Recent events such as the bankruptcy of independent shop KSL and the merger between giant agency holding companies Publicis Groupe and Omnicom Group have raised questions about whether indie media shops can compete. But from the marketing industry’s perspective, there’s no question: They must continue to co-exist. Holding companies often are the best solution for clients that require global scale, but independent media agencies are structured to service clients wanting more custom, niche scale.
As the news goes, KSL’s demise seems due to circumstances specific to that agency. The fact that its problems afflicted an independent media agency is purely coincidental.
A couple weeks back I published a column titled "Does your social-media strategy involve wasting time on idiots like me?" It turns out that when I pose a question in a headline, you, dear readers, are more than happy to answer it.
First, a quick flashback: In that column I wrote about a recent exchange I happened to have on Twitter with @IHOP, the International House of Pancakes restaurant chain. It was a wry back-and-forth in which I sort of acted like we were having a lovers' spat. @IHOP played along, to an extent, which was both mildly amusing and, for me, thought-provoking — because I wondered about the ROI of a big brand interacting in social media with a goofball like me. (You can read the full, brief exchange here if you missed it the first time.)
First of all, a bunch of readers, including Drew Neisser, CEO of New York agency Renegade — he's @DrewNeisser on Twitter — thought maybe @IHOP engaged with me on Twitter because of who I am. As Neisser tweeted, "just guessing here but I suspect @IHOP knew u were a writer and treated u accordingly. #influencer." While I'm always flattered #when #people #talk #about #me #in #hashtags, the truth is that when @IHOP surprised me by writing back to my first tweet, I took a look at the account's history and saw that @IHOP frequently interacts with regular people — i.e., everyday pancake eaters who are not part of the media-industrial complex.
(TrendHunter.com) Photographer Marie-Louise Cadosch captures Alina B. and Edison K. in a sensual and glamorous romance-themed photography shoot. ‘Eyes Wide Shut,’ for the fall 2013 issue of RUNWAY,…
With his usual ability to make even the most mundane aspects of life hilarious, Ron Burgundy, aka Will Ferrell gets very excited about the 0.1 cubic foot glove box which has enough room to fit two turkey sandwiches ot…70 packs of gum!!!
“Is this a gumball machine or what? No, it’s a Dodge Durango!”
(TrendHunter.com) For the ‘Dolce Touch Campaign,’ photographer Kesler Tran photographs luxurious sunbathers by the pool side. The editorial uses the sunlight and the reflection from the pool water in…
Recently, blinkx released the results of survey of online video viewing habits conducted on its behalf by Harris Interactive. The survey was designed to reveal viewing and social media sharing habits of U.S. consumers and uncovered some not-so-surprising trends.
In total, 2 out of 4 people watch online video.
– 57% watch 1 to 5 hours each week
– 26% watch more than 5 hours each week
– 17% watch less than one hour each week
– 867% watch videos on their computers
– 35% watch videos on their smartphones
– 23% watch videos on their tablets
– 14% watch videos on their smart TV
Smartphone users watch more viral videos with 61% viewing virals on their smartphones. Tablet users watch more entertainment with 48% viewing entertainment on their tablets.
Of smartphone users:
– 61% watch viral videos
– 48% watch entertainment
– 41% watch news
– 24% watch how-to videos
– 17% watch TV shows
– 14% watch movies
Of tablet users:
– 48% watch entertainment
– 45% watch news
– 44% watch viral videos
– 40% watch TV shows
– 34% watch movies
– 29% watch how-to videos
Of course, for Smart TV users, most (72%) watch movies and TV shows (64%)
In terms of video length, in general, shorter videos are viewed in smaller screen and longer videos are viewed on larger screens.
In terms of the most memorable advertising videos, entertainment category videos (movie trailers, etc.) are most remembered at 37%. This is followed by consumer goods at 17%, financial services at 17% and cars at 15%.
Succession planning is continuing at Publicis Groupe, where Arthur Sadoun — the young French ad exec who’s been running the ad holding company’s namesake shop in Europe — has been promoted to CEO of Publicis Worldwide.
