What happens when cross-marketing goes racing out of control with no brakes. This spot exemplifies the term 10 lbs of shit in a 5 lb. bag
Her game character looks pretty good though. Still looks too hard. I will stick with Wii tennis...no learning curve. WBV
I frequently say that there is no such thing as a new or original idea anymore...just bastardizations of previous ones. While once in a great while something shocks you as being original, this phenomenon is getting rarer and rarer these days. People saying the same things, clinging to the same topics, everyone with the same self fulfilling prophecy. We can see this on most items deemed as "retro" or "old skool", etc. In advertising, it seems we finally hit the wall too. I came across this post on AdLand which I found funny (and true). They (IMHO) are correctly dubbing 2007 as: "The year we officially ran out of ideas." See their illustrated justification below...
You could add to this list a sentence and drawing on:
Here's to 2008! NOTE: This still isn't my year end wrap up...thats still on the simmer.
WBV
Here in San Francisco, Butler Shine Stern & Partners (BSSP) and their Influx Consulting arm put on another first class event - typical of everything they do. This year, the conference has a new name, Influx Ideas (formally Msquared) but one thing that's the same is the cast and caliber of speakers they brought together. This conference is always energizing to me. I really enjoy hearing from people out on the leading edge of marketing/branding/advertising success. Here are the speakers we heard from and my cliff-notes on what wisdom they dispensed...
Jonah Bloom - AdAge
a humorous & excellent talk regarding state of the game & the agency of the future.
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Christian Simm - Swissnex
Interesting discussion about branding a country, namely switzerland.
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Sarah Rich - DWELL Magazine
Green presentation. Consumer climate changes. Green will never be more SEXY than it is in 2007. Interesting presentation from an environmental perspective. Focus on the backstory...understanding where stuff comes from lends credibility to true green behavior. Interesting site was introduced "BadBuster" that constantly anayzes brand behavior in the global environmental space. Overall sarah had a very fact filled presentation which she 'read' - some of which hit home...however...much like other similar presentations on environmental issues, she is a little condescending towards mainstream brands/companies but she has good points and seems like a very informed and sincere person. I guess I am still waiting on someone to present this topic in anything other than an "I'm better-than-you" fashion...someone dynamic and interesting...possibly someone who can speak from experience from reinventing a green strategy at a big oil company, food company, etc. Otherwise mainstream GP will never embrace the movement and green will remain an evangelist effort of the creative class and socially motivated. Time will tell. Issues are real and can't be ignored.
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Scott Wyatt - NBBJ Architects
Branding buildings as a concept is very interesting. Building as an icon or symbol has incredible impact. Think of the Space Needle, Transamerica building, the Chrysler Building (which I have 100's of photos of) - all of which carry the spirit and persona of the companies & cities they represent. He pointed out the CCTV tower in Bejing and the olympic stadium are decadent and wasteful because their steel is 80% decorative & 20% structural. Overall, the discussion around space design, urban design, and your brand (and thus) advertising are all intertwined. Their global projects are some of the most impressive on the planet.
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Gregory Kennedy - Millions of Us
discussed the no-longer phenom SecondLife who's press approval has taken the track of Britney Spears. Since nobody wants to talk about secondlife, why is it still a topic? His take is that its not dead. Their recent projects for scion include whatisscioncity.com. His other clients include WB, Comcast, HBO, Microsoft, and others...which gives some credibility but I still don't see the fascination with the virtual world. He mentions that there are currently over 100 million people actively using virtual worlds globally. These include SecondLife (10mil)m habbo (7.5mil), zwinky, Gaia, etc. He says, immersive experiences and SL concepts appeal to younger folks because they don't have the ability to attain their material, social, etc goals because of their geo, financial, etc, limitations. Seems to me that with a highly skewed younger crowd in these UGC spaces that there really isn't value to a brand that targets a more mature person. I guess I'm just not cool enough to 'get it'.
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Kent Nichols & Chas Edwards - askaninja.com
Federated Media is a great example of the next generation of Publishing companies with their extense network of well-visited blogs. Their stance remains steadfast - your advertising is an ongoing conversation vs. A flighted "call to action". I couldn't agree more. I see this as so viable in branding and advertising. FM does this better than just about anyone. They believe advertising should drive people to content, where they share the experience, and spread the word. The search engines pick up on all this content and it creates a network of real content...displaying the conversation as search results. This may sound like a bowl of spaghetti, but in reality, this is a next level Landing page concept that is much more powerful than the traditional ones we do all the time...because it is all conversation/content driven.
Ask a ninja - ask + askaninja * mass advertising / social networks = a new advertising platform. the viral video is an edgie butter knife, sharp but safe. Great branding opportunities for advertising and humor - hyperengages vistors and stays true to the format.
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5x5 - 5, 5-minute presentations from participants.
Here are some of their topics (at least what i THINK they were talking about).
#1 TapProject - by far the best topic and cause. [learn more about tap project]
#2 Convenience as innovation.
#3 poop
#4 Teenagers scare the shit out of me - presented by Casey Ingle of Campbell Ewald in Detroit - If i were to have a beer with someone after the conference, it would probably be Casey because he seemed like a good guy. His topic was designed to shine on various generation gaps. His talk would have been interesting if remotely rehearsed. My feeling was that he wasn't prepared...and probably a little too irreverent for the setting (language was fine for a sports bar, but not the best for this sorta crowd - aside: I think i was introduced to about 10 new dirty words). But, that said, he covered his presentation issues with some good ad-lib and humor. Hung in to keep relevant with the youth theme and raised some decent points and opinions.
