Hasta La Creative!

Keep it pure.

Advertising Agency: Toth Brand Imaging, Boston, USA
Creative Director: Joanne Reeves
Art Director: Kimberlee Eten
Copywriter: Cat Doran
Digital Designer: Matthew Parmet
Photographer: Richard Phibbs
To be published: March 2008

We were going to leave this one alone but since it’s beginning to appear in a few places, we feel it’s necessary to cover (with facts, no less).

Advertising Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi Amsterdam, Netherlands
Creative Director: Magnus Olsson
Art Director / Illustrator: Nils Taildeman
Copywriter: Menno Schipper

Advertising Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi Amsterdam, Netherlands
Creative Director: Magnus Olsson
Art Director / Illustrator: Nils Taildeman
Copywriter: Menno Schipper

Today, Feb. 29, is Leap Day, the day added every four years to keep the calendar from falling out of step with the astronomical year and destroying civilization as we know it. The New York Times reported earlier this week on some efforts from marketers to take advantage. Mostly, this seems to involve offers of free food from restaurants like Boston Market, Morton’s The Steakhouse and Papa John’s, who apparently see Feb. 29 as just another opportunity for you to gorge yourself. (Most of the offers only apply to “leaplings,” who are those actually born on Feb. 29.) Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty is trying something a bit more admirable by holding self-esteem workshops around the world. (“Our mission is to make more women feel beautiful every day,” says a rep.) Virgin America has been holding a “Why leap when you can fly” sale. And the tourism people in Atlantic City, N.J., have come up with 29 ways to enjoy the boardwalk and beyond. The most famous leaplings of all, Norway’s Henriksen siblings (shown here), born on consecutive Leap Days in 1960, 1964 and 1968, are keeping a low profile, out of all ad materials (though Mental Floss magazine is having a 20-percent-off sale in their honor). And the one marketer perhaps entitled to toot its horn today, Intel, whose tagline is “Leap ahead,” doesn’t appear to be doing anything special. Which may be for the best.

—Posted by Tim Nudd

LONDON – Channel 4 has received 90 complaints about its news coverage of Prince Harry’s active service in Afghanistan, which was made public yesterday, after Jon Snow was accused of ranting about the media blackout.

LONDON – Madness front man Suggs introduces viewers to the Birds Eye ‘big house’ in his second appearance for its ‘Good mood food’ ad campaign.

Richard Huntington, Director of Strategy for Saatchi & Saatchi in the UK, is looking for planners to stretch during difficult times on an account.

Whenever I come across thinking that simply doesn’t excite me but where there are extenuating circumstances for why the strategy is as it is, I always ask the planner for their skunk strategy. A skunk strategy is that alternative bit of thinking that they really wanted to land. Who knows, with a following wind we might be able to create some new energy around it and even if this isn’t possible it is a reassuring sign of professional pride and personal standards.

The fact is, it is so easy to become discouraged in this business. There are countless factors conspiring to ruin the work at every turn. All of which means ad peeps must constantly strive to be incredibly resilient and resourceful.

New Tee Vee has several posts about quarterlife’s network debut and the fallout from said TV event.

In a development that could kill the network dreams of other fledgling web series, quarterlife’s premiere on NBC bombed. TV by the Numbers paints the not-so-pretty picture: quarterlife came in last place in its time slot, with a mere 3.86 million viewers. An ABC Primetime news special won the hour with 7.64 million viewers, and even the wait-wasn’t-that-canceled Jericho did way better, attracting 6.9 million people.

Our own Liz Gannes spoke with quarterlife creator Marshall Herskovitz at the Harvard Business School Entertainment and Media Conference today. In a nice moment of candor, even Herskovitz admitted that the show “bombed” last night, and offered up some interesting commentary.

Herskovitz said “We shouldn’t have been on a network to begin with. Our show, probably if it was going to TV should have been on a cable network, and that’s probably where we’re going to end up.”

He’s correct. After one episode on NBC, the show is now headed to Bravo.

These delicious looking posters illustrated by Brendan Monroe tip bar goers to Red Bull mixed drinks The Flaming Bull and Bull Breeze. Sadly, no Ladyboy – I would love to have seen that as artwork. The posters could be seen in hep bars in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Agency was Ogilvy Action, Beijing.

read more