The Ranch

Making Shiner an icon

2009-10-30T10:08:00.003-05:00

When the beer is synonymous with the town, the branding has to speak for both. By using Shiner’s own voice, McGarrah Jessee has taken a quaint Texas town’s charm and spun it into a national brand. Don’t miss out on the Shiner brand story, the discussion afterward, and the beer throughout.

Austin AdFed Presents:

Turning an Assignment into a Legacy:
Shiner Brand Case Study by McGarrah Jessee.

Nov 3, 2009 • 6-8p

Scholz’s Biergarten

Click here to buy tickets.

Foreign Public Transportation Ads

2009-10-27T09:45:00.003-05:00

This is in response to the American Public Transportation Ads post.

Thank you to Alltop.com

2009-10-23T11:49:00.003-05:00

One of my UT advertising friends, Assaf who's now teaching at Cal-State Fullerton, told me that The Ranch is featured on Guy Kawasaki's web headline index site Alltop. Scroll down a little bit and you'll see it. Or do ctrl+F (Firefox) or command+F (Safari) to search for it.

Thanks to Alltop.com for thinking so highly of The Ranch!

Red Bull street marketing

2009-10-23T11:45:00.001-05:00

While brilliant on Red Bull's part, I think that this would be more ideal for a NASCAR marketing move as it introduces the northeastern US and urban dwelling crowd to a mostly rural and Southern-based NASCAR product.

Via Bized.

Would this make you take the stairs?

2009-10-13T16:20:00.005-05:00

"...in Stockholm’s Odenplan subway station, the staircase has been retrofitted to resemble giant piano keys, which produce real sound, to encourage commuters to climb the stairs rather than ride the escalator. According to this video — which seems to be part of a Volkswagen marketing initiative, though it’s unclear — it’s been a raging success."

Via Freakonomics.

Big Wig Voting for Ausin Ad Fed

2009-10-09T10:15:00.006-05:00

It's that time of year again for the Austin Advertising Federation's Big Wig Horror Show (Awards Show). The Ranch bloggers Matt Crump and Jocelyn Lai are nominated in the "Best Up-and-Comer" and "Ad Person of the Year" categories, respectively. In the "Educator of the Year" categories are also several worthy and deserving UT professors.

Go. Make your voice heard. Vote.

News Roundup

2009-09-24T09:37:00.007-05:00

Image from MLBlogs.com.

After a 50 year family feud between the two brothers who founded Adidas and Puma, there is a reconciliation, sort of.

XIPAX.com celebrates its first birthday. Stefan Böck and Helmut Kosa founded XIPAX.com on September 26th, 2008 and now there are more than 13.000 ads online.

Piryx Inc. partners with the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation.

Perfect Fools has created a global online experience for H&M's Auto Fashion Collection.

There's a highly provocative new breast cancer commercial by Rethink (Vancouver) featuring MTV Canada host Aliya Jasmine Sovani.

Microsofts follies in global marketing

2009-08-31T10:24:00.005-05:00

These are images from the Microsoft USA-Business site and Microsoft Poland-Business site.

Microsoft USA

Microsoft Poland

Via Digital Inspiration. Read more about the controversy at Tech Crunch.

Is Google biased against certain nonprofits?

2009-08-28T13:40:00.011-05:00

I received the following email about How Google and Social Entrepreneurs Perpetuate the Digital Divide Among Nonprofits. The attention grabbing title caused me to read the entire email which is unusually long. This particular excerpt caught my eye as it relates to advertising.

In the past few years, Google has “given away” $300 million worth of free advertising to nonprofit organizations through Google Grants. Following Google’s value of employee input, Google leaves most of the grantmaking decisions to regular employees. In the United States, Google’s employees are disproportionately White and Asian and from elite schools. These employees then give grants to organizations with interest like theirs and people they know, which most often are also White or Asian and from elite schools.

