Cleveland Advertising

Michael Bierut This Friday

2009-11-11T10:55:00.001-05:00

Totally recommend this event at the CIA on Friday. Michael Bierut (of Pentagram) is a design legend / library and is featured in the film Helvetica. I've heard him speak a few times. He's great and this topic couldn't be awesomer.

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Social Media Luncheon

2009-11-11T10:42:00.001-05:00

The Cleveland Ad Club (AAF) put on a great luncheon today about brands & marketers using social media. Featuring Shawn Morton of Nationwide Insurance and David Alston of Radian6.

Think of social media less like media and more like a phone call. It's a 2-way conversation. If they haven't already, brands should hook up their phone, answer it, "Hi, how can we help you," then listen and participate in the conversation; solving problems based on public expressions. All these conversations EQUALS the brand.

Less about the 4 P's
Place: Doesn't matter much any more. Promotion: No one wants to hear brands spouting about how great they are. That one-way fluff is bad. Product: More about user experience and being remarkable. Price: More about relevance and again, user experience. Target Market: Mass marketing angers 99%.

More about the 5 C's
Content: of value, strive to be an experience innovator. For example, Nationwide sponsors Nascar, OSU sports and Tavis Smiley. And using social media, they are able to offer exclusive and relevant content to their online audience, often in real time. Whether it's autographs of Nascar drivers or an interactive game where you can dot the "i" of the OSU band script "Ohio." Valuable information can also be collected, especially offering sweepstakes, etc. Community: Includes those of similar interest. Brands must cross the barrier to live with consumers, and turn negatives into appreciative closure if not a positive. Conversation: Builds relationships, community and content, all of which add value. Collaberation: Run with bulls, not corral the cows. For example, "80% of people agree to not text while driving. What do you think?" Feedback is all relevant to the Nationwide audience. Connections: Ambient relationships grow.

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2010 Olympic Medals

2009-10-17T09:07:00.001-05:00

Lovely design of these Winter Olympic medals and they are made from recycled bronze, silver and gold. From Fast Company: "the Olympic committee is saving perfectly good gold, silver, and bronze from ending up in landfills. Because it makes no sense to mine for new gold when a single junked PC has more of the stuff in it than 17 tons of ore."

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Timberland TV Spot

2009-09-30T13:01:00.000-05:00

According to Ad Sneeze (thanks to Dougy for sharing), "This tv commercial is based on the real story of the Tyler Abrams." Very interesting and well done:

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Charles & Ray Eames

2009-08-20T10:02:00.001-05:00

Broadcast on the NBC television network in 1956:

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Bill Bernbach

2009-07-30T08:06:00.004-05:00

I was just taken by a few quotes from advertising legend Bill Bernbach. Here's an excerpt from an AgAge article: "In those days, copywriters tended to look down on art directors, but Bernbach didn't know that. When he met legendary designer Paul Rand, the agency's art director, the young copywriter was profoundly impressed. They would visit art galleries and museums during lunch breaks, and talk about art and copy working in harmony. Bernbach understood how such collaborations could liberate agency creative work."

Highly recommend his quotes which are very relevant for today's advertisers. A few favorites:

A great ad campaign will make a bad product fail faster. It will get more people to know it's bad.

In this very real world, good doesn't drive out evil. Evil doesn't drive out good. But the energetic displaces the passive.

No matter how skillful you are, you can't invent a product advantage that doesn't exist. And if you do, and it's just a gimmick, it's going to fall apart anyway.

Properly practiced creativity can make one ad do the work of ten.

The most powerful element in advertising is the truth.

Steel Valley: Meltdown

2009-07-28T08:19:00.002-05:00

This trailer looks really nice. It's a locally produced documentary about Youngstown.

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Agency Survival Tips

2009-07-27T14:32:00.005-05:00

Good agency survival tips from Business Week & Doner's executive creative, including: "So your client doesn’t have the money for that big campaign? Bring ideas they can afford and bring lots of them. When the economy comes back, they’ll remember that you were the one that didn’t just tighten your belt, but used a smarter belt." Read them all here.

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Muppets + La Choy

2009-06-19T20:36:00.001-05:00

From 1966, this apparently is a pitch for La Choy brand of food products. Jim Henson is a genius.

Following Stimulus Funds

2009-06-11T10:59:00.004-05:00

I heard a story on NPR about recovery.org, which has a better, more thorough analysis of the federal funding across the country. But recovery.gov has a better logo. It's visually navigated with maps and extremely detailed, down to the municipality. Here's what's happening in Cuyahoga County. Speaking of sweet informational graphics, check out this graphic of funds from the Washington Post.

