Cool USB stuff.

USB bra. Now that’s what NASA should be working on. Saw this USB stuff in Wired and thought it was cool. It’s been out for a few months but still worth taking another look at from dialog05.

Tags: advertising, dialog05, brands, viral

Mel Gibson busted for DUI.

NOW he’s a director.

(Via Drudge.) Tags: advertising, brands, viral, Mel Gibson

How to live happily with a great designer.

Here’s a great take on design-client relationships from Seth Godin. (Found here.)

Tags: advertising, brands, viral

Blog it forward...

>> This idea came to mind that maybe all of us bloggers have been as responsible for blog growth as any other single factor – yet we just may not be aware of it. Think about it. We see a cool photo or funny story on a blog, and what’s the first thing we do? Hit send, or post about it.

Nobody required it, nor was it part of the blog initiation ceremony I went through. (And they still can’t find our neighbor’s cat either.) Still, we blog the message forward without thinking twice, and all under the guise of ‘Hey, look at this!’ Meanwhile, you hope your boss doesn’t walk by at the precise moment you’re viewing one of your cousin’s daily LOL! ‘Priceless’ pictures.

Intuitively, we spur blog growth without thinking about it just by the simple of act sending and linking things. That can’t be a bad thing. What other industry has grown this quickly because of the organic efforts like this by its members? (In the spirit of things, I saw this post after thinking about the concept, go figure. )

Tags: advertising, brands, viral

The virus is spreading.

As this outdoor points out, big logos make Lichtensteinian women cry. Thanks to Faris for the alert.

Tags: advertising, brands, viral

Bold divorce moves.

New Ford spot shows ex-husband out for a weekend with his ex- and their kids. Mommy and daddy still friends, natch. (As you know, divorced couples all get along.) So he gets dropped off in Ford Comfort at the end of the weekend. Besides the previous issues of mixed messages this Bold campaign sends, the guy gets a beachfront condo and she gets a Ford? Which would you rather have?

Tags: advertising, Ford, brands, Bold Moves

Zen thought for the day...

Most companies tend to get bigger instead of getting better.

A good read on creativity here.

Tags: advertising, brands

The Random Logo Project.

New site updates are winding down and more value-adds, well, added. Like The Random Logo Project. (Initial caps are so pretentious aren’t they?) Anyway, with all the excitement over CGM, social sites, social distortion, etc., I’m jumping headfirst into the shallow end of the pool with a new experiment.

Basically, next to Wal-Mart, I’m creating the world’s largest collection of logos. That’s the goal at least. To read more about it, go here. Then send me something. Via Flickr, email, Pony Express. Your choice. (Look at the Flickr badge on the right for samples.)

Hopefully, the speedbumps will be few and way far between. Since this mostly involves Flickr, I want people after they shoot a logo to tag their image with a unique word, randomlogoproject. Then I’ll search for any images associated with that tag and add them to my set.

However, since my Flickr Group for this thing is still pending, the only way you’ll see logos in The Random Logo Project is by viewing it directly in my Flickr set. (I expect to migrate everything into the group soon enough.)

Later in the week, I’ll follow-up on the trainwreck project and the behind-the-scenes fun with the whacky social technology that is Flickr.

No worries though. I’ll get this thing off the ground one way or another. Although you may hear a few trees hitting the fuselage.

Tags: advertising, brands, Flickr, YouTube, randomlogoproject, the Random Logo Project, CGM, Consumer-Generated Media

Bitchslap for Owen Wilson.

Ouch. George Parker* found a great letter from Steeley Dan to Owen Wilson’s brother regarding the new flop You, Me and Dupree and their Grammy hit ‘Cousin Dupree.’ Seems like someone grabbed a story idea from the group without proper cred. Hey, that never happens in Hollywood. Tune in next week as Jethro Tull takes on the Olsen Twins.

*Note to Donald and Walter, this post is just an homage to George’s homage. Please leave the lawyers at home. C’mon, I still have my original vinyl of Asia. Where’s the love?

Tags: advertising, brands, Steely Dan, You, Me and Dupree, Luke Wilson, Owen Wilson

Apocalypse, NJ.

11:14 pm. Saturday night. Dew point around 112. Temp around 85°. This is NJ, and I live in a forest. No, really, I do. To ease my mind from the blog updating mission 100 clicks behind and the 100 still ahead, I venture outside. This is NJ? It’s like the Congo. Any minute I expect Sting to walk around the side of the house with some candles and a plate-mouthed little fella asking for a donation.

I’m going back under.

Tags: advertising, Apocalypse Now, brands

The monkey is in the house.

That would be one of the new features installed today: Monkey Word Verification System. Now, while Mack does have a really cool streaming music playlist, the Monkey Word Verification System is now in the house. Every time I use the word ‘monkey’ in a post, that’s right – a cool but meaningless alert tells me so in the footer below.

