A Missing JV

As you may or may not have noticed, I have not been posting much in the last few weeks. Unfortunately, this is a combination of many factors. The falling of snow has increased my time spent skiing or dreaming of skiing. The holiday season brought a craziness to our office that I’m still recovering from.

The toll of writing this blog by myself, while working on several other projects, has left me a little burnt out. So I’m taking a bit of a break. I’m working on rebranding this space, making a bit more ‘me’ and a little less stuffy. So hopefully you will have that to look forward to in the near future.

Until then,

jv

Holiday Party Time

 

This friday is the agency-wide Christmas party. I’ve already heard plenty of stories already about last years – I guess several of the people I work with were involved in all kinds of debauchery throughout the night.

People just love letting loose, being friendly, and basically causing trouble at these functions. I’m not much into looking like a fool in front of my coworkers, but I’m sure things will be well out of hand by the time I get there. It’s a great time to hang out, meet new people, and enjoy the Christmas spirit. But I think I’ll leave the insane antics to when I’m running ninth street with my friends.

For those of you who just want to get crazy at the agency holiday party, heed the advice of Brad Karsh, who writes an article called ‘Ask Brad’ (clever title) over at Advertising Age. Check his thoughts on holiday partying with, “How Hard Should I Party at the Office Holiday Shindig?”.

Some of us are lucky enough to work with great people, and it’s great to share this time of year with your coworkers. But don’t forget what Brad says: “Keep the ‘office’ in ‘office holiday party’.”

OMG U R So Watching the Same Movie as Me

“if you pause this again I am gonna kill you!”

There is an article on Tech Consumer today that describes a new HD DVD feature for the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix home release. It’s called “community screening,” and according to the article it will utilize the Ethernet connection built into each HD DVD player.

Here is how “community screening” technology works. The host invites others to watch the movie, and then can simultaneously watch while, “chatting live with your friends while you watch.” Only the host can control the viewing of the movie (play, pause, etc).

I am beyond perplexed about the attractiveness of this feature. It just doesn’t seem completely thought out.

From the official release site:

“Invite other owners of the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix HD DVD to simultaneously watch from their own internet-accessed players and text with your remote, PC or cellphone.”

Just a quick note to the movie studio….communication has been available through your PC and cellphone before this feature became available. So you have added texting through remote, which I see absolutely no one taking advantage of.

Maybe I’m out of touch with the youth market, but I just can’t see this catching on. I can’t think of a time I have ever wanted to watch a DVD simultaneously with someone else who wasn’t in the room with me. Except, of course, when Space Jam comes on TBS and I call all my friends so we can watch it together.

If I’m marketing this, here is where I’m selling this feature: constantly traveling or divorced parents. You would call your son or daughter up, and you could watch a movie ‘together’, even if you are apart. Or maybe job training or education DVDs, where you could coordinate a class and then the instructor ‘hosts’ a simultaneous viewing. But that would necessitate lots of people owning HD DVD players, and that just isn’t happening – yet.

So this feature may just be ahead of it’s time. But I hope executives aren’t pushing this as a feature that will put HD over the top of Blu-Ray. If so, they could be in for a looong holiday season.

Andre Still Has a Posse

Today I took the brand new Karmaloop TV service from Karmaloop for a spin today, and it definitely has a lot of promise. I always dig an ‘insider’ look at an underground-type of industry. My favorite segment so far is an interview with Shepard Fairey, artist and founder of Obey. It was a Fairey experiment that produced the famous image above, which you probably recognize if you were skating in the mid-90’s.

Before I get to the content of the interview though, let me just say that Karmaloop CEO Greg Selkoe clearly should not be interviewing people. He is eating the microphone, his questions are pretty dumb, and he introduces himself with aliases? Who does that besides Sal Masekela and Sway? It detracts from the person you are trying to interview and just doesn’t look very professional. I admire him because he has been pretty successful, but leave the interviewing to someone else!

Once Shepard Fairey took over the interview, it became very insightful. He spoke on his humble roots and how the whole ‘Andre the Giant has a posse’ meme came about. Fairey really goes global when commenting on his reaction to the growth of the ‘Andre’ image:

“…it really opened my mind to the ideas of an image in public sparking a reaction that is something that is outside of advertising and the usual signage that you see that raises people’s awareness about what’s going on around them.”

I had just read something about influential street artist Banksy and his exhibit here in New York. Fairey’s comments got my mind rolling on the whole awareness idea. In advertising, we really inundate the public with ‘awareness’ campaigns that are trashed and forgotten almost immediately. Today one of my clients sent out almost two million direct mailings to consumers. They are hoping 95-98% of recipients don’t trash the piece immediately.

Comparatively, Fairey’s Andre image was first published on a sticker in 1989, and almost twenty years later his art has grown into not only a full business, but has influenced many people to look at the world in a different way.

All we have to do is take some time and create real creative work for our clients. More than just words on a page describing policies and legal. Make them feel something as well. This can be accomplished just as thoroughly with art as a traditional print or TV campaign. But make it something rare – make it something your target will seek out and obtain, rather than have it stuffed into their mailbox. Only then can we create influential works to last over time.

Total Gibberish and the Geniuses that Use It

There is a guy who sells food for a diner down the street from our offices. I say it in these vague terms because I have absolutely no idea what this guy is selling. I know he is out there, day and night, yelling about the special deals the shop has that day. But what he is yelling…it’s not words.

It’s not another language either. It’s total and complete gibberish, a la Don Vito of Viva la Bam fame, or recently that guy on (edit: Mr. Wise) I Love New York 2 who cannot speak english.

