Archive for the “media” Category

all things come to them's that wait.

I love Jack in the Box. Seriously. I love their food (the cheddar potato wedges are to die for). I love their commercials. I love their whole attitude and persona. I’m a huge fan. I think the entire “Jack” character is simply brilliant. Which is why I’m nothing short of stunned regarding the recent remake of the jackinthebox.com corporate website. Don’t get me wrong. It’s attractive. It’s cool. It’s got the content (the commercials) everyone wants to see. But you’d think it was designed by someone mainlining Heinz ketchup. Slow doesn’t begin to describe it. And slow = death on the web.

Now understand that I’ve got a lot of experience building rich media websites. Read the rest of this entry »

NOTE: This is – ordinarily – a marketing blog. I try (sort of) to keep politics out of it. But today, I believe we are faced with something that is too important to ignore, for it trumps marketing, along with everything else. I am speaking of the imminent threat of Socialism in America. Therefore, I am temporarily suspending my moratorium on political topics to bring you the following editorial.

Another guy who "got it."

There’s something happening here. You can feel it in the air. You can see it on people’s faces, hear it in their voices. Change. And I don’t mean the kind of B.S. “Change” that we saw on Obama’s campaign posters. I mean the kind of change that changes the course of a nation. And the tipping point is this afternoon.

I’m a conservative. A proud conservative. And I believe this country is, frankly, going to Hell in a hand-basket. Sadly, this started long before Obama took office. While I believe that George Bush the Younger is a principled, Godly man, too many things that happened on his watch ran contrary to my conservative principles. That was bad. This is worse: since Obama took office, the country is on a toboggan ride, downhill towards Socialism. Spending like drunken sailors (no offense to our Navy, guys – it’s just an expression), Congress seems content to fiddle while the U.S.A. burns. No program is stupid enough, wacky enough, or costly enough to deny it funding, while even the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office warns that most of the “stimulus” they’ve passed will not only fail to stimulate the economy, but will in fact prolong the recession. Obama has acknowledged as such, even back as far as the campaign days. When asked about his plan to tax capital gains even when it’s been proven, time and time again, that this will have a detrimental effect on the economy, he replied, “But it’s the right thing to do.”

The right thing to do. Interesting turn of phrase. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, campers, I’ve spoken with the folks at Johnson and Johnson (a family company) about the Glade spots. Briefly. So far…nothing to report. I did get a reply to one of my blog posts, agreeing that the spokesmodel is definitely in the enigmatic camp, and offering that nobody really seems to know if her name is even really Dori Kelly. Hard to say.

At this point, I think I’m pursuing this as much because of the challenge, as I’m interested in talking with the Glade brand manager about the ad strategy. I’ve never know a company to be as tight with info as this (not criticizing…just making and observation). But I have to admit, this thing seems to be feeding upon itself.

I was never much of a science student, but I seem to recall that there’s some sort of scientific law that has to do with the concept that you can’t really observe anything without affecting and influencing the thing you’re observing. For instance, if you want to study something that lives only in the dark, you’d have to turn on some kind of light to see it. Turn on the light, and the thing leaves. The connection here is that my blog stats show that every time I mention “Dori Kelly,” I get a big traffic boost. BIG traffic boost. There’s obviously some interest on the web about the spokes-lass and her background. But I’m wondering how much MORE interest there is out there BECAUSE people like me are writing about her. No way to tell for sure, really, because observing and studying that phenomenon would influence the result. Ah, the joys of a through-composed paradox.

So…I’ll report back when I have something more to report. For now, all you Glade Spokeslady fans, keep up the traffic.

When I was a small child, I am told, I used to run out of the room when a TV show was on, but race back in, to watch the commercials with rapt attention. My parents found this behavior a bit odd, to say the least. Little did they know that I would grow up to be a marketing and advertising guy, where I would not only write about commercials, but write and direct them for a living. When I was young, it was difficult to defend this behavior. As an adult, I know realize that a 30 second commercial (at least the good ones) have average budgets similar to a 30-second sitcom, with better acting, tighter scripts, far better special effects and production values, and more compelling content.  Read the rest of this entry »

Wanna know a secret? I know how to tell which products are lucrative, without the need for a crystal ball, a time machine, or a magic wand. For those of you around during Watergate, you’ve heard this aphorism before: “Follow the money.”

Tell you what. Watch TV for a week, and tally up how many commercials you see for specific products. My unofficial survey shows that there are several product categories that take up a disproportionately large number of commercial time on TV: Read the rest of this entry »

The game has defied my expectations, to say the least. Not so the spots – with only a couple of standouts (from the usual suspects) the Super ads have been anything but. Here’s my spin on the second part of the festivities…

Halftime/Second Half

The GOOD:

NBC: LMAO. Normally, network spots promoting their lineup of shows are pretty lame, or just embarrassing (like the NBC “I’m feelin’ allright” spot earlier). This one was funny, and somewhat reminiscent of the eTrade “Money Coming Out of His Wazoo” spot from the 2000 Super Bowl. Wouldn’t make me watch their shows – but a nice effort, nonetheless. Read the rest of this entry »

All the Marbles.

