Quotes From Tribes

I follow David Armano [and so should you] on Twitter and he has been posting his favourite quotes from Set Godin's book Tribes. If you read AdJoke regularly you will know we love a good quote and you know we appreciate Seth Godin's contribution to common-sense marketing and advertising.

Here are are my favourites from David Armano's tweets:

"Leaders make a ruckus" - Tribes

"defending mediocrity is exhausting" -Tribes

"The best idea doesn't win. the idea with the most fearless heretic behind it wins" -Tribes

"In every organization, everyone rises to the level at which they become paralyzed by fear" -Tribes

More Interesting Snippets

See the full collection here. I think I have shared most of them on AdJoke, but definitely look through the site.

Great Stuff

I was stumbling tonight and came across a great site with a post about 39 sweet print executions. Check out my favorite three below. A common theme among them? They're simple. Sweet art direction and straightforward ideas.

The influence of the internet

How will brands change to accommodate this new consumer? One who wants to be heard, expects to be heard and will not get involved with your brand unless they have a chance to be involved in the conversation. Ohh, and have fun HR.

Agencies - Then and Now

Remember the good old days of advertising? The ones that are shown on Mad Men?

I don't. I'm 25 and have no idea what it was like. But I've heard stories. Lot's of them and they usually have some consistent themes:

- Creatives ran the world (and the agencies). Account management was ensuring that your team showed up at a scheduled meeting.
- Budgets were not an issue; you could propose a wacky brand idea, fly around the world to shoot it and return with more party stories than you could imagine (and a decent spot).
- Time wasn't a problem. Deadlines existed, sure, but you had 4-6 months to create a campaign, approve it and push it live. And with only 3 major TV stations and a few papers, execution was pretty frigging simple.
- There was only one ROI metric that mattered - sales. If things were good, relationships were great. There was no research, no "key message takeaway" studies and certainly no focus groups.

What's changed? A lot.

- Budget and time are a big issues no matter which client you work with (typically the standard combination - more executions in less time for less money)
- Creatives are still vital but are now part of the total system - along with strategic planning, production, digital strategy and technology
- Clients expect less flash and more results. Less talk and more sales. They expect agencies to prove it.
- Marketing budgets are more focused to very specific objectives - not "brand building"
- We can no longer look at what worked 10 years ago and fit it to our brand.

Agencies can't cheat as well as they used to. Digital strategies are emerging everyday and if something worked 6 months ago, it might not work tomorrow. Agencies have to be able to adapt and feel comfortable creating campaigns that have never been done. They also have to manage the millions of conversations that are happening about their brands.

Things are different. But I think that in the next 10 years the agency model will be stripped and rebuilt. You'll either be a strategic shop or a production one. The best - of either model - will still make good money. But the average ones that are just getting by won't be around for long.

Ad Quote of the week

The market for something to believe in is infinite.

~Hugh Elliot

Stop Smoking Already

When I came across these ads I thought, "Its been a while since I saw any stop smoking ads that weren't for Nicorette".

The New Pepsi. Will it change anything?

Well Pepsi felt the need for a shake-up. So they have a new logo (see to the right) and $1.2 billion later; a complete packaging, merchandising and marketing overhaul of its soft drinks -- and a reduced reliance on BBDO, the shop that put it on the map nearly 50 years ago.

In trying to rebuild North American carbonated-soft-drink volume that dropped 3%, PepsiCo Chairman-CEO Indra Nooyi said the company will embark on a sweeping revamp of "every aspect of the brand proposition for our key [carbonated-soft-drink] brands: how they look, how they're packaged, how they will be merchandised on the shelves and how they connect with consumers." Leading the push is Dave Burwick, recently tapped as CMO for beverage brands.

Good luck Mr. Burwick. You'll need it.

