ss_blog_claim=5f03e3e7fa6ca8c951b6fbd30fa71c10 2008 December | 12pointtype.com

Monthly archives

I’m No Illustrator!

OK, yes, I went to school to be an Illustrator. At the time, I didn’t know what the hell to do with my creative energy. I was told that my talent and desires would be best honed in the Illustration major. I said, “OK” with no argument. I was hoping to get in the Computer Animation major, but in retrospect, I’m very glad I didn’t. My Illustration BFA took four hard and glorious years to achieve–and even in the end, I wasn’t sure it was the right pick.

Don’t tell any of my fellow Illustration mates–they’d kill me for this. It…

Billy Mays Can Sell Anything

Whatever Billy Mays sells, he enunciates wildly in exactly the same pitch, while wearing his signature shoe-leather black beard and trademark blue work shirt and khakis. That goes for the “amazing!” product  attributes of this ESPN 360 web site, which allows you to “watch your favorite teams and sports online, anywhere, anytime!”

Three TV spots, which are parodies of infomercials — are pretty funny. They’re not ESPN Sports Center-level funny–but good enough for a chuckle here and there. In one spot, the always hyper one explains that it’s so easy to use, “even my family loves it,” as his blonde wife and daughter…

Honda is Reliable

Honda as it seems has decided to take the high road. Instead of showing us the glitz and glamour of its most expensive vehicles; it shows us several self-sacrificing parents as they get out of bed at the crack of dawn, to drive their kids to hockey practice. It’s an effective buildup to the voice-over, “As reliable as the people who drive them. Honda, official vehicle of the NHL and hockey parents everywhere.”

Now here are my questions: viewers who fall into this category (or, for that matter, who are dutiful parents in non-hockey ways) will they accept the spot’s praise of Honda?…

Ten Things I’d LOVE To See In 2009!

10 – Our Troops all coming home ahead of time, safely and being appreciated for doing an impossible job!
9 – More Talented, Smart Creative people being rehired in Advertising
8 – The Ad Industry coming to their senses that Creatives are the muscle that drives our industry
7 – The economy rebounds from the current melt down as fast as possible!
6 – The price of gas continues to plunge and we’re paying under a buck a gallon by February and it doesn’t stop going down there… (Oil companies going under would make my millenium!)
5 – Wall Street Interlopers, Scum Bag Politicians, Predatory…

Ten Things I Can Do Without in 2009

10 – More Jerry Seinfeld-Bill Gates Microsoft commercials (Give up, you suck!)
9 -  More GEICO Caveman and GECKO commercials (Unwatchable)
8 -  Any Advertising of any kind with Paris Hilton in it (Just go away already)
7 -  Any Political Campaign ad or commercial… (I think we had our fill in 2008 to last a lifetime?)
6 -  Any Politician saying “I approved this commercial.”  (If you can’t put together a good tv spot,
how can you think you can run anything?”)
5 – Stop talking about “Change We Can Believe In” (and actually start DOING some of that change!)
4 – More New Brand launches…

Blogo

If you’re running a Mac, and looking for an easy way to  write and edit blog posts, Blogo might be just the things for you. Brainjuice has just released version 1.2 for Mac.

Easily publish text, images, videos, slideshows and more. With a simple, intuitive interface and support for Wordpress, Blogger, Typepad, Typo, Drupal, and Expression Engine, Blogo is the best way to maintain your blog and spread the word with Twitter, Ping.fm and other supported services.

Designed to be used from your desktop, it’s a quick and easy way to publish when you have the chance, whether online or not. It also…

Have We Hit the Bottom of the Sponsorship Well?

With the NCAA College Bowl Game season upon us, 34 to be exact, the pervasiveness of corporate sponsorship seems as deep as ever. But in fact as Department Stores drop their backing of holiday parades and when clients like GM don’t renew their sponsorship deal with the New York Yankees, have we hit the bottom of the sponsorship well? It definitely appears that way…

The NASCAR world has been dominated by the news of teams losing sponsorships as opposed to celebrating the three-peat championship of driver Jimmie Johnson. No sport is immune.

Who do you think will be hit next with a sponsorship meltdown?

  • NHL
  • College World Series
  • UFC
  • Drag Racing
  • WNBA
  • MLS
  • MLL

vote…

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR!

All the best in health, wealth and happiness for the holidays, in 2009 and beyond… Wishing everyone all that they hope and wish for and aspire to. Hoping this is the year for us all to experience the best creative of our careers and 2009 is your best career year ever and this is the year of the “Big Idea.” Sincerely, from JOEL KIRSTEIN.