Swish. Nothing but net.

Tags: advertising, brands

A little creative inspiration heading into quitting time

Saw this from Russell Davies about his time spent at W+K. Interesting look at how the best approach solving the problem.

Tags: advertising, brands

Blog update for Logo subscribers

While the fellas are busy out back working on the blog, this is just a note to say I’m switching over to some new gadgets to hopefully improve things. So, if you currently subscribe, you may want to re-subscribe tomorrow after I add a new email and RSS feed.

Other stuff may start showing up for no reason as well. And you know what? I’m ok with that. I really am.

Tags: advertising, brands

If it’s bad enough for Joel Siegel...

...then it’s good enough for me. (Via Drudge). I loved the original and now, thanks to Joel’s little performance, I can’t wait to see Clerks II.

Read a little from Kevin Smith on the incident on his blog:

“I don’t need Joel Siegel to [bleep] my [bleep] the way he apparently [bleeps] M. Night Shyamalan’s, gushing over his flick [‘The Lady in the Water’] before he’s even seen it, but [bleep] man, man - how about a little common [bleeping] courtesy? You never, never disrupt a movie, simply because you don’t like it. ”

Ouch. He’s [bleepin’] right.

You can also hear a GREAT interview from the Opie & Anthony show between Joel and Kevin. Especially when Joel doesn’t even know he was talking to Kevin.

Tags: advertising, Clerks 2, brands, viral, Kevin Smith, Opie & Anthony Show

My high school never looked like this.

Damn. I had Sister Joan, a ruler and a dream to one day escape. Check out this amazing high school over at Finn McKenty’s Lightheavyweight, designed by architecture firm Morphosis.

Tags: advertising, architecture, brands, Morphosis

Ads on air sickness bags? Bag the idea.

Via MSN, US Airways wants to put ads on air sickness bags. “Why not make them multipurpose!” goes the logic. Umm, because of the negative association people will have with whatever brand they see after puking? I can smell the potential advertisers lining up now: Campbell’s soup, Jello pudding and Birdseye vegetables.

Tags: advertising, US Airways, brands, viral

What’s the best way to reach a fast-growing demo?

Get them to Vegas. The inaugural Hispanic Gaming Summit hopes to come up with new ways to go after the growing Hispanic market. Hmmm. Why not stick with one tried and true method most of us know: shitty rooms with a twin bed and watered-down drinks at the Hard Rock. Remember, the demo you target there, stays there.

Tags: advertising, brands, Las Vegas (Image courtesy of elvis2k)

Why?

Here’s the new head coach of your Red Bulls. Ain’t blog karma a bitch. Now he’s coaching closer to where I live. I can’t believe Alexi thought this was a good move. Just shows MLS can’t build a league without showy PR moves and selling out to corporate America. Hey, at least it’s another great opportunity for Arena to be humiliated internationally Aug. 12 when FC Barcelona comes to town. All I can think of is that he didn’t get spanked enough in Germany.

advertising, MLS, brands, Red Bulls, US National Soccer

Cellphone industry: drive more, talk less.

You know the one in the picture. The one who gives you the finger while she’s almost backing into your car. I don’t care if it’s already a law in a few states, cellphone companies need to do their part and address it now.

You’re probably thinking like what? For starters, they need to target this like the alcohol industry pushed ‘Friends Don’t Let Friends...’ Did that end the problem of drinking and driving? No, but compared to the USELESS age requirements on all beer and alcohol sites, that campaign has at least taken away the stigma of people having to ask for rides and possible saved countless more.

So how hard is it for the cellphone industry to do the same? Better do it now, because like the lawsuit against Myspace for failure to protect against online predators proved, one day someone like me is going to also sue Cingular after some crazy bitch totals my car while she’s on her cell.

Tags: advertising, brands, Sprint, T-Mobile, Cingular, Verizon

“The power lines in the back are smoking...

...we are probably going to lose power soon,” said the office email a few hours ago.

And then we did.

Tags: advertising, brands, hot

Sam Jackson is God.

Yeah, literally. We got Sermons On A Plane bitch! He’s going to do an audio version of the Bible as the voice of God. And I think we better be starting off the reading with Ezekiel 25:17. Bet.

Tags: Pulp Fiction, Sam Jackson

GoneArena.

Thank you soccer Gods.

Tags: Bruce Arena

The Zidane Career-Ender Technique For Advertising.

By now you’ve seen the replay over and over of the infamous Zidane head-butt. (There’s a nice thread at adverb with all the various links for the two people who haven’t seen all the versions.) Butt on second thought, this may not be such a bad thing. Joanne, who runs a pet site on the side and who I share office time and space with had a great idea: why not head-butt at the end of any career?

Gold watch after fiddy years of service? Bag that. Head-butt baby!

