For all those media doom and gloom reports about the economy and all of the woes you may be experiencing right now, there is still plenty to be done. Remember, readers, we are the keepers of our destiny and have the power to make it happen.
Peep these tips for all you creative folk out there.
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Jinean Robinson is a CCIO (Chief Creative Infections Officer) specializing in creative strategy and implementation, 360 branding communications, and brand development. Join her at http://twitter.com/germllc or her firm’s website at http://germonline.com/
Chicago – Dallas – Los Angeles – San Francisco – New York City – Seattle: These placement gurus have got some good work and clients brewing. Go get you some work and you are free to send all commission checks to me via Paypal 
Seriously, lots of great work and opportunity for freelance. Let me know how it goes!
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Jinean Robinson is a CCIO (Chief Creative Infections Officer) specializing in creative strategy and implementation, 360 branding communications, and brand development. Join her at http://twitter.com/germllc or her firm’s website at http://germonline.com/
All the Michel Gondry fans out there say, “Hooooo!”
“Hoooooooooooooo!”
Say, “Ho! Ho!”
“Ho! Ho!”
He has released a new sizzling hot dvd of fav videos. If it’s anything like the first, it should be a real treat!
Check. Check. Check it.
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Jinean Robinson is a CCIO (Chief Creative Infections Officer) who has been in the communications industry for over 8 years, specializing in creative strategy and implementation, 360 branding communications, and brand development. Join her at http://twitter.com/germllc or her firm’s website at http://germonline.com/
Ever wonder, “what does it really take to develop great ideas?” I mean the big ones. The juicy, sloppy, wet ones that drench the culture and live soaked in society for decades. Well, there is a great Cannes Selection film, “Art & Copy,” that does just that. Or, shall I say instead of wondering, the filmmakers decided to Just Do It!
Check out a screening in your area: http://www.artandcopyfilm.com/screenings/
While in Atlanta, I’m gonna go to the screening on Wednesday, April 22nd as part of the Atlanta Film Festival. Tune in Thursday for my review–like you care what I think–but I’ll let you…
Ok. Gonna tell you a little secret….
I know we can get caught in our rut of, “how much bigger do I have to make this logo,” “must EVERYTHING have to be sketched, comped, and spelled out to buy off on just the concept?,” or “do I have to work with the brand marketing all-star team from the 60’s?”
But on my way to meetings yesterday, I got a quick reminder of how lucky we are. I was riding on the interstate and saw a car on the freeway hit the guard rail only to be thrown into oncoming traffic. This reminded…
On Monday, April 13, one of the towering figures in broadcasting and commercial voice over, Harry Kalas died at age 73, prior to the Philadelphia Phillies – Washington Nationals baseball game. Kalas collapsed in the broadcast booth two hours before the game.
Kalas had been the voice of the Phillies since 1971 and was one of the most recognizable voice talents in the sports broadcasting industry for the past five decades. Before coming to the Phillies, he was the broadcaster for the Houston Astros from 1965 to 1970. In 2002, Kalas was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and received…
Ahh, now I know where awards are and the money to pay for entering can be found.
To those of you who dream of seeing your name grace the gold pencil, running in meadows with gold lions, or at least getting in the table of contents of design award annuals: get ready to pay up. I have been amazed at the fees participants must pay for entering design shows. Ok, ok, maybe I can understand the big bucks for Cannes, One Show, even CA, but all types of “award shows” are now asking for exorbitant amounts for just one entry in…
Sarah and Mason go out west to shoot a Dove commercial and Mason wants to use the opportunity to work the client’s brand manager for more work. Mason has been teaming up with Sarah now that he and Conner are on a creative time out. Conner soon finds out the extent of Mason’s loyalty to him. But things go awry as Sarah clashes with the insufferable director while Robin from Dove is on set. Never good!
So, what is the answer?
In a world of competing designers where everyone with Arial and a Sharpie are now the next Paula Scher, how do you compete for work? Is spec the answer?
Well, as lines have been drawn, there are two sides to the work-for-free war and boy oh boy are the jump drives flying.
One side believes that designers must take a united stand to not give free labor and belittle our purpose and industry. The other side says that in this overcrowded, over-saturated, and any other “over” word you can think of, it is just part of the evolving world…
Hey kids! It’s time for another installment of “Does That Really Happen In Advertising, Joel?” The answer is yes. I know, I know, you haven’t even asked a question yet. That’s OK, this is advertising, so the answer is always YES. Even if it hasn’t happened yet, the answer is still YES. As in, Yes, it will happen, just stick around long enough and reality will make fiction look like a dull, faded mirror. www.tnt.tv/series/trustme/episodeguide
It’s evaluation time at RGM and Mason takes a break in the taping of a radio spot to inform Conner that as his superior, he has to…
TRUST ME’s latest installment addressed an issue we all go through at some point and time in our careers. In the words of the immortal band, The Clash “Should I Stay Or Should I Go?” The proverbial double edged sword. Fueled by Mason’s (Eric McCormack) long overdue need to have some heavy duty home renovations and Conner (Tom Cavanagh) getting busted on bogus expense reports to the tune of over $4000! YIKES! I’ve seen tons of very smart people get axed for very stupid moves like this, for a much lower dollar amount too… Committing career suicide over a steak dinner…
Episode Six of TRUST ME struck an especially resonating chord being about partners and pitches. They are often mutually exclusive and one can often make or break each other. Both inside and outside the advertising business. That can become an Olympic Decathlon of another sort.
