ml haynes design

Imagine you’re sitting around with a group of colleagues, taking a break and talking about what you’re working on, what you wish you were working on. The conversation is more freeform jam than academic discourse and one topic taps and turns into another. Your thoughts are going a mile a minute and there you are without something to jot down the gems that are whizzing by.

I recently found myself having a similar experience with a small, inexpensive paperback book entitled, Digital Advertising: Past, Present, and Future. The collection of essays charts the past and predicts the future of “what we used to call the advertising industry.” Asking and answering questions like “What did we learn from the 12KB banner?” and “What does the agency of the future look like?” the contributors offer insights and ideas on what we’ve built and what we might be in the process of creating — if we’re creating at all.

More a survey and overview than in-depth and technical piece, this book reminds those of us in the industry just how far we’ve come in the last couple of decades. If you were there building ads in the beginning, you’ll appreciate Matt Powell’s “When the 12 KB GIF Banner Was King.” Patrick Gardner’s “When Sweden Rules the World” lays out the seven values that make that country’s digital advertising (and quality of life in general) successful, enviable in most cases. And wrapping up the collection is Daniele Fiandaca’s “Agency of the Future” which details the ten characteristics common to all successful agencies in the decade to come.

Creative Social is a collective founded by Fiandaca and Mark Chalmers and dedicated to inspiring the industry, promoting the industry, educating the industry, and having fun doing while doing so. With twice yearly meetings at different worldwide locales, a small group of pioneers in creative and business collaborate and catalyze movement and change. With the publication of Digital Advertising: Past, Present, and Future—with related blogs and social media events—we all have the opportunity to sit down and listen to these thinkers and makers. We can begin to think about things anew and, quite possibly, take those thoughts into our lunch rooms, lounges, studios, and offices and spark up more conversation. Pick up a great read and start creating your agency of the future now.

Creative Social San Francisco from Daniele Fiandaca on Vimeo.

It’s the ad with the funny-looking guy wearing that loud jacket and that jingle that sticks in your head for days. Maybe it’s the spot with the animated character who looks like dancing zombie road kill, or perhaps it’s the one with the actor-turned-singer-turned-security-guard. They are the ads we can’t stand but we can’t stand to turn off, and they’re being honored by Consumerist.com’s first annual Worst Ad in America Awards.

Last week, it was announced that a roster of 30 ads (airing this year) would be competing within six categories, among them major brands like Honda, McDonald’s, and State Farm and some lesser-known but equally as liable brands such as 1-800 Dentist and 5-Hour Energy. All of the contestants were chosen based on readers’ submissions.

“The masses have spoken and they are sick and tired of viewing ads that only stimulate irritation, rather than substance,” said Meghann Marco, executive editor of Consumerist.com.

The nation’s leading not-for-profit consumer advocacy organization and subsidiary of Consumers Union, the publisher of Consumer Reports, and ConsumerReports.org recently announced the winners of the “Fast Forward” Award; here they are in each of the six categories. Take a look — is that spot you love to hate a 2010 winner? Would you admit it if it was?!

Absolute Worst Ad in America:
Staples — Wow! That’s a Low Price!



Most Grating Performance by a Human:
McDonald’s — The “Don’t-even-talk-to-me-until-I’ve-had-my-coffee” jerkface



Most Annoying Animated Spokesthing:
The General Insurance — The General



Duo or Group Who Needs to be Broken Up:
J.G. Wentworth — The Opera-Singing Bus Riders



Celebrity Who Must Have Lost the Most Money in the Housing Crash:
ExtenZe — Jimmy Johnson



Creepiest Commercial:
Liberator Medical — No More Used Catheters

Final results can be found here.

This post also appears at TalentZoo’s blog, Beneath the Brand, as “The Worst Ad in America.”

The new integrated campaign for Dickies launched via online video “tough tests” last week. This initial offering — the first round of work from Goodby, Silverstein & Partners — shows 874 Work Pants taking a beating, literally, as they’re ripped apart by squealing choppers, torn and shredded by massive wrecking balls, and rolled down a meticulously groomed hillside.

Each black-and-white clip is a combination of the old “don’t try this at home” instructional film and “don’t try this with stuff you’ve paid decent money for” product demonstration. Taking what has been a staple of skaters, surfers, hirsute tradesmen, and wannabe rockers, the GSP team brings this brand to the hard core. You know those guys and gals: the ones with the biker chain clipped to their belt loop, the steel-toe boots, and the compostable lunch bag in their recycled rubber messenger bag.

