Adverganza's post-vacation picks, 08.27.07

OK, I'm back from vacation and rarin' to go. God, I lie. Without further ado, here's my scan of the Monday morning headlines, so you don't have to:

From Advertising Age:

—Martha Stewart has faith in people over 50. Let's give her a presidential pardon.
—Ad Age gets an exclusive on GSD&M's transformation into The Idea City. Or was it already one? UPDATE: It wasn't an exclusive, as it's also in the Journal today as paid content.
—How Procter & Gamble reaches African-American women.
—Hold your nose: the pharmaceutical industry tries out sensory branding.
—Bob Garfield gives zero stars to Berlin Cameron United's Heineken DraftKeg campaign.

From Adweek (no print issue this week, lazy bastards! Kidding;):

—A Q&A with Tom Carroll on the hiring of JWT's Colleen DeCourcy.
—WPP unit says that old media still are viewed as most effective among consumers. It must be that they're largely analog, she mused facetiously.

From Mediapost:

—If you're a baby boomer, Ann Taylor is looking for you.
—New Subaru campaign exploits a niche for every model.
—WSJ Digital rejiggers its management.
—Users react to YouTube's new ad model.
—Consumer Reports offers up free crash-test videos. For hours of carnage-induced fun, point your browser here.

From The New York Times:

—One way to finance your SUV: get someone to pay to have it plastered with ads.
—South Park creators cut a deal to get a share of Web ad revenue. Artists getting compensated? Who'da thunk?
—You mean advertisers don't want their ads showing up on "To Catch a Predator"?

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

—Web company pays bloggers to write about them. Oy. (Free content!)
—Famous Amos explains how to make a brand around a personality.

Adverganza's Monday morning picks, 08.20.07

This may be my only post of the week, because as previously stated, I am on vacation. (The weather has been great, BTW). So, here are Adverganza's Monday morning picks, where I scan the headlines so you don't have to:

From Advertising Age:

—Why pitching Dell could turn out to be a disaster. (Quiz question: Why is Adweek completely ignoring this review? Does that mean something?)
—Are marketers ignoring the fact that the label "Made in China" is becoming a liability?
—Rance Crain thinks advertising could avert a worldwide economic crisis.
—Is Web video the new :30?
—New 5 gum doesn't give Bob Garfield a full-body orgasm.

From Adweek:

—Brian Morrissey on why social networking doesn't always work for advertisers.
—Does advertising today act a lot like Karl Rove?
—TV networks embrace the recap episode.
—Non-vacationing ad execs talk about how Mattel can fix its image.
—Tom Messner on the long, storied history of sports-betting scandals.
—Barbara Lippert on "the GoDaddying of political advertising."

From Mediapost:

—McDonald's is offering drinks with flavor shots. How about Hawaiian Punch with a Cherry Coke chaser?
—Nissan: Official car of an Arizona city. Quiz question: Are you expelled for driving a Toyota?
—Staples is using paper to help people social network.
—BK traffic surges by 774 percent on Simpsons Movie tie-in, but did it sell more hamburgers?

From The New York Times:

—Who can withstand 30 days of fashion?
—Kwik-E-Mart mementos now available on eBay.
—Why advertising may not be the cure for what ails AOL.

From The Wall Street Journal (subscription required, for now):

—A close-up of Ethos JWT.
—WPP Group sees ad growth in 2008 because of the usual suspects: the Olympics and the election.

Adverganza's going on vacation!

OK, so I plan to spend most of the day packing for the family's annual week-long trip to Cape Cod. Usually this poses no sort of dilemma, but now, to paraphrase the Shakespearean actors in the Wendy's commercial (look two posts down), I must ask myself the deep philosophical question: "To blog or not to blog?" To the extent that Adverganza has a business plan, to my surprise, we're ahead of schedule—it was in Adverganza 2.0 or 3.0 that I would have someone fill in for me when I went away. But instead, many more of you have discovered this little experiment than I thought would. Which is a long way of saying thanks, and declaring that I'll try to put up a post or two while I'm gone. If the broadband connection at the vacation house works. And if I feel like it. Later, folks.

Dave Morgan on why CPMs might be slipping

Have your Web site CPMs been slipping downward lately? In a funk because it looks like your site's ad revenue won't grow by 50 percent this year? Dr. Dave Morgan explains why in his Online Spin column on Mediapost. Silliness aside, Morgan (as usual) provides an interesting take on the subject, and this being online media, the answer to why parts of the online ad market are softening isn't as simple as you think. Morgan specifically focuses on the plight of destination sites, noting that there's been a shift on the part of marketers from "higher-priced contextual pages on branded destination sites to much lower-priced inventory aggregated by networks" (like his own Tacoda). But what should be concerning across the board is that we're beginning to hit that wall called "there are only 24 hours in a day." As Dave says, online usage in the U.S. has been pretty much flat year-to-year, and ever more fragmented. My guess is that we all live online as much as we can or want to, and so usage can't travel inexorably upward. Anyway, go read Dave instead of some silly blog. Picture via Mediapost.