Be a man,

Buy her a musical, is the tag line for the recent Mamma Mia DVD release. I was watching something on television last weekend, and this caught my ear.

I know for some women, this would be quirky and cute. I immediately texted my husband though, “don’t you dare buy me a musical for Christmas.” I can think of a million things I would rather receive as a present.

This sort of ad makes me worry for the woman that is maybe new to a relationship, and might be like me, annoyed by musicals, find horror movies enjoyable, and despise any sort of stereotyping…

Since It’s Winter

I found this commercial on Youtube the other day.  Since it’s winter I thought I’d use it for a blog.  It doesn’t snow that much here in North Carolina and if you are from Florida or somewhere like that you won’t be able to relate.  There’s nothing like scraping ice off your window in the morning, and on that note here we go…


Chris Nifong is a designer/screen printer from NC who will be spending Christmas in Florida and for some reason Christmas on the beach really isn’t that exciting to him. Bring on the snow.

LOGOS

I also got a number of emails from people who aren’t necessarily sports fans to the manic level of near-certifiability like me, but enthusiasts of other sports who inquired why I wrote only about the so-called “Big 4″ and not some other sports that they liked. I have also alluded to the Olympics and some other sports in the past, but in the interest of always trying to be both fair and balanced

Great Ad

adhttp://adsoftheworld.com/media/print/garmastan_nipple?size=_original
I got this ad sent to me by a friend who isn’t in advertising. I love when people send me stuff like this because it is always interesting to see what appeals to people and what triggers a response from them, especially if they aren’t on the inside looking out.

This is a double page spread for Garmastan, an ointment used in the prophylactic and therapeutic treatment of the nipple inflammation during the pre and postnatal period and in the care of nipples skin during lactation. The ad appeared in maternity magazines showing a woman breastfeeding. When you pull the and the…

Shopper Marketing: VINDICATED!

Shopper Marketing is the employment of any marketing stimuli that has been developed based on a deep understanding of shopper behavior, and which is designed to build brand equity, engage the shopper and lead him/her to make a purchase. It can range from on?pack promotion to price promotions, placement, point-of-sales activity or sampling.

Winning an Addy….Charlie Brown style

I always had a feeling that Linus was a bong-hitting prima donna, think about it - his hipster bangs and indie-band sock hat definitely gives him away. But who knew Charlie Brown got so much intra-agency action? Hat tip to Adrants, Brentter and all the others who shared this fantastic agency spin on “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” Enjoy!!

What Were They Thinking Part Three

I had to add a part three to this “series” because I came across this commercial from Skittles. Now Skittles has been known to make some very odd, but very memorable, commercials. Well I would have to say that this spot, is about the creepiest spot I have seen in a while. Even creepier than the talking moustrap. What were they thinking??

Woman Wears Resume

I saw a post on CNN about a lady printing her resume on her tshirt. This article speaks to me particularly since I am in the garment decorating business. You can take a look at it here

Late this summer I had the idea of getting my resume put on my car in vinyl lettering knowing it would get attention and quite possibly a news story. I guess I still could go that route!

Chris is a designer/screen printer from NC who believes that the media makes the economy sound a lot worse than it really is. The sad part is it…

Coffee pt. 2

coffee-poster
How do you people drink that crap? For those of you who can drink it black, I salute you. Either you are hardcore or you have had your taste buds removed because I don’t know how you can stand it. Without sugar or some kind of flavor, to me, coffee tastes like citrus peel covered with ashes. My dad drinks coffee out of habit and he drinks it so black it can float a horseshoe. He is a legitimate cowboy and what they drink you can’t buy in a grocery store. That coffee is so black it’s like staring into…

Coffee pt. 1

250px-a_small_cup_of_coffee

I have recently discovered my girlfriend is a coffee drinker and since I’ve never touched the stuff I was amazed when I was sent out to buy it. I even called a friend of mine to ask “where do you get just regular coffee?” There are 15,000 flavors, types, sizes, and brands! There should be a coffee guide like they have in auto parts stores when you go buy an oil filter where you can look up what you need and go right to it on the shelf. I felt like a jackass standing in the coffee isle for 45…

