Hasta La Creative!

The Google is cozying up to ad agencies, according to The New York Times.

During the last year, Google has built a 40-person group that is charged with courting agencies, trying to persuade them that their clients should buy ads on Google sites and use the search engine’s tools.

Google could avoid ad agencies when it sold only search advertising, where it is dominant. But now that it has a wider set of products in more areas — including social media and virtual reality — it finds that it must work harder to drum up business, particularly because of the lingering hard feelings.

Google is “definitely a must-buy in search, but in other things it’s not a must-buy,” said Jeff Ratner, managing partner and digital director at MindShare North America. “As they start moving more into ad networks and other mediums, they need the agency to help make it a reality.”

Someone recently asked me how Droga5 earns their keep. It’s a good question. Despite the idea behind Honeyshed being a good one, the execution has failed miserably. The online service has got to be costing them when it comes to the shop’s bottom line. What else is Droga5 known for? The Tap Water Project. As far as PR and noble causes go, it was a stellar example, but was unpaid. So, how does Droga pay the upkeep on their downtown digs and all the very, very good talent beneath its banner?

This year, Droga picked up Rhapsody as a client. However, you don’t hear about the shop pitching much. Last I recall was their bid for Equinox, which went to Fallon U.S.

They do some side work for Adidas and Microsoft, too. They’ve got TracFone, the pay-as-you go, disposable phone company that is in the midst of trying to keep afloat. Cell phone traffickers purchase the low-cost phones and tweak the software to “make them work on any cell network globally. This practice is causing the company to lose millions of dollars” (source). The provider is embroiled in lawsuits galore.

Droga’s website also lists Esquire magazine as client, but you know about magazines. They ain’t got no money. You may be thinking, what about Ecko? The genius viral video for the clothier was very, very good winning the agency some big named awards, but that was 2007 kids.

Listen, I like the shop’s work. I like David Droga to be honest. He’s a man with ideas who trusts his employees (or so I hear). He’s one of the few people who give a lecture that you actually want to listen to. So, is it charisma that keeps the agency afloat? It may be that Droga and his team are just awesomely amazing at keeping clients on the roster. There are worse business models. Plus, whether you love ’em or hate ’em, at least the agency is ready to take a risk. Evidence? Their body of work including Honeyshed. The shop is inspirational. They prove that being an outlier in this business can work; that the mega model of agency building is not necessarily the way to go. And also, that agencies don’t need to play by the rules all the time including issuing press releases every time they sneeze, pitch and fart. Know what I’m sayin’?

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media

(TrendHunter.com) Most car buffs have some kind of custom audio setup for their cars, but chances are it’s nothing like the Mobile DJ. This art car features two fully-functioning turntables and a ton of enormous cylindrical…

If it’s not Australian, it’s not on the menu.

Advertising Agency: Saatchi & Saatchi, Copenhagen, Denmark
Creative Director: Simon Wooller
Art Directors: David Ebbesen, Tobias Ambs-Thomsen
Copywriter: Simon Wooller
Photographer: Rebekka Ehlers
Post production: Peter Sønder Hansen, Jesper Gori
Published: May 2008

Image: Strategic Perception

Wall Street Journal: “Raised in Tulsa, Okla., Mr. [Fred] Davis at 19 took over his father’s small public-relations firm when he died. Early on, he told corporate clients that if their ads weren’t seen and remembered, they wasted their ad dollars. For a local bank, he beat out the big agencies by showing how customers would have to travel downtown only once to pre-sign all documents, so the rest of the banking could be handled by phone. He created the slogan: ‘Fourth National Bank. You’ll Never Come Back.'”

Also:  Strategic Perception, Fred Davis’s communications firm; a Politico article on Davis from May 2007.

Earlier:
Stage Design Magic As Propaganda Tool

You remember Honeyshed, right? That’s the Home Shopping Network for teens that Droga launched last year. Apparently, the site is out of beta and ready to be unleashed to the general populace. I guess that means they are going to start advertising, because really, it’s the web. If you want to find Honeyshed, if it had buzz, the kids would already be on the damn thing.

But I digress, in preparation for total world domination, Honeyshed has gotten a CEO in Stephen Greifer who was the senior VP-global lead of Digitas’. Holy crapola. How much do you think Droga coughed up for Grefier? I’m guessing a straight 100K salary, plus some ownership points, a bonus structure, etc. Hopefully, Stephen wrote in a golden parachute, too, because Honeyshed just isn’t so sweet.

David Droga admitted to Adage that the team had “their head in the trough a bit” and that the staff was lean. Evidence comes from an ex-staffers Tumblr in case you were in doubt:

“-just make sure they take the “associate” out of your title because there’s nobody to be an associate to… it’s just you.”

Dude. Really… you got some serious content issues with that thing. I don’t care that Nike coughed up some dough to try it out. What you have is a bunch of kids acting forced as hell trying to move some sneakers. It’s a great idea, but it’s not cute. It’s not cool. It’s a lotta look and trust me, because I did a focus group on it once. P.S. The Shed’s blog is way off point from the content to the functionality. Like way.

That said, Grefier wants you to know that Honeyshed is more than a online front for Publicis. Yes, Publicis is paying for the accumulated one-year-in-beta-hell-debt. Come on, someone had to be footing the bill.

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If you don’t see vision. Enroll in graduate programs now.

Advertising Agency: Access & Associated, Bangkok, Thailand
Published: August 2008

If you don’t see opportunity. Enroll in graduate programs now.

Advertising Agency: Access & Associated, Bangkok, Thailand
Published: August 2008

LOS ANGELES (AdAge.com) — MySpace is now MouseSpace. The world's largest social-networking website today announced it will commence a months-long contest to promote "High School Musical 3," the first theatrical release for the "HSM" franchise, that will have entire high-school graduating classes nationwide vying for a chance to win a trip to a Walt Disney resort.

Sapient, who, it seems, hasn’t been in the news since the digital boom of 1999, is out with a sponsored study of chief marketing officers which resulted in the creation of a “top ten list for agencies of the future.”