#5 ??? not sure...i was in the bathroom
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Becky Saegar - CMO Charles schwab
interesting discussion that reinforces that it's not about your products/services, its about how people associate your brand against other options and how working with you makes them feel. One question to ask your clients: would refer us to your friends, colleagues, family? responsibility of chief executives: need to stay connected to the world outside your company from your consumers perspectives.
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Some interesting 'other' things happening here at the conference:
» presentations captured digitally and published in real-time...more than just blogging.
» all materials produced on recycled paper products...very organic and cool.
Overall i was very satisfied with this conference much like all BSSP Events. Everything first class...just like we like it.
WBV
(another Treo post | sorry for the typos [and grammar])
Buzz buzz said the Bee (sorry I have been reading kids books). Via organic, i was alerted to this hearty chunk of online advertising that takes the viral > to landing > to microsite > to conversion concept to a whole new level. If you can believe it, this is from one of MY banks ING and is a tad racy for the financial world. The campaign is getting LOADS of buzz for its originality and global appeal. Take it on a test drive above. (FYI - You will get to decide if you want to make #1 or #2. I recommend trying both.)
If you want to access it directly and see the full experience (not just the porta-pottie), hop over to: i-needtogo.com
Enjoy this great advertising...oh, and get your budget calculators out :-)
BL
I have to admit that I always saw askaninja as something gimmiky Ask.com dreamed up to promote its 4% market share search engine...but I stand corrected with a new opinion. The tie was a bit of marketing genius laced together by Federated Media to co-promote Ask.com and AskANinja.com in a very clever, engaging, and almost transparent way. After a recent presentation at Influx Ideas in San Fran, I found a new love of the ninja format and I will be glued to new posts from these enterprising lads. It's worth giving another look if you aren't already a fan.
Do Ninjas love Fuze? Come on...I don't even have to ask because I already know that ninjas love Fuze (and so should you).
WBV
this is another Treo post | sorry for the typos [and grammar]
More news from the redundant (since there is a buzz about these). I, like many others in the know, feel the following Dove spots are both amazing pieces of work. Both are multi-medium, demonstrate social responsibility, true viral power, excellent creativity, and both communicate a spectacular message to young women. Women who are constantly bombarded with "beauty" advertising messages, and the relentless pursuit of perfection which they must chase.
I was lucky enough to see the original campaign (Evolution) presented at FOOA in New York this July by Carla Hendra, the Co-Chief Executive Officer of Ogilvy North America. Their follow up effort is just spectacular. Here are the spots from the Dove campaigns.
Spot 1 - New - Just started running
Dove - Onslaught
Spot 2 - The original
Dove - Evolution
Spot 2 spawned the sincerest form of flattery:
Now, I know there are no missing cows or the fun viral things we are accustomed to here in our fair city, but there may be a little magic all the same. I hope you enjoyed these examples of great work from the people who don't just read about the terms of marketing, rather from the folks that invent them.
WBV
We were just told that one of our clients CLP Resources (sites: clp.com & clptravelers.com) had their websites featured in the Internet Marketing Report this month.
The complimentary article explained some of the basics of what we did with the sites, but I felt many of the under the hood elements were not captured, so my feedback to the author is shown below here. It may or may not make it to approved comments on the authors blog, but my dribble is just too damn genius not share with the 7 fans of the FuzeBlog.
Written in response to the IMR article - by yours truly 9/21/2207
Thanks for the article. You pegged a couple points we try to enforce to our clients. We were the strategists, designers, developers, and optimizers so to speak for the CLP family of companies. A few additional features worth pointing out on the CLP sites:
1) the goals for these sites are to attract and qualify as many candidates nationwide as possible. Once qualified, these candidates need to be routed immediately to CLP's national network of offices for recruitment effort. This process is fully automated end-to-end.
2) user audiences are clearly identified and their needs met at the site in order of priority. At present, they want candidates to apply - so i defy anyone to miss the call to apply on the sites.
3) page and site structure are all 100% dynamic and controlled by the client and us - which makes page changes simple and indexing almost immediate. All pages on the site are easy to find and have proper editorial style markup (H1, H2, Content).
4) client drives traffic through all sorts of media, so we harness and funnel this traffic through clean, clear, optimized landing pages that help pay off their traditional media, outdoor, direct mail, with a web element that we can track the landing and conversion on.
5) site is fully wrapped in analytics that let us constantly evaluate and fine tune the marketing efforts.
CLP is a company that believes in doing things right. They put the needs of their customers and the potential employees they recruit at the forefront of everything they do. Your experience is consistent whether you meet CLP face-to-face, ear-to-ear, or screen-to-screen. This is just the beginning for what we are planning for their web presence.
Just a few notes from the source. We all appreciate your writeup on the current sites.
We always like good press. Thanks IMR. Ever forward...
WBV
On my way through the astonishingly short line at security in Reno Tahoe INTERnational airport, I barely had time to notice the latest inanimate object to get a logo slapped on it.
Zappos.com has ad's in the bottom of every little bucket we have to cram our dirty shoes, laptops, keys, and belts into as they glide through the x-ray scanner. On the ads they came up with clever slogans about needing a new laptop case, or new shoes. Appropriately displaying a reminder to upgrade something, at a time we are most interested in thinking about it. Great ads, great placement, good 'ol Nevada company doin' big things.
I also heard through the rumor mill that ad revenues from this campaign are going to sponsor a new, more efficient type of checkpoint system that reduces passenger wait times at security checkpoints.
Nice job Zappos...if my vegas trip goes well...daddy'll need a new pair of shoes...
WBV
(another Treo post - sorry for the typos)
Funny little grassroots comic idea from the goodly folks at Where's My Jetpack. Take royalty-free clip art and make it into a comic strip. Genius I think. Also, sums up most conversations at tradeshows, conferences, and pancake breakfasts I have attended recently:
Have a good weekend. I plan to!
WBV