The advertising industry is not well-known for cultural diversity and this most likely affects advertising campaigns. For example, how would you expect college-educated people who grew up in the suburbs to figure out the "cool factor" of apparel targeted toward a more inner-city and urban demographic? How would a largely caucasian creative team understand the differences between Latinos or Asian-Americans (Chinese-Americans, Korean-Americans, Vietnamese-Americans, et al.)? How does this affect casting decisions? Not understanding demographics also relates to age. How would a creative team with an average age of 40 understand the 18-25 yr old demographic?

Read more of How Google and Social Entrepreneurs Perpetuate the Digital Divide Among Nonprofits below.

By Andrew Sears,
Executive Director-TechMission

In the past 10 years, I have been working to address the digital divide, which is the gap between those who have access to and training with technology. I serve as the Executive Director of TechMission, which runs the largest association of Black and Latino led nonprofits addressing the digital divide and manages UrbanMinistry.org, which is one of the most visited web portals of Black and Latino nonprofit leaders. During that time, I have seen many effective initiatives in addressing the digital divide. At the same time, I’ve seen many efforts that have been very well-intentioned, but in the end may have only made matters worse.

I grew up in the inner-city, but later went to MIT and co-founded the Internet Telecoms Consortium with on of the fathers of the Internet (David Clark) to study the social and business implications of the Internet. The most important thing I learned while studying complex systems at MIT is that often you make a change to the system and the result is exactly the opposite of what you were expecting.

Case in point: my wife and I went to Woodstock ’99—a complex system of people, alcohol, drugs, bands and unusually hot weather. At the concert, there was a nonprofit group wanting to promote peace, and it gave out thousands of “peace candles.” The result was the opposite of what they had intended because they had not thought through the consequences of giving candles to thousands of people who were inebriated and enraged from the extreme heat and exploitive prices at the concert. The result was that people used the candles to start hundreds of fires and burn everything in sight. A group wanting to promote peace at Woodstock unintentionally became a catalyst for riots, and in the worst circumstances, this is how complex systems work.

Addressing the digital divide and trying to help under-resourced communities is an extremely complex system. My assessment is that some of the largest efforts to address the digital divide by social entrepreneurs, including those at Google, may have unintentionally made matters worse among nonprofits.

Is Google Grants Hurting Black and Latino-Led Nonprofits?

In the past few years, Google has “given away” $300 million worth of free advertising to nonprofit organizations through Google Grants. Following Google’s value of employee input, Google leaves most of the grantmaking decisions to regular employees. In the United States, Google’s employees are disproportionately White and Asian and from elite schools. These employees then give grants to organizations with interest like theirs and people they know, which most often are also White or Asian and from elite schools.

This creates a bias in the process, but that is common in the nonprofit world. In fact, according to a report from the Greenlining Institute, foundations only give 3.6% of their funds to organizations led by people of color although people of color make up 52.4% of poverty in the USA. This bias is shown graphically in the adjacent diagram.

If that bias were the only effect Google Grants were having, then they would be no different than most foundations. The problem is how Google Grants works, by giving away “virtual money” that people can then bid on ads, they have essentially flooded the market for nonprofit ads with $300 million in virtual money.

Read more here.

The truth about bottled water

2009-08-19T10:00:00.003-05:00

Bottled water is safer and more pure than tap water. True or False? According to Tappening and Start a Lie, it's false. Some facts from Tappening are below.

EPA

FDA

Worldwide, 2.7 million tons of plastic are used each year to make water bottles, and in the United States, less than 20% of these bottles are recycled.

Via Adverblog.

The World’s Largest iPod

2009-08-06T09:22:00.003-05:00

Jonathan Ive, the man behind the design of Apple iPhone and iPod, recently created a giant iPod model that he sent as a gift to British fashion designer Sir Paul Smith on his birthday.

Via Digital Inspiration.

Nike remake feat.

2009-08-02T19:45:00.004-05:00

Ice Cube's 1993 hip-hop classic “It was a Good Day” was recently remade in to a Nike commercial featuring Paul Rodriguez (P.Rod). Because it's shot in LA, stay tuned for celebrity cameos.

