over a bottle of Coke.

What people are saying about Tiger's Gatorade drinks

I was felled yesterday by a stomach virus so sorry for the sparse posting. We'll see what I'm made of today. Anyway, you have to drill down a bit on the new Adweek site, but if you go to the BuzzMetrics section of its DataCenter, there's a daily post by my former AdFreak partner in crime Tim Nudd about what brands are meriting buzz online—and what people are saying. Today's post is about the new Gatorade flavors developed by Tiger Woods, and let's just say the fans are not impressed. Says someone who goes by the handle Dogs That Chase Cars: "Quiet Storm is the grape flavor of the new Tiger drink, and it tastes, well, exactly like Grape Gatorade ... If I was going to pay $100 million to an athlete to pimp a drink, I'd at least change the recipe around." Comments someone else who is obviously painfully aware of Woods' endorsement deals: "If it weren't for the different colors and the creative descriptions of the names on the label, you wouldn't know what the actual flavor was, but you'd sure feel like playing golf, driving a Buick, and shaving with a Gillette razor afterwards." It's counterintuitive for the BuzzMetrics section not to let visitors comment to the posts, but, hey, it's a fun read anyway. Comment amongst yourselves.

Goofing off at Honda's "Problem Playground"

Was fooling around tonight on "Problem Playground," the site that accompanies Honda's new "Problem Playground" video that went up online earlier this month from Wieden + Kennedy London. It's really entertaining, and full of fairly-challenging games. (The screen shot above is my unsuccessful attempt at untangling the lines in the sun.) Funniest part of the site is the little animated Honda engineers who "ooh" and "aah" as you try to solve some of the puzzles.

David Beckham signs on with Sharpie

Frustrated that I can't find this spot for Sharpie today that stars David Beckham--or his hands anyway. Long story. But I think that since this blog has posted something about it proves I wasn't seeing things. Does Beckham really need more endorsement money? Does he use his Sharpies to write his name in his soccer shorts so they don't get confused with someone else's?

A few thoughts on the sad topic of the week

I write this post wondering if I should. Maybe the time to comment on the suicide of DDB's Paul Tilley was several days ago. And yet, the story continues, particularly because of the posts and comments which appeared on AgencySpy and Adscam just before his death. I would never have the temerity to comment on any cause and effect between blog postings and someone's decision to take his or her own life, but I do want to say this: though it's more the rule than the exception for people to comment anonymously to blog posts, I still think it's the coward's way to go when it concerns personal attacks on other people. If you have something to say about someone, by all means say it. And have the courage to put your name next to it.
My thoughts go out to Paul Tilley's family, friends and colleagues.

Taking a look at Hulu.com

I think most of us at the IAB meeting who had not seen a demo of Hulu.com (it’s in so-called private beta, and I couldn’t find Hulu.com president Jason Kilar after his speech to get a free password), were suitably impressed with the News Corp. and NBC joint venture, which, as he pointed out, isn’t a YouTube killer at all, but rather, plans to be the central Web property for “premium content.” (I think that's the abridged version of saying that the content never includes seven minutes of video of someone's cat peeing into a toilet.) Part of what makes it cool is the elegant, simple interface, which makes YouTube look like your crazy aunt’s attic by comparison. But enough already with the YouTube analogies. In addition to the fact that the quality of the video streams is well—fuckin’ awesome!—another thing about Hulu that stands out is the ability to search by any number of metrics. I think it included most viewed, favorited and so forth. Other cool features: the ability to send parts of clips to friends, embeddable video, and that Hulu isn't going for the walled garden approach, using content only from the partners. It'll, well, find "Lost" for you, even though it's on ABC. Not so good: that the ad model so far doesn't allow for revenue sharing with other sites which embed its content. When are these video sites going to get a clue on that issue?
If I have time later today, I'll post more about IAB, but other duties call.

You're not a creative agency, you're a boutique

I should check if Group M’s Rob Norman has said this before, but he said during his speech yesterday at the IAB, and during his a later brief conversation I had with him at the airport that, “Creativity is inherently a boutique business.” Don’t go telling that to the head of a major creative agency. If you take a step back further, to what Norman sees as the future of his own Group M, you’ll see why he might be right—if media agencies are able not only to buy, sell and track campaigns, roll-their-own content and most importantly, aggregate data in such a way as to have their hands at the controls of consumer insight, they also have the fuel that keeps the marketing engine running over the long-term. In that context, creatives certainly are allowed to produce moments of magic, but what they are essentially doing is providing one-off solutions to more immediate positioning problems. OK creatives, it’s time to be pissed off.