Applied to the world of advertising, let’s say Ernie decides he’s had enough. Rather than go out with class and dignity, he gets in the VW and heads out to Oregon. Dan Wieden answers the door. Bam! Head-butt. A move that would make Neil French’s tirade appear tame by comparison. You could extend it to any career though: baker, office worker, flight attendant, etc.

Sure would make exit interviews more interesting.

Tags: advertising, Zidane, brands, viral (Image from fighttimes.com)

Weekly What The...?

First there were Jimmy Dean sausages, now Dwight heads into the kitchen:

• Dwight Yoakum’s Chicken Rings – Like Tom Cruise, this stuff writes itself. (Strange New Products)
• Clowns attack park goers – Consumer Generated Posses. (Drudge)
• Hidden Masters of The World revealed – Um, ok. I can’t go on. (boingboing)
• Crack-flavored Pringles anyone? – (Fark)

(And for a great Jimmy Dean story, check this out from Mack.)

Tags: weird, odd news

New world-designed World Cup logo.

Talk about design by committee. Saw this over at Adfreak yesterday. Sufficiently generic, like most corporate design. (Ok, that was me trying to be nice.) Suffice it to say that while you’re over there, you’d be better off looking at the picture of the naked granny Tim posted. I’ll leave it at that.

You’re free to go.

Tags: advertising, World Cup, brands

“Kids, don’t feed T-Rex.”

Since Universal was kind enough to spam me, thought I’d share the love. What’s more fun than T-Rex tearing half your kid’s shoulder off? Not much apparently. The damn things are so cute and cuddly. Hard to imagine why little Amy might need therapy for life after the family trip to Orlando.

Tags: advertising, brands, viral

Hooray Beer!

I can’t get that damn expression outta my head I love it so much. All weekend: Hooray Dog! Hooray Rain! Hooray It’s Really Freakin’ Muggy!” Catchy, isn’t it...

Tags: advertising, Red Stripe, brands, viral (Image from adweek.)

Idea for Dell - branded extinguishers.

Huge.

Tags: advertising, Dell, brands

Marketing to teens: sub-urban legend?

When it comes to marketing to teens, by now you realize that urban culture has been rightly or wrongly assimilated/stolen/brandjacked/taken over by mainstream America, (Timberland and Cristal anyone?), but even more so by the ‘wannabe’ teen audience in the ’burbs emulating Fiddy and ending every sentence with ‘G’ or ‘yo.’

Everything from the language and clothing in the tuner market, to KFC ‘gettin’ its chicken on’ to just last night with Pampers encouraging little ones with “You go girl!” and McD’s Lovin It’ is now fair game.

Check out knock the hustle, where hadji was on NPR talking about urban marketing along with Deborah Patton promoting her upcoming What Teens Want event on marketing to teens. This is the edited version of a more heated exchange. Since I don’t have an extra $695 laying around, I’ll just continue to get my focus group on the old-school way: from my teenagers and the blogs I scan – for free. Word.


Tags: advertising, brands, viral

Your agency creative: celebrated, or tolerated?

I came across an interview at The Ranch a few weeks ago with The Department of Doing CD Mario McMillan. (I like that agency name, like something out of Monty Python.) One of the things he brought up was the notion that you shouldn’t work at an agency that merely tolerates creative, but one that celebrates it. A no-brainer mantra to live by, but it’s something we need to remind ourselves of from time to time.

Now, I don’t mean cartwheels in the halls Chillibration^® type celebrating, but being supportive of great creative as a means in itself, not just as a way to make 120-page PowerPoint decks look nicer.

Which got me to thinking of all the places I’ve been at where mediocre work is rewarded and high-fived by the account team like it just won a Clio, and the few places where great work is something to aim for and they win awards.

You can make the dollars at the former, but the latter is better for the book to be sure. Ultimately, great creative starts at the top and affects everyone. Likewise, mediocre work permeates everything and brings you down.

You play up or down to the level around you, plain and simple.

Yes, I know we’re all in charge of our careers, and if we hate a given shop, then leave and find something better. Not everyone can though depending on their circumstances. So until W+K calls, how many people have worked where creative is tolerated vs. celebrated?

Tags: advertising, brands, viral

Hurry! Only 100 more AK-47s left.

Now that I have the attention of no such agency and the Bureau of ATF with that perfect search engine title, check out this great spoof found on the Lord of War DVD that Scamp found. Better than the Utah gunshop spot a while back. I saw the movie but missed this somehow. Ak-47s - kid tested, kid approved.

(Sidenote: for other cool stuff on DVD’s in general, you can see if they have easter eggs. If you hit a certain pattern on your DVD remote on the main screen, you can sometimes discover hidden extras. For a list of movies with such features, go here. There are others if you google them.)

Tags: advertising, brands, DVD, Easter eggs

Three recent approaches to marketing a flick...

