Hasta La Creative!

Back in January, we shared Gideon Amichay‘s TEDx talk entitled “No, No, No, No, No, Yes” (see it again if you wish after the jump). Now, Adichay has an upcoming book based on the talk, with same title in tow.

Amichay’s book begins by talking about the new pair of Adidas sneakers his father refused him as a child, buying instead a cheaper, no-name brand. He identifies this moment as the beginning of his “endless will to move up and work hard.” He goes on to document the many rejection letters he received from the The New Yorker as a young aspiring cartoonist. For a period, Amichay would submit to The New Yorker every Wednesday, and receive a rejection letter every Friday. Gradually, the notes on the rejection letter became more positive, urging him to “Keep trying.” Eventually the cartoon editor kept one of Amichay’s sketches. Although it was later returned, the editor later held two sketches. One day, The New Yorker finally decided to buy one of Amichay’s sketches.

Amichay’s book is really about the importance of hearing “no,” something often forgotten in the era of instant gratification. “No” doesn’t have to be spirit-breaking, “No usually comes with a comma,” Amichay says. He makes a point of distinguishing between the automatic “no” that comes from fear of the unknown, the skeptics, those who would like to play it safe, and the constructive “no” that makes you reconsider an idea or take a new direction. He urges his readers to develop their personal relationship with the word. Amichay explores all the times you’ll hear “no” in advertising: from creative collaborators, from bosses, from clients. Behind the “no” schtick is a great look at Amichay’s career in advertising and some of the interesting campaigns he’s been involved with, from the beginning of his career at Grey Tel Aviv up until his 2010 resignation after spending nearly two decades as CCO/joint managing partner of Shalmor Avnon Amichay Y&R.

Not surprisingly, the conversational writing is accompanied by some of Amichay’s drawings. These drawings are perhaps the highlight of the book, as while Amichay’s easygoing, conversational writing style is commendable, sketching is his true talent. The book is a pleasant, easy read, and you could do a lot worse if looking for an inspirational text, especially one dealing with advertising. No, No, No, No, No, Yes will be released on Jan. 15, 2014 in hardcover format.

continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Apple purchased data-analytics firm Topsy Labs, giving the world’s most valuable company new tools to spot trends as they emerge on Twitter’s social network.

Apple paid more than $200 million for Topsy, said people with knowledge of the deal, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The San Francisco-based startup’s service is used by companies to analyze consumer sentiment on Twitter, be it responses to TV shows or politics. Topsy is one of a few partners that has real-time access to the messages that roll across the microblogging service, and can search through every tweet published since 2006.

Access to information about what is being discussed on Twitter can be integrated in any number of ways by Apple, according to Debra Aho Williamson, an analyst with EMarketer Inc. That includes to improve results within Apple’s voice-based search tool Siri, analytics of the iAd mobile-advertising service, or to make purchase recommendations from iTunes and App Store,

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Sports fanatics are wonderful circus acts from afar. Who doesn’t love a chubby shirtless guy covered in paint at an NFL game (unless you’re sitting behind him)? To honor the people who take sports fandom way too seriously, ESPN will be inducting it’s second annual class into the Fan Hall of Fame in 2014. For the next eight days, users will be able to vote from a list of 10 finalists. You may recognize a few names on the list like Clipper Darrell and Bruce Reznick, but there are also some inspirational stories, like Romeo Santos, a longtime Baltimore Orioles fan who sold tickets to raise money for his now-deceased wife’s charity. If you’re interested in voting, each fan has a profile and a 15-second spot.

The campaign comes from RED Interactive and 77 Ventures. One final detail: residents of Quebec are not allowed to vote. I have no idea why, but for the Fan Hall of Fame, some ridiculous exclusion just feels right.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Marketing may be the realm of the CMO, but the ultimate marketing decisions are often made by general managers. And for many marketers, their position is merely one stop on a path leading to general management.

To get a better sense of the implications of that step, Advertising Age recently asked two marketers who have made the move about their experience.