Mason McGuire (Eric McCormack) still stinging from the ARC Mobile fallout with GCD Tony Mink (Griffin Dunne) for shooting a commercial the client loved and now there are NOT a client any more, finds out that his group’s agency rival Simon Corcoran is working on a pitch for the 2016 Chicago Olympic Games pitch. Mason convinces Tony to ask RGM big cheese Denise…
Civilians ask me about the new TNT series TRUST ME and want to know, “Is That What You Do?” “Does that Really Happen?” Yes and yes. Last night’s fifth episode is a primer on explaining why…http://www.tnt.tv/series/trustme/episodeguide.jsp?seasonId=44881&episodeId=46035
- Do you go off on a tangent and do what you are expressly not supposed to do? It happens sometimes. In last night’s episode, Conner (Tom Cavanagh) and Mason (Eric McCormack) decide to shoot a TV commercial even after they are informed that the account, ARC Mobile has gone into review because the client isn’t totally happy with the work the agency is doing. People going…
Last night’s episode of the TNT dramedy series “TRUST ME” did a great job of illustrating how seemingly simple situations can spiral out of control thanks to the best of intentions.
Sarah Krajicek-Hunter (Monica Potter) award-winning copy writer now with an office and a window, finds out that she has been designated as a lesbian success role model in the advertising industry by the social web site AdGabber.com www.adgabber.com/profiles/blogs/so-how-many-people-watched
Sarah goes off the deep end and into overdrive to convince everyone that she is straight and actually enlists the help of the idiot twins, Hector and Tom, choosing one of them to escort…
I have to ask the question, has no one ever said to anyone at any time, if you know this is wrong, then why are you doing it given the risks far outweigh the benefits?
TNT’s new Dramedy series TRUST ME episode 3 is all about recognition, or lack thereof, loyalty and trust.
TNT’s new dramedy TRUST ME: Episode 2 treads into some pretty common waters that can often get murky when we on the agency side try to tip the scales and skew circumstances and results to suit our evil purposes: Being Right! Dangerous territory at the best of times and highly addictive and self-destructive. http://www.tnt.tv/series/trustme/
The moral dilemma arose when Mason McGuire, newly anointed Creative Director (Eric McCormack) and his partner copy writer Conner (Tom Cavanagh) get a call from their client ARC Mobile that they don’t like the tag line: What you can do with one hand? The focus group in all their collective wisdom didn’t like the…
RGM’s reputation for launching the most successful brands says more about them than it says about their clients’ brands. They see themselves as an agency that not only pushes boundaries, but buttons too! Defining the space between clients and their consumers.
The Pepsi Saturday Night Live MacGuyver spoofs “MacGruber” really sucked and were a great example of how to make an unwatchable TV commercial.
TRUST ME did a good job at painting an accurate portrayal of the highly volatile and dysfunctional silo I know as the ad agency. If you haven’t worked in this realm and someone who does says they don’t like shows like this, it’s probably because it forces them to hold the mirror up to their chosen profession and it presents a less than flattering reflection!
With the economy the way it is and companies having to make major layoffs and cut backs, who has $3 million dollars for a 30 second Super Bowl ad? Well, Miller High Life is going to save a few million by running a one-second ad during the Super Bowl with the company’s pitchman Windell Middlebrooks, the lovable wear-house worker.
Their Website, 1secondad.com, says,”…We’d rather have our message short and to the point, if it means delivering more honest beer at a tasty price.” At 1SecondAd you can watch a bunch of 1 second ads, a few videos featuring Windell Middlebrooks, and their…
Besides stupid people and abject nonsense, they’re a given. We all do things that don’t help our own cause and make what we normally do very fluidly, into a battle and a struggle. Shalu Wasu a creative consultant with a terrific website that offers some great “reminders” on how not to be your own worse enemy. It is a simple, effective read that will be useful: http://tickledbylife.com/index.php/15-elephant-tethers-that-stop-you-from-being-creative/
Here’s a taste of what Shalu Wasu identifies as the many things creatives use to tether themselves to failure:
1. What will people think?
2. But I’ve never had any great ideas!
3. What is the right answer?
4. I don’t…
Our intrepid friends Wallace & Gromit from across the pond are back again showing up in more advertising. After their highly successful Harvey Nichols fashion ad campaign, out of Bristol, England, NPOWER a British power company employed our two favorite chaps into service in December to raise awareness about their free insulation program available for seniors and the disabled in Britain. http://www.npowermediacentre.com/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=2318&NewsAreaID=2
The two ingenious Brits have also popped up in Social/Cause Marketing in England with their own efforts, The Wallace and Gromit Foundation which is helping to fund pull-down beds for tired parents at children’s hospitals. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/7426713.stm Well done lads! Check out their efforts: http://www.wallaceandgromitteaparty.org.uk/
Finally, a…
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…
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…
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?
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!
The major broadcast networks are seriously considering making more blocks of broadcast time, weekday evenings and Saturday mornings available to their local network affiliates because of the lack of ability to sell programming that sponsors are willing to buy.
Where do we go from here with cell phones go? What is your professional opinion in regards to what we the masses, can expect next?
The reason why print will never go toes up is because broadcast in all of it’s new, rich media forms has an inherently higher perceived value, therefore the cost for it is always going to scare a lot of smaller brands and companies from going that route and they have been served well, by their measure by print, so it will not wind up as obsolete.