The Links

- Even video games aren't safe from the failing US economy
- The Obama campaign breaks another record for fund raising in September. With hundreds of millions to spend and growing support, things are looking good for Obama fans.
- The next TED conference? Or just another unworthy competitor.
- Economy troubles? Google doesn't think so. They think it's perfect timing.
- Marketer of the year? Yup, it's Obama.
- Are there any agencies out there that actually use the digital tools they talk about? Banner blog is trying to find out.
- Always find yourself making checklists? Here's a new social site that helps you make your own.
- Facebook is now the number one photo site on the web with over 10 billion photos.
- Ever wanted to create your own digital business card? The one place with all of your social networks, blogs and feeds? Now you can.
- Want to know how to make a better presentation? Godin gives you 9 simple tips.

The best Obama UCG - MC YOGI

Out of the 150 trillion user generated videos created for the Obama campaign this one is my favourite. Why? The production quality is incredible and I believe this is the type of content that could make a difference.


Obama '08 - Vote For Hope from MC Yogi on Vimeo.

I promise this will be my last post on the US Election until the election is over.

Nothing like a couple of fake movie posters to help raise awareness about the Presidential candidates. It's amazing how some simple facts about the candidates (John McCain is old, Obama being new) can be used to create the main stories about their individual brands.

Loving AdJoke.ca

Props to PC for converting our annoyingly long URL to something simple.

It wasn't a complicated task...but it makes a huge difference.

Here's to simplicity.

Convert YouTube videos

http://www.convertmytube.com/

Check it out.

Holiday Inn Rap

Fucking hilarious.......

Method & Droga 5. A great fit.

I just read on Advertising Age that Droga 5 has landed the Method account. Every now and again I hear about a new client agency relationship and I think, "Wow, I couldn't think of a better fit". This is definitely one of those.

I look forward to seeing the work in 2009.


From Ad Age:

Back from hiatus
The account had been dormant since late last year after Method parted ways with Omnicom Group's TBWA/Chiat/Day, Playa Del Rey, Calif., a spokeswoman said in a statement. In late 2006, TBWA succeeded Crispin Porter & Bogusky, Miami, which was the first agency to handle the account.

"In the past year, we shifted away from large-scale advertising and focused on earned media programs developed by our in-house creative team, like our 'Detox Your City' program we conducted in key cities across the country," the spokeswoman said, explaining the prior departure of TBWA a year after it won the assignment.

Campaign due in early '09
Method awarded Droga5 the creative assignment without a review to create a new marketing campaign to break early next year. "Droga5 is a dynamic agency that is known for taking traditional advertising initiatives and turning them upside down," Eric Ryan, chairman and co-founder of Method said in a statement. "We share the same passion and dedication to creating innovative and unique experiences for people, and we are thrilled to be partnering with such a talented team."

New Sony Bravia Ad; Domino

Just read that the newest Sony Bravia ad has been released in New Zealand. It's the forth in the set (Balls, Paint and Bunnies being the previous three). It's not the same scale as the other ones (it's a local execution) but still worth watching.

At first I didn't really enjoy the track but I like the idea. The final shot is great.

On brand and a nice execution. Check it out.

The Corporate Social Media Curve

From Logic+Emotion. Love this chart. So true it's sad.

The Best TED Video I've Ever Seen

We've done a lot of posts about the quality presentations at the TED conference. From new systems from the leading technology companies (Photosynth) to staggering web stats that would blow your mind to new systems that could help eliminate poverty, global warming and illiteracy in the world.

There are a lot of great videos - and I'm sure there will be more. But this presentation from Conductor, Benjamin Zander, it one of the best 20 minute speeches I've ever watched.

I'm not going to spoil it. I'm just going to say that if you want to change your outlook in life - even briefly - find twenty minutes in your day to watch it.

I don't get it...

...but I think this foreign spot is pretty hilarious. Especially the reaction of the kid at the end. Random but quality.

Honda Makes Music, but the drops the ball

The road is grooved so that the tires running on it create notes when you drive over it. The URL in the ad drives you to The Civic Project at civic.honda.com. What do you get when you visit? Just their line of cars. No explanation of what you saw. Even if you do a search on their site, no mention made. The description on the YouTube clip said more and at least gave a quick overview of the purpose:

The Civic has always been about connecting drivers to the road. That got us thinking. Could we build a road that enhanced that connection?

