Last Call.

Fresh from a screening in Amsterdam, "Art & Copy" will show in Boise at the Egyptian Theatre this Thursday, March 18, at 7 p.m.

"Art & Copy" is a film about advertising, inspiration, and some of the most influential players in the advertising industry.

Pre-sales were huge; remaining tickets are dwindling.

The Lobby will be offering an extended happy hour from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Drink specials: $2 wells & $2 drafts. Come celebrate art, and copy, before the show!

Labels: Advertising, Art, Copy, Marketing

I read this AdAge article, titled "Why Metrics Are Killing Creativity in Advertising" last week and have been thinking about it ever since.

This article brings up the dilemma that mimics the old "chicken or the egg" conundrum in the advertising/creative/marketing industry - what do campaigns need most: creativity or metrics-driven strategy?

The author, Mr. Patrick Sarkissian, makes his own analogy, opining that "just as video killed the radio star, metrics are killing creativity."

I agree with Sarkissian that numbers should not fully dictate a new creative strategy. I'd like to assert, however, that in today's saturated markets, effective campaigns must rely on solid research and strong metrics. These can and will make the creative more affective. Yes, brand preference is built on emotional connections.

But if you can quantify population trends, habits, values/emotional connections, and then build your brand's creative around such a conceptualized and identifiable population, then doesn't than make your brand that much stronger?

Sarkissian's best observance is when he says "what works are creative and strategic communications that seamlessly engage and interact with the target audience." Word.

He talks about the power of "the big idea," and the need to return to such leaps of faith that make big ideas become epic concepts like "Just Do It."

After pondering the greater weight of metrics vs. creativity, I've come to the conclusion that, like all things in life, they're most effective when balanced.

Sure, you need 'big ideas,' uninhibited by numeric restrictions and people who like to think in algorithmic boxes. But those big ideas can be made stronger with metrics in a sort of ebb-and-flow process that yields smart creative and large numbers of addicted, highly satisfied customers.

Creativity - metrics - both can be effective for your campaigns.

Chicken - egg - who cares; fry 'em both up and enjoy.

Labels: Advertising, campaign planning, Marketing, Metrics

If you haven't spent time with Edelman's Trust Barometer it's worth exploring. The report examines our collective trust of businesses, government, sources of influence and more, as well explores the subject of trust itself.

The latest Barometer reports lots of interesting stuff, but here's something particularly interesting: the number of people who view their friends and peers as credible sources of information about a company dropped by almost half, from 45% to 25%, since 2008.

With the continued growth of the social web, and the fact that our time spent on social networks is up 82% one might find this drop surprising.

Richard Edelman, President and CEO, had this to say:

"The events of the last 18 months have scarred people. They have to see messages in different places and from different people. That means experts as well as peers or company employees. It's a more skeptical time. So if companies are looking at peer-to-peer marketing as another arrow in the quiver, that's good, but they need to understand it's not a single-source solution. It's a piece of the solution."

We concur.

This bit of information reinforces the need of constant communications and points to the fact that re-contact strategies are needed for brands that want to be active and provide value in the social web.

It's imperative not to just 'post and leave'. Rather, brands must remain constantly proactive about the ongoing creation of interesting content. And this doesn't always need to be new ideas, mind you... revisiting previous ideas is good because new people are becoming engaged all the time. But constant energy around the core brand idea (self championing and supporting like-minded activity) is key.

To do this companies should appoint a central re-contact leader. This person (or persons if volume requires a group) is the one who's in charge with monitoring the social web as well as empowered to contribute content in real time. While as many people who want to contribute should, like most things, it's just helpful to put someone in the lead.

The brands who break through with interesting and concise re-contact strategies will be the ones who reap the benefit of additional trust... and it will be at the expense of those brands who don't.

Labels: campaign planning, consumer trust, Marketing

MTV will now just be called GTL. (That's Gym, Tan, Laundry for those of you who DON'T know).