Yahoo wants to open it up

At a time like this, you have to give props to Jerry Yang just for showing up at the IAB conference. But as far as really addressing Microsoft’s attempt at an acquisition, well, of course, he didn’t. (To that extent, it seemed like he and Microsoft senior vp Brian McAndrews, who appeared later in the day, were reading from the same playbook, both using almost precisely the same wording to describe how they couldn’t really add anything to what’s already been out there. Maybe they're closer in world view than we thought.) After IAB CEO Randall Rothenberg gamely asked about the Microsoft deal, Yang, and Susan Decker, who was added to the agenda late (as Jerry’s bodyguard?) discussed what they saw as the Next Big Thing Yahoo should pursue having finally completed its search reinvention, Project Panama, last year. What they came up with isn’t exactly nothing you've heard before, but here you go: a sort of uber-advertising network which would let advertisers buy inventory across multiple sites beyond what is available today, and would allow publishers to package inventory (both their own and others) across a using a streamlined, standardized platform that would take a lot of friction out of the industry. But here’s the problem: from what I could tell from other conference attendees, no one in the industry seems to be buying what Yahoo’s selling. During a later panel moderated by Federated Media founder/"Search" author/super blogger John Battelle, the panelists were openly derisive of Yahoo’s idea. Here are some quotes:

From Peter Horan, CEO of IAC Media and Advertising, "Run your own business well before you start running someone else's business."

Lauren Weiner, senior vp, Meredith Digital Media was down on losing the insight and control of inventory has across its own sites: "We lose that advantage when we start representing other properties."

From Don Friedman, exec vp/CMO of Computer Associates (who spends 30 percent of his budget in digital): "It's not going to be as clean as they play it out to be."

Whether Yang and Decker caught wind of this, I don't know. After their talk was over, they went quickly backstage; one intrepid reporter I talked to, who tried to get back there, wasn't even allowed to breath the same air as Yang, things being what they are.

The Yahoo bashing continued during the many conversations I had over drinks later in the day. What I can’t get my head around is this: this is an industry in which new standards are always being invented, and, although it would be lovely if one platform could dominate (probably Google search comes as close as anything to a frictionless transaction market in online), it’s hard to see how this would happen. Sometimes I think it would be especially great for agencies who still have trouble figuring out how to make money off of this business. Making planning and buying not so time-consuming would help. However, if it truly is a great idea, Microsoft and Google would surely build their own, and the industry, instead of being streamlined, might end up right where it started. The upside is that even in its hobbled state, Yahoo still is much more of a powerhouse in display advertising than either Microsoft or Google, but in the current, down-on-Yahoo environment it still doesn’t necessarily seem positioned to rewrite the rules of the marketplace.

A few short notes from the IAB conference

Sorry the blog has been quiet for the last day. Kind of ironic since yesterday would have been a great day to blog more since I've been at the IAB conference (that's the Interactive Advertising Bureau, but seriously if you don't know that by now I have no time for you.). I'll say more later, but wanted to jot down that this has been one of the few conferences where there has actually been real discussion and interesting things to ponder, whether it was trying to look past Jerry Yang's glasses and figure out what was really going to happen between Microsoft and Yahoo! or Group M's Rob Norman stating the case for media agencies to take on, and profit from, the markets in which they play. What I haven't seen--dare I say of course?--are many traditional advertising types, which, about fourteen years into the revolution, is frankly astonishing. However, in addition to the Internet faces in the crowd like Martha Stewart's Wenda Harris Millard, Internet exec around town Dave Morgan, and Google North American president Tim Armstrong, attendees included the Magazine Publishers Association's Ellen Oppenheim, and Nancy Hill, incoming head of the 4As. While I'm listening to the panel onstage now, here's a new definition for remnant inventory: Inventory that hasn't found a buyer yet. Ha! One last note: the IAB was hoping for 200 attendees. They got 400. More meaty posts to follow.

Adverganza's Monday morning picks, 02.25.08

Wherein I scan the Monday morning headlines so you don't have to (though I'm out at the Interactive Advertising Bureau conference in Phoenix so this may be spotty) ...

From Advertising Age:

--The death of DDB's Paul Tilley by apparent suicide.
--Sony opens up its gaming platform to advertisers.
--Kimberly-Clark, Unilever cut back on their TV budgets.
--Actual ad creatives behind Barack Obama's viral video successes.
--After all these years, Bob Garfield decides he likes Fallon's Holiday Inn campaign.

From Adweek:

--More on the death of Paul Tilley.

From The New York Times:

--Company wants to turn cell phones into universal remotes. Scary.
--ABC to launch on-demand service that doesn't allow users to skip commercials. Scary.
--The Leap Year Day as promotional opportunity. Yeah, that's scary too.

From Brandweek:

--Automotives scramble for online inventory.
--Crest WhiteStrips are really for protecting you against tartar. Yeah, sure.
--Why worry about commodity inflation?
--How mobile will be a big hit among print publishers.

From The Wall Street Journal:

--Online ad networks get more funding. Click away, it's free.

From Mediapost:

--Burger King will follow rules for marketing to kids in Europe.
--P&G gets behind initiative to measure marketing in stores.
--Avenue A/Razorfish spent less on portals last year.
--Zinio strikes a deal with Havas Media.
--Internal email from Microsoft's Kevin Johnson detailing how the Yahoo deal would come together.
--Project Apollo is dead.

More to come later. I'm off to the IAB conference call to hear Jerry Yang speak. Should be, um, interesting.