Wendy's red wig guy now in freezer

Starting to like this Wendy's campaign more and more, particularly the ads that feature "red wig guy" (though I'm not sure he's always played by the same actor). I guess I'm hung up on RWG because using him as a device is inspired in a Monty Python sort of way, and also, looking at it from a marketing perspective, RWG obviously ties back into the brand. The latest in the RWG series is contained in this "Best Ads" reel I found on YouTube—unfortunately I haven't been able to find it broken out separately but figuring it's a Friday in August, if you're really interested you can fast forward to 2:17 on the tape to see it, or not fast forward and see ads for new 5 gum and Campbell's Soup, besides! Anyway, this time around, RWG finds himself in the freezer at a Wendy's restaurant. On the Wendy's Web site is another version of this commercial (click on the visual all the way to the right), only when the Wendy's trainee opens the door of the freezer this time, he's confronted by a trio of Shakespearean actors instead of RWG. Lines like "Pray tell trainee nave," are funny, but the Shakesperean actors are no match for RWG. Keep up the good work, or Lovemarks, or whatever, Saatchi.

Those Sony Bravia bunnies sure are popular

Looks like I'm a little late to the Bravia bunny party, so I'll spin this in the best way I know how: Gee, it's amazing, a few days later, how many blogs picked up on the fact that Sony (and presumably Fallon, London), have been shooting a new Bravia commercial in NYC featuring bunnies made out of Play-Doh. Sixty-seven at last count (oh, including Adverganza, make that 68). Pictures via Gizmodo and TechDigest.tv.

John Osborn hopes clients keep experimenting

It's a bit unsettling to think of BBDO's John Osborn being held up to the rest of the world as the poster-boy for alternative advertising, since no other agency has quite the allegiance to the 30-second spot as BBDO. Nonetheless, Osborn's gone and told Reuters he hopes advertisers don't cut back on their experimental budgets if the economy really tanks, and about that, he's right. "In tight economic conditions, some of these new mediums are exactly what we should be looking into. I think they are incredibly targeted," he said. Still, the story contains some of the naivete people in the ad business have come to associate with mass media stories about advertising, claiming that unnamed "industry watchers" think that, in an economic downturn, advertisers might forgo new media because "it doesn't have the track record of TV commercials." Doesn't have the track record for what? Being difficult to accurately measure? I would argue—and hope—that in this point in the evolution of digital media (eschewing stuff that's still considered experimental in the U.S., like mobile), an economic downturn will actually move dollars to non-traditional media. It's cheaper, it's far more accountable, and, most importantly—unlike a few years back—marketers actually believe in it.

Never forget Phil Rizzuto for The Money Store

I'm a Mets fan, but what the hell, thought I'd post a Phil Rizzuto commercial for The Money Store, in light of his passing. I now realize the guy could have had a great career selling sub-prime mortgages.

So, who are David Verklin's Facebook friends?

OK, I'll admit that David Verklin is no Julie Roehm, but when I said this Adverganza investigative series would uncover the Facebook friends of anyone who popped into our heads, I meant it. So why Verklin? First, he's a CEO (of various and sundry units of Carat). Second, he's the kind of CEO who would actually have a profile on Facebook, and while it would be (will be?) loads of fun to uncover which ad and media CEOs don't social network, for now we'll stick with likely suspects. OK. So who are Verklin's Facebook friends? JWT's Toby Barlow, AKQA's Tom Bedecarre and Molly Parlsey (hmmm ... what's the connection there?), Microsoft's Joanne Bradford (a Roehm friend as well), ex-Carat exec Ron Belanger, Carat execs Sarah Fay, Scott Sorokin, Paul Santello and Adam Cahill; Masha Geller and Jack Myers (also Roehm friends), and Steve Newhouse. Feel free to suggest who else you'd like me to investigate for this series. All I've got is a red comfy chair, one laptop and the truth.

Dude, this Crispin Wikipedia entry is lame!

OK, I'm taking back my earlier assertion that the reason so many boring Midwestern agencies have such boring Wikipedia entries is because they're boring, and from the Midwest. Take a look at Crispin's, would ya? Nah. Don't even bother. This is all it says, "An advertising firm responsible for the VDub commercials, Burger King's snake commercial, and 2007 Ask.com advertisements. It's [sic] main office is located in Miami, FL in the Coconut Grove neighborhood. The agency has other locations in Boulder, CO and Los Angeles, CA." Not even the Subservient Chicken or Alex himself made the cut.

Coke goes for class action, not class

It probably goes without saying that this campaign, which promises people can join a class-action suit over confusion between the taste of Coke and Coke Zero, is from Crispin, Porter + Bogusky. The site for what appears to be an ambulance-chasing law firm is here, and hell, call the phone number if you've got nothing better to do. It's fairly funny and it's also a long, long way from polar bears. Via Mediapost.