This AdAge article reports that MTV is "updating" it's logo for the first time in 28 years.

"Music is still at the center of so much of what we do," said MTV general manager Stephen Friedman, "But we've really expanded what that means. We needed the logo to be flexible enough to have the artists within it but also the stars of our shows. It's an updating that speaks to this audience in a much simpler, bolder way."

P.S., MTV, your programming has nothing to do with music anymore.

As MTV is in the business of producing E! Television's leftovers (Jersey Shore was originally offered to E!), it's prime-time programming has nothing to do with sharing music or music videos as a pop-culture-informed art form, and everything to do with promoting trashy, shamefully naive, unrealistic behavior to the entitled masses through the premises of its shows and the ridiculous people in them.

So call a spade, a spade, MTV. Admit you're in the business of peddling smut with low production cost and you only run videos for an hour or two at 5 in the morning - a time slot that finds your target audience only just asleep after a long night of clubbing and smooshing.

Shameful admission? I've watched The Jersey Shore - a show MTV seems to believe will save its spiraling ratings. But 'The Shore' is a train wreck; that's why I and a lot of people watch. And if I laughed, it was at the show - not with it.

But The Jersey Shore won't float MTV forever, because the lifestyles the people on 'The Shore' live doesn't, or shouldn't, last forever. It gets a little creepy when a leathery-tan, super-ripped late-30-something is fighting the beats in the club. Just saying.

So, MTV doesn't need a logo redesign if it really wants to save its ratings. It needs go back to its roots, if you will, and re-consider how it got to be internationally renowned in the first place.

Music, unlike fickle Jersey Shore fads, is timeless. It breaks down cultural and international boundaries. It affects people endlessly. And it's a timelessly marketable product that would keep ratings afloat if delivered in a smart enough manner, arguably forever.

You're 28 MTV. Time to grow up and produce some real Music Television.

Labels: creativity, Jersey Shore, Marketing, MTV

Labels: Advertising, Marketing, Social media

Image by MSVG via FlickrNow THIS is creative marketing we can all learn from! Hyandai, the auto maker that purports to have come up with America's most creative warranty a decade ago, which still may be the industry's best at 100,000 miles or ten years, has now upped their game for the current economy offering the following:

A decade ago Hyundai pioneered America's best warranty to show you the faith we have in our cars, Today, in addition to our warranty we're introducing Hyundai Assurance, to show you the faith we have in you. Right now, buy or lease a new Hyundai, and if in the next year you lose your income* we'll let you return it. That's the Hyundai Assurance.

*And the fine print is even great. Ironicallly, it's not a bunch of legal-ease and states:

Involuntary unemployment
Physical disability
Loss of driver's license due to physical imparment
International employment transfer
Self employed personal bankruptcy
Accidental death

I am sure the legal ramifications are there when you sign up, but to keep them away from the markting is smart and bold. In total there are several great lessons to think about here as marketers. Of course the first is to be creative with the offer. This sells itself. Secondly, I love the tone and the way it makes me as the consumer feel. I have not seen any ads, just the web site, but it is clean and simple. And, as they state, It DOES give me confidence. As we all know consumer confidence is the key to selling right now. Third, the wording is so crisp and straight forward that committees and legal meetings must have been managed well so the copy could SELL. Congratulations to the Hyundai marketing team. Nicely done.

This is the best I have seen in the first few weeks in 2009. You?

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• Good Thinking: Hyundai breeds creativity in adversity
• For the first time ever Toyota outsells GM globally

Labels: creativity, Hyundai Assurance, Marketing, Warranty

This headline is how Scott Monty at Ford Motors describes social media. Brilliant, I think, as we all play a role in it--I know here, at DC, we do. Much of the social media work falls to or is centered around PR, as Scott mentions in this Q & A, but all departments are touched by/contribute to the work. Who would have guessed a year ago that Ford Motors would have a social media strategy, a full-time strategist and a staff and agency backing him? Anyway, if you want a quick education, read the Q&A. And, if you're interested, check out Scott's blog.