But yet somehow…it just works. People actually take samples off the platter he shoves in your face, samples which look a little bit like 2 week old bagel bites covered with cheese sauce. He hands flyers out by the dozen, while others struggle to get a few tourists to take their pieces of paper.

And he has become an icon around here. In doing a bit of research for this post, I asked around the office, and EVERYONE knew who I was talking about with little or no explanation. Try describing a popular ad placed in the middle of prime time television. Some people know it, but even fewer will know what product it is for. That placement cost millions. This guy, for minimum wage (probably) stands outside a small diner and yells words that are literally not understandable. And people love him.

Does it sell more food? I’m really not sure. But they have created a buzz-worthy character with little to no spending. They could have wasted all their money on a stupid billboard or an ad in the paper. Heck, they could have really beat their marketing campaign to death and posted ads inside the Subway.

But they didn’t, and it’s been a real success. To top it off, their ‘advertisement’ is totally interactive. Not sure he will answer my questions in a real language, but I’m willing to give it a try. That’s marketing genius, brought to you by your local hole in the wall.

image via Flickr member Goran Anicic

Maybe Mr. T is Pretty Handy With Computers

This ad is fantastic. Like the kind that makes you want to go buy the product. The kind that makes you laugh until the guy two desks over asks you to stop. The kind that makes you wish the A-team would get back together for one more reunion special. The kind that makes you…I guess that’s enough.

For anyone who has ever gotten totally obsessed with any game like World of Warcraft, Mr. T portrays the feelings perfectly. And he has probably never played the game in his life. Or any video game, for that matter. I’m pretty sure if T really tried to play a video game, he would smash the controller, console, TV, coffee table, and walls if he got frustrated.

So either he has never played, he has played and is the best player ever, or he has Home Depot on speedial (to repair the holes in the walls, of course). I’m like a quarter of his size, and I’ve put some controller-sized holes in walls after a frustrating game of Madden.

Anyway, the spot is great, better even than the Toyota Tundra WoW spot. Please enjoy.

kudos to Kotaku for the heads up

Spoof That is So Right

So now I’ve written three or four posts on that incredible Cadbury Gorilla commercial. But now Adfreak is reporting that Wonderbra has created an awesome spoof of the now famous Gorilla Drummer. Right down to the opening nose twitching. And then they added…boobs. Well you can see for yourself here. Or now check it out below:

To me, this is great work for Wonderbra. They clearly have ear close to the ground, and have caught all the buzz on the Cadbury’s spot. They found a good (and not annoying or destructive) way to include their key brand concept. Great, and so very watchable. Enjoy (and don’t kill me Marisa!)

Beyond Weaknesses

For everyone getting ready for an interview, or if you just want to stay on top of your interviewing skills, InterviewUp is the site for you.

Advertising, programming, web design, and HR are just some of the job fields with questions on the site. You can also ask additional questions or provide some answers that might have worked for you in the past. Best of all, registration is free!

Check out the review for InterviewUp over at Lifehacker. Then head over and give it a try!

Behind the Scenes with Cadbury Gorilla

We have all seen some incredible animatronics in our time. But the most popular lately has no doubt been that gorilla from Cadbury’s. Their spot for Dairy Milk has been an internet phenomenon, helped relaunch Phil Collins to a new generation, and has even (gasp) boosted sales! It seems good creative and a well placed viral ad still works afterall.

Daily Mail, an online paper from the Brits, has written a comprehensive guide on everything Cadbury Gorilla.

The article reports all kinds of fun facts about the gorilla, from the actor behind the mask to the tech that makes it possible. Check out the full article here for more. Thanks to Adfreks for the tip-off.

Jordan’s Announce, “They Are Cheap”

I was sad when the hated Boston Red Sox and their stupid antics won the World Series. Matt Holliday suddenly turned into Travis Hafner, and with Papelbon on the mound, it never seemed close. It seemed inevitable that eventually Papelbon and the rest of the idiots would be celebrating like stupid Japanese Stormtroopers eventually. I turned off the TV with a heavy heart, but somehow I knew someone in Boston was going to pay.

And today, my wish came true. It seems (and I vaguely remember when this contest was announced) that Jordan’s Furniture of Massachusetts will have to reimburse thousands of customers (and millions of dollars) because the Sox won the World Series. The contest stated, simply enough, that if the Red Sox won the World Championship, anyone who bought furniture between March 7th and April 16th at Jordan’s would be reimbursed.

This become a huge PR move for Jordan’s, since this has become a big time story today. And they could be totally on top of it, smiling and happily recounting some great rebate stories. I’m sure there were some people who dropped a ton of money and just prayed the Sox would win. Why doesn’t Jordan’s do a press conference with them? Or schedule to have their new furniture shown off? What if Jordan’s had a special “Red Sox 2007, World Series champs” catalog, filled with the pics of those who won big in this promotion?

But instead, in every single bit of coverage on this story, I hear about how Jordan’s President, Eliot Tatelman, won’t have to cover all the contest expenses because he got contest insurance.

Well doesn’t that just deflate the “WIN” balloons that were streaming from the ceiling after winning the contest. The whole thing was just for the PR, since Jordan’s never intended on following through on their offer. You have to believe that since an insurance company is involved, people may spend years waiting for their rebates. Damn.

So to the people of Boston, it looks like you win twice. First, your beloved Red Sox have struck again. And second, that couch you are lounging in may some day be free. But when is a different story. And thanks, Jordan’s furniture, for tarnishing a great feel good story. I love my feel good stories.

via:
Businesses, not Cities, Win
Fox 4 Coverage
USA Today Coverage
Boston.com Write-Up