View extended version at Kineda and the 0:60 second version at Adland.

Agency: W+K
Creative Director: Ean Lensch
Producer: Craig Smith
Nike Skate Group Creative: Jon Humphries
Production Company: Harvest
Director: The Hoffman Brothers
Executive Producer: Bonnie Goldfarb,
Scott Howard
Head Of Production: Rob Sexton
Director of Photography: Max Goldman
Editor: Mark Hoffman
Sound Design: Ravenswork
VFX Company: The Syndicate
Music Artist: Ice Cube
Song: It Was a Good Day

Help a non-profit win a social media makeover

2009-07-28T23:56:00.005-05:00

I'm back from China now and I'm catching up on emails. Jan Brown, Founder & Executive Director-Domestic Abuse Helpline for Men and Women, sent me the following note.

Each year, MindComet, the interactive agency behind the CommuniCause campaign gives back to the community by providing non-profit organizations free-of-charge agency services and donations. This year they are allowing America to nominate and vote for their favorite charity that they'd like to see win the grand prize of a Social Media Makeover valued at $25,000.

A winner will be randomly selected from the top ten charities that receive the most votes and upon awarding the winner, MindComet will provide the winner with expert consulting services to help improve their social media presence and fundraising outreach.

Please go to our website, click on the help my cause button at the top of the home page and vote for DAHMW to win a social media makeover...our ranking is starting to go up and we need you all to vote in order to win! After you have voted please send out this notice your friends and family and ask them to do the same.

Beer Ad in back of Taxi

2009-07-06T09:00:00.006-05:00

ZhuJiang beer has a really clever ad placed on the windows of taxi cabs. I agree with the original blog post author in that the brand gets lost as the window rolls down. The message of "it's ok to drink as long as you get a taxi" may be hard to understand too.

Via Little Red Book.

The Top 40 Real Men of Genius commercials

2009-07-02T10:16:00.005-05:00

As a former intern at DDB Chicago, I had the good fortune of meeting the creative team behind these ads. Before interning, I thought that these guys just sat around all day and came up with funny ideas. After hanging out with them a little bit, I realized how focused one has to be to do humor.

View all 40 ads at Epic Carnival.

Via Hot Clicks.

Making Old-World Advertising Work - 10 Ways Twitter Will Change American Business - TIME

2009-06-15T18:01:00.001-05:00

Making Old-World Advertising Work - 10 Ways Twitter Will Change American Business - TIME

Shared via AddThis

Where are we headed?

2009-06-11T19:07:00.002-05:00

I would like to open up a discussion on how should we create new business models for the ad world. It's pretty apparent things are changing. We've lost in some way credibility and the working model is begging for new thoughts from the core.

What do ya'll think? Some think that we should work based on results, but then how do we justify the overhead of our people. Either way, some accounts work on a 'pitch the project concept' and we're having that problem anyway.

Love to hear perspectives.

Cheers.

Congrats to Matt

2009-06-01T14:43:00.006-05:00

Congrats to Texas Creative Alumni Matt Morris for his work on the DVD-ROM based on the PBS- Andrew Jackson microsite. The DVD-ROM was featured in the 2009 Communication Arts Interactive Annual: Interaction Design.

Sharon Hannon, KCET, writer
Philip Dunn, KCET, creative director
Matthew Morris, designer
Jimmy Mooney, JM Interactive, information architect
Peter Grant, KCET, illustrator
Kate Fulton, KCET, associate producer
Dan McDowell, KCET/Douglas Varchol, KCET, producers
Jackie Kain, KCET/David Neiman, Sketch Interactive, executive producers
JM Interactive (Austin, TX)/Sketch Interactive (Los Angeles, CA), project design and development
KCET, client

Perils of Internet Advertising

2009-05-27T14:06:00.003-05:00

I know it's a system of looping ads, probably based on an algorithm, but this has to be one of the worst ad placements.

via Jalopnik.

Cannes Young Lions 48 Hour Ad Contest 2009

2009-05-19T00:59:00.003-05:00

Check out and vote for the submission of the super jr. creative duo of Ashley and Krystha.