GoDaddy Super Bowl promo starting already

Not sure you could go wrong considering everything that comes out of the mouth of GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons as being promotional in nature. So, I'm going to chalk up his contention on his blog the other day that the company might not advertise on the Super Bowl next year as a negotiating ploy. Says Bob, "Advertising during the Super Bowl is 'super' expensive. Consider that a 30 second spot is $2.7 million. Then figure 2 or 3 spots, then add another few million or so to produce several commercials — we never seem to get the first couple approved — and then include the cost of concurrent promotions, the total cost will exceed 10 million dollars." Also, consider that those spots that never get approved are, um, self-induced. AD-DENDUM: So, GoDaddy tried to reach me by phone and email this afternoon to see if I'd seen Parsons approach. What was that I was saying about everything he says being promotional? It's not that the folks at GoDaddy read Adverganza (yet). It was because of a story I wrote about blogging CEOs for Adweek earlier this year.

Take a look inside the "Happiness Factory"

Hadn't seen this "documentary" about the shooting of the Coke "Happiness Factory" commercial from Wieden + Kennedy and Psyop before, but Brentter posted it in the last day or so, and two earlier YouTubers posted it in the last six weeks. OK, enough of the logistics. If you haven't watched all six minutes of it, take a break and do it. Amazingly, it keeps the quality of the original spot going throughout, and you can definitely attribute the time you spend watching it to "research." This is how it's done, people.

Kohler gets philosophical, not scatological

Kohler ads seldom disappoint, but this spot, "Dilemma," which has been airing again recently, asks the philosophical question, "How do you hide something behind a toilet ... when you don't know where the front is?" Last I knew, the agency for Kohler was GSD&M. Please correct me if this is not its work.

So, who are Julie Roehm's Facebook friends?

Yesterday's story about Facebook in Ad Age, not to mention yesterday's cover story about Facebook in Newsweek, begs the question of not only who has profiles on Facebook, but who those people's friends are. Thus, we'll begin studying this topic by taking a closer look at Julie Roehm (her Facebook photo is at right), followed, in later additions of this special investigative Adverganza series, by whomever else pops into our heads. (One proviso, of course, is that a "friend" on Facebook is not the same as a friend in the real world. Unless you can't stand someone, it's pretty bad form to turn down a request to be somebody's friend.) OK. Sorry. Back to Julie. Here are the friends of hers we recognized: Stewart Alsop, Microsoft's Joanne Bradford, Internet gal-about-town Susan Bratton, Ad Age's Matt Creamer, who, BTW was the writer on Ad Age's Facebook story this week, Avi Dan, JWT's Colleen DeCourcy, The New York Times' Stuart Elliott, Mediapost's Joe Mandese and Nick Friese, Joseph Jaffe, Jed Savage (who, last I knew, was at eBay), and Organic's Chad Stoller. It also shows you the limitations of Facebook that people you might suspect are friends of Julie Roehm's are not listed, such as Sean Womack, and don't hold your breath for Howard Draft, either.

SNY posts its Geico Cavemen spots

Crap. I'm heading into some severe caveman territory here, but they are becoming increasingly impossible to avoid. Above is one of the two "Caveman" spots for SNY promoting the cable net's Geico Sports Night. Now that SNY got around to posting them, you can also see the other one here.

Andy Roddick's mojo is a caveman

So in preparation for the upcoming ABC series, Cavemen, that leftist rag the Village Voice has devoted many column inches to an interview with the actor—who, as we've said repeatedly, is not in the Geico spots—who will play the starring caveman in the series. His name is Nick Kroll, he compared the early attempts at putting on his caveman makeup to "rubbing fiberglass on my face" and his commercial claim to fame was playing Andy Roddick's mojo in the ill-fated American Express campaign from a few years back. Above, is the second "Mojo" spot, after Roddick had been bounced out of the U.S. Open in the first round. (The first one isn't posted anywhere I could find.) I guess maybe we could call this whole caveman/mojo thing six degrees of David Ogilvy.

With McAndrews ascension, whither Joanne Bradford?

I've read four stories since last night about the appointment of aQuantive's Brian McAndrews to head the new advertiser and publisher solutions unit at Microsoft, and not one of them has mentioned what's going on with Joanne Bradford, who, last I knew, was Microsoft's chief media revenue officer. Is there something I'm missing here?

More "Cavemen" spots from SNY

The Mets cable net, SNY, which has a nightly program called Geico Sports Night, has cavemen mania, airing two spots that feature the cavemen, per The New York Post. Haven't been able to find either of them online, including on the SNY site (for shame, SNY! for shame!), but if anyone out there knows of links to them, let us know. In the meantime, found a promo on the video site at sny.tv in which lucky Mets fans can go watch a game with a Geico caveman, though, much as I love the commercials, I'm a little unclear on the allure.