How To Be A Great Client

2009-06-09T08:50:00.005-05:00

Great advice for clients (and their agency people) from The Denver Egotist.

GM Owes The Ad Industry $$$

2009-06-02T10:06:00.002-05:00

The huge specific amounts of money that GM owes several large ad agencies is covered by Media Bistro. This tv spot talks about "getting down to business" and beginning at "chapter one" which seems a decade too late. Michael Moore has really interesting suggestions for the future of GM, from The Huffington Post.

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In Defense of Food : Michael Pollan

2009-05-30T12:10:00.002-05:00

Really enjoyed this book as well as The Omnivore's Dilemma. From The Colbert Report, here's Michael Pollan with some excellent, healthy tips for the American diet:

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Michael Pollan

colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Keyboard Cat

Co-Branded Ads from HBO

2009-05-26T12:24:00.009-05:00

True Blood is a good vampire show on HBO. To promote the upcoming season, they've teamed up with a few brands. I think these special products and co-branded ads are extremely interesting. Read more from USA Today. See examples from Harley-Davidson, above; and also from Mini.

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25 Must-Have iPhone Apps

2009-05-18T07:31:00.002-05:00

iPhone apps are very intriguing, especially when it comes to commerce. Of course there are fun games and ways to communicate with friends. But how do companies with products to sell get involved. Target is a good example, offering gift guides, special deals etc. It's #19 on Fast Companies list. And a list of money-saving apps here.

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Cleveland Ideas

2009-05-13T09:04:00.002-05:00

Cleveland Ideas is great example of making the world (Cleveland) a better place through collective brainstorming online. This open source method of sharing creativity / information has potential to develop some serious ideas. As you are voting on your favorite ideas, you find out the genius behind it: DigiKnow is an interactive agency in Cleveland who have developed this as a self promotional device. Well done!
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MVP LeBron James

2009-05-07T13:17:00.005-05:00

New Devo Song & Video

2009-05-05T13:25:00.003-05:00

NIN iPhone App

2009-04-07T19:41:00.005-05:00

Cleveland's own Trent Reznor and his band Nine Inch Nails have always had a rich & creative digital presence, in addition to their studio releases. As usual, their photos, websites and videos are well done and often showcase hardware and software from Apple. Now they are embracing the iPhone with an app. Details from the creators and Wired:

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25 Ads From Sci-Fi Movies

2009-04-06T12:05:00.004-05:00

A nifty collection from Den of Geek. Also today's Very Short List feature.

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Holographic or 3D Promotions

2009-03-27T15:06:00.009-05:00

These things are amazing. They look like computer generated holograms that show up the image from a video camera hooked to your pc. This wind power advertisement from GE (for whom I used to do work) is awesome. Very fun to play with.

And this Topps (baseball card) promo is more like a game where you interact with the players. Very cool, tactile + technology viral consumer marketing.

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Social Media Applications

2009-03-25T15:19:00.006-05:00

Just read an article on Adweek about recently released software which keeps tabs on all the major social networks for you. Pretty great idea, and get this: ad agencies are behind it. Fallon has a very nice looking app called Skimmer which I'm looking forward to test driving. Also, Big Spaceship, an amazing creative boutique shop, came up with Qapture. Here's to the future of our business...

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What Makes a Good Creative Director

2009-03-19T09:19:00.006-05:00

From my friend Joseph Hughes and "The Denver Egotist," this great post describes qualities of a good CD. Just excellent advice for those managing creatives. Links to: Part One & Part Two

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The Designers Accord

2009-02-05T09:18:00.006-05:00

Valerie Casey started the Designers Accord which is an open resource for designers of all kinds to produce sustainable products and business practices. This is then translated to educating clients and developing their own business plans. Check out this interesting interview with Val about the inception. Here's to good design!

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The great society : LBJ

2009-01-27T11:19:00.000-05:00

Companies spend more on marketing, sacrificing quality in their products. And over-marketing tends to desensitize (and sometimes annoy) the consumer. It's a lose-lose. While doing research about the marketing industry, I ran across this quote:

"The Great Society is a place where every child can find knowledge to enrich his mind and to enlarge his talents. … It is a place where the city of man serves not only the needs of the body and the demands of commerce but the desire for beauty and the hunger for community. … It is a place where men are more concerned with the quality of their goals than the quantity of their goods."

Lyndon B. Johnson