Agency: Y&R San Francisco
Jr. AD: Ashley J George
Jr. CW: Krystha Barrera

Google Reader (1000+)

2009-05-06T22:22:00.002-05:00

"When people can no longer tolerate one problem, their tolerance of all their other problems bottoms out."

Such wise words from such a young soul, ms. thompson. It was just put really well and I wanted to document it.

Via Google Reader.

News Roundup

2009-05-06T16:11:00.009-05:00

Francisco Ramos has an outstanding photography portfolio.

Amsterdam Worldwide launched a Pan-European blogger outreach for Asic' sportstyle for the "Left & Right" campaign.

Check out the Passion Pit music video "The Reeling" directed by Danziger, Stephens, and Hobbs (Hobbs is the former co-ECD along with Texas-Ex Peter Rosch).

The 7th Annual Portfolio Night is coming June 11! View agency-created commercials by Amsterdam/Montreal (Sid Lee), Chicago (Gertrude Inc), Los Angeles (David & Goliath), Quebec City (Socom), and San Francisco (PJA Advertising).

Chris Abraham is teaching a series of webinars about the power of twitter and online marketing. May 7 is "How to defend and protect your brand reputation online- co-hosted with Jay Jaffe" and May 14 is "How to do social media marketing: bloggers, social networks, metrics, and more". The webinars are FREE.

updated: View current and previous presentations and transcripts here and here.

updated: Bob Pearson, former head of social media at Dell, is now the President of the Blog Council. Read more at Andy Sernovitz's blog.

American Public Transportation Ads

2009-04-30T09:11:00.005-05:00

These are two recent—2009—ads for American public transportation companies.

Via FortWorthology

Via Commarts

Simple is The New Black

2009-04-23T09:17:00.003-05:00

Simplicity Becomes a Selling Point
Foodmakers Emphasize Uncomplicated Ingredients
By Jane Black
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 7, 2009; A01

Haagen-Dazs's new line of ice cream, Five, doesn't hide the ingredients in tiny type on the back of the carton. Every one -- milk, cream, sugar, eggs and vanilla bean -- is prominently displayed in bright-orange capital letters. The fact that the brand's regular vanilla bean ice cream also has just five ingredients is beside the point. Food marketers have come to realize that simplicity sells.

Advocates for healthful eating have long tried to steer Americans away from highly processed foods that contain dozens of unnatural and unpronounceable ingredients. Now, driven by a drumbeat of food recalls -- ground beef, peanuts and, most recently, pistachios -- consumers may be more inclined to heed the call.

Last week, Snapple Beverage unveiled a reformulated line of drinks and an eight-figure marketing campaign emphasizing that its iced teas are made from green and black tea and "real" sugar. Frito-Lay is boasting that its potato chips, tortilla chips and even Fritos are each made with just three ingredients. The hope: that consumers will equate fewer ingredients with healthfulness, even when it comes to ice cream and chips.

"It's a convergence of health, food safety, taste and traceability," said Phil Lempert, a food and consumer behavior analyst who calls himself the Supermarket Guru. "People are reading labels more carefully than they were previously. When they pick up a product and it has 30 ingredients and they don't know what half of them are, they are putting it back on the shelves."

The message of simplicity and purity is just the latest in a long line of marketing strategies employed by food manufacturers. In the 1980s, product labels trumpeted low-fat credentials. In the 1990s, even packages of bread crowed about low levels of carbohydrates. "We've reduced fat and calories; that's reductive," said Aurora Gonzalez, a Frito-Lay spokeswoman. "Now we look at how can we add pluses. Whole grains are a good example of that. Another part that is complementary is the simplicity of ingredients."

On one hand, the move is a victory for those who have long preached the glory of simple, less processed foods. In his best-selling book "In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto" (Penguin, 2008), Michael Pollan writes that the first rule is to avoid any food products with more than five ingredients and those that contain unfamiliar ingredients (or high-fructose corn syrup).