...and one of them is going the way of the dinosaurs when it comes to marketing them.

With a tip of the hat to Scott over at Idea Grove, the first one involves Kevin Smith with a very cool little trick to get build buzz on Myspace for Clerks II. Add a link, be in a movie. (Not quite, but read more there.)

The second concerns the previously mentioned Snakes on A Plane and the well-known efforts of a blogger to get tickets to opening night. This effort built enough buzz to have the marketing department on the picture change to reflect the blog effort. Tail wagging the dog, but the big test will be opening weekend. If it blows up huge, watch out for Snakes On A Sequel blogs everywhere.

The third, and my least favorite, but still the most typical of the way the movie industry promotes can be found in Adam Brandler’s latest movie, Click. I think I counted 49 brands referenced in the first third of the movie alone, but I may be wrong:

Best Buy^®, Bed, Bath and Beyond^®, Staples^®, Twinkies^®, Ho-Ho’s^® and TGI Friday’s^®, and so on. Hard to believe they still needed funding that bad to have that much placement.

I’m betting Snakes will do great based on the trailer I saw and the efforts of the blog. So will Clerks II, and not just because of the success of the first one either, but because people like Smith are showing they understand how to take advantage of new channels now available with which to promote a film, and engage people, ahead of time.

Contrast that with the producers of Click who took the easy way out, (for them at least), and blanketed the screen with the same ol’ same product placement in the movie and trailers leading up to it. Oh shoot wait, I forgot, they probably did a tie-in with Best Buy for a special movie edition ‘Click’ remote.

Although that one probably doesn’t mute the dog.

Tags: advertising, Click, brands, viral, Clerks II, Snakes On A Plane

Art Direction 2.0

Sorry, got caught up in all the hoopla of Web 2.0 speak. Please add W2.0 to the heap of the latest synergistic, marketing-derived, collaborative terms that mean absolutely nothing.

Tags: advertising, Web 2.0, brands, viral

Happy 4th.

And they said we’d never make it to 179. Anyway, 230 today with the body of a 400 year old. Enjoy the heat, hot dogs and beer. I will.

And, to all those serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and here at home, here’s to you as well. No matter where anyone stands politically, that’s a tough job that you signed on to do.

Happy 4th of July.

When did Dunkin’ Donuts become Dairy Queen? The changing brandscape vol. 1.

Used to be Dunkin’ Donuts, like MTV, did one thing: made a good cup o’ Joe and play music videos, respectively. However, coming back from a trip to the local Dunkin’ Donuts today, I was struck at how hard it was just to find that first thing, coffee, on the menu.

The brandscape is a changing.

They had smoothies. Three new! EXCITING fruit-hyphenated flavors like strawberry-banana something®! They had Coolatas too! More than three flavors. Wow, a virtual Chillibration^®. They even had breakfast sandwiches. They had donuts of course. One or two. And coffeee. Somewhere. I think.

Do this long enough and two things start to happen though.

First is that a brand starts to lose its identity. As a brand, being all things to all people is ok, as long as they do all things well. How many do though? If you’re Pizza Hut? Make pizza. Home Depot? Carry mulch and hammers. I’m good. And Dairy Queen? Don’t even think of selling coffee. (Damn, too late.)

You can even tell me that McDonald’s isn’t just selling burgers, “We’re selling a family experience” and I might buy that. Maybe. But then don’t use that as another jumping off point to sell me yogurt, or fruit.

You’re the Golden Arches. Grow up and act like it. Clog arteries and be happy, dammit.

An increase in sales of all these new brand/line extensions might indicate otherwise. Great for them. All I know though is that it seems to be happening more frequently at the expense of the customer experience/bond I first created with your core product.

Look, I understand as much as anyone about brands and line extensions based on the equity of your original name, and product, and all that. How many companies have thought “Why not leverage our name to launch, ta-da, a great new (insert spin-off of choice here) led by the all-too-familiar phrase “From the makers of...” and call it a day.

However, that leads to a second thing potentially more harmful to a brand: ignoring their original customer base.

At some point you erode the relationship between them and the original product they established a bond with in the first place. Because now you stop putting 100% of your effort into the first thing and turn your attention to the new kid on the block. The result is a customer who feels neglected because you leveraged their original bond to expand your new product offerings with.

As a company, why mess with that. It’s not just a product customers bought into either – it was your brand. They’ll remember that if they have a bad experience with your ‘latest and greatest’ product.

Sure, brands always think they want a lot of oars in the water. I get that model. But from a consumer POV, let’s say I’m original coffee guy: I walk in: “Gimmee a large regular, two sugars only.” In and out in less than a minute, I’m happy, nobody gets hurt and Bob’s your uncle.

Enter breakfast sandwich guy.

