(TrendHunter.com) This is a very entertaining and great advert for a Japanese candy called Chocolate Pillows.
This fast-action advert features a young woman morphing into completely different personalities and exteriors…
We were just watching Fringe, the paranormal themed TV show from JJ Abrams, when it occurred to us that JWT Chicago had been suffering under some strange circumstances for what – almost two years? The shop operates without an ECD or a CEO. The last executive creative director was the very British, Graham Woodall. He signed on sometime in June 2004. At the time, Woodall said he was “very excited” about his new position saying that JWT Chicago was “a little agency that has a big future.”
With the loss of a large part of the shop’s important Kraft Foods account in 2007, Woodall was booted out of Chitown. CEO Barry Krause also shipped back to London was Ros King, who had been president of the office since September 2005. Rosemarie Ryan and Ty Montague, New York co-presidents, have held loosely onto the reins of the Chicago office since.
One has to wonder what made JWT Chicago think that bringing in some blood from London was a good idea in the first place. Yes, yes, sometimes it all works out when those wacky Brits bring their wry sense of humor, but um… If Kraft is keeping your office afloat and its an agency in the Midwest with a culture of its very own, does bringing in UK expats make any sense at all?
In fact, AdPulp editor David Burn recalled a conversation about production companies with Woodall at his “Welcome To Chicago” party. Woodall said:
“I only work in New York or London, sometimes L.A.” I said we have wonderful editors here. He said something like “that’s interesting, but I have my favorites in New York” and walked away. I thought to myself, this guy is going to ruin JWT, as he is a self-absorbed clown.”
Looks like someone’s crystal ball was working just fine. Back when they lost the Kraft business, JWT Worldwide Chairman and Chief Executive Bob Jeffrey actually fly to Chicago and was quoted as saying:
“When I told people we were losing the Kraft business, I said we were committed to Chicago. So I felt I had to get there and tell the staff, No. 1, that we are committed to Chicago.”
Oh really? Committed? JWT used to be a beacon of light in Chicago. And now? Now it’s been without an ECD and a CEO for way too long. Their offices contain a bewildered, shrinking staff. Or, kicked up shoes as staffers flee the office. Consider the recent departure of Don Avila who was the director of JWTwo, the in-house editorial shop.
Meanwhile, the other Chicago shops are like rabid lions poaching business and destroying the weak link in the city’s pack. It’s sad.
Come on, JWT – what are you going to do? Shit or get off the pot. While other Chicago shops have been rebounding, JWT Chicago suffers in silence and its remaining staffers in a relentless purgatory. Can you imagine? JWT? Hello? Anyone?
More: JWT Houston Wants You (To Be A Simian)
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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media
Rance Crain, President of Crain Communications, sees an opportunity that might benefit newspapers and his own content-producing media business.
The answer, I have come to believe, is for them to become aggregators of information by outsourcing their news holes to others already producing the material.
Already, firms such as CNN and Bloomberg are gearing up to offer such services, and niche magazines could supply features for lifestyle pages, including fashion and home furnishings.
My own field, the trade press, could provide expert business coverage from a unique what-it-means perspective. Trade papers give their readers inside, behind-the-ropes views of industry developments. What newspaper wouldn’t want a piece from Women’s Wear Daily on fashion trends or from Oil & Gas Journal on where the price of oil is going, or, I modestly submit, from our own Automotive News on why the General Motors/Chrysler merger is not a good idea?
Crain is saying newspapers might want to start seeing themselves as being in the business of “delivering” the news, rather than “producing” the news. That might be a hard shift to make in the newsrooms around the nation. However, like Crain, I’d like to syndicate AdPulp content and see the news holes filled.
The only daily newspapers that cover the ad beat with any regularity today are The New York Times and Chicago Sun Times. So, it’s plenty obvious how gaping this particular news hole is.
(TrendHunter.com) Why do people do it? Why do people ink areas that really should not be looked at?
They are inviting people to look at these body parts. In this case it’s men flaunting their fat beer bellies (although…
AgencySpy has learned that Casey Jones, Dell’s vp of marketing, has left the company. This information was confirmed by Jess Blackburn, a representative for the company.
Blackburn would not divulge whether or not Jones was fired or left of his own volition. At the time of this story, AgencySpy has not been able to reach Mr. Jones.