The Rush Fitness Complex

I’ve been a gym rat since I was 15.  I’m no body builder but my goal is to be the 70 year old guy on the beach with abs.  We all have to take a break from work and the gym is my thing.  I’ve been a member of most of the big name brands, Golds, Peak, Crunch, Bally, Planet Fitness, and the Y.  They all have their own attitude.  I just moved to High Point NC and have been seeing this gigantic yellow and green THE RUSH! logo.  I admit their logo gets your attention.  If you plan on…

Breaking Up is Hard To Do…

There have been a million different ways for people to break up. Phone calls, Face to Face, IM, Email, Leaving a message on an answering machines, and this list goes on. Well, Adidas showed one of the more convenient ways to break up with someone. The “No Sad, Big Smile Break up Service.” A man will go around and do the breaking up for you; while being decked out in Adidas finest apparel. Here is the funny spot from TBWA, London for Adidas.

Marketing Broadway: Selling Hope for a Song

Although Broadway, like pretty much every other industry, is taking its lumps this season, some theater veterans are hoping that as portfolios go down, the appetite for entertainment will go up.

That view is part of what is prompting Disney to alter its marketing to fit the mood. A recent television advertisement for “Mary Poppins,” one of three Disney shows on Broadway, featured enthusiastic customers talking about the musical being “so full of hope for the family, for better times ahead.”

You can read more about their campaign here.

A Show Meant to Cure the Ills of Network TV

Madison Avenue is supporting a surprise decision by NBC to give Jay Leno a prime-time weeknight talk and comedy show. The program, titled “The Jay Leno Show,” would be shown during prime-time hours. That is when advertisers pay top prices — in the hundreds of thousands of dollars — for 30 seconds of commercial time.

The show Mr. Leno will host on NBC,is to be “stripped” from 10 to 11 p.m. each Monday through Friday, beginning in fall 2009. You can read more on this here.

Another Reason To LOVE Apple!

Since the new batch of Kool-Aid that is being doled out is called “Change We can Believe In”, why not get people who actually drive change, like Steve Jobs and Apple and put them in charge of economic innovation and give then a 3 year mandate to to deliver solutions to this current economic state and just watch Jobs and his team of brainiacs knock it out of the park and redefine the term “over-deliver!” That would be nice for a change… Creative minds = problem solving!

Geico’s Kash

In this new campaign for Geico from The Martin Agency, a stack of bills, topped with some primitive Mr. Potatohead eyes, shows up to remind us of how much money we can save on our car insurance. And the stack has a name — Kash.  In this sad economy, will consumers find these spots amusing or out of place? Seems a little weird to me.

Don’t Drink and Drive this season….

Here’s a silly but amusing PSA from New Zealand warning against drunk driving. It’s never a good idea, on Earth or anywhere else.

The Stories Behind Hollywood Studio Logos

In an industry that is in the business of creativity, it is not surprising that the level of creativity in their brand identity is so strong, enduring and often iconic. Ever wonder where do movie studios come up with these enduring and iconic logos that lead their brands? Well I do.

This Is How You Do It!

Shapeshifter Media has been at the forefront of this category with their patented process method for representing an image on a stepped surface and staircase. Very often, the more challenging the physical nature of the “odd ball” type of area to work with, the more interesting the result is. “Destination Brand Engagement!”

Here’s An Idea!

If the Democrats want to get re-elected or the Republicans want to get elected in 2012, take all the money raised to get into office and instead of buying TV time for commercials, radio spots, producing infomercials, websites, polls, studies, lawn signs, billboards, t-shirts, buttons, flying around on jets and all that other crap and give the money to people who really need it!

Transitional State

What do you do when your boss, the woman who hired you, quits?

I’ve been in a few situations where my “superior officer” leaves the department or the company–not necessarily on amicable terms. Whether amicable or not, I end up with this awkward feeling of “what should I do?” This anxiety most often occurs when it’s a good boss, that is talented, involved and genuinely concerned about those who work under him/her. My most recent Marketing Manager was exactly that.

Now, I know there are other ways to react to this scenario. I may have had (possibly still have) an opportunity to…

BBDO goes a little too far…

BBDO Dusseldorf has released a new suicide-themed Pepsi Max ad campaign that DEFINITELY should be pulled. The ads show a blue, bean-shaped character simultaneously shooting himself in the head, with blood coming out the back of his head. While there is a noose round his neck, and poison in his other hand. The bean is supposed to be “one very very very lonely calorie.”

Haven’t they learned yet? Suicide ads have generally landed agencies and marketers in hot water. For example; Volkswagent pulled an ad which showed a man trying to jump off a roof. Similarly GM received backlash from anti-suicide groups for an ad which showed…