It represents a big vote of confidence in a young star to see if he can ascend through the network globally. Publicis Worldwide is incredibly important to the DNA of the overall company, as it was the agency that was the foundation for the group, founded by Marcel Bleustein Blanchet in Paris in 1926. Today Publicis Worldwide is the largest global agency network for the holding company with nearly 9,000 employees in some 80 countries. In the United States, that includes New York-based Publicis Kaplan Thaler, Riney in San Francisco, and Modem offices in select cities.
Mr. Sadoun — who, along with his TV personality wife Anne-Sophie Lapix is a bit of a local celebrity in France — will report to the Groupe chairman-CEO Maurice Levy and will also join the executive committee of Publicis Groupe.
As we mentioned on Friday, Ferrell has filmed some spots for the Dodge Durango as his Anchorman character ahead of the release of Paramount Pictures' Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues. Check out the first six spots below. The first few aired on TV this weekend, and Ferrell perfects the role of comically idiotic pitchman—with help from a roomy glove box and a "worthless" horse. The ballroom spots will premiere tonight on Dancing With the Stars.
Wieden + Kennedy in Portland, Ore., worked with Funny or Die writers on the scripts. FoD's production arm, Gifted Youth, which also produced Ferrell's famously offbeat Old Milwaukee ads, teamed with Caviar to co-produce this work. This is just the beginning, too. Chrysler chief marketing officer Olivier Francois told the ANA Masters of Marketing conference in Phoenix on Friday that this is "just a little appetizer," and that Chrysler was producing another 67 videos for the Web. "It's massive," he said.
CREDITS Client: Dodge Durango
Agency: Wieden + Kennedy, Portland, Ore. Creative Directors: Aaron Allen, Kevin Jones, Michael Tabtabai Copywriter: Mike Egan Art Director: John Dwight Interactive Art Director: Chuck Carlson Producer: Monica Ranes Account Team: Kyleen Caley, Lani Reichenbach Business Affairs Manager: Dusty Slowik Executive Producer: Corey Bartha Executive Creative Directors: Joe Staples, Susan Hoffman Head of Production: Ben Grylewicz
Co-Writing Company: Funny or Die
Production Companies: The Gifted Youth, Caviar Director: Jake Syzmanski Executive Producers (Gifted Youth): Chris Bruss, Dal Wolf, Josh Martin, Ryan McNeely Executive Producers (Caviar): Jasper Thomlinson, Michael Sagol Line Producer: Stephan Mohammed Director of Photography: Tim Hudson
Editing Company: Arcade Editor: Geoff Hounsell Post Producer: Leslie Carthy Post Executive Producer: Nicole Visram
Visual Effects Company: Method Visual Effects Supervisor: Ben Walsh Lead Flame Artist: Claus Hansen Visual Effects Producer: Colin Clarry Executive Producer: Robert Owens Titles, Graphics: Trailer Park, W+K Motion
Color Correction: Company 3 Colorist: Dave Hussey DI Producer: Denise Brown
Song: “Grazing in The Grass,” The Friends of Distinction
Mix Company: Barking Owl Mixer: Brock Babcock Producer: Kelly Bayett
Voici Iconic, le nom de ce projet de livre imaginé afin de rendre hommage au design des différents produits d’Apple. Pensé par et pour les fans de la marque, ce livre retrace l’histoire et l’évolution de la société iconique Apple. A découvrir en images et dans une vidéo explicative dans la suite de l’article.
OK so it’s not the same as jumping out of a capsule in space 120,000 feet above the ground but it’s cool all the same. And, perhaps, even more exciting because these jumpers don’t have a parachute to slow their fall.
Red Bull, again displaying its apparent fixation with heights, has released a stop motion film made from 21,489 photos taken by three Instagrammers over the course of three hours. What did these Instagrammers shoot? Proferssional divers leaping off a 27 meter high platform into the Blue Lagoon in Wales.
@danrubin, @jeera and @chaiwalla were the photographers for the day and it was all done to promote…wait, what? Nothing? You mean a brand sees value is producing interesting content for the enjoyment of consumers? Who knew? Stop the presses! This is radical stuff!
