Hasta La Creative!

In this morning’s New York Times, Elliott got down to dissecting the Olympic broadcast spots. Elliott was not impressed. No, not at all. The august journalist noted that:

“-too many commercials relied on predictable images to evoke China for Western consumers: dragons, pandas, ninjas, the Great Wall and homages to (or parodies of) “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.”

After knocking the blatant use of stereotypes, the august journalist moves onto to ripping work from Visa to McDonald’s. It’s not that a I disagree. Those McDonald’s spots comparing burgers to medals were pretty wretched, but by far, the most poorly planned spots were those for Exxon. Here’s Stuart again:

“Employees of Exxon Mobil fight malaria. And they help schoolchildren learn math and science. When did the company sell its oil and gas holdings and become a philanthropic organization?”

Oh, Elliott how sort of right you are! Exxon Mobil, which is a Havas account, recently clocked record profits this past fourth quarter, while
Americans stood dumbstruck by the gas pump. Exxon had a chance to address millions of American’s concerns directly and as honestly as a gas company possibly can. Instead, they went with the philanthropic angle that takes place on the shores of a distant country, Africa.

When you’re shelling out $50 per a tank, the fight against malaria takes a back seat to more daily concerns. While it’s fair game that Exxon makes money off a high global price tag, their Olympics broadcast slots were a chance for them to say, “Hey, we get we’re making out like bandits, but here’s what we’re doing on your local home front.” Not Africa, but in Georgia’s, Tennessee’s, Philadelphia’s and Wisconsin’s backyard. Where were the planners on this one. Um, hello… playgrounds? Helping to organize car pools? Donating gas to those in need like small town emergency units? Anyone? Anyone? Hearts and minds Exxon. Hearts and minds.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media

Good morning, advertising! Super Spy here. Did you miss me? I missed you. I really did, but I’m back now. The family is back together. Why you ask? How did it happen that I’ve been re-instated to the Mediabistro family tree?

If you recall, I called it a day back in May. I was tired, spent, in need of a serious vacation, but just as Adverganza predicted, the siren song of blogging lured me back to WordPress. I started my own random little thing called The Brief. It was a quiet storm of advertising thoughts and notes. It was a down low blog just like hip-hop mini-mogul, Jermaine Dupri’s, sexual orientation. And then, you know, media companies and their protectionist contracts… I got nabbed. Mediabistro came a callin’ and I had choices to make.

I’m back bitches. Matt and Spy Writer were nice enough to make a little room for me back here in the club house. On the plus side, I signed up for the comments system and low and behold! It worked! It really did, so I hope that you’ll all do the same, so we can parlay and whatnot.

So, y’all ready to ball? If you want to contact me direct, it’s superspyin at gmail dot com
or hit me on the instant message machine at superspyin.

Alright. Lets do this.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media

To better leverage the company van, Pet Butler’s marketing director built a pair of eye-catching rear-end displays — one with a dog reading on the toilet (tagline: “Until then, call us”), and one with a giant glob of poop steaming on an astroturf lawn (“Friends don’t let friends scoop poop!”).

I generally like the no-frills, mostly business approach of LinkedIn.

But today’s New York Times reports that the site is struggling, and may find a bit of a boost in with the Hollywood crowd:

The company bills itself as “the world’s largest and most powerful business network” but is known to most people as the Web site they begrudgingly visit every few months to approve be-my-contact invitations. Could Hollywood’s woes represent an opportunity for LinkedIn to woo new followers?

“Because so many people are looking for work, entertainment is an area that’s ripe for people to be ambitious and entrepreneurial,” said Rob Getzschman, LinkedIn’s entertainment market manager.

Mr. Getzschman lectured about LinkedIn at the Los Angeles Film Festival; on Thursday a LinkedIn representative will speak to indie filmmakers at a Film Independent workshop, also in Los Angeles. Engagements at the Screen Actors Guild and the Writers Guild of America are also planned. LinkedIn has one happy customer. Robert Margouleff, a producer of Stevie Wonder albums, lost a big sound-mixing client. After attending a LinkedIn event, he used the network to find sponsors for a documentary and to meet a National Geographic executive.

Do you use LinkedIn? Do you like it’s stripped-down approach to networking?

Adweek asked a bunch of big-name creatives to come up with mock ads for the presidential candidates. Deutsch’s take on Obama as chick-magnet party-guy (in the ad above, whipped up before Obama chose Biden instead of Paris) hits close to home for me: It’s a vivid reminder of how hip I’ll never be. Butler, Shine’s McCain poster reads, “God is my running mate,” but recent poll numbers don’t bear that out. Anomaly plays the age card and takes a poke at “McCain Erickson.” Um … I don’t get it. Maybe it’s a typo. Waaait. … No, still don’t get it. Check out all the work, and support your favorite in the Adweek comments section (and the election in November).

—Posted by David Gianatasio

So, Barack Obama tapped Joe Biden as his running mate. Good choice. Biden is so articulate, bright and clean. The focus now turns to another White House hopeful with a choice to make. I speak not of John McCain, but of Captain Morgan, whose presidential plank—quite literal in his case, as he is a pirate—mainly consists of “putting the party back in politics” and other pithy ad-speak. Whom should he tap as his first mate? Mr. Peanut? He’s dapper and well spoken, but that accent makes me think he was born in a foreign land that doesn’t share America’s values (e.g., Madison Avenue), and the monocle won’t play in Peoria. Joe Camel is in Big Tobacco’s pocket. The Aflac duck could ruffle feathers trying to get a bill through Congress and cause a major flap. No, I nominate Toucan Sam, who could sit on the Captain’s shoulder and parrot his policies as well as anyone. Or else Hillary Clinton. She could use a drink right about now.

—Posted by David Gianatasio

Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.
From 0 to 100km/h in 6.2 seconds.

Advertising Agency: Ogilvy Costa Rica
Creative Directors: Giovanni Bulgarelli, Carla Pravisani
Art Director: Daniel Montiel
Copywriter: Brian Maynard
Photographer: Ivan Castilla
Published: June 2008

Sound is all that matters.

Advertising Agency: Bronx, Curitiba, Brazil
Creative Director: Alexandre Silveira
Art Director: Filipe Matiazi
Copywriter: Alexandre Stamm

Sound is all that matters.

Advertising Agency: Bronx, Curitiba, Brazil
Creative Director: Alexandre Silveira
Art Director: Filipe Matiazi
Copywriter: Alexandre Stamm

CMW created an unusual campaign to promote an unusual vehicle – the Lotus Evora – the first launch from supercar marque Lotus in more than a decade. At high-profile events in Britain in recent months, including Wimbledon, the Harrods sale, Elton John’s White Tie & Tiara ball and Henley yachting regatta, ‘faceless’ people appeared in the crowds.
Videos of the characters subsequently appeared online and mainstream media (including The Daily Mail, Metro and ABC news in the USA) picked up and covered the story. Searching for ‘faceless people’ on Google led to a sponsored link for a microsite featuring a timer counting down to the launch of the new model at the London Motor Show in late July. When the timer reached zero, the launch was streamed live online and within a few moments, the site turned into a full brand website for the newly revealed car.

Advertising Agency: CMW, London, UK
Creative Director: Bob Nash
Art Directors: Mark Greenwood, Will Miles
Copywriter: Mark Blanchard
Other additional credits: Focus PR
Designer: Elliot Wright
Released: Summer 2008