Here's Hillary Clinton's first TV spot

So, looks like Hillary Clinton's first TV commercial is now airing in Iowa, and on the home page of her Web site. For The New York Times' analysis of the spot, which pits her against President Bush instead of other Democratic candidates, click here. As for my analysis—should anyone care—it's not a bad commercial, but hardly a departure from political advertising as we've come to know it. UPDATE: It's now also available above. Thanks AdPulp.

Westin getting the ads it deserves

I find this Westin campaign from Deutsch interesting for other reasons than it's interesting. (Stole this picture from Mediapost, which did a nice, extensive take on how the hotel chain redecorated the Times Square shuttle as part of an effort to create "places of renewal.") The reason I say this is, that, far as I can tell, Westin has been an underrealized brand which deserves more recognition and more of a brand image that truly sets it apart than it's been getting. Until now. OK, I'll admit that I don't travel that much anymore, but I did find myself and the family at the Westin La Cantera outside of San Antonio in July and my husband and I were shocked to discover just how great a hotel it was. Definitely up there with some of the better hotels we stayed at while watching members of the 4As—what's the word?—bloviate. In our current state of life, it was a huge plus that it was kid-friendly. Not only did the kids receive gifts upon our arrival, but no member of the hotel staff ever seemed to mind their sprints to and from the elevator banks, or their sixteen trips to the breakfast buffet in the morning. With a three-year-old it was impossible to take some time to play one of the two golf courses, but the pool, to coin a cliché was the stuff of which memories are made. It meandered throughout the hotel's backyard and featured waterfalls, a water-park worthy slide, plenty of shallow areas for young children, nets for water polo, a creatively separated adult-only area, the requisite hot tubs, and enough pool toys and warm towels to make even a curmudgeonly grown-up happy. In short, our whole family has turned into advocates for the Westin brand, which, before our trip, I thought was just another big hotel chain, no more exceptional than a Hyatt or a Marriott.

Dull midwestern Wikipedia entries, stealth disco

As all of you ad types are being incredibly dull this week, figured it was time to go back to posting stuff about different agencies' Wikipedia entries, and then I got to the C's. As for Campbell Ewald, let's put it this way—an agency that's been around for 96 years can be summed up in 104 words. Whoever wrote Campbell Mithun thinks advertising is simply a matter of coming up with catchy taglines, as in "Brilliant!" for St. Ives. Meanwhile, there's an opening for someone to write up the history of Carmichael Lynch, although no one has thought it necessary to spend quality time on that project so far. Lastly, Cramer-Krasselt's main contribution to the universe (according to Wikipedia, anyway) is that it created stealth disco: "Stealth disco (or SD) refers to the act of being videotaped dancing or rocking out behind or near someone who is doing something serious and does not notice." Bet you didn't know any of that, did you? OK, now that I've gone through the Wikipedia entries of four Midwestern agencies—if they existed at all—I've come to the sort of conclusion that only a snob from New York (or San Francisco) could make: midwestern ad agencies are way too behind the times to have noticed Wikipedia, except for those happenin' stealth disco creators.

Drinking Heineken better than Heineken site

Somehow, this Heineken Draught Keg site, that's being heavily promoted on YouTube, just isn't doing it for me, even though, strangely enough, I was drinking a Heineken when I visited it. Even with the amazing synergy presented by my drinking the product as I visited its site, I couldn't escape the feeling that we've all seen sites that let us upload our friends' pictures and have them do electro-dances before.

Kids not buying what Ronald McDonald is selling

Like most mothers I like to think of my kids as having wisdom beyond their years. Still, I was surprised to discover that my 9-year-old son completely understands the irony of Ronald McDonald telling kids to live a healthy lifestyle. I'll admit that this came in the context of a quick stop to Burger King yesterday on our way back from a weekend in Massachusetts, but, he paused for a moment before ordering his plain cheeseburger (he eschews french fries ever since his first grade teacher told him they were bad for him), and said, "Mom, I saw this commercial the other day where Ronald McDonald was telling kids to eat healthy. That's pretty stupid since McDonald's is the least healthy restaurant in the whole country." Touche, little one. Now if I could just find a fast-food health-food store for those trips back and forth to Massachusetts.

Adverganza's Monday morning picks

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

From Advertising Age:

—In shocker of the year, insurers don't want to advertise on Cavemen.
—Advertising types discover Facebook, to increase distribution of the brand called themselves. Here's a video about it, and, while we're at it, did you know I'm on Facebook and want to be friends with all of you?
—Jonah Bloom with yet another suggestion of how Advertising Week could actually prove meaningful.
—Oh, good. Scott Berg of Hewlett-Packard doesn't like mobile advertising.
—Bob Garfield uses Colgate Simply White.

From The New York Times:

—In yet another shocker, NBC Universal discovers buying iVillage wasn't all that smart.

From Adweek (subscription may or may not be required); no print issue this week:

—A close-up look at Naked's plan for full-frontal U.S. expansion.
—Tim Arnold explains why he loves the blues.
—Could it be true? Is Interpublic actually turning around?