Four minutes before I get my turn to order and now I’m frustrated because corporate doesn’t realize – still – that most people come in for a quick purchase. Of coffee. Now I’m pissed. I may inadvertently take it out on the cashier, no fault of hers, just a response to the built-in hell that comes with an expanded product line. People wanna get in and get out fast so they can drive to work, burn themselves on the hot contents and call their lawyer – all before 9:30 am.

Isn’t that the American Dream?

Yes. So with a tip of the cap to Mack, and as they say in Texas, you dance with who brung ya. Brands, you want to expand? Fine. Don’t ignore your base. Because right now there’s a guy in a line at DQ somewhere muttering to himself about the woman in front of him who’s ordering a MooLatte:

Man, what does ‘Brazier’ mean and can’t I just get a small vanilla cone and get the hell outta here?

Tags: advertising, Chillibration, brands, viral, Dairy Queen, Dunkin Donuts, Moolatte

Bi-Weekly What The...?

• Cool Lightening Pics – (Fark)
• Granny loses rocket launcher – So that’s why the kids always want to go to grandma’s. (Buzzpage)
• Camera Mount for Soda Bottles – That’s not a bad idea actually. (Strange New Products)
• Service for Agoraphobics Makes Trees Laugh – That’s more like it. (Gizmodo)
• Paintings executed in the dust on a Mini’s windscreen – Either really cool or WAY too much free time. (boingboing)

Tags: weird, odd news

BOLD MOVES from Ford – or not?

I complained about Ford after the Kermit spot ran during this year’s Super Bowl. I thought that after the company had suffered through so many troubles/layoffs, putting out happy ads with a frog was insulting to those who lost their jobs.

Thought that maybe they should focus on being honest for a change and stop wasting all that money on post. Well, looks like they finally have with their new Bold Moves site which is also supported by TV and print.

Only thing now is ‘Bold Moves’ seems to serve two different masters. On one hand, it’s this “EPISODE ONE: CHANGE OR DIE” ominous warning that the company needs to turn things around. On the other, the TV is a whimsical spot with a woman in a drive-thru drycleaners making a ‘Bold Move’ by paying for the laundry of the guy she sees in the car behind her.

Bipolar much? Maybe if they showed Sonia (pictured) pulling into to get her suit for the interview she has to go on ’cuz she’s out of work, then ok, I get it.

The different executions sends a mixed message though. Which are you: a serious corporation in damage control mode trying to rebuild yourself? Or a fun, whimsical and spontaneous kinda gal without a care in the world?

Both are each valid executions off of the same theme, but not at the same time. Stick with just one direction and I’m sold.

Tags: advertising, Bold Moves, Ford, brands, viral

The Black Keys.

Ok, damn. Where did they come from again? Just heard them today. Cross between a White Stripes, Led Zep and Robert Johnson garage rehearsal. Funky, bluuuuesey, soulful. Just when I was bitching about a lack of any real blues influence in contemporary music, (besides the late great Stevie Ray). Check them out. Some cool photos of the band at Flickr too.

Tags: advertising, Black Keys, brands, viral

Here’s to the 6%’ers.

A survey out today says only six percent of Americans are watching the World Cup, as compared with 35% who watched the Superbowl, (er, the ‘Big Game’ for any NFL lawyers out there). I’d like to see those numbers after the World Cup is over, but it confirms what us 6’ers know: nobody gives a crap about soccer here – yet. And looking at a breakdown of England from this footie animation at Weebl’s Stuff, it confirms what most Americans think soccer is about anyway.

Tags: advertising, World Cup, brands, viral

Random acts of logo.

There’s a lotta badness out there beginning with the letter Z, along with one or two good. Zama ITT seems to be having the most fun though. Once again, check out this place if you need a logo at two in the morning and CVS is closed.

< (Click to enlarge)

Tags: advertising, brands, viral

MacBook Pro heat challenge.

Ok, I love Macs as you know, but see that item to the left? It’s a tile from the shuttle. I suggest next time instead of titanium, iGod Jobs uses them on the bottom of the MacBook Pro for future production runs.

I challenge anyone to keep their hand under this laptop for more than :60 seconds without burning or stinging your hand.

Tags: advertising, Apple computer, brands, viral, MacBook Pro

Attention Nike controversy seekers...

...ok, one more time: see right shoulder with red symbol? See outstretched arms? Celebration, not blasphemy.

We good?

Tags: advertising, Nike, brands, viral, World Cup

(Image via AP.)

Ever receive the Xmas gift from hell? You’re not alone.

Sports ties? Ceramic ashtrays? Not even close at Aunt Mary Nation. This spinoff blog from Freelance Fred addresses the common bond we all share come holiday time. Start with the backgrounder section here and you’ll be up to Xmas gift-from-Hell speed in no time.

Tags: advertising, brands, viral

Good choice for a pet?