In mid-August, we reported a rumor we’d heard that Jones was on probation with Dell due to the lack of success that was coming out of Enfatico, a project he had spearheaded.
“Dell’s VP of Marketing, Casey Jones, is in hot water. The May 2007 hire, who pushed for the seemingly botched WPP/Enfatico consolidation plan, may not have much time left (at least that’s what we’re told) and is apparently on probation.
We hear that after a meeting with the Dell board, Jones was unable to convince the higher-ups that things are going well.”
More: “Dell Throws a Blogger at AgencySpy and Tribble, to Dispel Jones Rumor“
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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media
(TrendHunter.com) I love the British street art scene, but apparently times are hard for spray artists in London, the city that epitomizes the urban art scene. Insiders say tags, stencils and general bombing are all being…
(TrendHunter.com) Who would have thought fried egg couture would become such a hot fashion trend? After Katy Perry and Gwen Stefani turned out in egg-inspired costumes for Halloween, it looks like eggs are on their way…
(TrendHunter.com) Kate Cusack is a New York City born artist whose body of work revolves around the creation of what she calls “outrageous headdresses and fantastical costumes.”
Cusack also makes very attractive and artistic…
(TrendHunter.com) FAO Schwartz is offering you the chance to enhance your own Kermit or Miss Piggy, or any other member of the googly-eyed Muppets gang.
For $90 you can create your own Muppet via the online Muppet Whatnot…
Art director Yeva Babayan created a brilliant set of illustrated ads for Juicy Couture Women, Children and Men. In the ads, Babayan combines famous historic and cultural icons with their infamous quotes…
(TrendHunter.com) When you hear someone say their biological clock is ticking, this probably isn’t what they meant! Bioengineers at UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering have created a programmable clock based on E.…
Swedish site Crime Medicine tells the tale of counterfeit prescription drugs using an online drug store front which then break through to the truth behind the lie.
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Velocity Interactive, the media and communications investment firm founded by former AOL CEO Jonathan Miller and former Fox Interactive President Ross Levinsohn, has hired Mickie Rosen as a partner overseeing its West Coast investments, including the digital studio and management company Generate, and online ad optimization firm FatTail.
(TrendHunter.com) This selection of dresses from Emma Cook’s collection for Fall looks as if the models have just emerged from a smoldering fire. Don’t get me wrong, I love the designs, but they are a little “chimney-sweep…
I can hear myself presenting, as if I was on the Army account…
“Guys, we need to up the reality. As you know we live in a time where reality TV is king. So, it’s important that we too get gritty, we need some dirt on our hands. Let me send a documentary team to Iraq and we”ll put what really happens up on YouTube when we’re done. Sound good?”
According to Stuart Elliott of the Times, The Army did hear a pitch like that, and now they’re acting on it.
The Army is advancing its recruiting efforts by bringing video of real soldiers deployed in Iraq into teenager’s homes in KY, OH, TX and elsewhere across this great land. And the brass is making some these real soldiers available to answer tough questions from potential recruits.
…Justin from Texarkana wants to how many times you’ve fired on the enemy this week
Using new tools is one prong of the attack, using time tested methods is another. Look at this this expert manipulation of language: Straight from Iraq. Yes, America, you’re Army is now embracing transparency and social networking. Because the internet dared them to.
Then there’s the photo realism:
Hey, the Army is a tough sell. To do it right would take amazing discipline and will. Clearly they need to bring new media to the table, but some of new media’s better offerings will be hard to execute for this particular brand. That’s all I’m saying.
p.s. It’s Veteran’s Day. Yes, on a Tuesday.
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — Local TV stations, already wrestling with technology that changes how people watch their programs and the resulting fallout of ad dollars, have even worse news to consider: The TV-station trade association, the Television Bureau of Advertising, has severely recast its 2009 forecast for local TV advertising downward, suggesting that local stations are about to see their situation go from bad to worse.
(TrendHunter.com) Is it a watch? Is it a ring? Is it a necklace?
This amazing piece of multi-functional jewelry is all three of those things, in one stunning package.
This unique little trinket features the signature…
We all know many ads love to portray men as drooling, sex-crazed idiots who are easily turned on by just about anything because, well, we are.
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