From The Wall Street Journal (subscription required, for now):

—How to make video advertising better. Example from Break.com pictured at left.
—Victoria's new secret: athletic wear.

From Mediapost:

—Pringles, now available in stick form?
—Does using the eBay ad auction system mean you're putting your cable net up for sale?

From The Delaney Report. Tom's hearing that:

—Visa media might go up for review.
—Sony isn't necessarily happy with its work from BBDO.
—There's some Fisher-Price business on the loose in the wake of the closing of Maiden Lane.
—The honeymoon might be over between Cadillac and Modernista!.

Get your ad legends here!

So, to refer once again to Mad Men, there was (thankfully?) no 30-second look into the past by Jerry Della Femina, inserted into the show, as had been announced early in the week. However, if you go to the Mad Men Web site, there's an archive of all of the ad legend interviews (to date, I hope, as the list is a bit odd and full of omissions of people many of us would probably love to hear from.) I'm having trouble embedding the video, which is beautifully, and intriguingly, shot, but the full list of people who appear (which can be viewed as a steady stream or as individual soundbites) is: Joy Golden, George Lois, Bob Jeffrey, Charlie Hughes, Lois Geraci Ernst, Evan Stark, Jerry D.F. (pictured above), John Bernbach, Tony Pagano, Martin Puris and Eric Michelson. Yeah, I'm can't remember who everyone on this list is either, and I thought I knew about these things.

Last night's episode of 'Mad Men'

Last night's episode of Mad Men was where the series really hit its stride, with just the right mix of insider advertising politics and themes of the time—JFK running for president, the fear and fascination that Don Draper's wife has concerning the messy lifestyle of the divorcee down the street, and, of course, the assistant account executive who doesn't know his place, and yet is saved from being canned from Sterling Cooper because of his pedigree. (Also loved the reference to Bob Newhart's "The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart,"—an album which my father, a former account guy, used to listen to repeatedly back in the day.) The only sour note was the B-roll that followed the episode where the actors talk about their characters. It's one thing for executive producer Matt Weiner to talk about the series; it's another to see the actors breaking down the fourth wall. Much better to keep the actors in the bubble that is a period piece like Mad Men.

Not sure I wanna post about Didja

I've been on the fence all week about whether to post anything about didja.com (the URL isn't live yet), the site from NBC Universal's USA Networks that's meant to be an archive of good ads. It's one of those announcements that I'm sure the network wants people like me to blog about, because it's so obviously a ploy to suck up to advertisers and agencies, who so dearly want the ads they produce to be viewed as content. Plus, why write about when it's a concept that's already out there from any number of players from TBS' veryfunnyads.com to viralx.com. But I have to admit, Young Go Getter summed up my ambivalence better than I could. He or she says: "Didja is being made to help NBC milk a medium best they can."

Jonah Bloom rips through 'Maxim'

The following is a waste of all of our time, but, hey, it's a rainy Friday morning in August, the stock market is melting down and there's nothing any of us can do about it—in short, it's just the kind of psychic environment that innovative time-wasting was made for. So here's the link to Ad Age's Jonah Bloom and Ken Wheaton trying to rip a print ad that appears in the current issue of Maxim. Created for Stone Cold Steve Austin's upcoming "The Condemned", it was supposedly absolutely impossible to destroy. That is, until Jonah Bloom got a hold of it.

Drunk people remember more than you think

Ad Age has a story this morning pointing out that people who spend a lot of time in bars have an astoundingly high level of ad recall. I really have nothing more to say on this. Go read the story.

Does ten Gary Cohens equal a Lee Mazzilli?

Why is it that every baseball game has to come with a promotional giveaway, even when the giveaway sucks? I pose this question after attending last night's Mets vs. Braves game at Shea Stadium (Mets win on a solo shot by Moises Alou ... yeah!). The giveaway—and I can't believe trees had to die for this—was a pack of cards, not of baseball players, but of the commentators for SNY, the official cable net of the Mets. Thus, we were treated not only to cards touting play-by-play guy Gary Cohen (at right), but to former Mets first baseman Keith Hernandez—a color commentator for SNY—in a suit and tie holding a microphone. (Similar treatments were given to ex-pitcher Ron Darling, and Met/Yankee Lee Mazzilli.) Oy. Late in the game, as the Mets rallied, the inevitable happened. People began to rip up the cards and use them as confetti, which caused the P.A. announcer to ask the fans to stop it since a few cards had dribbled onto the field. Well, given the "value" of the giveaway, which was all about promoting SNY and not at all about what fans want, such behavior is understandable. Picture via Mets.com.

