Hasta La Creative!

With a little over a week to go before the live broadcast of “The Sound of Music” on NBC, the production is taking shape on a Long Island sound stage.

Just like its trademark chameleon can change colors, Valspar has shown how consumer marketing can change a company.

Valspar made plenty of history since it began manufacturing spar varnish for masts of tall wooden ships in 1806, then moved into industrial coatings in the 1930s to help make everything from Coca-Cola cans to Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of Saint Louis possible. But its transformation into a consumer brand may be one of history’s better examples of how marketing can reshape a company.

In 2007, just before the onset of the deepest recession in generations, Valspar was largely unknown to consumers. It was then that management decided to shift from selling industrial coatings and manufacturing private-label paint for such retailers as Lowe’s to building a consumer brand. Since then, its stock has soared 180%, and Valspar research shows the brand has risen to become the No. 2 U.S. paint brand by purchase intent, behind only Behr. By this internal measure, it’s leapfrogged century-plus-old brands Sherwin Williams, Glidden, Dutch Boy and Benjamin Moore.

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Concluding ad sales nearly two months before kickoff is unusually early and is a sign of an improving economy and interest in a New York-area game.

The service, which intends to compete with Spotify, hopes to build on the popularity of Beats headphones.

When Newsweek returns to print early next year, it will resemble the “love child of The New Yorker and The Economist,” according to Jim Impoco, Newsweek’s editor since September.

Mr. Impoco sent a shockwave through the media world Tuesday after he told The New York Times that Newsweek would begin printing again starting in January or February. The reaction from some quarters wasn’t kind, either, with Vanity Fair joking that it was a better idea than reviving Newsweek as a CD for sale in Tower Records — but only just.

It’s a bold decision, at the least, when weekly magazines face challenges in print. New York magazine this week announced its decision to cut its print frequency. And Newsweek’s last attempt at a makeover, under high-profile editor-in-chief Tina Brown, failed to change the economics.

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The Liquid-Plumr marketing team is following up its innuendo-filled, sexually charged "Double Impact" and "Need it Now" spots—both by DDB California—with a 2014 calendar dedicated to sexy plumbers. 

Each month features a hunky model-plumber with centerfold stats (May's guilty pleasure is sticky buns) and a short piece of copy on plumbing care, with the adjectives "thick" and "deep" used ad nauseam. 

It is, admittedly, a clever distraction from the actual fact that these products are for something completely unsexy: toilets and clogged drains.

"Only have 10 minutes? I only need 7 with Liquid Plumr Urgent Clear … I'm a fan of quickies."

"Just put it [in] and let it do its thing."

"A 23-inch snake to reach deep in your pipe …"

We get it. You mean sex.

The photography was shot by Patrick Fraser of Friend + Johnson.

Deutsch NY and TNT are using Mob City‘s Twitter handle, @MobCityTNT, to debut the screenplay of the series’ premiere, 140 characters at a time. This will make Mob City, “the first television screenplay ever to be adapted for, and published through, Twitter.” They’ve dubbed the process “adaptweetion.”

The first tweets of the Mob City screenplay were made on Monday, with new tweets appearing every 45 minutes between 10 AM and 7 PM (and later tonight). They’ve also taken advantage of Twitter Cards to inject photo and video footage into the stream. Those late to the game can also catch up by visiting the microsite for the script, where it is presented in chronological order. This all leads to the debut of Frank Darabont‘s three week television event this tonight at 9. Deutsch NY and TNT will make their last tweet tonight at 8:30, but they’re not giving everything away. To experience the final scene, you’ll have to turn in to TNT tonight at 9 and catch the episode. The cast and crew of the show — including @frankdarabont, @miloventimiglia, @simonpegg, @edward_burns, @jonnybernthal – also added their commentary to the feed to keep things interesting.

Tweeting (almost) the entire screenplay of a debut episode is a risky move, but it’s a good way to get people talking about the show before it even airs.“Today, fans are tweeting in real time with their favorite shows, and we wanted to stoke preshow chatter by providing fans with an experience that will invite them in before the show even airs,” explains Kerry Keenan, Deutsch NY’s chief creative officer.

Clearly, TNT is betting that the writing will suck you in and make you want to watch Mob City tonight. Leaving out the final scene is an obvious necessity, as some might wonder why they’d tune in to see a premiere when they know how it ends. I’m curious to see how this plays out, and what kind of effect this social campaign has on Mob City‘s ratings tonight, if any. Head on over to mobscript.com and @MobCityTNT, and let us know your thoughts on this campaign in the comments section. And tune in to TNT tonight at 9 for the show, if you’re interested. Credits after the jump. continued…

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If you needed proof that there's really nothing new under the sun, look no further than the explosively popular site ViralNova, which credits its addictive, highly clickable content to a famous long-form print ad from 1926.

The original ad, widely collected, praised and parodied through the years, begins, "They laughed when I sat down at the piano — But when I started to play!" It was penned by John Caples for the U.S. School of Music and is often noted as one of the most effective ad headlines of all time.

Scott DeLong, who launched ViralNova in May, has a framed copy of the ad over his desk to help inspire him to create the most engaging headlines possible each day. "It's the most perfect headline ever written," he recently told Business Insider, "and those same psychological reasons for that working is why ViralNova is, so far, working today."

He's successfully adapted its urgently emotional style, topping aggregated news items from around the Web with madcap mini-masterpieces like, "They Were Married for 65 Years. Their Final Moment Left Me In A Puddle Of Tears," "I Can't Decide If This Is Adorable Or Very, Very Wrong. And I'm Not Talking About The Baby's Safety" and "Please, Ban These People From Ever Posting Online Again. You Have To See This … OMG." (And those are just from one day.)

ViralNova is in the vanguard of sites that rely on creating such headlines to attract clicks and social sharing. Other notables include Upworthy, which says editors must write 25 headlines for each story before they get it right.

This trend raises the bar for sites looking to get their content noticed and adds a new layer of creativity, though journalistic purists and old-school newshounds might scoff along the lines of an especially memorable ViralNova topper: "And This Is Why Our Entire Society Is Doomed. Sigh."

From our distant view, it appears that the agency holiday party scene is a bit quieter this year than most. Then again, maybe we’ve just lost our luster, but this little note from a notable agency was sent our way from a seemingly distressed soul who prefaced his or her tip with “Christmas is cancelled at <redacted>.” We’re not sure if things are more low-key this year, but is your agency sending memos like this? Perhaps our tipster is being a bit oversensitive, but feel free to chime in.

“This is to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and, as it coincides, Chanukah.

To remind, we are closed tomorrow and Friday  in observance. As the roads are slick  and storms persist please use your discretion in departing this afternoon, but safety first is the primary concern.

You may have noticed that we have yet to send a Hold the Date for the Holiday Party. Given how short the post-Thanksgiving period will be, only three weeks, we’d like to postpone the party until later, in 2014 when we hope to have some good things to share and time to enjoy it.

So for now, rest up over  Thanksgiving, know that we’ll have a sprint to the finish line and after the  break can return to a New Year and a chance to celebrate the possibilities.

Happy Thanksgiving.”

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Matt Timothy

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