But such advice was not meant to suggest that anything that contains a large number of ingredients is bad. A home-cooked stew or a Spanish paella, for example, has dozens of ingredients but is what Pollan and others deem "real" food. Sugar, in contrast, is just one ingredient but can be harmful in large quantities.

"It is better that the food be simpler than more complex," Pollan said in an interview. "On the other hand, this is another case of food manufacturers reformulating to reflect whatever the latest critique of their food is and turning what it is a criticism into a marketing strategy to sell more food."

Five is not a great departure for Haagen-Dazs, which has always catered to consumers who value high-quality ingredients. But it approaches the message in a new way, stressing wholesomeness and purity over indulgence.

For Frito-Lay, a focus on real ingredients is a new way to help consumers overcome their guilt about eating snack chips. Last year, the company redesigned the back panels of bags of Lay's potato chips, Tostitos tortilla chips and Fritos. The Lay's bag shows a pile of fresh potatoes. On Tostitos' bag, an ear of corn has the husk pulled back to show it filled with corn chips. "It's anecdotal, but we've had people tell us that they didn't know there were potatoes in potato chips," Gonzalez said. "What it is trying to reinforce is our agricultural base. People forget corn chips come from corn."

A new series of television ads drives home the message of purity. In one Tostitos spot, a young woman at the grocery store reads the ingredients on the back of a bag of another brand of tortilla chips. "Thirteen ingredients. That's more people than I invited to the party." Instead she chooses a bag of Tostitos. "White corn, vegetable oil and salt. Three ingredients is good."

In a new multimillion-dollar ad campaign, Snapple also promotes natural ingredients. The decision, said spokesman Bryan Mazur, was prompted by broad consumer interest in where food comes from and company research that showed that most consumers, even those loyal to Snapple, had little idea what each bottle contained. According to one survey, only 32 percent of Snapple customers knew that its tea beverages were made with real tea leaves.

The new Snapple label boasts that the drink is "made with green and black tea leaves." "We don't consider it rebranding but continuing to deliver 'the best stuff on Earth,' " said Mazur, the company's vice president of marketing, quoting the company motto. "What the best stuff on Earth was then is not what the best stuff is right now."

Will such products help Americans to eat more healthfully? Pollan is not optimistic. Successful marketing campaigns have led many to feel virtuous about eating large quantities of low-fat cookies or low-carb pastas, even as obesity among U.S. adults continued to rise.

Some experts dismiss such complaints, however. Government figures predict food prices will increase between 3.5 percent and 4 percent in 2009. Fresh fruits and vegetables already tend to be more expensive than processed foods, a gap that is more pronounced for families during hard times. A recent survey showed that 81 percent of U.S. adults are making some effort to limit spending on groceries; 40 percent are eating less nutritious foods as a result. Low-income people were hit hardest, according to Multi-Sponsor Surveys, a Princeton, N.J., research firm. Of those categorized as "down and out," 65 percent reported they were eating less nutritiously. The figure was 59 percent for those categorized as "on the edge."

"Processed food -- whatever that means -- is not all terrible," says analyst Lempert. "The reality is that in the next 20 to 30 years we're going to double the number of people on the planet. We need to figure out how to feed people in a good, affordable way."

Up next for food manufacturers' marketing plans: going local. The concept is the current darling of sustainable-food advocates and environmentalists because food sourced or processed locally tends to be fresher and have a lower carbon footprint. Frito-Lay's Gonzalez noted that the company has 32 plants around the country and that, for example, Tostitos sold in Washington area stores were produced 70 miles away in Aberdeen, Md. The company is working on new messages to connect their products to local communities.

For Pollan, a local pedigree and fewer ingredients may be better. But ultimately, he says, "It's still junk food."

Enrich Your Résumé

2009-04-06T15:46:00.005-05:00

Matt Crump and Jocelyn Lai (see their portfolios in the portfolio section in the sidebar) have launched a new business called Vitamin CV. They fortify and strengthen resumes and cover letters through enhanced typography and diction.