Google a planning tool? But of course

This story in Adweek seems a bit skeptical about Google's assertion that it is a planning tool, but that's what Google exec Perry Price said yesterday at the 4A's Planning Conference in San Diego. Price points out that, for instance, "box office grosses could be accurately predicted 82 percent of the time as far as six weeks before a movie opening" by tracking search activity. A few years back, I went to a big search conference where I had a lengthy conversation with an executive from a major CPG company about what advertisers can learn from search—he pointed out how much potential there was in simply discovering what words people use to search for products. Clients may still love holding focus groups and so forth, but it seems like it would be a little crazy not to think of search as a planning tool.

Zimmerman opens automated ad exchange

More evidence that eventually automated ad buys will be prevalent (OK, there's a bit of personal belief in there, but, hey, this is a blog): Omnicom's Zimmerman Advertising is opening an automated ad exchange called the Z-Media Exchange, per Mediapost. Its aim, similar to SpotRunner's, is to make it easy for local retail advertisers to buy time on radio and TV The most salient point in the story comes via a Zimmerman media executive who offers up the following scenario: "Wickes Furniture finds out on a Friday afternoon that the competition is having a big sale that weekend. My agency calls the local station to try and buy spots for Saturday and Sunday, and we're told to call back on Monday, because no one can turn our buy around fast enough to get it on air. This will never be an issue for our clients again."

Polls are open for MSNBC's best and worst ads

OK, so MSNBC is currently asking for votes for the best and worst ads thus far of 2007. You can vote for best here, and worst here. I find the lists a little odd in that they don't always mention who the advertiser is—anyone have an idea who is behind "Rabbit's feet get reattached" or "explaining what a 'muffin top' is"? For those in the biz, the list of nominees is probably most interesting as a reflection of what people not in the biz find good or bad or good and bad. The commercial for whatever cell phone company it is that features the line, "IDK, my BFF Jill," made both the best and worst lists. Meanwhile, TBWA/Chiat/Day's off-kilter Starburst commercial promoting "Berries and Creme" is tabbed as one of the worst, even though people in and around the industry seemed to like it and it has about 6.5 million views on YouTube, which is pretty phenomenal. Go figure, and go vote.

IAG's top ten spots for July, with links!

Just like last month, I'm providing links to the top ten commercials of the month, per IAG Research as a public service, since others run the list but don't link to the spots. Sheesh.

1. Burger King, "Simpsonize Me." (Above, from Crispin, Porter & Bogusky.)
2. JC Penney, "Heart." This commercial from Saatchi & Saatchi is totally, completely worth checking out. The best take on prepubescent love I've seen in years. Really.
3. Toyota, "Backup." Also from Saatchi ... would seem even better if it weren't for the JC Penney spot.
4. Chili's "Spiced Up." Why this would be such a popular commercial, I've no idea. I also have no idea who the agency is, which is probably a good thing.
5. Target, "Dorm Room."
6. Cheez-It, "How does Cheez-It Do It?" Amazingly, yet another commercial that uses round objects rolling down the streets of San Francisco.
7. MasterCard, "MLB Dreams." (Couldn't find.)
8. Target,"Say Hello to Goodbuys."
9. DirectTV, "Signourney Weaver."
10. Target, "Hello, Goodbuy." (This is another in the series, featuring food such as Hershey's Chocolate.)

I'm eight for ten in terms of finding the commercials. If you find the missing ones, please send them along.

Catch Olympic fever! .... or not

I'm almost as burned out on the Olympics as General Motors is, and, hey, the Games in Beijing are still a year off. But somewhat seriously folks, you gotta applaud GM for getting beyond the prestige of being a big-time Olympic sponsor and realizing that it's no longer worth it. True, GM is in cost-cutting mode, seemingly forever, but going forward, it's going to be difficult for any advertiser to justify paying what GM did for its rights as a sponsor of both the NBC broadcast of the Games and an additional sponsorship with the U.S. Olympic Committee. By Ad Age's analysis, the multi-year deal was valued at $900 million. Media fragmentation is such that it's hard to view the Games, no pun intended, as the must-see TV it once was. In fact, one could argue that the ROI for an advertiser would be much better sponsoring individual events according to what viewers they attract rather than getting involved with these blanket deals. On that note, if you go to amazingawaits.org, the Web site for the 2008 games sponsored by U.S. Olympic Committee, you can see a new video montage, which I believed was created by mcgarrybowen, with the theme, "Amazing Awaits." If you want to get going on your 2008 Olympic hype early, it's the place to be. If not, I'll tell you it's nicely shot, paced, and produced but otherwise is so much inspirational wallpaper. Sorry to be so grouchy. Guess I need another cup of java.

Goodbye TimesSelect, goodbye subscription model

OK ... it may be all over but for the shouting for TimesSelect, the experiment at nytimes.com which operated under the premise that people would actually pay for some Times content, like the op-ed columns. Doesn't look like anyone at the Times has come clean on this yet, but it's all over the press, and pretty much is the death knell for a paid content model on the Web, as far as I can see—particularly since most people presume that Rupert Murdoch will let the rabble into wsj.com soon enough by also dropping that site's subscription model. I don't think this is a good thing. For one, content solely supported by advertising devalues content, and secondly, through broadcast TV has managed it for years, not having a subscription revenue stream makes Web content constantly vulnerable to downturns in the online ad market. And we all know how bad those downturns can be.