O livro conta a história e cataloga mais de 2000 bonecos de LEGO, introduzidos pela primeira vez em 1978. A versão para humanos pode ser comprada nas livrarias, mas a miniatura é uma edição limitada. Contém 30 páginas e muitos detalhes do livro normal, mas medindo apenas 20mm x 17mm.
Dessa forma, suas mini-figuras de LEGO poderão ler curiosidades sobre eles mesmos.
Activist investor Jana Partners reported Friday that it had a 13.5% stake in Outerwall, the operator of the Redbox movie kiosks, and said it wants to sell some or all of the company’s businesses.
Jana seeks the sale, spinoff or shutdown of the Redbox Instant by Verizon film-streaming venture, which has failed to develop into a credible threat to Netflix, as well as the Rubi coffee-vending kiosks that made their debut in 2012, a person with knowledge of the matter said.
Jana, run by co-founder Barry Rosenstein, is targeting Outerwall after the company disappointed investors for two straight quarters. Shares fell 12% on Sept. 17 after Outerwall cut its forecast for third-quarter and full-year revenue and profit, citing discounting and shorter rental periods for DVDs. The shares also dropped on July 26 after the company reported second-quarter sales that missed analysts’ estimates.
72andSunny pays homage to sci-fi and television history in their new campaign for Samsung Galaxy Gear.
The spot “Evolution” traces the evolution of wristwatch communication, from Dick Tracy and Star Trek to Inspector Gadget and even Predator. The spot ends with the text “After All These Years It’s Finally Real” before introducing Samsung’s latest product. It’s a fun way to highlight the evolution of modern technology and say “The future is now” while making Galaxy Gear seem pretty cool.
A second spot, “A Long Time Coming” pays similar homage, showing characters talking into their wrist pieces in rapid succession. It’s not quite as strong as “Evolution” and perhaps more than a touch too similar to the iPhone’s “Hello” spot, even if it does touch some similar bases.
The Samsung Galaxy Gear is available now for the futuristic price of $299. Knight Rider not included. Check out the second spot and “Evolution” credits after the jump.
A la fois professeur de mathématiques et photographe, l’artiste Kent Mearig nous propose de découvrir ses clichés pris essentiellement sous le Glacier Mendehall près de Juneau en Alaska. Des superbes images et des rendus à retrouver sur son portfolio et dans la suite de l’article.
After spending over six years at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, where he last served as group strategy director, Michael Davidson is heading over to fellow San Francisco agency, Venables Bell & Partners, to assume the title of head of strategy. Davidson (the staring far off into the distance look never fails), who actually had two stints at Goodby, first serving as planning director at the agency in the early aughts, will now head up said department at VB&P, which of course counts notable clients including Intel, Audi and Google. This marks for a reunion of sorts for Davidson and current VB+P managing director, Paul Birks-Hay, as the pair worked together at AMV BBDO earlier in their careers. In addition to AMV, Davidson spent two years in the U.K. at TBWA London, working on Labour Party’s General Election Campaign and reporting directly to Tony Blair.
Along with new head of strategy, Venables Bell & Partners has added more to the department in group strategy director Leander Chapman, aka “Chappy” (we can dig it), who most recently ran his own consultancy and has previously served strategy director for Translation among other agency gigs.
The smart watch—it's not just the stuff of science fiction anymore! But Samsung takes you back to the sci-fi wrist gadgets of yore (or rather, of the future) in this highly enjoyable new spot from 72andSunny for the new Galaxy Gear. Fictional watches from shows like The Jetsons, Star Trek, Dick Tracy and Inspector Gadget remind you just how long we've been waiting for this technology to arrive. Interestingly, in its use of clips from old TV shows and movies, this creative approach is similar to—though in some ways the inverse of—Apple's very first iPhone commercial. Whereas this new spot suggests we're catching up to the watches of the future, that one said we were saying goodbye to the phones of the past. See two more new Galaxy Gear spots below. (The "Evolution" spot is by 72andSunny; the "In the Wild" video is not.)
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
After spending over six years at Goodby Silverstein & Partners, where he last served as group strategy director, 