Watching the series, I couldn’t help but think brand loyalists aren’t the type to be sold with old-school show-and-tell demos like these. They’ve been trained over a lifetime to be skeptical of these well-choreographed tests and product performances. Folks new to the brand are probably in the same place in regard to what influences their purchasing decisions. The rough characters who star in these films aren’t buying it either, and they certainly are not watching videos online. Hell, they’re still rocking classic rock radio in their pickup trucks for a good time.

What’s going on here? Choppers pulling a pair of pants apart. Levi’s denim tags sport a mule team doing the same and have been for decades. Product is attached to a swinging steel ball and aimed at a thick concrete wall. Check out classic commercials of the ’60s and ’70s, and you’ll see this has been a staple for more than half a century. It didn’t get more tough than a Timex watch attached to an arrowhead, shot through a pane of glass by a gentleman wearing a plaid flannel shirt.

What was that last “test” again?

That’s right. Those tough twill pants are worn by a gravity-loving, bearded hipster who simply cannot resist the urge to rock, roll, and bounce down a beautiful hillside obviously landscaped by a professional film crew and production team. Parkour, I think not. This guy likes a good tumble it would appear, and, well, it just isn’t that easy to get yourself a chopper at the last minute, let alone a wrecking ball without calling ahead. What better way to show the world that you — and your new pants — have earned the badass Dickies label?

I recently attended a one-day working session at HP headquarters in Palo Alto. With nine presenters scheduled in just as many hours I came prepared to gain actionable insights on technology, strategy and the future of interactive advertising. Presenters showcased the agency, advertiser, supplier, VC and developer challenges each face today and hinted at how they planned to meet new challenges in the future. Here are some of the more interesting take-aways:

Gary Elliot of HP
Everything is a service.

Michael Theodore of IAB
Online brand building is ineffective. Sponsorships, search and digital video are most effective.
As the “most accountable medium” we are still tweaking and arguing over measurement models and methodolgy; we need cross-industry consensus on this.
To avoid FTC regulation, there is an immediate need to create a self-regulating framework and process for working within that framework.

Curt Hecht of VivaKi
After a spending a year and observing 25 million users, the efficacy of user-selected pre-roll ads on Hulu.com is confirmed. Users will choose which ads they watch in exchange for the video content they crave.

Chris Curtin of HP
“Searchandising” — make it easy for users to find the product that interests them.
Technology + behavior = Mobile at retail
Ideas don’t count until you do them.

John Coyne of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners
Bring your discipline, leave your department.
The fear of irrelevance should drive us all to change.
Change + Convergence + Collaboration

Emma Cookson of BBH USA
When looking for creative talent consider two key attributes: Diplomacy and Generosity.
“Getting it done” is the new heroism.
Moving beyond networking, working harmoniously and to each person’s mutual benefit, sharing expertise and disseminating information through the agency is key to an agency’s evolution.

George Gallate of Euro RSCG 4D
Put digital at the core of everything.
Technology does not equal ROI. But technology to the power of creativity does.

Erin Clift of AOL
Build platforms to scale, allowing for smart growth.
Even with perishable content, the portal can flex to deliver relevant content to a built-up “fan base” user group.

Nancy Hill of AAAA
Work to extinguish outdated compensation models and tensions between agency and client

Calvin Lui of Tumri
Chic versus Geek — we need to marry art and science, knowing how to inspire consumers.
Consider “interest-based advertising” versus behavioral targeting

Every year I set the DVR, rearrange the furniture, stock up on salty snacks and spend a few hours watching television commercials with some football to break it up. This year a perennial contender bowed out, opting instead to put their mouth where their money was. Instead of fighting it out with lite beer and sports cars, Pepsi choose to put their energy, and sizable budget, into social media.

Leaving other predictable brands in ever-predictable broadcast media, the other cola promoted their latest initiative, the Pepsi Refresh Project. And while it hasn’t received the buzz of the ManCrunch, Tebow or Betty White/Snickers spots, the industry will be watching and taking note of just what happens when one of their own decides to sit out the Super Bowl. Refresh, indeed.