I’m tellin ya, after seeing this clip, a goldfish will turn out to be a safer choice.

Happy Birthday Logo Freaks.

This blog is now one year older, but is it wiser? Probably not, but I am. What started out as a way to vent the day-to-day bullshit morphed into some interesting connections that kept me from turning into Jack with an axe.

As evidenced by the blogroll here, I’ve discovered a wide range of blogs and even wider range of viewpoints. Allow me then, in no particular order, to give a shout out to all those I tend to ‘co-blogitate’ with on a regular basis...

Sometimes you come across a few podcaster American Copywriter-types that share the ad love. Others write so much gooder than you, you’d even read their instructions for changing a tire, such as Mark Fenske, and a guy named Ernie. Others like highjive and Hadji (who knocks the hustle) write about the race issues that nobody in the biz brings up, unless a lawsuit or congressional committee prompts it of course.

If you produce shit ads? Beware the copyranter. And if you produce a shit agency? George Parker will be there to keep you honest with two great locations to serve you better. Of course you have the big boys at adland adrag, adfreak, adpulp and adrants who provided a lot of material from which I riffed and spread viral love. And is there any other kind?

Yes.

The love of diverse PR issues by Andrea on her blog and Scott over at his Media Orchard, done with class. And if there’s a better definition of a Creative Director, someone needs to tell Mack Simpson about it, ’cuz I haven’t seen one.

Of course, after you help this blog take off and clear the treetops, you naturally turn to helping consumers, just like Ben did over at Consumerist.

Don’t forget tunes when you’re chillin’ at 3:00 am and the regular playlist won’t cut it. You wanna point the mouse to radio paradise, radio IO or xtc radio on iTunes. And when you’re up at that hour and trying to come up with some funky NY trolling, you turn to a New York thing of course.

Or when it’s 3:00 pm down under when it’s 3:00 am stateside, Rikki’s up if you want to give her your stuff. And speaking of places down under NJ, Fred’s a guy down south who, like me believes, “no freelance project too small, no invoice too large.”

And if I forget anyone, I’m sure I’ll hear about it. Otherwise, the new crop of recent peeps I’ve come across will be added to next year’s list and blogroll. So thanks for stopping by and as always, thanks for shopping Make the Logo Bigger.

Tags: advertising, brands, viral

(Image linked from acclaim posters.)

The Evil Side of The Business.

Know what your boss is really up to? Yup. Me neither. And I’m here to tell ya’ Mack Simpson over at Adverb has one helluva tale, that sadly, is far from being an isolated case. Read about it here.

Tags: advertising, brands, viral

“I don’t tip.”

“You know what this is? It’s the world’s smallest violin, playing just for the waitresses.” Mr. Pink from Resevoir Dogs, and you know the type. Always has an excuse or philosophy on why they don’t tip, or worse, they skip out after the first round and a plate of nachos. “Oh, I’ll catch ya’ later with that I promise. Meeting. Gotta run.” Can you tell I watched too much World Cup action in the bar this week?

For the record, SOP is that I drop 20% unless the waitstaff gives me reason not to. I also do not count the undue influence of extra !!!!’s after the chatroom shorthand of THNX!!!!, usually signed by a ‘Kristi’ or ‘Julie’ with a heart shape over the ‘i’ instead of a tittle.

So Logo freaks, any tipping horror stories to recount?

Tags: advertising, brands, viral

‘End Times’ Religious Groups Want Apocalypse Soon

Yeah, right. They just want to get out of buying gifts at Christmas.

(Via Drudge.)

Tags: advertising, brands, viral

Next Head Coach - US National Soccer Team.

I nominate Rich Kotite, former NY Jets head coach. Why not. He couldn’t do any worse than Bruce Arena. As a fan, you may tend to put it on the players at times to perform, and I do. But players actually have to be out there on a regular basis, not switched every single game. For what? Just to mix up a line-up to see what happens?

Not to mention the shit game plan to work with they had. One that has them playing with a defensive mindset the whole time. Soccer is a game of creating opportunities. Taking risks. We show none of it. Bruce, how’s it feel knowing you have job security no matter how the team plays? Please do the right thing, step down. The US program needs a change in its basic playing philosophy or it will continue to be regarded as the redheaded step-child of futbol.

Tags: advertising, brands, viral, World Cup

All Hail Majmunce, The Little Monkey.

Whaaaatttt the hell is that you say? Well, you’re staring at it. That little “at” thingy we use about 3,000 times every day in our emails. The Serbs call it, Majmunce. Which loosely translated means: The Little Monkey. (Eerily similar to the Keanu Reeves film, Little Buddha.) Surprisingly in many countries though, the monkey theme is a popular one.

Check out the rest of the names here. Either way, no matter what animal or object name you assign it, it’s an interesting history of something we both use, and overlook. (Courtesy of giussani.com.) And you Swedes. Crazy.

