The 10 Websites You Should Visit Daily
There’s no doubt about it; the industry is going digital. And as the traditional media choices disappear, making way for digital equivalents, so too do our news and information sources. We can no longer rely on magazines and other periodicals; by the time we get them, the news contained is already out of date. Therefore, as a good advertising professional, you should dedicate a small portion of your day researching great websites that contain a flurry of information. Not just news sites, but social media, content aggregators and more. Here’s a list of 10 websites that you should check out daily, be it through bookmarking or your RSS feed.
I’m Not Buying That One.
Advertising, at its best, is about focusing on the truth of a product or service in a way that is memorable, powerful, entertaining, or maybe even all three. Often, it’s about exaggerating a benefit. These days, it’s more about REALLY exaggerating a benefit to the point of ridiculousness. And that has started to create some ads that, even though we know they’re just ads, are still pushing the limits of believability to the point of insanity.
April Fools’ Day 2013
However April Fools' Day came about, it’s now firmly part of pop culture, and the biggest brands (and their agencies) cannot help themselves. They come out with more and more inventive ways to make us do a double take or feel like idiots for a while. Some are blatant, others subtle or barely recognizable as jokes. Some have gone down in advertising history. This year, 2013, saw another bumper crop of fun and games that had the social media sites buzzing. Here is the advertising channel’s round up of the best 10 pranks, in no particular order.
Pepsi Changes Bottle Shape After 17 Years
It is baffling to think that Pepsi is spending millions and millions of dollars on a brand new bottle, when it is no more interesting or different than the current one. In fact, some may argue that the current bottle has more of a distinctive shape than its replacement.
Advertising Events of 2013
Every year the calendar is filled with events that everyone in advertising, marketing and design should seriously consider attending. Some are bigger than others, some are broader, others quite niche. But what’s most important about these events, be they close to home or further afield, is the chance to let people in your agency broaden their...
As an Advertiser, Would You Sponsor Lance Armstrong Now?
The once noble, untouchable cyclist who won seven Tour-De-France titles was shamed last year when he was found to be yet another sporting hero to fall foul of doping. For as long as he was a winner, he adamantly denied taking any kind of enhancements, and built a reputation as a drug-free superman. Of course, all that came crashing around him. His titles were stripped, his titles were taken from him, and he was given a lifetime ban from the sport.
Racy? Raunchy? Or Downright Offensive
Creatives, and some clients, love to push boundaries and defy tradition. Safe is boring. Good is not good enough. PG-13 is a snooze. And that’s why, for decades now, advertising has continued to nudge the line ever more towards the sexually-charged, action-packed, violence-inspired ads that we often see on TV and in movie theaters.
The Art of the Teaser
As anyone in the entertainment industry will tell you, the marketing often has to be out there months, or even years, before the movie, documentary, game or TV show is even near completion. And that leads to some creative, and often ingenious, solves for posters and “teaser trailers.”
Five Small Things That Advertising Creatives Can Be Thankful For
Advertising has its downs, and ups. And as we head into Thanksgiving here in America, it’s time to celebrate those ups. With 2013 just around the corner, and no clues right now as to whether we’ll be riding into the sunset over a financial cliff, we can use this time to cheer those little wonders we all still enjoy.
Seven Things That Scare Ad Agency Creatives, Halloween Or Not.
If you’re a creative working in an advertising agency, in house, a design firm, or anything else involving creative juices, you are not scared by werewolves, vampires and things that go bump in the night. Well, not as much as you are of the following seven things that most have us have encountered over the years. Yes, they strike fear into the heart of any creative, they can turn copywriters as white as the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, and make art directors become as anxious as Edvard Munch’s Scream.
Papa John, You Just Don’t Get It
John Schnatter, the CEO of the Papa John’s pizza chain, has definitely pushed his free pizzas on millions of people over the years. He loves them. We, supposedly, love them. Although as I’ve said in the past, changing consumer behavior is easy – anyone will take a $5 Dominos pizza over a $12 one of the same size and flavor from a rival chain. Brand loyalty is fragile, and money talks.
AMC’s “The Pitch” Episode 1 – The Battle for Subway
Riding on the critical success of Mad Men, AMC have mixed up the ever-popular reality TV genre with the gritty world of advertising. In this case, the advertising pitch in a show called “The Pitch.” Every week, two agencies will compete against each other for a big piece of business. And in this pilot episode, Subway was the fatted calf. The two...
A Sad Farewell to Tony Scott
The news was shocking to say the least. British director Tony Scott, responsible for films including True Romance, The Hunger, Crimson Tide, Top Gun and Enemy Of The State, committed suicide in a manner that was congruent to the movies he made. On August 19th, 2012, the director of big action movies apparently committed suicide by jumping from the Vincent Thomas Bridge.
Is Apple Missing Steve Jobs More Than They Want to Admit?
It’s widely known that Steve Jobs was a master of marketing, and controlled the advertising output of Apple very closely. The ads that surfaced after his death were considerably less than Apple’s best work. Then, in July 2012, Apple released three spots touting the new Genius bar. And to say they are “off” is like saying Dorothy took an...
Will “The Pitch” Finally Bring Real Advertising to the Masses?
The lens of reality TV is focusing on advertising in a new AMC show called “The Pitch.” And although all involved say the connection to Mad Men is purely a coincidence, it seems like a smart move on AMCs part to capitalize on the success and intrigue of advertising. But will it work?
QR Codes - The What, Why, How and When.
You may have noticed those small, checkered boxes gracing magazines, posters, billboards and even product packaging these days. They are called QR codes (the QR stands for Quick Response) and they're a type of barcode that allows someone with a mobile device to scan it, and be directed to a website or some other form of data. But where did QR...
The Top 10 Irritating Phrases from Agency Life – PART ONE
It’s like the straw that broke the camel’s back. Or the fly in the ointment. It’s something that makes your eye twitch uncontrollably. And your teeth itch like they’ve never itched before. It’s “that” phrase. We all have a different one. Some of us have a list. But if you work in advertising and marketing, you’ll hear them often. And when your trigger phrase is uttered, you have to do everything you can to avoid going ga-ga. After talking to various people in different agencies across the US, I have compiled a list of 10 really annoying phrases, over a two-part special. Is one of these your Achilles heel?
What Can We Learn From Amy’s Baking Company?
Amy’s Baking Company featured on an episode of Kitchen Nightmares, the show hosted by the belligerent, but brilliant, Chef Gordon Ramsay. Every episode, he goes to the eatery of a town or city and tries to revive their fortunes. Usually, he has to tell them their food is awful, which is a massive surprise to no one but the owners and the chef. However, after some tough love, and the truth, Ramsay makes some big changes and turns around the fate of the restaurant. How long that success lasts, well that’s up to the owners.
Well Done Abercrombie & Fitch
Have you heard the latest rantings and silliness from Abercrombie and Fitch (A&F) CEO Mike Jeffries? Well, they’re not new actually. He made them in 2006, in an interview with Salon Magazine. But such is the power of the Internet that they are now coming back to haunt him, and rightly so.
The Top 10 Irritating Phrases from Agency Life – PART TWO
In part one of this two part series, we looked at five phrases that give us all a reason to hate meetings. To recap, they were: 1) Let’s Flush That Out. 2) We Want Something Cutting Edge. 3) This Objective Here is to Really Make an Impact. 4) Give us a “Guesstimate” on That One. 5) Give This One 110%. Now, we take a look at numbers 6 – 10. Is one of these marketing and advertising “buzz phrases” giving you earache?
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