Now screening in select art-house theaters across the U.S. is an 86-minute documentary entitled, “Art & Copy.” No stranger to the documentary genre and familiar with commercial film as advertising, director Doug Pray points the camera at ad legends and affords us, the viewers, an opportunity to see and hear from the creators of iconic campaigns and cultural game-changers.

I sought out the film, having heard about its release post-Sundance, and found myself sitting in a tired, old movie house amongst what appeared to be kindred spirits. There’s a certain stature to advertising creatives — or I like to think so — and we all seemed to carry the same attitude of reverence for the masters in front of us with a touch of show-me-something-new cockiness. All casual and laid back, but all knowing and up front about it. I was actually surprised at how many of us showed up for a Wednesday 8pm showing. I thought we’d all still be hunched over our keyboards, working out one last thing before the holiday.

I was also surprised to learn about two amazing women who pioneered this testosterone-heavy business — Phyllis Robinson and Mary Wells. It’s not often that women or their work are showcased, but here they have quite a bit of screen time. Robinson, the first copy chief at Doyle Dane Bernbach and originator of the “Me Generation,” speaks gracefully of how her process was not so much one of complete creation but of reflection. Mary Wells, first woman to own and run an ad agency, first female CEO to take a company public and creator of the “I Love New York” campaign, describes how an ad campaign turned into a complete re-branding and changed an industry.

Two other favorites — Hal Riney and Lee Clow — get plenty of attention as they explain what creativity is, how it works (and doesn’t work) and what makes a brand, a company and an agency successful. Riney passed away in March 2008; Clow will retire in 2010. Both men created some of advertising’s most memorable campaigns and have some of the best backstories on those campaigns. And while each man’s distinctive style may not sync with the quick-cut, hyper-speed sensibilities of today’s creatives — and certainly the brands trying oh-so-hard to stay current — they will both be missed.

Art & Copy, a film by Doug Pray. Worth the wait. Worth the search. Order the large popcorn.

Much has passed since Chicago’s failed bid for the 2016 Summer Games, but I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to pass along this invaluable resource and blow-by-blow description of what goes into such a weighty pitch. The author and advertising veteran, Jon Steel, caps 288 pages of how-to with an insider’s perspective on “the perfect pitch” — London’s winning bid for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Perfect Pitch: The Art of Selling Ideas and Winning New Business is a human and humorous examination of what feeds the advertising agency: new business. The pitch that can ignite new business and become a spark for a fruitful relationship doesn’t happen in a hasty planning meeting and certainly not if that meeting takes place mere hours before the presentation and in the car on the way to that presentation. Been there. Done that. To read Steel describe the strategic planning, tireless practice and enthusiastic performance — combined with respect for his audience and his team — is to re-engage with what can make the process so exciting and enjoyable.

In the course of his storytelling, and he has some great stories, he not-so-gently points out the pitfalls of Powerpoint, the importance of taking time out and time off, and the value of engaging and entrusting team members to do their best and shine. Steel’s scorn for the slideshow crutch that so many marketing folks lean on is keen and shared by those who sit and agonize over this unwelcome part of any presentation (much less new business pitch). He gives more than lip service to satisfying the need to return to our real lives and refuel with the precious energy that comes from time spent with family and friends. And his gracious reminder that we do best when when both stirred and supported by our peers is compelling in the truest sense of the word.

Webtrends, the granddaddy of web analytics apps, launched Webtrends Open Campaign. According to their mid-August press release, Open Campaign is “a transparent look at digital marketing today through the execution of an integrated multi-touch campaign.” In other words, the folks who brought us traffic stats and other under-the-hood goodies are showing us how it’s done. Promises to be an interesting ride.

Using a broad blogging platform, social media APIs and a cast of in-house and partner characters, we’re invited to not only watch but participate in the digital marketing campaign for new product, Analytics 9.

Webtrends, once *the* analytics and measurement tool for web dev and marketers, was put into deep shadow by Google Analytics. Like so many other pay-to-play apps, this once standard tool was pretty much forgotten by most web dev and managers I knew. Google just made it so darn easy. And who can argue with free?

The Webtrends Open Campaign will pull back the covers on a comprehensive initiative. Marketers will no doubt appreciate the transparency and opportunity to poke around someone else’s plan and execution. I’m curious to follow the effects of audience participation on the process and the follow-through on transparency.

With an all-access pass to a new online campaign, I’m going to give it a whirl. How about you?