Tags: advertising, brands, viral, email

Chill out people.

I thought it would die down by now, but with all the uproar over this ad from W+K, I gotta say, chill out. To anyone protesting this: do you really believe this is a mock crucifixion of Rooney? IT’S A FLAG. IT’S HIS CELEBRATION AFTER SCORING. (Becks does the same thing with Posh, or so I’ve heard.)

Uh, don’t you think, if they really wanted to ‘just do it right,’ they would have had him without white makeup, head hung low with hands loose, and four red paint marks; one for each hand and one on his lower right and upper left torso? You people need to stop looking for stigmata in cups of Dannon^® yogurt.

Tags: advertising, Nike, brands, World Cup, Rooney

¡Adios Lego!

Lego announced plans today to move operations to Mexico and lay off 300 workers in CT and 900 in Denmark. Guess we know what the US-Mexico fence will now be made of.

Lego toys - building border walls American workers don’t want to.

Tags: advertising, Lego, brands, viral

Digital camera blocking technology created.

I’ve had my version in development for years. It’s called a freakin’ hand people.

(Via Drudge.)

Tags: advertising, brands, viral

Photos, copyrights and skeevy magazines, oh my.

Continuing the photog theme this morning, interesting interview over at Media Orchard with Scott and photographer Michael Yon. He shot an Iraq war image and basically had it used by Shock magazine on their cover without his permission. You may recall the image, which you can see here at his website. Judging by the overwhelming response on his blog, Shock, you done did it now.

Tags: advertising, brands, viral

Random photogness.

Some cool photos from photographer David J. Nightingale to look at on a hot, humid East Coast representin’ Tuesday morning. Click each to advance to the next. (Thanks Ayash.)

Tags: advertising, brands, viral

Teen, mom sue MySpace.com for $30 million

Hate to say I told you so, but I knew it was only a matter of time. First the hot coffee’s too hot at McDonald’s so let’s sue them. Now, the predators are too predatory on Myspace. What a shock. Never saw that one coming. You know what? Arrest the dude and sue him, that’s a given of course. I’m sorry the girl was assaulted, but someone slap the mother for letting her 14-year old hook up with the guy. Then sue her for stupidity. (Via Drudge.)

Tags: advertising, brands, viral

Nestle to buy Jenny Craig.

Guess Kirstie was getting too thin. Talk about brand irony. Well, at least now the meetings will have better treats. (Via Drudge.)

Tags: advertising, brands, Jenny Craig, Nestle

Topless Texas Teacher Terminated.

C’mon Austin. Only thing she’s guilty of is having a flickr account with Getty image rejects on it. It’s not like she’s a history teacher, she teaches art. What did you expect? Just ask her to remove the topless images and nobody notices, but don’t railroad her with some bs about performance issues.

(Click to enlarge.)

Tags: advertising, World Cup, brands, viral

Adventures in tamper resistant packaging - (or who put the hell in clamshell?)

Now, I know shoplifting is a serious problem for retail to deal with, but have you tried to open a package for oh, pretty much anything lately? You either need a pack of wild ferrets or Arnold’s knife from Commando just to make a dent. This is ridiculous. How does making a package tamper-resistant on store shelves make things any better when it also turns out to be ‘opening-resistant’ to customers who purchase it? Or maybe it’s designed to frustrate shoplifters so much they’ll return the thing?

This seems like two-steps forward, one step back for the industry. Most stores already have metal detectors and $4 an hour rent-a-cops at the exits, is anyone really getting out of the store with this stuff anymore? Only value-add I see is a raise in Johnson & Johnson’s stock price, seeing how as I’ve tripled my Band-Aids^® purchases for all the cuts I got in trying to open these damn things.

(DISCLAIMER: No fingers were cut in the opening of this package. Tools used to open: Fiskers^® and one beat-to-shit Sears Craftsman^® flathead screwdriver.)

Tags: advertising, brands, viral, clamshell packaging

Red, White & Blue, 1-1.

Now you’re awake fellas. That’s leaving it on the field with only nine players. Tip of the cap on a job well done despite The Ref From Hell. Keep attacking the middle with Donovan and good things will happen. Ghana? You bitches are next.

Tags: advertising, World Cup, brands, viral

Inspiration, futbol and blogging.

Sometimes? No clue what to post. Really. Take tonight.

As I started to blah-blah-blog, I thought maybe it should be about what creatives do for inspiration, a theme I’ve done before, but then futbol/footbal/soccer popped into my head, followed by movies.

Now I was left figuring out how to make them all play nice in one post. Go figure.

See, what we do isn’t always about layouts and meetings. Or meetings about layouts. You have to see things outside of work. Go out. Live a little, (or a lot). Be influenced by new things outside of your comfort zone even. BASE jump, read a book on the Amish or stalk someone.*

You know, expand your horizons.

