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.

Living without DirecTV is torture

Deutsch LA's campaign for DirecTV is hardly new—on the other hand, it never gets old because it's so well executed. This new commercial in the series features Kathy Bates and James Caan in 1990's "Misery."

On the other hand, the red wig sucks

This guy's no Jared, but since his thinking is so in line with the current Wendy's marketing philosophy, maybe he should be the chain's new spokesperson.

Even industry bibles are not immune

If you want to get nice and depressed about the state of trade publishing, look no further than Reed Elsevier's announcement yesterday that it was getting out of the business, looking to sell magazines including entertainment industry bible Variety, Broadcasting and Cable, Multichannel News and Publishers Weekly. The company's CEO says it's looking at "reducing exposure to advertising markets and cyclicality." It's not exactly news that advertising is cyclical. What he doesn't seem willing to say is that print trade publishing is on a downward trend it may never get out of.

It's no K-Fed, but it's not bad

Came across this celebrity-free commercial from Nationwide still using the "Life Comes at You Fast" theme. It lacks the buzz value of using K-Fed—or even Fabio—to make the tag come to life, but still comes through on delivering an almost palpable punchline. Plus, I bet it cost a lot less since it doesn't use any of those famous-for-being-famous types. Via Funnyplace.org.

The caveman is back and he's a b-ball ref

Unclear as to what the connections are between cavemen, basketball and car insurance, but Geico gets something I don't. Just noticed it's trying to build the biggest hoops bracket ever via a Facebook app, with a caveman guru as a guide. The links between all of these may indeed be tenuous, but Geico is thought of as a friendly enough brand these days that this'll probably do really well.

My interpretation of this Absolut ad

OK, Mediapost says this Absolut ad is supposed to equate vodka taste to natural childbirth. I'm not on quite the same wave length. To me—and not to be gross, but honesty is the best blogging policy—it looks like one of those animations of a tampon ad trying to prove that the product doesn't allow for leaks. Only the product is upside down, and it's green. There. I've said it. Via TBWA/Chiat/Day.

Who hired Bob? Ogilvy Entertainment

So checking out these Webisodes for the Tassimo customized hot beverage thing. (A short clip from one is posted above.) They feature a guy named Bob, who is more or less the office loser, and they're pretty funny, if a bit long. The payoff is a $20 mail-in rebate on a Tassimo beverage system. As part of the loser theme (though of course the site doesn't use the "L" word), people are asked to submit stories of their own office "Bob." The best so far: "My Bob thinks everyone is out to steal his desk chair: Of course, this has now become a self-fulfilling prophecy prank. We all take turns moving his chair to other people's offices when he's not around." Why do I feel like I've done that before? Created by Ogilvy Entertainment with writing from this Jim Biederman.

Marketers tell ANA they're down on TV

I'm enough of a curmudgeon that headlines like the one above, make me whisper under my breath, "I told you so." The headline from Ad Age sits on top of a story which says that 87 percent of client-side respondents to a survey conducted by the Association of National Advertisers and Forrester Research say they're going to spend more money on Web ads this year. There are a lot of other stats in the story, but here's another one that stands out: 62 percent of those surveyed think that TV ads are not as effective as they were two years ago. When the upfront is up again in a few months, let's revisit this story. Or maybe it won't be.

Yeah, I'm Mediapost's Social Media Insider

Now that my first Mediapost column is up—and some of you that have read that are stopping off here—thought I'd announce that I'm the new (and first) Social Media Insider for Mediapost. I'll be posting more or less weekly, and think it'll be a blast to cover. As for you newcomers to Adverganza, keep reading it too, if you like what you see. It's about the broader world of advertising, including good, old-fashioned 30-second commercials. Ideas are always welcome wherever you see me write about anything to do with advertising. Thanks all.

Esurance ads put the E in "Eccch!"