Mike Indursky worked in a variety of marketing roles at Unilever and L’Oral from 1993 to 2005 before becoming chief marketing officer of Burt’s Bees, where he worked before and after its acquisition by Clorox Co. In 2010, he became president of beauty marketer Bliss World, shifting to general management.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

(TrendHunter.com) Isabeli Fontana models designs from Balmain’s Fall 2013 collection in the Vogue Thailand December 2013 issue. The top model embodies the style of a true bohemian princess, dressed to the nines…

After spending four-and-a-half years at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Gareth Kay has parted ways with the agency. Kay initially joined Goodby from the now-defunct Modernista!  in summer 2009 as director of digital strategy, eventually moving up a year later to associate partner/director of brand strategy to finally his most recent role as chief strategy officer at the San Francisco-based agency. Kay has informed us that yesterday was his last day at GS&P, and though he won’t reveal specifics on his next venture (as it’s in “stealth mode”), here’s a note that Goodby managing partner Derek Robson sent to staff last month that should give you perhaps a little idea:

“It’s with a heavy heart that I have to announce that Gareth Kay has decided to leave the agency.  He is off to start a new company that focuses on the stuff that he is personally most passionate about and which is not part of the advertising agency world.  He’ll be leaving us later this month.

Gareth joined GS&P in 2009 as the Director of Digital Strategy and from the very start; he challenged the agency to think beyond the traditional definitions of advertising.

In September 2011, he was promoted to Chief Strategy Officer and since then he has helped evolve the Strategy discipline here at the agency as well as the day-to-day running of the department. Under his leadership, the agency continued it’s impressive streak of Effie award wins – 51 Effie awards for our work for 35 different clients over the past 15 years.

Beyond all the good work that Gareth has done for our clients and within the agency he has also become one of the most well respected thought leaders in the business, speaking at events around the world.  He has been a tireless advocate for the agency for the past four years.

We thank him, we will miss him, and we wish him well in his new endeavor.

We will not be replacing the Chief Strategy Officer position.  Our strategy leadership is in the capable hands of [Head of Brand Strategy] Andy Grayson, [Director of Communication Strategy] Christine Chen and [Group Research and Analytics Director] Margaret Coles.

Derek”

Along with his six-year stint at Modernista!, where he last served as head of planning, Kay also held planning positions at Lowe and TBWA during his career.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Xaxis, meet 24/7 Media.

WPP is merging two tech units in a bid to act as middleman between publishers and advertisers as they increasingly move budgets to “programmatic” advertising, where ads are priced and bought in real time, often cutting agencies out in the process.

Xaxis was founded within WPP in 2011 to buy ad impressions in bulk and then add value by applying client data to help advertisers find the right person at the right time across the web. 24/7 Media is a collection of publisher-side technologies acquired for $649 million in 2007.

Continue reading at AdAge.com

Mr President has hired Thea Hamrén, an associate creative director at DigitasLBi, as a creative.

Love watching YouTube? Hate having to sit through pre-roll ads? Burger King has the answer.

Se você já assistiu à Família Soprano ou Os Bons Companheiros (talvez Rizzoli & Isles) no original, sem dublagem, provavelmente vai reconhecer de imediato a voz rouca de Lorraine Bracco, a narradora de Holiday Tree Topper, o simpático filme de Natal da Netflix. Em 60 segundos, somos apresentados à família McDermont e passeamos por alguns momentos dos 34 natais vivenciados pela ponteira da árvore e toda a loucura, brincadeiras, bagunça e peças pregadas pelos donos da casa.

Mas no final das contas, é claro que tudo acaba compensando – até mesmo quase ser esmagada por uma bola de boliche, que as crianças encontraram no sótão, ou ainda sufocar com a fumaça do inhame queimado da tia Ruth -, porque em algum momento, a família se une para compartilhar a programação do Netflix (o que lembra um pouco a proposta do Canal+). É isso que faz o enfeite sorrir – apesar de o sorriso já estar pintado em sua cara.

A criação é da Deutsch de Los Angeles.

Post originalmente publicado no Brainstorm #9
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