Like many car owners, the Honda crowd is loyal and it feels like they totally missed an opportunity to explain this idea of connection better, let alone have people do stuff with the concept on their own, especially a younger Civic crowd who appreciate this.

Gents - you are welcome.

But seriously can anyone enlighten me. What is the point of these ads? Are they saying that they are so packed full of vitamins that they can make everything bigger, even the volume of your hair?

Help me.

Found on adofdamonth.

Mobile re-designed. Mobile Phones that make music.

The au Design Project x Yamaha has released a series of phones that double as musical instruments (or instruments that double as phones?). Designed by a foreign and Japanese team of young innovators , these handsets are original, creative, and (the best part) actually able to make music!

The pieces below are called Box to Play and Key to Touch. While the latter may be self explanatory, Box to Play integrates a synthesizer, scratch pad, and other fun musical toys, and folds up quite nicely.

Sticks in the Air are just what you’d think…drumsticks with sensors for the beat, but they also snap together when you want to have a proper phone. Trio in Your Hand, however, flips open to create a scratch pad and sampler for mobile DJs.

For those who like something a little more tactile, Strings for Fingers and Band in My Pocket bring the orchestra into the mix.

Band in My Pocket is unique in that it comes with multiple accessories to create different instruments from the harmonica to the trumpet. Sounds are “hummed” into the handset (much like with Yamaha’s EZ TP Trumpet) with the rest controlled by the fingers.

See the phones in action below or visit PingMag’s YouTube channel .

From CScout Japan.

Leave Nothing Part 2 "Fate"

Another fantastic spot from Nike for their "Leave Nothing" football campaign. I love the track, the way this spot is shot and the consistency between this spot and the previous one.

A number of brands have access to huge sports celebrities but few use them well. It's nice to have stars like LaDainian Tomlinson and Troy Polamalu but if you don't create something great with them, what's the point?

Excited to see this next Sunday on TV.

Leading Hotels Fiasco

"In a case study of how technology can sometimes fail a brand, Leading Hotels of the World -- with 450 luxury hotels in North, South and Central America; Asia; Europe; and Africa -- advertised a promotion last month to celebrate its 80th anniversary. It offered consumers a chance to win two nights at any of its properties between Nov. 1 and Dec. 15 for $19.28 each night.

The company made 3,000 rooms, or 6,000 hotel nights, available for the promotion.

Too popular
"Much of it was handled in-house, with a lot of it online, a lot of one-to-one marketing," Mr. Calder said. "We contacted many of the customers in our database, it got some press pickup, and it got a lot of mention on blogs and travel sites. It really took off."

Maybe too much. Some 150,000 people registered for the promo and were directed to a dedicated site Oct. 1 to attempt to book the $19.28 rooms.

The site crashed almost immediately. Most people were shut out; those who did get into the site were not able to book any rooms. "

As mentioned in the article the promotion was handled internally. One would hope that if they had engaged any decent agency that they could have identified the potential technology issues as well as been able to properly manage any unforeseen complications. What I actually see as the bigger story here is that the power of the internet was once again proven.

I am sure senior people at Leading Hotels were thinking ... well, its just a small online promo, we expect to receive a response but since our only communications are one-to-one with current customers it should be fairly small. Right? We'll be fine managing it internally.

Wrong. Word travels fast on the internet and bad blood travels even faster.

Read the full article on Advertising Age.

Some shots from NYC

Puff Daddy satisfies his giant ego with a giant billboard. From the street it actually looked like he was checking out the naked Eva Mendes.

MySpace.com has a campaign where they have featured different artists and pulled music related details from their profiles on myspace. Here little Wayne share a list of "Beats that stick with me", the Jonas Brothers shared a list of songs they could agree on, etc.

This Dexter campaign was everywhere in New York. The "New Dexter" cover is my favourite.

Seriously? Have we become this lazy that it is required for us to play on the fears of environment and electricity costs to convince us to be active?

21 brands can be found in this picture.