In what seems like a lifetime ago, I was given the nickname “Captain Digital.” Back when I began blogging, I put everything under this blog’s banner. Eventually, I realized it would be better (for any number of reasons) to refocus this blog to cover just marketing, advertising, and design, and relocate all my political and pop culture posts to another blog, and thus, www.captaindigital.net was born.
When I first created a visual look and feel for Captain Digital, I wanted to evoke a 1940’s style cartoon look. While that worked well as far as the original goal, the reality was that working with the color halftone pattern was a major pain. Nice idea – not worth the extra effort to pull off the look of a Ben Day pattern. Add to that a desire to remake Captain Digital’s image into something just a wee bit more modern and hip, and you have a need for a image refresh. Problem was, I really didn’t have time to work on it. I tried an intermediate step of using a modernized cartoon version of the original, but there were some things I wanted to fix – in particular, I felt like losing the helmet would be a good idea. So As of today, we’ve got a new version of Captain Digital. The old/original drawings will be retired, as I can get to it.
As you can see, the character’s costume has remained fairly consistent. I made things a little more consistent as far as the colors go, but the biggest change is getting rid of the helmet (and replacing it with a headset), and the addition of a little facial hair (which is more consistent with what I really look like (would that I could trade bodies with Captain Digital – he’s in MUCH better shape than I am).
When you get a chance, click on over to the CD blog and check out the new look and feel. I’m hoping that it will reinforce the content with a more consistent visual style.
As a marketing guy, I believe the smartest thing I can do to stay sharp is to spend a part of each day keeping up with what others are doing – and saying – in the world of marketing. In particular, I like to look at TV ads (go figure), listen to commercial radio, flip through magazines, and read the trades. I also enjoy reading marketing blogs, especially those written by people whose opinions I respect and value. Exhibit A: Ries’ Pieces, a marketing blog penned by Laura Ries. Laura is a crack marketer in her own right (you’ve likely seen her on one of the cable news channels) and author, and is the daughter of Al Ries, for my money, one of the living ‘gods of marketing.’ The senior Ries, along with his then-partner, Jack Trout, wrote a couple of the most influential books on marketing ever, including Positioning, the bible for how to view your brand within your marketspace.
I was reading Laura’s blog the other day, and noted her comments on the re-packaging/re-branding of Tropicana orange juice. I hadn’t noticed that Tropicana had changed their packaging prior to this, so I made it a point to visit the refrigerated section of my local grocery emporium, just to see what all the hubbub was about.What I found was…interesting. My conclusion was that, while Ms. Ries makes some incredibly valid and insightful points, there were a couple of things she missed. To wit… Read the rest of this entry »
I went back the recording studio today, to add some tracks for my demo reel. A couple of months ago, I had the opportunity to play some (blues) harp (a.k.a. “harmonica”) with a couple of different groups. I quickly realized that (because you have to have a harp for the specific key the song is in – one harp is not gonna cut it), that I needed to buy some harps in other keys.
Playing harp is kind of a Zen thing – it’s both intuitive and counter-intuitive, deceptively simple on one level, and fiendishly difficult on another. Part of that has to do with the nature of the beast – half the notes you blow (exhale) and have the notes you ‘draw’ (inhale). The layout of the notes on a diatonic harp determines what kinds of sounds you can get out of them. And the whole key signature thing is a head trip, too…to get the notes you want in the right places for bending, you don’t play a harp tuned to the same key as the song (most of the time) – you play it in a fourth above. For instance, if you’re in the key of E, you want a harp tuned to the key of A. Read the rest of this entry »
For some reason, liars are funny. At least, when it’s obvious they are lying. In marketing, we get accused of lying all the time. In fact, my wife is convinced we’ll burn in Hell, just for being in marketing biz. But when liars are used for comedic effect, the result can be some advertising with impact, and longevity.
Perhaps the most famous liar of the last 20 years of advertising has been the Joe Isuzu character brought to life by by actor David Leisure and created by the NY ad agency, Della Femina, Travisano, and Partners. The Isuzu spots featured Liesure’s Joe Isuzu as an over-the-top pitchman, willing to say anything, no matter how outrageous, to sell a car. Here are some examples, thanks to Wikipedia: Read the rest of this entry »
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I went back the recording studio today, to add some tracks for my demo reel. A couple of months ago, I had the opportunity to play some (blues) harp (a.k.a. “harmonica”) with a couple of different groups. I quickly realized that (because you have to have a harp for the specific key the song is in – one harp is not gonna cut it), that I needed to buy some harps in other keys. 
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