Labels: Advertising, Marketing, Public Relations

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeGreat article from Dave Chase (Sun Valley Online, New West Media) pointing out that companies can and do prosper during economic turmoil. Worth the read when thinking about grabbing market share during this downturn. Ok, during this recession...

Here is the story.



-jamie

Labels: Advertising, Marketing

Image via WikipediaI have been recently checking out www.mobilemarketer.com . It is an informative web site on (I bet you guessed it) Mobile Marketing. There are some good case studies and it seems like a pretty good way to quickly educate yourself on what is going on in this space.

Labels: Marketing

Image by Getty Images via DaylifeLike everyone, I have tried to read about and understand this big ol' financial mess our country is in. This podcast has been one of the best sources of learning for me. It's almost an hour long, so check it out when you are knitting or out for a walk or something.

From Ira Glass, This American Life. Click HERE.

Host Ira Glass talks with an NPR business and economics correspondent about two gatherings he attended—one at the Ritz Carlton and one at a community college in Brooklyn. The first was an awards dinner for finance professionals who created the mortgage-based financial instruments that nearly brought down the global economic system. The other was a non-profit conference for people facing foreclosure.

Labels: Marketing

DC Report on Magnet Creative Conf. in Chicago.
Drake Cooper affiliate agency network, Magnet Global, recently assembled at the Hard Rock in Chicago, hosting creative leaders from the Martin Agency, Cramer Kresselt, and The Concept Farm; and Drake Cooper was in attendance.

This year’s theme, ‘The Craft of Creative’ kicked-off with The Martin Agency’s Bob Meagher, enlightening Magnet agency creatives with very cool insight on his work on the Geico account. Bob shared the gorey details of shooting the ubiquitous ‘but I do have good news...’ spot series and the ‘paid celebrity interpreter’ campaigns to boot -- including some sweet backstory on shooting with Burt Bacharach, Little Richard, and managing the artistic demands of Miss Butterworth.

Next, Bill Hallgren of Cramer-Kresselt featured a case-study on launching the Rozerum sleep-aid brand on the shoulders of Abraham Lincoln, a talking beaver, and random scuba diver dude. Rozerum’s “Your Dreams Miss You” campaign is a perfect case study on how bold, weird, and oddly familiar (see title) creative truly gives clients more bang for their buck -- being outspent 2-to-1 by pharma competitors and, ultimately, netting a higher brand ranking and exceeding sales goals for Rozerum.
Our final guest slots featured Jesse Coane and Rich Browd, both affiliated with The Concept Farm in New York. One a director/editor cutting his teeth with ESPN sports and BMW motorcycle; the other a renaissance artist leading branding and merchandising for MTV, along with any other creative muse which strikes his fancy. Here, the great takeaway for those in attendance was the completely open landscape for the next generation of creatives and the many paths available to anyone with a creative itch (Browd developed his own line of women’s underwear in the 8th grade).

All in all a most excellent gathering with DC’s fellow Magnet creatives, including great discussion, the sharing of ideas, and even a little friendly competition -- where DC won one of three awards for our new Northstar Cycle Courier campaign. Our thanks to Magnet for providing such a cool and stimulating forum for creatives. Looking forward to next year.

Labels: Drake Cooper, Marketing

Drake Cooper loves celebrating break-through creative work. We get involved in our local and regional shows, join our clients' industry award events, and participate nationally whenever we can. And we've been fortunate to win a time or two along the way. So it was very exciting to us when John Drake, our Director of Campaign Planning & Business Development, was asked to help judge the San Diego ADDY awards this year. Joined by representatives from Portland's Ziba Design and WONGDOODY/LA, John helped judge a wide collection of work performed by San Diego firms throughout 2007. Winners will be unveiled at the San Diego ADDY Creative Show on April 4th.

Labels: Drake Cooper, Marketing