Is it real or is it machinima?

Posting this mostly for the fun of it. Someone calling him/herself Machinimasia at YouTube has begun posting side-by-side comparisons of ads as they were originally shot next to machinima versions. Personally, I prefer live action, but whatever floats your boat. A machinima-ed Visa ad is above. There's a Johnny Walker one available here.

Leo Burnett in 150 words or less

Wow, it must be August if I'm spending quality time tooling around the Leo Burnett Web site. The reason is that I was fact-checking a bit of Leo trivia for my ongoing series on agencies' Wikipedia entries, and it just so happens that anyone who visits leoburnett.com can, virtually anyway, scribble all over the site with a big black pencil, just like old Leo. I'm definitely a curmudgeon when it comes to agencies and their Web sites, and although this one's navigation did give me a bit of vertigo, I had fun. Now onto that Leo Burnett Wikipedia entry ... is it really possible to distill the agency's entire history down to a mere 142 words (omitting the client list)? Sure, if you do a lousy job of it, which this entry does. (Leo himself gets his own entry, but at about 360 words it doesn't do the guy much justice, particularly since an entire sentence is devoted to pointing out that his daughter was a world-renowned bird watcher.) Anyway, the client list could use some editing as well. We know that the new business gods haven't always shown on the agency over the last few years, but the last marketer listed on the roster of "notable clients" is Walt Disney, which the agency won in 1994, and may no longer have for all I know. None of this would matter much if Wikipedia entries were buried in Google searches, but the entry on Leo himself comes up third, and the description of the agency comes up fourth.

Now they're advertising kid social networks

Is it just me or is the growth of children's social networks a sign of the apocalypse? I'm asking because I was reading over at Adweek that Interactive Corp. (or IAC ... take your pick) is putting $5 million behind a TV campaign for its kiddie club Zwinky, and if the new commercial is as inane as this earlier one above, I hope to never, ever see it. With Disney buying Club Penguin I guess there's no time like the present to promote other kiddie social networks, but God help us all.

Chrysler takes baby step into blogosphere

Generally, corporations aren't all that good at blogging, since they seem to lack commitment, so we'll have to keep an eye on the latest in the corporate blogosphere—one from Chrysler that went live this week as part of "The New Chrysler," an initiative which apparently calls for overpaid ex-Home Depot CEOs, among other things. A post by now vice chairman (and former CEO) Tom LaSorda, starts out like many a corporate memo, " It’s a new day here at Chrysler, as we celebrate our beginning as a private company, held by our majority owners at Cerberus Capital Management." Can't you just see the folks in corporate communications sweating over that opening line? There's also a new commercial out featuring the babies above, which I wanted to stream for you, but, instead, when I went to the Web site, all I got was this lousy press release about it.

Clear Channel channels the Constitution

I'm not exactly a fan of billboards ... still you gotta admire the moxie of Clear Channel in its efforts to combat restrictions on billboards currently being reviewed in Tacoma. The billboard behemoth (alliteration watch) argues that the restrictions violate free speech laws, among other things, and thus, although Clear Channel has been coy about its involvement, all 200 or so billboards it owns in the market have suddenly been take over by this "Constitutions Matter" message. The billboards are quite the popular upload to Flickr these days.

People care about digital advertising

Quick note to say it looks like yesterday's big New York Times' feature about Digitas' plan to use cheap labor to create thousands of ads has struck a chord. It's currently the most emailed story on Times' list of business stories, beating out even stories about lead in trinkets and home foreclosures.

Heinz campaign is a CGM success

Since this is the last day that people can submit videos to Heinz's consumer-generated advertising contest, I think the contest can safely be called a winner. If I'm reading my YouTube metrics correctly, there have been over 2300 entries—more impressively, many of those entries have tens of thousands of views. Even if none of the ones that I saw seemed particularly scintillating—though I posted one mildly funny one above—it comes through loud and clear that people not only love their ketchup, but have a fascination with the iconic Heinz bottle as well. The next step in the campaign is the inevitable voting by Americans everywhere, followed by the airing of the top five on TV. Some products were made for CGM, and Heinz is one of them.

Marcio Moreira praises Allah

Sitting out here in the 'burbs leaves one woefully out of it when it comes to the medical issues of renowned ad execs. Thus, I was surprised to learn that McCann's Marcio Moreira had a heart attack a few weeks back in the airport in Dubai, and actually was clinically dead for about three minutes. He lived to tell the tale at Adweek.com, and yes, the above is not just a headline—he really does praise Allah.