Other times, if you’re into it like I am, you look for cool occurrances in nature. Influences can be visual like that, or they can be in the form of a new CD. Whatever. The thing is, be open to experiencing it.

Because a lot of times, those things we come across in life, even on the way to work, end up in our work. At least in mine they try to. The more you new things you add now, the more you have to draw on later.

So where does futbol come in? Well, I arrived at said theme when I came across a Newsweek article on Fernando Meirelles. Who you might ask? Oh, you ad bitches, you’re killing me. He’s the director of City of God and The Constant Gardener. And now I discover, director of some really cool futbol docs over at Nike’s soccer site. See his films.

More on futbol in a sec...

But when I first saw the DVD cover for Gardener in Hollywood Video, I thought Ralph Fiennes – chick flick meets Merchant Ivory, right? Normally, I’d say yes and that box is slammed back faster than a toothless biker on a police cruiser’s hood from an episode of COPS. But, I’d heard an interview with the director on The Treatment with Elvis Mitchell, and was interested in seeing it.

(The Treatment is a podcast and is a perfect example of a serendipitous find: hands-down the best interviews on film around that get to the heart of why directors, screenwriters and actors do what they do.)

Was it worth the $4.29 rental? Yep. Shot beautifully with nice plot turns, while revealing other cultures you won’t always see portrayed in movies, not to mention, the evil side of pharma.

And as for his futbol docs? Amazing and inspiring. I watch the dedication and fun the players show and start to wonder how will the US beat Italy tomorrow. I am a homer for the US, no doubt. Our team is good. Not worthy of the FIFA ranking bestowed on them entering the Cup, but better than they were four years ago.

And yet, watching those little films, it’s so clear why we have a long way to go: we don’t ‘play.’

The kids in the films, and in other countries play the way we did when we picked up a ball and glove as kids. We would stay outside until mom yelled for us to come inside because it was too dark.

Not anymore.

A friend who played club ball in Brasil mentioned something to me some time ago that I think is the reason for this, but it didn’t really hit home until I saw these spots. He said there the kids play without formal lessons. There are no clinics. No practices. No skills coaches. They get that later when they sign on with club teams as apprentices.

Kids just show up and play.

And I believe it’s this lack of rules and rigid control that fosters the ‘free play’ and ‘creativity’ you see later in the adult game. Nobody there when they were young to coach the spirit out of them. Which gets me thinking of how many kids these days quit sports because they say it’s just not fun anymore.

(If we appplied this to the biz, more agencies would do well to let their creatives just play, instead of regurgitate what the account team said the client wanted.)

But until we have the mindset in this country that Fernando captured, one that shows kids playing futbol, barefoot, on payment, (episode one), or teens playing with one leg on crutches, (episode five), we won’t really compete with the world’s best.

And if you hate futbol or can’t stand Ralph? Then sorry. You’ll just have to look at some funky jets and sprites and enjoy a few cold ones this weekend.

I’m out.

*My lawyer says I’m only kidding.

Tags: advertising, brands, viral, World Cup, jets and sprites, Fernando Meirelles

Stump The Dude, aka more time-killing stupidity.

Hey, just what is it you think creatives do during halftime of the UK/Trinidad and Tobago match in a bar anyway? Come up with stupid questions like these. Besides me, questions three and four actually stumped everyone who I asked later in the day.

So if you can, ad bitches, name:

1) The first three movies you saw.

2) The first three records you owned.

3) The first three CDs you bought.

4) The first three DVDs you bought.

(And you don’t have to name them here if you want. I realize the shock of seeing Police Academy 6 is outweighed only by admitting it on a blog. Like I just did. I’m just curious if you can or have I just been standing next to the microwave too long?)

Tags: advertising, The Dude, The Big Lebowski brands, viral, World Cup

Beef Jerkey - for kids.

From the you gotta be kidding department comes jerky for kids, jerky. Forget oranges at halftime. Bet it’s also made from little cows too.

Tags: advertising, brands, viral

Soccer, sneakers and hybrands.

What? Hybrands. Brand + hybrid = hybrand. Ok, it’s just another odd term I came up with to refer to a brand that splits into two companies at some point in its history, (or even morphs into another). And since it’s World Cup time, I came across an article (thanks, ayash) on how Puma and adidas, two of the largest purveyors of football gear, were at one time a single company run by founder Adolph Dassler. Adolph’s brother left to start his own gig, and the rest is Puma history. Another hybrand that comes to mind is Panera, formed after the CEO of Au Bon Pain sold that company and basically transferred the Au Bon urban model to the suburbs instead.

Tags: advertising, adidas, brands, Puma, viral, World Cup

Should-not-be-head-coach-of-US-soccer.

Tags: advertising, US Soccer, brands, viral, World Cup