As a service to those that TiVO pas the spots to watch the game (both of you), here’s my crack analysis of the Super Bowl spots – at least the ones that stood out for me, for whatever reason.

First Half

The GOOD:

Doritos: Crystal Ball. I laughed out loud at this one. You could see it coming, and it was still funny. I like funny. Memorable. People will be talking about this one tomorrow.

Doritos: Crunch. Another laugh-out-loud, funny spot. Gotta get me some of those chips. So far, Doritos looks like the clear winner in the Super Bowl spot contest.

Castrol: EdgeMonkeys.com. Funny spot. Not sure if it sells oil, but it’s got enough connection to the product to make me remember the brand. Which is a good thing.

Pepsi Max: I’m Good. Very funny spot, as long as you like slapstick, physical comedy. (I do.) It’s definitely a spot that will appeal to guys…and 10 year old girls. Wives…not so much. The concept of a “cola for men” is a bit iffy to me, but I’m willing to listen.

eTrade: Golf. Loved it. The idea of this baby playing golf, with his excess of ‘tude? Classic. Read the rest of this entry »

When I’m not working at my “day job” running a marketing/advertising/design agency, I’m a professional musician. Right now, I’m trying to put a band together here in Amarillo to play in restaurants, nightclubs, and private parties. Now nobody’s gonna confuse Amarillo with, say, Dallas or Austin, as far as a music scene goes. Most of what you hear up here in the Panhandle, frankly leans toward the country music side of things. I want to create a jazz group – I’ll play vibes and sing, with a piano, bass and drums. A group like that could cover a lot of material – traditional jazz, Latin, standards, pop tunes – you name it. We could play everything from Nat ‘King’ Cole and Diana Krall to Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock to Harry Connick Jr. and Micheal Bublé. Read the rest of this entry »

Running an ad agency, I’m painfully aware at how crazy this business can be. I take some comfort in the words of W.S. “Babs” Gilbert (of Gilbert & Sullivan fame) who opined, “There is humor in all things.” The agency biz is one part comedy, one part drama, a smattering of action, and an occasional dash of tragedy. To outsiders, peeking behind the curtain of an agency is akin to standing backstage and watching a magician work.

Hollywood has recently discovered that agency life has a great deal of potential for storylines, characters, and settings. Of course, since Hollywood believes that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery (or plagiarism), we now have not one, but two shows that are built around ad agency life. Read the rest of this entry »

Bait and Switch. If you’re not familiar, it’s a term that refers to the rather slimy practice of selling a prospect on one product/service/idea, and then changing what you deliver, after the agreement is in place. It might be claiming that a product on eBay is “new” or “like new” when in fact, it turns out to be used. It might be a car salesman that promises side-curtain airbags and a GPS/Radio, but when you take delivery, both features are missing. Or it might be a multi-billion dollar financial bailout that suddenly becomes a multi-TRILLION dollar pork barrel trough, with no accountability in sight.

Any way you slice it, it ain’t pretty.

So how does this happen? I blame a combination of opportunity, misplaced trust, a lack of negotiations in good faith, and the ever-popular “human nature.”

Take, for example, the TARP bailout. The cause? The illogic and over-extension of the financial markets had finally caught up with them. It seems that when you game the system (like the Dems did, to create a system where people that couldn’t afford to buy a home suddenly could, and those that could afford a modest home, suddenly could purchase more home than they could afford), the eventual result is those financially insolvent chickens eventually come home to roost. The effect? Our Congressional leadership railroaded a bailout bill through the House and Senate with no real oversight, and no real restrictions on what could be done with the money. While I believe the first plan (buy up all the bad debt for homes, sell the loans to lenders, use the money to cover the spread) was flawed, the fact that they abandoned that (in record time, I might add) and used the money to assume government control of the banking system, is a nightmare for any free-market capitalist.

The Bush and Obama administrations did a number on us all, by ramrodding the bill through Congress. But the effect of the mendacity and the bait and switch may have longer and more disastrous effects, both in th long and short terms. You see, Obama will have a grace period. But I doubt it will last as long as he expects – or hopes. And when positive results are not forthcoming, the people will be very unhappy. The media has sold the country on Obama’s “Change” mantra, and the idea that he can fix what’s wrong. Unfortunately for all of us, I seriously doubt he can. It’s a Herculean task, and history tells us that you simply can’t spend your way out of a recession/depression. Everything Obama has planned will attempt to do just that. His staff marketing team will do their best to sell us all on the infallibility of his plan. That’s to be expected. But when the plan doesn’t bear fruit, I expect we’ll see a bunch of dissatisfied voters waking up to the idea that they’ve been sold a bill of goods – not once, but twice.

Bait and Switch is no way to run a country. Misrepresent your plans, change directions in mid-execution, or simply lie…call it what you will, but the bottom line will always be a bunch of customers – or in this case citizens – that will be calling for the heads of those in charge. It’s true in marketing. It’s true in finance. And it’s especially true in government, because it his everybody in the wallet – and that’s a volatile target.