Please make BBH's Wikipedia entry interesting

I'm feeling strangely emboldened now concerning my (eccentric) project to critique agencies' Wikipedia entries, now that Ogilvy & Mather's seems to have mysteriously changed, following an Adverganza post last week which noted that the entry was too promotional for Wikipedia's taste. Verge, the Ogilvy digital summit which last week was "the preeminent agency-led forum" is now simply "a a major agency-led forum." But now to Bartle Bogle Hegarty. Here it is, one of the more interesting agencies of the last decade or so, and this is how its Wikipedia post starts: "Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH) is a British advertising agency, responsible for some of the more notable advertising campaigns of the last twenty years." That sentence somehow makes it seem as though, despite the notable campaigns, the agency is staffed by a group of stuffy British accountants. If that insomnia-proof opener weren't boring enough, it manages to sum up the entire agency history in slightly over 200 words. I believe in brevity, but in the Wikipedia context, links to some of the award-winning work mentioned, and maybe an adjective or two, might help.

Rob Walker doesn't acknowledge Tribal DDB

One of the best ways to figure out where ad agencies rank in the grand scheme of things is to see if they are credited for work that is talked about in venues beyond the usual suspects. Which brings me to yesterday's Consumed column in The New York Times Sunday Magazine by Rob Walker. It focuses on the "Shave Everywhere" campaign for the Philips Norelco Bodygroom. The centerpiece of the campaign is the site shaveeverywhere.com, partly because— since it lives on the Internet—it has allowed Philips Norelco to explore, um, issues that couldn't even be discussed on late night TV, a fact that Walker spends lots of copy on. But no mention of Tribal DDB, which created the campaign. Anywhere. If this habit of omitting the ad agency in the equation weren't so pervasive it would be shocking. Instead, it leaves me once again scratching my head at why these omissions happen all the time. Is it clients who don't want to acknowledge that they need outside help to come up with great ideas? Is it mainstream media who find that discussing the role of the agency is somehow tangential? Or is it that the industry—at least since the days of Mad Men has been pretty miserable at defending itself?
After all these years, I've really no clue.

'Mad Men' to feature ad legends

For all of the press in the ad trades about the first episode of Mad Men, the fact that the advertising-focused series inserted trivia and other advertising-related hooks into its commercial pods received nary a mention. I'm not at all sure how quotes from David Ogilvy go over with the average Mad Men viewer, but for people in the biz, it creates a nifty insider feel—it's as though the show's target was the ad industry itself. The rest of the viewers be damned! While that may be a bit of hyperbole (fitting, somehow though, ain't it?), the series will get even more insider come this Thursday, when, according to USA Today, the commercial pods begin to feature 30-second talks with ad legends. Naturally, but maybe not all that logically, the first person to be featured is Jerry Della Femina. (True, Jerry certainly had his time in the limelight, but it's continually frustrating to see a guy who long ago stopped being central to the industry still held up as its spokesperson.) Other ad legends in the series include Martin ("resign clients before they can fire you") Puris, and George ("I want my MTV") Lois. OK, I'll throw this out to those of you who are reading this: who would you like to see featured in one of these 30-second pods? (Resurrecting people like Bill Bernbach, a la Orville Redenbacher, is strictly prohibited.)

Adverganza's Monday morning picks: part deux

Due to a technical difficulty had to break this into two sections:

From Mediapost:

—Laurie Petersen pleads with Disney not to destroy Club Penguin.
—Mediacom appoints a global director of creative. Hell, why doesn't the company just hire some art directors and a copywriter or two and get it over with?

From The New York Times:

—Digitas chief David Kenney becomes digital advertising's poster child, and Maurice Levy thinks that his purchase of Digitas was what set off the current round of industry consolidation. Gotta love ad guys and their egos. Oh, and I was right about Digitas' buying a Chinese outfit to take advantage of cheap labor. It's a good thing that there's no way to inject poison into a banner ad.

Adverganza's Monday morning pics

Where we scan the Monday morning ad news headlines so you don't have to.

From Advertising Age:

—Matthew Creamer says stand-alone news brands are doomed. Couldn't agree more.
—Al Neuharth says Murdoch's acquisition is "a very good thing."
—Pat Fallon doesn't sound very happy.
—Ad Age starts ranking advertising and marketing blogs. It must not be worth anything, because Adverganza's not on it.
—Should Kraft spend or sell?
—Levi's shoots a gay and straight version of a commercial.

From Adweek (no picture of the cover because the link is broken on the site):

—Even more Pat Fallon.
—An interview with Robert Senior, the new CEO of SSF (that stands for Saatchi Saatchi Fallon for those of you who weren't paying attention last week.)
—A whole lotta stuff on planning. (This links to only one part of the package. For other parts, click here and scroll down until your joints start to hurt.)
—Joan Voight on making brands healthy.
—Barbara Lippert says (in a manner of speaking) that the first Wal-Mart work from The Martin Agency is as boring as Wal-Mart's court papers are interesting. I've embedded one of the spots below, though it seems to load very slowly.




More to come ...