Saw one of these commercials for Esurance the other night, and all I could think was, "Is this what happens to other advertisers in a category when one of them clearly does much better work?" (Think Geico.) Does it make them turn out this dreck in an attempt to get noticed? Awful.

At TBWA/Chiat/Day, they're going away

You'd expect some reshuffling to go on at TBWA/Chiat/Day upon the departure of Gerry Graf (at right, with minimal hair) from the agency, but an exodus? And so soon? That's what appears to be going on, with Scott Vitrone and Ian Reichenthal leaving for Young & Rubicam and Isaac Silverglate and Jeff Anderson going to Droga5. (I'm sure some of you would dispute that four people equals an exodus, but let's put it this way: it's still a bunch of bodies.) But all these shifts leave important questions unanswered. What I really want to know is how Hamish McLennan sells candidates on joining Y&R when his newly-appointed creative director, Tony Granger, is still forced to cool his heels at Saatchi & Saatchi working on creative projects until his contract is up where, of course, Graf is the new creative chief. Does Granger get to meet with his future employees? And what happens when Granger and Graf meet in the hallway? Someone please clear this up. I'm getting a headache.

Coke Zero should be for losers

I'm not under the impression that Crispin, Porter + Bogusky's campaign for Coke Zero, charging the brand with taste infringement, has taken the world by storm. Anyway, looks like the agency has been pushing the brand on the Nascar circuit with this fairly humorous film, which is asking Nascar stars to throw a race so that Coke Zero--the official soft drink of Nascar--doesn't end up in the winner's circle.

Adverganza's Tuesday morning picks, 02.19.08

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

From Advertising Age:

—Marketing jobs, not media jobs, are where it's at.
—Subway can't derail Jared.
—How Rupert Murdoch could use Yahoo to rain on Steve Ballmer's parade.
—What J. Lo's twins could fetch in the celebrity mag market.
—The upfront presentations survive the writers' strike.
—Starcom Mediavest Group dumps Donovan.
—Absolut Irrelevance. Vodka brand ditches old campaign and watches sales go up.
—Bob Garfield finds teensy-weensy problems in BBDO's new Monster.com spot.

From Adweek (I would include a pic of the cover if I could find it on the new site, but so far I haven't. UPDATE: I scanned my print cover when it came in the mail this afternoon.):

—AKQA is Adweek's digital agency of the year.
—Barbarian's Benjamin Palmer on the possibilities of open-source creative.
—Ground Zero buys a stake in a vodka brand.
—Another interview with Microsoft's Yusuf Mehdi on why the company's proposed buying of Yahoo is a fantabulous idea.
—Pedigree's adopt-a-dog centered campaign.
—Barbara Lippert talks about Jackie-Moon-meets-Bud-Light-meets-Old-Spice. And yes, all of it's right for you.

From Brandweek:

—JC Penney plans to spend big to launch its American Living line.
—Take a swig of this: socially-responsible water.
—How brands fared in the Brand Keys Customer Loyalty Engagement Index Rankings.

From Mediapost:

—Michael Bay's commercial for Verizon.
—So what else is new? Scion campaign goes after youth market.
—Mortgage companies slash their online spending according to Nielsen Online. You knew that was gonna happen.
—The Advertising Research Foundation starts an official Engagement Council.

What we're hearing from The Delaney Report:

—Denny's relationship with Publicis Mid America may be "on the rocks."
—Is TBWA/Chiat/Day in trouble on Snickers? Hard to believe. That campaign is great.
—Merger of Miller Brewing and Molson Coors to lead to $700 million review?

From The New York Times:

—More on that JC Penney campaign, including the actual ads, which were shot by Bruce Weber.
—Despite what Nielsen Online says, mortage advertisers are still very active.

From The Wall Street Journal (subscription required unless otherwise noted):

—Don Scales' plan to get back at Omnicom.
—Martha Stewart Living to buy the Emeril Lagasse empire.

OK. That's it. Have a good one.